Let me preface this blog by thanking MobyGames for all of their high quality screenshots of classic games. Without their hard work and their kind permission to repost the screenshots in question, this post would not have been possible. Thanks a million!

Regulars here at Avault will have recently seen my review of Crysis and the very specific warnings I related about the game’s stiff system requirements. While there’s no denying that trend in PC gaming is always toward programs that utilize more and more processing power, memory and storage space, Crysis bore special mention because its requirements are beyond even those of its contemporaries, in some cases significantly higher. For many hardcore gamers, whose systems easily exceed the minimum requirements for Crysis, I’m betting my warning was merely seen as a justification for their extremely high end systems and then ignored. In fact, I’d be disappointed if anyone with a top of the line Alienware system felt intimidated by my statements.

( read more… )

Publisher: Crytek
Developer: EA
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 2.8 GHz processor for Windows XP or 3.2 GHz processor for Windows Vista; 1 GB RAM; 256 MB 3D video card; 12 GB hard drive space; DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card; Windows XP or Vista
Genre: First-person shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

While I would love to have said it first, it was Bob Mandel here at Avault who pointed out in November out how rich the holiday season was going to be for FPS titles. Just for the PC, we saw Timeshift and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, but if you add in cross platform games and console-only titles, you have Halo 3, Orange Box, Bioshock and Warhawk. The release of any one of these titles by itself would give any gamer a solid few months of first-person action, but the release of all of them within a few months of each other puts all of us players in a quandary. While most of us can afford some of these games, few of us can afford all of them at the same time. Choosing the right release is difficult, and it’s become even harder now that EA has released Crysis.

( read more… )

Publisher: Merscom
Developer: Auran Games
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 1.5 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; 3D Graphics Card with 64 MB RAM; DirectX 9.0; 5 GB free hard disk space; Windows 98/2000/ME/XP/Vista
Genre: Train Simulator
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pirtuzzello

Simulators of all types have come a long way since Microsoft Flight Simulator 1.00 was first licensed for IBM PCs in 1982. Like all other games, some of them have been better than others, but the best of the genre share a few common features: good graphics, realistic physics and complex controls. However, the most important feature of a good simulator is the willingness of designers to fully use the power of the computer to implement the minutest details. The consumers of such titles are looking for the fine points, whether they’re slight changes in wind patterns that would only be observable to a trained pilot or the correct placement of a fully functional fuel gauge on the instrument panel of a Ferrari. To the connoisseur, such details make or break the game. With this in mind, I installed Trainz: Railwayz, the most recent installment in a line of train simulators developed by Auran Games. More specifically, I installed three games spanning two DVDs: Trainz Railroad Simulator as well as Harlem Line Edition and Metropolis Edition. What greeted me were two iterations of the same game engine spanning a generation of development, each with three distinct modes of play coupled with an active online community of enthusiasts and user made content.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Paradox Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium III 450 MHz processor or equivalent; 128 MB RAM; 600 MB free hard drive space; 4MB DirectX compatible video card; DirectX sound card; DirectX 9.0 or higher; Windows 98 SE, 2000, XP
Genre: Strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

Every once in awhile, a game comes along that’s infuriating because it’s both a blast to play and plagued with problems. Such a game was Crusader Kings. Released in 2004, it offered a different kind of empire building from other strategy titles. Rather than taking the helm of a country, the player took control of a feudal dynasty. Because a dynasty is composed of people rather than just lands and armies, players had to spend half their time playing the game as if it was a CRPG, taking care of their dynasty’s characters and making sure to keep them titled, married and in the good graces of the Church. The frustration came not from the excellent gameplay, but from a buggy engine that suffered from inexplicable CTDs, dead characters who remained titled and in play, and bizarre loopholes in the rules that allowed strange things such as sons being appointed to the Papacy, who in turn inherited their father’s kingdoms. Despite these persistent problems, Crusader Kings enjoyed a small but loyal following, and after it was patched, it became a wonderful game to play.

