2.8 GHz processor 1 GB of system RAM Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/Vista 256 MB DirectX 9.0c video card 3 GB of hard disc space DirectX 9.0c Review
It's not often that I'm flabbergasted at work. After reviewing five versions of Iron Man in five days, I thought I had seen it all, but I was wrong, friends. Today, Iron Man on the PC showed up, I popped it in, and my jaw dropped. Loosely based on the No. 1 film in America, Iron Man tosses you into the red-and-gold suit of Tony Stark and sets you loose on more than a dozen missions filled with guards, laser cannons and super villains that you won't find in the movie--folks such as Whiplash and Titanium Man. It might sound cool, but the problem is that this story is largely invented and strays from the plot points and character-defining moments of the film. You'll never get to care about Yinsen, Obadiah's power-hungry from the get go, and Stark almost always seems like a jerk. Plus, the cutscenes stink. Not even voiceovers from Robert Downey, Jr. and Terrence Howard can save them from being ass--there are crazy eyes, mouths not moving the right way, characters that don't look right, etc. However, games aren't all about story, and Iron Man does have a few things going for it. Each time you're ready to jump into your flight suit, you'll choose your mission, one of the six unlockable suits of armor, and which upgrades you'd like to use. See, rather than have you earn money from your battles like the PS3/360 version of Iron Man does, this incarnation of the game upgrades your gear--repulsor, ballistics, explosives and armor--based on how much you use them. If you're like me, you'll find yourself hovering around levels and blasting evildoers with your repulsors the most, and in no time, you'll have taken your laser gauntlet from the most basic tech (fast but weak) to the mega-awesome Optimal Beam Damage. Of course, this applies to whichever device you're using, and a few will actually upgrade to the point where you need to choose which option you'll be using in battle (i.e. which type of missile you want to launch into some dude's face).
* Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.8Ghz or equivalent AMD Athlon X2 64 2.4Ghz * Memory/RAM: 1GB for XP and 1.5GB for Vista * Video Card: 256MB NVIDIA 7900 or 256MB ATI X1900 * Hard Disk Space: 16GB free * Operating System: Windows XP SP3 or Windows Vista SP1
Review
Rockstar's vivid tale of Niko Bellic, an immigrant with convictions powerful enough to rocket him through the crumbling substructures of Liberty City's world of organized crime, is now out on PC. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games shipped this past April, and with this one you'll find a few alterations and additions those who waited are sure to appreciate. Despite what's been put in, if you've already played the console versions it's hard to recommend picking this one up, even though it now includes space for up to 32 players in its multiplayer matches and a robust, easy to use replay editor for recording and fashioning clips from your in-game actions.
The Grand Theft Auto franchise rocketed to mass popularity after Grand Theft Auto III's release and the ground rules were set for a different style of game. Since then we've seen slight alterations and tweaks to the core formula with Vice City and San Andreas, and Grand Theft Auto IV represents another step forward. This is a game that strips down a lot of the more zany challenges from games past. You won't be doing any remote control helicopter missions or lowrider matching challenges here. Instead, the focus is on realism, a more mature sensibility, and bringing GTA into the present day. Starting from dealing with your cousin Roman, a small time operator prone to gross exaggeration, you'll move your way up through criminal rings until you get what you want. Unlike GTA characters of the past, though, Niko isn't trying to prove himself as some sort of badass for the ages, driven to rule the city no matter what. He's looking for something, and the missions he undertakes are really the only way for him to find it. He may perform a number of ruthless acts (which you, by the way, instruct him to), but there are points during the story where you can ease your finger off the trigger or make a choice as to how things proceed. Despite the kind of senselessly violent tendencies many may associate with GTA characters, Niko represents an exception in many respects, as he has a code by which he operates.
The game's infrastructure has been made more convenient, though there's still space to improve. If Niko fails a mission, a message asking to retry it pops up as soon as you respawn, and when you die you don't lose your entire arsenal. Getting across the gargantuan metropolis is made easier by hailing cabs that take you to waypoints on your map. Stealing a car and driving yourself is always an option, as is the more immersive element of actually riding in the cab's backseat the whole time, staring out the windows at the passing lights. For anyone who's short on time or would prefer to forego the random dangers of driving across a GTA world, the cabs are certainly welcome.
Still, you'll be doing quite a bit of mission restarts, and that often means repeating large chunks of the challenges. Many missions break down into an initial travel segment, some kind of escalation event, a conflict, and an escape. Getting through the on-foot shooting sequences, a real headache with the clunky control schemes of games past, has been made much better with the inclusion of a cover system and, as with all PC versions, mouse and keyboard support for aiming and shooting. From behind cover it's possible to blind fire, rapidly pop out to unload a few shots, or move cover to cover, a system that doesn't always work perfectly but is a definite step up for the series. It's possible to use a gamepad as well, which handles vehicles better than a mouse and keyboard. You can even switch freely between the control devices. Juggling the two input methods depending whether you're driving or shooting is pretty awkward, but it's great that Rockstar built it in without forcing you to fiddle with a control input menu toggle. And if you have to pick one, it's far easier to shoot from a moving car with the mouse and keyboard.
System: 1 GHz Pentium III or equivalent RAM: 256 MB Video Memory: 128 MB Hard Drive Space: 4700 MB Recommended System Requirements System: 2 GHz Pentium 4 or equivalent Video Memory: 512 MB
Review
It's been almost a year since Capcom unleashed Devil May Cry 3 in North America, but its position as one of the system's best action titles still stands today. Unfortunately for it, the game was released in a year that saw the fantastic Resident Evil 4 and the equally incredible God of War dominate popular opinion -- and let's face it, between the two of them, the adventures of Kratos and Leon collectively raised expectations. But that's why I'm hoping that players who never gave Dante's Awakening a chance the first time will give Capcom's "Special Edition" re-release a second look... if they do, I believe they'll find it to be an experience every bit as good as 2005's biggest and most popular award-winners.
Now keep in mind, this examination is stringently focused on the new features that have been added to Devil May Cry 3 in the ten months following its release. Having reviewed the original DMC3 last year, I find it a bit repetitive to cover most of the game's aspects all over again. If you're looking for an in-depth analysis of the gameplay system, the atmosphere, and how it all ties together, then by all means head on over to the article posted last February. If you like your summations quick and dirty, however, know this: Devil May Cry 3 is a fast, challenging, great-looking game that kicks serious demon ass with multiple fighting styles, gun types, and pointy things. Sound good? Good, read on! Surprisingly, the star of Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening Special Edition isn't actually Dante... but rather, his bad guy twin brother Vergil (Don't worry, you can still play as Dante in exactly the same manner as before). What's cool about this extra addition is that Vergil isn't just some palette swap of Dante with an extra animation or two -- he's a completely unique character that plays entirely different from his brother. The downside is that Vergil is only limited to one combat style throughout the entire game (Dark Slayer) as opposed to Dante's six. But if you don't mind using a smaller set of maneuvers and attacks, this one-style restriction doesn't matter at all. The reason? Vergil is so powerful that he can wipe out a wave of enemies that took Dante a few minutes to overcome in a matter of seconds. In a way, Vergil's extreme power is another drawback. As cool as it is to totally annihilate anything that gets in your way, a lot of what made Devil May Cry 3 cool was its extreme challenge and need to figure out what fighting style would work best for what stage. When playing as Vergil, however, those factors become a non-issue and the excitement of being caught up in a potentially dangerous demon-drubbing isn't nearly as great. Then again, there is a great satisfaction in being a walking, talking, rip-ass god of destruction, so Vergil's added power has its advantages too.
