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With the huge success that is “Angry Birds” it is clear that physic based games are fantastic to play and complement mobile gaming wonderfully. iBlast Moki is a physic based game which is like no other. Ithas a type of gameplay which we have never seen before in which you have to plan and time all your actions to progress.

The graphics of  iBlast Moki are simple but good to look at, the levels are challenging and best of all it is great fun- so lets take a deeper look at this  game.

The basic idea of the game is to get your Moki’s (spherical characters with faces) into the level exit portal.  At the first stages of the game you are required to plant bombs in order to blast the Moki’s so that they will reach the portal. At the beginning of the game You set up your bombs and the exact time when they are set to explode and then hit the Blast / Play button which begins all the events and the game. As the game progresses you’ll have to use more bombs to blast more Moki’s into the portal and as the game gets more difficult, you have to precisely time the bombs so they explode at the exact second you require them to.

You rewind or restart the level at any point and tweak your bomb placement and timings as usually it will take a little trial and error till you get everything working perfectly so that  your Moki’s can be blasted in the portal.

Most levels have an optimum solution.  Towards reaching the optimum solution the Moki’s must collect flowers in the air, as these are good hints about how to complete the level. Collect all the flowers on the level and you’ll have completed it the optimum way and gain extra points.

Once you’ve mastered multiple bombs and timing you’ll be really thrown into the deep end. The game adds in new items such as balloons, ropes, iron bars, wheels and screws, all of which you will have to use in order to get your Moki’s into the portal!  As with all the previous levels, you only have a certain number of all items at your disposal to work with.

• Balloons can be attached to other items or Moki’s and it will float them upwards.
• Iron bars can be used with balloons to push something upwards or with ropes to create bridges.
• Wheels can be attached to other items to make carts to carry Moki’s or cars to crash through bigger items.

It may seem quite overwhelming reading about all you are going to have to deal with but each item is introduced individually so you have time to learn how they work and use them to their full advantage.

Did I mention there are also levels which are underwater so the behaviour of objects is completely different? iBlast Moki is guaranteed to keep you busy for hour on end, reaching the end of the game will take a huge amount of time and effort as some of the levels are so challenging.

The problem with the game, although usually fun, is when you encounter a level you really struggle with as there are literally so many different ways to approach a level, especially at the later stages that you could sink hours into a single level trying to figure it out. Depending on how patient you are, once you are seriously stuck on a super hard level, the game doesn’t remain fun and just becomes frustrating which is usually when you stop playing the game all together! Either that or it’s time to find some tutorials online on how to complete it.

Overall iBlast Moki is great fun, it is a game which is like no other out there today so you definitely have to try it to see if you like it before dismissing it all together. Although occasionally difficult levels can put you off, powering on through is usually the best solution and you’ll feel great afterwards and have a great sense of accomplishment! If you have played Angry Birds to death then iBlast Moki is the more challenging and new physics game to try. iBlask Moki costs $2.99 and is available from the Windows Phone Marketplace.

Assassins Creed is a game like no other from game developers Ubisoft. The world of Assassins Creed is completely unique and has no rivals in its class. The visuals are absolutely stunning and the game play is one of the best I’ve ever seen.

What’s different about Assassins Creed is why you are totally immersed in the game world. The outside world of the game is set some point in the future where a scientist has found out that humans’ DNA carriy memories as well as other genetic information. The scientist has built a machine which can access a person’s genetic memories and re-live them. He wants to gain access to a memory at a certain point but you cannot access it before re-living the events up to that point or else the subject’s body will reject it. You play as the subject whose memories are being accessed and are reliving your ancestors past.

As the game progresses you find out why this technology is being used and such but I won’t spoil any of that for you. If you think of the memories a bit like “The Matrix” then it might make more sense as it’s essentially the same idea as that but in a completely different environment.

The game is set in the Holy Land in the Middle East during the 12^th century where you’ll visit 3 historic cities: Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre. Each city is unique and differs greatly in terms of the buildings and inhabitants. The game really does well to portray the Middle Eastern theme, you feel like you are connected with the ordinary town folk who you are protecting and consequently feel hatred towards your assassination targets and the guards.

What Assassins Creed does with its game environment is they make it feel alive, the city isn’t just full of static buildings and the odd person wandering around aimlessly from time to time, it is full of life and atmosphere. There will be literally hundreds of different characters walking around the cities doing their own business from normal town folk, to beggars, drunks, informants, merchants and of course, guards.

