GamesRadar - PC Reviews

Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power (Review)

7/11/2007

Nov 7, 2007 A year before the Strugatsky brothers penned the novel that inspired S.T.A.L.K.E.R., they churned out the sixth installment of their “Noon Universe” series. Prisoners of Power was a subversive tale of totalitarianism and revolt set on a planet with an atmosphere so refractive the locals had to look straight up to see the horizon. Were telling you all this because you wont learn it from playing the game allegedly based on the book. Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power is ...

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar (Review)

21/02/2007

Galactic Civilizations II: Dark Avatar makes enough changes to qualify as a full-fledged expansion, though you could be forgiven for not noticing most of them immediately. The new races aren't that much different from the old ones, the asteroid mining is a minor asset to your industrial sector and many won't play the new story based campaign for very long. But developer Stardock shows that if you add enough tweaks, you can force even veteran players to rethink their entire ...

Galactic Civilizations II: Endless Universe (Review)

22/10/2008

This is the only really good challenger to Sid Meier’s Civilization for the 4X strategy genre. And, as the word “galactic” implies, it’s bigger, funnier and just as fine looking as its supposedly superior Leonard Nimoy-voiced cousin. ...

Galactic Civilizations II: Twilight of the Arnor (Review)

23/05/2008

Turn-based strategy games may seem dramatically old school next to their flashy RTS cousins (like Company of Heroes), but when they work as well as Stardock’s Galactic Civilizations II, we’ll happily enroll. GalCiv 2: Twilight of the Arnor is the second and final expansion pack for the critically acclaimed 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) space conquest game, and it makes delivering one of the most fulfilling strategy ...

Galactic Command - Echo Squad (Review)

8/07/2008

Really, this whole review just needs one sentence. Echo Squad is a Derek Smart game set in the Battlecruiser 3000AD universe. Whether those words make you shiver in orgasmic ecstasy, or shudder like you just walked in your dad experiencing the same, they say it all. The BC3000 series is simultaneously a glorious example of one man’s desire to make the perfect game, and as much fun for the average mortal as having your toenails ripped ...

Gears of War (Review)

2/11/2007

Nov 2, 2007 Let's pretend, for the first half of the review, that no one here has played Gears of War. We'll put our fingers in our ears, count backwards from 10 and allow the hype and hoopla to drift from our ears like a beautiful smoke effect. And… you're under. So, Gears of War in one word: meaty. Even the sneering lips of the heroes manage to be muscular, and the dialogue stinks of five-day sweat. The weaponry is tactile, and the sound effects are like someone slapping strips of ...

Genesis Rising (Review)

22/03/2007

We came, we saw, we conquered. Thousands of years in the future, mankind has dominion over all species in the universe, ruled by a militaristic religion founded on the Savior, whose martyrdom 3000 years before saved humanity and established the empire that now spans the known universe. Genesis Rising is publisher DreamCatchers newest, a real time strategy game set in space. DreamCatcher is known mostly for point-and-click adventures like Syberia, so we expected a lush, beautiful setting ...

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (Review)

23/05/2007

So it turns out Windows Vista was one big Trojan horse to get Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved on the PC. Vista crept onto the newest PCs, waited until darkest midnight then Pow!, delivered a Xbox 360 Live game straight to the back of the head. We're still throbbing. You're a little claw-shaped ship at the center of a swarm of enemies. Movement and shooting are controlled separately, both with a full 360 degrees of freedom so that you can slip away and fire at the same time. All you need to do is ...

Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Review)

17/07/2007

This isnt so much a sequel as a careful reiteration of the first Tom Clancys Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter game. Theyve honed the template by adding some new visuals - lighting effects, convincing smoke, that sort of thing - and theyve tweaked the interface. But essentially the Sweden-based development team, Grin, has delivered the same fancy-looking tactical shooter as before. This is a game where taking things slowly is the key to success. Youre faced with large tracts of complex urban ...

Ghostbusters The Video Game (Review)

17/06/2009

It’s fortunate that somebody at Terminal Reality understands exactly what made the Ghostbusters films so entertaining. While the publishers are keen to play up the roles of Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis – who both contributed to the script and did the relevant voice acting – this is very much Terminal Reality’s take on the legend. ...

