GamesRadar - PC Previews

The Saboteur (The Saboteur)

Nov 21, 2009

Sin City. Grand Theft Auto. Inglorious Basterds. Moulin Rouge. Indiana Jones. Daniel O’Donnell. All these things seem to inform Pandemic’s World War II-set open world kill-’em-up.

It’s German-occupied Paris as a big-budget action movie: explosions, preening Nazi race drivers, base-jumping off the Eiffel Tower and sexy secret agents. By which we mean it’s trashier than a gossip magazine. ...

The Saboteur – first look (The Saboteur)

Apr 24, 2009

As Thomas Haynes Bayly once wrote, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” And we have certainly had a lot of time to accrue fondness for The Saboteur. This unique sandbox title from Pandemic – developers of Mercenaries and Star Wars: Battlefront –was announced over two years ago, and to say that information has been scarce since then is an understatement. ...

Saboteur (The Saboteur)

May 22, 2007

Nazi-occupied France in the 1940s... What do you mean youve been there before? Many, many times? And you could walk down every rue and plaza blindfolded, the amount of times youve liberated the city from the Germans? Okay, we admit that our first reaction was exasperation on discovering that our pals at developer Pandemic were at work on yet another 360 WWII title - but luckily they also realize that theres a lot of competition out there, which is why Saboteur has been packed ...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel - hands-on (Sacred 2: Fallen Angel)

Aug 19, 2008

Although well-received by critics, the first Sacred was much bigger in Europe than in the US and UK. It had a robust and entertaining combat system, which only rarely succumbed to the fatigue of repetition that the genre is known for. ...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Sacred 2: Fallen Angel)

May 7, 2008

Sacred was a massive, innovative action RPG that impressed us enough to be proclaimed PC Gamer’s RPG of the Year in 2004. But, like all games, it was imperfect; most notably, its hack-and-slash combat quickly became repetitive, and controls occasionally felt imprecise. After finally playing some of its much-anticipated prequel, I’m convinced that Sacred 2 will address the gameplay faults that burdened its predecessor and deliver ...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Sacred 2: Fallen Angel)

Feb 21, 2008

We're genuinely excited about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel for the PC. The promising title looks like the next natural step for those with any love for dungeon crawlers like Diablo or Titan Quest. Unfortunately, we doubt the 360 version will strike the same chord, as its audience may be unfamiliar with the mostly PC-centric genre.Visually, Sacred 2 has come far since its predecessor first released. Small details, like blades of grass swaying gently ...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel spreads its wings (Sacred 2: Fallen Angel)

Feb 21, 2008

While it won't melt your eyeballs with graphics too awesome for human beings to handle, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel looks like it might make left-clicking for loot fun again. In terms of visuals, the action RPG has come a long way since its predecessor released. Small details, like blades of grass swaying gently with the breeze or how your character actually gets wet when it rains, give the game's tried and true dungeon crawling gameplay mechanics ...

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel (Sacred 2: Fallen Angel)

May 1, 2007

Weve gone years without a successor to Diablo II - perhaps the MMO-boom put a dampener on the need to wander through caves with swords of increasing girth, facing monsters of increasing size and fangs. Whatever, in the run up to what could be the announcement of Diablo III; prime examples of hackage and slashery are oozing out of the fantastical woodwork and sitting obstinately on the horizon. Their names are legion, and chief among them in probable worth and certainly graphical goodness is ...

Sam & Max Season Two, Episode 1: Ice Station Santa - first look (Sam & Max Season Two, Episode 1: Ice Santa)

Sep 25, 2007

Sept 25, 2007 When we first learned that the new adventures of Sam & Max would be structured like a TV show - episodic and parceled out into single-story-arc "seasons" - we didn't realize how far indie developer/publisher Telltale Games would take the metaphor. Just like most American TV shows, the first season of Sam & Max ended just shy of summer 2007, and now that fall has arrived, it's time to roll out the new stuff. Sam & Max Season Two begins on Nov. 8, as the first of the new monthly ...

Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure (Sam Suede: Undercover Exposure)

Jun 1, 2006

You may not know Al Lowe's name, but longtime PC gamers will definitely know his work. His true claim to fame is the creation of the Leisure Suit Larry series, old-fashioned adventure games that starred a hapless but lovable lounge lizard usually concerned with little more than finding a slot B for his tab A. Now, Lowe has come out of retirement to give action gaming a hot-beef injection of suggestive humor. Billed as an "action comedy," Sam Suede casts a regular guy in the role of an ersatz ...