Characters like beggars will come up to you and ask you for money as you carry out your tasks around the cities and the drunks will happily start fighting you for absolutely no reason! Just like parts of London on a Saturday night!

What Assassins Creed is and always has been highly praised for is its freedom and ability to have your character to mount and climb literally anything that he can grab onto. You make your way around the cities by climbing the buildings and towers like an extreme parkour. You have to find different ways to access higher ground and innovative ways to get around obstacles and such which has never been seen before in a game. So much for mobility.

The combat in the game is definitely one that you will remember. It requires skill and concentration and at times can be tricky to master but at the same time it’s not too hard for it to be unenjoyable, yet not too easy to be boring. It really is spot-on, but what makes it totally brilliant are the finishing moves and cinematics that occur during combat. Thismakes it much more engaging and give it a “wow” pazazz factor.

The story inside the game world is equally as engaging as the rest of it; you begin as a respected Assassin called Altair who breaks the creed’s rules and gets demoted back to the lowest rank possible.  In the game you try to progress from the bottom all the way back to the top.

As well as the main story of the game there are literally hundreds of extra, bonus missions to complete to keep you occupied with the game for hours of extra fun. Extra missions include killing all Templar enemies in the game, collecting flags dotted around the landscape and synchronising with the world at the top of special viewpoints.

Overall Assassins Creed is a fantastic game-one of a kind. Everyone should experience and play this game at least once. The environment and gameplay of the game is one that will keep you coming back for more. The superb combat, stunning visuals, freedom and ability to mantle (is this the right word? Check it in the dictionary- I’ve not come across it before) and climb anything are what this game is all about and it does it perfectly. The game is available on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The Portal series by Valve is a game literally like no other, it is so unique and mind-bending, it just all fits together perfectly. The original Portal game was released as a sort of “Mini-Game” as part of valves hugely successful Orange Box series which included many of their brilliant titles. The original was a shock to everyone thanks to its fantastic graphics and gameplay. Due to the huge success of the small campaign,  a full Portal game was developed called “Portal 2”. However, will it be able to maintain to the high standard and emulate the brilliant  campaign we saw in the first one?

Portal 2 takes place almost directly after the events of the first game( which I won’t go into detail about as to not spoil it for those who haven’t played it yet). In the Aperature labs they are developing all sorts of wacky and awesome technology, and most important of them all is , the portal gun. You play the same character as apopears in the first game too. That’s a thumbs up for continuity.

The portal gun allows you to shoot two portals, a blue one and an orange one which are connected together. Through the use of this awesome device you are able to solve the challenges you face ahead of you to reach your objectives. Both portals act in the same way, you can enter or exit either one.

In the first Portal game, the campaign was captivating, engrossing and awesome, it had so much to offer and was so much fun but at the same time was a little creepy. Both the old and new games include the head computer at Aperature called GLaDOS who has taken control of the facility.

The majority of the game revolves around a small, spherical droid named “Wheatley” who is voiced by the brilliant Stephen Merchant who most famously played the role of Darren in Rickey Gervais’s “Extras”, and also who appeared in one or two episodes in “The Office”. The Wheatley character is arguably what makes this game so great, he adds comedy and heart to the game with his witty remarks and is a welcome and  unconventional partner in a video game.

Visually, Portal 2 is even more stunning than the original as the factory has fallen into disrepair and foliage is growing all around the facility. The surroundings and environment  in the game just work really well together and the destruction you see looks so believable. There are moments in the game where you will likely gasp at the beauty of what Valve has created, it complements the compelling story vividly. You really are drawn in to the proceedings.

Like the original the main idea of the game is to complete challenges to get you from section to section of where you need to go. The different levels or rooms vary in size dramatically and always offer a different puzzle that you need to solve.

The puzzles themselves are extremely well thought out and will require some mental power and time to work out the more complicated ones. I  have spent huge amounts of time working out how to get past certain levels as they are so intricate and difficult yet seem so simple and obvious once you complete them, That’s a sign of good depth in game design and scenario production. Most importantly,  the problem solving never seems to be a chore… it is fun all the time!