Glory of the Roman Empire (Review)

29/06/2006

Someone must be buying historic city-building games because this year we will see three set in ancient Rome with another one the way in 2007. First out of the gate is Glory of the Roman Empire, an obvious title for a game that follows an obvious path. Glory borrows a bit from 2004s Children of the Nile. Instead of money, you need specific goods to build and maintain structures. Your entire economy is based on the provision of these supplies, and as long as your citizens are satisfied in their ...

The Godfather (Review)

21/12/2006

If you ever need proof that video games are a powerful educational tool, look no further than The Godfather. After a week with this Grand Theft Auto-like gangster simulator, you'll know more about the movie than most film students. You'll know the name of the guy who gets shot in the "leave the gun, take the cannoli" scene. You'll know the order in which Michael Corleone's enemies get whacked during the climactic revenge montage. You'll know this, because you'll have done it all ...

The Godfather II (Review)

7/04/2009

Whether or not you agree with its high position as IMDB’s third greatest film of all time, The Godfather II is a license that no developer outside of Rockstar North could even come close to fulfilling. Other than Grand Theft Auto IV there hasn’t been a sandbox game that has even promised to match The Godfather II’s tone, quality and vision. ...

The Golden Compass (Review)

24/01/2008

Warren Spector recently claimed that he would have loved to have worked on games set within Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe. This, frankly, would have been amazing - the books fit him like a glove. Their themes of alternate parallel universes, their steampunk mentality, the weighty references to works of literature, their hive of moral ambiguity, and the homosexual angels would have been right up his street. This game could have been a legendary RPG, and it wouldn't have shied away ...

The Golden Horde (Review)

25/04/2008

Ah, history. Stranger than fiction, and the source of the best stories. JoWooD, makers of variable quality games... wait a second. Is this the same game we just reviewed earlier today? Why no, of course not, it’s a game based on the wars between Russia, the Mongols and the Crusaders - our very favourite period of medieval warfare! What’s more, instead of a mere two campaigns as in Fate of Hellas, there are three! That means, according to ...

Gothic 3 (Review)

27/11/2006

The Gothic series has enjoyed widespread popularity throughout Germany with an expansive, open fantasy world that preceded the ever popular Oblivion by several years. Unfortunately, it looks like the series will continue to only remain popular with its hardcore fan base as clumsy combat, frustrating AI, and graphical anomalies will prevent most players from enjoying everything that Gothic 3 has to offer. And theres a lot that Gothic 3 offers for role-playing enthusiasts to sink their teeth ...

Grand Ages: Rome (Review)

18/03/2009

The Romans are a rich source of gaming jollity, what with all their politics and warfare, big cities and preoccupation with violent entertainment. So it’s a bit of a shame, then, that all the games we get based on this part of history tend to be vast swathes of RTS and city-building games and little else. And so in that context we present Grand Ages: Rome. ...

Grand Theft Auto IV (Review)

2/12/2008

Of all the extensions of experience that games provide, from puzzle-exploits with cartoon unicorns to unrepentant radioactive horrors, it’s the sandbox gangster sims of the GTA series that are the most voluminous and detailed. ...

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (Review)

21/12/2006

Given the endlessly bad press it receives, you'd almost think Grand Theft Auto was the ruin of Western civilization. But while its hooker-beating and indiscriminate violence come up every time some culture critic wants to rag on digital entertainment, gamers have their own reasons for liking it. Reasons like limitless freedom, unfettered exploration and infinite possibilities for running over old ladies at high speeds. And with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, you'll get more of that stuff than ...

Grappling Hook (Review)

5/11/2009

Remember the smart, weird kid in your class? This platform puzzler is that boy: clever, but no looks or personality. It’s just you and a grapple gun, trapped in 22 levels of cuboid puzzlement. Reach a teleporter to escape each level, pick up the access codes along the way, avoid electrified panels. The trick is to use your grapple gun to hook onto the green areas dotted tactically around levels. ...