Savage 2 - first impressions (Savage 2: A Tortured Soul)

Mar 15, 2007

Reviewers final scores for the original Savage: The Battle for Newerth varied wildly when it released three years ago. Critics seemed to either love or hate the real-time strategy/first-person shooter hybrid, and reviews ranged from rave to nasty. Those in favor focused on its unique combination of RTS elements and team-based FPS action. Each team had one commander, who could manage resources, construct units, and dispatch orders; the rest of the teams “action players” controlled ...

SBK-08 - first look (SBK08 Superbike World Championship)

Apr 23, 2008

Regardless of whether you had any affinity for motorbike games, there was no denying SBK-07 was a bit on the hard side. There were options aplenty to mess about with so that there were umpteen degrees of slavish simulation, but there were a couple of notable problems which prevented the game from surging to the front of the two-wheeled racer pack.

Firstly, there wasn’t a whole lot of eye candy on offer - aside from the umbrella ...

Scarface: The World is Yours hands-on (Scarface: The World is Yours)

Jul 12, 2006

We got our first real crack at the newly redesigned Scarface: The World is Yours back in March, and while it was still in early form - having been recently torn apart and redesigned from scratch - it was already shaping up to be much more than just another Grand Theft Auto clone. Tony Montana looked and sounded slick, the city of Miami was intricately detailed and the cars handled much more smoothly than GTA's bar-of-soap-on-wet-tile rides. The game looks even more polished since then, and we ...

Scarface: The World is Yours (Scarface: The World is Yours)

Mar 31, 2006

When it was shown at last year's E3 expo, Scarface: The World is Yours got a lukewarm reaction. Its graphics were chunky, the gameplay seemed sketchy and overall it looked like a bad Vice City clone. "It didn't pop," said Pete Wanat, the game's executive producer, as he explained why the game was essentially torn apart and rebuilt after the showing. "We view this as a long-term franchise. ... We can't mail in the first one." And so, the entire virtual city of Miami was rebuilt, the driving ...

Scarface: The World is Yours (Scarface: The World is Yours)

Feb 22, 2006

Imagine if, after taking a nosedive into a mountain of coke and getting perforated with bullets, Tony Montana hadnt died at the end of Scarface. Hard to believe? Sure. Strips the film of its central message? Hell yes. But for better or worse, thats the premise of Scarface: The World is Yours. As the game opens, players replay the final scene from the movie, with one important twist: after trading fire with assassins sent by rival drug lord Alejandro Sosa, Tony escapes his burning mansion. ...

The Secret World (The Secret World)

Nov 16, 2009

Unlike their last effort, Age of Conan, Funcom is using an original setting for this online game: the real world. But don’t worry: this isn’t a game that has you washing +1 dishes before travelling to the supermarket to purchase increasingly nutritious vegetables. Like the classic shooter/RPG Deus Ex, The Secret World is grounded in our most intriguing urban legends, myths and secret societies. ...

The Secret World - first look (The Secret World)

Apr 9, 2009

The Secret World designer Ragnar Tornquist is adamant in his belief that it's a mistake for MMO creators to continue trying to copy World of Warcraft. That makes sense. We wouldn't expect the creator behind cult hits Dreamfall and The Longest Journey to push out another mundane orcs versus elves game. But just because we know what The Secret World isn’t doesn’t mean we know what it is. ...

Broken Sword: The Angel of Death (Secrets of the Ark: A Broken Sword Game)

Sep 13, 2006

Wednesday 13 September 2006 It shouldn't be a surprise, really, that 10 years on from its debut Broken Sword is beginning to resemble the series' recurring hero, George Stobbart. After three previous adventures, spanning most of the globe and all of a decade, it's clear that something of George has rubbed off on this latest instalment, so now both he and it share the same traits: intelligent, capable, handsome and confident. Confidence first: the accomplishments of the last Broken Sword, The ...

Section 8 – updated impressions (Section 8)

Apr 9, 2009

TimeGate Studios, the developers who soothed many an itchy trigger finger by releasing several Alma-haunting expansions between the release of F.E. A.R. and its recent sequel Project Origin, are setting their FPS sites on their most ambitious project to date. On the surface, Section 8 resembles little more than yet another sci-fi shooter looking to ride Master Chief's Spartan coattails, but beneath the beefy, shiny-armored heroes carrying big guns, the South Peak published title shows its true game-changing colors ...

Section 8 - hands-on (Section 8)

Feb 5, 2009

When people see another bunch of space marines, with yet another kind of cool helmet, there’s every chance they’ll turn away from Section 8. But that could be a mistake. Timegate Studios aren’t trying to tell a clever story here – although there is a single-player campaign to train you up for the online action. Section 8 has been built around that multiplayer game. ...