Zoma

Unless they give it a similar budget to MotB's expansion instead of an even smaller one than SoZ's, I think it'll only disappoint people with the quality of the game. Heck, I prefer they'll just use the money to make an "Enhanced Edition" of NWN2 instead. New models. New textures. New animations. New sounds. Fix bugs.

Wut. No Aliens RPG? UNPOSSIBLE!

BG3 or NWN3. Will be interesting if Obsidian creates entirely new engine for NWN3 instead of an over baggaged Vista like NWN2 engine.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxjmwu1Jrx0

Unlike the previous PoP, I find it difficult to replay this game at all due to the lack of challenge and no difficulty modes I suppose. In addition Its hard to enjoy the story as well since as the previous posters said, the storytelling is modular based on the map and the absence of linearity makes it very difficult to make sense of the relationsehip progress between the two protagonist. Its a terrible flaw design and it would be more ideal if the sequence of the bosses you battle with are linear, with each completion giving signs of progress in the character interaction from one of a stranger into a strong possiblity of a romantic partner. So in the story aspect, there truly is nothing to brag about it since at times, it just feels like there is a gap in between or doesn't make any sense at all. However, the developers succeeded integrating an interesting and rich lore background of the world. The implementation is executed well with the talk button with the princess to those who are curious and remains purely optional to those who prefers no interruption in the flow of the gameplay. Combatwise is simply as I said: a glamorous presentation of Rock, paper and scissors game. Want to know when the enemy is vulnerable to sword attack? The sword has a magical stain on it. The same goes to the claw which will glow and using magic when the enemy covers himself with shadows. Its easy since there is barely any tactical or complexity depth with such combat system which depends mostly on quick time events and there is only one enemy to focus on rather than be aware of the surroundings at all times. Overall its not a bad game. Beautiful graphics and art direction, the expansion of a two protagonists idea from ICO. But its not a great game in the end and probably a weak PoP amongst the series.

You could give SMGs unique customizations I believe, or simply different kind of guns than the typical MP5s. For instance the P90 and the MP7 in which both have high ammo capacity for their magazines. If I'm not mistaken, submachine guns tend to have lower recoil due to the smaller ammo caliber. So this itself gives SMGs the differences compared to the high powered assault rifles which may have higher recoils. So in the end SMG plays a better role for CQC due to its compact size, accurate with controllable recoils unlike the assault rifles which plays better role in outdoor combat than indoor. Anyway, what's done already done. I can only hope Obsidian managed to find a convincing reason in game why MT uses duel wield SMGs without looking out of character or place.

The length of the barrel affects the accuracy. Hence sniper rifles are long in length. The strength depends on the caliber size of the weapon. .50 used by desert eagles are capable of smashing through concrete layers whilst a 9mm pistol doesn't. Of course a gun is still a gun and is capable of killing anything unarmored despite the bullet type. But the efficiency and effective range factors are dependent on the category of the gun(Pistol, SMG, Assault Rifles, Sniper Riflesm Machine Guns), Bullet caliber types and others that a gun expert may know better than me.

Game mechanic wise, it makes sense since dual SMGs plays the role of close combat rapid fire weapon as the alternative of a shotgun. Integration wise into the game, it feels out of place. I'm certainly not sure what kind of atmosphere Obsidian is trying to capture for Alpha Protocol to be honest. They mentioned Kill Bill for their villains, that's fine. But what about the protagonist? Obsidian said its the 3 JBs as a role of a modern or a super spy. Now even James Bond himself as a super spy doesn't use dual wield SMGs in any of the movies which tarnishes his image as being 'slick'. Seriously Obsidian, dual SMGs in my opinion only has its place in Action focused games. You may as well give MT the ability to do "Gun fu" moves like Max Payne to give MT the maximum kewl factor. Even Metal Gear Solid, despite its over the top plots and characters, sets its combat tone into believeable with some fictional elements like the camo suit. But you'll never see Snake dual wielding weapons. Regardless, either way Obsidian has to explain convincingly in the game why MT decides to use unconventional method of utilizing SMGs in the game since not even Commandos are trained to use 2 SMGs in combat in the real life counter part.

I assume its meant for a close combat weapon then. But how would it compare to the role of Shotguns if that is the case?

Thief came out at the same time as Half-Life. System Shock 2 released 9 months later. Both lost to Half-Life because its niche but still a greater game than HL IMO. HL is awesome because of its moddable engine that made "revolutionary" games like Counter Strike that shapes the modding gaming community, giving Valve more opportunities to sell Half-Life because it expanded the market audience with Counter Strike, Day of Defeat and later, Natural Selection.

