skoar! oct'11

Welcome to another issue

of SKOAR!, India’s only

gaming magazine. As we

enter October, some of

the biggest, most-hyped games of 2011

are out or just around the corner. We

give you the skinny on what to expect

in blockbuster games like Batman:

Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revela-

tions, and Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in

our game previews section. Nothing to

spoil the party, we only aim to get you

drooling in anticipation.

Game of the Month has to be

Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Such

drama and suspense, empowering

the player to choose his destiny, just

a complete class act. Hop on to Page

6 to see why we think so highly of

this stealth action RPG.

Apart from death and destruction,

as is the focus of most post-apocalyp-

tic game storylines, very few strike

a chord with believable reality — an

important aspect for immersive, satis-

fying gameplay. That’s where Deus Ex

excels. Among other things, Deus Ex:

Human Revolution paints a grim future

for humanity, and one that is surpris-

ingly not hard to fathom. It puts a

heavy impetus on you and the choices

you make for almost a customized

personal experience of the game.

All this while you play in the

shoes of an augmented protagonist.

Adam Jensen is probably the most

humane cyborg ever, and the variety

of augmentations at his disposal —

with their direct impact on gameplay

— is just plain awesome. He’s a super

soldier that citizens of the future bet-

ter not mess with. Similar sentiment

resonates strongly with protagonists

of two other fantasy/futuristic war

games featured this month — Warham-

mer 40,000: Space Marine and Call

Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. While one

deals with a captain delivering a fan-

tasy world from the forces of evil, the

second puts the player in the shoes of

armed forces fighting a futuristic war

between the U.S. and Russia.

So what do you think the future

has in store for humanity? Do you

think human augmentation will

boom — will big corporations fight

among themselves to control hu-

man destiny, say, in the next twenty

years? Will cyborgs rule the world

by the end of this century?

Scary thoughts, yes; but at least

it makes for an exciting game sto-

ryline. Drop me a mail on what you

think at [email protected].

Happy gaming and, until next

time, don’t spill your guts!

Jayesh “Big Daddy” Shinde,Iron Hand, Editorial Staff

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e d i t o r i a l

What’s InsIde?

03: Gamescom 201104: Must Try Indie Games06: Deus Ex: Human

Revolution 08: Dead Island10: Warhammer 40k:

Space Marine12: Bastion14: Call of Juarez: The Cartel16: Sneak Peek:

Alienware M17x18: Batman: Arkham City20: Rage22: Call of Duty: Modern

Warfare 324: Assassin’s Creed:

Revelations

26: Elder Scrolls: Skyrim V28: Game Franchise:

AOE & StarCraft32: Alienware M11x

Iron Hand

Jayesh “Big Daddy” Shinde

Ultramarines (Writer grunts)

Anirudh “Mad Zombie” Regidi, Mithun

“Barbarian Monkey” Mohandas, Abhay

“Headshot” Ramakrishnan

War Council (Design)

Prime Mage Jayan Narayanan

Art-Director Shaman Anil VK

Layout Warlock Vijay Padaya

Cover Magic Shigil N

Space Wolves (Production)

Senior GM Wolf Shivshankar Hiremath

Managing Wolf Rakesh Upadhyay

Assitant Production Wolf Vilas Mhatre

Assitant Managing Wolf Vijay Menon

Trainee wolf Omkar Tarde

Executive wolves M P Singh,

Mohd. Nadeem Ansari

Legal stuff we can’t mess with...Head OfficeNine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt LtdKakson House, 2nd Floor, A & B Wing 80, Sion-Trombay Road, Opposite R K Studio Chembur, Mumbai 400071,[email protected] any business-related enquiries, [email protected], Printed and Owned by Nine Dot Nine Interactive Pvt Ltd.Published and printed on their behalf by Kanak Ghosh.Published at Bunglow No. 725, Sector - 1, Shirvane, Nerul, Navi Mumbai - 400076Printed at Print House (India) Pvt. Ltd. R-847, TTC Industrial Area, MIDC, Rable, Navi Mumbai 400701.

EditorAnuradha Das Mathur

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What Games Will Comeby Jayesh “Big Daddy” [email protected]

Held in Cologne, Germany, it is known as the world’s biggest video game trade show. Gamescom is an annual event on the video game industry calendar, tak-ing place in the last week of August, giv-ing exclusive insights on various games at different stages of development. Let’s round-up the best news.

Soul Calibur Vto arrive in 2012

Gamescom 2011 witnessed a playable demo of the new Soul Calibur game in the works, viz. V. While Capcom’s Street Fighter and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 dominate the fighting genre, Soul Calibur offers 3D bouts with a large list of play-able characters and an interesting damage registration system called Critical Edge which makes those 30 seconds of a mad fighting spree so much more fun. The release date hasn’t been set in stone yet, but look for it next year.

Events of a galaxy far, far away...

Star Wars: The Old Republic, BioWare and Lucas Arts’ PC-only fantasy MMORPG is all set to begin rumbling towards the end of this year. At Gamescom, the latest in a long line of teaser trailers revealed an inter-galactic gladiator contest called Hutball, where players contest as teams in a treacherous arena filled with life-threatening traps. If you’re a fantasy MMO fan, we think you should keep a close eye out for The Old Republic’s release date.

Serious Sam 3: Madness continuesOctober brings you yet another installment of Seri-ous Sam’s mind-numbingly crazy shenanigans. The third installment of the game stays true to the Seri-ous Sam legacy and — quite surprisingly Metallica’s debut album — Kill ‘Em All. The game is set in 22nd century Egypt and features a 16-player co-operative campaign mode, plus 4-player split-screen multiplay-er. No word on what “BFE” relates to in the game’s of-ficial title — as always, there are some not-so-family-friendly approximations.

Risen 2:A pirate’s adventureAn ambitious game with an ambi-tious aim - to satisfy hungry RPG enthusiasts with a tough, difficult-to-play action adventure game. That’s what Risen 2: Dark Waters claims to deliver, and at Gamescom the evi-dence was presented. The game has little hand-holding and puts a heavy impetus on speech — talking and in-teracting with other characters in your environment is a big part of the game. One thing’s for sure with Risen 2, it breaks the mould of a traditional RPG for richer gameplay. We’ll be waiting and watching for next year.

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World of GooGenre: Physics based PuzzleStudio: 2D BoyRelease date: October 13, 2008Price: $20

The game follows curious goo balls who need to be brought near pipes that have appeared across the world thanks to the World of Goo Corporation, which uses the Goo balls to make stuff ranging from face creams to the mysterious ‘Product Z’. The Game is fun & addictive and there are plenty of well-thought out puzzles to solve. The goo balls come in different types with unique abilities and the Sign Painter, who is a character that comes up with humorous anecdotes for entertain-ment while you play, tops it off.

Remember times when gameswere plain and simple? In a world where games are striving hard to be photo-realistic, independent developers are quietly churning

out addictive and, in some cases, path-breaking games. We list

the ones you simply have to play.

by Mithun “Barbarian Monkey” [email protected]

Angry BirdsGenre: PuzzleStudio: RovioReleased: December 10, 2009Price: $4.99(PC), $0.99(Mobile)

Angry Birds, being the game that took the world by storm, needs no introdu-tion. The story revolves around pissed off birds on one side, and greedy pigs on the other, of a blood rivalry that be-gan with the pigs stealing a few eggs. The game in-volves using a slingshot to launch birds at protec-tive encamp-ments built by the pigs. Each bird is unique in its abilities - some birds accelerate in mid air, and some blow stuff up. The first 20 levels of the game are available for play on the Chrome webstore.

Super Meat BoyGenre: PuzzleStudio: Team MEATReleased: October 20, 2010Price: $9.99

Super Meat Boy is a sequel to Meat Boy and you play as Meat Boy - a red, skinless, box shaped dude. Your girlfriend, Band-age Girl, has been kidnapped by Dr. Fetus and you have to grind through 300 levels of madness to get your girlfriend back. Each level features deadly contraptions like huge saw blades zipping to and fro, knives, fire and more. Even without all of that, you splatter blood wherever you land. The game is pretty fast paced and the levels, at the end of which you are reunited with your girlfriend, are short. They had better be, considering there are 300 of them!

