Sunday, May 31, 2009

Need For Speed Shift Cover Car Revealed,


tart your engines! Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS) today announced that Need for Speed™ SHIFT will feature 18 authentic race tracks and over 65 pixel-perfect cars including the one-of-a-kind BMW M3 GT2 that will grace the cover. The spectacular SHIFT cover car is one of the fastest, most powerful cars ever to be featured in a Need for Speed game. Designed to deliver a true drivers experience, SHIFT boasts legendary cars from the past 35 years, each one modelled to deliver an incredible sense of speed and realism.

At Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, gamers will also get a first look at a wide spectrum of the seminal performance machines in the game, including classic cars like the 1972 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R, renowned tuners like 1995 Mazda RX-7, and ultra-exclusive exotic cars like the 2007 Lamborghini Reventón. The best way to show off these hot rides is to take them for a spin on the track. Need for Speed SHIFT features over 50 unique layouts across 18 tracks including real-world locations and fictional circuits. Players can race on world-renowned tracks like the grueling 20 km Nordschleife or meticulously-designed fictional circuits found in Glendale with its steep grades, hairpin corners and blind crests.

“Need for Speed SHIFT is about the intense power and emotion of being behind the wheel and this carefully selected list of cars and tracks was chosen to give players the ultimate driving moment,” said Patrick Soderlund, Senior Vice President at EA Games Europe. “SHIFT is the evolution of racing genre. We’re delivering the first truly immersive driving game by combining perfectly modelled cars and tracks with the dramatic realism of the true driver’s experience.”


Need for Speed SHIFT car roster:
2006 Aston Martin DBR9
2009 Audi R8 LMS
2008 Audi R8
2008 Audi RS 4
2007 Audi S3
2007 Audi TT 3.2 quattro
2006 Audi S4
BMW M3 E36
BMW M3 E46
BMW M3 E92
2008 BMW 135i Coupé
2009 BMW M3 GT2
2007 BMW Z4 M Coupé
2008 Bugatti Veyron 16.4
2006 Dodge Challenger Concept
2008 Dodge Viper SRT10
Falken Tire 2010 Ford Mustang GT
2010 Ford Shelby GT500
2007 Ford Focus ST
2006 Ford GT
2006 Need For Speed Shelby Terlingua
1996 Ford Escort RS Cosworth
2009 Chevrolet Camaro SS
2006 Chevrolet Cobalt SS
2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06
2006 Honda Civic Si
2000 Honda S2000
2006 Koenigsegg CCX
2008 Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4
2007 Lamborghini Murciélago LP640
2007 Lamborghini Reventón
2006 Lotus Elise 111R
2007 Lotus Exige S
2005 Maserati MC12 GT1
2008 Mazda MX-5
2006 Mazda RX-8
1995 Mazda RX-7
1994 McLaren F1
2007 Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition
2007 Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG
2008 Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION
2006 Mitsubishi Lancer EVOLUTION IX MR-edition
2003 Infiniti G35 (V35)
1997 Nissan 200SX (S14)
2009 Nissan 370Z (Z34)
2006 Nissan 350Z (Z33)
2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV (R35)
2008 Nissan GT-R (R35)
2000 Nissan Silvia (S15) spec.R AERO
1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34)
1972 Nissan Skyline 2000GT-R
1992 Nissan 240SX (S13)
2006 Pagani Zonda F
2010 Pagani Zonda R
2008 Porsche 911 GT2
2009 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR
2006 Porsche 911 GT3 RS
2004 Porsche Carrera GT
2007 Porsche Cayman S
2008 Renault Mégane RS
2007 SEAT Leon CUPRA
2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STi
2007 Lexus LF-A Concept
2008 SCION tC
1986 Toyota Corolla GTS (A86)
2008 Volkswagen Scirocco
2006 Volkswagen Golf GTI
Need for Speed SHIFT track list:
1. Alpental
2. Autopolis International Racing Course
3. Ambush Canyon
4. Brands Hatch
5. Dakota
6. Ebisu Circuit
7. Glendale
8. Hazyview
9. Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca
10. London
11. Miytomi
12. Nordschleife
13. Road America
14. Rustle Creek
15. Silverstone
16. Circuit de Spa Francorchamps
17. Tokyo
18. Willow Springs

