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On New Year's Eve 1958 Hyman Roth not only celebrated his birthday, he also celebrated the successful expansion of the Corleone family, successfully lead by Don Michael Corleone for fifteen years now, into Cuba. But the celebrations did not last long when suddenly "la revolucion" started and all hell breaks loose. Michael and Hyman manage to escape with most of the other family members but Aldo Trapani (the main protagonist in The Godfather) gets killed - just in time for five new families to threaten the Corleone family's control over New York, Florida and Las Vegas. As one of Aldo Trapani's closest soldiers, the player jumps into the role of Dominic to help Michael and the Corleone family win the war as well as to build a family of his now.
Looking over Dominic's shoulder, the player moves freely through three cities depicting a New York, Florida and Cuba from the late '50s/early '60s traveling between them by airplane. Connected by the main storyline, the main goal of Dominic is to grow his family and destroy the other five families. This is done in two main steps: Taking over businesses and killing so-called "Made Man". Taking over a business is done the same way as in the predecessor: Enter the shop/joint/factory/construction site, fight through the enemy guards and find the person with the Godfather-sign over his head. That is the one the player needs to threaten until he gives up his resistance and pays his dues to Dominic from now on instead of the other family.
Each business owner has his own weak spot as well as a breaking point. A weak spot ranges from destroying inventory to punching him or her in the face, and gives a 25% bonus on the monetary outcome. But if the player pressures the owner to much, he either dies from the torture or reaches his breaking point. Then he gets aggressive, cannot be intimidated anymore and attacks without mercy. Is the intimidation successful however, the player gets a one-time cash advance and gains money from the joint every day. In addition there are several rackets combined in a crime ring. Once the player controls it, he immediately gains a bonus until he loses one of the rackets in the crime ring. This goes for his enemy as well. When the player takes over a business of a crime ring, the bonuses like bullet-proof vests for all family members or brass knuckles for higher melee damage are instantly removed. That's why the enemy families do not just sit by and let Dominic take their businesses one by one. So the player has to hire guards to protect the businesses. In case of an attack, he can also send one of his soldiers to help in the defense.
This soldier or so-called "Made Man", is initially discovered and invited by the player to join his family while hanging out at the various safe houses and rackets. Each of them has a specialization. While one might be good at planting bombs, the other is a safe cracker very useful to rob banks and loot all the various safes in the city to get an achievement. As the player progresses through the game, he cannot only hire more family members, but can also promote a few of his soldiers. This allows them to learn a second and even third profession on top of their initial one. It is also possible to upgrade certain skills like Survival (stay longer conscious once out of health) of a family member, in return for hard-earned cash. When a made man is downed by enemy fire, he does not immediately get transferred to the next hospital or police station. Instead there is a time window in which everyone can revive the other with a shot of adrenaline. If it's too late, the player respawns at the hospital/police station and loses some money while his made man is out of the picture for a certain amount of time. This is also true for the player if he has a medic on his team, otherwise he goes directly to jail or the hospital.
The amount of time it takes them to get back on your side can be reduced by using favors. Favors are handed out by random people with a sign over their head on the streets and by high-ranking officials. Both give the player a mission which can involve killing or beating someone up, blowing a business (even one of the player's) to hell or something similar. The difference is, that the favor of an official can be saved for later like immediately rebuilding a bombed business. Favors of random people instead come in the form of money rewards or kill conditions.
Kill conditions are needed to get an enemy made man. Just shooting them only puts them in the hospital. To take them permanently out the picture, the player needs to make an example of the man by fulfilling the kill condition. Shoving a made man from the roof of a building, putting a bullet between his eyes and such are examples for such kill conditions. Once all made men of a family have been eliminated forever, the player can deal the final blow to the rival family: killing their Don and blowing up their compound. All while dealing with the police that hunts you down just for forgetting to silence a witness of a crime.
The game also features a multiplayer mode that ties in with the single player campaign. Upon entering the multiplayer mode, the player chooses one of his family members he has hired in single-player and takes on his role. During his participation in the four game modes Team Deathmatch, Demolition Assault (blow up three objects in enemy territory), FireStarter (torch barrels, gas and propane tanks to rack up scoring multiplicators), Safecracker (bust a safe and hold the position for more points), the player then earns honor points for his family member. These are used in single player to buy a new weapon license for that soldier, which allows him to use the higher level weapons the player finds scattered around the city and can be handed to him.
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The Lord of the Rings: Conquest puts the player right in the middle of the most famous battle of the Third Age including the assaults on Helm's Deep and Gondor and the battle at the Black Gate. In two campaigns the player either fights for the forces of good or the forces of evil and leads them to victory.
