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Shadowgrounds Survivor
Happy New Year!
Crysis
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Timeshift - ... d Screenshots
Added screen ... of an Empire)
Added screen ... nament 3 Demo
Games I've been playing
Added a screenshots section
Updated scre ... tars Shellmap

Digital Architect - Home

Shadowgrounds Survivor

February 17 2008 08:31:06.

There are not many isometric shooter games available these days. So when one appears, I am sure to check it out. Shadowgrounds Survivor is such a game. It is actually already the second game of the series, with Shadowgrounds being the first installment. I missed the first installment, so now I bought both of them. The concept of the game(s) is pretty simple, kill all aliens before they kill you.

As should be the case in this type of game, there is an array of weapons available. However, the game uses three distinct characters. As the player you will be presented with levels in the single player campaign that you have to play with one of these characters, but the choice of character is most of the time not yours to make. Each character has their own set of weapons available to them. There is a male marine called Luke who can handle weapons such as the Pulse Rifle and Rocket Launcher. The second character is a near-drunk dude called Bruno who likes to mess around with a Flamethrower and a Minigun. The more subtle character is a female sniper called Isabel. Her favorite gun is the Railgun, but she can also handle the Plasma Rifle just nicely. In addition to the standard weapons, you can upgrade each of them when you earn enough points. Points are earned by killing aliens and lots of them! Weapon upgrades range from adding a bigger clip to adding a grenade launcher and more. Apart from the weapon upgrades, you can also upgrade your character. Examples are special moves or extra health.

Graphically this game is quite impressive, especially for this type of game. Special effects such as explosions are rendered nicely. Shadows are quite realistic and are shown off a lot because certain environments are dark. This forces the player to use their flashlight regularly. The environments range from snowy to canyons to active volcanos (with flowing lava). The engine is however not that heavy and it should be playable on a wide range of systems. The game also uses Ageia Physics Engine to ensure that everything explodes realistically (including the aliens).

As mentioned before, the game contains a single player campaign. But the fun does not stop there. They also included a "Survival" mode, in which you choose one of the characters, get dropped in a small environment and must survive as long as possible while killing as much aliens as possible. And there is an endless stream of aliens here. Talk about adrenaline rushing!

As a sidenote, the game does contain a few bugs. But none that really tamper with the joy of the action.

If you are looking for an adrenaline rushing action trip, look no further. Get this game!

As usual, I uploaded a gallery of screenshots of this game. Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of Shadowgrounds Survivor.

Happy New Year!

January 01 2008 09:50:22.

Happy New Year to all of you! :)

My best wishes for 2008. May it be a healthy year filled with happiness and joy and whatever else you desire :).

Crysis

December 28 2007 12:17:27.

You read about it, you wanted it, you bought it and ... you noticed it doesn't run smoothly on your PC. That's the experience most people have with Crysis. Not too long ago this game was released upon the world, but this world is not ready! Any hardware that is available on the market today can be brought to a halt with this game. I myself played and finished this game on DirectX 10 with a resolution of 1280x1024 with everything set to high (not the highest setting...). But the framerate was not that high sometimes *ahum*. To be honest it varies a lot with what's being displayed but sometimes the framerate is downright bad (during the final level for example). I did install the latest nVidia detonators and this helped overall in increasing the performance a bit. Crytek, the company behind Crysis, is working on a patch which is rumored to improve performance as well. But it is my impression that they'll never get it to run smooth on anything but the best hardware out there.

After reading the previous paragraph, one might think that I didn't like Crysis, but I did. I do have mixed feelings about this game though. But more on that later.

The gameplay is nice with wide open levels, upgradeable weapons, a nanosuit and so on. It also makes use of physics which allows you to for example make a building collapse, killing everyone inside. You can also just destroy the forest you're in, in order to see your enemies better. Or you can make heavy rocks roll down a mountain crushing any enemy they come across. On several occasions you also get to drive vehicles and use big guns mounted on these vehicles. Examples are jeeps and tanks. The aforementioned nanosuit allows you to activate one of the four special powers (armor, speed, strength or cloak). This is a nice addition, but also makes the game easier. The upgradeable weapon system allows you to customize almost every weapon in the game by adding different kinds of scopes and ammo but also a silencer, a laser pointer and more. Missions range from stealthy infiltration to blasting everything to pieces with a tank and everything in between. Overall though focus is more on tactically approaching your objectives.

