Pcgzine Issue 22

FREE! NAVIGATE |01 Issue 22 | Oct 2008 WIN! HELL’S PCGZine HIGHWAY Free Magazine For PC Gamers. Read it, Print it, Send it to your mates… 10 games to win

NEW SCREENS INSIDE! MORE REVIEWS… STALKER: CLEAR SKY COLONIZATION CALL OF DUTY SPACE SIEGE CRYSIS WARHEAD WORLD AT WAR SPORE Competitive co - op revealed! FOOTBALL MANAGER 2009 INTERVIEW Exclusive pre-match pep talk with PLUS ALL THESE GAMES & MORE Studio Director Miles Jacobson

MASSIVE REVIEW Batman: BROTHERS IN ARMS FUEL GTA IV Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. Arkham Asylum HELL’S HIGHWAY CONTROL NAVIGATE |02

Don’t miss! This month’s highlights… +WIN! 10 COPIES OF THE GAME FOOTBALL MANAGER 2009 PCGZine EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW The match engine goes 3D at last - find out What a month for first-person shooters! why that’s going to make it a winner! Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway, S.T.A.L.K.E.R Brothers in Arms Clear Sky and Crysis Warhead are all packing our reviews section and all are massive sequels well Hell’s Highway worth your attention. Tactics, stealth and all-out Is the road to Hell paved with good intentions? action should tick every shooter box with this holy trinity of FPS stalwarts. But the FPS S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky QUICK FINDER Radiation therapy excitement doesn’t end there. We’ve also got Every game’s just a click away! new details and screens for the upcoming Call Call of Duty of Duty: World at War, revealing the awesome GTA IV Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. competitive co-op mode and the sheer brutality FUEL Football Manager 2009 World at War of the close quarters combat this time. But if you Batman Arkham Asylum Brothers in Arms Hell’s Highway New screens of the Pacific and Crysis Warhead Russian campaigns spill out! Yet another top shooter up for review! like a bit more distance between you and the Left 4 Dead Space Siege enemy, be sure to check out Need For Speed Undercover Crysis Warhead READER our exclusive preview of Tom PES 2009 Spore FEEDBACK! Clancy’s H.A.W.X as well! Saints Row 2 S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Sky Click here to Far Cry 2 Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Steve Brown, Editor tell us what Dead Space Colonization you think of [email protected] Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X GTA IV FUEL the magazine! Call of Duty World at War Reviews Roundup Flight and fight in one package! PC extras revealed! Codies’ new racer MEET THE TEAM MORE FREE MAGAZINES! LATEST ISSUES! Probably the best games writers on the planet To experience games at their best PCGZine uses the Area 51-ALX f rom Alienware. Packed with cutting-edge power and technology, if a game Ian Morris Steve Hill Neil Mohr can’t perform on this Had a last minute Crysis, but Went kickabout and ended up on Turned his robot brain up to 11 it has to b e a dud. fought on through. the road to Hell. and solved your problems. CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |03 Previews The PC version is certainly FIRST far sharper graphically. GTA IV LOOK Taking liberties with the PC version? Publisher: Rockstar Developer: Rockstar North Heritage: GTA series, Table What’s the story? Tennis, Manhunt series, You are Nico Bellic, Eastern European immigrant to Liberty City (closely Midnight Club series modelled on New York). Hoping to improve your impoverished situation Link: www.rockstargames. com and resolve a shady past that still pursues you, you’ll start as a taxi driver for ETA: November your cousin Roman and choose illicit missions for various police, gang and family factions all vying for a slice of the city’s underbelly. Steal all manner of cars, bikes, trucks, boats and helicopters to aid your travel around the islands of this massive city and customise your clothing and arsenal as you go. PREVIEW FEEDBACK! What do we know? Click here to Rockstar promise that the PC version will boast far higher resolutions and tell us what more detailed textures and have far greater draw distances than its console you think of forbears. There will also be a brilliant new replay camera built into the game, GTA IV “A brilliant new with a 30-second buffer that allows you to save a cool stunt for posterity replay camera will be and sharing at any point. You’ll even be able to edit camera angles for the built into the game” replays and combine multiple clips to make extended movies – it’s a very cool feature indeed.

Carjacking remains the When do we get more? core aspect of missions. We’ll have a hands-on playtest of the PC version in our next issue. Anything else to declare? Rockstar also promise that we’ll get a revamped multiplayer side to GTA IV, with a far better ﬁltering system to help ﬁnd the custom game types that you want to play. Further multiplayer details are being kept hush hush for now, but we’re excited to hear that there will be exclusive multiplayer features for the PC version and hope to have more information on this in our next issue too.