Breathing fresh air into Portal 2 is the vast array of new items which the player has at their disposal to complete challenges. In the original you had to deal mainly with placing cubes onto buttons and occasionally directing energy spheres into the correct sockets. In Portal 2 however we now have the following for us to use:

• Blue Light Bridges: You can use these to create a path to areas across the map or block certain objects.
• Aerial Faith Plates: When you stand on it, you’ll be flung like catapult!
• Orange Propulsion Gel: Running on this gel will cause you to gain a huge amount of speed!
• Blue puddles of Repulsion Gel: Think of the blue gel like a trampoline, the higher you jump on it from, the higher you will go! (Sounds like a good name for a Punk Band: Blue Puddles of Revulsion Gel!)
• White Gel: This can be used to make any non-portal surface able to have portals placed on them!
•  Excursion funnels are blue tubes of anti-gravity: These funnels allow you to force yourself or objects along the path of the funnels gravity which you can re-direct using your portal gun.

Don’t worry if this all seems a little daunting though, Portal 2 does an excellent job of introducing you to each of these new items slowly with puzzles of increasing difficulty, rather than throwing you right into the deep end. Even if you have not played the first game you’ll still be taught from the beginning how the Portal gun and other items from the first game work.

In conclusion Portal 2 is a brilliant game, it has so much to offer. Its game play is unique like no other, the story is truly epic. Whether you’ve played the first one or not, you need to try this game! You get drawn into this game so much as it is so captivating, this is a game that will go down in video game history as one of the best and most innovative.  Now if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to try that next scenario again!!

World of Warcraft is the biggest and most popular MMORPG (Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) in the world. Topping nearly 11 million subscribers worldwide, all paying a monthly subscription, the World of Warcraft franchise is absolutely massive.

The basic idea behind World of Warcraft is to create a player/character and increase their level to the top level which currently is capped at 85. Along your journey you’ll explore the massive world, partake in a wide array of different quests and story lines and fight great monsters. As you become more and more powerful , you learn new abilities and gain new equipment too.

The game is divided into two factions, the Horde and the Alliance. Both have access to the same types of playing classes but differ in terms of what character types they can play within those classes.

Throughout the game you’ll meet other, real, players who can help you with those quests that require multiple players to complete. You’ll partake in Battleground fights where the Horde and the Alliance fight each other in various locations or you’ll join up with a party and complete one of the hundreds of dungeons that feature in World of Warcraft.

The game is set in the world of Azeroth, populated by almost anything your imagination can think of! The game features characters and parts from fantasy and science fiction, so you can expect to find such monsters as trolls, serpents, dragons, steam-powered enemies, goblins as well as spaceships, time travel and even alien worlds! World of Warcraft really does have it all. The environments and maps that the characters popular are equally as impressive, they can vary so much from being a nice green hilly area to a gorge full of rock shaped needles and much more.

For those who get into World of Warcraft, it can become incredibly addictive since it’s a game which you can never totally complete, there is always something to keep you playing..

Unfortunately World of Warcraft is a game where first time players are dropped right into the deep end, no matter how much you may have played other MMORPG’s. The game has so much content in it and so many things you can do that it is just overwhelming for a new player which deters some people at first.

In order to learn how to play the game and properly understand it you’ll need the help of an already experienced friend who can help and guide you through the first ten levels or so. Around level 10 you should have a basic understand of the game, its features and what you can do.

Personally I still play it now and again and even being nearly level 70 there are still aspects of the game I have never taken part in or even understand as there is no published guide line to the whole game. Nor is there likely to ever be- it’s  just far too big! Not knowing parts of the game doesn’t ruin it at all though; the great thing about the game is you can do whatever you want in it. You can level out your character how you want, make money how you want and much more.

So what is the catch for a game that offers such a massive world of content? £9 a month. You can purchase a subscription 3 months, 6 months or 12 months at a time but you’ll have to remain subscribed in order to keep playing though.

For some this is going to seem like quite a lot of money as it’ll end up costing you more and the average game you usually play online. Last year, World of Warcraft had about 12 million subscribers to its game worldwide. Ass of today that number has dropped significantly down to around 10 million. Losing 2 million subscribers is a huge loss,  and many have put it down to the game’s constant playing that is required and (perhaps surprisingly), a lack of content! For some people there’s just never enough!

There are players out there who have reached the top level, purchased all 3 World of Warcraft expansion packs and have been left with nothing to do, a fourth expansion pack is set to be released sometime this year in an attempt to get the higher level players back online.

The game has also been desperately trying to recruit new players too, running TV adverts featuring the likes of Chuck Norris and Ozzy Osbourne (lead singer with recently re-formed Black Sabbath) all over the world offering new comers the ability to play the game up to level 20 absolutely free. If you make use of the free trial to its full potential, by the time you get to level 20, chances are you’ll be hooked and will sign up for the subscription. Crafty marketing technique that!

