Coming Out of Gaming Retirement

I am coming out of self imposed gaming retirement. I have not play games for a long time, for work and family commitment. But with the release of XCOM: Enemy Unknown, the 21st century remake of one of the, if not THE best game I ever played, I die die must play this. The original is a classic to me. I still remember playing the original, spending hours and hours in front of the PC, trying to unravel the alien mystery, applying the tactical skills I learn during my National Service and making sure my soldiers don't die. This game is so open and there are no restrictions on how you achieve your goals. The ability to rename your soldiers to your family and friends or even give them nicknames will create a bond between you and the soldiers. You WILL mourn if they are killed in combat. This is what makes it so great - an openness and replay-ability. There is always something new every time you replay the game. 

When I heard about the remake of this classic, I am so damn excited. I have been following its progress and so far from previews and reviews, it looks like a great hit. After so many failed tries to remake this classic game, finally I found a worthy successor. Just like the original, the game is official released today but I won't get to play it yet. I have pre-ordered it and it is on its way. Watching all the gameplay videos really give me gaming orgasm... :P

P.S.: Damn! The game only runs on Vista or Win7. No hope for my machine running WinXP. Need to make my rig into a duo-boot. 

The Return of Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is back. This is the mother of all bloody games. When this games first appear, there was a lot of hooha due to it's violent nature of slashing and ripping out your opponents spine out. Comparing to the stuff we see in the games today, this is child's play. After more than 10 years, they decided to reboot the franchise. Popular characters like Scorpion and Sub-zero are back. I remember playing it on one of the computer used at my polytechnic final year project exhibition. Let the kombat begin once again.

Home Is Where The War Is

With the current tense situation across the Korea peninsula, the back story of this game is too real and too close for comfort. The Kim Jung Un in the video is way more good looking than his real life counterpart. :P

Another Remake Of XCom

Just read in Digital Life today that game makers are creating another XCom game. I still remember playing the original XCom game when I was serving my national service, rushing home after booking out to play it. The magic in it is the constant need to research and development better weapons and technology and base building to combat the alien threat. Its squad control turn based game play allow me to apply what I learn in the army to good effect

Sadly since then, game developers have been trying to renew the franchise by making it real-timed based and first person shooter (FPS). The magic is no longer there and goes without saying; these iterations did not do well. For the latest XCom, I read that they will add back the R&D element back into the game, but somehow I doubt it will capture the same magic as the original version. The latest version is yet another 3D shooter due to the popularity of FPS. Why every game must be graphic intensive I duno. I feel game play is more important. All the fancy eye candies are only temporary. Once we completed the game, there is no desire to play it again.

By the way, I still do keep the old copies of XCom and XCom2: Terror From the Deep and I know how to make them run on today’s machine. Looking through all the old XCom screen capture bring an itch to dig them out and play again ;)

Mirror's Edge

Once a while, there will be a game that revolutionize the gaming world. Makes us sit up and say WHOA! Currently, that game is Mirror's Edge.

Ok, I maybe a bit WOLS here but I saw this game a few months ago and did not really pay much attention on it until now. This is a First Person Shooter (FPS) game, but unlike regular FPS, guns are hardly used here. The game innovation is based on using the art of Parkour to move around.

I am a big fan of Parkour as well as free running and Yamakasi. Only the French can create of something this graceful. The way the movement is executed is pure art form. Till now, every time I watch the traceurs (Parkour practitioners) perform it in free flow still kept in awe. And now they have a game that is based on it, which you can perform those very same movement. Couple with a cool soundtrack (Still Alive by Lisa Miskovsky), this is one kick ass game. Only worry thing is it will give you a bigger headache that regular FPS games. Let's start running

Real Life Parkour by its creator, David Belle

Games I like to Play

As Sheylara said, "Too many games, too little time to play.". For me, it's "Too many games, NO time to play!" :'(

Still, here are some of the games I like to play. Oh btw, I usually buy second hand games to play as it's cheaper and not illegal.
1. Crysis, maybe Crysis Warhead
2. Gears of War 2 - Does not own Xbox360 :'(
3. Fallout 3
4. Dead Space
5. Far Cry 2

Speaking about games, when newly owners of the recently release Red Alert 3 tried to install the game, they realized that the last character is missing from the 20 character CD key. This result in a lot of angry gamers to which the company come out with a "creative" solution.

GOW2 is Out!

Gears of War 2 is offically out for the upcoming holiday seasons. Too bad I dun own a Xbox360 plus I am too damn busy at work to go toilet let alone play games. So, I guess I'll have to wait for the PC version. In the meanwhile, I have time to drool....

Only The Dead Survive

Dead Space. It's Finally Here

Upcoming Games Seen @ E3

Well, E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo), the annual trade show where the computer and video games industry show off their latest and hottest games is here again. Here are some that caught my eye.

Fatal Frame 4
Yes, the grandmaster of horror games is back for the 4th time. FEAR and Doom3 (I completed both, play most of the time at night) is nothing compared to this. Man, I once play the Fatal Frame 1 at my friend place on the PS2 IN THE DAY. I tell you, I quit after playing for 15 mins. The music and the eeriness really gets into you. In addition, the force feedback vibration on the game pad whenever a ghost is about to appear will multiply the fear. When you want horror, no one does it better than the Japanese.



Gears of War 2
"I have a rendezvous with death, and I shall not fail that rendezvous."
Been waiting for the sequel of this game ever since I completed the first one on the PC, and it doesn't disappoint. Only letdown is it will be release on Xbox360 first. When it will be release on the PC (or will it?) is unknown. :(



Dead Space
Big space ship floating in space with unknown horrors lurking in it. Reminds me of Alien/Event Horizon. *tremble*


Other worthy mention: Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3