Star Control II: The Ur-Quan Masters

The Ur-Quan Masters is probably one of the most fascinating space games I have ever played.

You start out as some guy on with a space ship and fly back to Earth only to be greeted by a probe vessel of the Ur-Quan. It tells you to stay where you are to get taken into custody since your ship doesn't have a license plate or something. If you disregard this and instead try to enter Earth's air-space you will find that it's enveloped by a red shield that won't let you through so you ask on the space station near Earth why you cannot enter Earth only to learn that the Ur-Quan enslaved all of humanity. The commander of the space station asks you if you want to free humanity from the Ur-Quans' grip and of course you agree. This is where the fun starts.

The commander asks you to go to different planets to gather minerals (which you can trade for space credits) to upgrade your ship and buy smaller ships for fighting other ships. He also wants you to find allies for your cause, since there are quite a number of oppressed races that hate the Ur-Quan. You talk to a lot of people, and being disrespectful isn't always the best course of action.

Battle is being controlled simply with the arrow keys to steer and ctrl to shoot. Many different space ships offer different attack power and maneuverability. A ship is considered destroyed when all crew members are dead.

What I like is the huge lore. The captain fills you in on the different races and their function in the big war that happened before. The races you meat can either be very silly or threatening. Travelling through space is fun because there are a lot of places you can travel to, so finding a certain race by chance is especially exciting.

Definitely a good game, and the best part is that it's FREE!

PVK II

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long absence, but I had to take care of some problems and couldn't really write that much, but now I hope to get back to writing as usual!

Let us talk about Pirates, Vikings and Knight II. It's about three teams from different time periods that are after precious booty. Each team has their own classes, so the Knight team has a heavy knight who is rather slow, but can deal a lot of damage in melee or an archer who can shoot enemies with bows and crossbows.

Further classes will be added with subsequent updates. The dev team is going for 6 classes per team, and the next update will add one more class for Pirates and Knights.

Game modes include "Last Team Standing" "Booty" and "Trinket Wars". Booty makes you go for other team's treasure chests while protecting your own while Trinket Wars gives a member of your team an item to hold. Enemies killed in the vicinity of this trinket carrier count towards your points. Whoever reaches a certain amount of points first, wins the round.

The game is rather entertaining, but requires Steam and a copy of a source game like TF2, CS:S or Half-Life. Check here for a full list. Otherwise, the game is free!


If you are interested in this game, check out the devteam's page!

Moonstone

Let us talk about Moonstone. An Amiga game from 1993, now abandonware, it puts you and your friends into the role of one of four knights whose goal is collecting the keys to the village to obtain a Moonstone and become a god. This can be done alone or with up to three other people.

You fight all kinds of monsters and even your own friends. Every so often, a lair gives you a key. Four of these keys give you access to the fight with the guardian, a milestone in each playthrough since you need to defeat it to get the Moonstone.

The variety of enemies is rather colourful. You face the humanoid-like Troggs, mudmen who can instantly drag you in the mud and ratman who can hang you with their tail until you face the dragon, which has unbelievable riches if you defeat him. This brings me to the graphic violent this game displays. Every way you die is a rather brutal one, whether it be burnt, smashed or beheaded.
From moonstonetavern.co.uk:

Luckily, you have a wide selection of attacks you can use to fend off your foes. You can use a stand horizontal swing, a powerful overhead swing, a lunge attack and you can even throw daggers and block.

Several items and scrolls can be bought to make the life of a knight easier. A dragon talisman for example lets you take less damage from the dragon's firebreath, a crystal orb lets you see what treasures a lair has for you, and a magical ring increases your life capacity. You can also upgrade your sword and armor and increase either your STRENGTH, CONSTITUTION or ENDURANCE stat.

If you want to try it out yourself, check http://www.moonstonetavern.co.uk/emulation.htm
The game is free to download now and a user provided a trouble-free solution in case you do not want to tinker around with the amiga emulator.

E3 Nintendo conference

Nintendo showed us the Wii U! As you can see from the trailer, it's a controller for the Wii with a touchpad on it. If this idea is good or not has yet to be seen, but I am rather sceptical about it. Here are some technical facts from the Nintendo Press Kit:

Furthermore, several new games (working titles) have been announced by Nintendo:

-Animal Crossing (3DS)
-Luigi's Mansion 2 (3DS)
-Mario Kart (3DS)
-Paper Mario (3DS)
-Star Fox 64 3D (3DS)
-Super Mario (3DS)
-Mario Party 9 (Wii)
-Kirby (Wii)

E3 Sony conference

Sony was definitely one of the big highlights this year.

The NGP actually got a proper name: The PSP Vita. And the thing is a beast:

-6-axis motion sensors
-dual analog controller
-camera at the front and in the back
-1 OLED touch screen
-1 touchpad in the back
-4-core ARM Cortex-A9 CPU
-200 MHz SGX543MP4+ GPU

Furthermore, the Vita comes in two versions: The Wi-Fi version and the 3G version, respectively priced $249 and $299.


They also announced some games for the PS3:


-Resistance 3
-Uncharted 3
-NBA 2012
-Medievil moves
-Infamous 2
-Starhawk
-Sly Cooper Thieves in Time
-Bioshock Infinite
-RUIN
-Street Fighter cross Tekken

E3 Ubisoft conference

Here we go, the Ubisoft conference!

Apart from Mr Caffeine, they actually had a few games to show too! They started off with Rayman Origins, a Rayman game that comes without the Rabbids and goes back to the 2d platforming we all loved about Rayman.

They also showed a new the trailer for the new Farcry 3, which looked very pretty and actually intense. You are a guy stranded on an island full of crazy people with guns and you have no means to escape.

The next game they showed is the new "Brothers in Arms: Furious 4", which I can only describe as a mix between Inglorious Basterds and Team Fortress 2. Although it was only a trailer, I think the concept sounds rather exciting and I will definitely look out for it.

Of course they also announced a Rabbids game for Kinect.

In spite of that, they also showed a demo for the new Assassin's Creed:

Looks very promising, I love the series!

E3 EA Conference

EA too had a lot to show this year:

One of their first titles to present was the new "Need for Speed: The Run". Basically, it's the racing game serious we all know, but this time you can leave the car and run away should you get chased by the police. Quick-Time Event are involved too. Might be a good addition or could be horrible. Time will tell.

Further games are a new Fifa, a new Madden and the new SSX Snowboarding (which admittedly showed some insane stunts).

Of course they also showed new Sims content, but in an unexpected way: Going with the social networking trend, they presented The Sims Social, which sports simplified graphics (think Habbo Hotel) and enables you to visit another person's house. This could widen the Sims audience even further.

A rather interesting game seems "Kingdom of Alamur: Reckoning", which might be an interesting RPG:

 There was also Overstrike. Looks like a shooter, but with good humour. See for yourself:

And of course they showed a demo for the upcoming Battlefield 3. It looks absolutely stunning. I can't wait to buy it!