FREE! N AV I G AT E | 01 I s s u e 16 | A p r i l 2 0 0 8 WIN! FRONTLINES Cool game PCGZine bundles! Free Magazine For PC Gamers. Read it, Print it, Send it to your mates… MORE HOT REVIEWS... MASSIVE REVIEW INSIDE! TURNING POINT: FALL OF LIBERTY LOST: VIA DOMUS SPEEDBALL 2 JACK KEANE “ B ig b a ttl e s, b ig e x p l osi o ns, b ig f u n !” INTERVIEW TO A KILL! Assassin’s Creed FIRST SCREENS! PLUS ALL THESE GAMES & MORE Technical Lead! ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES A s ta n d - u p fi g h t, o r j u s t a n o th e r b u g h u n t? R e d Fa ct i o n : G u e r i l l a M i r r o r ’s E d g e D a m n a t i o n B a tt l e fi e l d H e r o e s CO N T R O L NAVIGATE | 02

Don’t miss! This month’s highlights... PCGZine Frontlines: Fuel of War INTERVIEW TO A KILL! games have been drifting south like We grill the Assassin’s Creed Technical Lead polar bears on melting ice-floes and another WIN! over what we’ve been waiting for! PAGE 18 month goes by without the long-awaited Can it really knock Call of FRONTLINES release of Rainbow Six Vegas 2 and Assassin’s Duty 4 off the multiplayer GAME SETS Creed, both now set for early April on PC. But shooter top spot? PAGE 22 there are plenty of thrills to be had in the meantime with the excellent modern combat Mirror’s Edge QUICK FINDER Redefining first-person PAGE 13 Frontlines offers in solo and multiplayer modes Every game’s just a click away! and there’s the chest-burstingly exciting reveal of the first screens for Aliens: Colonial Marines, Damnation Aliens: Colonial Marines Aliens: Colonial the awe-inspiring new squad shooter that Battlefield Heroes Mirror’s Edge Gearbox has been working on. It’s authentic, it’s Battlestations: Pacific : Guerilla Marines Red Faction: Guerilla The ultimate squad shooter PAGE 10 PAGE 15 co-op and it’s scheduled for 2008, and that’s just Bionic Commando Assassin’s Creed Mars attacks again! what we wanted to hear. Starcraft II Frontlines: Fuel of War READER Check out the preview - it’s F.E.A.R. Project Origin Turning Point: Fall of Liberty FEEDBACK! the only way to be sure... S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky Lost Click here to Velvet Assassin Speedball 2 Turning Point: Damnation tell us what Steve Brown, Editor Fall of Liberty Lost New open- you think of X3: Terran Conflict Jack Keane Found - one world shooter [email protected] Nazis in New York! PAGE 25 review! PAGE 27 the magazine! X-Blades Universe revealed PAGE 3 MEET THE TEAM MORE FREE MAGAZINES! LATEST ISSUES! Probably the best games writers on the planet To experience games at their b est PCGZine uses the Area 51-ALX f rom Alienware. Packed to the gills with cutting-edge power and technolo gy, if Ian Morris Richard Melville Steve Brown a game can’t perform on Got sent to the Frontlines, but We told him to get Lost and Got abducted by Aliens and now this it has to b e a dud. managed not to go over the top. would you believe it, he did! walks a bit funny. CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 03 Previews No respect for the LATEST Highway Code NEWS whatsoever. Damnation Publisher: Codemasters American history X-treme Developer: Blue Omega Heritage: First game What’s the story? project Hero Rourke sets off through a post-industrial USA Link: www.codemasters. inspired by iconic historical events, to prevent a crazed com arms dealer from achieving world domination. It seems ETA: Winter 2008 he has a mysterious female sidekick to help him in this and the whole setting feels like a steampunk graphic novel, something akin to The League of Extraordinary PREVIEW Gentlemen. FEEDBACK! Click here to tell What do we know? us what you That boob tube Codemasters is describing Damnation as a “shooter gone think of really isn’t suitable vertical” and there’s plenty of evidence in these first Damnation! for leaping. screenshots of acrobatic moves through every dimension, with Rourke and his barely-dressed accomplice scaling walls, leaping through windows and flying down ziplines. But you aren’t the only ones with almost superhuman daredevil skills. Your enemies will also use ropes, scale walls and generally come at you from every angle, making nowhere safe to hide. When do we get more? We may see more at Codemasters’ Connect show this month, and we hope to get hands-on this summer. Anything else to declare? Overblown vehicles and stunts will also make up a large part of gameplay, with wall-racing, chasm-leaping motorbikes providing awesome chases. This is an to a large We’re promised degree, so expect to choose your own paths through its “Prevent a crazed arms levels miles across, unique representation of America. dealer from achieving with thousands of world domination!” vertical feet.

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CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 05 Previews 16-player team LATEST “It looks very like deathmatch is the NEWS Team Fortress 2 in order of the day. its cartoon style” Battlefield Publisher: EA Developer: DICE Heritage: Battlefield 1942, Heroes Battlefield 2 Link: www.dice.se Can a free-to-play shooter really pay off? ETA: Summer 2008 What’s the story? This is a more casual spin-off from the hardcore Battlefield brand and will PREVIEW be a free, web-launched team deathmatch shooter in third-person. It looks FEEDBACK! very like Team Fortress 2 in its cartoon style and focuses upon character Click here to tell development and customization, with stat rankings and XP progression. us what you think of What do we know? Battlefield: Heroes is an experiment in casual gaming and influenced by what the Heroes! developers saw of successful free-to-play systems in Korea. DICE hope to Planes and tanks will make this free shooter a new revenue model in the West too, through be the only vehicles micro-transactions and advertising. But don’t worry too much about to start with. intrusive ads and hidden costs. There will be no in-game adverts and you’ll only choose to pay for cosmetic upgrades to start with, then later DICE may introduce items that will let infrequent gamers pay to double their XP acquisition rate for set periods of time. Swoop low and two teammates can jump When do we get more? onto your wings. A closed Beta starts soon, which we hope to be on, then this will be expanded through the summer to include thousands more testers before becoming open to all. Anything else to declare? The two sides are the Royal and National armies (Allies and Axis essentially) and within each are three classes of Soldier, Gunner and Commando. There will be two vehicles at launch – the tank and the plane, which can hold a passenger on each wing!