tekkan 6 fighting Trailer


Batman:Arkhm Asylum





Treatment wing -- the place where all the previews before this one have taken place. After tapping a button to kick out a grate that was blocking his path, Batman was on the outside of the building again. He grappled up to a higher vantage point and we were treated to a breathtaking view of the Gotham City skyline -- with the main wing of Arkham in front of us, Wayne Tower was reaching into the moonlit sky in the background -- while the orchestral score swelled to enhance the iconic scene. From there, Batman used his cape to glide on down to the area in front of the building, check in with some police officers and then talk to Oracle about Commissioner Gordon getting kidnapped.

Seems the commish got taken while hanging around the Batmobile at the main entrance of the insane asylum and it just so happens that a bunch of the Joker's men are over there dinging up the car. Batman heads over there, enters with a glide kick and generally beats the hell out of everyone through a series of fluid punches, kicks and grapples that make up the oft-written about FreeFlow combat. As usual, the moves looked brutal, fluid, and easy to pull off seeing as how you're using the simple controls to pull off and chain together different moves in 360 degrees.

With the baddies down, Batman switched over to his Detective Mode -- a view that drops a set of lenses in the cowl, turns the screen blue and highlights points of interest -- and discovered that the old sea dog Gordon had left a trail of pipe tobacco on the ground so that Batman could find where the Joker had carried him off to. The cancer-causing breadcrumbs led Bats to a sealed door for Arkham West, so the hero sprayed some explosive gel on the side wall, blew it up and made his way in to end this section of the demo.

From there, we jumped to an Invisible Predator segment. Again, I've written about this a lot and you've actually seen it in action before, so I won't bore you with the blow by blow mechanics. Basically, Joker's men have Arkham Guard Aaron Cash tied to a chair and are beating his head in while looking for information -- "Tell us where the bitch went," one thug screams between punches. Batman stumbles upon the scene and quickly ascends to the gargoyles high above the action below. Batman begins throwing sonic batarangs, zipping from one gargoyle to another and grabbing guys from the ground floor and hanging them by their feet from above. As he's picking off these foes one by one, Batman can slip into Detective Mode and see how many guys are left as well as what weapons they are packing and how scared they currently are.

Finally, the demo ended with an in-game FreeFlow challenge. Again, you should know the nuts and bolts of this from the write-ups about it and the videos about it here on IGN, but the idea is that Batman gets trapped in a confined area, a bunch of bad guys come at him and you can't move on until everyone's unconscious. Here, Batman was caught in a circular room with a bunch of doors lining the curved walls. Every so often, a door would open and Batman would have a number of thugs to take out. He could grab the weapons from their hands and use the 2x4s and what have you against their previous owners, take people out with spinning flips and basically just pwn anyone that got in his way. However, things got interesting when a Doomsday-like beast entered the field of play.

Babylon Pro 8.0.0



Babylon Pro 8 is the ultimate all-in-one translation solution operated by a single click on your mouse. Simply click on a word or text in any desktop application and get instant translation results into 75 languages. Translation of full texts, Web pages and comprehensive documents is supported by 31 languages. All these features and more, like the integration into Microsoft Office Speller menu, contextual access, language detection, currencies and units conversion, are accessible without interrupting your work flow. Babylon 8 comes with a new dictionary pack, including updated Babylon dictionaries and 17 new Wikipedia titles. You may enhance your translation experience with premium content dictionaries from acclaimed publishing houses such as Oxford, Britannica, Merriam-Webster, Larousse, Vox, Langenscheidt, Pons, and Duden. With Babylon 8, understanding, reading and writing in all languages is easier, faster, and more efficient than ever before.
Version 8.0 r20 features translation of full Web pages and documents, seamless integration into Microsoft Office Speller, easier access and new dictionaries.

