Let ’s face it — most real - time strategy ( RTS ) game are relatively two - dimensional . Despite their contoured landscapes , you ’re ultimately still fiddle on a flat map . But Aspyr Media’sHomeworld 2 , a new RTS game set in verboten space , changes all that . It forces you to campaign in a truly three - dimensional outer space . The result is one of the most attractive , pleasurable game you ’ll find on computer memory shelves this year .
A sprawl space opera , Homeworld 2 tells the story of the Hiigarans , a infinite - faring race of hoi polloi that has yield to Hiigara from a remote expat , only to find themselves oppress by a warrior clan called the Vaygr . At the start of Homeworld 2 , you and your fellow Hiigarans are put the finishing cutaneous senses on your new mothership , thePride of Hiigara , when the Vaygr fleet launch a surprise approach . This Seth in movement a serial of effect that will keep you on the edge of your posterior directly through to the end of the game — if you survive that long .
The basic elements of Homeworld 2 will be familiar to RTS rooter : Your mothership is your family base of operations . It ’s where your fleet originates , where you search new engineering science , and where you polish resource from nearby asteroid and debris field . But while the mothership ’s bulk enable it to resist a awful amount of punishment , it does n’t have to fight alone . The ship has enough fabrication resources to make an intact fleet of spaceships : shipyards and carriers ( both of which can make vessels of their own ) ; stationary gun program ; swarms of interceptor and torpedo that buzz around like deadly , tempestuous insects ; and more . Understanding how to develop and use all these resources is pretty well-situated , thanks to a cleared and straight tutorial you could replay in chapters if you miss some of the finer orient the first clock time .
What makes Homeworld 2 unlike from other strategy game is its setting — outer quad . And strategizing in three dimension is very different from playing on a two - dimensional map . Rather than just pour your hit forces straight at the enemy , for example , you ’ll often get good consequence by using quad to your reward — sending forces in to lash out from above , below , or behind .
Homeworld 2 ’s user interface is comparatively intricate . Pop - up menus and overlays provide you with data point about your fleet ’s stipulation and operational characteristics , mission objectives , tactical analysis , research status , and more . But it ’s all very logical and easy to understand once you grasp the fundamentals of television camera dominance , fleet trend , and resource manipulation .
The game ’s ocular detail have a cinematic ambit . The ship designs and preferences offer the heroic scale of aStar Warsmovie and the complex technical detail and mettlesome realism ofBlade Runner . The game also features awe - inspiring , colorful backdrops of nebulas , glowing major planet , and blankets of ace .
The audio production is as top - nick . Homeworld 2 features a right distinguished soundtrack and excellent voice acting . The plot ’s events are often accompany by radio set chattering from squadron leaders , ship commanders , and other voices from your fleet — all of which could quickly become get to in an inferior plot . But here , it all inform and enhances game play .
The game ’s undivided - instrumentalist campaign is linear — each clip you play , the Vaygr do the accurate same matter . How you advance your battles , however , is up to you . And if you run down of the exclusive - instrumentalist campaign , you may take on the information processing system in a skirmish mode , which lets you play as the Vaygr .
Homeworld 2 lets you take exception other Mac actor online using GameRanger , verbatim TCP / IP connections , or LAN association . But the game does n’t support ill-tempered - platform competition — an unfortunate drawback due to DirectPlay , the networking engineering used in Windows versions . The game call for an 800MHz G4 or faster operate OS X 10.2 or later .
The Bottom LineHomeworld 2 is , without doubtfulness , a tour de military unit in real - time scheme play . If you grease one’s palms one RTS in 2004 , this should be it .
Tarred and Feathered
The canonical plot line behindGish , a new side - scrolling platform action biz by Chronic Logic , may sound a bit hackneyed . When his girl , Brea , is catch by an evil fiend , Gish must come down into the labyrinthine subterraneous sewer world of Dross to save her — jump from program to political platform , rap down walls , and battle all fashion of strange creatures . There ’s just one catch : Gish does n’t have arm or legs . He ’s a 12 - pound , animise ball of tar — and the driving force behind one of the most unusual and memorable games I ’ve played this yr .
Gish is n’t your average ball of gob . He has imperil yellow eyes and a fanged countenance — which made him an instant strike with the Kid in my mansion . But his simple , hired hand - draw coming into court belies the sophisticated forcible modeling behind his movements . Gish can make himself cloggy by season up a bit — useful when smacking into objects and bad guy wire . Gish can also make himself sticky , to well adhere to wall , or slick , to better ease into tight spaces .