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'easily the most violent MMO of 2008' PC ZONE

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heads will roll... Windows and the Windows Vista Start button are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies, and ‘Games for Windows’ and the Windows Vista Start button logo are used under license from Microsoft. © 2008 Funcom, All rights Reserved, © 2008 Conan Properties International LLC. CONAN®, CONAN THE BARBARIAN® and related logos, characters, names, and distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks of Conan Properties International LLC unless otherwise noted. All Rights Reserved. Funcom Authorized User. Eidos & the Eidos ...May 23rd 2008 logo are trademarks of Eidos Interactive Ltd. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Software platform logo (™ and ©) IEMA 2006. The rating icon is a registered trademark of the Entertainment Software Association.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 07 Previews Send out landing LATEST craft and protect NEWS their beachheads. Battlestations: Publisher: Eidos Developer: Eidos Heritage: Battlestations: Pacific Midway Link: www.eidos.com Take to the high seas once again and change the ETA: Late 2008 historical outcomes of World War II What’s the story? PREVIEW Take part in two World War II naval campaigns in the South Seas, playing as FEEDBACK! “New units include the Americans from the Battle of Midway to Okinawa, and then as the Click here to tell the dreaded Japanese fleet attacking Pearl Harbour before attempting to transform us what you history and rule the Pacific. think of kamikaze pilots” Battlestations: What do we know? Pacific! This is the sequel to Battlestations: Midway, promising even more intense RTS action, the American and Japanese campaigns doubling the size of the first game with nearly 30 missions. 21 new units include the dreaded kamikaze pilots in fearsome rocket-powered Ohka on the Japanese side, which will add a unique dynamic to both campaigns. When do we get more? Watch your land We’re hoping for the first hands-on this summer. forces capture key inland areas. Switch to a first- Anything else to declare? person view for the Perhaps the most significant new feature will real experience. be the ability to land infantry during battles, either launching parachute squadrons from your carriers, of deploying landing craft packed to the gunnels with attack battalions. You’ll need to direct parachute landings accurately and shield your landing craft with defensive broadsides, but once your infantry battalions set foot on solid ground they’ll That’s going to reward your efforts by attempting to capture need some key bases and man captured artillery to sticky tape. support your air and sea campaign.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 08 Previews X3: Terran Conflict Publisher: | ETA: Autumn Velvet Assassin Publisher: Gamecock | ETA: Autumn This stand-alone sequel in the X3 series will take the conflict back to Earth’s solar system for a Originally dubbed Saboteur, this stealth conclusive battle comprising more space dogfight action title has been rebranded to focus More golden nuggets of missions than any previous X title. Rather than more upon the influence of real-life British gaming glory to come following a single character, you’ll be able to take agent Violette Szabo, who championed the the seats of several different pilots, some familiar to sabotage of the Nazi war machine in World UP War II . The the X universe and others including a new military 7 game’s heroine pilot from home planet Earth. F.E.A.R. Violette Summer will need to Project Origin improvise Publisher: Monolith | ETA: Late 2008 X-Blades weapons and use The sequel to this dark shooter will Publisher: Southpeak | ETA: Winter the enemy run parallel to events at the end of Formerly known as Oniblade, this anime- themselves F.E.A.R. and delve a little into the style hack-and-slash follows heroine Ayumi, against one origins of nightmare child Alma. presumably in a quest to recover her clothes another in her More importantly, enemy and and find something more comfortable than undercover allied AI has improved still further a g-string for fighting in. Pistol-blades will be missions. (it was already hyper-intelligent) balanced with magic in this all-action story and there will be a greatly and demons will be your foes (as well as cold improved cover system. drafts and whistling builders). Bionic Commando WINTER Publisher: | ETA: Late 2008 2008/2009 Starcraft II New screenshots of this open world action Mirror’s Edge Publisher: Blizzard | ETA: Late 2008 title, which will see enhanced hero Nathan Late 2008 Spencer using bionic arms and the like to AUTUMN This long-awaited RTS sequel is 2008 scale buildings and swing through massive gradually revealing more of its new cityscapes, reveal that there will also be a Fallout 3 Red Alert 3 single-player campaign, which will Autumn Late 2008 greener side to the game, with the inclusion carry on directly from the end of of a lush Park level within the boundaries of SUMMER Starcraft: Brood War’s plot. Protoss, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2008 Ascension City. Age of Conan Football Manager Starcraft II Terran and Zerg races all return and May 2009 Late 2008 new Terran units recently revealed Clear Sky SPRING October will include the Banshee aircraft, Publisher: Deep Silver | ETA: August Prototype Cobra hover tank and the awesome 2008 June 27 The prequel to the first Rainbow Six: Thor assault mech, big enough to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Clear Sky is set Vegas 2 Red take on whole enemy bases. The in 2011 and treads the dangerous April Tiberium Faction: player won’t assume the role of any streets of Chernobyl as your ON Devil May Cry 4 Autumn Guerilla familiar character, but will meet many mercenary heads right into the May 2009 established figures in campaigns. THE Assassin’s center of the Zone. RADAR Creed April CONTROL http://warhammer.deepsilver.com

PC

Warhammer®: Mark of Chaos - Battle March™ © Ltd 2006-2008. All Rights Reserved. Games Workshop, Warhammer, Warhammer: Mark of Chaos, Warhammer: Battle March, and all associated races, race insignia, marks, names, characters, illustrations and images from the Warhammer: Mark of Chaos game, the Warhammer: Battle March game and the Warhammer world are either ®, ™ and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2000-2008, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world, used under license by NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. All Rights Reserved. (P)2008 Deep Silver, a division of GmbH, Austria CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 10 Previews How would you like your eggs sir – HANDS ON over easy?

A midnight snack Publisher: SEGA from the fridge... Developer: Gearbox Heritage: Halo: Combat Evolved, Brothers in Arms, Half-Life: Blue Shift Link: www. gearboxsoftware.com ETA: Mid-Late 2008 In space, no-one can hear you jumping up and down, screaming “Woo-hoo!” t’s been a long, long time since the Gearbox’s new game is focusing last really great Aliens game on PC, entirely on the Marine squad Looks like you’ll be PREVIEW and by the time that Colonial experience of the second and best using ceiling ducts FEEDBACK! I as well. Marines is released, it will be practically Aliens film and that’s the best possible Click here to tell a decade ago that Aliens vs. Predator outcome for all FPS fans. us what you terrified us out of our wits in 1999. But Remaining as true to the Aliens film think of Just even that awesome shooter was environments, weapons, equipment Aliens:Colonial somewhat diluted by its division into and vehicles as possible, Colonial Marines! Marine, Alien and Predator segments. Marines follows a squad of four as

Someone fetch a giant glass and a piece of paper! “Remaining as true to the Aliens film as possible”

Quick, kick him wherever his Never forget the knackers are! ceiling, never forget the ceiling, never…

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 11 Previews This is going to be creepy and tense, all set to motion tracker pings.