  • Setup + License ZWT + Lic. for Premier Dic + Patch for Premium Dic
  • Code:
  • http://rapidshare.com/files/238172524/Babylon.Pro.v8.0.0.r20_by.tano1221.rar
  • Code:
  • http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4WAQ858T



Release Dates Of Games


May 2009 Blueberry Garden Independent Other
May 2009 Bumble Tales Perfect Dork Studios Puzzle
June 2, 2009 Fuel Codemasters Racing
June 2, 2009 Sims 3 (Collector's Edition), The Electronic Arts Simulation
June 2, 2009 Sims 3, The Electronic Arts Simulation
June 4, 2009 Light of Altair SaintXi Simulation
June 9, 2009 Hannah Montana: The Movie Disney Interactive Studios Music
June 9, 2009 Prototype Activision Action
June 9, 2009 Vertigo Playlogic Puzzle
June 11, 2009 Burnout Paradise: Big Surf Island Electronic Arts Racing
June 16, 2009 Ghostbusters: The Video Game Atari Action
June 16, 2009 Jumpgate Evolution Codemasters Simulation
June 23, 2009 Overlord II Codemasters Adventure
June 23, 2009 Spore: Galactic Adventures Electronic Arts Simulation
June 23, 2009 Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Activision Action
June 23, 2009 Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, Episode 3: Muzzled! Telltale Games Adventure
June 30, 2009 Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood Ubisoft Shooter
June 30, 2009 Cid the Dummy
Platformer
Q2 2009 Eschalon: Book II Basilisk Games RPG
June 30, 2009 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Electronic Arts Action
June 30, 2009 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs Activision Platformer
June 30, 2009 Orb and the Oracle: Dungeon Lords, The DreamCatcher Interactive RPG
Q2 2009 Out of the Park Baseball 10 Out of the Park Developments Sports
June 30, 2009 Street Fighter IV Capcom Fighting
June 30, 2009 Street Fighter IV (MadCatz Fight Pad Bundle) Capcom Fighting
July 14, 2009 Black College Football: The Xperience -- The Doug Williams Edition Aspyr Sports
July 14, 2009 Nancy Drew: Ransom of the Seven Ships Her Interactive Adventure
July 14, 2009 Officers Tri Synergy Strategy
July 14, 2009 Sudoku Ball -- Detective Playlogic Puzzle
July 21, 2009 G-Force Disney Interactive Studios Action
July 28, 2009 Bionic Commando Capcom Action
July 28, 2009 Wolfenstein Activision Shooter
July 31, 2009 Dyson Independent Strategy
July 2009 Europa Universalis: Rome (Gold Edition) Paradox Interactive Strategy
July 31, 2009 Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, Episode 4: The Bogey Man Telltale Games Adventure
July 2009 Watchmen: The End is Nigh -- Part 2 Warner Bros. Interactive Action
August 25, 2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos Interactive Action
August 25, 2009 Batman: Arkham Asylum (Collector's Edition) Eidos Interactive Action
August 25, 2009 CrimeCraft Vogster Entertainment Action
August 25, 2009 Section 8 SouthPeak Games Shooter
August 2009 Fallout 3 -- Game Add-On Pack #2: Broken Steel and Point Lookout Bethesda Softworks Action
RPG
August 2009 Hearts of Iron III Paradox Interactive Strategy
August 2009 Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim Paradox Interactive Strategy
August 2009 Red Faction: Guerrilla THQ Shooter
August 2009 Silas Exalt Studios Inc. Racing
September 1, 2009 Champions Online Atari RPG
September 2009 Quick Hit Football Play Hard Sports Sports
September 22, 2009 Need for Speed Shift Electronic Arts Racing
September 2009 Bass Pro Shops: The Strike XS Games Hunting
September 2009 Dirt 2 Codemasters Racing
September 2009 Star Wars: The Clone Wars -- Republic Heroes LucasArts Action

Norton AntiVirus 2009 Gaming Edition 16.1.0.33



Norton AntiVirus™ 2009 Gaming Edition is the fastest virus protection you can get. * It stops spyware, worms, bots, and other threats cold—without slowing down your PC. When you’re gaming, your protection should get out of the way. Norton AntiVirus™ 2009 Gaming Edition does exactly that. Gamer Mode

* No alerts + no notifications = no interruptions
* Optional settings to temporarily suspend updates, behavioral scanning and intrusion prevention
* Enabled automatically when your PC is in full screen mode
* Activate manually with a quick click on the Norton system tray icon