MinecraftGenre: Sandbox BuildingStudio: MojangRelease: November 2011Price: €14.95 (Beta) €20 (Released)

Minecraft was developed for only a week prior to being released for alpha testing. It is now in Beta testing with over 3 mil-lion copies sold already. There is no end game scenario, all you do is roam around the game world moving cubes of differ-ent materials. There are a few rules that govern the placement of the said materi-als but that’s it. We’ve seen Star Trek ship replicas, the Mona Lisa and even people involved in weird postures. The game is limited only by your imagination.

LimboGenre: Puzzle (2D Side-scroll)Studio: PlaydeadReleased: August 2011Price: $9.99

Praised for its unique artwork, the game utilises only shades of gray and the gameplay is what the developers like to call ‘trial and death’. We follow a little boy as he makes his way through the jungle and the city, all this while encountering giant spiders that skewer him or the head maggot that zombifies him. The puzzles are innovative but deadly, for one wrong step has the potential to decapitate or pulverize you.

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MachinariumGenre: PuzzleDeveloper: Amanita DesignReleased: October 16, 2009Price: $20

You are Josef, a robot who knows about a plot to blow up the city’s iconic tower. Except for the tutorial, you won’t find any written hints or speech to help you out. Navigation is via point and click with the limitation being that you can only click within your proximity. It’s upto Josef to foil the evil Black Cap Brotherhood’s plan, and reunite with his girlfriend.

0 A.D.Genre: RTSStudio: Wildfire GamesRelease date: TBAPrice: Free!

When 0 A.D. started development it was based on the Genie engine but its limita-tions led to the developers bringing out their own Pyrogenesis engine, which promises to be as spectacular as the one from Ensemble. Though in the Alpha

stage it can be downloaded from their website. Open-source since 2009, the game is compatible with Windows, Linux and Mac. We are looking forward to the improved AI and game mechanics, with each civilization having unique units, and the considerably improved graphics.

Mount & BladeGenre: RPG (Sandbox)Studio: TaleWorldsReleased: September 16, 2008Price: $14.99

With no storyline, this RPG fol-lows a sandbox style of play. You are a knight in the land of Calandria and you govern how you wish to progress through

the game. You ride through the lands of the five in-game warring factions, en-countering different combat situations along the way. Each combat situation revolves around two groups, each with a renown value which the winner stands to gain. The player’s proficiency with weap-ons increases the more they are used. The player can eventually ally himself with one of the factions to become a vas-sal, and be allotted a piece of land and subjects to command.

Castle CrashersGenre: 2D Side-scrolling Beat-em-upStudio: The BehemothReleased: August 2008 (PS3), August 2010 (Xbox360)Price: $15

The story resembles that of Mario with a twist. The game involves 4 knights who are on a quest to retrieve a stolen gem from an evil wizard who has also abducted the King’s daughters. Calling the game a hack-and-slash would paint the wrong picture but that’s the closest thing we could think of. The knights encounter a variety of creatures they have to do away with, including trolls, giant catfish and aliens. The game features a co-op mode, so you can complete the entire campaign with your friends on your Xbox 360 or PS3.

MagickaGenre: RPGStudio: Arrowhead Game StudiosReleased: January 25, 2011Price: $9.99 ($24.99 for Game+Expansion+DLC)

In Magicka, you are a mage fighting an evil wizard because, well... he’s evil? Yeah right, like you need added motiva-tion to obliterate forces evil. Never mind, your skills incorporate elements of Fire, Lightning, Arcane, etc. There are eight

elements in all and you can combine ele-ments to create new spells. The game has plenty of humourous pop culture references to movies, games, books. It also features a co-op mode for four players and new content is regularly made available. The game only has 13 levels in the original but the added DLC makes for much more fun with extra levels and adding to the overall playing hours of this highly enjoyable game.

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by Jayesh “Big Daddy” Shinde

[email protected]

Big game releases, often

long-awaited sequels

to a successful fran-

chise, are hyped to no

end. With Deus Ex: Human Revolution,

much of the hype is well justified. The

game grabs you by the scruff of the

neck from the minute you turn it on

and gives your character a purpose in a

world that isn’t a figment of someone’s

imagination. The events in Deus Ex: Hu-

man Revolution are believable and the

game gives you a choice to play it the

way you want — a notion that many at-

tempt but fail to create on an artificial

stage — a noteworthy achievement.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is

the third game in the Deus Ex series

(originally launched back in 2000) but

chronicles events that took place be-

fore the first game. In the year 2027,

the subject of biomechanical human

augmentation has caught everyone’s

imagination, and society’s divided in

two prime factions — purists and aug-

mented. In this volatile climate, se-

cretive corporations are conducting

ground-breaking research to further

human augmentations and tap into a

multi-billion dollar market. You play as

Adam Jensen, the protagonist, head of

security at one such corporation, Sa-

rif Industries. Trying to investigate a

simple break-in, you uncover an exten-

sive nexus of media, corporations and

law enforcement agencies fighting for

control, and shaping the future, of hu-

man augmentation. The story definitely

strikes a chord on multiple levels, suck-

ing you into the not-so-distant future

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that’s tantalizingly believable. A world

we all imagine could come true, it isn’t

far-fetched sci-fi. Deus Ex: Human Rev-

olution is quite successful in laying the

foundation of an engrossing storyline.

Then there’s the small matter of

choice, giving players plenty of options

to play the game the way they want to.

Combining elements of stealth, action

and role-play, Deus Ex: Human Revolu-

tion manages to deliver a unique gam-

ing experience. There is no single way

to play this game, depending on the

choices you make — whether it’s cor-

nering a police officer to extract infor-

mation or getting behind enemy lines

— you will have multiple ways to reach

an objective. You just need to explore,

uncover, be supremely curious of eve-

rything in your surrounding and the

game will reward you with methods that

make you smile. A secured door can be

hacked open, blown apart, or bypassed

via a hidden vent; similarly an enemy

can be shot down (killed), knocked

down (unconscious) or circumvented by

sneaking (left alone) — the plethora of

choices available at your disposal really

helps you lose yourself in the game, get

totally immersed.

Human Revolution combines RPG

elements very well with its primary ac-

tion/stealth mood. Tuning your in-game

character traits is done by augmenta-

tions and an active inventory — augment

your arms to punch through walls and

lift heavy items to uncover previously

hidden access points, upgrade hacking

skills to unlock heavily fortified doors,

become invisible to hoodwink unfriendly

eyes. You can tune bodily augmenta-

tions and inventory items to suit your

gaming style. Speech is an important

aspect of the game, much like in Mass

Effect — whether it’s Detroit or Heng

Sha, you pick up clues and gauge the

current mood of inhabitants in your lo-

cation by conversing with them. Speech

or social augments can save you a lot

of time and trouble if, say, you can con-

vince a bouncer or guard who’s blocking

your path to let you pass.

The cover system in Deus Ex: Human

Revolutions is good but it could’ve been

better. We liked the overall graphics and

presentation of the game (smoke bil-

lowing out of manholes, shadows, etc.),

which is mostly dark, gritty, with excep-

tional visual contrast — sets the stage

very well to get in character. Just like

the sights, the in-game sound is quite

engrossing. There are a few minor nig-

gles — dated facial animation, Adam

Jensen’s voice, mundane boss fights,

and slightly lengthy load times. But that

doesn’t take away anything from Deus

Ex: Human Revolution’s overall experi-

ence, which is quite simply an A+.

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The SKOAR

Genre: Stealth, Action, RPG

Developer: Eidos Montreal

Publisher: Square Enix

Price: PC (Windows) - `999



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By Anirudh “Mad Zombie” [email protected]

Admit it, at some point in your life you have dreamed of being involved in a zombie apoca-lypse. Something to get your

blood flowing, adrenaline pumping and heart racing as you go around pound-ing the zombies to a pulp with your bare fists or any improvised weapons that you can lay your grimy paws on. Dead Island allows you to do just that. A no-nonsense zombie basher RPG, this game is a nice change from the hard-hitting, gritty games currently available in the market.

B-grade horror movie fans are in for a treat. Movies like Dawn of the Dead engender a weird fascination, there is just something in the ridiculous nature of those movies that pique our inter-est, make us want to watch them. In the course of the movie, all that corny voice-acting, the screaming and shrieking, the insanely gruesome and bloody fighting scenes, all seem par for the course. This is true for Dead Island as well. The story and fighting play out very much like the aforementioned movies but seem very natural and integral to the experience.