On the other hand, the way players are dropped into the deep end is still a big issue, the developers have tried to make the game more welcoming and understanding to new players, but it is still a daunting experience at first.  Unless players really stick with it and try hard to learn it they won’t be playing it for long.

At the end of the day, World of Warcraft is a fantastic game which everyone should try to see if they like it before passing judgement on it. Whether you want to start paying a subscription is up to you but you should visit www.trywarcraft.com and download the game to get a taste of what it’s all about. If it’s not for you then it hasn’t cost you anything, if it is then it’ll bring you days upon days of playtime. See you at level 85 some day!

Audiosurf is a game like no other available exclusively for the PC via Steam. It is a game that looks similar to Guitar Hero or Singstar except that it offers lots of different game modes based around collecting blocks or missing them or building bonuses. The best thing about Audiosurf though is its special built in algorithm that allows you to use the game with any piece of music you want. The game builds a track where the beats in the song are converted into bumps in the track and the tempo of the track causes the games speed to increase and the colours  become more red and extreme

The effects of the game and whole experience allow you to turn any music track into a funky looking and colourful video with an awesome and addictive game play element too. The minimum hardware specifications of the game can be found below:

• OS: Microsoft® Windows® XP/Vista
• Processor: 1.6 GHz Intel® Pentium® 4
• Memory: 512 MB RAM
• Graphics: 32 MB NVIDIA GeForce® 2 (support for Pixel Shader 3.0 recommended)
• DirectX Version: DirectX® 9.0 or higher
• Sound: DirectX® 9.0c-compatible sound card

You don’t need a particularly powerful computer to play the game, but if you want to experience the game at a high resolution and with great graphics then a higher end system would be more desirable.

The great part about Audiosurf is its ability to never run out of content. Unlike on Singstar or Guitar Hero, when you get bored of all your songs you have to spend money to buy new ones. With Audiosurf the game is as big as your music library! So the content available is endless and the life of the game will last forever. The length of the game is the length of the song, the tempo of the song controls the speed of the pod/ship you control. The tempo changes throughout the song so you really feel the song speed increase visually with the pods acceleration. The game really does express a piece of audio really well, the great thing is that it works for  any type of audio track, of course low tempo, slow tracks will be easier than super fast ones. Incidentally, one of the most played tracks is “Dragonforce – Through the fire and the flames”, the final song on the popular Guitar Hero 3 PS2 game, the song is praised for being a song with (allegedly!)the fastest guitar riffs in the world.

You can buy the game via Steam or physically via a retailer. The game has a built in radio feature which is updated weekly with new tracks that you can download for free and play. They are usually funky techno type songs that are different and really cool to play. If you purchase the game via Steam then tracks from Valves popular titles are included. The soundtrack from games included are: Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Portal, TeamFortress 2 and more.

There are three different difficulty modes in the game; each difficulty level has a different array of characters which all collect points along the path in different ways so there are many different game modes. The three difficulty levels usually control the speed of the track and how fast bricks appear (speed of song is not increased). In one game mode you simply avoid the grey blocks and collect the coloured ones, this is the simplest game type but still great fun. In another, you must create chains of similarly coloured blocks, the larger the chain the more points you get so there is more thought and planning behind this game mode.

At the end of the song your score is totalled and can be uploaded online where you can see how others performed on the song. The software is very intuitive about realising which song it is that you have played even if the name isn’t in a generic form. A really great feature is the anti-cheat type feature that is implemented. Basically each song you play is converted into a line graph picture which is unique to each and every song, much like a security hash code. This eliminates people simple making a music track with a single tone and naming it “ACDC Back in Black” for example. It’s a great feature which keeps balance in the game and makes it fair.

You can choose from multiple appearance settings to customise the games graphics to your liking, there are lots of combinations to choose from which yields some interesting yet fantastic results

Audiosurf is a absolutely great game that everyone should experience at some point because it is like no other. At just $10 it’s a great price for a game that will last you forever because you can never run out of content for it! It isn’t a game that you’ll play for hours on end likely but it’s a great casual game suitable for literally anyone because it’s your music that you play!

Forget the tropical, sunny and beachy islands of the original Crysis, the new game is set in a desolate New York city in the middle of a futuristic war! And it’s not just the setting that’s changed- it has a completely new type of gameplay, with many upgrades and perks.