But that didn't happend. Never know if that will even happend at all. Nonetheless Quake engine was the best engine at its time and was the first true 3D real time engine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_engine Could Half-Life happend in the Unreal engine? That's 2 years later and Valve could not last that long since it was a newly founded company and had probably used inferior engines by then to make Half-Life which will become a far different game than we know now. Programme their own engine? Maybe but we'll never know what kind of engine it comes out which may even result the same game, or even a 3D game.

Without Quake, there will never be such a thing as Half-Life. Half-Life owes it to the Quake engine.

Akimbo Assassin! But seriously. Dual wield SMGs? Huuuuuurh. I prefer it a skill/feat unlock rather than the default load out. It just feels so . . . out of place. May as well put in a dual wield nipple machine gun.

Funny you said that. With all the one liners and thinking how bad ass he is and the way with way he taunts, it simply reminds me of any pre-boss fight moments of Dante. The Sands of Time Prince felt more refined and witty in character, expressing his arrogance without the need to resort to one liners. Each to their own I suppose. Went further in the game and probably reaching close to the end. Been pressing the talk button with Elika and its interesting how the interactions evolve over time. The Princess that initially made detatched remark to the Prince's safety when he falls off into the pit evolved into one that cries with exparation and other more subtle physical interactions involved. Visual design remains consistently beautiful though the Prince's character design still feels out of place for me. The music soundtrack is at exceptional top quality production. Unfortunately combat feels restrictive and over simplified in the game. Its simply a glorified looking Rocks, Papers and Scissors game system. Adding more variety of enemies or a combat with more than a single enemy will provide the needed complexity and strategic layer in combat which is sorely missing in the game. In all, the game has its share of great achievements and disappointments. The former being the artistic visual design, the sounds and great voice acting and a rich background lore, a game concept of Ico exapanded that makes the Prince of Persia game stands out from its series. The latter for the bad design decisions like free roaming that affects the story telling, the laughably easy hand holding difficulty in both platforming and combat . And man. Why call the game The Prince of Persia when there seems to be only a Princess from Persia? Ubisoft's logic mind boggles me.

Just started playing the game. I enjoyed the fact that the gameplay is clearly being strongly inspired from Ico with expanded dialogues and platforming actions that involves two characters making physical contact to overcome obstacles. Still having a hard time getting used to the Prince. He seems t obe so out of character in the PoP series with a personality that is a complete cut out of Dante from DMC. I do enjoy watching the exchanges made between the protagonists, though I thought it would be much more fitting if both of them appear younger to reflect some of their silly immature exchanges. Gameplay's criminally easy thus far. Its unpossible to game over!

Wow. The screenshots looks incredible this time around. NOM NOM NOM NOM! However, I feel the interface could be MUCH better looking than the current. I hope its just a prototype UI.

The bottom line is, Ubisoft just want to make more profits with sequels!

Tomb Raider Underworld. Aside from some technical bugs in terms of clipping and path finding, the gameplay gives me strong nostaligia of the very first Tomb Raider with the spirit it tries to capture: A sense of adventure in exploration and raiding tombs. A worthy game that lives up to the name of Tomb Raider. Its my personal favourite amongst the series (Which I mostly hate from 2 onwards). What's wrong with Anniversary though? The levels are mostly the same as I recalled from the original Tomb Raider as well as gameplay which is combat minimum. Except the QTE which I agree the implementation is out of place.

Its addictive game for me. It strongly reminds me of the time I play Wizardry 8 in terms of the mood of wanting going back into the game and the length you get glued on the seat while playing.

Maybe its just you?

Lies. Co-op is anus in NWN2. We tried to play it but half of us got separated and lost from the rest of the party, and the guys who werent lost got bored and went home. Get seperated in SoZ. Wut? Is it the right game?

I think a game system with in-game 'death' in modern age game does introduce a sense of danger to player, despite its simply a make believe mechanic due to the integration of a every 30 second check-point. Certainly the new Prince of Persia game is simply applying the same game mechanic of giving players less frustration in a different manner, but it does take away andrenaline to those players who succeeds immersing in the game due to the absence of a make-believe danger. So I think that's the reason why despite PoP's retry mechanic is the same but applied differently, it does affects the nature of the game's immersion for the player. In PoP's case, the absence of danger that your character may die.

Yup. Got one for my Tyrite Paladin.

You can't fall off the ledge and die. You can't get killed by monsters. Because of your walking IDDQD side-kick. They may as well make it into a movie 'stead.

Speaking of Prince of Persia, anyone played the recently released one yet? Heard the game is soooooo easy and its unpossible to game over!