The landscape is a lush and beauti-ful holiday destination but one that is eerily silent at the same time, giving a

true sense of calamity and a sense of be-ing alone in a very hostile world. Zombies are plentiful, but so are the weapons. You can use anything from blocks of wood to crowbars and sickles to dismember and behead the zombies that are desperately trying to make a meal of you.

The GameYou're on an island on a vacation. Sud-denly people are turning into zombies. You are immune and can save “The World”, so to speak.

You start off by choosing one of four characters specializing in blunt, sharp, throwing and ranged weapons. Each character will have certain advantages

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as well as disadvantages regarding speed, stamina and so on. You gain XP points as you progress, killing zombies and completing tasks, not to mention bonus points for critical hits and bone breakages. These points can then be invested in a tech tree to develop your character in true RPG style. Unfortu-nately, the character development isn’t too deep and there aren't many differ-ences among the four characters.

As mentioned earlier, you are im-mune to the zombie disease. Because of this, you, and three other friends of yours if you're playing co-op, are sent out to perform various tasks “es-sential” for survival. The tasks range from rescuing certain people to finding miscellaneous odds and ends to assist in your escape and finding medical and food supplies, etc. The odd thing here is that despite there being piles of sup-plies all over the place, you still have to go to specific locations and pick exactly those piles of supplies up that are marked for retrieval. More than a little lame, in our opinion.

The island is quite large, requiring alternate modes of transport. This is where the vehicles come in. The vehicle handling is a bit hit and miss, but overall, it is fun to go around ploughing through masses of zombies as they stumble about minding their own business and chewing on the guts of their fallen com-rades. The vehicles also come in very handy for completing various tasks such as transporting people and picking

up some essential supplies required to survive any zombie apocalypse.

All is not well in the game though. There are a lot of bugs and clipping is-sues. Sometimes certain mission objec-tives are not achieved simply because something arbitrary hasn't been trig-gered. This can get very frustrating in certain missions as you literally run back and forth trying to figure out what you missed. The weapons in the game are very interesting and satisfying to use. They can be modified on a workbench using various blueprints that you get your hands on. While this is a lot of fun, the weapons degrade as you use them. This would normally not be a problem, but when your weapon can barely sur-vive cleaving through half a dozen zom-bies or so, it’s not really that much fun anymore. What is the point of wielding a baseball bat implanted with a head of nails when you can't use it for more than 5 minutes at a time?

ConClusionAll said and done, Dead Island is a sur-prisingly good game. It borrows a lot of elements from games like Left 4 Dead and Dead Rising, but still pro-vides a unique experience. There are a few flaws, but the first time you get punched in the face by a level 7 thug and go flying into the air to land on your back, all will be forgiven as you pick yourself up from the dirt, grab a nearby shovel, and proceed to show that zombie what life is all about.

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Warhammer fans and the system isn’t difficult to master. Although ranged assault isn’t always pre-cise, furious melee at close quar-ters help spice things up. There is no cover system in Space Marine, we think this might have added a little zest to the largely repetitive gameplay. As you progress in the game, you get a range of weapons to choose from and battles become increasingly difficult. Orks are easy to kill unless they’re present in huge droves, Chaos forces are slightly more tricky to eliminate — as they should be — and they keep unleashing new horrors from time to time. There is very little you can do to fight the linear storyline, the cut-scenes become a tad too much for non-Warhammer fans — upset-ting the rhythm of mindless Ork culling — but the overall gameplay is what saves Warhammer 40K: Space Marine, making it so lovable.

Apart from hack-n-slash melee and ranged gunfire, Space Marine offers a Fury Mode — a temporary burst of anger that makes the

player virtually invincible to dam-age, destroying everything in their path — which is uber fun. What we all wished we could do in past War-hammer games, we now can, finally. The range of strategic options to attack the enemy increases in lat-er levels and the battles become a visual spectacle of blood, gore and utter mayhem. The boss fights are as good as one can hope to see in a Warhammer game — but not exactly epic and memorable.

The single-player campaign in Space Marine is a long dramatic storyline with carefully placed plot-twists — but the story isn’t a sus-pense and the plot-twists aren’t really cliffhangers. We won’t spoil the story for you but the gameplay is certainly entertaining and worth checking out.

Fans of multiplayer modes won’t be disappointed, the game mechan-

by Jayesh “Big Daddy” [email protected]

From a table-top board game to an intense third-person action crusade, Warhammer 40K’s legacy has come a

long way with Space Marine. Prob-ably the most memorable adventure in the digital version of Warhammer was captured in Dawn Of War, its various expansion packs and sequel — a real-time strategy game. How goes it transition to a different style of gameplay? We were apprehensive about Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine’s prospects but guess what, the game is fun.

It’s a brutal universe in Space Marine’s story and the game does a very good job of painting a harsh, unfriendly environment for play-ers — detailed Ork constructions are everywhere, blood is spilt in copi-ous amount. It doesn’t take long for players to get immersed in this fic-tional world, the game’s audio-vis-ual elements help heighten this ex-perience. Right from the first scene — which shows Captain Titus leaping off his fleet to land on an Ork flag-ship — high octane combat erupts; no time wasting here, it’s straight to business. Within seconds — a re-curring theme throughout the game — you’re surrounded by Ork hordes that want to spill your guts. Choos-ing the arms at your disposal, you kill enough Orks to make a defen-sive wall against any more hostiles. As you trade blows and exchange fire, the game offers a timely walk-through on controls and identifying objectives. All this within the first 10 minutes of starting the game — you literally hit the ground running. The frenetic pace of action is what one would expect from a Warhammer game, so it’s definitely a great start.

Playing the Space Marine game in third-person is the biggest draw for

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Genre: Third-person actionDeveloper: Relic EntertainmentPublisher: THQPrice (PC): PC (Windows) - `699

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ics work surprisingly well when paired with human opponents — in-stead of the campaign mode AI. There are two modes to choose from, team deathmatch and hold ground — both of which are good fun.

We really like the interesting mix of melee and ranged combat gameplay that Space Marine brings to the Warhammer 40K table, it re-ally works. Although the game dis-appoints in patches, the overall im-pression is good.

One feels that future Warhammer games in the rough mould of Space Marine can only get better, so props to Relic Entertainment, too.

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by Abhay “Headshot” [email protected]

Computer graphics have come a long way since good ol’ Super Mario. Every year there are more polygons being added to

our 3D game characters and worlds, in a bid to create hyper-realism. We live in times when virtual worlds try really, re-ally hard to imitate the real world. Who shall save us from all this drab realism? Enter Bastion.

An action-RPG to the core, Bas-tion is beautiful to look at. Its vibrant colours and water-coloury art style im-mediately suck you into its world. Even though the top-down, isometric view isn’t exactly new, Bastion more than makes up for it with its distinctive and memorable style.

But what truly sets Bastion apart from any other RPG is its narrator. The narrator’s gravelly, Clint Eastwood-ish voice reacts to every move you make. He is your guide, critic, mentor and fa-ther-figure, all rolled into one. His con-stant presence throughout the game makes Bastion a deeply emotional sto-ry to live through.

You are Kid, a white-haired resi-dent from the city of Caelondia, and you wake up on a small piece of land floating high above the earth. The first thing you notice is that you liter-ally build the world around you with every step you take. You also learn quickly that the city has suffered from a great calamity and in this situation, the survivors were told to gather at the Bastion. Here you meet Rucks, our narrator who is the only other survi-vor who’s come to the Bastion.

You are asked to retrieve cores that will help rebuild the buildings on the Bastion. These cores are scat-tered across different areas around the world. Killing foes earns you frag-ments, which can be spent to upgrade your character and weapons in the Bastion’s various buildings. Change your weapons in the Arsenal, increase the difficulty (and earn more frag-ments) by worshipping different Gods

in the Shrine and craft your weapons to perfection in the Forge.

As you progress in your adventure, you shall find various types of melee and ranged weapons. Each weapon has its own special skills that prove useful when you are caught in a tight situation. What’s more, you can practise using eve-ry weapon in special areas called ‘Proving Grounds’. If you are able to finish certain

achievements with skill, then the Prov-ing Grounds rewards you with experience points and secret weapon skills.