“The game will assign you Co-ordinate your squad to control specific squad to focus their efforts on concerted attacks... members for missions”

Aliens continued primary pulse rifles and smart guns, we’ll see flamethrowers and shotguns they fight for survival within the for example. When playing solo (more deserted Sulaco’s hull and beyond, on co-op later), the game will assign encountering first Scout and soon you to control specific squad members Warrior Aliens as the full horror of their for certain missions, encouraging you situation dawns. To some extent each to use the full range of men and of the squad will be a specialist, equipment. You won’t be dropping or carrying a unique secondary weapon, picking up scavenged guns in this It’s easy to be still faithful to the film, so on top of game, bringing it even closer to specimen-glass half authentic Marine behaviour. empty at times in an Aliens game. Set up automatic sentry guns when Acid house party barricading a sector. As well as primary and secondary that can revive team mates, or Rainbow Six Vegas, which will tell weapons, each character also carries neutralise Alien acid burns. But if you’re buddies to hack doors, weld vents shut, grenades and a pistol, plus an not in control of the character you or set up automatic gun turrets. And interactive item such as a hacking kit need for specific actions or equipment, tactical command will be essential – for opening sealed doors, a welding there’s a simple context-sensitive team this game demands Hickses not torch to seal passages, or a medical kit command system similar to that in Hudsons. Aliens will make intelligent

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Use squad members’ specialist weapons in “Boss battles such as specific situations. the power-loader battle against the You have remembered Queen Alien prompt to check for ceiling access now? quick reactions”

Aliens continued have any hope of making it out alive. Breaking up the squad action will be use of every air duct, ceiling pipe, a series of iconic ‘Close Encounters’, grating and vent available to come at essentially mini-games and boss battles you stealthily, or in deadly waves, so such as the power-loader battle against you’ll have to co-ordinate your squad’s the Queen Alien, which prompt the skills, firepower and positioning if you player to react quickly and intuitively to subtle HUD indicators. But the best Atmosphere is feature of all will be four-player co-op, everything, and allowing friends to drop into your story this game has it! mode, AI taking over squad members again if the humans drop out. It’s difficult to imagine a more suitable licence for a first-person shooter, nor a more terrifying one. Aliens: Colonial Marines just shot PCGZine HOW COMPLETE? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? straight to the top of our most wanted 60% 90% FPS list. Pre-order it as soon as you can – it’s the only way to be sure! The ultimate squad shooter shows its teeth at last!

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 13 Previews It’s a clean city with dirty officials. HANDS ON

Publisher: EA Developer: DICE Heritage: The Battlefield series Link: www.dice.se You’ve gotta have Faith… Even your hands ETA: Late 2008 ne of the most significant have an trends in modern action games unprecedented 300 Ois towards freedom of polygons each! PREVIEW movement through all dimensions, the FEEDBACK! vertical being the least explored Click here to tell traditionally. Assassin’s Creed, The terrorists now us what you Damnation (see preview this issue), use riot shields too. think of Prototype and more are all exploring Mirror’s Edge! acrobatic movement - climbing, diving, leaping, swinging and free-running with great success. But DICE, developer of the Battlefield series, is hoping that Mirror’s Edge will define this new movement, and movement itself, with a game that rethinks every aspect of and leaping. While controls are kept first-person perspective from the simple for achieving such moves, the “A game that rethinks ground up and up and up. skill will be required in maintaining every aspect of first- Mirror’s Edge is a first-person momentum and stringing acrobatics shooter, (although we’ll qualify the together fluidly across the urban person perspective” shooter part shortly), set in a modern assault course. Senior producer, Owen and run, as most shooters do, Mirror’s Reaction Time slow urban environment, which provides O’Brien hopes to “Change the way that Edge takes time to accelerate you to full ample vertical opportunities for players are able to move in first person. speed from a standing start. The Physical aggression motion will be will be more useful in these parkour-style wall-running, vaulting No more restrictions, no more being camera will weave and bob increasingly velocity if you mean to clear it rather blocked by simple barriers such as walls as you pump your arms and legs to than leave yourself hanging. Similarly important than situations. gunplay. and fences. We want to enable the gain a sprint and even the sound you’ll have to judge your speed down player to move like a real person, with effects of your feet slapping down (and ziplines to drop off them and land on the ability to run, jump, vault and slide the ability to look down and see proper the move, otherwise you may slow, in a way that has never been seen foot-to-ground contact) adds a whole stumble, or fall. There’s also a slo-mo before in a first person game.” new level of immersion. feature called Reaction Time, which Momentum is key to the more Speed and momentum also govern depends upon your average speed to realistic first-person experience and the acrobatics you can achieve – you’ll accrue. Reaction Time helps rather than having set speeds for walk need to approach a wall with sufficient considerably when it comes to

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 14 Previews We think couriers should use the rooftops too.

Time your landings off ziplines carefully. It’s a long way down!

“This FPS is not about the gun, but about the person behind it”

able to carry and use guns, even City leaders like Pope stealing them off enemies with slick will be your ultimate new moves, they’ll usually be limited to enemies. the ammo in their loaded clips and will also affect her movement, the bigger Mirror’s Edge continued communications accessible only to the assault rifles especially preventing the rich elite. Your character, Faith, is more acrobatic stunts. This FPS is not stringing together fluid moves, connected to the criminal about the gun, but about the person Out with the scaffold, especially while under pressure from underground movement, who behind it and that’s perhaps the most in with the new enemies. ironically live and operate overground interesting move of all. (approach to FPS) The enemies in Mirror’s Edge will be in the higher reaches of the city’s the goons of the apparently utopian skyscraper rooftops. With internet and city’s actual police state, the armies of telecoms controlled by the PCGZine HOW COMPLETE? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? the corrupt politicians and police authoritarian state, it’s down to free- 70% 80% commanders who have made vehicular runners like Faith to courier information travel, personal freedom and for the have-nots. So while Faith will be Redefining first-person gaming from the ground up

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HANDS ON “It is an open world Publisher: THQ Developer: this time, you will Heritage: Descent series, choose the path” Freespace series, Red Faction series, Saint’s Row, Time to get smashed again at the Mars bar… Summoner series, The Punisher t seems that these days every new formed Mars where gamers can literally Link: www.volition-inc. action game needs to be open- tear down the enemy EDF presence com Iworld to have credibility and the brick by brick”. ETA: 2009 next Red Faction will be no exception. Set half a century after the last Red Using Mars as its big red sandbox, Faction game, Guerilla again follows attempting to create a free-to-roam the struggle of the Mars underground PREVIEW world where the other game mechanic socialist movement as they strive to FEEDBACK! is a fully destructible environment will throw off the shackles of the Click here to tell be no mean feat for Volition. authoritarian Earth Defense Force us what you But that is the aim here and Volition regime, whose oppression of Mars’ think of Just President Mike Kulas assures us that, mine workers seems to have continued Red Faction: “Red Faction: Guerrilla expands the unabated. The freedom fighters of the Guerilla! signature destruction elements of the Red Faction won’t just sit on top of series and pushes the boundaries of government buildings waving banners The new cover next-gen gaming on a massive, terra- and phoning Sky news, they’ll be system seems very Gears of War. Steal mining explosives for battling their way from desolate mining improvised grenades. outpost Parker all the way across the vast Mars landscape towards the EDF heartland and capital city of Eos. But the terra-formed Martian landscape will be crawling with EDF forces and there will be plenty of side-missions along the way to aid browbeaten settlers and to capture and improvise assault Giant mining mechs will make awesome vehicles, explosives and weapons from terrorist and freedom fighter and even attack craft. old mining stock. But it is an open though you’ll be improvising explosive world this time, so you’ll be choosing devices and destroying buildings in the the path to the capital yourself. cities of the energy-hungry capitalist So far, so militant extremist, you regime exploiting your natural might think, but it’s a fine line between resources, your re-established Red

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 16 Previews Blind fire from behind cover will work as in Rainbow Six Vegas 2.

The EDF security forces will stand between you and Eon city.

Destructible environments mean plenty of cool explosions.