Similar to Star Wars: Battlefront, the player can choose from up to four classes and looks him over the shoulder while moving him over the battlefield: The warrior rushes into the crowd and fights his enemy up close and has the ability to unleash powerful combos. The mage is more focused on protecting his friends from incoming fire or healing them but has also access to a shock wave and a powerful lightning strike. The scout on the other hand turns invisible and kills even the most powerful enemy with a small stab in the back or attaches a bomb to an enemy and sends him back to his friends. The last is the Archer who prefers to stay in the back unleashing a rain of fire or poison arrows on the enemy. But each of the classes requires energy to perform the more powerful attacks which is gained by simply killing enemies.
Besides the usual weaponry a class carries like swords or daggers, the player can also find and use catapults stationed on the battlefield or get on the back of a horse to get the advantage and thin the enemy horde just by sprinting through it.
After choosing a class, the player is dropped at the first spawn point of the current map and is then required to help his allies to help fulfill different objectives depending on the game mode and map. These can range from capturing and defending positions to killing the enemy hero. While in single player the heroes on both sides are called when needed and fit the current map (like the Gandalf and the Balrog in the Mines of Moria), in multiplayer the best player of one team is automatically chosen once his team has reached a certain percentage of points needed to win.
The multiplayer mode also allows up to four players to play together through the campaigns and features three additional game modes: In "Conquest", similar to Battlefield 2142, the goal is to capture flag points on the map in a pre-determined order and once all points are held by one team, the game is over. In "Team-Deathmatch" the team with the most kills wins the game and "Find the Ring" is a "Capture the Flag"-variant featuring the one ring instead of a flag.
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The base game of Aliens Versus Predator 2 is notable for its unique gameplay, allowing players to experience the story from three distinct perspectives: a Colonial Marine, a Predator, and an Alien. Each character type offers a vastly different play style and abilities, providing varied and immersive gameplay experiences. The Marine campaign focuses on survival horror, with tense and atmospheric gunplay. The Predator campaign offers a more strategic approach, utilizing advanced technology and stealth. The Alien campaign provides a visceral melee experience, emphasizing agility and close-quarters combat.
"Primal Hunt," the expansion included in the Gold Edition, adds new storylines and missions that precede the events of the main game. It introduces additional elements and weapons to the three factions, further diversifying the gameplay. The expansion also features new environments and challenges, enriching the narrative and lore of the Alien and Predator universe.
Graphically, Aliens Versus Predator 2: Gold Edition was praised for its detailed and atmospheric environments, which effectively captured the dark and foreboding essence of the film series. The game’s use of lighting and shadows added to the suspense, especially in the Marine campaign, where players must navigate through dimly lit corridors teeming with alien threats.
Aliens Versus Predator 2: Gold Edition is a definitive collection that combines thrilling first-person shooter gameplay with the rich lore of two iconic sci-fi franchises. Its diverse campaigns, immersive environments, and engaging multiplayer mode make it a standout title, offering a comprehensive and thrilling experience for fans of the series and the first-person shooter genre.
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SkyNET was Bethesdy's final game based on a Terminator license. It was originally developed as a data drive for its predecessor Terminator: Future Shock, but during development it decided to become a standalone game. One of the noticeable improvements, this time was the ability of Xngine to display the game in a higher resolution of 640x480 (the previous game ran only in the classic 320x200). If you had Future Shock installed with SkyNET, you could also play the game in this new resolution. In addition to the new single-player campaign, new multiplayer options have been added.
Like any sequel, SkyNET had to show that it knew more. The player's task is to prevent the machine from launching the recovered nuclear weapon. More variable environments, day and night missions, as well as driving and flying machines. All this is offered by SkyNET, wrapped in feature briefings and usual acting performances, as was the case at the time.
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Tough Guy is a fighting game similar to Street Fighter. Choose one fighter and travel all over the world to choose and challenge a wide variety of fighters.
A unique feature of Tough Guy is that fighters have the ability to refill their health if they are injured. They also have super moves which can inflict a lot of damage on their opponent.
Although not as well-known as Sango Fighter games, Tough Guy has the same charm and excellent gameplay that makes Panda one of the most underrated fighting game companies of all time, let alone in Taiwan.
Crisp animation and graphics, many special moves, and diverse locales make this a fun game to play. The only downside is that the characters are too similar to each other. Still, it's a good fighting game no one should pass up.
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There always was a curse upon the Covenant family which killed them all either with a painful disease or drove them into madness. At the end of the 19th century the father of the current generation of Covenants reopens their old but abandoned mansion and thereby uncovers strange standing stones on an nearby island. Possessed by this discovery, he locked himself up in the library and wanted to uncover the meaning of those stones. Out of curiosity, in 1899 his three sons and two daughters stole a book about the stones out of his library, went to the island and conducted a dark and powerful ritual which marked the beginning of the end. During the following 20 years almost every member of the family either turned mad and killed themselves or died from something else.
