Publisher: NinjaBee
Developer: NinjaBee
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 800 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 32MB graphics card supporting OpenGL 2.0 or later
Genre: Simulation
Release date: Available now

I’ve been playing a lot of games lately that are all about empire building and conquest, so when A Kingdom for Keflings came across my virtual desk, I decided now would be a good time to take things down a notch and relax with this XBLA-to-PC port. Kingdom is a no-conflict, city-building game. Your goal in each playthrough is to build a city for the keflings, using their labor and resources (as well as your avatar’s immense strength) to construct the buildings they need.

( read more… )

Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: 1C
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista; 2 GHz dual-core CPU; 1 GB RAM; 512 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0 or better; DirectX-compatible sound card; 4 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy
Release date: Available now

Released in September 2009, Majesty 2 brought the gameplay of the original Majesty back for another generation of gamers. Labeled as a fantasy kingdom sim, Majesty 2 lived up to its moniker by having the player send heroes out on quests to kill monsters while building an economy the heroes can use to buy new gear and training. Its indirect RTS gameplay was counted a success by some, though some found it repetitive and overly difficult.

( read more… )

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB DirectX 8.1-compliant graphics card, DirectX 8.1-compliant sound card, DirectX 9.0c or better
Genre: Adventure
Release date: June 22, 2010

The Freelance Police are having a bad couple of days. Every time they seem to have things firmly in hand, something nasty comes along to push them back to square one. Such is the case with Sam and Max Season 3 Episode 3: They Stole Max’s Brain, the next installment in Telltale’s newest five-episode series following the adventures of the heroic, anthropomorphic do-gooders Sam and Max.

( read more… )

Publisher: Namco Networks
Developer: Namco
Minimum requirements: Windows 7/Vista/XP; 1.0 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; 200 MB hard drive space; DirectX 7.0 or later; 64MB video memory
Genre: Time Management
Release date: Available now
Review by: Lieren Teeling

Time management games aren’t often big name best sellers, but they can be incredibly addictive time killers, and they do have a thriving fan base in the casual gamer market. A quick Internet search will find tons of these titles available as flash games or downloads. Gwen the Magic Nanny is Namco Networks latest title, and it brings a somewhat unique concept to the genre.

( read more… )

Publisher: Game Equation
Developer: Game Equation
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista, 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4/AMD Athlon XP 1500+ or better CPU, 512 MB RAM, 80 MB hard-drive space, DirectX-compatible graphics and sound cards, DirectX 9.0
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now

Why is it not match-two or match-four puzzle games? The answer is simple. Two is too small and four is too big. Three is the magic number for matching blocks in a match-three puzzle game. Of course, if you get more than four you are an overachiever and are rewarded. Deep Blue Sea 2 from The Game Equation is a new game in the fun match-three genre, but does it have what it takes to stand out among other well known puzzlers such as Puzzle Quest?

( read more… )

Publisher: Sega
Developer: Creative Assembly
System Requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.3 GHz CPU with SSE2, 256 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card with Shader Model 2B support, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), 21 GB hard-drive space, Direct X 9.0c
Genre: RTS
Release date: Available now

The Total War franchise has garnered high sales for the past decade. Starting with Shogun: Total War, Creative Assembly has crafted strategy games with wide appeal, even in the face of buggy initial releases. Picking up in the time period where Empire: Total War left off, Napoleon: Total War takes you into the 19th century, with Europe waging war with Napoleonic France. Looking to give you a taste of both the strategy and tactics of such brilliant leaders as Wellington, Napoleon, Murat, and even my favorite, French marshal Michel Ney, Creative Assembly has taken their formula and applied it to a period renowned for the emerging dominance of firepower on the battlefield.

( read more… )

Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/Mac OSX 10.5, 2.0 GHz Core2Duo or better CPU, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB DirectX 8.1-compatible graphics card (not recommended for Macs with integrated graphics), DirectX 8.1-compatible sound card, DirectX 9.0c or better
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now

In the world of episodic entertainment, freshness and variety are important watchwords. Every so often, TV show producers throw us a curveball to keep us on our toes (a recent episode of Fox TV’s Fringe had its characters singing songs in 1950s attire, for example). Publisher/developer Telltale has taken a similar step with Episode 2 of Sam & Max Season 3: The Devil’s Playhouse. And, like most departures from the established norm, you’ll either love it or loathe it.

( read more… )

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Gas Powered Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.6 GHz CPU, 256 MB DirectX 9-compliant graphics card with Pixel Shader 3.0 support, 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB for Vista/Win 7), 4 to 5 GB hard-drive space, broadband connection for multiplayer
Genre: RTS
Release date: Available now

Supreme Commander 2 continues the tradition started by Total Annihilation in 1997. TA was a game of vast spaces, gigantic hordes of units, novel resource gathering and an interesting approach to construction dynamics. It was a technological marvel for its time, and looks fairly reasonable to this day. In 2007 it was followed by a spiritual successor, Supreme Commander. Most of the ideas behind TA remained, but an amazing graphics engine was introduced, as well as an actual storyline. This year, the series has received its most current update. We published a preview a few months ago, and now that the game is out, it’s time to give it a closer look.