Getting used to Gish ’s physics may take some meter . But once you ’ve done so , these attributes make for some jolly clever gaming . By sticking to a paries , you ’ll be able to accumulate hidden bits of amber — the secret plan ’s currency . you may also pry stuck objects loose — for example , an impeding newspaper column — by alternately harden and relaxing Gish ’s consistency .
The biz ’s originative level design often makes role of destructible object . For example , you may criticize away blocks or full walls to reveal new passages . Occasionally , you ’ll even unlock hidden tier similar to those in Graeco-Roman video game such as Pitfall and Super Mario Brothers .
Gish offers several extra game modes to keep things interesting . The Collection mode is a time puzzle game in which you must think as many chunk of amber as you’re able to before the clock runs out . The Versus mode lets you contend against another player on the same information processing system . This style extend a variety of unusual game that make full usance of Gish ’s strong-arm properties — for exercise , there ’s Sumo , in which two role player essay to pink each other off a floating political program ; Greed , where the player who collects the most amber wins ; and a racing game called Dragster . Alas , Gish does n’t support gambling over a electronic web . But sitting next to your resister can be more fun , anyway .
Gish is complemented by an eclectic and enjoyable soundtrack — though the game ’s other sound impression are a bit thin . Gish require a 1GHz auto or good and OS X 10.1 or later .
The Bottom LineGish is an absolutely top - notch biz that shows just how creative and imaginative an independently developed and published biz can be . Download the demo and give Gish a try .
Play like an Egyptian
The ancient Egyptian god Seth ( also screw as Set ) has unleashed an dread drought upon the land , and the world-beater has call upon you to make things right-hand . To do that , you ’ll need to airt the mighty Nile River to water the earth and make crops flourish . This is the premise behindRise of the Nile , a young activity - teaser game by Evil Genius Games .
upgrade of the Nile is an honest-to-goodness - fashioned organ pipe - laying biz with a new twist . You ’re presented with various piece of river — some sections are straight while others zigzag or fold . Your job is to assemble the bit into closed in loops — rotating them if necessary — to complete your irrigation organisation . Once you do , the earth engage the water and turns green with life .
Of course , Seth wo n’t be proud of with your hinderance . He ’ll throw rocks in your path and broadcast Army of scorpions to kick up the dust . you’re able to fight back Seth ’s scorpions with the flaming Kopesh Sword , an extra goodie that shows up from time to time in place of a river segment . you may also use the sword to beat out rocks into debris and to bury section of river in the Baroness Dudevant when you make a mistake . For big mistakes , you’re able to release rushes of sand to sink an entire section of river .
upgrade of the Nile requires that you cover a sure per centum of each level with fertile undercoat . you’re able to lay river piece over ground that has already been irrigated — a ready to hand elbow room to satiate in dry country within a shut closed circuit . The lusher your vegetation becomes , the more points you ’ll rack up . You ’ll occasionally find sanctified symbols , such as an ankh , hidden in the sand . Placing water system musical composition over them will earn you fillip point .
The game offer two playing modes . In Strategy musical mode , you ’ll have to repugn with an runoff measure , which declines every prison term you trash a puzzle opus that wo n’t fit . When the meter head for the hills dry , the secret plan is over . The Timed mode append to the challenge by forcing you to lay down an adequate numeral of river segments before the clock runs out . However , the clock runs a small too fast to be anything but frustrating .
you could turn off the secret plan ’s reasoned effects and medicine — a good thing , as they get irritating promptly . You ’ll postulate at least a G3 with 128 MB of random memory and OS X 10.2 to play .
The Bottom LineRise of the Nile adds an interesting turn to a try - and - true puzzle genre . But its timed challenge are potential to leave you frustrated .
Get Dirty
Over the retiring couple of years , Aspyr Media has built a collection of uttermost - sports game that includes skateboard , surfboarding , and wakeboarding . They ’ve now bring motocross hasten to the mixture withMTX : Mototrax , a top - notch secret plan that puts you behind the handlebars of an off - road grease bike as you rush along the pros and perform stunts .
you’re able to test your skills at different types of events , include motocross race , which happen at large outdoor tracks fill with winding trail spread over wide-ranging terrain ; supercross races , which take spot inside stadiums and require that you do more skill in turning tight corners and impinge on startle ; and freestyle events , which focus specifically on your power to execute joke in rapid succession . Freestyle upshot are essentially the bike equivalent of a skate - park half - pipe ; you have a series of goals to complete in a specific amount of clip — such as getting enough breeze on your start to hit float hoop . Some of these successiveness , however , are challenge to the stage of frustration .
In the game ’s Freestyle modality , you’re able to forfeit racing entirely and alternatively concentre on grow your whoremaster . More - difficult and more - originative tricks will make extra points .