Even mining picks and hammers will do as melee weapons.

Red Faction continued “A totally new cover Faction Guerillas are the righteous system should open up heroes of this insurgency. Traditionally first-person, Red Faction Red Faction’s tactics” now goes down the third-person route, expansion of gameplay, which will also which makes sense for better make the promised multiplayer modes realisation of fully destructible that much more interesting. Little of physics-based destruction, fast-paced no denying that the technological environments. It will also help to make the multiplayer has been revealed yet guerrilla warfare style combat, and a advances in PC gaming since Red the most of a totally new cover system beyond the expected inclusion of massive world to explore – Red Faction: Faction II was released in 2003 should that should open up Red Faction’s destruction-based modes, but we Guerrilla will redefine the limits of make 2009’s Red Faction: Guerilla far tactical play to something akin to hope that there will also be some open-world gaming”. While this may more likely to achieve its working-class Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, vehicles involved this time, ideally a smack a little of rebel bravado, there’s goals this time. although we’d expect it to be nearer to tunneling machine to burst through Gears of War in depth of team control. the floor of an enemy base and rip A cling-to-cover, stop-and-pop, or them up Total Recall-style. PCGZine HOW COMPLETE? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? whatever-you-like-to-call-it cover Brad Carraway, THQ’s director of 40% 70% system will really suit the guerilla global brand management, claims that, warfare of this sequel and it’s a sensible “With the game’s unique pairing of true Power to the people as revolution goes open-world!

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CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 18 Interview

Publisher: Ubisoft Developer: Ubisoft Montreal Players: 1 Certificate: 15 Interview to a kill Features: Free-roaming, We talk to the man who’s been putting the sass in Assassin’s Creed PC free-climbing, stealth and melee combat ETA: April

Another new mission type will involve The new rooftop race destroying market stalls. Charles Beauchemin is challenge sets your Technical Lead on Assassin’s acrobatic skills Creed at Ubisoft. against the clock.

ssassin’s Creed was one of the biggest console hits of 2007 and “We decided to add Athe PC version of this medieval even more variety GTA is finally nearing completion. What have we been waiting for and will we with four new even be able to play it given the extraordinarily high recommended investigation types“ specs? We talk to the Technical Lead Based on the feedback we got after the on the PC version to find out what release of the console versions, we he’s been tinkering with all this decided to add even more variety by time… developing a total of four new investigation types (Archer The PC version is out in early assassination, rooftop race challenge, A scene from one of April, four months after the merchant stand destruction challenge the PC-exclusive console versions. What have and escort challenge). The archer escort challenges. you been doing to it? assassination requires the player to

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Interview Crowd reaction AI A further exclusive has improved, so mission type is the you’ll need to be “Four control stealthy Archer more careful now. configurations can Assassination. all be customised“

You’ll no longer be forced to cross The Kingdom on horseback between cities.

Interview continued assassinate the archers in a dedicated zone without being seen. In the can now skip from one city to another original promises. Has this also rooftop race challenge, the player will without going through The Kingdom been addressed for the PC release? meet an informer and will have a set once you have visited every city. We modified the reaction of guards in amount of time to reach a second certain occasions. Blending when close informer. In the merchant stand How have the controls been to a dead body doesn’t work anymore; destruction, some merchants have ties adapted from the console versions guards will spot you if you stay too to the assassination target and their to suit PC gamers? close. Also, the reaction of the guards activities must be stopped by Altaïr. the game at high resolutions with equipped with a Shader Model 3.0 card Even though we support the 360 to stealth assassination is now based on Finally, in the escort challenge, the minimal impact on your framerate. (ATi X1300 and better, NVidia 6600 and controller just like the console version, the number of NPCs around you player needs to securely escort a fellow better). the user can choose to play with the making it more realistic. If there is no Assassin from point A to point B. We’ve heard scary recommended keyboard and mouse for a more direct one around you, guards will spot you specs for the PC version. What’s Although well received on console, control over the camera and access to much faster and if the crowd is bigger, Will the game use DX9 and DX10? the minimum kit required? Assassin’s Creed was criticised for the menus. There are four default you won’t be spotted that fast. The game comes with both DX9 and Any dual-core machine running at being repetitive at times. Will the keyboard and mouse configurations DX10 executables. If you own a DX10 2.2GHz and over with a decent graphic PC version also suffer from this? that can all be customised to the Do the addictive card running on a Vista system, the card (such as a ATi HD2600 or a NVidia As mentioned, we included four new player’s needs. Achievements translate to the PC? game will use the full capabilities of the 8600) will give great performances. Our investigation missions to increase the You can still collect flags and Templars, board to optimize the performances of minimum requirement is a Pentium D variety, so we now have a total of nine The crowd AI of the console but there is no Achievement in the PC the 3D graphics. You’ll be able to play 2.4GHz or a AMD X2 Athlon 3800+, types of investigation mission. Also, you version didn’t always live up to version.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 20 Letters to be a universe game. The most recent and unconfirmed rumours suggest that the game may be a KOTOR-based MMO, claiming that a leaked script revealed it to be set in the Star Wars past, with Sith and Jedi battling it out across the galaxy, with other classes to include politicians, soldiers and nobles. But >Inbox this could just be a Jedi mind trick! Let your opinion be heard. Mail the zine Until the next at [email protected] Star Wars MMO, THE WORLD IS OPEN Mass Effect rules! Why it’s good to play in the sandbox again... Hi there! Your Just Cause 2 preview got me excited - EVE OF DISCOVERY another freeform, open-world, non-linear PC game for READER HELLO! I JUST DISCOVERED the > PCGZ says…Thanks Avguste, historical RTS experience available, 2008! This, surely, has to be the future of PC gaming, FEEDBACK! GameZines magazines and I am very we’re glad that you enjoy them. We although you have to remember something a PC can do better than any other machine! Click here to happy. The articles are well written, don’t have any current plans for an that some people prefer other RTS With additional titles like Fallout 3, The Precursors, tell us what great graphics and videos. Until now I EVE Online magazine, but we have settings such as fantasy and sc-fi. Empire: Total War, White Gold, , Mass Effect you think of was subscribed to GameInformer. Well, been covering EVE Online Trinity We’re also really looking forward to and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, to name a few, 2008 is really PC games or I will be canceling my subscription as I extensively in our sister mag, strategy titles like Red Alert 3 and turning out to be the ‘non linear’ year! This, in my view, PCGZine! am now a happy Gamerzine : ) I would MMOZine. Look out for a tutorial in Starcraft II. We’ll have a new can only benefit PC gaming, as long as these games like to also suggest a new magazine the next issue in fact! playtest of Empire very soon have compelling stories, realistic game worlds and dedicated specifically to Eve Online. though, so don’t worry! believable NPCs. Thanks! TOTAL DOMINATION > John > Avguste Antonov NO SERIES CAN COMPETE with Creative FORCE MAJEUR Assembly’s Total War. Empire: Total War IS THERE ANY MORE NEWS on what > PCGZ says… And don’t forget Bionic is surely going to slaughter every other BioWare are up to on the Knights of the Commando, Red Faction: Guerilla, Prototype, RTS when it hits shelves. I am a devoted Old Republic front? Aren’t they Damnation and Mirror’s Edge too. All open-world! Don’t Total War gamer and Total War is the supposed to be announcing a sequel one series I never regret buying. I have soon? Mass Effect may keep me going Prototype encouraged all my friends to try Total for a while on the sci-fi RPG front now miss Issue 17 features a War and they all now play them. There that it’s coming to PC, but it’s a new sandbox NYC. needs to be more coverage on Empire: Star Wars adventure that I really crave! Out April 24th Total War, more info and pics. > Jonesy Magazines should, in my opinion be hanging on Creative Assembly’s every > PCGZ says… There’s still no Sign up now! word, watching them like hawks. concrete information, we’re afraid. > Rhyce Gawronski LucasArts and BioWare did sign a deal last year to work on a new > PCGZ says… The Total War project and naturally many pundits series is undeniably the best have speculated that this will have

