Publisher: The Adventure Company
Developer: Frogwares
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium IV 1.5 GHz or equivalent; 512 MB RAM; 2.5 GB hard drive space
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

Irish author Bram Stoker wrote 12 novels and a handful of short stories, but his most recognized work is “Dracula,” a tale of adventure and bloodlust that has spawned countless adaptations since its publication in 1897. The newest addition to the vampire canon is Dracula: Origin, a point-and-click adventure game from Frogwares, Dreamcatcher and The Adventure Company that takes some of the characters from Stoker’s book and places them in new peril.

The story opens in the London apartment of Professor Abraham Van Helsing. He receives a letter from an old friend, Jonathan Harker, who writes that he has become the latest victim of Count Dracula, the legendary vampire whom Van Helsing has been pursuing for some time. Recent events suggest that Dracula has come to London, and further investigation reveals that the undead Count is searching for an ancient manuscript that could be used to resurrect his first love. When the professor learns that the lovely Mina is targeted to be the vessel for the spirit of the vampire’s long-dead lover, he sets out to find and destroy the bloodthirsty Count, tracking him to Cairo, Vienna and eventually, Transylvania.

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According to scorehero.com, on June 3, 2008, a Guitar Hero III player using the screen name iamchris4life completed what is claimed to be the first documented FC of “Through the Fire and Flames” on Expert.  For those unfamiliar with GH3 lingo, this means that he successfully played all of the notes in the song and maintained an average score multiplier of 4x on the incredibly demanding song by the British metal band Dragonforce.  This is amazing news for GH players, to be sure, but I mention it because of the surprising amount of hate being slung his way by so-called “real musicians” on gaming website message boards.
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Publisher: The Adventure Company
Developer: Frogwares
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/Vista; Pentium III 1.3 Ghz or equivalent; 512 MB RAM; 3000 MB hard drive space
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

Gamers of a certain age (mine, for example) will recall the glory days of the adventure game. From Infocom’s legendary text-based titles of the 1980s, to 1993’s Myst, one of the first games released on CD-ROM and the top-selling game in industry history until The Sims unseated it in 2002, to modern offerings such as The Longest Journey (2006), adventure games have made a considerable contribution to the hobby. Over the years, their popularity has waned, supplanted by the more lucrative shooters, RPGs and MMOs, but the genre survives, thanks in part to the efforts of publisher Dreamcatcher Interactive, who has teamed with The Adventure Company to create a steady stream of new titles. One of their newest is Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis, a first-person mystery that places you in the shoes and deerstalker cap of Arthur Conan Doyle’s immortal sleuth.

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Damn you, James Perry Jr.  Damn you to the Eighth Circle of Hell.

Jim is the man who hooked me on Guitar Hero III.  In the space of two hours, he transformed me from a mild-mannered PC gamer into a hopeless rock-and-roll slave.  And all because of a few minutes pushing buttons on a toy guitar.

Until about a month ago, the only reason I owned an Xbox 360 was because I had some Best Buy gift cards burning a hole in my pockets last year.  In the 12 months that I have owned the console, I might have spent a grand total of eight hours using it, mostly playing Jewel Quest and the first few levels of Gears of War and Lost Planet before the controller tied my fingers in knots.

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Before I became a game addict, I was (and still am) a movieholic; by my own count, I have seen 4,266 different movies in theatres since January of 1983.  In that time, I’ve seen lots of quirky personalities in the movie business, but few have sparked the level of vitriol from fans than the gaming industry’s favorite punching bag, director Uwe Boll.  And Boll has fought back, literally; several years ago he challenged members of the gaming press to actual boxing matches.  Also, in a YouTube video response to the recent Internet petition circulating to stop him from making more movies, Boll takes shots at Michael Bay and George Clooney and declares himself to be “the only genius in the whole f***ing business.”
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Developer: Koios Works
Publisher: Matrix Games
Minimum requirements: 1.2 GHz processor or equivalent; 256 MB RAM (512 MB for Windows XP); DirectX 9 compatible video card with 64 MB RAM; 550 MB hard drive space; Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP, Vista
Genre: Strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

