Aaron Cole @Kelberos

Quest for Glory I: So You Want To Be A Hero (DOS)

The start of an great adventure series

The Good
A remake of the original Quest for Glory, this game features improved graphics, a point and click interface, and easier combat. The storyline remains the same as the original game, and features one of Sierra's best musical scores, rivaling the King's Quest series. The character and world graphics are amazingly detailed for their time, and the land of Spielburg has a wide array of different environments to show them off. The point and click interface allows for easier interaction with objects in the world, the inventory menu, and dialogue options. Combat has been changed from keyboard commands to an action bar in the corner that allows you to click on your desired action, making it much easier for someone to just open up the game and start playing.

The Bad
Purists of the original game might find the new combat system a bit watered down from the original. Also, with the new engine came new problems. An occasional graphical glitch can occur for most users, causing the graphics to remain glitched until the user exits the game. Players may also find themselves not knowing what to do next in the game, due to some lack of instruction on where to go or what to do next.

The Bottom Line
The Quest for Glory series is an epic story that spans 5 games, and this is the one that started it all. It is a game that has wonderful storytelling, a diverse character ensemble, and quite a bit of humor that will want you playing the sequel immediately after beating it. If you have a few hours you can just sit down and spend with a game, I would highly recommend this title to any fan of fantasy or adventure games.

By Aaron Cole on July 5, 2009

Aliens Versus Predator 2: Primal Hunt (Windows)

An interesting story, but lacking in gameplay

The Good
AvP2: Primal Hunt takes a note from the original game and adds an interconnected storyline told this time through the corporate mercenary, Dunya, an ancient Predator, and the Predalien you fight in the first game. The story connects rather well and was primarily the main reason I played through the game. While some of the dialogue is poorly delivered, they did an overall great job of linking the expansion to the original game. The new weapons are an interesting feature, but the new multiplayer maps are possibly the best new "feature" added in the expansion. The addition of the Predalien campaign is also a great deal of fun as well.

The Bad
The designers seemed to feel that AvP2 was too slow, and decided to throw more aliens at you. The problem is they throw too many at you. Rebellion and Fox Interactive had the right idea, by having aliens use scare tactics, or appearing when you least expect it. In the Corporate campaign, aliens are literally swarming you at every turn, most of them the incredibly fast and hard to hit "runner" aliens. Much of the time you will run out of ammo with your primary weapons and be forced to use the dual pistols or shotgun. The designers also felt to add enemies at very strange intervals, such as an egg nest at the top of an elevator that will likely get you killed instantly, and an unexpected praetorian that can kill you quite fast if you don't have the correct weapon already selected. The Predator campaign feels very similar, and the flechette gun seems to have been added only to combat the now almost endless swarms of aliens attacking you. The game feels like it was made as more of a challenge mode to the original game than an expansion.

The Bottom Line
If you enjoy the AvP series as a whole and would like more storyline for the second game, I would suggest giving this a single play through for storyline only. However, I would recommend plain AvP2 or even the original AvP by Rebellion for fans looking for a much more enjoyable game experience.

By Aaron Cole on July 5, 2009