Now it is the year 1923 and the very last member of the family, Jeremiah Covenant, lies on his deathbed with cancer in his body but he is not alone in his house. The spirits of his brothers and sisters haunt the house, strange events happen and evil creatures stroll through the mansion. In a final attempt to not only lift the family curse but also to put his fellow ancestors to rest, he calls upon Patrick Galloway. Patrick was part of his squad in the first great war and after a fierce battle against creatures, they had never seen before, he had specialised in abolishing such powers from the earth.
You take control over Patrick and walk around like in every other first person-shooter through the several locations of the game ranging from the mansion itself over other earthly locations to Oneiros and Eternal autumn, which are other plains of existence. On your way you uncover the mysteries of the family by reading books and papers which lie around the mansion or by talking to the few people still alive on the island.
Also reading might help you understand what is happening here, it won't help you survive against all the strange creatures that hide in the shadows and attack you without asking. It's also impossible to defeat the ancestral spirits without some serious firepower, so besides your trusty revolver, you'll also find several other weapons during the course of the game like Molotov cocktails, your lovely shotgun or a freeze gun shaped like a dragon head. Since you are fighting the paranormal, you also have access to several spells which allow you to see enemies before they see you, revive the dead or shoot Ectoplasm. Since you hold all your weapons in the left hand and you cast your spells with the right hand, it is possible to use both at any time.
As the name suggests, Clive Barker, the maker of the Hellraiser movies, had great influence in the making of the whole game. He also wrote the background story.
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Andy is a child who likes playing with his dog Whiskey, doesn't particularly enjoy going to school, and has a knack for inventing complicated gadgets. One day Andy and Whiskey are strolling through the park, when suddenly a solar eclipse darkens the sky, and after a moment Andy realizes that his dog has been taken away. But science can solve everything, and Andy heads to his treehouse, which is home to his outstanding inventions, including a spaceship! If you thought it was just a toy, you thought wrong, because Andy boards the ship and pilots it into the heart of the Darklands, a world controlled by the evil Master of Darkness. Andy takes out his gun (another splendid invention of his) and prepares to fight the evil sorcerer's minions. Nothing will stop the boy from rescuing his beloved dog!
Heart of Darkness is a cinematic 2D platformer designed by Eric Chahi, the creator of one of the genre's progenitors, Another World. Though the game has many fast and furious action sequences, including shooting hordes of dark creatures, it is built like a series of tasks, each requiring different approaches, from arcade-style shooting or jumping to interacting with the environment and solving puzzles. Like its spiritual predecessor, the game is linear; completing a section usually takes Andy to a different location, where another task awaits him.
Andy has several guns at his disposal, though in certain locations he will lose his weapons and will rely on the player's wit or quick reaction to survive. Andy will also gain magical energy, which can be used to grow or destroy trees. Similarly to Another World, many hazards are placed on the hero's path; despite the child-oriented premise, the game contains graphically explicit death scenes, which occur if the player is not careful or quick enough to save Andy from a gruesome demise.
Heart of Darkness features orchestral music and pre-rendered animated cutscenes. It comes with a pair of 3D glasses, which allow the player to view certain scenes in the game in 3D.
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Battlefield 1942 is a massive online multiplayer shooter roughly based on World War II, but with emphasis on balance and fun. Join armed forces of United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany or Russia, and battle up to 63 of your friends online. Have access to up to twenty different authentic weapons. Control any of the 30+ vehicles over land, on water, or in air. Combat takes place in four theatres; South Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe. Have epic battles with up to 64 players on the same map, or hone your skills in single-player mode against AI bots.
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Torrente has returned, both in film form and as a video game. Again one can fight crime in Madrid from first- or 3rd-person perspectives, but not a mere virtual Madrid: in this game, the streets of Madrid have been faithfully converted into game maps and the players can visit such authentic locations as the Puerta del Sol or the Plaza del Callao if they so choose.
Santiago Segura, the man behind the film franchise, recorded the voice of Torrente and both the video game and the movie were made simultaneously (the movie being released a week before the game.) This is the first time that a Spanish video game has been developed at the same time as and in cooperation with the production of the movie it was based on.
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A game based on the spanish feature film "Torrente: El Brazo Tonto de la Ley" (Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law). The game follows the adventures of officer Torrente, a fascist, sexist, racist, dishonest, drunk and dirty loser that gets caught between drug cartels and all sorts of homicidal maniacs.
You play the game from either a fps or 3rd person perspective and go around completing missions in the streets of Madrid or sunny Marbella in full 3d with some bonus carchases in between. Mission objectives usually range from disabling bombs to escorting super models while gunning down dozens of street thugs and hitmen and listening to the words of wisdom that Torrente periodically spouts a la Duke Nukem.
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The House of the Dead is a rail shooter. Go through the four chapters with branching paths and kill all the zombies, avoid killing the humans, and rescue the girl. Shooting various special targets along the way or in a certain time period give the player temporary health and weapon upgrades.
