I play enough games to form a game library so I thought I may aswell review some for those who are thinking about purchasing them 
I’ll probably add more game reviews to this thread instead of starting a new thread every time 
Regards
Blurb
[color=navy]Game Title:[/color] [color=blue]Counter Strike: Condition Zero[/color]
[color=navy]Platform:[/color] [color=blue]PC[/color]
[color=navy]Developer:[/color] [color=blue]Valve/Sierra[/color]
[color=navy]Genre:[/color] [color=blue]Action / Shooter[/color]
[color=navy]Pros:[/color]
[color=blue]Slightly improved sprites/characters/weapon graphics[/color]
[color=blue]All maps updated with new graphics[/color]
[color=blue]New single player mode[/color]
[color=blue]Advanced features for multi player mode[/color]
[color=navy]Cons:[/color]
[color=blue]Graphics are STILL dated :([/color]
[color=blue]The bug where you can shoot through walls STILL hasn’t been fixed (wtf?)[/color]
[color=navy][/color]
[color=navy]Review:[/color]
[color=blue]Those here who are Counter Strike Veterans shouldn’t expect much from this game, expecially after Counter Strike 1.6 was released. Although graphics for all maps/characters/weapons have been improved, the graphics are still heavily out-dated, which is shame for such a popular game. Counter Strike has grown in world wide popularity since it’s first release in 2000, and yet they haven’t introduced a new graphics engine. Surely it wouldn’t hurt the servers that much? I guess I gotta respect their trying to keep the tradition of using ‘Ye Olde Half-Life Engine’ =)[/color]
[color=blue]The single-player mode is surprisingly ok. When I heard the new official CS BOTs would be in use, I thought these would just be some every-day ‘head-shot-all-the-time-every-time’ BOTs, but they’re actually quite impressive. They respond to your radio commands, they judge the maps and look into places where the enemy might be hiding, and they even go ‘rogue’, shoot ‘team-killers’ and decide whether to do what you tell them. One down fall of the BOTs is that (maybe only on the easiest difficulty setting), when a BOT sees another BOT, they can take upto 2 seconds to identify eachother as an enemy and fire a bullet, which can get kinda annoying. Also it can be very annoying when you die at the beginning of your round, and have to watch a team of BOTs try to complete your objective.[/color]
[color=blue]As always the multi player mode is very addictive. It has all of the classic Counter Strike trade marks, and you can stil use old counter Strike scripts to customize how you play. what’s more you have an Interactive Tutor which helps you along your way, and many many new maps to play around in :)[/color]
[color=blue]What you don’t see mentioned in most reviews is that included in this package is Counter Strike: Condition Zero Deleted Scenes. This is a serperate game in itself (still using the half-life engine though :P) in which Valve/Sierra try to recreate famous historical events and let you play them. The graphics here are stil dated, and each enemy dies in the same way. So much is obvious that if you kill 5 or so enemies at once it seems kinda cheezy TBH I’m not sure why they included Deleted Scenes in this package :/[/color]
[color=blue]Overall I would reccoment the purchase of this game to people who already play Counter Strike and people who want lots of offline practice for those important tournaments 
(The BOTs have 3 difficulty levels =))[/color]
Regards
Blurb
[color=navy]Game Title:[/color] [color=blue]The I Of The Dragon[/color]
[color=navy]Platform:[/color] [color=blue]PC[/color]
[color=navy]Developer:[/color] [color=blue]Strategy First[/color]
[color=navy]Genre:[/color] [color=blue]Action/Adventure[/color]
[color=navy]Pros:[/color]
[color=blue]OMG you get to play as a dragon![/color]
[color=blue]Impressive graphics and sound[/color]
[color=blue]Addictive gameplay[/color]
[color=blue]Again OMG you get to play as a dragon![/color]
[color=navy]Cons:[/color]
[color=blue]Some camera problems :([/color]
[color=blue]No multi player[/color]
[color=navy]Review:[/color]
[color=blue]TBH I’m not sure what made me get The I Of The Dragon, but I’m sure glad that I did. From the makers of the Jagged Alliance and Disciples duos comes this game of fast action, impressive graphics and a completely compelling storyline. Ok the story isn’t exactly impressive, but the graphics and gameplay are extremely good. The basic storyline is that monsters are destroying the world and there is one dragon egg left which a cult of wizards have been nurturing for the past millenia or so. Finnally the egg hatches and out comes you, and now the head wizard gives you tasks which you must complete as the legendary dragon saviour. All in a days work eh?[/color]
[color=blue]At the beginning of the game you have the choice to play as 1 of 3 dragon types. The fire breather, the magician, and the necro-mancer, each with their own unique abilities and spells. Finnaly we have a game where you can play as a mythilogical dragon, breathing fire, burning down buildings and even swooping down to eat a fleeing creature. As you fly through the detailed levels, you can here the wind russtling past you, and you can see the monsters on the ground hurling their weapons at you, which you can hear whizz right past your speakers. The mission of each level is either to defeat the level’s boss (just an over-sized lizard covered in fire or something :P) and/or destroy all layres in the level. There is a large avariety of enemies in this game, including spiders, lizards, smaller dragons, humans, and many more, all of which you can eat. If you are hungry you can select the ‘feed’ option, target the nearest enemy, swoop down to pick him up and eat him alive.[/color]