( read more… )

Publisher: Soldak Entertainment
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
System requirements: Windows 98\ME\2000\XP\Vista\Win 7\Mac OS 10.4, 1.5 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 series or better graphics card, 200 MB hard-drive space, DSL or better Internet connection for online multiplayer
Genre: RPG
Release date: Available now

There’s an old saying: “Familiarity breeds contempt.” Not necessarily so in the gaming world. For many years, most new first-person shooters were usually described as “Doom clones,” yet we bought them by the millions of copies, especially when developers made an attempt to not just duplicate the tried-and-true shooter formula, but also to add a slight but remarkable gameplay tweak. In the RPG realm, Diablo is the granddaddy of the dungeon-crawler. Many similar games have come and gone, while Blizzard’s seminal hack-and-slash and it’s sequel are still avidly played after more than a decade since they were released. Indie developer Soldak Entertainment has joined the crowd with Din’s Curse, adding a fast pace and an extra level of depth to the traditional RPG formula.

( read more… )

Publisher: Gaijin Entertainment
Developer: Gaijin Entertainment
System requirements: Windows XP SP3\Vista SP1\Win 7, Pentium 4 3.2 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB hard-drive space, Nvidia GeForce 7600 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card, Internet connection
Genre: Combat Flight Sim
Release date: Available now

One genre that has been badly neglected on the PC in recent years is the flight sim. Or, to be more specific, realistic military flight sims. Sure, Microsoft Flight Simulator has mods that let you fly military aircraft, but at its core it’s a civilian flight sim. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. has more than 50 modern aircraft that you can fly, and it’s a lot of fun (at least I think so), but it’s definitely not “realistic” by any stretch of the imagination. Let’s just say that when I served in the US Air Force, I would have loved to have had 120 missiles on my F-16, but I had to settle for just six. And most of the few flight sims in recent years have focused on modern, jet-powered aircraft.

( read more… )

Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 3.0 GHZ Intel Pentium D 830/AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ or better CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), 256 MB DirectX 9.0-compliant graphics card with Shader Model 3.0 support, DirectX 9.0-compliant sound card, 4 GB hard drive space, 128 KPBS Internet connection for online multiplayer
Genre: Third Person Shooter
Release date: Available now

There are certain truisms that are part of life on Earth. ATMs are always out of order whenever you really need to use one. The Chicago Cubs can’t win the big games. And games based on motion pictures always suck. But developer/publisher Ubisoft has decided to try to prove that last item wrong with James Cameron’s Avatar: The Game, a third-person shooter based on the new worldwide box-office champ, “Avatar.” Ubisoft has created an expansive, gorgeously detailed adventure, tossed in a trendy gimmick, and added some RPG elements to help us join in mankind’s interplanetary search for an element that is humanity’s last hope for survival on Earth.

( read more… )

Publisher: Quest Online
Developer: Quest Online
Minimum requirements: Windows XP or better; 2.4 GHz CPU; 2 GB of RAM; 4 GB of hard drive space, nVidia 6xxx or ATI x800 minimum; broadband connection
Genre: MMORPG
Release date: Available now

I’m not normally a fan of MMOs, and I admit that my perception is probably colored due to bad experiences with the early MMORPGs. Thus, I have a subconscious impression that the online world is filled with people that get their jollies by ruining the experience for newbies. Also, most MMOs haven’t been able to hold my attention for more than a few weeks, which is why I have an issue with the fees. I understand that the reason for the monthly fee is to pay for continued tech support and new content, but I just can’t see myself paying $15 a month to make sure my account and characters don’t get deleted, on the off chance that I might want to play again in a year or so. That’s an extra $180 a year that I could use to buy at least half a dozen new games. Well… enter Alganon, which just went through a major revision that introduces many new features and improvements. Version 2.0 features new starter areas, advanced instanced content specifically for parties of adventurers, a major decrease in load times, and more gameplay enhancements than I can list here. Most importantly, however, it is now subscription free. Unless you want to purchase items with Tribute points, you pay only for the client.

( read more… )

Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: Wargaming.net
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista SP1/Win 7, 3.0 GHz CPU, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB Nvidia GeForce 7600/Radeon HD2400 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, 10 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy
Release date: Available now

I gave in a long time ago to the fact that WWII and strategy are inseparably bonded for a reason, so I’ve accepted it as just another genre instead of an interchangeable setting. First-person shooters don’t enjoy this same luxury under my laws, but then again, Order of War: Challenge is not an FPS, so it’s already got one thing going for it right out of the gate. Let’s enlist then, shall we?

( read more… )

Publisher: Slitherine
Developer: Bloober Team
System requirements: Windows XP or later, 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 100 MB hard-drive space, DirectX-compatible 3D graphics card
Genre: Turn-based strategy
Release date: Available now

Alright, I know what you’re thinking, because I thought the same thing at first. “Slitherine? The same people who wrote that program for ‘Deadliest Warrior’ on Spike TV?” Sorry, no. That was Slytherin Studios, not Slitherine Software. It has a similar name, but it’s a different company. I don’t want to get sidetracked here; this is about the game HISTORY Egypt: Engineering an Empire, not my opinions on a TV show.

( read more… )

Publisher: bitComposer Games
Developer: GSC Gameworld
System requirements: Windows XP or better, Intel Pentium 4 2.0 GHz/AMD XP 2200+ CPU, 512 MB RAM, nVIDIA GeForce 5700/ATI Radeon 9600 graphics card
Genre: Survival FPS
Release date: Available now

The events of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat unfold shortly after the end of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl. Having learned that the path to the Zone center is open, the government begins a large-scale military operation, code-named “Fairway,” to take the CNPP under control. Despite thorough preparation, the operation fails. To find out why, Ukraine’s Security Service sends their agent…namely, you…into the center of the Zone. Now, it’s all up to you.

( read more… )