But this game is not perfect, far from it. Gameplay can suffer quite a bit if the game starts stuttering. Also I noticed a few clipping problems which were sometimes quite annoying. For example during the final level on the flight deck I fell through the deck twice. Once into the ocean and once into a room lower in the ship. Both times I had to reload because I either died or got stuck. And seeing that this happened during the final battle, it was quite annoying. Also, shadows were sometimes flickering and plopping, even though detail was set to high. I also have had several times where the game just crashed. This is a game issue and not hardware related because I can play any other game perfectly.

Overall, Crysis is a good game, but in my opinion was released too early.

The game uses CryEngine 2, an engine that was developed by Crytek itself. The results are phenomenal to say the least and can be seen on the screenshots I uploaded. But as I stated in the first paragraph, the game is very heavy because of this.

Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of Crysis.

Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare

December 09 2007 10:44:31.

A lot of great games are being released lately. The one I just finished is Call of Duty 4 - Modern Warfare. As the name suggests, this installment of the game takes place in the modern warfare period and not the World War 2 period as the previous games did.

As was the case with the previous installments, Call of Duty 4 offers very intense combat gameplay in the chaotic setting of a warzone. Bullets, rockets and more will be flying all over the place while you try to find some cover and while you're being ordered to take out a nest of snipers. Just when you think you have found a safe spot to snipe, an enemy tank comes around the corner and shoots the wall to bits that you have been hiding behind. No time to think now, you are out in the open and that is not a good spot to be. You get up and run to get to cover again and while your team mates give you covering fire you finally succeed in taking out the snipers. This type of scene is more the rule then it is the exception!

This game aims at giving the player a feel of exactly how chaotic a warzone is, and I must say that they succeed very well at it. As a player you're being immersed and the game will not let go of you until the end credits scroll over the screen and even then... Call of Duty 4 is definitely a must-have for any fan of First Person Shooters!

The game uses an engine that was developed by Infinity Ward itself. The result is quite nice as you can see on the screenshots I uploaded.

Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of Call of Duty 4.

Timeshift - Thoughts and Screenshots

December 02 2007 10:04:10.

In the gaming industry there are a few kinds of games. First there are those games that are hyped until release but then disappoint, due to variety of reasons. Examples are: bugs, features that were shown off in previews didn't make it in the final build, etc. The other kind of games are those that are hyped but that do live up to the expectations. These are rare though. But, there is another kind of game ... the kind of game that comes out of nowhere and surprises almost everyone that plays it. Timeshift in my opinion is one of these games!

Mind you, Timeshift doesn't really come out of nowhere. The development of the game has had a long road of setbacks and changes. They switched publishers and even totally changed various concepts (including the graphics engine) of the game right when it was about finished. So any hype was a bit lost and everyone sort of gave up on the game. Big mistake though, because the resulting game is the surprise of the year if you ask me!

Timeshift is a First Person Shooter (FPS) with a very nice graphics engine that is capable of some funky special effects. For example there is a level that takes place in a city while it is raining and this rain is among the most impressive I have ever seen in a game. The game also uses features such as Depth of Field to immerse the player even more. It also uses a physics engine so that your enemies (and all severed limbs) drop dead realistically.

When it comes to gameplay, Timeshift has the basic FPS features. It's got lots of different weapons (shotgun, rocket launcher, machine gun, flame thrower, crossbow,...). However, you can only carry 3 weapons at a time, so you'll have to choose. The battles are adrenaline rushing and you have to use cover to survive. Timeshift also allows you to manipulate time itself! You can slow down time, stop it and even reverse time. Before you think that that is just a gimmick, let me just say that you'll need this if you want any chance on finishing the game. Some of the puzzles really require you to use the timeshifting abilities to progress further in the game. You can do other cool things too with these abilities. Nothing is cooler then slowing down time (or stopping it), running to an enemy, stealing his weapon right from his hands and shooting him with it.

Congratulations to Saber Interactive and Sierra for developing and releasing this great game! I highly recommend this game to anyone who likes FPS games!