CONTROL ®

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PLAYBACK OPTIONS:

Sid Meier’sIt’s classic a strategyBrave game reinvented New in the worldWorld of Civilization IV. It’s no mere expansion pack—this is a whole new game experience power and prestige as you build a new civilization of your own. All new reimagined from Sid Meier’s legendary 1994 classic, Colonization. Set graphics, loads of new features, and Civ’s legendary “one more turn” out from one of four European nations to discover and colonize the addictive gameplay make this instant classic a must-have for Civ fans, New World. Conduct trade, negotiations, or declare war to acquire Colonization fans and new players alike. Build your own nation. www.civilization.com Civilization IV ©2005–2008 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., and its subsidiaries. Sid Meier’s Civilization IV: Colonization, Civ, Civilization, Colonization, 2K Games, the 2K Games logo, Firaxis Games, the Firaxis Games logo and Take-Two Interactive Not Required Software are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software. All rights reserved. Windows and the Windows Vista Start button are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies, and “Games for Windows” For Play and the Windows Vista Start button logo are used under license from Microsoft. All other marks and trademarks are properties of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |05 Previews God knows how much the FIRST petrol will cost by then! FUEL LOOK Tidal waves, forest fires and off-road races! Publisher: Codemasters Developer: Asobo Studios Heritage: Colin McRae What’s the story? series, TOCA series Set in a future where the environment has suffered massive damage, there’s Link: www.codemasters. co.uk little left to do but inflict even more damage on the remaining greenery ETA: 2009 with some hardcore on- and off-road racing in petrol-guzzling 4x4s and scrambler bikes. You’ll be racing around 5,000 square miles of North American wilderness – including Utah badlands, Yellowstone Park, Death Valley and Mount Rushmore – choosing your own route to new races and PREVIEW driving anywhere that you can see (which should be considerable with a FEEDBACK! 40km draw distance). And it’s all modelled from satellite data, so should be Click here to tell very accurate and realistic to race. us what you think of FUEL What do we know? “Expect blizzards, It’s not just the unforgiving terrain (deep snow, river-beds, forests and mountains) that you’ll have to cope with though, as the damage to the lightning, brush fires world’s environment will throw all kinds of extreme weather at you while and tsunamis!” you race. Expect fierce rainstorms, blizzards, lightning storms, sandstorms, tornados, brush fires and even tsunamis! When do we get more? We’ll have a wilderness report of this freeform racer in our next issue. Anything else to declare? Naturally, there will be plenty of online multiplayer racing, and this should merge seamlessly with the solo game, we imagine in a similar way to Burnout Paradise or Test Drive Unlimited. Stunt ramps, short-cuts and crossover points should provide plenty of death-defying action both online and off. You’ll also be able to show off customised vehicles in the multiplayer game. Cars and bikes will have different advantages.

CONTROL “The most exciting “By God, it’s incredible” “Theshooter most ofexciting 2008” “By God, it’s- PC Gamer incredible” - shooter- 360 Magazine of - 2008” - PC Gamer - - 360 Magazine - “The hottest FPS of 2008” “We knew Far Cry 2 was “The hottest- Total PC Gaming FPS - of 2008” going“We knew to beFar fun, Cry but 2 was we “The game- Total PCof Gaming the - year” goingdidn’t torealise be fun, just but how we “The game- PC of Zone -the year” - PC Zone - didn’t muchrealise fun” just how “awash with clever ideas - Officialmuch 360 Magazine fun” - - Official 360 Magazine - “awashand with smart clever touches” ideas “a brave new world .. a and smart- TotalVideoGames.com touches” - “a technical brave new miracle” world .. a - TotalVideoGames.com - - Xbox World 360 - “It’s an insta-buy” technical miracle” - Videogaming247.com - - Xbox World 360 - “It’s an insta-buy” “More than “a- Videogaming247.com beautiful, - “Moreenough than to “a ambitiousbeautiful, enoughplease any to ambitious shooter” pleasePS3 gamer any shooter”- C&VG - regardless PS3 gamer of - C&VG - regardless of “Far Cry 2 will your taste in “Far be Crya smash” 2 will your gaming” taste in be- Playstation a smash” World - - Play Magazine - - Playstation World - gaming” PLAYBACK OPTIONS: - Play Magazine -

October 24th Octoberwww.farcrygame.com 24th www.farcrygame.com

© 2008 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Far Cry, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “ ”, “playstation” and “ps3” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. © 2008 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Far Cry, Ubisoft and the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “

