Category Archives: Freeware

Jan 21 0 comments
Freeware, PC

New PC playgrounds

Crysis

Crysis

My four year old graphics card died yesterday. I proceeded to pick up the cheapest “gaming card” I could get off the shelf, which is what I’ve always done. (Tom’s Hardware consulting.) That meant an Nvidia Geforce 250GS at 130€. It’s my first GPU which needs a separate power supply.

Not a PC hardware issue without complications, but this was a very smooth upgrade nonetheless. I didn’t even have to install any drivers as I was already using a GPU from the same family. For some obscure reason, the upgrade did cause my external HDD to disappear. I had to disable Firewire in the Windows device manager for the thing to come up again. Or maybe it was reassigning all the drive letters after C: that did the trick. Don’t ask me why, I don’t even care. Lucky that I don’t need Firewire for anything.

All other components being equal, including the ageing AM2 socketed Athlon 64 X2 processor, the new GPU really breathed life on my PC. I dug out a bunch of games I haven’t been able to properly appreciate until now.

Crysis runs smoothly on medium settings and looks gorgeous. I played it some ways with my old setup, but it was ugly and painful. I am going to check out the recently released Crysis total conversion mod based on the Battletech universe, Mechwarrior Living Legends. Speaking of which, we’re still waiting for the free release of Mechwarrior 4.

Empire Total War now runs enjoyably. It seems more of a processor-hog than Crysis, but it’s still nice-looking and entirely playable.

I am going to re-install Need For Speed Undercover, it always struck me as something I’d like to play more of and the added eye-candy is probably all the excuse I need.

I am looking forward to enjoying more of Company Of Heroes, now with higher settings. It already looked good, I expect it to look phenomenal now, despite being a rather old title by now.

Oct 14 0 comments
Freeware, PC, roleplaying

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited

I have built three characters up to level three in Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited (DDO for short). It’s taken me a week and considering how slow levelling is in DDO, I believe I’ve already spent more time with it than with any other MMO.

I first visited the game some time ago but decided to re-visit it now that it had become free to play. It’s been fun so far. The opening area is well built and written and there’s a good sense of adventure in the proceedings. You get to explore the island and do something fairly epic despite being a first or second level adventurer, including saving a community and facing a grown dragon.

I never really understood the appeal of MMORPGs before playing with my wife. Exploring the game world and our characters and working on our teamwork just brings that much more depth. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, considering that these are supposed to be multiplayer affairs. I’ve been saying for years that MMOs just aren’t for me, and I’ve been doing it wrong all this time. Seems like such an obvious thing. I really (really!) didn’t understand how much of a difference it would be to play with company. I’m not sure if I’d be happy with just online buddies, but playing side by side with someone in the same room is just great.

That said, I have enjoyed my time soloing my paladin and ranger characters much more than soloing in other games. A part of the charm is the very familiar D&D framework, albeit adjusted for real-time gaming. I have all the races and classes I know and love, and I get to fight all these iconic D&D monsters.

Is DDO a substitute to playing pen and paper D&D, which is also something I long for? To a degree. The same themes and mechanical lures are there. I honestly don’t miss the ability to do whatever I can imagine within the context all that much, but I do miss my own imagination. I don’t like being shown what Eberron looks like, when it’s considerably more high fantasy than I what always imagined my D&D to be. I like my characters, but I don’t like all these cartoon characters with funny names around me – although there are many awesome characters, as well.

But I get to roll twenties.

Jul 14 0 comments
DS, Freeware, PC, culture

Post I.T. Shooter

Kloonigames has a new game up. Falling resolutely on the “art” side of the “games as art” debate, it’s an experience you shouldn’t miss. It’s a scrolling shooter presented as a stop motion animation, composed of Post-It notes.

Coincidentally, I just bought Space Invaders Extreme for the DS and have been playing that. Pretty great stuff, actually. If only my trigger finger could be pressed to service like in days long gone. Nice tunes, great rhythm and suitably hard.

Jul 11 0 comments
Freeware, PC

Neotokyo

I’ve been playing Neotokyo. It is basically Counter-Strike with a Ghost In The Shell skin, and in my books that’s a good thing.

There is just one game mode, Capture The Ghost, and it works very well. It’s capture the flag with a shared objective, being an android torso. Everyone can see where the Ghost is at all times and whether it’s unclaimed or in friendly or enemy hands. Whoever holds the Ghost can use it to see enemy positions. They can then use voice communication to relay the information to their team. This is an excellent mechanic and when you happen into a team where the Ghost is used properly, it really feels like a well-coordinated operation, even with total strangers.

In addition to seeing the Ghost’s location, everyone can see where their team mates are and both friendly and hostile retrieval points. All this information at everyone’s hands leads to the play being usually satisfyingly tactical. It feels very good to work in a team of over ten guys, sensing how a coordinated effort is going to win the day.

There are three classes, all with interesting abilities. The recon can see in the dark, get around quickly and use therm-optic camouflage to remain unseen. The assault class can see moving targets and has limited therm-optic camouflage to compensate for added armor and fragmentation grenades. My favourite class is the support, which can’t go around invisible, but can take a beating and see thermal images, penetrating the smoke he can lay to cover his approach.

When you do well (take out enemy operatives, survive the round, carry the Ghost to retrieval point), you gain experience points, which unlock better guns. There’s a good selection of those, as well.

The maps are a little hit and miss. Some are very atmospheric (nt_ghost_ctg, the android assembly line, is my favourite), but some are lacking in both gameplay and visuals. For the most part, this is very good stuff, though.

For a free mod there’s a nice amount of detail, like the way any sustained damage can lead to blood covering parts of your therm-optic camouflage. Bullets also penetrate more or less realistically.

Neotokyo is a cool take on old themes and gameplay, clad in very nice clothes.

Jul 07 0 comments
Freeware, PC

Neotokyo: Source

Neotokyo: Source is the FPS I would’ve made. It helps that it looks and sounds gorgeous (professional) and is largely based on the work of Masamune Shirow (Ghost In The Shell, Appleseed). It is free to download, requires the Half-Life 2 Source engine to run and is available now.

Feb 21 0 comments
Freeware, PC, tabletop games

Teardown

Teardown screenshot

Space Hulk is back, again, this time sanctioned by both the previous videogame licence owner EA, who has granted the use of some its old assets and Games Workshop. I find this curious, as GW has been known to be very protective over its intellectual property.

Teardown is a freeware release and it’s out now. They’ve put some effort towards the aesthetics. It’s got heart-warming 2D charms, basic sound and a considered user interface. I could not resist playing a couple of games last night even though it was well past my bedtime.

They have made precious few changes to the game, chief among them a ranking system for surviving Space Marine Terminators in a campaign, which is obviously welcome. Oh god, those pictures bring back the memories of painting my own Terminators as a teenager. I wonder where they are now?

Update on 5 March 2008: The Teardown site has been taken down due to excessive bandwidth usage. Also, Games Workshop has issued a letter on an undisclosed matter, presumably concerning their intellectual rights. All of which is too bad, I hope the guys work it out without severe financial consequences.