The original Crysis, which was only available for the PC, prided itself on its absolutely stunning graphics when it was released in 2007. And even today its graphics are superior to many new games! It really was a revolutionary game, and ahead of its time. It was later expanded with an extra chapter called Crysis: Warhead which again was exclusive to the PC.  That expansion included an amazing campaign with visuals that were stunning! So Crysis 2 had a lot to live up to and improve upon… but has it managed it?

To start with the completely different climate change from the original game offers a completely new combat experience. In the original game there were lots of open space battles and fights in small villages. In Crysis 2, we are in the heart of a gritty urban environment- New York! This means battles in the streets, subway fights and melees inside buildings.

If you haven’t played Crysis before then you’ll need to know that the game revolves around this special and top secret “nanosuit” which offers superhuman abilities to the player. The special abilities the suit offers are:

- the ability to jump really high.

-to sprint extra fast,

-super strength to kick vehicles and unleash a powerful melee attack,

-a stealth/ invisibility mode and

-an armour mode.

In the previous Crysis game you had to select between 4 different suit settings which were “Strength, Armour, Stealth and Speed” but in Crysis 2 the “Nanosuit 2.0” offers a different approach to these perks.

What’s new in Crysis 2?

• Platform: Unlike the original Crysis, Crysis 2 is available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 as well as PC.
• Nanosuit 2.0: Crysis two you can now basically activate either Stealth or Armour mode when you want, the Speed and Strength abilities are basically now always activated so you do not have to switch suit modes in order to do a super jump. It makes the game much easier to play and less confusing which definitely helps. The use of all these special powers requires energy however so you cannot use the invisibility for example forever! All the special abilities drain suit energy so make sure you find a quiet area to wait for it to replenish when you can.
• Modules: Through upgrades, the Nanosuit may also be equipped with passive power and tactical modules. These modules do not need any additional power and are always active once installed. In order to purchase new modules you need to collect Nano Catalyst from dead alien bodies. It adds a new collective element to the game with useful bonuses.
• Others: New weapons, a revamped HUD, power slides, collectibles , Nanovision and the Nanosuit Showroom.

Performance:

As with the original Crysis, if you are playing the game on the PC you are going to need a pretty beefy PC to experience the beauty of the game since it is very power hungry But that is to be expected with such graphics! Obviously on the PC you can lower the settings till you get a smooth outcome and still experience the amazing gameplay without such stunning visuals.

Performance issues have arisen with the console versions on Crysis with users experiencing in-game lag and frame rate Issues. The non-PC community are not happy!  I have also noticed these issues when playing the game on the consoles. The game just doesn’t feel smooth as other games out there today. The average frame rate for the two consoles is around and below 30fps, which really is fairly low for a modern video game and leaves the game feeling a bit slow and sluggish which is a shame since it can be really apparent at times! In high combat parts of the game the frame rate can drop even lower to produce real graphical lag which in a sense ruins the game because it can make combat frustrating.

But with time you will get used to the lower frame rates and it won’t be as obvious as when you start the game so it is definitely not a reason to turn away from the game. The low frame rates are a result of the amazing visuals in the game and the visuals definitely make up for the lower frame rates since they really will make you go “wow”.

Gameplay:

With all the different types of suit features there are numerous ways to approach a fight and you can decide how you do it. The game allows you the freedom to approach a battle how you want without being spoon fed about where to stand and who to shoot first etc. It really is a gameplay experience unlike any other which allows you to use new and awesome tactical approaches!

The campaign is amazing, the special effects and visuals are like no other game and you could easily play it through multiple times and not get bored because you can combat the enemy in so many different ways.

Conclusion:

You have to play this game. Everyone should experience what it is like because you can’t judge it properly until you’ve played it. The visuals will blow you away and the gameplay will be something you haven’t experienced before (in a good way). However for console gamers the low frame rate may deter you at first but with time you will get used to it and come to really like the game. It would be nice if there was the ability to lower the settings on the consoles for players who want a smoother experience. Personally my platform of choice for Crysis 2 would be the PC since there is a demo available for the game and there is not for the PS3 or Xbox 360 so you can try it before you decide to buy it. At the end of the day though, Crysis 2 offers hours of fun with its amazing campaign and online multiplayer experience complemented wonderfully by its visuals no matter what platform you decide to play on.

Bioshock 2 is the latest edition to the Bioshock franchise by games publisher 2K. It takes place eight years after the events of the original Bioshock game in the underwater city known as “Rapture”. The new game includes a bunch of new and exciting features which really expand the game superbly such as new enemies, weapons, plasmids and gene tonics!