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Frontlines: Fuel of War REVIEW Pouring oil on troubled waters and striking a deathmatch! FEEDBACK! Click here to tell hile in the “real” world, many supply of oil is running out, and as the Stray Dogs Company, a surprisingly us what you wars have been fought over resources become more scarce, characterless group of soldiers, who think of Putting our friend on Wthe past few years, in the tensions between two factions, the watch the war unfold before their Frontlines: Fuel wheels to work. Bye Publisher: THQ gaming community, there’s one battle Western Coalition, and Red Star Alliance conflict-hungry eyes. of War bye, Mr. Wheely! Developer: that’s refused to go away – can a game begin to mount. Eventually, this Taking the reins of one such soldier, Heritage: Battlefield: ever be used as a political culminates in a full scale war between Frontlines’ single player mode consists Desert Combat commentary? The answer, it would the two parties, as the East and West of a disappointingly short series of Link: www.frontlines.com seem, is a resounding yes, as with duke it out over the last remaining oil missions, taking you to all sorts of CLASS WAR WAR ETA: OUT NOW! Frontlines: Fuel of War, Kaos Studios has reserve on the planet. It’s all a bit What flavourtypflavour e of soldiersoldier are are you? you?you? produced one of the most effective terrifyingly believable. “East and West fight for System Requirements: examples to date, coming up with a CPU: Intel 2.8 HT, Athlon near-future storyline that’s as plausible Dogs of war the last oil. It’s all a bit 2800+ as it is devastating. Dropped into the midst of this mess are terrifyingly believable” RAM: 768MB/1GB for Vista Frontlines is set in 2042, with the Graphics: nVidia 6800 GT, super-powers of the world coming to ATI X800XT blows over oil. Mirroring the real-life Hard Drive Space: 15GB situation of today, the Earth’s limited

‘Special’ Airhead Oddjob Sadly, online, camping is rife, with players simply parking sentry guns next to respawn positions. Not that this GoDroningJack on it strike... up... on... SecondAsThe well other asmost twopicking popular classes a class isare the when the Air EMP Supportyou Tech, play role, online,and whichGround you’ve lets Support, also you gotcall the thein latterair option strikes of to Wow, place a C4 has anything to do withchoosewhich devastating is a like speciality. Battlefield’s consequences. Playing engineer, as a “Drone in that Tech” it letsseems you the repair most damaged popular, as this charge! We’ve never with this lovely lady, letsvehicles. you play Useful, with eh? drones. done that before! mind you. Oh, wait...

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 23 Reviews When you see this view, start running.

“The drones are probably remotely controlled futuristic drones to Seconds later, and experiment with, Frontlines is actually a Frontlines’ single Frank’s guts were lot more fun that you might imagine, unique touch” splattered over the and each of these features really boosts walls. If only he’d Frontlines continued spotted the drone... the experience. The destructible Drones are small “exotic” locations, from Kazakhstan, to environments especially often force enough, and quiet Moscow. But while the environments you to rethink your strategy, as a wall enough that you change, it’s somewhat upsetting that that was preventing you from reaching can slip in behind the objectives don’t, as each mission a base comes crashing down, opening enemy lines. They’ll sees you completing a number of a new route, or bringing a legion of certainly be similar objectives, which 99% percent soldiers flooding out, and it’s this ever surprised when they find out. of the time involve simply planting C4 changing gameplay that helps keep on some sort of installation, or Frontlines exciting. capturing a defined point. The drones are probably Frontlines’ The do a good job of telling the story, To this extent, the single player in single unique touch, and these too add and setting the tone of Frontlines feels a lot like you’re playing another layer to the gameplay. Letting the mission. a slightly more scripted bot-match, with you send in a robot first to do your the odd interesting objective thrown in for good measure. Never really engaging you beyond the “kill the HOTSPOTS constantly respawning enemies, move A typical day in the to point, capture point” gameplay, you potentially short life would think the campaign would of the Frontline begin to feel tepid, but surprisingly, the soldier... gameplay more than makes up for the INSTANT WAR! PACE YOURSELF BLOW HARDER WHERE’S THE REMOTE? DEATH FROM ABOVE After watching the lengthy At first, it seems a bit Taking out a vehicle with a Getting your hands on Air strikes. Always fun. lack of variety. intro, you’re plunged sterile, but it soon picks up. grenade launcher is an your first drone.... With destructible environments, (literally) into the action achievement. drivable vehicles, and all sorts of

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE z | 24 Reviews Roll over screen for annotations PULSOMETER Signs of life Interesting story Hey, these How many drones are cool. players?!?

But it looks like Eat tank, punk. it’s 5 years old

“The multiplayer battles in Frontlines are huge, The multi-person allowing up to 64 players” vehicles are cool - in the multiplayer experience. Letting the single player, you can man every Frontlines continued in Frontlines are huge, and, thanks to its several players man various positions at position at once. unique “Frontlines” system, can also once, you can turn an otherwise sterile dirty work, there’s a selection of drones lead to some pretty tense contests. helicopter into a bustling gunship – on offer, from airborne reconnaissance, and while this isn’t a new feature, it’s to miniature attack helicopters, which is Fringe benefits certainly a cool one, and something we basically a toy chopper with a few The online game is very similar to welcome seeing included. fireworks strapped to the side. Each Battlefield 2 – split into two teams, you With a killer soundtrack in place, a Online, you’ll see this a drone has a specific purpose, but can choose a class, then fight your way thought-provoking real-world storyline, lot, promptly followed by death. also be used in many different across the map, capturing points as you and some fantastic Battlefield-style makeshift ways. Our favourite is go. However, in Frontlines, rather than gameplay, Frontlines succeeds in effectively a radio controlled C4 with have all points available to fight over everything it tries to do, but doesn’t wheels, which you can drive under an instantly, you can only capture the quite do enough to make itself a classic. PCGZine Big battles, big explosions, enemy tank, or at an enemy soldier, objectives on the fringes of your When compared to games like Quake big fun! before blowing it to smithereens. control area. Effectively splitting the Wars, or even Battlefield 2, there’s a But while the single player may be map in half, you’ll be forced to capture layer of sheen missing that could have exciting, it’s the multiplayer that’s the two points ahead of you, and push taken this through to be a classic – as it Smooth % arguably the main attraction for the enemy back before you can press stands, it’s still very highly Great online and off Frontlines, and thankfully, this doesn’t further into their territory, and this can recommended, but just not quite a disappoint either. Allowing up to 64(!) lead to some close-fought games. must buy. Vehicles are great players to compete online, the battles The vehicles too are a highlight of Ian Morris 89