Lightning Fast*

* Rapid Pulse Updates every 5 to 15 minutes
* Installs in less than a minute
* Adds less than 1 second to boot time

Light as a Feather*

* Uses less than 6MB memory even without the Gamer Mode performance boost
* Runs only 2 processes at a time
* Performance graphs display CPU and memory usage and how little Norton is using

Respects your needs

* Smart Scheduler holds resource intensive actions for when you are not using your PC
* Resource usage table shows you the what, when and how long for background actions taken by Norton AntiVirus
* Delivers consistently strong protection - that’s why Norton AntiVirus has won more consecutive Virus Bulletin 100 awards than any other AV software

Saturday, May 30, 2009

Diablo III





developer: Blizzard Entertainment
publisher: Blizzard Entertainment
genre: cRPG | action
platform: PC / Windows

release date: World: 2010
USA: 2010
Europe: 2010
play modes: single / multiplayer
multiplayer: LAN / Internet | number of players: 1 - 8
game language: English
age requirements: 16+

Two decades have passed since the demonic denizens, Diablo, Mephisto, and Baal, wandered the world of Sanctuary in a vicious rampage to shackle humanity into unholy slavery. Yet for those who battled the Prime Evils directly, the memory fades slowly and the wounds of the soul still burn.
When Deckard Cain returns to the ruins of Tristram's Cathedral seeking clues to new stirrings of evil, a comet from the heavens strikes the very ground where Diablo once entered the world. The comet carries a dark omen in its fiery being and it calls the heroes of Sanctuary to defend the mortal world against the rising powers of the Burning Hells – and even the failing luminaries of the High Heavens itself.
Explore a fully-realized Sanctuary – the living, breathing gothic fantasy world of Diablo III rendered in gorgeous 3D.
Battle the unholy forces of the Burning Hells with all-new character classes like the otherworldly Witch Doctor, or with re-imagined warriors from Diablo’s past: such as the fierce Barbarian.
Rain Hell on your enemies wielding the interactive environment as a weapon: lay cunning traps, turn destructible objects against your foes, and use environmental obstacles to your advantage - all powered by the Havoc physics system.
Experience the intensity of multiplayer Diablo III over an all-new, wickedly-enhanced Battle.net platform with numerous enhancements to make connecting with your friends easier – and cooperative gameplay more fun.

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell :Chaos Theory






title: Fallout 3: The Pitt | genre: RPG
developer: Bethesda Softworks | publisher: Bethesda Softworks
platform: PC, XBOX360, PS3 | rated: PEGI: 18+ / ESRB: Mature

War, war never changes...
Description:
Continue your existing Fallout 3 game and finish the fight against the Enclave remnants alongside Liberty Prime. Broken Steel moves the level cap for your character from 20 to 30, allowing you to experience even more of the game, including new perks and achievements.

Chaos Theory contains three unique gameplay types, but this doesn't mean the solo mode has been overlooked. The story follows a typical Tom Clancy formula of throwing as much globe trotting and technical jargon in a person's face as possible. While Sam Fisher is a step above the typical meathead video game protagonist, he seems to have a very small emotional investment in his job. There are no Metal Gear love triangles or family disputes; Sam is simply a soldier who is doing his job.

There are ten levels of single player international espionage, and each one contains multiple paths to complete the primary and secondary objectives. The levels are larger and better designed than the other games in the series. While many of the scenarios in Pandora Tomorrow were easy on the eyes, they felt too short and lacked depth. In Chaos Theory, the levels are not only visually impressive, but they are expertly designed to offer a ton of replay value.

In terms of combat, the first two games in the Splinter Cell series contained a slight contradiction. While they emphasized stealth, Sam Fisher was in possession of the equipment and the abilities to kick some serious ass. Pandora introduced incremental alert stages in which enemies would outfit themselves with better equipment as the alarm level increased. This addition, along with some very touchy AI, seemed to force a more restrained type of gameplay. Thankfully, this feature has been removed from the game, and instead Ubisoft has decided to let the gamers decide their style of play.

