GamesRadar - PC Reviews

Tabula Rasa (Review)

Nov 12, 2007

Nov 12, 2007 History lesson time: "Tabula rasa" is a Latin phrase popularized by John Locke in the 17th century. Translated to English it reads as "clean slate" and describes Locke's notion of human nature. In terms of Richard Garriott's new MMORPG, intellectually titled Tabula Rasa, the concept works on several levels. In the game's story, it refers to humanity starting over on a new planet after an alien invasion. For gameplay it hints at the cloning system that allows you to take a single ...

Taito Legends (Review)

Jun 22, 2007

How do you see it? Old skool nostalgia or long-forgotten crap? Are you a rabid retro-head or a sneering next-gen obsessive? Either way, its a mini-war that neednt be, especially when were talking about over thirty games for less than twenty clams. Perhaps its time that both sides of the dispute kissed and made up, and we can all get in the warm and have a great game of New Zealand Story. Er, ...

Tank Universal (Review)

Oct 6, 2008

Though you wouldn’t guess it from the title, screenshots or, indeed, actual game, in Tank Universal you play a wrinkled old man with failing health called George. George has been to the ‘doctors’ and been advised that the best cure for his illness is a strict course of tanks, missiles and explosions, taken through a VR headset. George totters home, sticks the helmet on, and that’s the premise of the game. ...

Team Fortress 2 (Review)

Oct 9, 2007

Oct 9, 2007 Let's not dwell too much on the original mod for Quake and Half-Life - that was ten years ago, not everyone played it, and TF2 is very obviously aimed at new players as much as old. Worth mentioning, quickly, is that it's got the same nine classes but fewer weapons for each, grenades have been removed entirely (thank God) and, well... look at it. Look what they did to it. The changes might sound like simplification, but like the art style it's more about exaggeration. The Spy used ...

Test Drive Unlimited (Review)

Feb 14, 2007

Welcome to the worlds first obscene wealth simulator. Sure, one in every two driving games on the market involves collecting cash, but nothing else sees you lavish a sickeningly huge amount of money on yourself like this driving semi-MMO. Its a tale of amassing massive riches during a privileged, unemployed life on the beautiful Hawaiian island of Oahu, then spending all your said riches on cars. Endless numbers of super-expensive cars. By way of example, heres an average day in our characters ...

Theatre of War (Review)

May 29, 2007

This game promised much. A link-up between Russian über-developer Oleg Maddox of IL-2 Sturmovik fames 1C Company, and hardcore US strategizers Battlefront. Years in development, it promised to be the greatest payoff from the end of the Cold War since Rocky beat Ivan Drago. Theatre of War - available now from www.battlefront.com for $45 - simulates small-scale WWII European ground combat, stretching from the invasion of Poland in 1939 to the fall of Berlin. Its dripping in WWII hardware ...

Threadspace: Hyperbol (Review)

Aug 29, 2007

Aug 29, 2007 The trouble with space is its all three-dimensional. You think youre doing pretty well in a scrap, and then it turns out theres an enemy Battlecruiser and 42 legions of their finest fighters descending on you from above. ThreadSpace: Hyperbol does away with such unpleasantness by limiting play to a two-dimensional plane. Yes, youre a spaceship, but you slide about like some sort of rocket-powered game of intergalactic curling. This all works tremendously well mind you, and to the ...

Thrillville: Off the Rails (Review)

Nov 29, 2007

Nov 29, 2007 One day, some developers looked at Rollercoaster Tycoon and Theme Park and decided they just werent wacky enough. This sequel to the console title Thrillville is set upon force-feeding you proof of its craziness until you vomit. From the ‘whoa coasters to the Christopher Lloyd-style scientist nut to the ‘hilarious minigames, Off the Rails is plain out of this ...

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 (Review)

Oct 18, 2006

When you consider just how simple the basic premise of golf is - knocking a ball into a hole with a stick - the degree of hidden complexity is pretty amazing. This perennial offering takes heat for not changing a hell of a lot from year to year, but familiarity doesn't necessarily equal stagnation. In fact, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 07 is the most enjoyable golf game available. This year's console and handheld versions might have their disappointing quirks, but the PC edition stands tall as king of ...

TimeShift (Review)

Nov 8, 2007

Oct 30, 2007 It's been a tough year to be a first-person shooter. With the bar being set ludicrously high by games like Halo 3, BioShock, The Orange Box, and Call of Duty 4, we are in a golden age of action titles. It's a bit hard, then, to recommend the fourth-dimensional shooter TimeShift amongst such a crowded field. Don't be mistaken - this is a solid offering - but its paint-by-numbers design and undercooked story will have a tough time holding your attention, though its multiplayer mode ...