To show off this very nice game, I uploaded a whole bunch of screenshots for your viewing pleasure.

Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of Timeshift.

Added screenshots of The Settlers 6 (Rise of an Empire)

November 04 2007 03:16:58.

There are a lot of good games coming out or already available. One of them is The Settlers 6 (Rise of an Empire). Anyone who is familiar with any of the Settlers games will be familiar with this one. The makers of this game wanted to go back to the roots of the Settlers series. This means less focus on RPG-elements and/or attacking and more on building up your cities. However, they also wanted to make the game more accessible and in doing so they made the production chains shorter. For example, in previous games you had to build woodcutter huts and sawmills in order to provide the necessary wood for building up your city. In this new game you only have to build woodcutter huts. And it's the same with a lot of the industry such as mining and what not. Personally I don't like this decision to simplify things as it takes away part of the challenge. But even with this simplification of the production chains, I do like this game a lot!

As a sidenote, I want to mention that patch 1.2 also includes a level-editor!

Graphically this game is very nice. I uploaded a whole bunch of screenshots for your viewing pleasure. Some of the screenshots also show different stages of the seasons. There are mini-series showing the same city in spring, autumn, winter and summer.

Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of The Settlers 6 (Rise of an Empire).

Added screenshots of the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo

October 24 2007 15:29:53.

I recently tried out the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo and decided to put online a collection of screenshots of the game. I like the gameplay in this new version of Unreal Tournament as it seems that deathmatch is going more back towards the deathmatch of the original Unreal Tournament. I've always found this original version the best game in the series. Maybe Unreal Tournament 3 will change this. The demo only contains a few levels, so we'll have to wait for the full version of the game before coming up with a final verdict. Of course the graphics are superb in this new version! The Unreal Engine 3 is showing its power. Anyway, enjoy the screenshots! :)

Here are some of the screenshots:

See all the screenshots of the Unreal Tournament 3 Demo.

Games I've been playing

October 23 2007 04:06:45.

When I had some free time and I felt like it I've been playing some games the last couple months. Here are a few of them and my thoughts about them.

Stalker

Stalker (S.T.A.L.K.E.R. to be more accurate) is set in the year 2012 in the Chernobyl exclusion zone which has become a threat to all mankind ever since the catastrophe. The Zone contains a lot of mysteries and is unwilling to release them without being forced to. Very few can reach the very heart of the Zone and deal with all the dangers on the way there. These dangers include different gangs, other stalkers, monsters, mutants and anomalies, most of which are fatal in one way or the other. As the player you have to collect artefacts and trade, accept missions, join gangs and do whatever it takes to survive and reach your ultimate goal.

This game has long been in the making and many people feared it might become vaporware. Nonetheless it's in our midst now and it turned out to be a very nice game. As the player you get access to a large area surrounding Chernobyl and can basically do what you want. Do you accept certain missions? Do you join a specific gang, even though this will turn you into an enemy of a different gang? Will you aid people asking for your help? Will you keep special weapons to yourself or return them to their rightful owner? All of this and more is up to you to decide.

The engine is quite frankly impressive, but you do need a rather powerful PC should you want to enjoy all the details. Personally I've enjoyed playing this game, even with the crashes I'm getting with it. I suspect Stalker does not have full support for Windows Vista. The official patches have made the game more stable for me, but it is still a bit unstable. A shame really. Maybe the expansion Clear Sky will remedy this.

See all the screenshots of Stalker.

Medal of Honor Airborne

I know that a whole lot of people think "not another World War II game!" upon hearing the name. But before you skip this game you should know that they have introduced some new things with this installment of the Medal of Honor series. There are some RPG-elements when it comes to the weapons. The more you use specific weapons, the more you'll become experienced with them and you'll even get interesting upgrades for them. Examples are an extra large clip, a scope, improved accuracy, a grenade launcher,... New is also the way missions are played. They are freeform in the sense that you get your different objectives to complete, but the order in which you complete them and how you approach each objective is up to you. This in my opinion improves longevity of the game as you can replay it and get different experiences each time.