[color=blue]Aswell as having the ability to breath fire and eat your enemies alive, you have the power to cast various spells on the enemy and/or their layres. These spells get very impressive as the game advances, and the graphics are good enough that you can see the damage that the spells inflict upon your enemy. these spells include, fire-breath, meteores, raise gezers, create a ring of fire, and so many more.[/color]
[color=blue]In later levels you have to try and attempt to build a town in specially designated areas in an effort to defend that area from more monster invasions. The difficulty of the game varies a lot, but the levels can get very hard as the enemies advance in difficulty. Some of the enemies weapons are actually impressive :P[/color]
[color=blue][/color]
[color=#0000ff]The only faults I have found in this game so far are thus;[/color]
[color=blue]There are various camera problems. If you fly into a very steep slope the camera will go straight to the top of the slope whilst the dragon goes somewhere else, hence you are stuck until you do something which makes the camera return to the dragon :([/color]
[color=blue]Controls. This isn’t a big issue, but because you can use the mouse AND the keyboard to move and to navigate, you can find yourself moving the mouse one way and the keyboard the other way, or things such as this. Making the dragon move in very fast circles (or something similar) without you being able to stop it for a few seconds :/[/color]
[color=blue]I still haven’t completed the game yet so I can’t comment on the longetevity, but you have the option to return to any area that you have already defeated of the ‘world map’ and fight even more monsters which have respawned. So I would say that this game vould very well last an extremely long time =)[/color]
[color=blue]I would reccomend this game to anyone who loves fast-paced, RP, third person action games. Also to anyone who wants to try something new.[/color]
Regards
Blurb
[color=navy]Game Title:[/color] [color=blue]Unreal Tournament 2004[/color]
[color=navy]Platform:[/color] [color=blue]PC[/color]
[color=navy]Developer:[/color] [color=blue]Atari[/color]
[color=navy]Genre:[/color] [color=blue]FPS[/color]
[color=navy]Pros:[/color]
[color=blue]New multi player modes[/color]
[color=blue]Erm, lots of gore?[/color]
[color=navy]Cons:[/color]
[color=blue]Not much different from previous UT’s[/color]
[color=blue]6 CDs[/color]
[color=navy]Review:[/color]
[color=blue]What can I say really? I’m sure most people here have heard of the Unreal Tournament Series, which has been going for half a decade now. When a game is made by Atari you know it’s gonna be good, and the new unreal Tournament doesn’t dissapoint, but for 6 CDs it’s not that different from Unreal Tournament 2003.[/color]
[color=blue]Unreal Tournament 2003 was ‘my’ game, I was addicted, couldn’t tear me off it with a barge pole, and when I installed and first played 2004, I didn’t notice any difference unfortunately 
I guess the graphics were such in 2003 that they couldn’t be improved too much, but still, I expected something to stand out. The levels all seem the same but with a few new ones. One thing which is a plus point are the new multi player modes; Assault and Onslaught. I particularly like the Onslaught mode. this is a team frag game, in which you take side in massive outdoor environments. You have to capture and defend enemy strategic points so that you can attack the enemy power core and win the round. Ever wanted to use a vehicle in Unreal Tournament? Now you can! Drive tanks, hummers, buggies, and some amazing alien flying vehcles to destroy your enemy in the massive outdoor. Whilst in the vehicles, a warning will appear if you have a missile locked onto you, which is when you really gotta run for your life, because it’s hard as hell to avoid a missile once it’s locked onto you! this is even worse in the air as you find yourself ejecting @ high altitude and falling to you doom (or my doom) lol.[/color]
[color=blue]The weapons in all of the UT series have always been impressive, but they’ve managed to add even more weapons to this one =) including the Mine Layer, Grenade Launcher, Sniper Rifle and the Avril. In particular the Avril stands out as a power weapon. It’s main use is for anti vehicular attacks, and by keeping hold of the alternative fire function button you can lock onto enemy vehicles, fire now and you’ll lauch a hugh homing missile which you can feel rumble past you towards it’s target. Of course, there is still the Redeemer, ring any bells? This small-looking device doesn’t impress by looks, but launch it’s rocket and you’ll see the devastating effects =D it’s literally a mini nuclear missile, and you have the option to control the missile via on-board camera after it’s been launched.[/color]
[color=blue]The only faults I can think of really is the fact that it is 6 CDs big, and that it takes up 5.5GB of your hard drive, more than most games.[/color]
[color=blue]I would recommend this game to any FPS fan, but be warned, it requires a beast of a computer to run smoothly =)[/color]
Regards
Blurb
Ooo, great thread. Are these just PC games? I’m buying an X-box soon, do you think you could do some X-box games to help me decide what my first few games will be?