The combat in Bastion is fluid and challenging. Enemies usually have a power-up animation before they attack you. Depending on the situation, you can either block and reflect the damage back with your shield or dodge them at the very last instant. These skills are

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tested even more in dream-like stages where 20 waves of different enemies are thrown right at you. Just like the Proving Grounds, you are rewarded for every wave you survive with fragments and little tit-bits of back-story about some characters you meet further in the game.

But what ties Bastion’s gorgeous aesthetics and its gruff narrator togeth-

er? Its amazing soundtrack. The devel-oper, Supergiant Games, really outdid themselves with the game’s music. In fact, the soundtrack is so good that you won’t be surprised if you stood idle for a minute or two in the game just to enjoy the in-game music.

Bastion puts some tough choices in front of you as you progress through

the game. A single play through will cost you 6-8 hours, depending on how much of the world you choose to ex-plore. And for the gamers who like to pick up their upgrades even after the game is over, Bastion offers a New Game Plus option.

So, go ahead. Lose yourself in the vi-brant and colourful world of Bastion.

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Genre: Indie, Action RPGDeveloper: Supergiant GamesPublisher: Warner Bros. Interactive EntertainmentPrice (PC): Steam–$15 (approx. `700)

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by Anirudh “Mad Zombie” [email protected]

Call of Juarez: The Cartel is a very good game. It has its flaws which make it feel like the game needed some

more development time, but the core gameplay mechanics are fun and the blockbuster movie style presentation of the game really draws you in.

The GameI wouldn’t want to spoil the game for you by giving away bits of the story, but suffice to say, the game starts off with a bang! An extended cut-scene later, you’re presented with three characters to choose from, each a member of a different branch of law enforcement and specializing in certain types of weapons. One thing to note here is that the pistol specialist Ben McCall, an LAPD detective, is actually a direct descendant of Billy Candle from the earlier games. Choosing your character doesn’t majorly affect the gameplay in anyway, other than providing you with faster reloads or higher accuracy with the weapon you specialize in. What does change, however, is the way the story plays out. The basic missions remain the same but each character has their own secret agenda which

you have to accomplish in order to gain XP and advance.

This “Secret agenda” ranges from tiny little side-missions to collecting “Secret Packages.” The catch here is that you’re supposed to complete these missions without your partners noticing you. This is a very interesting feature and really comes into its own during co-op play. Getting spotted while completing an agenda will negate any XP you would normally gain, while the player who spots you gets an XP bonus! The AI unfortunately doesn’t indulge in any such activities. They are alert to what you are up to however, and will occasionally catch you red-handed if you’re not careful. The XP you gain is used to unlock weapons, which are the usual and recognisable fare in most FPS games.

The game is actually quite a frantic shooter with lots of thrilling sequences. It has a very unfinished feel to it though, with lots of graphical and other bugs popping up all over the place, in particular the extended vehicular sequences. The aesthetics are also a bit hit and miss -

14 SKOAR!14 SKOAR! OctOber 2011

June 2011


there are times when the textures are really bad and the colours look completely washed out, and there are others when the environments and settings look breathtaking. Overall though, there are some moments when the game really brings everything together in incredibly fun and engaging fight sequences.

The characters are not very likeable, but they’re not meant to be. Each one, being from a separate law agency with agendas of their own, is palpably distrustful of the other. If you play as only one character you actually stand to miss out on some of the key story points in the game as the story is told from the perspective of the character you play. The characters are extremely chatty and this commentary helps keep you immersed in the game. The challenges, available only in co-op play, serve to heighten this with each character busy commenting on your shooting or the fact that you didn’t leave anyone for them to kill. The challenges involved are very simplistic: get the most headshots, kill the most gangsters, etc.

There are quite a few grating niggles in the game. Your mobile phone, the source of most of your “secret agendas”, pops up at the most inconvenient of times, sometimes right in the middle of a firefight or a frantic chase sequence. Physics issues, with vehicles popping out of the sky or taking off into the air, are ever present. AI

characters suddenly disappear and then reappear some distance in front of you. The fist-fighting is also cumbersome at best, but thankfully such sequences are few and far between.

ConClusion Call of Juarez is a highly-engaging shooter with a cliched but gripping story that will keep you engaged till the very end. The core gameplay, despite the very unfinished feel of the game, more than makes up for the lack of refinement. The multiplayer mode is where the game truly shines and is best played and enjoyed that way.

Verdict

The SKOAR7.5

Genre:First Person Shooter

DeveloperTechland

PublisherUbisoft

Price`650

SKOAR! 15SKOAR! 15OctOber 2011

Alienware’s M17x is a

colossal gaming laptop.

Large is lovely in this

case, and the M17x

looks like the result of a good

many hours of laborious design-

ing. The outer shape is generally

the same as the M11x and M14x

(featured in the previous is-

sue) with the front of the laptop

angling forward and the powered

on embedded lights give out the

impression of a sports car bumper.

The laptop’s rubberised finish is

extremely well done and looks

slick and upmarket. The inside

body also has the rubberised

16 SKOAR!

follow us on: facebook.com/AlienwareIndia

OctOber 2011

f e at u r e

AlienwAre M17x r3A gAMing lAptop like no other

SneAk peek:

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

finish, except for the bezel around

the keypad that is brushed aluminium

burnished to a darker hue. Take it to

a LAN party and you’re sure to make

heads turn and steal the show.

The laptop’s keypad is lovely –

keys are well spaced, and there is just

the right amount of feedback from

each key. The M17x includes a slight

raised portion on the centre of each

key and this extra bit makes typing

out long documents a breeze. The

keys are beautifully backlit and so

is the trackpad – it has a backlit rim

around it. Trackpad accuracy is good,

but a dedicated mouse is called for.

On the top of the keypad there is a

neatly arranged row of backlit but-

tons for various multimedia functions

and to toggle Wi-Fi functionality.

The M17x has a very nice display

– good colours, good contrast and it is

quite bright. The gaming experience

is quite good as well. A Blu-Ray drive

is also included on this behemoth of a

gaming laptop (optional upgrade).

Large vents on the rear of the

laptop help dissipate heat and with an

NVIDIA GTX580M to tame, such cool-

ing measures are to be expected. Let’s

take a closer look at what else the new

Alienware M17x laptop sports.

NoteworthyFeatures:a 17.3-inch Truelife Full-HD display

(1920x1080)

q Intel Core i7-2760QM 2.40 GHz

processor with Turbo Boost 2.0 up

to 3.5 GHz

e 8GB 1333 MHz DDR3 SDRAM (2 x

4GB sticks)

f 2 GB DDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX

580M (dedicated)

y Up to 750GB hard drive (7200RPM)

a 8x SuperMulti DVD±R/RW Slot load

optical drive

n AlienFX Illuminated Keyboard – Ex-

clusive Design

p Integrated Digital 7.1 Surround Au-

dio Support (via SPDIF or HDMI 1.4)

m Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium

SP1 64-bit

g Weight 5.3-kg with 8-cell Lithium

Ion battery (63whr)

Connectivity:i Gigabit Ethernet

q SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Ports

z Hi-Speed USB 2.0 Port with Power-

Share Technology

t Mini-Display Port

b HDMI 1.4 Audio and Video Output

n eSATA Port

Q VGA port

B Intel Wireless-N WiFi Link 1000 a/g/n

P Bluetooth 3.0

b 8-in-1 Media Card Reader

f e at u r e

Alienware’s M17x is a colos-sal gaming laptop. Large is lovely in this case, and the

M17x looks like the result of a good many hours oflaborious designing.

SKOAR! 17SKOAR! 17OctOber 2011

visit us online: www.alienware.co.in

18 SKOAR! June 2011

R e v i e w sP R e v i e w


by Anirudh “Mad Zombie” Regidi

[email protected]

Arkham Asylum did a superb job of portraying the

dark and sinister world of Batman. It also brought

the characters to life while sticking to the comic

book mythos, allowing you to play as the Caped

Crusader as he went up against dastardly super-villains such

as the Joker and Poison Ivy, shattering their dreams of tak-

ing over Gotham City. The simplistic controls hid a surprising

amount of depth and detail. Batman: Arkham City, the sequel

to Guiness World Records’ “Most critically acclaimed super-

hero game ever”, has a lot to live up to.

