General gaming

General gaming

XCOM: Enemy Unknown Review: Close Encounters

Posted: 08 Oct 2012 05:03 AM PDT

The original XCOM series may rank up there as one of the greatest PC gaming creations of all time, but MicroProse's string of '90s strategy hits barely registers as a blip on the radar of most console gamers -- even with the existence of a few ancient PlayStation ports. But even if you're familiar with the series, jumping in at this point can be intimidating; XCOM has a reputation for being absolutely brutal to new players, especially with its additional layer of simulation in which you're provided with an overwhelming amount of options for running a global alien-stomping operation. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that I went into Firaxis' XCOM: Enemy Unknown with more than a little trepidation; after all, strategy RPGs like Final Fantasy Tactics, Tactics Ogre and Valkyria Chronicles have consumed an embarrassing amount of my lifetime, and I didn't know if I'd be able to adapt to what I assumed would be an entirely different experience. Thankfully, Enemy Unknown makes for a thoroughly modern update to the turn-based strategy genre, one that offers easy access to newcomers while remaining just as demanding as the originals.

Dishonored Review: Taken by Surprise

Posted: 07 Oct 2012 09:00 PM PDT

For most gamers, the phrase "first-person stealth" conjures up painful memories of endless creeping, peeking, and, eventually, reloading whenever an unseen enemy spotted them with its unfairly superhuman vision. The problem: stealth games require the player to act within very tight boundaries, and a first-person perspective does an excellent job of obscuring vital visual information you'd otherwise notice in a third-person game. So of course you understand that my initial fears for Dishonored stemmed from just how poorly its particular genre had been pulled off in the past, even by legendary games like 2000's Deus Ex. But just as Assassin's Creed made complex platforming into a surprisingly elegant experience back in 2007, Dishonored managed to smooth out the wrinkles of its predecessors for an effortless take on first-person stealth; one set in a large, developed world with few outcomes, but many options.

Posted by Shri Krishna

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