This game does have a few downsides. First of all there are some clipping and collision hull problems. It happened on more than one occasion that I was hiding behind a corner of a wall thinking I was safe. Nevertheless the bullets would fly right through the corner of the wall and hit me! Secondly, there are only 6 missions. Granted the missions are quite elaborate and you can replay them, but some more missions would most definetely be welcome.

All in all I like the game. I finished the game and replayed different missions several times. The action is intense, the chaos is all around and the graphics are awesome (this game runs on the Unreal Engine 3).

See all the screenshots of Medal of Honor Airborne.

Orange Box

I don't think that the Orange Box needs much introduction. Valve recently released it to the masses and it has been selling very well. It contains Half-life 2, Half-life 2: Episode 1, Half-life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2 and Portal. It also comes with the special Half-life inspired demo of peggle, a fun little arcade game.

The first time I played Half-life 2 back when it was released a few years ago, I personally didn't like it that much. I played through it, but didn't get sucked into the whole Half-life universe as most players seem to do. I had the same experience with Half-life 2: Episode 1. However, I did like Half-life 1 a lot back when that was released. But with the imminent release of Half-life 2: Episode 2 I recently went back to Half-life 2 and Half-life 2: Episode 1 and finished them again. Now I do like the games a lot, weird as it may be! They aren't flawless though, but the issues I now have with them are mostly personal taste I guess. I find the Ravenholm section in Half-life 2 very cool and they should have made it longer or incorporate some of the things there in other parts of the game. Also, the beginning of Half-life 2: Episode 1 in the Citadel is way too long in my opinion. And both Half-life 2: Episode 1 and Half-life 2: Episode 2 are very short. I know this is part of episodic gaming, but Valve is not keeping up with one of the core concepts of episodic gaming and that's that new episodes should be released quite frequently, not 16 months in between.

Half-life 2: Episode 2 is the only part of the Half-life series I didn't play yet before the Orange Box. It continues the story of the ever so silent Gordon Freeman and his quest to save the world. Again he frequently gets assistance of Alyx and together they must complete different objectives in order to reach their ultimate goal for this episode. The story of the episode has no real beginning nor ending, but this is due to the fact that it is the middle episode of the trilogy. It does end with quite a cliffhanger!

Portal is a small game set in the Aperture science lab. The player is presented with 19 labs containing puzzles that each have to be solved sequentially to move on to the next lab. To solve most puzzles, the player must use portals. These are inter-spatial portals between flat planes that allow you to move between them. The game starts slow with the first bunch of the labs slowly introducing the concept of portals and what the player can do with them. It takes however quite a bit of time before the puzzles really become challenging and only the last few are quite challenging in my opinion. Nonetheless, Portal is a very nice extra and fun to play.

I haven't really played Team Fortress 2 yet, so I can't say much about it. Peggle on the other hand is a very fun, simple yet addictive game! Definetely try this arcade game!

In conclusion I can only state that the Orange Box is real value for money. It does not cost that much, yet you get all those games. This is definetely a must-have, even if you bought Half-life 2 and/or Half-life 2: Episode 1 in the past. If that's the case, you'll be able to give either game away to someone else for free!

See all the screenshots of Half-life 2: Episode 2.
See all the screenshots of Half-life 2: Episode 1.
See all the screenshots of Half-life 2.

Added a screenshots section

October 22 2007 07:25:16.

Seeing as I do tend to play a few games, when I'm not too busy with other stuff, I decided to add a new section to the site. The "Screenshots" section contains what it says, a whole lot of screenshots of a few of the games I have played. Currently it contains screenshots of Titan Quest, Command and Conquer 3, Stalker, Medal of Honor Airborne, Half-life 2, Half-life 2: Episode 1 and Half-life 2: Episode 2.

I also cleaned up the site a bit, got rid of some error that was still in it and made some parts more maintainable for me. Most of these changes are under the hood and invisible to you, but they make updating the site easier. :)

Visit the Screenshots Section.

Updated screenshots of All Stars Shellmap

July 29 2007 15:16:09.

I found some time to reinstall Command and Conquer Generals: Zero Hour on my PC and install All Stars. This gave me the chance to take new screenshots of the shellmap I made for it. Now they show the correct user interface.

Here are some of the new screenshots:

See all the screenshots of the All Stars Shellmap.
Learn more about the All Stars Shellmap.