( read more… )

As those who have read my bio on Avault might have noticed, I claim to have very little skill in multiplayer. (If you haven’t noticed because you haven’t read my bio on the main blog page, just smile and nod.) While there are probably a thousand reasons why I’m not brilliant at multiplayer, what’s more interesting is that despite my obvious failings when facing humans in mortal combat, I actually do enjoy it. However, I don’t find myself playing against my human friends very often. Instead, we play co-op: two humans, battling together against the forces of [insert currently preferred antagonist here] and triumphing against carefully constructed and measured odds.
( read more… )

Every once in a while, when problems in the apartment get to be too much, I make rash decisions. And so, it was one fine day, almost a year ago, when my cat Iago was busily chewing on yet another network cable only minutes after he had chewed completely through the mouse cord, that I decided wireless networking was for me. Without checking online for hardware reviews, I jumped in my car, drove to Best Buy and practically ran to the networking section. Much to my delight, NETGEAR products were on sale. For around $100, I walked out of Best Buy with a NETGEAR WGT624SC router and three WPN111 USB wireless networking adapters. It seemed I’d have my apartment networked in about 30 minutes, and this time there would be no cords for Iago to chew upon.

( read more… )

One of the fascinating things about studying English literature, or any other literature for that matter, is how the literary conventions used by an earlier author are “used and abused” by later writers. Stories of heroic knights in shining armor fighting one another or monsters pervade the Middle Ages; however, by the time Shakespeare writes plays such as 1 Henry IV, characters such as Falstaff denounce such heroism and valor as foolish even as various other characters in the play speak in the language of chivalry. The fact that in the 21st century we gamers find ourselves playing CRPGs which further mutate the tradition of the questing romantic hero indicates that the form and structure of such literature never really goes away. It just gets subverted and used in new ways. I can only imagine what Chaucer or Malory would think of CRPGs such as Oblivion and Neverwinter Nights. The number of magic items even a single character equips would probably flabbergast them.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Wargaming.net
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 2500, 1 GB RAM, GeForce 6600 with 128 MB VRAM, 2 GB hard drive space, DirectX 8.1 compatible sound card, Windows XP with SP2
Genre: Real-time strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

If you’ve been a gamer long enough, you find there’s a certain feel to various genres. CRPGs can involve a significant amount of time spent not actually playing the game as players spend hours crafting characters and computing the viability of various builds. In contrast, FPS titles involve a unique combination of map memorization and cat-like reflexes. A similar analogy can be found with TBS games and RTS titles. Real-time strategy games are adrenaline-pumping click fests, where the right application of a hotkey can bring victory or defeat. On the other hand, someone playing a turn-based strategy game can often sit back for a moment, sip their favorite beverage, and consider the implications of maneuvering two squads of infantry under cover of darkness to flank the enemy while ordering their artillery to bombard a different area as a distraction. To say that one style of game is better than the other is to miss the real point: depending on your mood and personal preferences, one might suit you better than the other, and which one you prefer might change when the sun rises on a new day. For me, it had been a long time since I’d played a turn-based title, and I was quite ready for one when Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power arrived.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Paradox Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 1.9 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or AMD Athlon processor or equivalent; 512 MB RAM; 128 MB video card with Hardware T&L and support for Pixelshader 2.0 or better; 1 GB of free hard drive space; DirectX 9.0c; Windows 2K/XP
Genre: Real Time Strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

When Europa Universalis 3 was released in January 2007, it was the kind of title that had fans of the franchise playing the game until they succumbed to Video Game Poisoning. It also sparked lengthy debates and flame wars of the more civil variety in the community forum as controversy surged around the lack of historical events and the new context-sensitive events. While the Europa Universalis franchise, and most Paradox Interactive titles in general, have never been the equal of franchises such as Age of Empires in terms of sales, they have always been well received critically and have their own loyal fans who decry parts of the game that they don’t like even as they continue to play the game year after year with addictive zeal. Thus, when it was announced in May that there would be an expansion to EU3, you could almost hear the salivating in various posts in the EU3 forum.

