PC

The long awaited Star Wars MMO has finally been released. It is a direct sequel to the Knights of the Old Republic franchise, but the choice to make this an MMO has made it more than just a sequel, but a series of interconnected stories that make up what could be argued as multiple sequels to the game. It was an interesting move for the series, but is Star Wars The Old Republic worth the price to buy the game and pay the subscription fee to play? Another major question is will the game succeed? Or even will it go free to play like so many other MMOs this year? Read on to find out the details about the game and decide for yourself if you should make the plunge into The Old Republic.

Star Wars: The Old Republc's implementation of voiced characters gives the game an advantage over other MMOs for a few reasons. The first two in the series were voiced and changing that may have made the game feel less like its predecessors. In all seriousness no one reads the quest information in other MMOs. Players just click through as fast as they can so they can continue with the grind. All but a few quests are voiced even side quests, and many of them involve moral choices that a player must make in the end or during the quest.

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Taking place during the movie, but never crossing over with the main characters, Jurassic Park: The Game follows the story of the can of dinosaur embryos Dennis Nedry tried to smuggle off the island. There are eight characters involved with the storyline but being completely honest, they're on an island where dinosaurs are running amuck, so expect some deaths to occur, including yours. That's right - in a telltale games rarity, it is now possible for your character to die in the game. It's one of the better parts of the game actually. Watching characters getting eaten by all the different dinosaurs helps deal with the painful lack of gameplay.

That is not to say that you don't do anything. When the player is involved it's generally little more than a bunch of button mashing and watching for Heavy Rain inspired directional buttons, all to make your character slowly turn their head. The limited level of actual interactivity involved here is tragic. There are certain points in the game where you can walk away from the computer and come back several minutes later and it is as though you've never left; the game will gone on without the player. Sure, they've thrown a handful of QTE type buttons that need to be pushed here and there but unless the gold medallion pops up in the upper right hand corner of your screen the worst that will happen is that your character will stumble a bit and look a tad stupid, but it doesn't make a difference in the end. For the scenes where it does matter, the gold medal will change down to silver, bronze and eventually no medal at all depending on how many times you die or screw up the button sequences. Each episode is divided into scenarios so once you've played through you can go back and redo sections if you want to improve your medal standing. Controls consist either of the keyboard (arrows keys or WASD) or a gamepad.

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In every iteration of the Serious Sam franchise, Croteam has emphasized an old school feel. Hordes of enemies, large open areas to take them on, and of course, a heaping helping of over the top violence. Serious Sam 3:BFE holds true to these ideals. The game is rife with gore, aliens, and ample space to kill them. Despite the number 3 in the title the game is both a prequel and a remake of the original Serious Sam, but the story is far from the first reason to play this game.

The game starts out somewhat misleadingly to veterans of the series. The first few levels, in particular, are the exact oposite of what gamers have come expect from the franchise. In a slow tutorial style of play, Sam goes through small corridors with limited weaponry at his disposal, without any real hordes of enemies. However, the pace quickly shifts to what players expect from Sam - an over the top, downright outrageous experience. From that point, the game sticks with the goal of keeping the game as close to old school as possible. The combinations of monsters in the hordes get increasingly entertaining and difficult. Serious Sam 3 is stressful and rewarding. The hordes of enemies are unforgiving and challenging, but walking across the field of battle after eliminating droves of mental's forces can be cathartic.

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ID software, known for its huge success with Doom, Wolfenstein, and Quake has set new standards once again with its latest game Rage. The game was originally announced in 2007, but no details were given of the game other than the fact that it would be a new series and that it would use a new game engine. It has been years in the making and apart from a few minor flaws Rage surpasses amazing and nears perfection, but falls short in a few areas. Rage has set a new standard for games in general with its graphics, and for FPS games with the enemy AI. Graphically, Rage is stunning. Apart from a few kinks due to out of date GPU drivers, the game was released with near to perfect visuals. One of the most impressive aspects graphically is character design. It is fascinating to watch the intricate details of people's faces while they speak. The way their mouths move. Most of the characters look incredibly unique, although some NPCs do share the same basic design. The water and blood effects are pretty great. Killing an NPC near the player will splat blood all over the screen, and standing under dripping water, blood or sludge will run down the screen in a very realistic way.

The scenery and setting is also graphically incredible. From the moment the player steps out of the first area the world of Rage is breath taking. This beautiful landscape is nearly endless. The game has to load to be able to enter bandit hideouts and such simply because the graphics and details of each area are so extensive that the game simply cannot load them all. There is a slight texture pop if the the player looks around rapidly, but it only lasts a few seconds. This was a huge problem when the game was released, but that has since been fixed. Each locale of the game feels alive because of the attention to detail that ID software put into this game.

The sound in Rage is very well done. The voice acting stands out the most for being incredible, but the music is also very good. The voices all seem to fit the characters they portray, and often add to the depth of the characters. Pay close attention, and you will hear several well-known voice actors, including John Goodman, Paul Eiding, and Claudia Black. As a whole, the sound effects are superb. Rod Abernethy's rousing musical score does an excellent job setting the tone of the game, and enhances the intensity of the different feelings of the game such as the arena or exploring the dark hospital.

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