One of my fondest gaming memories was not of PC gaming, but of a night spent in a friend’s home playing Milton Bradley’s classic 1984 board game, Axis & Allies. My friend had gone beyond the call, creating an expanded version of the game board that covered his entire dining room table, complete with 3D topographic features and hand-painted action figures to replace the smaller ones included with the game. Technology has improved considerably since then, but that level of passion and attention to detail lives on in Panzer Command: Kharkov, an obvious labor of love from Koios Works and Matrix Games.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Pollux Gamelabs
System: PC
Minimum Requirements: 1200MHz CPU; 512 MB of RAM; GeForce 4 or similar; Windows XP or Vista
Genre: Sci-fi turn-based strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

I’ve never had dreams of galactic domination; Darth Vader did, and look where that got him. But my inner conqueror started to come to the surface as I played Lost Empire: Immortals, developer Pollux Gamelabs’ new turn-based 4X strategy game, and now I have ships searching the galaxy for planets to colonize, civilizations to subjugate and riches to plunder.

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Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Intel 2.4 GHz or AMD 2.0 GHz; 2 GB RAM; Nvidia GeForce 6600 or ATI X700 or higher; 12 GB hard drive space; Windows XP or Vista
Genre: First-person shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

Die-hard PC gamers are quick to declare themselves the winners in the PC vs. Console wars, pointing out their platform’s advantages in graphics power and precision character control. They conveniently forget to mention, however, that DirectX 10 graphics horsepower costs a pretty penny. But, if there’s a reason to break open the piggy bank for new gaming hardware, it’s Gears of War, the long-awaited PC port of Epic Games’ mega-hit third-person shooter, originally released for the Xbox 360 in November 2006.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Cauldron
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium 4 2.5 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; Radeon x800 or Nvidia GeForce 6800; 3.3 GB uncompressed hard drive space; DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card; Windows XP or Vista
Genre: First-person shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

I’m as bloodthirsty as any other first-person shooter fan. For us, Havok physics is the finest invention in the history of PC gaming, allowing us to do tasty things like beat a villain to death with his own severed limbs. Joining the hardcore shooter fray is Slovakian developer Cauldron’s Soldier of Fortune: Payback, the third entry into the controversial paramilitary action franchise.

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Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: IO Interactive
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Action, Adventure
Release Date: Available Now
Reviewer: Jason Iatomasi

Kane is an ex-mercenary on his way to death row in a prison transport. Next to him sits a peculiar man named Lynch, also on death row, for the brutal murder of his wife. An explosion rocks the transport, and gunfire and smoke fill the area. Several masked gunmen help Kane and Lynch get to a pickup truck and take them away. When they arrive at their destination, Kane is surprised at the very angry and very familiar faces staring at him. They give him a choice: Return what you stole from us or we kill your family.

Kane & Lynch: Dead Men is a gritty and violent third-person shooter about two criminals, with very different backgrounds, forced to work together. Kane pulled heists and acted as a mercenary for a crime syndicate known as The Seven, until a job went south. He left The Seven for dead and stole from them. Now they’re back and threatening to take revenge out on his family is he doesn’t return the stolen goods. Lynch is a psychopath who viciously murdered his wife while off his medication. He claims to black out during his periods of incredible violence, and doesn’t believe he’s the one who killed his wife.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Splash Damage and id Software
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon XP 2800+processor (Pentium 4 3.0 GHz or equivalent for Windows Vista); 512MB RAM (768MB for Windows Vista); 128MB NVIDIA GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 9700; 100% DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card; 750MB of free hard drive space, plus 200MB for Windows swap file; Broadband connection and service required for full gameplay and downloads; Windows XP/Vista (Windows 95/98/ME/2000 are unsupported
Genre: First-person shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

It’s a marvelous time to be a PC gamer. In the last half of this year alone, no fewer than a half-dozen top-shelf, AAA games are being released, making 2007 a gamer’s paradise lost since the late 1990s. Included in this embarrassment of riches is Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, id Software and developer Splash Damage’s first-person, squad-based shooter that incorporates a major technological advance likely to revolutionize PC gaming.

Dark days have arrived for humanity in 2060. An alien menace known as the Strogg has arrived and is systematically wiping out Earth’s cities and recycling its inhabitants for food and spare body parts. But all is not lost, as a determined organization of soldiers known as the Global Defense Force (GDF) has vowed to drive the invaders back out into the depths of space from whence they came. Intense battles have begun on several worldwide fronts, and both sides need recruits to help them achieve their ultimate objectives.