The storyArkham City itself is a type of prison created by Quincy Sharp,

who uses the notoriety gained from claiming to have stopped

the Joker to become mayor of Gotham City. Guarded by pri-

vate contractors, prisoners from the now defunct Blackgate

prison and Arkham Asylum facilities are transferred over to

Arkham City - a place where the prisoners can have free reign

as long as they do not attempt an escape. This obviously has

its drawbacks, and with no one other than Dr. Hugo Strange

in charge, all hell can and does break loose. Dr. Hugo Strange

is, of course, Batman’s arch enemy and one of the very few

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people who know the Dark Knight’s true

identity. Batman goes to investigate

and finds the city in shambles with no

semblance of control. Another long

night for the Bat.

Judging by the trailers and informa-

tion leaked on the internet, Catwoman

seems to have her own agenda this

time around, and the love-hate relation-

ship between the Cat and the Bat is

in full swing. Dr. Hugo Strange seems

to be the main villain with dark and

dastardly plans for Batman, while the

Joker lurks in the background as he is

nursed back to health by his ever faith-

ful Harley.

The gameThe cast this time around seems to

include almost everyone from the Bat-

man universe. Dr. Hugo Strange, Joker,

harley Quinn, Two-face, Catwoman,

Poison Ivy, Mr. Freeze and Penguin are

among the villains.

The good guys include Batman

(duh), Robin, who is playable in the

challenge levels, Catwoman - yes you

get to play as the sultry cat; Alfred and

Oracle, not to mention Commisioner

Gordon.

Batman’s repertoire of moves has

also been updated to support multiple

takedowns and far more animations as

well as moves. Playing as the Cat, or

Robin for that matter, is a nice addition.

One disturbing thing to note, from

the gameplay videos, is that while Cat-

woman is supposed to be a new addi-

tion she seems to have almost the same

abilities as Batman, including a Thief

mode (similar to the detective mode),

a whip (similar to the grappling gun)

and Bolas (similar to the batarang). The

concept art, however, does indicate that

Catwoman will have a wider range of

moves than demonstrated.

The gliding ability has been given

a huge buff this time around, with the

presence of large open areas and the

ability to swoop down as well as grap-

ple to higher areas mid-flight to further

enhance your movement. While this is

not an open-world game, the developers

claim to have done this to make you think

as the Dark Knight does. More changes

include the cryptographer, which has now

been enhanced to track transmissions,

as well as a slight toning down of the

excessively convenient detective mode,

which is supposed to now serve more as

an augmented reality than anything else.

Riddler puzzles also make a comeback

but introduce interesting new mechanics,

such as the requirement of interview-

ing Riddler’s men, the addition of traps

around the trophies requiring that you

use all your skill to disarm them, and a

hostage to be rescued once you find a

certain number of trophies. All these ele-

ments should allow you to better explore

your character’s abilities as well as the

world the Batman lives in.

A very interesting new addition to

the game is the addition of the so called

“New Game Plus” mode. Basically, once

you finish the game, the new game

plus mode is unlocked. You then get to

play the entire game all over again, but

with all your abilities and weapons at

the same level as they were when you

finished playing. The locations of your

foes will also be moved around a bit, as

will the higher level foes, who will make

an appearance much earlier on in the

game. This basically ensures that you

can get at least one more, albeit more

challenging playthrough. Imagine what

would happen if you had a new game++

mode, and a new game+++ mode and

so on! You could literally play the game

forever, or, at least, till the foes get so

challenging that you get pummelled

to dust in the first few minutes of the

game itself!

We can’t waitThe game seems to be a very promising

sequel. It has all the right ingredients,

more weapons, refined combat, newer

villains, new modes, a good backstory, a

solid game engine and so on. Let us just

hope that these ingredients are meticu-

lously prepared and mixed well, so as to

present a game that is dark and broody,

but draws you in with its subtle refine-

ment and unexpected punch!

Launch date: - October 18th, 2011

SKOAR! 19SKOAR! 19

20 SKOAR! June 2011



By Jayesh “Big Daddy” [email protected]

Just like Hollywood keeps dishing out end-of-the-world, apocalyptic scripts to mankind at regular intervals on Friday

nights at the box office, game writ-ers are also becoming increasingly obsessed with the idea of throwing gamers into a ‘post-apocalyptic’ tizzy. Just play games like Fallout, Resist-ance or Gears Of War to get a taste of surviving in a post-apocalyptic badland, if you haven’t already. Rage concocts a similar grim, not-too-distant-future for humanity and warrants our reflection on mankind’s then current predicament. Ready for the ride?

PlotWe all know how post-apocalyptic worlds behave, or at least we think we have an idea. Rage doesn’t differ from the general blueprint of how humans and earth will fare after a nuclear war or an asteroid strike — as is the case in the game. The story’s set in 2029, when earth experiences a devastating strike

from an asteroid, Apophis — take heed, it’s a real asteroid which, according to NASA, may have a close encounter with our planet in 2029 or 2036.

To prevent an ‘end-of-the-world’ scenario, the planet’s best and bright-est minds are kept alive in suspended animation in an underground, cryo-genic facility — sort of a futuristic Ark. However, everything hasn’t gone ac-cording to the grand design (what else would you expect from a cataclysmic asteroid impact?) and you wake up as the only survivor from your Ark, the others have perished due to a fault in their preservation pods. The post-apocalyptic wasteland of earth awaits as you try to gather your wits and come to terms with your predicament. id Software is tight-lipped about finer details but you will encounter mutants as the primary enemy on Rage’s world — surprise, surprise. It seems this cer-tain something called ‘Life’ is a tough little nut to crack after all, no matter how hard one tries.

The dangerous wasteland has human/mutant strongholds in the

form of clans — two of the clans you encounter early on are Ghost and Wasted, both unique with dif-ferent cultures and attributes. As civilization ends in Rage, you’re in charge of exorcising the ghosts that remain.

GamePlayRage is an open-world first-person-shooter with some elements of RPG add-ed in. According to id Soft-ware, gamers will have access to an in-game inventory and they will upgrade their weapons as they progress through the game. Rage also features vehicles — you drive one as you wake up and leave the Ark in the beginning — and their usage isn’t just limited for trans-portation, you can kill bad guys in a mad driving spree. Yeah! But racing on a quad-bike, for instance, is a strictly optional activity in Rage, despite all the indicative video trailers. The RPG elements in the game are hush-hush at the moment, not a lot is known, but character and personality tweaks with an assortment of weapons to choose from would be nice.

Multiplayer features two game modes; the first being a six-player match on wheels at a location to collect

SKOAR!21June 2011

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as many rally points; the second mul-tiplayer option lets you play missions based on stories you hear within the single-player campaign in a max two-player co-op mode — very good touch. Can’t wait to see how that goes, should

be interesting.

VisualsThere’s a buzz around the

game’s rich visuals from the community of early preview-

ers who took Rage for a test ride. Every single one of them is unanimous in their

praise of id Software for pulling it off. We think the world looks

detailed, realistic, and believable—long

panned out shots and zoomed in

close-ups leave traces of thoughtful attention to detail in Rage’s make-believe world. Credit to the creative director, Tim Willits, he’s done an awesome job.

In one of several video trailers of the game, Kevin Cloud, Executive Pro-ducer, id Software, said, “Fundamen-tally, a first-person-shoot-er needs to pull the player into the action to have him ducking and dodging in his chair at what he sees com-ing at him on the screen.” We couldn’t agree more, immersive game environ-ments are crucial for the spell cast by the illusion to work.

We’ll just have to wait and see how Rage tran-spires. Every indication suggests it has the po-tential of being one of the games of 2011. Until then, if you have an iOS device, you can play a mobile ver-sion of Rage right now.

LAUNCH DATE:October 7, 2011

22 SKOAR! June 2011



Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3By Jayesh “Big Daddy” Shinde

[email protected]

Earlier this May, four trailers

appeared on Call of Duty’s

YouTube page titled America,

England, France and Ger-

many. They teased and tormented

legions of FPS gamers by laying the

first real marker of the upcoming Call

of Duty Modern Warfare 3 game, which

promises to be exciting — to say the

least. Back in November last year, the

last Call of Duty installment, Black

Ops, saw the biggest sales revenue for

an entertainment property in its first

24 hours of release — a record break-

ing $360 million or Rs. 1,650 crore —

and that’s only in North America and

the UK alone. Wow!

