Peter Molyneux slams a foot-tall pile of densely typed design documents in front of us. The sheer weight of paper brings to mind less Black & White, and more War and Peace.An apt parallel, given the game of dual moralities Molyneux and designer Ron Miller are trying to create. Good players build and nurture; bad players destroy. One is a god of peace; one is a god of war. Half city building; half RTS. You're asked to manage (not necessarily care for) a civilisation, in a reactive, physical
A typical day in London. The American President's motorcade works its way along The Mall towards Buckingham Palace. The streets are paved with placard waving protesters and cheering tourists as the sleek limo pushes through. Your squad is waiting up ahead in the Queen's courtyard, having swept the area for trouble. As the limo approaches, shots are fired. Terrorists, using the crowd as cover, are downing civilians with their AK-47s. The motorcade speeds off, your squad mobilises to take on the
By
PSM2_
posted February 2, 2005
Our aim has been to make the best looking PS2 game ever!" state the excited Ubisoft Splinter Cell Chaos Theory people. Already the emphatic claims are pouring out. Picture the scene: we've just entered the top floor presentation room of the developer's Montreal studio, and are now gazing up at a large projector screen which is flashing 'innovative' PS2 visual techniques in our ashen winter faces. Outside, a furious snowstorm is settling on already iced roads, while here indoors, the temperature
By
Edge_
posted February 1, 2005
When developers are desperate to make you see how realistic their games are they usually show screenshots of fictional things next to the authentic things. Konami has gone one step further by filming footage of real cars drifting around tracks and juxtaposing them, corner for corner, next to its own in-game footage. There's very little to choose between the representations, of course, but the spot-the-difference game gets tiresome pretty quickly.Point made; Enthusia has been built not to try
Maybe if Eidos's merchandising wallahs had any imagination then we'd have strolled out of their recent Imperial Glory preview event weighed down with bottles of Napoleon brandy and pairs of logo-emblazoned wellies rather than predictable (but appreciated) armfuls of T-shirts, pens and office furniture (Please return the chairs - Legal Ed). IG, you see, is a strategy game that the Little Corporal and the Iron Duke would have loved, had their steam-powered, mahogany-cased Georgian PCs had the
Tom Clancy's best-selling techno thrillers have probably done as much to fuel paranoia about international terrorism as the ranting of bin Laden, Bush and Blair, but they don't half inspire decent videogames. Clancy's original Rainbow Six novel, a chunky doorstop of a book, has spawned around ten squad-based shooters over the years (we lost count trying to add up all the PC expansion packs) and the latest, Rainbow Six 4, looks set to continue the series' strong pedigree.Developed once again by
There's a general rule of game development: don't fight the established games on their own ground. You'll almost certainly lose and sell jack, because they've got momentum and you're nobody. But it's a rule that Eugen are shunning. They've seen Command and Conquer: General's crown and think they can wrest it from its bleeding fingers.And they might just have what it takes. Act of War plays like C and C from an alternate dimension, where the old RTS warhorse kept on pushing into new territory,
By
Edge_
posted January 6, 2005
If this preview merely discussed the new TimeSplitters' Mapmaker it would fill you with joy, excitement and yearning. PC gamers have long been able to intensify their appreciation of a given game with editing tools and suites, but while a few console games have provided map editors there's been nothing to rival Future Perfect's suite of design tools. It's incredible.Of course, this is Free Radical's third version, but it now appears to be the real deal. Memory-saving fixes enable users to build
Suddenly management games are sexy. Dressed to impress in glorious 3D, this Eygptian beauty is making us fall in love all over again. Especially as our latest squeeze feels like a reunion with an old flame. Developer Tilted Mill is built from the ashes of the Impression Games team, and Immortal Cities: Children of the Nile inevitably doffs its dusty pith helmet to their seminal empire-builder, Pharaoh. What's more, the move to 3D accommodation has retained the solid foundations that made the
By
PSM2_
posted December 16, 2004
It's rare for a game like Project Snowblind to appear on PS2. The plodding strategic combat and crouch-creep gameplay is far more suited to a PC mouse-and-keyboard setup than your favourite console. We're startled that Crystal Dynamics have even had the guts to attempt such a game on PS2. As to the fact that it looks like it could be something outstanding, well, we're positively shocked. But in a good way.Maybe it's the way that it toys so successfully with familiar FPS convention? Our first