The original Bioshock was the most atmospheric game that I have ever played. The idea of a city underwater was always going to be creepy from the start but the fact that the whole city of Rapture has fallen into anarchy over a special drug called ADAM which allows for gene manipulation just adds to this unique city’s style. Both games are set around the 1960’s and the whole city of Rapture reflects the date it’ set at; the dated theme is really apparent throughout.  The game’s lighting effects and graphics do wonders for this decaying underwater Utopia.

Due to the anarchy the whole city has become almost deserted, populated mainly by drug addicts which are known as “Splicers”. The Splicers are as weird and drugged up as they always were, dressed still in their ripped up suits and masquerade style masks.  Watch out for them, they are complete freaks!

Leaks from the ocean outside are all over the place and really makes the whole world more realistic since it was inevitable that an underwater city was going to have a few leaks here and there but the disruption in Rapture has made it a whole lot worse.

It is hard to express in words how amazing the whole world is and the amount of atmosphere that surrounds it. You really do have to play it to realise what an awesome environment the developers of the game have created.  Truly believable.  The new game setting is  exactly the same as the original so the atmosphere is just as peculiar. This is by no means a game designed to scare you though, it’s not a scary game. It’s just the whole world that has been created and the atmosphere that goes with it make it really creepy but at the same time absolutely amazing. It really is like no other game.

Like the first game, through the use of ADAM and EVE, special abilities called plasmids are available to the player to approach combat in some truly unique and exciting ways. Plasmids are now upgradeable to offer extra special features and abilities.

In Bioshock 2 you play as one of the “Big Daddies” and you are on a quest to resolve the story behind your daughter and take care of the evil woman called Sofia Lamb who is trying to control and keep you from her. You spend lots of time receiving flashbacks about you and your daughter’s past while you carry out tasks for the few sane people left in Rapture to get you ever closer to Lamb. The original Bioshock involved a story line that was absolutely amazing, it had you so gripped and it was so exciting, it was always going to be hard to beat such an awesome story. So it’s not surprising that Bioshock 2’s story is fairly weak in comparison to the original. Along with the compelling storyline, the original game also had loads of memorable moments, unexpected and stimulating events throughout the game but it seems that in Bioshock 2, they don’t  occur as often which is a shame since it was a really enjoyable asset as it complimented the game’s unusual environment really well.

What else is new?
The most useful difference in the new game is the ability to equip your Plasmids and your weapons at the same time so you can use them in rapid succession or even simultaneously so as to prevent tedious switching between weapons during combat. It makes the whole game experience much easier.

You now have the option to adopt Little Sisters once you kill the Big Daddy protecting them. This allows you to use them to harvest ADAM from various dead bodies around Rapture. While harvesting ADAM you will be attacked by a swarm of Splicers, wanting in on the action. Each Little Sister can gather ADAM twice in total before you have the choice to either harvest them for further ADAM or rescue them.

The Big Sisters are a new addition to the game. Surprise surprise, they are the Little sisters when they are grown up and are armoured like that of one of the Big Daddies from the original. There is a chance you will get attacked by the Big Sisters when you use your Little Sister to harvest ADAM from dead bodies around rapture. They are really tough opponents so be prepared for them!

A multiplayer mode is also present in the new Bioshock, something which the original lacked. It includes some really good and unique game modes which can be fun. A ranking system is included too so it keeps you coming back for more. However it’s not the best online experience you can have with a game but since the Bioshock game always was about the single player campaign we’ll let it slide since we see it as just an extra feature to keep us busy till the next Bioshock instalment comes along!

In conclusion, Bioshock 2 is a really good game and if you played the original game you should definitely purchase it because it again offers a really good campaign and loads of new features which take the game to a new level. It’s just a disappointment the story of the game isn’t on par with the first Bioshock but the new features, weapons and enemies of the game make up for the story since they are enough to keep you satisfied throughout the game! If you haven’t played Bioshock ever before though then definitely purchase the original before the new one since its storyline is just amazing and is a great introduction into this incredible world.

Team Fortress 2 is a fun, first person shooter, online multiplayer game for the PC & MAC that is like no other which has recently become “Free-To-Play” meaning you can download it and play absolutely free. The game offers a character for everyone, whatever mood you may be in and finely balanced game play and game types that will keep you entertained for hours on end and keep you coming back for more.