The Saturn version of the game contains two extra modes called Saturn Mode and Boss Mode. Saturn mode plays like the arcade game, but offers the player different characters to choose from. Character selection matters since they each have varying attributes such as their reload time and how much damage they can take before dying. The Boss Mode allows the player to fight one boss of their choosing or all of the game's four boss monsters consecutively.
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Badass Inc. is a point-and-click action game that has you playing the part of a contract killer tasked to eliminate a target in an unconventional way.
There is some sassiness to go along with the Badass Inc. gameplay that should give you a chuckle as you attempt to fill the kill contract all the while you are pumping to a dark mood setting soundtrack - dropped into the underworld in a city wracked with desperation and crime is where you start.
Revel in the full-on apathy of the protagonist as you complete situational puzzles, interspersed with cinematic action scenes, tense shootouts and some sarcastic replies. It’s an in and out type of job, take out the target and hopefully get paid or at bare minimum laugh while trying!
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A fun tactical wargame based on Games Workshop's renown Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Hulk combines a faithful depiction of the excellent strategic choices of a Warhammer boardgame, including authentic space marines and weapons, with adrenaline-pumping action.
The game is played from a first-person perspective, and offers you the ability to control up to 4 marines simultaneously, each with his own 3D view window, through a variety of missions ranging from the straightforward find-and-exterminate to object recovery.
The best innovation in Space Hulk that sets it apart from other real-time games is the unique "freeze time" feature: you are allotted a limited amount of free time seconds for each level, which you can use to pause the frenetic action to give orders to your marines while the aliens are frozen in place. The hectic pace of the game and the fact that you'll have to the action in 4 windows at once makes freeze time indispensable, but the limited amount means that you must budget it wisely.
The missions are fiendishly complex. With different armaments to choose from, you must utilize each weapon's specific features effectively, or things will become rather difficult. Certain missions require you to enter a Hulk, retrieve an item of historical importance and leave as soon as possible without being killed. Some of these missions have strong puzzle elements to them similar to some Warcraft maps, i.e. there is only one effective way to win the level. But the game's wonderful atmosphere (with creepy sound effects) and solid gameplay will keep you glued to the screen, cursing the difficulty while playing it non-stop.
Space Hulk is simply a must-play for every Warhammer fan and real-time strategy lovers.. especially anyone who likes a good, solid challenge that requires both wit and reflexes. Two thumbs up, way up!
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Syndicate Wars is the second title in the Syndicate series, created by Bullfrog Productions in 1996.
Unlike the first game Syndicate and the expansion, this new chapter was not released for the Amiga. Syndicate Wars includes 60 missions spread through 30 different cities.
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Quake II doesn't need any introduction. The first-person shooter created by id Software was released in December 1997.
The legendary John Carmack worked personally on coding this gem, that was not planned to be a sequel to Quake. The engine of the game, called id Tech 2, has been used for many other games.
In 2001 the source code of the game was released freely.
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Wolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter developed by Id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1992 for DOS. It has since been ported for several systems including PC-98, Mac, Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
The game was inspired by the 1980s Muse Software video game Castle Wolfenstein, a top-down infiltration game.
Wolfenstein 3D came out hot on the heels of the Commander Keen series and utilized the game engine created by John Cormack. It was pre-Doom, but you can see that many of the gameplay elements made their way into this future release. Playing as a captured allied spy, you must escape your Nazi captors and foil their plans for world domination. The game is broken down into six episodes which further break down into ten levels each. Eight regular levels, a boss level, and a secret level. Each level has a labyrinthian set up with lots of areas to explore, secrets to find, and enemies to blow away. You have a set number of lives, but it is possible to earn extra lives as you play.
Wolfenstein 3D is one of Apogee’s best selling games and is looked at by many as the godfather of 3D and first-person shooters, first of all, Doom. It raked in cash for both Apogee and Id in its heyday. 26 years later it still holds up as a classic of the genre and a hell of a good game.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the final game in the series of Harry Potter movie adaptations. It closely follows the plot of the movie of the same name. Harry and his friends will have to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes and then face Lord Voldemort for the ultimate battle.
The game is a single-player third person shooter, with magic spells substituting weapons. The game resembles its predecessor in most aspects, but the stealth sections from the previous game are omitted. The cover system has been tweaked. In different levels the player controls various characters from Harry Potter movies including Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Professor McGonagall and others.
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is an adaption of the movie of the same name. The player takes the role of Harry Potter on his quest to find the Horcruxes; the source of the villain's immortality. In contrast to the former games based on the franchise this is a third person shooter. The levels portrait key moments from the movie.