( read more… )

Publisher: The Adventure Company
Developer: Telltale Games
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 1.5GHz processor, 256 MB RAM, 32 MB 3D accelerated video card, Windows XP/Vista
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

When I first received news from my editor that I’d be reviewing Sam and Max Season One, I couldn’t understand his casual smiley in the email indicating this was a fun assignment. Somehow, I missed Sam and Max Hit the Road when it came out for DOS in 1993, so I had no idea what to expect as I installed the game and began to play. What I encountered had my jaw dropping at first, before waves of laughter overcame my normally grim gaming personality.

I won’t go into significant detail about the history of the series, as knowing it isn’t necessary to playing and enjoying this title. Suffice to say, “Sam and Max” was a comic book created by Steve Purcell in 1987. Sam is a six foot tall anthropomorphic dog dressed like a stereotypical detective; Max is a hyperactive, almost psychotic, white rabbit. They are private investigators, but they refer to themselves with the term “freelance police.” They pursue a life of busting criminals; however, as becomes readily apparent in Sam and Max Season One, the criminals they pursue make Dr. Evil of Austin Powers fame look like a well adjusted human being. Villains such as former child stars, Mafioso dressed like characters from a sinister version of Chuck E. Cheese’s, and a robotic marble statue of Abraham Lincoln all require the duo’s crime fighting attention.

( read more… )

Publisher: Serious Games Interactive
Developer: Serious Games Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 1.5 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP 1600+ processor; 512 GB RAM; 64MB OpenGL compliant video card; CD-ROM drive; Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Genre: Adventure and Role-Playing
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

July 2007 was a busy month in terms of news from Palestine and Israel. The conflict between Hamas and Fatah in the West Bank and Gaza Strip managed to grab headlines away from sectarian violence in Iraq while paving the way for the Arab League to officially meet with the Israeli government for the first time. With all the headlines last month, it was sometimes difficult to remember that the stories were but the latest chapter in a series of events that reach further back than May 14th, 1948, when the State of Israel declared independence. The complex history of this region of the world is often read in biased terms by all parties involved, creating a morass of different interpretations that can confuse anyone.

( read more… )

Publisher: Strategy First
Developer: Quotix Software
System: PC
Minimum requirements: 1.6 GHz Pentium 4 or Athlon XP 1600+ processor; 512 GB RAM; 1.3 GB hard drive space; nVidia GeForce FX or ATI Radeon 9500 with 64MB; CD-ROM drive; Windows 2000/XP/Vista
Genre: Action-RPG
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

Evil stalks our land. Yes, again. This time, the demon Pompolic has opened a gateway to the Outer Worlds and hordes of monsters threaten our very existence. Annihilation beckons and the people cry out for a hero. Will you take up the challenge of slaying thousands of creatures, collecting the Dark Souls, and stopping Pompolic’s evil plan for enslaving the world?

If this doesn’t sound like the most original premise for a video game, that’s because this is the same premise a large percentage of offerings use, including almost all titles in the fantasy, role-playing and adventure genres. As such, Call for Heroes: Pompolic Wars is treading a well worn path that goes further back than the original Gauntlet. Since the premise is of this variety, the real question before any serious gamer is whether or not taking up arms against Pompolic and his endless hordes is a dull diversion or an enjoyable evening.

( read more… )

Publisher: PlayFirst
Developer: KatGames
System: PC
System requirements: Pentium III 700 MHz CPU, 128 MB RAM, 800×600 screen resolution, 25 MB hard drive space, DirectX 7.0, Windows 2000/ME/XP/Vista, sound card recommended
Genre: Casual game
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Pitruzzello

“Casual gamer” and “casual game” are two nearly obscene terms in the hard-core community. Often, when such terms are used, they’re spoken with disdain or outright derision and mockery. Yet, while casual games and the people who play them might seem relatively unimportant, the great irony of computer gaming is that offerings such as Minesweeper and Freecell are played more often and by more people than even blockbusters such as Half-Life and Starcraft, which sell millions of copies.

Yet, games like Freecell and Minesweeper come automatically installed with Windows. As such, when a casual offering like Dream Chronicles comes along, it must compete with free software and be engaging enough to justify its price tag. Is it worth your time and money to purchase this funimposing title which advertises itself as an “intriguing, dreamy mystery”?

( read more… )