GamesRadar - PC Reviews

The Da Vinci Code (Review)

May 30, 2006

How's this for a deep, dark conspiracy: we think a secret society seeks to make crappy games out of intriguing book and movie licenses. When we uncover the identities of any of the members, we're going to strap them down and force them to play through The Da Vinci Code for themselves. As in the bestselling book and box-office powerhouse, American professor Robert Langdon and French cryptologist Sophie Neveu stumble into a murder investigation at the Louvre; a cryptic string of clues leads ...

Dark Age of Camelot (Review)

Jul 21, 2005

Forget old Arthur and his Knights - Dark Age of Camelot seems to have the monopoly on almost any mythology you could name. Give it another six months and we'll probably be sitting here with character classes like Rusalka (sit in the middle of a lake until a hero comes along, then try to seduce and drown them), Domovoi (take care of a house while its owner is away - possibly through a Sims style interface) and Bigfoot (attempt not to be noticed, using the amazing power of not actually existing. ...

Dark Age of Camelot: Labyrinth of the Minotaur (Review)

May 29, 2007

Going strong after nearly six years, Dark Age of Camelot is now lavishing higher-level players with enough new PvP, PvE and Realm versus Realm content to keep them going for many a moon with this expansion. Set, as youd expect, in a gigantic labyrinth below PvP-haven Agramon Island, Labyrinth of the Minotaur expands on current Champion Level formulas, allowing players to further develop ability-wise, rather than adding levels above ...

Dark Messiah of Might and Magic (Review)

Oct 27, 2006

Where was Dark Messiah of Might and Magic when we had the summertime blues? Barging through this fast-action fantasy story was as good as it gets - perhaps just shy of an Indiana Jones flick on full volume. Sure, Dark Messiah could be billed as a fantasy action role-playing game, played from the first-person perspective - but it'll sucker punch you in the kidneys if you think it's an Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion clone. Dark Messiah is about as far from the lonely, ponderous, soul-searcher ...

Darkness Within: In Pursuit of Loath Nolder (Review)

Dec 14, 2007

Dec 14, 2007 Apparently inspired by the work of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, Darkness Within only manages to retain traits from the legendary Cthulhu, in that to even lay sight upon it will lead to insanity. A world of nausea and terror awaits, full of terrible writing that will lead you to flay yourself and weep for your lost money. The game's controls seem to have been designed by a drunken Myst fanatic - you walk around stilted 3D environs clicking your mouse in the eager hope that you ...

DarkStar One (Review)

Aug 15, 2006

What is it with space pirates? They don't fly the Jolly Roger, they don't wear flowing garments and they don't abuse the word "arrrr". These guys aren't pirates; they're just losers. So there really isn't any moral dilemma when you blow them out of the sky in DarkStar One, a game that tries too hard to be a cinematic drama when it should just concentrate on what it does well: blowin' stuff up. You play Kayron Jarvis, novice fighter pilot, on a mission to find the assassin who killed his ...

Darwinia (Review)

Jul 5, 2006

Darwinia sounds like the sort of game that ought to involve tweaking squirmy single-celled organisms all the way up to pensive, brooding bipeds. In fact, Introversion's quirky Darwinia has nothing to do with its "Charlie Darwin" namesake. Instead, it "evolves" (if thats the word) a few coin-op principles into a psychedelic real-time strategy romp with rudimentary arcade tendencies. If retro-funky were real estate, Darwinia would own it coast to coast. This is gaming at its weirdest, where ...

Dawn of Magic (Review)

Oct 18, 2007

Oct 17, 2007 Dawn of Magic is perhaps one of the least offensive games ever made, but it's also one of the most toothless. The game successfully copies moves from the Diablo book of success, but in the end it simply does not have enough soul to rest anywhere near that classic franchise. As its title suggests, Dawn focuses heavily on magic for combat, with a series of strange classes - the Baker's Wife, the Fat Friar, etc. - able to specialize in twelve schools of magic. Spells can be mixed ...

Dawnspire (Review)

Apr 12, 2007

Attempting to strip an MMO down to pure PvP is a nice plan, but one that requires a lot more depth than Dawnspire possesses. You choose one of five character classes, build their skills from a pool and then its straight into frenetic battle. With only one game mode (others promised), the battles feel perfunctory, with no leveling, PvE or pickups. Limited skills and frequent deaths mean you spend more time waiting to resurrect than fighting. Perhaps in a few months time, when more modes and ...