hehe, I’ll try m8 I don’t really do X-Box games, but a guy on my review team does, so I’ll get something done
our site BlurbReviews will be finished soon @ www.blurbreviews.co.uk (ignore crappy splash page lol) and that will have reviews for everything, including lots of XboX reviews =)
Regards
Blurb
Whadya know Just remembered I’ve been playing this game round my m8s house for the last few days
[color=navy]Game Title: [/color][color=blue]Need For Speed Underground[/color]
[color=navy]Platform:[/color] [color=blue]XboX[/color]
[color=navy]Developer:[/color] [color=blue]EA Games[/color]
[color=navy]Genre:[/color] [color=blue]Driving[/color]
[color=navy]Pros:[/color]
[color=blue]Phreakin’ amazing graphics![/color]
[color=blue]Phreakin’ amazing audio![/color]
[color=blue]You can customize your dream phreakin’ car![/color]
[color=navy]Cons:[/color]
[color=blue]No weather effects[/color]
[color=blue]Cars don’t get smashed up when you crash :([/color]
[color=navy]Review:[/color]
[color=blue]I think everyone must have played one of the Need For Speed’s sometime,[/color] [color=blue]they’ve been the top driving simulations for years now. I was hooked when Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 came out, it was THE driving game of it’s day, amazing graphics, amazing audio, and the option to play as either the illegal racers or the law enforcers, what more could you want? Then I watched 2 Fast 2 Furious, and heard my m8s talk about how they’re customizing theire car/going to customize their car, and I thought; ‘I’m too skint to customize my own car’ and then Need for Speed Underground came out =D[/color]
[color=blue]Graphics. You couldn’t ask for better graphics, and being on the XboX they run as smoothly as you could want! The road terrain is amazing, you can literally see the bumps in the tarmac and the tracks left in the wet surface from cars driving over it. There isn’t one glitch in the graphical side of the whole game, each car/road is exactly how you would expect it to be. Each car is exactly how the same model is in real life, right down to the braking systems and the muffler tips! A nice touch is when you apply the nitrous speed boosts, the whole screen shudders and vibrates so you can feel the power of the car as it gains speed, and everything on the screen motion blurs as your rush past them.[/color]
[color=blue]Audio. The audio is some of the best I’ve heard, you can literally ‘feel’ the road objects as your drive past them; lamp posts, trees, bins, everything. At the start and end of each race you can see and hear the crowd with it’s random chears of enthusiasm. You can ‘feel’ the road over which you’re racing, which adds to the adrenaline you feel as you play the game.[/color]
[color=blue]Features. You can take an ordinary every day car such as a Gulf, and transform it into a customized beast to impress the other racers! Win races to gain cash and reputation points, and customize every aspect of your car. You can change the look of the car, including the window tints, hood, roof, spoiler, muffler tips, neon lights etc, aswell as the performance of the car, including engine systems, braking systems, nitrous boosts, etc.There are many racing modes including drag, circuit, sprint, lap knock out and more. Particularly the ‘drift’ mode is interesting, in this you earn points by how well and how long you can do a skid in your car, can get kinda hard lol. There are some other interesting features such as when you win certain races you get rewards, these can include getting your photo on the front of famous magazines (not real life mags lol) and special car parts that you can’t get elsewhere. Using XboX live you can now race online against people around the globe, and talk to them at the same time, I didn’t get the chance to try this but I can imagine it could get pretty intense lol.[/color]
[color=blue]I can only put down this game because of two things, there are no weather effects, which would have been sweeeet as, and when you do a big crash, your car won’t get smashed up which is kinda unrealistic in a 175mph drag race all that will happen is you’ll see a slight smashed window graphic for the windows and maybe a few scratches on the car itself :/[/color]
[color=blue]The longetevity of the game must be impressive. Seeing as this is my m8s game, I haven’t been able to complete it for myself, but there are 100 ‘underground mode’ races which get harder the high they get, and then when you’ve completed all of them you can continue to do races to earn more money and customize other cars, so I’m guessing you can play this game for a very long time.[/color]
[color=blue]I would recommend this game to any driving fan. You honestly couldn’t ask for more in a driving simulation. Even though there are few slight faults, the graphical and audio elements combinated with the feature list, well make up for it.[/color]
Regards
Blurb
Aw, this is a great thread blurb, nice job.