But of course Harry does not use real weapons; he relies on his magic wand to mow down the enemy hordes. He has different magic spells to his disposal; both offensive and defensive. The offensive spells are similar to regular weapon, e.g. expulso acts like a MG and stupor like a gun, and the defensive ones are used to turn enemies against each other or create cover. The latter can be useful because the game features a classical cover system where Harry can duck behind to regenerate his health. With him are his AI allies Hermione and Ron which fight on their own. New or upgraded spells are earned after level ups.
In addition to the shooter sections there are first-person stealth missions in which Harry needs to avoid detection. For this purpose he uses a invisibility cloak which has only limited power - if it runs out Harry is out in the open. It is recharged by standing still. Between the main missions the player has to solve other quests in any order. Those have nothing to with the movie plot.
The challenge mode is unconnected to the campaign and includes missions like killing as many foes as possible in a limited time.
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is based on the movie of the same name. The player takes the role of Harry Potter who has to fight against Lord Voldemort and his minions.
The game is not completely linear - between the chapters Harry can explore the school at his own leisure. If the player does not want to walk and search around, they have two ways to cut a corner: portraits, which are unlocked during the course of the game, can be used to teleport instantly to another place. Harry can also call a ghost which shows him the fastest way to the next mission. Exploration has mostly one goal: finding the 150 (more or less) hidden crests which unlock achievements and trophies. Because Harry lost his ability to jump and climb, he has to use spells to reach them.
Mini Games
The player will spend most of his time in three mini games: magic duels, brewing potions, and quidditch. The duels are used to learn new spells respectively improve the already known. Harry basically faces other magicians and uses his spells to defeat them, e.g. by paralyzing them or by parrying their spells. To perform a spell the player has to use his input device to recreate a certain movement.
Quidditch is a reaction test. Harry's broom flies automatically and the player can only slightly move it to fly through rings or avoid obstacles. While brewing potions Harry faces a bowl, ingredients and a time limit. Now he simply needs to recreate the receipt by using the ingredients in the correct on the bowl. Sometimes he needs to heat up the bowl or stir the brew up with his input device. If he makes a mistake there is smoke which costs time.
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Based off the fifth book and movie of the series, players take control of Harry Potter in this 3D adventure as he faces the dangers of his fifth year of Hogwarts, avoiding the malicious Professor Dolores Umbridge, builds Dumbledore's Army, and faces off with Voldemort himself as the prophecy continues to unfold.
Players will navigate through the castle of Hogwarts and beyond, learning fifth year spells, solving multiple puzzles, avoiding traps, and even get a chance to play as the Weasley brothers, Sirius Black and Dumbledore himself.
All versions are the same with the exception of the Wii. Players can use the Wiimote as Harry's wand to cast spells, allowing a new level of control never before possible in a Harry Potter game.
Survive the year, learn new spells, and survive one of the darkest battles in Harry's life as he faces his first real battle against Voldemort, "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named"!
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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an action-adventure game that follows the story of the fourth movie and book of the same name. In addition to the usual challenges and dangers that Harry, Ron, and Hermione need to face, the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts and mysteriously Harry is in the tournament!
One to three players control Harry, Ron, and Hermione (the computer controls the remaining characters for one and two-player games). Played with a third-person view, you will need to complete numerous game levels which feature a variety of action and puzzle-solving as well as completing the three tasks in the Triwizard Tournament and facing Lord Voldemort. Each character has magic spells that can be used to help out, and additional spells can be learned as you make your way through the game. Occasionally all three characters will need to work together to complete a task, such as moving a particularly large object or defeating a tough opponent. During the game you will come across Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans; collecting these can help out by restoring stamina or magic powers. Additionally, at the end of each level, the Beans can be used to purchase collector cards; these are used to increase a character's abilities.
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The PC game based on the third Harry Potter story is, like its counterpart on consoles, a three-dimensional action adventure, but with entirely different challenges and levels.
The player controls both Harry as well as his friends Ron and Hermione, while casting spells, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. Each of the three has one unique spell: Harry can freeze things, Hermione can transform statues into living creatures which can reach areas she can't, and Ron can pull himself over chasms or pull things toward him.
When the three (or sometimes only two) of them are together, the one best suited for the task at hand is automatically selected. If the power of several spells is required for a certain task, the other characters (AI-controlled) join in the casting. Spellcasting is context-sensitive - the correct spell is selected according to the object targeted.
When not engaged in a specific mission, the castle of Hogwarts can be freely explored. Many secrets and smaller tasks await. Scattered all around Hogwarts, usually in hidden areas, are Every Flavour Beans, Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes, which function as a sort of currency. They can be traded for Collectors Cards, passwords for portraits that lead to more secret areas, and power-ups.
To finish the game, not only must the main missions be completed, but several side tasks as well. All 80 Collectors Cards must be found, all portrait passwords acquired and several mini-games completed. These include battles against pixies and a magically animated book, and a hippogriff flying course.