No wonder everyone’s excited

about the latest installment of the

Modern Warfare series, a shooting

game par excellence and one that’s

immensely profitable for its pub-

lisher, Activision. Will this game be

yet another blockbuster? What is

the story going to be like? We take a

closer look at the meteor that is go-

ing to hit game-crazy earthlings like

it’s the end of the world.

DevelopmentThere’s been trouble in paradise, as Ac-

tivision enlisted the help of Sledgeham-

mer Games and Raven Software to de-

velop the game—this after Infinity Ward

co-founders got into a legal dispute

with Activision and got fired. But all

that’s in the past now, events occurring

prior to MW2’s release. We just have

to wait and see whether the two new

game developers are able to release

a bug-free game come November 8.

Will the game will be as exciting? You

betcha! At least all the teaser trailer

evidence points at yet another hit.

Sledgehammer Games has announced

that Modern Warfare 3 is the first game

in the series to have a built-in assist

mode for colour-blind gamers.

plotTalking about story, of course, Modern

Warfare 3 will be the next chapter in

the Modern Warfare series — duh! Life

within the confines of this world picks

up from where it left off at the end of

Modern Warfare 2, where the Russian

Federation continues its invasion of

United States and, just for added

measure, is expanding its offensive on

to Europe — world domination rocks.

The single-player campaign mode

remains pretty much the same, albeit

with launch time surprises.

As far as characters go, Wallcroft

(from Call of Duty 4) will return to the

franchise, as will Captain MacTavish,

Captain John Price, and the secretive

Russian informant, Nikolai. There are,

of course, several new characters to

play with, including a bunch of Delta

Force operatives. Should be fun. The

franchise will also welcome Hollywood

actors such as Tobey Maguire (Spider-

man!) and Christopher Melloni who

are lending their voice to some of the

in-game characters. Hopefully, this

will heighten the cinematic effect of

the game. We only look forward to an

engaging storyline, propelling gamers

into the heat of battle with gusto.

multiplayerEarlier in September, Call of Duty XP,

an event organized in Los Angeles,

allowed eager gamers an exclusive

playable preview of Modern Warfare

3’s multiplayer and revealed a few

clever new additions to gameplay. For

instance, Kill Confirmed requires you

to collect dropped dog tags of fallen

enemy victims on the ground to gain

extra points over your opponents—you

can earn points by preventing the op-

posing team from collecting dog tags

of a fallen teammate. This should spice

up online gameplay for sure.

Another interesting addition is the

ability to apply upgrades and unlock the

full potential of your weapon of choice,

just like you would to your in-game char-

acter. Weapon upgrades can be insanely

useful and they range from reducing

SKOAR!23June 2011



a gun’s recoil, steady hands for better

sniping, and longer range to shoot at

enemies from afar. You can also gain

additional attachment slots to your gun

as you go up the upgrade ladder. So you

have added incentive for sticking with

just one good gun for the length of play.

A step towards improving Modern

Warfare 3’s co-op gaming mode is the

introduction of Strike Packages, prob-

ably the single major change to the

game’s online experience. Streaks are

packaged into categories to appeal to

different kind of players — depending

on Assault, Support or Specialist, you

gain access to class-specific perks

which aren’t universal anymore.

The biggest first-person shooter

game in the universe is set for release

in November and there’s more than

just the game hopping on the band-

wagon — there’s an exclusive limited

edition Xbox 360 with the game

theme. I can only hope you’re more

than ready to take aim and pull the

trigger as we all ride the juggernaut

that is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

LAUNCH: November 8, 2011

24 SKOAR! OctOber 201124 SKOAR!

By Jayesh “Big Daddy” [email protected]

Who would’ve thought play-ing an assassin from the medieval ages would catch the gaming world’s fancy?

That’s exactly what happened back in 2007, though. Assassin’s Creed sucked us all into a carefully recreated Middle Age with an old-world charm, stunning imagery and gripping storyline. Since then, and two more games later, none of us can have enough of this third-per-son action game with a historical sci-fi twist — let’s be honest, playing an as-sassin back in the day is fun. Thankfully, you don’t have to wait long to get your hands on the next installment of As-sassin’s Creed, named — appropriately

- Revelations. It ups the ante, alright — and how.

Brotherhood received some stick from gamers all over for its lack of char-acter development, but that’s set to change with Revelations. Ubisoft has revealed that Assassin’s Creed: Revela-tions will feature all three major charac-

ters from past games for the very first time—that means Desmond and Altair (from the original game back in 2007) and Ezio, all of them sharing the spot-light. If you’re thinking about how that will result in a whacky, mindboggling, and insanely overlapping storyline, you’re absolutely right. Ubisoft and As-sassin’s Creed’s writers are stirring the pot really hard this time, hoping for a super-hit banquet.

PloTFrom what we know, Ezio (from Assas-sin’s Creed II onwards) still remains the main protagonist. The shadows have lengthened and the years are show-ing on Ezio’s face — he’s much older, grey-bearded and less supple when he reprises his role of an assassin in Rev-

elations. There’s a change of scenery as Ezio departs from Italy to the ot-toman empire, visiting Constantinople (Turkey) and Masyaf (Syria) — originally featured in the first Assassin’s Creed game where lies the assassin’ strong-hold. The reason for this is slightly con-voluted — Ezio is seeking Altair’s relics,

which will allow him to go back in time (yes, you read that right) and relive Al-tair’s memories. So you’re Desmond within Ezio’s memories, and Ezio’s play-ing within Altair’s memories. Wait a minute, doesn’t that sound a whole lot like Inception?

Efforts to access Altair’s memories aren’t without their merits. Appar-ently, Ezio’s seeking a powerful item hidden in Altair’s stronghold that can potentially end the war between the Templars and Assassins. So essential-ly the beginning of the game has you searching for this relic in Masyaf while constantly getting pointers to nearby Constantinople for clues to unlock the hidden mystery. That’s the expected storyline — minus unexpected plot-twists, of course.


SKOAR!25OctOber 2011 SKOAR!25

GAMEPlAyInstances of Ezio accessing Altair’s mem-ories will be a throwback to the original Assassin’s Creed game, with gameplay experience true to the first game. Don’t worry, Revelations will feature some in-teresting new tweaks to how you tackle elements in the open-world gameplay.

Ezio will sport a new hookblade item in his inventory to navigate through the city by means of a zip-line — it’s also useful to shock, drag and engage unsuspecting enemies and overcome them as you move through hordes of hostile soldiers. Ubisoft has also placed an increased impetus on bombs within Revelations — in fact, bombs take cen-tre stage in this game, more than any-thing else. you can do a lot with them.

Just like pigeon coops in Brother-hood, the Assassin order has placed several bomb-making stations through-out the land. When you access these stations, you can tap into a whole horde of inventory to create specialized explo-sives — with a medieval touch — in three categories: to kill someone, gain tactical advantage or distract enemy sentries. like a wine increasing in potency with age, Ezio’s eagle vision has advanced to a new level in Revelations, where he can track and predict a subject’s movements — besides getting visual cues on enemy positions and objectives.

All these new features potentially take the Assassin’s Creed gameplay to unfore-seen heights. For instance, Ezio can sense a patrolling sentry from a nearby rooftop

through his eagle vision and visit the near-est bomb-making station to devise a bomb specific to the lay of the land and execute his plans accordingly. Hack-n-slash and combo moves still remain but we welcome this added level of thinking, calculating your next move in Revelations.

MUlTIPlAyERBy all accounts, Revelations is poised to finetune the multiplayer experience in-troduced with Brotherhood. Much of the gameplay will reportedly stay true to the game’s stealth-killing ethos without any overwhelming and unexpected changes. Ubisoft has promised online multiplay-ers will spend less time waiting for their matches to begin, while deathmatches will be stripped of unnecessary distractions, giving first-time multiplayers a great starting point to the experience in Revela-tions. The game will also introduce sev-eral customization options for multiplayer modes, so that should be interesting.