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 25 Reviews Turning Point: Fall of Liberty Challenge Churchill – what would have happened without Winston… n 1931 Winston Churchill was hit and killed by a taxicab while At least the taxi that hit Publisher: Codemasters crossing a New York City Street. He I Churchill gets its never became Britain’s wartime prime Developer: Spark just desserts. Unlimited minister, and lacking his leadership, Heritage: Call of Duty: Britain, like the rest of Europe, caved to Finest Hour (consoles), the Nazis during the 1940s, leading to a Legendary Nazi invasion of mainland America in Link: www. the 1950s. Zeppelins over New York turningpointgame.com City, Panzers at the White House, A puppet president ETA: OUT NOW Paratroopers killing in the streets. This is is installed in the exciting alternate history that “Like Donkey Kong, but Washington. System Requirements: Turning Point is built upon and Windows XP, 2.4GHz CPU, America’s last stand for Liberty all rests the barrels explode and 1GB RAM, GeForce upon Dan Carson, a New York the monkey’s a Nazi!” 6600GT/Radeon X1600XT skyscraper construction worker caught up in the desperate resistance. It’s a bit Roll over screen for annotations like Donkey Kong, but the barrels explode and the monkey’s a member of the National Socialist movement.

It’s a great premise, all the more so developed the massive trans-Atlantic for rooting itself in reality – Winston attack zeppelins of this game) is more Churchill was hit and seriously dubious – they probably would have wounded by a taxi in New York in 1931 extended their V2 program and before and it’s why he used a cane for the rest too long have had intercontinental of his life. Given Britain’s pre-war nuclear missiles to force the US into a appeasement of the Nazi regime, it’s loaded alliance. But zeppelins and not too unfair to suppose that without mainland attack are extensions of this We always thought Churchill’s stance, the outcome could juicy alternate fantasy we’d be willing that Underground ticket checkers have been very different indeed. to forgive - if it weren’t for some serious were Nazis. Whether the Nazis really would have flaws in execution. invaded mainland America (having Unfortunately, Turning Point never

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 26 Reviews gameplay, Nazi foes often found Mini-blimps with standing still, staring into space until machineguns and you get close enough to trigger spots also patrol. scripted battles. This is made worse by the extreme linearity of the levels. Of course not every game can, or should be open-world, with multiple routes and optional side missions. But when a game is very linear, it really needs to either trick the player into feeling that “Turning Point sets its it’s not (as Call of Duty does well), or expectations so high break pace with exciting set pieces. While there are a couple of such pace- with its brilliant breakers in Turning Point, the first There goes the concept” Zeppelin attack on NYC and later Chrysler building. storming the White House, there aren’t enough and the action in between is Turning Point continued repetitive, with the added disadvantage of distant checkpoints so high with its brilliant concept, but FIGHT, FOR YOUR RIGHT... lives up to its promising backstory, from making respawned replay a bit of a delivers an actual game that might ...to...to destroydestroy thethe NaziNazi paaaartaaaay!paaaartaaaay! start to finish feeling like a rather chore. have stood out a few years ago, but unloved port of the disappointing Turning Point isn’t an awful shooter, now has the likes of Call of Duty 4 and console version. Somewhat weak and there is fun to be had, it’s just Frontlines to contend with, shooters enemy AI accounts for much of the flat disappointing that it sets expectations with less intriguing alternate histories (or futures) but far superior action and multiplayer (Turning Point hardly bothers, with basic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch). Like the Europe of the game, the developers really should have tried harder. Steve Brown

PCGZine Nice backstory, Nazi Grapple kill Quick kill Chute to kill execution. Disappointing.

Exciting concept % BlitzkriegParatroopingNazi wrestling the thebaddies colour Poor enemy AI You’llAnother alsohave fun be the distraction able opportunity to push is tosome to snipe grapple Nazis Nazis off some out buildings, ofunsuspecting the sky or beas bandsrewarded enemies of withfor their Too repetitive otherparatroopersguns, scriptedor use them are death released as animations.human from shields. zeppelins. 60

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 27 Reviews This is you. We won’t give away your name but you’re almost as handsome as Matthew Fox and something of Lost Via Domus a hit with the ladies.... The real desert island disc holds more questions than answers here’s not much to be said about “Lost gives the Lost that you don’t already not You play a new character, but many of impression that you’re know. A plane crashes on an T those you meet are from actually involved” Publisher: Ubisoft island, there are survivors and as the TV the TV show. Developer: Ubisoft show rolls on to a fourth series, there’s Heritage: Splinter Cell not been much in the way of answers series from the cast, crew, or spooky creator JJ Link: http://lostgame. Abrams - the man behind recent sci-fi us.ubi.com horror Cloverfield. For fans of the show, ETA: OUT NOW the game is set over seasons 1 and 2, which revisits key scenes (the crash, the System Requirements: fog monster and the hidden base) and Windows XP or Vista , gives a decent impression of playing a 2.5GHz Core 2 Duo / real character in the show. Your Athlon 64 X (or 3.5GHz character is new, but the other people Pentium 4/Athlon), 1GB you bump into are all from the show of RAM, 128MB DirectX and look just like the real thing and 9.0c-compliant shader sound almost like the real thing too. 3.0-enabled video card Ten minutes in and you’ll meet a virtual and grumpy Evangeline Lily and be Ah, Kate. Ask her able to select a few things to say to her. questions and you’ll Sadly the phrase list doesn’t include get abrupt answers. “would you like a drink?”, “would you your injuries?”. undeniably slick and the way each More than anyone, like to see my injuries?” or “can I see The game world looks great and, section of the game is preceded by a she’s got issues with though the RPG elements are limited to ‘previously on Lost…’ intro which the island and er, selecting phrases and trading items, compacts the previous hour into a one men. there’s an attempt at giving the player minute cut scene is clever and some depth which isn’t felt while something that fans will love. More watching the series on TV. The than most movie and TV tie-ins, Lost flashbacks familiar to viewers of the gives the impression that you’re show are replicated in game and you actually involved in the show but as an have to direct a camera - taking snaps outsider, rather than the super hero to jog your memory, building the lead which is intriguing and satisfying pieces of a virtual puzzle. It’s in equal measures. Key puzzle scenes,

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 28 Reviews LOSING THE PLOT A series of unfortunate events... “A mix between a serious RPG and something along the lines of Myst ”