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In this Harry Potter game, join him during his second term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
A dark plot against his "Mudblood" classmates has Harry befuddled as more and more students are strangely petrified. Harry must learn new spells and cast them without mistake to uncover the secrets and solve the mysteries.
In the PC version, the 3D environments are "free-roaming" as players actually become Harry Potter and learn more about his world and personality. Conversations with the various characters and keen observation as you explore are crucial to solving the game. Interact with familiar characters from the movie: Ron, Hermoine and, of course, Gilderoy Lockhart. Additionally, there are multiple mini-games and side quests.
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For the first time since the 1970s, there has arisen a marketing force terrifying enough in its inertia to rock the house of LucasArts to its core. Yes indeed, Harry Potter has arrived, and backed by the omnipotent J.K.Rowling has burst on to the gaming market with the force of... well, a million eager children's piggy banks. And that's not even beginning to mention the countless hordes of adults who either pretend to read it to be with their kids, or just admit that they're damn good books.
The game versions of the best-selling novels certainly have a lot to live up to, not least since they're game adaptations of film adaptations of books - not a genre that has the best pedigree. This hasn't stopped them rocketing into the number one slot in the all-format charts in the UK, and in fact, it's not even a matter of concern, because the PC version at least is really very good indeed.
The title loosely follows the plot of the film; and when we say loosely, we really mean it, as the best you get is a brief plot reminder to keep you rolling along. Those who haven't either read the books or seen the film are going to be mightily confused. Our best advice is to settle down and read the lot - we promise you won't regret it. You start with your lessons at Hogwarts school for witches and wizards before rocketing straight to the end of the story with a quick stop-off for dragon rescuing in the middle.
The roller-coaster nature of the game's plot development is a bit of a pity, since it's really excellent entertainment, but essentially leads to a rather short game. You begin with your first lessons during which you learn a number of useful spells by tracing your mouse over a shape onscreen - the more accurate you are, the more points go to your schoolhouse, Gryffindor. The house-points are totalled up on your options screen; nice teachers give them for success, and according to tradition, nasty professor Snape takes them away in a desultory fashion.
Once the spell is learnt, you can use it in the game. Each class contains a challenge that you as Harry are sent on. You're only able to succeed if you use your spells correctly, which is simpler than it might sound. Taking up the spellcasting stance with the press of a button, you can direct your wand to the objects around you. If it's 'spellable', then the spell icon shows up and you can cast upon it. This will either open the pathway, gain you some Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, a collectable Wizard Card, one of the challenge stars needed to complete the task or give you a chocolate frog to restore your health. If you manage to find 24 of the cards, and 250 of the beans through unlocking secret areas, you unlock a special secret wizard card. We'd give you more info but we missed the secret area in the Quidditch lesson - bah!
This brings us neatly to the flying broomstick game. Starting with a quick lesson with Zoe Wannamaker (or rather, her digital equivalent), you're quickly spotted as a star Quidditch player, and promoted to the house team! Through this convenient plot device, you're propelled into an all-star match against the other houses. As the seeker, your task is to zoom around the pitch and pick up the snitch, a tiny golden ball with wings, to clinch the match. In fact, it's probably the trickiest part of the game, and certainly the most fun, which is why the title includes a separate Quidditch league where the enlightened player can zoom and swoop to their heart's content to build their way up the league. You can even have private tuition with the Quidditch teacher to improve your lacking broomstick skills.
Control has been simplified to appeal to all ages, but this leaves you feeling a little bit clumsy. You can move back and forwards, turn left and right, jump, and use a spell, with the mouse being indicated as the sensible way to look around. However mouse control is incredibly awkward, so we ended up moving around with the arrow keys - the lack of a strafe only causing occasional annoyance. Much of the game is platform-style, not dissimilar to a certain Ms Croft's escapades. The way Harry grabs the edge of blocks and bookcases and hauls himself up with a grunt is a dead ringer for the anatomically impossible heroine. What's a bit silly is that the game includes the ability to enable an 'autojump' function. Yes, that's just what it sounds like - we heartily recommend people leave it off since it not only takes away any difficulty from the platform sections, but also reduces the fun quota to near zero.
The game has its fair share of puzzles, although they're not overly taxing, being aimed at an age group with a large span of years. They're made with style, however, as is much of the game itself. Graphically, it's a feast for the eyes, with convincing representations of the film's heroes, heroines, villains and bit-parts all reproduced. Hogwarts itself looks wonderful, just the sort of place to make kids and adults alike wish that they'd been the ones who'd been picked for wizard school. Likewise, the voices are excellently done. Mimicking the film's cast to perfection, the game is truly immersive - sadly this just heightens the disappointment when you reach the game's ending so quickly.