While we eagerly wait for the game, let’s not forget that this is after all the end of Ezio, yes you read that right. According

to Ubisoft, his character ends with Revela-tions, unfortunate as that is. How Ubisoft takes the Assassin’s Creed storyline for-ward is anybody’s guess, and an answer well worth waiting for. Can hardly wait.

lAUNCH: November 15, 2011

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26 SKOAR! June 2011

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by Jayesh “Big Daddy” [email protected]

It’s still over a month before all of us get our hands on the brand new Elder Scrolls game from Bethesda and commentators are

already calling it ‘Game of the Year’ — Skyrim is that good. A role-playing game like nothing you’ve played be-fore, Elder Scrolls promises to en-snare you in its stunningly beautiful — yet astonishingly realistic and im-maculately detailed — fantasy world of endless possibilities.

The good guys over at Bethesda have worked on Fallout 3 in 2008m and before that was the release of Oblivion — the previous Elder Scrolls game — back in 2006. Let’s take a closer look at probably the most-awaited game of this year.

PLOTIn terms of storyline, yes the events in Skyrim are set in Oblivion’s future — but it isn’t exactly a sequel. The events occurring in Skyrim are set in a distant future about two centuries after Ob-livion’s end. The open world you play in is around 41 square kilometres in area — there are mountains, dragons, wilderness, cities and small townships. Within that space you have over 150 dungeons to scour and explore, and over 300 books or lore to read and know more about Skyrim.

Here’s the bare minimum to get you excited about the story: the King of Skyrim is murdered, leading to a civil war. A prisoner awaiting execu-tion, you start your journey. You don’t know that you’re a warrior foretold to deliver the kingdom from a deadly siege of dragons. Not bad now, is it?

GAmEPLAY & GrAPHIcSA Bethesda, and especially Elder Scrolls, game is renowned to excel on one feature beyond any other — the believability of a cohesive world that is detached from the player, which lives and breathes on its own. There is no backdrop in Elder Scrolls: Skyrim — even the most distant mountain you see can be approached and climbed upon, the in-game sun charts a path across the sky much like the real-one, footprints on the

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road don’t disappear when they are no longer in the frame. I think eve-ryone agrees that one’s immersion in their game’s environment is as good as it gets when it comes to playing an Elder Scrolls game, and Skyrim looks all set to raise the bar even higher.

Skyrim makes use of Bethesda’s very own creation Engine, advantag-es of which include dynamic snow-fall, shadows, lighting and wind blow-ing effects in the surrounding; more natural walking and jogging routines; and better player and non-playable character interaction. character menus are redefined, with each of the thousands of items and objects you can potentially collect viewable in highly detailed close ups.

One of the things we’re look-ing forward to in Skyrim is the ability to create your very own items from scratch. For e.g., you can collect a killed animal’s hide to make leather and make a pair of shoes for yourself from a cobbler. Just like crafting, alchemy plays an equally important role in Sky-rim — every plant and fruit serves a purpose, either for potion-mak-ing or cooking. You can kill a wolf and taste some of those prime ribs over a slow fire or mix and match ingredients to make your very own recipes. Now isn’t that cool? The possibilities are endless in Skyrim.

We love dragonsWho doesn’t, honestly? We’re just thrilled that promos and teaser trail-ers of Skyrim up to this point have re-vealed that the fantasy world is filled with dragons, so you can expect to bump into them more often than not. According to the game’s myth, Alduin, the Nordic god of destruction, plans to wreak havoc in Skyrim in the form of a giant dragon, and he has a bunch of bad-ass black dragon friends to help him in his evil designs. But generally, the dragons in Skyrim are a more so-phisticated race than any seen previ-ously and as a dragon hunter, you have your work seriously cut out.

November 11 can’t come sooner enough for all fantasy rPG fans, as we can’t wait to lose ourselves in Elder Scrolls’ latest fantasy epic. Bring it on!

28 SKOAR! June 2011

R e v i e w s

SKOAR! OctOber 2011

By Mithun “Barbarian Monkey “ [email protected]

One of the most prolific RTS titles of all time, Age of Empires first released all the way back in 1997. Almost every RTS fan I have met so far has played Age of Empires or started out with it. Developed by the now defunct Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, over the years the Age of Empires franchise has spawned ten titles for PC and two for the Nintendo DS. Most of them were developed by Ensemble or by studios consisting of former Ensemble employees. Having sold 20 million copies worldwide, there is no doubt that this is one of the best RTS game franchises ever created and one of the most adored.

The TitlesWhile the entire series might not have a central story line, each title does peer into the history books to highlight iconic characters who helped shape the world. Heck! Some of us learnt a lot about different civilisations from the History tab in Age of Empires II.

AOE & Rise of RomeWith 12 civilisations to choose from, the very first game sported variety. The civilisations were divided amongst the Greeks, Egyptians, Babylonians and the Asians. As a ruler you start off with a handful of villagers and start building up resources and advance through the ages. From a lowly Axe-man as your soldier in the Stone age, you advance through the Tool Age, Bronze Age and finally hit the Iron Age which lets you build your best units and build a Wonder which sym-bolised the pinnacle of advancement. With each new age, new technologies and units would unlock. The expansion, The Rise of Rome, added one new ar-chitectural category with 4 new civili-sations added under it.

AOE IIThis entry was criticised for not be-ing much different but we wonder what the critics were smoking when they wrote that. The sequel featured 13 civilisations and had different ar-chitectures for most races. Each civi-lisation had unique features and a few unique units. The capital technology given to each civilisation upon reach-ing the Imperial age could make or break the game. A horde of Byzantine Cataphracts could wreck havoc by causing trample damage or the heavily armoured Teutonic Knight was enough to wipe the enemy’s foot soldiers.

The campaigns had multiple story lines encompassing historic events like the beginning of Joan of Arc and her tribulations, unification of the Mongol horde under Gengis Khan, the story of El Cid and Saladin’s conquest of Constantinople, among many inter-esting campaigns. The game had what was termed ‘smart villagers’ which meant the resource collectors, upon building a resource collection building, would start working immediately. Build

Titans - formidable foes encountered in Age

of Empires : Mythology.

An Asian city, as featured in Age of Empires III:

Asian Dynasties.

Age of Empires I : Rise of Rome, a quaint city

scenario.

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Best gaming franchisesAge of Empires & Starcraft

There’s a lot that goes into making a great video game, and even more that goes into making a series of games that becomes

a great franchise. We take a look at a couple of RTS stalwarts that fall under that category

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R e v i e w s


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queues were introduced, way points were added. Overall a great addition to the series.

Age of MythologyHaving strayed from history, Age of Mythology did incorporate several changes to the game engine. Mytho-logical heroes and creatures could now be commanded to do your bidding. Also, god powers could be invoked to deal a devastating blow to the enemy. Howev-er, the AI had a few tricks up it’s sleeve too. In the expansion set 10 years after the events of the original game, players experienced Greek, Egyptian and Norse mythology through the campaign mode as they tried to defeat Titans rampag-ing over the lands.

Age of Empires IIIThe series returned to history with Age of Empires III, where campaigns cen-tered around the conquest of America by European imperialist powers. Havok Physics was first seen in this title. The gameplay had quite a lot of changes as well. Units were now created in groups of 5 except for artillery and Heroes. Players had a home city which could be accessed during the game and would provide for resourc-es and units. Given the number of years between Age of Em-pires II and III, fans had huge expecta-tions from the game. However, the game turned out to be a huge disappointment

for them, but for people who were new to the franchise they game lived up to the hype that preceded it.

CheatsPlaying the campaign or a random map throughout the series was made even more memorable, by the cheat codes. Weather it was the Photon Man, the ‘Big Daddy’ vehicle from Age of Empires I or the hordee of Cobra Cars you could summon. In times of dire boredom or desperation, these units would even out any unnatural odds in the game.

Age of Empires OnlineThe most recent addition to the fran-chise, Robot Entertainment launched Age of Empires Online on the 16th of

August 2011. The game can be best described as Age of Empires II with good graphics. The game is F2P but civilisations are limited to just two at the moment and quite a lot of features have been disabled unless a premium pack is purchased.. Players begin with a city of their own and are handed out quests by different in game characters. There isn’t any campaign but a vague storyline does exist. With each quest completed, players earn experience and level up. Subsequently, building and unit upgrades can be purchased. These upgrades are reflected in game and play a major role in PvP matches.

ConclusionThe franchise is one of the best to be produced. Having sold over 20 million copies and influenced many RTS titles after its introduction, Age of Empires is one of the best game franchises we have ever come across and we hope to see a lot more titles launched.

