i decided a while ago to give this board up - have now also given up on PC gaming

thanks to those who corresponded with me and were friendly - apols for anyone not mentioned who feels they should have been but i include in that nutcrackr, smokey, FS and of course artur

Just to say that typically late, i've started playing FC2 - am enjoying it so far - i like the stealth elements and the whole collecting diamonds thing

It's also scarily realistic as unlike so many games there's no map with red dots or gunsights that change colour to tell you where enemy is

The whole 'being rescued' thing every time you die is a bit wierd, and to be honest i just reload my last save when it happens

The weapons aren't bad - am using the assault rifle, the silenced pistol and i like the RPG, that's great fun

Animals spotted so far - zebra, Thompson's gazelle, wildebeest

I'm already seeing what people mean about havin g to fight your way through every road block, also how it could turn into one micro-mission after another, but as i tend to game in relatively small sections at the moment, that's not so bad

So anyway i also finished Clive Barker's Undying last night - it started well, though the attempts to make it non-linear means even after the house has been completely overrun by demons you still find the odd servant wandering around like nothing's happened

Also there's not much of an adventure-game style aspect to it, which i thought there might be

And lastly it lurches from long periods of fighting the same type of enemy to a whole series of boss fights - never my favourite pasttime, and i must admit i used a cheat to max out my health on a few occasions...

I might review it at some point, but i guess i'd give it an 8 out of 10 - if only for the many amusing ways Galloway gets killed off by the various enemies :)

so thought I'd update on the games I've played recently:

Thief: Deadly Shadows – I LOVED this game- so much I only played it when I could give it my full attention and preferably at night when I could get the most of the atmosphere. Truly excellent stuff – to see why read my review

Timeshift – time-travelling FPS that enables you to go back and forth in time by a few seconds – a lot of fun, and the maps looked great – was a little linear though and there wasn't enough explanation of the world you were fighting in to make it truly satisfying – I'll try and do a review of that too though - it's definitely underrated by GS

Clive Barker's Undying: another game I didn't know about until recently, but really enjoying it - good storyline, nice characterisation and genuinely challenging play – had to downgrade from the hardest level because it was so difficult. It's long too – I've put in a good few hours now and I'm only about a quarter of the way through

Ok, so i finally finished this game. I've written a half-assed review which is here:

basically i'm glad i actually get to play it - some bits were good but after finishing it left me feeling a little deflated, not least because after a slow patient build up it rushes towards the final part even more quickly than Stalker SoC did.

as i say in the review it felt more like an expansion pack than a new game - i also felt the missions at the end, completre with red line indicating enemy health, was just not in keeping with the rest of the game.

it's like two games in one, but neither of which are very satisfying

anyway, i might go back and do more side missions and/or join a faction but for now i just feel a bit like 'what was the point of that?'

SoC was a genuine epic, this didn't feel the same

AND FINALLY (SPOILER)

- anyone else find the end very disappointing? it was basically an abbreviated version of the final bit of SoC. Of course i realised that to spin it out you needed to forget about Strelok and just teleport around shooting everyone, but that got very easy after not very long

more than 2 months after loading it up again, i'm still happily playing Far Cry, because so many cool people have created so many great maps on the Far Cry Community. Just as well, because i can;t get excited about any new games at the moment

I really admire these guys that do the mods - OK there's the occasional glitch but the maps are really well designed and some have even put together some reasonably long campaigns

go see - they also do Crysis maps, though the site's not so good and they're not rated in the same way:

http://www.farcry-maps.com/news.php

yes, just the first one, which i'm playing for the second time, but it still is a GREAT game

Val is such a typical woman - gorgeous, great to have around in a lot of ways, but she has to do things her way: namely firing at the enemy when i'm trying to sneak up for that perfect snipe - it's REALLY bugging me 

oh well, such is life... 

blimey, this game ROCKS - i don't think i've ever played such an intense game - sections that would normally be the finale in any other game just keep coming - i'm short of ammo, constantly being attacked from all sides, and you can't keep still because there's always soldiers/flames/tanks or all three up your ass

there's maybe too many bits where you're tied to a jeep or a mortar or something but really this game is non-stop - just finished a two-hour session and the gunshots and explosions are still ringing in my ears

great stuff :D

after being stuck in Nonabunga's Ambition for what seems like forever and ever i am now 60% through Magician Lord already - did i get extra points for being such a nice guy? could be i suppose... 8)

After all didn't someone get banned three times in a few months for being bad :question:

Shame though, i quite like Magician Lord - maybe i'll have to cut down on posting - but then i already had, so i guess i'll never work this site out

Oh, and sorry for not capitalising my 'i's Artur but i capitalised your name just then so i hope that will suffice

Anyway I hope you all didn't read this or you'll have felt like it was a complete waste of time... :twisted:

as usual i can't be bothered to write a full review, as everyone else says what i think anyway somewhere in their reviews, but here's just a few thoughts:

- i rated the game an 8, because i largely really enjoyed it, wanted to play through to the end, and am really pleased someone made a decent effort of a film-related game - this is definitely not a lost opportunity.

- there's a danger with the novelty of the graphics, brilliantly realised though they are, beginning to pall after a while and there was a moment about halfway through when i wondered if i'd get bored of it, but the game recovered with some good levels

- the fighting is pretty good, and although some of the weapons are tricky at first it's fun when you get the hang of them and build up their efficiency

- there's one or two typically annoying boss fights, but there are very few games that don't have those

- the light cycles are VERY tricky - you are both controlling the bike with keys and also controlling the 'camera' with the mouse, and i nearly put my neck out trying to crane mhy head around with the camera - i was getting the hang of it by the end though - you don't have to survive that long before others start crashing around you. However, i've not got the hang of how to customize the light cycle arenas out of the game, so that's annoying but maybe i need to read the manual more carefully

- although there are some 'jumping' bits they're not all frustrating - i actually really enjoyed one where you're jumping up and down to get to switches that are placed at differnt levels in a large shaft - you have to use a lot of differen platform, all going up and down to different levels at different speeds - AND there's a time limit...

The bottom line is it's a well-realised and unique environment, and a good game, so i would say it's an essential game for FPS-merchants to have played at least once.

And i tried to take screenshots, but there was some sort of delay in their being taken, which means they're all of blank walls or 'you're dead' screens

...died on this day 38 years ago

so put on a track or two today and remember his genius