After finding your The island looks suitcase, you find great and the crash the pulling shirt. site will delight Flight Fright Fight Likewise the ladies fans – it’s all been find clothes but lifted whole-sale then decide not to and placed inside wear many. your PC. FastenKickingPreviously your off... on seatbelts... Lost... made to more traditional game piece of fruit which, when you’re TheThere’sYou’ll chilling be a inmurky, the opening middle game-only scenes of events ofsideplot the that crash involving you are may played havethe escort outseen in previously thatmore Kate detail had and than on feel mechanics – we don’t ever recall the stranded on an island full of monsters, thelike TVplane.you’re series We’restanding and not it’s in givingjust the as middle anythingscary. Obviouslyof the away set. apart it’sFor a fans, frommiracle this saying that is brilliant he’s anyone not and a very for islanders collecting coconuts and sexy girls and strangers, feels as weird survives,niceLost manvirgins, butand, it’s then well, frightening, again, he’s not the beyondconfusing world of kicking Lost and ispretty you full in of exciting the miracles... face... once you learn to mineral water for trading – and it’s as you might imagine. But if you’re a die not ask any questions. Lost continued slightly at odds with the realistic hard Lost fan, this is an enjoyable trip like playing with the fuel tanks of the adventure side of the game. One and worth the money, even if you can unambitious cash in or a lazy, basic downed Oceanic flight to prevent an minute you’re talking to Matthew Fox see the credits roll within five hours. platform game. Lost isn’t any of these explosion and tapping in codes on a and getting punched by an FBI field For anyone not familiar with the TV things and, in turn, is as much of a computer, make you feel like part of the agent, the next you’ll be trying to show, Lost might feel a bit strange but breath of fresh air as the ongoing TV Lost universe. Concessions have been understand the purpose and value of a at a time when most adventures are full series itself. Richard Melville or orcs or magical mushrooms, the Sawyer is a rough original plot and ambitious concept and ready vigilante that made the show such a TV hit PCGZine A gorgeous, short-lived, with a heart of gold works on PC too. Think of Lost like a but ultimately satisfying and, presumably, a mix between a serious RPG and travel set of hair something along the lines of Myst and adventure built for fanboys straighteners. you’ll get an impression of what the A virtual Evangeline Lily. % developers have achieved. Lost is a It’s like the show game that is essential for fans and an adventure that is a welcome diversion A bit short for anyone expecting a tired and 82

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 29 Reviews

City Life 2008 Speedball 2 Jack Keane Gothic Band of Bugs Publisher: Ascaron Publisher: Ascaron Publisher: 10Tacle Studios Publisher: NinjaBee Developer: Monte Cristo Developer: Kylotonn Developer: Deck 13 Universe Developer: Ninja Bee Price: £19.99 Price: £19.99 Price: £29.99 Publisher: JoWood Price: $14.95 Developer: and of Bugs is a turn-based aking its cue from Sim City, City f you’ve got fond memories of the ew from the makers of the oh- Price: £19.99 Bstrategy game in the vein of TLife 2008 is a town-building I1990s classic Speedball 2, you may Nso-average Ankh comes Jack Final Fantasy Tactics, but instead of simulator that’s sadly lacking the find some solace in this visually Keane, a (you guessed it) point-and- f you’re after a bit of fantasy moogles, you’ll be commanding a charm that helped set Sim City impressive remake, but everyone click adventure with a comic tone Iadventuring action, and you’re fed team of bugs. Moving your squad of apart. However, that’s not to say else will find little to like here. The and cartoon style that’s, thankfully, a up with The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, class-defined creepy-crawlies from there isn’t still plenty to do here – enemy AI is ridiculously difficult, as lot better than its predecessor. you could do much worse than this square to square, each mission sees with numerous real-world buildings practically every pass, tackle and Following the story of the huge collection of RPG goodness. you completing a nicely varied and to construct in your city, and a shot they make is perfectly timed, charmingly hapless adventurer-cum- With all three Gothic games challenging selection of objectives, complex sub-system influencing the the friendly AI is abysmal, with your secret agent, Jack Keane, it’s up to bundled up into one box, there’s all whilst trying to balance your inhabitants of your town, it’s a real team just standing around like you to put a stop to the exploits of over three hundreds of hours of team’s abilities in the most effective challenge to keep everyone happy, muppets as the opposition put an evil professor and his army of gameplay here, and luckily it’s not all way. With 20 missions to play and preventing the different countless goals past them, and apes. Whilst this is a lot better than filler. With huge non-linear quests to through, this became an Xbox Live neighbourhoods from coming to there’s nothing in the way of a Ankh, we’re sorry to say it’s no Sam complete, and an epic storyline that Arcade classic on the Xbox 360, but blows should earn you a Nobel tutorial to even explain what’s going & Max (original, or subsequent spans all three games, this is a unfortunately the PC version seems peace prize. Letting you start from on. With pitiful AI, butchered episodic series), and the puzzles collection you’ll only want to invest to be plagued by some bizarre scratch in several different locations, controls, and a terrible learning here can be as random and in if you don’t need to see sunlight slowdown – for no particular reason, the replay potential here is curve for new players, this is awkward as they are plentiful, which for the next year and a half. Perhaps as the graphics aren’t all that special practically endless, so for £20, this is nowhere near as good as it could puts a disappointing downer on an that’s why this awesome series is either. well worth a look. have been. otherwise solid game. called Gothic?

Complex AI is awful Confusing puzzles Great Value Good strategy Real world buildings Terrible controls Entertaining story 300+ hours Deep Gameplay Steep learning curve It’s Speedball Diverse locations Three great games Slowdown? Everybody’s building. % % Perhaps a bit % % % A bit of a balls-up Huge Bugged Day by day. 81 50 too Keane? 78 87 74 CONTROL MORE FREE MAGAZINES! LATEST ISSUES!

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CONTROL PCGZine NAV I G AT E | 31 QA Don ’ t mock m y “Th e b a d n e w s is th at yo u’r e w a t er hula-hoop, the y’ll ca t ch on y et! tryin g t o run R ain b ow Six Tech Support Ve g as on a l apt op ...” enabled with 256MB of memory, while We’ve received so many emails asking for advice, we mine is a Mobile Intel 965 Express thought we’d better open up a dedicated help desk. chipset. Send your questions to [email protected] issues and there’s no single solution. The > The bad news is that you’re trying to advice we have is to update your DVD run Vegas on a laptop, the even worse WICKED WITCHER indeed been written to snatch as much drive’s firmware - go visit the news is that it doesn’t support the Intel When I play The Witcher in Vista it memory as possible. First thing to do is manufacturer‘s website - also go to www. 965 integrated graphics. This doesn’t crashes to the desktop stating make sure you grab the v1.2 patch from tagesprotection.com click the Minimum support T&L or Shaders in hardware, so “ has stopped working”. I www.thewitcher.com. Requirements link at the top, then have all the latest drivers for my Next make sure you have at least 2GB download and run the program linked at machine, and it’s as cool as a PC can of free hard drive space - if not more - on the bottom of the page twice. Other than Neil Mohr has been get with 6 fans in total. I have heard of your boot drive, that should be the C: that the only other advice we’ve seen is to playing with and the RAM getting full and not emptying drive. Otherwise this can limit your virtual cold boot your PC without the disc in the playing on PCs for before it needs to be used, but have memory page file size. drive, then try and run the game. If that over a decade you heard of a similar issue? Next open the Start Menu, type Run, works you’ll need to repeat it each time press Return, now type CMD and press the game is run, but this is a copy > It sounds like many people are Return to open a console. In here type protection issue. having problems with The Witcher under BCDEDIT /SET IncreaseUserVa 3072 and Staring a t the back Vista 32-bit. One explanation is that it has press Return. This will increase the VEGAS LAPTOP DANCE of ladies heads is a maximum available memory to a single I’m attempting to play Rainbow Six: sur e sign of early application from 2GB to 3GB. If you still Vegas but I’m having problems with psy chopa thic have problems we should point out the my graphics card being rejected. I’m beha viour. minimum memory for Vista is 1.5GB, so told the recommended type is we’d recommend 2GB and try quitting DirectX 9.0c compliant, Shader 3.0 background tasks before running it.