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Ninja Theory
System: PS3
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Iatomasi

A warrior clan protecting a sacred object has been decimated. Beaten down to nothing by King Bohan and his army, they run away, hoping to protect their Heavenly Sword for as long as possible. Knowing Bohan will stop at nothing to get the sword, the clan’s leader gives it to his daughter, Nariko, for protection, warning her to never use it, because doing so would cost her life.

Heavenly Sword, developed by Ninja Theory, is the story of Nariko and the Heavenly Sword. Against her father’s wishes, Nariko wields the sword to fight off Bohan and his army. Frustrated, Bohan sends in his generals to stop Nariko and to kidnap her father, in hopes of trading his life for the sword.

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Publisher: SCEA
Developer: Incognito
System: PlayStation 3
Genre: Multiplayer
Release date: Available now
Review by: Jason Iatomasi

A war wages on between the Eucadians and the Chernovans. The two factions are engaged in constant battle on land and in the air. Bases have been constructed, and towns have been ravaged, as the Eucadians and the Chernovans fight over… Actually, I have no idea.

The only thing made clear in Warhawk, developed by Incognito, is that the two opposing factions hate each other, yet share a mutual love for Capture the Flag. The game offers no back story as to why the fighting began, which I guess allows the player to make up his own. I’m going with a Eucadian man falling in love with a Chernovan woman, sparking a kind of Helen of Troy-type scenario.

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Publisher: Midway Games
Developer: Midway Games
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Intel Core Duo processor or equivalent; 2 GB RAM; 15 GB free hard disk space; 16X DD-ROM drive; DirectX 9.0c compliant sound card; Nvidia GeForce 7800 or ATI x1300; Windows XP Service Pack 2/Vista
Genre: Third-person action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

When “Dirty” Harry Callahan points his .44 Magnum at a downed perp and asks him if he feels lucky, when John McClane taunts German terrorist Hans Gruber with a colorful version of an old cowboy saying and when John Rambo informs the officer who betrayed him that he’s his next objective, first-person shooter fans dream of getting the chance to stand in their heroes’ blood-soaked boots. Midway and famed Hong Kong action director John Woo have made these dreams a reality with Stranglehold, a fast-paced, visceral killfest that ultimately turns out to be too much of a good thing.

You play as Inspector Tequila, the jazz clarinet player and two-fisted death-dealing Hong Kong detective played by a very young-looking Chow Yun-Fat in the 1992 action film, “Hard Boiled.” As the game opens, a cutscene takes you to Chicago, where a group of thugs breaks into the apartment of two Chinese women. One of them is shown in a framed photo with Tequila as the ladies are unceremoniously rushed out of the room. Cut to the streets of Hong Kong, where two men are seen dragging the limp and beaten body of a police officer through an alley, where they lean him against a wall and shoot him through his badge. Later, we find Tequila (voiced by Chow, reprising his film role) in a heated meeting with his superior concerning an arms deal reportedly scheduled for a downtown teahouse. They all know it’s probably a trap, but Tequila decides to go anyway — and the carnage begins.

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Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Pentium 3 1.4 GHz or Athlon XP 1500+; 4 GB free hard drive space, DirectX 9.0c compatible 64 MB 3D accelerated card with TnL; 512 MB RAM (Windows Vista) or 256 MB RAM (Windows 2000/XP); DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card; Windows 2K/XP/Vista
Genre: Action Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Michael Smith

When gamers think of icons (significant characters, not on-screen symbols), many different images come to mind. From Mario, Sonic the Hedgehog and Duke Nukem to Gordon Freeman and Master Chief, the history of gaming is filled with characters who define their respective genres. Principal among these is adventuring heiress Lara Croft, pony-tailed heroine of the Tomb Raider series, which encompasses eight games for multiple platforms (not counting various Gold editions) and two big-budget feature films. To celebrate the inimitable Miss Croft’s long career, Eidos and Crystal Dynamics return her to her roots in Tomb Raider: Anniversary, a high-tech remake of her original adventure, 1996’s Tomb Raider.

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