At the beginning of each level, there is an equipment selection screen that gives players the choice of a stealth or assault package. There is also a third option called "Redding's Recommendation" that usually contains a mixture of items best suited to the level. This doesn't solve the problem of having an overly powerful protagonist, but it does address the issue. Whether players choose stealth or action, Chaos Theory offers an assortment of new moves and improvements.

Story:

You may have dealt the Enclave a serious blow at Project Purity, but their forces are still out there, and still pose a grave threat to the people and security of the Capital Wasteland. In Broken Steel, you’ll continue your current Fallout 3 character past the events of Project Purity, and work with the Brotherhood of Steel to eradicate the Enclave threat once and for all. Travel to new locations like the Olney Powerworks, wield destructive new weapons like the Tesla Cannon, and fight powerful new creatures like the Super Mutant Overlord.

Key Features:
- Battle your way to level 30, with all new perks and achievements to unlock along the way!
- Extends the Main Quest, allowing you to continue playing your existing character and find out what happens next in the Capital Wasteland.
- Acquire new high powered Enclave Technology, including a new devastating flamethrower, the Heavy Incinerator.
- Tougher foes await in life beyond level 20, including new enemies like the Super Mutant Overlord.
- Your decisions will inalterably affect the outcome of the Wasteland’s survivors.

First off, Sam now carries a knife that can be used for quick lethal takedowns. Sam either jabs an enemy in the gut or takes them down with a quick throat slash. He also brandishes the blade when interrogating an enemy, which is a bit more threatening than a headlock. The lethal knife attacks are executed so quickly that it can be very enticing to take care of every threat in this fashion. The knife can also be used to cut through plastic sheeting and paper walls. This creates even more pathways from which to approach your objectives.There are also a number of environment-based kills that allow players to take out the bad guys with style. When a spy is hanging over an enemy he now has the option to grab them from above and either knock them out or snap their neck. When approaching a door there are now four options: open door, open door stealth, bash door, and optic cable. The stealth opening allows players to manually push the door ajar, so as not to disturb whoever is on the other side of it. "Bashing" causes Sam to enter the room with a quick kick, which knocks out any unlucky soul on the receiving end of the swinging door.

Friday, May 29, 2009

Street Fighter IV







This two-dimension fighting game, may be hard for beginners because of high difficult level. This guide should help you to learn each character moves and their specific properties which can be helpful for advanced players. I wrote every special character moves, Ex attacks, Super and Ultra Combo and several useful combos. I also wrote some in my opinion, worth attention normal attacks. In the first moment, those combos may seem be very difficult but practice spent on Training Mode and very helpful Trail Mode make perfect.

Return of the beatdown. Let's do this!
The undisputed heavyweight of fighting games is back in a BIG way. Street Fighter IV is the triumphant return of the best selling fighting game franchise, totally reworked for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.

The beautifully created visuals are matched only by the perfectly balanced combat. Street Fighter IV is a modern classic that you must have in your games collection.

Play 25 different characters including all you old favourites and some amazing new ones.

There are multiple modes to help you hone your techniques and an array of challenges and tutorials to give you the vital edge.

- Arcade mode – fight your way through the toughest AI oppoents and unlock hidden characters
- Practise mode – sharpen your skills with a range of challenging yet fun tutorials
- Vs Mode – the pinnacle of player vs player combat either online of offline
- New Combos and ‘Super’ attacks
- New destructible environments

Godfather II







Forget Robert De Niro and the tales of a young Vito Corleone in New York – The Godfather II focuses on Michael Corleone, starting with the meeting of the families in Havana to divide up Hyman Roth's empire. Unfortunately, the business is never concluded because the Cuban Revolution forces everyone to flee the country. As Dominic, a soldier of Aldo Trapani (the protagonist of the first Godfather game who has risen to run all of the Corleone business in New York), you wind up leading Michael, Fredo and Aldo to the airport in an attempt to flee. However, as you get to the runway, Aldo is shot and killed, prompting Michael to promote you into Aldo's place. The promotion comes with a significant burden, though: you need to re-establish control of New York, then expand to Miami and eventually Cuba to strengthen your family's control. Of course, other families will stand in your way, and it's up to you to eliminate them by any means necessary to aid in your domination of the crime world.