BURN THE WITCHER! Budget lapt ops ar e gr ea t I’ve installed The Witcher but whenever f or almost e v erything , e x cept pla ying the la t est I try and run it I get a message asking games . me to insert the DVD, which I’ve done! I’ve tried cleaning the disc and reinstalling but I’m still getting the same problem.

> We’ve seen a number of similar

CO N T R O L PCGZine NAVIGATE | 32 QA D ave always really “Bah to EA technical wanted to be a model. support. This is a weird one, Tech Support but the solution is uninstall”

account the game f ree zes and I have to We don’t ac tually think this is helping reset. It happ ens right af ter I put in my to reduce c arbon - it ’s key code. just a game. > This is a known problem connected to cer tain anti-virus sof t ware running in the background, even if it has been disabled. In your case specifically Trend Micro PCcillin Antivirus, however there are repor ts with other manufacturers’ that I turn off the firewall . sometimes working but other times antivirus products causing the same > Bah to EA technical support. This is a skipping or not working at all. I’m using problem. The quick solution is to fully e xit weird one but the solution is to uninstall the Logitech G5 2007 Edition mouse. Trend before playing Enemy Territor y. the game then reinstall, however when We’ve also heard installing this WinSock you’re asked which directory to install > Splash know about this patch: w w w.majorgeeks.com/ SimCity into, select to change the issue and it will be fixed in the up and download4372.html can cure problems Vegas will simply refuse to work on it. location. The default should be ‘C:\ coming version 1.5 patch, which is for Windows XP machines. In the longer SOCIAL PROBLEMS Program Files\\SimCityTM currently available in a beta version. If run you’ll require an update from Trend to I’ve just got SimCity Societies and I’m Societies’ remove the TM symbol from the you’d prefer to wait for the final release - fix the problem under Vista. trying to run it on Windows Vista Home file path - some people have reported so you don’t limit server connections - Premium 64-bit edition with a GeForce only seeing this as a full stop mark, there is a workaround as follows: open the Aw w, don’t they all 8600GT, 2GB of memory and a 2.66GHz depending on which language packs are console, type m_rawInput 1 press Return look tiny exploding Core 2 processor. When I try and run it I installed you might see a different symbol then type in_restart and press Return and ants down there? get the following error ‘Microsoft Visual - this should fix the problem. We’ve also close the console. You can add these lines C++ Runtime Library Runtime Error!’ read a few people still having problems to the Autoexec.cfg file to have the same The only suggestion from EA so far is which are fixed by uninstalling any effect every time the game is started. Microsoft .Net installations and getting the latest .Net v3 from www.microsoft. QUAKE FREEZE com/downloads. I’m having real problems with Quake GOT A PROBLEM? Wars Enemy Territory on my PC SQUEAKY WHEELS running Windows Vista Home Edition Send us your technical questions and I’ve been playing Quake Wars Enemy on a PC with 2GB, a GeForce 8600 GTS we’ll try and help you out Territory for sometime now without and an AMD 64 x2 5000+ processor. any problem, but ever since the release I’ve tried disabling the firewall, Trend of the 1.4 patch my MouseWheel virus protection and Spysweeper. Click here now! doesn’t work properly with it Whenever I go to create an online

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE | 33 Compo WIN! FRONTLINES: FUEL OF WARGAMESSpecial edition, standard edition, T-shirts and torches… AND GOODIES Competition closes 24th April 2008. See website for full T&Cs.

It’s time to gear up and ship out for one of the most engaging solo and multiplayer conflicts ever fought. To celebrate the opening hostilities, THQ has generously sent us one awesome Special Edition box set (including game, poster, art book, soundtrack and T-shirt) for our first winner, ten standard copies of the game for the next ten winners and a further 50 merchandise bundles for runners-up (including Frontlines silhouette T-shirt and flashlight).

To be in with a chance of claiming these You’ll be the talk of the superb Frontlines prizes, simply answer trenches with all this the question in the box opposite… exclusive kit!

CONTROL PCGZine N AV I G AT E | 3 4 Next Month 17 Download Issue 17 Out 24th April issue issue 17 for MORE FREE MAGAZINES! LATEST ISSUES! PCGZine free on 24th April REVEALED!

DON’T MISS ISSUE 17 SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ! WA RNIN G! M ULT IMEDIA DISA BLED! If yo u ar e r ea din g th is, th en yo u di dn ’ t ch o o s e “Pl a y” w h en A d o be R ea d er aske d yo u ab o ut m ultim e di a w h en yo u open e d th e m a g azin e. THE SIMS 3 Wi t h o u t t h e m ul t im edi a p l a y in g , t h e m a g a z in e w il l l o o k co r r e ct, b u t yo u w il l b e m i s sin g o u t o n al l o f t h e ext ra co n ten t b u il t in to e a c h i s s u e , l ike v i d e o s , an im ated sc r e en s h o ts , an n o tat i o n s , q u i zze s , co m p et i t i o n s an d m o r e . PLUS! REVIEWED... We r e co m m en d yo u c l o se an d r e-o p en t h e m a g a z in e an d sel e ct “Pl a y” w h en Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 a s ked ab o u t t h e m ul t im edi a to en j oy t h e m a g a z in e a s in ten d ed .

holder. You are free to, and encouraged to, link to the original file for Devil May Cry 4 | Assassin’s Creed Cranberry Publishing Limited download from our website and you can find help on doing so here. While www.cranberrypublishing.com the greatest care is taken in producing this guide, we do not accept responsibility for the loss of any data or any other damage caused by Commercial Director: Duncan Ferguson following the instructions in this publication. We always recommend that Telephone: 07770 648500 you keep a backup of your hard disk data and ensure that you check all MORE PREVIEWS... Email: [email protected] files for viruses before installing or using any new software. None of the information in this guide is intended as legal advice. All articles are for Call Duncan to discover how e-publications can work for you! information purposes only. Websites mentioned in this publication are not Bionic Commando affiliated to or controlled by the publisher. We are not responsible for the All rights reserved. This publication may be copied in its entirety without contents of these sites or any changes made to them. modification for non-commercial purposes, for example but not limited to All contents © Cranberry Publishing Ltd 2006 copying to CD-R for a friend, but it may not be offered for download from Company registration number: 4987058 The Incredible Hulk | Red Alert 3 any website or similar without the prior permission of the copyright

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