The game includes an integrated track editor , which lets you make your own supercross course of instruction inside an arena — it ’s a turn like assembling a Hot Wheels track . But while the editor has a good collection of data track objet d’art , your design possibilities are ultimately limited by blank space constraints .
MTX : Mototrax looks dandy . Aspyr did a decent business of convert the console variation of the game . It also carry tight as blazing on my 1.5GHz PowerBook G4 . The game require at least 800MHz . The game ’s soundtrack features the distinctive mix of metal and punk rocker , include bands such as Disturbed , Metallica , and the Misfits .
One of the game ’s most surprising characteristic is its price . MTX : Mototrax is debuting for $ 20 . This makes the game less expensive than some shareware game , with much secure output caliber .
The Bottom LineMotocross is a bauble on the Mac . And MTX : Mototrax is a solid foundation to the music genre . If you ’re looking for a unlike kind of hotfoot plot , MTX : Mototrax deserve a looking .
Precision Gaming
Razer has a repute for make top - quality black eye designed specifically for the gaming community . Its novel liberation , theViper , is a high - preciseness optical black eye that offers great predisposition than many other mice , as well as several other useful amenities .
The Viper sports 1,000 - dpi oculus — that ’s about 25 per centum higher than you ’ll find in many other preciseness mice . This lead in greater sensitiveness , and lessens the hazard that your pointer will get the jitter if your hand moves fast across the table in the midst of a particularly frantic fragging session .
The Viper also has an Janus-faced two - button conception that fits a variety of hand sizes . Razer coat the two clit — which are contour to the side of the mouse — with a rubberized material to keep sweaty fingers from slipping and to make the mouse easygoing to spellbind . A clickable scroll wheel sits nestled between the big buttons . The underside of the Viper has Teflon - coated feet , which cut down on rubbing against your desktop . Of of course , the design isn’tallabout role . The casing ’s translucent black textile shows off the scarlet glow optics as you move the Viper across a desktop surface .
Alas , the company does n’t make its own Mac driver ; the included CD offers only Windows drivers . However , its Web internet site points Mac customers to the revered shareware applications programme USB Overdrive ( www.usboverdrive.com ) . Most full - featured OS X games include tools for programme a 2nd mouse button and scroll - bike commands . But Mac users will lose the ability to adjust sensitivity and quickening preferences — something that Windows users can do .
The Bottom LineRazer ’s Viper was built for speed . If you ’re look for a loyal black eye design for the demand of fast and furious gaming , this may be the one for you .
First Look|Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
At the risk of making generalizations , I find that most Dungeons and Dragons fans also have an tolerate dear forStar Wars . Aspyr Media has brought the two together , with the Mac interpretation ofStar Wars : Knights of the Old Republic — a single - participant role - play secret plan ( RPG ) set in the Star Wars universe .
knight of the Old Republic takes office four thousand age before Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker put down the icon . The Sith , Star Wars ’ nonmigratory bad guys , are waging war against the Jedi Knights , defender of the Republic and all - around hero types .
In distinctive RPG fashion , you select your gender , character class ( soldier , villain , or scout ) , and physical appearance before you begin play . At the plot ’s opening , you ’re sent to rescue a captured Jedi warrior , who then recognizes your potential as a Jedi pupil . Eventually , you ’ll be initiated into the Jedi order , where you ’ll learn important offensive and defensive skills that help you solicit into the universal power known as the Force .
Of course , what you do with your mightiness is entirely up to you . Your coalition with the light or the dark side of the Force is mainly determined by your actions — the manner you speak with nonplayer characters , the determination you make , and the pursuance you act on . All these thing have a profound impact on whether you at last become just or malign .
Although horse of the Old Republic is solely a single - player secret plan , you ’ll touch AI characters you may ask round to join your party . You ascertain each of these character individually , so you could use each of their alone skill to complete the task at deal .
The game admit plenty of combat , which combines the turn - found strategy of an RPG with the genuine - prison term legal action you ’d expect of a fully 3 - five hundred game . When your political party encounters an enemy , the action break so you could tell them what actions to take . Combat then proceed until one side has won or until you tell your grapheme to change their strategy or weapon .
Aspyr has jell the game ’s system requirements rather gamey . Thanks to some swell graphic core , the game involve Panther or later and at least a 1GHz automobile .
knight of the Old Republic should be on store shelves by the fourth dimension this issue reaches you . But you ’ll have to pay $ 50 — more than twice what the Windows and Xbox versions presently be .
The Bottom LineThe see-through teemingness of game gaming and the ability to select your own fortune make Star war : Knights of the Old Republic a must - have for Star Wars partizan .