Obviously, there are some liberties taken from the film, as any fan of the movie would tell you (myself included). For example, the designers decide to make Dominic instrumental in breaking Frank Pentangeli during the Senate testimony on the Corleone family. Fredo also has a much larger role within the game than he ever had within the film, acting as a plot device throughout the story of the game and interacting with Michael and the rest of the Corleones thanks to saving him in Cuba. I wasn't too disturbed by much of the artistic license that was used in the title, but there were two elements that were used that just didn't work well. The first is one of the most memorable moments in the second film, when Michael informs Fredo that he knows Fredo betrayed him. Instead of this happening in Cuba, this happens in the study at the Corleone compound in New York after a majority of the game has been completed, which diffuses the strength of that moment.

The other issue, which is more significant, is the introduction of Tom Hagen as your consigliere, which happens around halfway through the game. While I don't have a problem with Hagen advising Dominic at all, his arrival in the middle of the story makes no sense, especially since the game constantly uses an image of Tom to provide information and hints on events going on as you make your moves against your rivals. This is compounded by the fact that Dominic acts as if he's only met Tom once or twice, even though the player has seen Tom's face dozens of times at this point. It would've made more sense to introduce Tom much earlier and have him provide this information as you start to build your empire and kill your rivals, because it just comes across


Speaking of your empire, The Godfather II takes an interesting twist to eliminating your rivals by working elements of strategy in with the guns blazing action that you expect from a crime tale. The strategy comes into play with a feature known as The Don's View, a 3D map that allows you to view your property and that of rival families so you can plan where you want to strike. See, to strengthen your family, you'll need to take over fronts that help launder money as well as the nine crime rings in the game, which provide bonuses to the family that owns it. For example, owning the gun running ring allows you to carry more ammo, while the drug ring doubles your income. However, you can't simply take over a business or ring and not expect a certain amount of retribution. Rivals will send their own made men to bomb or try to wrest control from you, forcing you to use The Don's View to decide when you want to send reinforcements or set up extra defenders to fend off these attacks.

You'll also be able to use this map to track down corrupt officials that you can do tasks for in return for favors that can be called in at any time, which can result in throwing off the police when you're being chased or arresting Mafioso, making an opponent that much more vulnerable. Of course, this is a temporary measure, and if you're going to try to fully eliminate a family, you'll want to track down each individual mobster and put a hit out on them. You'll discover the info on their location by doing favors for people on the street, like demolishing businesses, beating or killing people, or cracking safes. Once you've taken every business of a rival, their entire family (minus any made men that you've "retired") will retreat to their compound which you need to raid and blow up to finally eliminate their existence once and for all.

While you will be able to perform some of the tactical moves for your family, you'll inevitably find yourself deep in the midst of the action with up to three crew members, each with their own skills that will help you in battle. For instance, you can bring along a medic that can heal downed members of your crew, engineers that can cut the power so rivals can't call for reinforcements and demolitions guys that can bomb installations. For the most part, these crewmembers will act autonomously, targeting and taking out enemies as soon as they see them, but you do have the ability to provide minor commands to them to send them to a location, make them follow you or use their skills on certain objects. Of course, Dominic isn't a pushover either, and you'll be able to pummel whoever you want with his fists, choke the life out of them, or blast a kneecap or a shoulder with precise aim. Of course, you can also use the weapons that you acquire to execute enemies like beating them senseless with a golf club or shoving a Tommy gun in their mouth and ventilating the back of their head. Now, if you're finding that you're having trouble with a particular location or fight, you can spend cash to increase the stats of both Dominic and your crewmembers, making them more capable in battle, like healing faster or being more accurate with weapons.

Site From Which You Can Download:http://www.mininova.org/tor/2496507

X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- Uncaged Edition





X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- Uncaged Edition would be storming the streets alongside the Hugh Jackman talkie, my eyes involuntarily rolled and a sigh escaped my lips. Would this be another botched gaming opportunity for one of comic books' greatest heroes?
The answer is a definitive "no," accented by an adamantium claw to the face. X-Men Origins: Wolverine -- Uncaged Edition is some of the most violent fun I've had in a long, long time. It's far from perfect, but it's going to be a bloody blast for Wolvie fans.