Death to Spies (Review)

Oct 26, 2007

Oct 26, 2007 Just from the looks of it, Death to Spies feels like a typical war game right away. But when you actually do start it, you'll realize you were totally off. This is a game that isn't about shooting whatever wherever, but rather, it's a game that requires strategic combat and precise planning to just get to the next area. The developers obviously tried something new here, and while they didn't completely prevail, they succeeded enough to make this an entertaining, unique ...

DEFCON (Review)

Oct 3, 2006

Remember WarGames? That '80s film where Matthew Broderick plays a school kid who inadvertently hacks into the US military's defense mainframe and plays a game of Global Thermonuclear War? DEFCON is that game in all but name: a world map in glowing outline, showers of vector-graphics warheads arcing between superpowers, and the silhouettes of subs creeping ominously across international waters. The war plays out in silence but for a ghostly soundtrack of unsettlingly off-key tones, coughing and ...

Democracy 2 (Review)

Jan 28, 2008

First there was Democracy, and now theres two of it. Thats right: the game of trying to stay in power thanks to the whim of the masses is back and much improved. The core remains the same: your political world is divided into a network of issues and policies that interact as you change your emphasis on them. How much money you spend on law and order will have knock-on effects, such as demands for increases in taxing, or making your citizens feel a little less free. Adjusting and balancing ...

Depths of Peril (Review)

May 5, 2008

At the time of writing, Iron Lore, makers of Titan Quest, have just gone bust. A THQ Creative Director put the blame pretty firmly at the feet of software piracy.While it’s easy to sympathise - there’s nothing funny in hundreds of thousands of people playing a game for free while its makers run into financial difficulties - you can’t help but think if Iron Lore had actually displayed even a fraction of the imagination this ...

Determinance (Review)

May 29, 2007

Swordfighting: cool. Flying: cool. The phrase “damnit” repeated dozens upon dozens of times: really not cool. This third-person deathmatch game is both a genuinely intriguing attempt to realize direct sword control and a clumsy comedy wherein gimp-voiced characters bounce off each other in the ...

Deus EX: Invisible War (Review)

Feb 15, 2006

In terms of core values, core plot and core play, Invisible War is the direct heir to Deus Ex. Set 20 years on from the original and after a worldwide collapse, global society is getting back on its feet. You play a nanotech-modified trainee at something called 'The Tarsus Academy'. Shortly after the opening of the game, you find yourself flying the nest and trying to work out what's actually going on in the world. Conspiracy and control are the two major plot threads. Sitting down to ...

Devil May Cry 4 (Review)

Jul 8, 2008

There is a reason we’ve given so much space to this Capcom stunner; something that previously seemed destined to arrive mangled during the trip from console to PC. Amazingly though, Devil May Cry 4 is a slick, PC-enhanced title, not a hastily shoe-horned mess. This means the game looks great, it’s graphically scaleable, you can use a keyboard to play it and, to top it off, it plays like the entire PC development team was briefed ...

Dirty Dancing - The Video Game (Review)

May 22, 2008

You’re expecting us to say “We’ve had the time of our life,” aren’t you? Probably “nobody puts Baby in the corner” too. Maybe something about a melon. It’s the only reason you’re reading this review. You don’t care if this rancid collection of minigames is any good or not. You’re just here for Swayze puns, you filthy slut. You do know the man’s currently dying of ...

Doom 3 (Review)

Sep 19, 2006

Who would have thought that anything bad could happen from mixing the occult and ancient alien technology? It's up to you, Space Marine, to thwart the invasion from a Hell dimension that has started on a Mars research station and threatens to spread to Earth. There's no disputing that Doom 3 has some of the prettiest graphics ever on the PC, showing some of the ugliest monsters ever to throw fireballs at your head. The creatures that stalk you in the darkness are pretty terrifying if you hold ...

Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil (Review)

Apr 19, 2006

If you scare easily, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil can be a heart-pounding experience. But if it takes more than dark corridors and monsters jumping out of corners to make you sweat the cold stinky sweat of fear, Nerve Software's expansion pack quickly becomes a tedious trek through "Been-There-Ville." The story is about as creative as Doom gets: It's two years after the events of Doom 3 and you're part of a Marine force sent in to trace a homing beacon from deep in the facility. Soon enough, ...

Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon (Review)

Sep 24, 2008

Kheops Studio is one of the brighter lights on the 3D adventure gaming scene, and the French developer’s latest offering - Dracula 3: The Path of the Dragon (a different company created chapters one and two several years ago) - is one of the most mentally taxing and imposing point-and-click puzzlers you’ll ever aim a mouse at. ...