Team Fortress is unique in every way from your standard everyday common first person shooters. Its graphics are like that of a Pixar movie; they have a cartoon feel to them yet at the same time, still look stunning. The visuals are shown off by some of the stunning maps, characters and weapons. The wide variety of games types will suit any person’s kind of playing, each one always as fun as the last! The main idea of the game is the BLU team verses the RED team, below is a list of the game types currently available:

• Payload: BLU pushes the cart down the track. RED needs to stop them.
• King of The Hill: One team must control a single point until time runs out.
• Attack / Defence: BLU wins by capturing all points. RED wins by stopping them.
• Payload Race: Two teams. Two carts. Two tracks.
• Control Points: Capture all points to win.
• Capture the Flag: Two teams. Take the enemy’s intelligence briefcase back to yours to score!

Each one is fun in its own way and requires a different tactical approach to win; the idea (subtly hidden in the title) is to work as a team to achieve your objective.

The classes: Team Fortress 2 is made up of 9 different classes, each fun and important in its own way I’ll give you a brief overview of each one:

As you can see there are a wide variety of classes to play and you can try each one to see which ones you like best but there are some basic rules and things you need to know though on how Team Fortress works and how things get done…

• Heavy’s and Medics usually work together because of the powers of the Heavy’s weapon and large health and ability to keep pouring out the damage without reloading!
• Pyro’s need to be aware that there could be a spy right next to them at any point, so keep the flame thrower going in order to make sure!
• Engineers, get those Teleporters up and make sure you upgrade them so they recharge faster! Getting your team to the front line is crucial. Dispensers and sentries also should be placed in inconspicuous areas where they will catch the enemy off guard.
• Demomen are good at destroying buildings and guarding defensive points with their sticky bombs since as soon as the enemy reaches the objective… BOOM!
• Critical Hits are another unique type of game play to Team Fortress 2, critical hits are when your gun or weapon does twice as much damage as normal, this can happen at random intervals or when you meet other requirements for the weapon, or are being charged by the Kritzkreig medi gun.
• Medics currently have two main weapons available to them: The Medi Gun and the Kritskreig. The Medi Gun is the slowest to charge from healing but once your charge is full you can make the current character you are healing invulnerable for about 10 seconds or so, this is perfect for offensive operations and attacking large groups of enemies or buildings without dying. The Kritzkreig charges quicker and gives your target a 100% chance of achieving critical hits for a short period, this really is very good for attacking large groups of enemies since you’ll be doing so much damage!
• Kill an enemy three times without them killing you and then they become dominated by you!
• Be killed by an enemy three times without killing them and they become your nemesis!
• The main thing to remember though is your objective and in order to win, that needs to be fulfilled so make sure it is always a priority! Assist your team however you can!

Other aspects of the game come with experience of playing and observing what other players do. For new players it’s probably best to stick to the crowd and work as a team in order to know what you should be doing.

What happens first?

When you first open Team Fortress 2 you’ll be presented with the home screen, from here press the “Start Playing” button and select the game type you want to play, the recommended type for new players is payload since its fairly easy to understand (The more people you have round the cart the faster it moves to its objective)
It’ll then search for a game server and start loading, when you then can choose your team (RED = Defending, BLU = Attacking) but teams alternate throughout rounds. After that you can choose your class… give each one a go and test them out to find one that you like using! Easy ones to start off with are the Soldier and the Pyro.

The way the game round starts is BLU is in their base and are unable to exit until the round starts, which lasts 50 seconds, while red has access to the whole map in order to build defences and get ready for the BLU invasion. RED’s usually gather around the BLU’s base to try and stop them as early as possible. An important note: During the setup phase of the game, a medic will be able to FULLY charge their Uber gun meaning when the round starts you can unleash fury and there is a massive clash of teams, resulting in much fun!

A setup part does not occur in some game types such as capture the flag and payload race since its not required.

Achievements, Weapons & Hats:

Team Fortress initially launched with each class and their basic weapons but over the years it has been expanded into a whole new world of items. Hats can be used to customise your players look, there are hundreds of hats available that can be used some hilarious and some a little bit scary! But it makes you different from other people in the game and adds an element to keep you playing in order to find more and more hats! Hats range from simply removing the standard head gear of your player to “Cadaver’s Craniums” and pirate hats! It shows the fun and casual side to the game where you can just have a laugh! The customisable appearance ranges from all types of head gear and eye wear.