Titan Quest (Review)

Jun 27, 2006

You've been waiting for Diablo 3? Well here it is, except it's called Titan Quest and set in classical Greece, China, and Egypt, and it's not by Blizzard. No, it doesn't have satanic minions or blood or big glowing pentagrams, but it does have demons, skeletons, and epic monsters like a screen-chomping Cyclops. Oh, and partial nudity, whatever that ...

Titan Quest: Immortal Throne (Review)

Mar 5, 2007

Expansion packs are usually bland affairs, but this one kind of unsettles us. Titan Quest was a tragic game that was meant to be the next big thing but ended up a so-so Diablo clone after six years in development. And almost all of what Immortal Throne adds centers around two themes: dreams and death. If ever there was a game that would turn out to be haunted and end up electrocuting you through your mouse, this is it. For those of you who aint afraid of no ghost, Immortal Throne is a broad ...

TMNT (Review)

Mar 30, 2007

When we first heard that the same studio that makes the fluidly acrobatic, lushly visualized Prince of Persia series was going to make a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, we were thrilled. In our minds, no other team on Earth was better suited to blend the four things that define the turtles: a dark personality (in the original comics at least), incredibly acrobatic ability to treat an entire city like a jungle gym, teamwork, and high-flying martial arts shell-kickery complete with different ...

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (Review)

May 3, 2006

Sprinting underneath the searing sun through the streets of Mexico City with 80 pounds of gear doesn't faze you a bit. You are a Ghost - a highly trained soldier of the future. The visiting President of the United States has been attacked by Mexican rebels. As Scott Mitchell, leader of your lethal squad of four "quiet professionals," you round the corner into the arms of three Mexican Army regulars as you slide to a dusty stop. Fumbling with your weapon for what seems like an eternity, you ...

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (Review)

Jul 17, 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 ...

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Review)

Jan 4, 2007

The terrorists are close. You can hear them through the door, whispering. But there are only two of them, so, feeling action-star confident, you race into the room with your assault rifle blazing. One second and a flurry of lead later, you're dead. Quickly recognizing that you're not the indestructible leading man of most videogames, you turn to your two teammates. They must be standing here for a reason... and two-versus-two sounds like a fairer fight. Ordering them through the very same ...

Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (Review)

Mar 18, 2008

Sometimes, a very good game can seem like a disappointment simply because it's a less glitzy, half-step sequel to a great game. Rainbow Six Vegas 2 leaves new boy, Bishop (your playable character) in a bit of a bind. As this game is part prequel, part sequel, part concurrent game, you’re never visiting the same parts of the city as you did in the first outing. And this is where Vegas 2’s first problem rears its ugly head. Until the fifth level - and these are big levels - you never get within 50 feet of a casino. Not a whiff of neon. Not a whisper of coins ...

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Double Agent (Review)

Nov 16, 2006

Y'know, we've never really been that comfortable playing the Splinter Cell series. There's just something about taking on the role of a government spook working for the CIA, the NSA or whatever that rubbed us the wrong way. Made us feel badass, but creepy. Like those people who say "I could tell you, but I'd have to kill you" and actually mean it. But we're professionals, so when the boss asked us to play Splinter Cell Double Agent, we begrudgingly agreed. After all, we were starting to get ...

Tomb Raider: Anniversary (Review)

May 29, 2007

Were all aware of the slow decline and sudden rebirth of Tomb Raider, but here it is again, in a nutshell. Excellent first game spins wildly into quickly released sequels, and a world of boobalicious merchandise. Lara Croft gets her own press office, while the quality of the games degrade into unfinished, repetitive crap. Lara jumped, then flipped mid-air and shot a number of sharks with Angel of Darkness. Then, she was unexpectedly resuscitated on the other side of a number of sharks when ...

Tomb Raider: Legend (Review)

Apr 26, 2006

With her trademark grace and charm, Lara Croft has completely reestablished herself as the supreme heroine of third-person adventure gaming. Whether solving mind-wracking puzzles, gunning down foes with chilling ruthlessness, or exploring everything from steamy jungle waterfalls in Ghana to a frigid military base in Kazakhstan, the lady who vaulted the PlayStation into stardom has returned to recapture our hearts. Throughout Tomb Raider: Legend there is a palpable sense of a perfected ...