Mon Oct 30 13:55:50 2006 by Eric Hokanson
Modified Sun Nov 5 02:35:35 2006

The next generation console wars are really starting to heat up. With PS3 and Wii to be released soon it's exciting to see who will come out on top. I haven't purchased a gaming console in years but the Wii really looks promising to me. In the meantime I realized it has been awhile since I've given a report on my latest gaming experiences. Read on for a quick review of several PC games I have tried in the past few months.

After the release of Half-Life 2, I couldn't wait for new games that use its engine to come out. Ritual announced they would be releasing a Sin series based on the new engine. I enjoyed the old Sin back in the 90's so as soon as it popped up for pre-ordering on Steam I picked it up. I really dig this whole Steam game delivery idea. While it's easy and fast to buy new games the prices are a disappointment. It's often cheaper just to run out and buy the boxed copy. It was quite nice to have the game installed and ready to play when I came home from work on the day of it's release however. The game looked and played great as I expected of the HL2 engine. The story was good but the characters were a bit on the boring side when compared to their originals in Sin 1. The game also features a dynamic difficulty level. If you plow through guys too fast the game will spawn more to attack you. If you die too much the game will take guys away. I'd rather they would just lightly adjust the AI of the existing guys rather then have guys popping in and out of existence all the time. Overall I'd say it's worth a buy.

After hearing some good things about F.E.A.R. I decided to pick it up. The story and effects were good however I was very disappointed in the game engine. It felt like a cheap HL2 knock-off. The physics were horrible with objects constantly getting stuck in the environment. My grenades were getting stuck mid air and just spinning around in circles. In HL2 I can get 60 fps with most settings on high. Performance was poor on my system with all the settings on low. I wouldn't mind so much if they physics worked or the graphics were top notch but neither was very impressive. Not worth a buy in my opinion.

Another game I picked up recently was Prey. I must say I was amazed with this game. The story was awesome, the environment was interactive, and Human Head Studios did some amazing things with the Doom 3 engine. The game pushed the limits of my Athlon XP system but still managed to look great. I would definitely say it's worth a buy.

I also tried the new Battlefield 2142 demo. It really feels like a BF2 MOD and not a whole new game. The popular Titan mode is pretty much a straight ripoff of Unreal Tournament 2K4's Onslaught mode. I however think UT2K4 is much more exciting. I'd only pick it up if they drop the price to $19.99.