You obtain hats randomly throughout the game or if you have been playing during certain Team Fortress events such as last Halloween where all players were awarded a Halloween themed hat. These cannot be gained through achievements. Just keep playing really and if you’re lucky, you’ll get one! Maybe even one of the rare or unusual ones.
Specific achievements are available for each class, with three Milestones for each class. Once you reach a milestone for a class you will be awarded with a new weapon for that class! You get to the milestones by completing a certain amount of achievements. Currently there are 379 unique achievements, but it’s not required (nor recommended) to attempt to get them all!

Weapons are obtained at random intervals while playing much like hats except they are much more common to come by! There are many different weapon combinations for all classes that in some cases completely change the way you play them, adding new ways to approach the battlefield etc. You can customise your player’s equipped items during and before a game in order to tweak to your liking! All weapons clearly identify what they do in relation to the original standard weapon for that class so they aren’t too confusing to get your head round.

Trading & Shopping

Trading has also been added to the game recently so you can trade with any player items that you may want to swap. If you don’t like a certain item or find it useless then trade it with another player for something better! Trading can be started from the Items menu on the home screen.

The main recent upgrade to Team Fortress 2 is the buying element in the game. This was added when the game became Free-To-Play. The idea behind it is for the developers to make money from micro-transactions in the form of buying items that you want rather than paying for the actual game its self. Buying items is completely optional, but if you really want a specific weapon or hat, it may just lure you in… Most weapons and hats in the game can be purchased from the store. New items are to say the least, extremely expensive but the majority of items are below £1.

Theoretically you could obtain all the items you want as they are found randomly throughout the game, but there are so many it is unlikely you’ll get them all any time soon and you will find many duplicate items. Perhaps new players of the game may want to buy a few items to get introduced into the team fortress world but it is up to you whether you see if beneficial!

Crafting:

When you start to earn lots of items you’re bound to eventually find some of the items you already have again, which are useless to you unless you can find someone who wants to trade for them! This is where the crafting element is introduced. It is a fairly advanced concept to the game and took me a while to figure it out since there was not much explanation of how to use it, I don’t recommend the whole crafting scene for new players as it will just seem overwhelming.

You can craft two unwanted weapons from a class into a piece of scrap metal.

You can craft three pieces of scrap metal into reclaimed metal.

You can craft three pieces of reclaimed metal into a piece of refined metal.

Certain metal can then be used with existing items to form new items, from the crafting screen blueprints are available of what you can smelt. There are many websites too which list all which you can make. But it really is a tricky concept so unless you’re an advanced user I’d steer clear of this area!

All this item buying and crafting malarkey is optional though and you don’t need it to have an awesome and fun time in Team Fortress 2. It’s about the game play at the end of the day which is always superb no matter what items or weapons you use since the standard ones are more than capable!

So how do I get Team Fortress 2?

Team Fortress 2 can be obtained by the digital distribution software Steam. Steam is a free piece of software that is the future of PC gaming, it allows you to buy thousands of games over the internet and have them downloaded directly to your PC. Of course certain games like Team Fortress 2 are free so you won’t have to pay a penny! If you visit their website here: http://store.steampowered.com/ you can download the steam software for your PC or MAC, once installed you simple create an account to keep track of all your possible purchases, friends and games etc! Steam also allows you to never lose a game due to a scratched disc since everything is saved online.

In order to play Team Fortress 2 on PC you must meet these minimum system specifications: “1.7 GHz Processor, 512MB RAM, DirectX® 8.1 level Graphics Card (Requires support for SSE), Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection”

The recomended system specifications are: “Pentium 4 processor (3.0GHz, or better), 1GB RAM, DirectX® 9 level Graphics Card, Windows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP, Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection”

These are all fairly low and any modern computer will likely trump the recomended requirements. Below are the minimum system requirements for the MAC also: “OS X version Leopard 10.5.8, Snow Leopard 10.6.3, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8 or higher, ATI X1600 or higher, or Intel HD 3000 or higher Mouse, Keyboard, Internet Connection”

Once steam is installed and you have created an account, simply search for Team Fortress 2 and being downloading! It’ll take a good few hours to complete but once done, you’re all set! A complete game, with a massive community and hours of fun, absoloutley free! What could be better?

Overall the whole feel of the game is fun and excitement! For new players, aspects may seem daunting at first since there is a fair bit to learn but experience will come with time. You choose how you want to play the game, thats why its suitable for everyone with a PC or MAC, the maps and game types are all different and the classes differ in many ways. All I can say, seeing as it’s free is: give it a go! If it doesnt work out for some reason then you’ve lost nothing but chances are you wont be foregetting this game anytime soon.