X-Men Origins takes the events of the movie, adds a bunch of back story and tosses you in into the tattered white tank top of the one and only Weapon X. Set before the X-Men films, this game chronicles the time when Logan was running with his commanding officer Stryker and Sabertooth and doing all sorts of disturbing missions, his break from the group, and his one-man mission for revenge. I'm a respectful geek myself, so I'll leave the story elements at that; no need to ruin any of the movie for those of you who have been avoiding the early reviews like the plague.

Luckily, even if I did detail the story, I won't have much to say. This game is all about guttural, disturbing action. Rather than neuter Wolverine like so many games have and leave him with claws that just tickle bad guys, Raven Software has created the most spot-on version of the character we've probably ever seen in a videogame. The title opens with a dramatic movie where Wolverine stabs a guy in the head through a wall, lifts a dude in the air and skewers him over and over again and impales another enemy on an exposed pipe. All of those sick kills are part of your in-game repertoire.

If you've checked out my previews in the past and have seen the occasional screenshot now and again, you need to stop reading and check out the video review above and then the video montage on the next page because you really don't know what X-Men Origins is all about. Until now, Activision has kept the true scope of this game hidden from the public, but with the game on shelves, the cat is out of the bag.

This is one of the most graphically violent games around.

In this game, you're going to behead bad guys, tear people in half with your claws, hack off arms at the shoulders, gut soldiers and shove a man's head into the moving blades of a helicopter. For fans who have scoffed at the number of slices it has taken to drop a bad guy in previous Wolverine games, this is the holy grail. What makes all of these moves impressive is the fact that you can do them pretty much at any time. Sure, there are Rage moves such as a claw spin and temporary damage boost, but you could go the whole game, not use those garnishes and still get the same amount of blood and destruction.


See, X-Men Origins sticks with a pretty simple control scheme. You have a light attack, heavy attack, block and jump at the game's core and then the aforementioned Rage moves as a supplement. There are combos for the light and heavy attacks if you want to learn them, but you can literally run into a room full of baddies, alternate buttons to your heart's content and be lopping off arms and legs without a problem. Add to this the streams of blood your screaming opponents are giving off and the nifty visual of Wolverine's claws leaving a trail of red plasma in midair and you've got pretty entertaining "light" and "heavy" attacks. Another sweet move is Wolverine's Lunge. From a distance, you can target enemies and then have Logan leap through the air and crash down on top of them. For the hundreds of low-level baddies, this is an instant kill, but for bigger dudes and bosses, this will be the key to victory.

However, above all of these moves on the "Frickin' Awesome Scale" are Logan's Quick Kills. Here, you grab one of your enemies and hit a button. Wolverine will lift the foe into the air, draw back his free hand and when his claw glints in the light, you hit your button again for an instant kill. Those words can't do this process justice. There are a couple of these kills for every type of villain in the game and they're all insane. There's the basic stuff such as Wolverine yanking the dude's head back and burying his claws in the bad guy's throat before yanking down to gut him sternum to scrotum; then there's cooler stuff such as you having to tap a button as Wolverine pushes a bad guy's own shotgun under his chin and pulls the trigger; and then there's the awesome stuff such as when Wolverine goes up against this half-robot looking dude and cuts off his giant metal arm before beating the guard to death with it.

For years, Wolverine has become more and more "kid friendly." This game is a direct attack on that image and it's a totally welcome one.

Adding to the "Holy crap, I'm really Wolverine this time" vibe is how our main character's health works. Once you get past the claws and indestructible skeleton, the one thing everyone knows about Wolverine is that he can heal from pretty much anything. In the past, this has led to crappy games because developers either ignore the fact and give him a health bar or come up with some goofy reason for him not to be able to heal. Here, there are two health bars, but both make sense and were never really an issue in my playthroughs. Basically, the first bar represents Wolverine's exterior. If you can grab some cover when it has been whittled down, it will begin to refill. However, if that bar is completely drained, it means Wolverine has taken enough damage to expose his vital organs. Now, a second meter with a heart on it will begin to take damage. If that one is exhausted, Logan's dead.
 

Friends

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