For a film conversion, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone manages, thankfully, to live up to the hype. It's an excellent title for kids of all ages (yes, even the grown up ones), with a fantastic mixture of gaming genres contained within. Alas, a slightly ropy control system, and disappointing length let us down on what is otherwise a truly enjoyable experience.
Free
Descent is a 3D first-person game that puts the player at the controls of the Pyro-GX spaceship. Descent is notable in that the player travels through various interior locations (mines) but can do so in 720 degrees of movement. The ship however only moves forward and backward in any of the directions it is facing. The ship is able to use a variety of weapons scattered as power-ups throughout each level. They include: standard lasers, the Vulcan Cannon (a chaingun-like weapon), the Spreadfire Cannon (a rapidly firing, shotgun-like energy weapon), the Plasma Cannon (a rapidly firing energy weapon more suited for medium-range combat), and the Fusion Cannon (fires a ball of energy that's more powerful the longer it is charged it up, but could destroy the ship). All of these weapons, except for the Vulcan Cannon, use the ship's energy supply. The Pyro-PX is also capable of firing regular concussion missiles, homing missiles, proximity bombs (sits in the sky, then explodes when something gets close to it), smart missiles (more powerful homing missiles that fire out homing energy balls upon impact with their target), and Mega Missiles (the ultimate weapons of mass destruction).
The goal of each level is to locate and destroy the mine's reactor. Once completed, there are only 45 seconds to find the escape hatch to get out of the mine before it explodes. As progress is made through the game, the AI will adapt to player's strategies and attempt to prevent the player from reaching the goals.
FreeOn New Year's Eve 1958 Hyman Roth not only celebrated his birthday, he also celebrated the successful expansion of the Corleone family, successfully lead by Don Michael Corleone for fifteen years now, into Cuba. But the celebrations did not last long when suddenly "la revolucion" started and all hell breaks loose. Michael and Hyman manage to escape with most of the other family members but Aldo Trapani (the main protagonist in The Godfather) gets killed - just in time for five new families to threaten the Corleone family's control over New York, Florida and Las Vegas. As one of Aldo Trapani's closest soldiers, the player jumps into the role of Dominic to help Michael and the Corleone family win the war as well as to build a family of his now.
FreeThe Lord of the Rings: Conquest puts the player right in the middle of the most famous battle of the Third Age including the assaults on Helm's Deep and Gondor and the battle at the Black Gate. In two campaigns the player either fights for the forces of good or the forces of evil and leads them to victory.
FreeThe base game of Aliens Versus Predator 2 is notable for its unique gameplay, allowing players to experience the story from three distinct perspectives: a Colonial Marine, a Predator, and an Alien. Each character type offers a vastly different play style and abilities, providing varied and immersive gameplay experiences. The Marine campaign focuses on survival horror, with tense and atmospheric gunplay. The Predator campaign offers a more strategic approach, utilizing advanced technology and stealth. The Alien campaign provides a visceral melee experience, emphasizing agility and close-quarters combat.
FreeSkyNET was Bethesdy's final game based on a Terminator license. It was originally developed as a data drive for its predecessor Terminator: Future Shock, but during development it decided to become a standalone game. One of the noticeable improvements, this time was the ability of Xngine to display the game in a higher resolution of 640x480 (the previous game ran only in the classic 320x200). If you had Future Shock installed with SkyNET, you could also play the game in this new resolution. In addition to the new single-player campaign, new multiplayer options have been added.
FreeTough Guy is a fighting game similar to Street Fighter. Choose one fighter and travel all over the world to choose and challenge a wide variety of fighters.
FreeThere always was a curse upon the Covenant family which killed them all either with a painful disease or drove them into madness. At the end of the 19th century the father of the current generation of Covenants reopens their old but abandoned mansion and thereby uncovers strange standing stones on an nearby island. Possessed by this discovery, he locked himself up in the library and wanted to uncover the meaning of those stones. Out of curiosity, in 1899 his three sons and two daughters stole a book about the stones out of his library, went to the island and conducted a dark and powerful ritual which marked the beginning of the end. During the following 20 years almost every member of the family either turned mad and killed themselves or died from something else.
FreeAndy is a child who likes playing with his dog Whiskey, doesn't particularly enjoy going to school, and has a knack for inventing complicated gadgets. One day Andy and Whiskey are strolling through the park, when suddenly a solar eclipse darkens the sky, and after a moment Andy realizes that his dog has been taken away. But science can solve everything, and Andy heads to his treehouse, which is home to his outstanding inventions, including a spaceship! If you thought it was just a toy, you thought wrong, because Andy boards the ship and pilots it into the heart of the Darklands, a world controlled by the evil Master of Darkness. Andy takes out his gun (another splendid invention of his) and prepares to fight the evil sorcerer's minions. Nothing will stop the boy from rescuing his beloved dog!