But when you were speaking of CS:CZ, and you were saying there was multiplayer?
I’m pretty sure there isn’t any multiplayer, I’ve been playing counter-strike for a while (veterin :P)
If there is, then darn will I be suprised!
Could you write a review on the game Wolfenstein : Enemy Terrirtory or America’s Army?
Thanks
UT2004: the fact it has vehicles isn’t a pro?
Counter-strike: the fact it has incredibly good bots isn’t a pro?
Colin,
just because you hate every FPS out there except like two of them, doesn’t mean everyone else does, Haha
But heck, I gotta admit, the vehicles in Unreal II are really horrible… Well on Xbox atleaset 
//Just teasin’ you Colin
Grinch, I’m pretty sure there’s multi player on condition zero, was playing it about 30 minutes ago Yeah I’ll write one for America’s Army if you want, you mean the online one right? Loved that game when it first came out hehe. I’ll add more reviews tomorrow, I just gotta work on a website for a while
Colin for CS:CZ it’s BOTs yes they are impressive, but I didn’t put it in the pros list because someone could have easily made BOTs with the same level of impressiveness. The ammount of BOTs I’ve seen on official gaming servers is uncountable, and some have been better than the new offical CS BOT. As for the Unreal Tourny vehicles, I think I didn’t put it under Pros cause you can only have vehicles in one game mode and I was dissapointed that there weren’t already vehicles in unreal Tournament 2003
Regards
Blurb
Sorry Grinch update on the multi player thing, sorry misunderstood the question the multiplayer on Condition Zero is basically the same as on CS 1.6, it still uses tje steam program to launch and to connect to servers, the only difference is slightly better graphics and things such as the Interactive Tutor.
Also, I forgot to add that in Condition Zero single player mode you now have the much requested feature of weather effects (snow, rain etc), lol, that’s a Pro and I forgot it
Regards
Blurb
Hehe,
Oh I didn’t know it was the 1.6 steam for the multiplayer, thanks.
Yeah, everyone loves AA
The bug where you can shoot through walls STILL hasn’t been fixed (wtf?)
That’s not a bug, it’s a feature.
What exactly is a game library?
lol Invis,
to all people who want to play Counter Strike as a realistic counter terrorist experience, it’s a bug. The main reason why people can hack CS is because they create scripts which let them make head shots through walls, so you automatically aim at someone’s head and hit it when they’re across the other side of the map, behind a dozen or so walls and a couple floors below you. It’s a bug.
Oh my god,
hacks are by far the most annoying thing ever thought off. I sweat I want to go to that ‘n00bs’ house and tear his liver out. It just totally ruins that game! I especially hate when admin is a haxor, I’ve seen it once and it really sucked. But thanks the HLguard… but hey, do they still use HLguard on 1.6 servers?
CS is not realistic. America’s Army is realistic. And just cause some hackers use aimbot through walls dosn’t mean that the fact that you can shoot through walls is a bug. Competetive players usually wall people every other kill, CS wouldn’t be the same without being able to shoot through walls.
I’m not trying to get into a debate/arugment I’m just stating the facts.
Ok, to each his own :hr:
Hey blurb,
do you play 1.6 a lot? I would like to play with you sometime eh?