Longbow-men at the ready for a battle is about to begin in Age

of Empires II : Age of Kings.

An Indian Rajput

warrior from

Age of Empires

III. He looks

like Wolverine,

doesn’t he?

Arkantos, the

main protagonist

in Age of Empires

: Mythology.

Every race has unique architecture, here we see a Greek city.

A Cathedral, an architectural Wonder in Age

of Empires II. A sight to behold, despite the

humble graphics of the game.

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StarCraft, the ever popular sci-fi RTS by Blizzard has been one of the best-selling games of all time with

more than 11 million copies sold. StarCraft II, which released a year ago, has already sold 4.5 million copies. A trend-starter of sorts, StarCraft led to many RTS titles adopting the system of unique races. StarCraft had three unique races: Terrans (humans exiled from Earth), Protoss (psionic alien race with advanced technology) and the Zerg (an alien race best described as an amalgamation of every spe-cies it has ever encountered). These three races are engaged in an epic battle in the distant Koprulu sector of the Milky Way.

StarCraft didn’t pick up quite as quickly as other titles from Blizzard did. The game used a modified ver-sion of the WarCraft game engine. WarCraft utilised similar tech-trees

for different factions and hence, players had to make use of strate-gies similar to that of checkers or chess. StarCraft on the other hand features completely different tech-trees for each faction. The Protoss are purely energy based and can only build within a pylon’s vicinity, while Zerg requires ‘the creep’ to be present for its organic buildings to take root and Terrans can build anywhere. Picking a particular race affects the way one has to manage resources. Zerg produces cheap & weak units but the sheer number of

units is overwhelming. The protoss can pop up any area in the map which is within an energy matrix. Having so many different units and technologies does bring to mind bal-ance issues but Blizzard, with its in-frequent patches, ensured that PvP statistics always centered around 50% in favour of either faction with a margin of only a few percentile.

The game is so popular in South Korea that being a good StarCraft player is recognised by the govern-ment as a profession and a license is required to enter professional tournaments where the prize pool is as high as KWR144.9 million. Also, Blizzard had a few aeroplanes of the national carrier emblazoned with the StarCraft II logo. There are many tournaments organised for the game around the world. One of these, Global StarCraft II League pays out $125,000 per tournament. Matches are televised by dedicated

channels showing tourna-ments, strategies, profes-sional player interviews etc. Being a top player is like being a celebrity with all the perks included.

Sponsors have players housed at facilities where all their needs are looked after as long as they prac-tise all day. Players concentrate on increasing their APM (Actions Per Minute) which becomes the decid-ing factor in professional games where nearly all players have the same build order and the only thing factoring towards victory is the

player’s APM. Professional players cite that having an APM of 300-400 is a must to play in the big leagues. There have been instances where players from other countries have ventured into South Korea to play professionally.

StarCraft begins with 4 large spaceships ferrying humans across the galaxy crash-landing on three planets in the Koprulu sector. Here they establish a colony on a few planets and live under an oppres-sive regime - the Confederacy. An invasion by the Protoss and the subsequent extermination of an entire planet leads to the discovery of Zerg which the Protoss sorely hate. With the Confederacy choos-ing to ignore the outer rim plan-ets infested by the Zerg, people began to rebel and joined up behind Arcturus Mengsk who was thought to be a visionary. Mengsk, using

dirty tactics, portrayed himself as the true ruler and declared himself Emperor of the new Dominion. Our protagonist, Jim Raynor, a marshall on the planet Mar Sara and his soon to be lady love Sarrah Kerrigan, a Ghost (a special unit), join up under Mengsk. On one of their missions, Mengsk infects an entire planet with the Zerg and betrays Kerrigan to them. A distraught Raynor soon leaves Mengsk’s side and steals his ship, the Hyperion.


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Unknown to Raynor, Sarrah has now been transformed by the Zerg into a very powerful being. The Zerg Overmind which controls the entire brood uses Kerrigan as its right arm. The Protoss soon join in the fray. When one of the Overmind’s cronies, called a cerebrate is killed by a faction of the Protoss known as the Dark Templar, the Zerg discover the Protoss homeworld location, Aiur. The Zerg soon invade Aiur and wreak havoc. The survivors move to Shakuras Prime, home to the Dark Templars when they were exiled from Aiur. The Zerg invade this planet too, but a combined effort from Jim and the Dark Templars finally defeats the Zerg. With the Overmind destroyed by a Protoss high templar called Tas-

sadar, the Zerg were rendered leader-less. Kerrigan took this opportunity to seize control of the Zerg. Back on the Zerg homeworld, Char, a young Overmind was forming by the merger of a few cerebrates. Earth, which was

out of the picture till now decides the time is ripe to take control of the colonies. As the Unified Earth Directorate, it sees the new Overmind as a powerful weapon and arrives to capture it. Once captured, it has con-trol over the Zerg and Kerrigan can no longer establish her hold on the Zerg thanks to a device called the psi disrupter. She joins up with Jim and the Dark Templars in a bid to beat the UED and is successful in doing so after which Kerrigan betrays them all and assumes the unchallenged role of the Queen of Blades.

Multiple expansions for the game were released - the first two, titled Insurrection and Retribution, were made by other studios but were authorized by Blizzard. Blizzard came out with its own expansion, titled BroodWar, just 8 months after StarCraft released. It picked up a few days from where the original had stopped. The game was soon

adapted to the Ninten-do64 in 2000. Since then the game has been played at most tournaments till now.

StarCraft II begins with Kerrigan’s reap-pearance after many years and Raynor, now working as a merce-nary who helps those ignored by Mengsk. StarCraft II has been

divided into three parts with the first one already released as Wings of Liberty. Heart of The Swarm and Legacy of the Void are due to follow. Each expansion is centered around one faction. Wings of Liberty was focused on the Terran, Heart of The Swarm and Legacy of The Void will be centered around the Zerg and Protoss respectively. A teaser video was released for Heart of the Swarm recently, and Blizzard recently an-nounced that the expansion will be available next year.

Very few games are packaged with the combination of a great sto-ry and great gameplay. Blizzard has been known to be a stickler while bringing out great games though, and StarCraft is one of them. Even after 12 years, its popularity has not waned one bit and we hope to see this epic space saga continue.

Alienware M11xR3

For the truly mobile gamer, the M11x has long been a favour-ite, but now it’s even better!

When we think 11-inches, we think small and compact and shame on you for thinking otherwise. Well, the M11x might have a small display but it isn’t really compact. This is a chunky li’l fella, and we don’t mean that in a bad way, for the M11x will grab your attention and hold it. Its angular design is one of a kind, the embedded lights on the front give the impression of a sports car bonnet. It’s easy to appreciate the clean lines and design aesthetics, and it’s just as easy to appreciate the rugged exterior and the resilient smooth finish that oozes ap-peal. There is great attention to detail – heck there are even two memory card slots, one for MS Pro cards and the other for SD cards.

Alienware allows customising the surface colours of the M11x laptop, and we received a russet brown piece that looks quite beautiful, especially the rubberised smooth finish. The quality of the display is commendable – good colour, good brightness and contrast. Watching movies and enjoying videos on the Alienware M11x is great as well.

The Alienware M11x’s keys are backlit, much to any gam-er’s delight, and using them in total darkness is a breeze. Comparatively, the M17x is much, much better for typing.

Despite its small size, the M11x packs a fair wallop in terms of its under-the-hood components. You get a quad-core CPU, oodles of RAM and a potent mobile GPU. And all this is a package that weighs a mere 2 kilograms, making the M11x quite clearly an ultraportable beast.

The M11xR3 can be ordered online at www.alienware.co.in, or on the phone (Toll-free: 1800-425-8046).It is also available at all Dell exclusive Stores across India.

X An 11.6-inch WLED HD (720p) display (WXGA 1366x768)

b Second-generation Over-clockable Intel Core i5, i7 CPUs with Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0

b Updated graphics featuring the NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

z Up to 16GB of 1333MHz high-performance system memory

p Up to 750 GB storage at 7,200 rpm

m 2.0 Megapixel HD Camera with dual digital microphone

z Starting weight - 2 Kg

b HDMI 1.4 to support connectivity on HDTVs and 7.1 digital audio

q Audio powered by Klipsch (onboard speakers)

v High Capacity 8-cell Lithium Ion (63whr)

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

skoar! oct'11

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