FreeBattlefield 1942 is a massive online multiplayer shooter roughly based on World War II, but with emphasis on balance and fun. Join armed forces of United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany or Russia, and battle up to 63 of your friends online. Have access to up to twenty different authentic weapons. Control any of the 30+ vehicles over land, on water, or in air. Combat takes place in four theatres; South Pacific, North Africa, and Eastern and Western Europe. Have epic battles with up to 64 players on the same map, or hone your skills in single-player mode against AI bots.
FreeTorrente has returned, both in film form and as a video game. Again one can fight crime in Madrid from first- or 3rd-person perspectives, but not a mere virtual Madrid: in this game, the streets of Madrid have been faithfully converted into game maps and the players can visit such authentic locations as the Puerta del Sol or the Plaza del Callao if they so choose.
FreeA game based on the spanish feature film "Torrente: El Brazo Tonto de la Ley" (Torrente: The Dumb Arm of the Law). The game follows the adventures of officer Torrente, a fascist, sexist, racist, dishonest, drunk and dirty loser that gets caught between drug cartels and all sorts of homicidal maniacs.
FreeThe House of the Dead is a rail shooter. Go through the four chapters with branching paths and kill all the zombies, avoid killing the humans, and rescue the girl. Shooting various special targets along the way or in a certain time period give the player temporary health and weapon upgrades.
FreeBadass Inc. is a point-and-click action game that has you playing the part of a contract killer tasked to eliminate a target in an unconventional way.
FreeA fun tactical wargame based on Games Workshop's renown Warhammer 40,000 universe, Space Hulk combines a faithful depiction of the excellent strategic choices of a Warhammer boardgame, including authentic space marines and weapons, with adrenaline-pumping action.
FreeSyndicate Wars is the second title in the Syndicate series, created by Bullfrog Productions in 1996.
FreeQuake II doesn't need any introduction. The first-person shooter created by id Software was released in December 1997.
FreeWolfenstein 3D is a first-person shooter developed by Id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1992 for DOS. It has since been ported for several systems including PC-98, Mac, Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360.
FreeHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the final game in the series of Harry Potter movie adaptations. It closely follows the plot of the movie of the same name. Harry and his friends will have to find and destroy the remaining Horcruxes and then face Lord Voldemort for the ultimate battle.
FreeHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 is an adaption of the movie of the same name. The player takes the role of Harry Potter on his quest to find the Horcruxes; the source of the villain's immortality. In contrast to the former games based on the franchise this is a third person shooter. The levels portrait key moments from the movie.
FreeHarry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is based on the movie of the same name. The player takes the role of Harry Potter who has to fight against Lord Voldemort and his minions.
FreeBased off the fifth book and movie of the series, players take control of Harry Potter in this 3D adventure as he faces the dangers of his fifth year of Hogwarts, avoiding the malicious Professor Dolores Umbridge, builds Dumbledore's Army, and faces off with Voldemort himself as the prophecy continues to unfold.
FreeHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is an action-adventure game that follows the story of the fourth movie and book of the same name. In addition to the usual challenges and dangers that Harry, Ron, and Hermione need to face, the Triwizard Tournament will be held at Hogwarts and mysteriously Harry is in the tournament!
FreeThe PC game based on the third Harry Potter story is, like its counterpart on consoles, a three-dimensional action adventure, but with entirely different challenges and levels.
FreeIn this Harry Potter game, join him during his second term at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
FreeFor the first time since the 1970s, there has arisen a marketing force terrifying enough in its inertia to rock the house of LucasArts to its core. Yes indeed, Harry Potter has arrived, and backed by the omnipotent J.K.Rowling has burst on to the gaming market with the force of... well, a million eager children's piggy banks. And that's not even beginning to mention the countless hordes of adults who either pretend to read it to be with their kids, or just admit that they're damn good books.
FreeDescent is a 3D first-person game that puts the player at the controls of the Pyro-GX spaceship. Descent is notable in that the player travels through various interior locations (mines) but can do so in 720 degrees of movement. The ship however only moves forward and backward in any of the directions it is facing. The ship is able to use a variety of weapons scattered as power-ups throughout each level. They include: standard lasers, the Vulcan Cannon (a chaingun-like weapon), the Spreadfire Cannon (a rapidly firing, shotgun-like energy weapon), the Plasma Cannon (a rapidly firing energy weapon more suited for medium-range combat), and the Fusion Cannon (fires a ball of energy that's more powerful the longer it is charged it up, but could destroy the ship). All of these weapons, except for the Vulcan Cannon, use the ship's energy supply. The Pyro-PX is also capable of firing regular concussion missiles, homing missiles, proximity bombs (sits in the sky, then explodes when something gets close to it), smart missiles (more powerful homing missiles that fire out homing energy balls upon impact with their target), and Mega Missiles (the ultimate weapons of mass destruction).