© 2008 Ubisoft Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. Far Cry, Ubisoft andCONTROL the Ubisoft logo are trademarks of Ubisoft Entertainment in the US and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. “ ”, “playstation” and “ps3” are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

www.farcrygame.com

October 24th

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“By God, it’s incredible” “The most exciting PCGZine NAVIGATE |07 Previews Batman: Arkham Asylum Publisher: Eidos | ETA: 2009 Dead Space Publisher: EA | ETA: October 31st The Dark Knight gets a videogame treatment that’s neither MMO nor LEGO, and in it he’ll be delivering Due in time for Halloween, this creepy sci-fi the Joker to Arkham Asylum, trussed-up Hannibal shooter should hit the spot for fans of More golden nuggets of Lecter-style on a gurney. But it’s going to turn into Doom-style shooters and is shaping up to gaming glory to come the most hellish hospital visit ever, as a trap is be a genuinely terrifying experience. And if sprung on the Caped Crusader by an organised you want some background plot first, there’s UP to be a six-part comic book series that leads gang of super-villain crazies within the secure 7 into the action of the game. Pro Evolution walls. Can Batman fight the madness? Soccer 2009 Publisher: Konami | ETA: October Need for Speed This month Konami secured the exclusive rights to the UEFA Undercover Champions League for the Publisher: EA | ETA: 21st November upcoming annual update of their The next instalment in this long-running acclaimed football franchise. PES action racer will see you racing, chasing 2009 will also be the Official and evading everyone from cops to Football Videogame of Liverpool gangsters as you go undercover to take FC, and also feature likenesess of down a crime syndicate. Police chases the Man United team. will make a very popular comeback. Left 4 Dead MID-LATE Publisher: Valve | ETA: October 2009 Saints Row 2 The relentless march of the zombies means Bioshock 2 Publisher: THQ | ETA: October that the multiplayer madness of this team- Late 2009 SPRING The character customisation available in this GTA-clone based multiplayer game from the makers of 2009 sequel, plus awesome co-operative play through the full Half-Life is nearly shambling upon us, and it’s F.E.A.R. 2: Diablo III going to be a bloody riot as Survivors battle TBA campaign game, will make this a serious gang rival to Project Origin GTA on PC this October. While it’s hard to top GTA IV’s Boss Infected in four massive campaigns that 2009 WINTER awesome story and scale, Saint’s Row 2 has plenty of Far Cry 2 will be driven by an AI Director. 2008 Batman: Arkham unique features to offer this time. Publisher: Ubisoft | ETA: October 24th Mirror’s Edge Asylum Tom Clancy’s 2009 The shooter sequel is fast Late 2008 H.A.W.X. AUTUMN March approaching now and the gun- 2008 Red Alert 3 toting African adventure looks like Late 2008 an exciting holiday from more Fallout 3 Sims 3 Alpha Protocol familiar FPS locations. Shipping Autumn Call of Duty 2009 2009 with an extensive PC map editor, ON World at War expect Far Cry 2 multiplayer to Winter THE run and run. Dead Space RADAR October 31st CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |08 Previews

NEW SHOTS!

Publisher: Activision Developer: Treyarch Heritage: Call of Duty 3, Spider-Man, Tony Hawk’s CALL OF DUTY: WORLD AT WAR Link: www.callofduty.com ETA: Winter Introducing competitive co-op play… Vehicles make a o, you didn’t read that wrong However, along with the common aim welcome return! at all, and while it sounds a tad of destroying the enemy, there’s a PREVIEW Ncontradictory, we can assure competitive element running parallel FEEDBACK! you that it is one of World at War’s new that awards individual scores to players Click here to multiplayer features and does work for killing the most enemies, with tell us what very well indeed. bonuses for headshots and score you think of So how can you co-operate and modiﬁers to gain that will really Call of Duty: compete at the same time? Actually, multiply your points. But this World at War it’s fairly simple. Two-to-four players competitive co-op mode doesn’t just co-operate as Allied soldiers to take on reward the player most prepared to go Axis powers – such as the Japanese in beserk and cut a swathe through the Paciﬁc and the Nazis in Berlin. enemy ranks. If you do this you’re far

Berlin will be a hard- fought campaign.

Fly aircraft in some of the Paciﬁc missions.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |09 Previews We think he might be “It’s the ﬁrst time that a Red Army man… co-op has been introduced to the Call of Duty franchise”

The Modern Warfare engine does sea well.

World at War continued mates can be revived if hit, if all the human players go down at the same more likely to be cut down, and this will time, a reload will be forced from the detract from your point accumulation. last checkpoint. It’s the first time that Also, it can benefit the scores of your co-op has been introduced to the Call co-op team-mates, who will gain of Duty franchise and it’s a fantastic points if they stop to revive you. It’s an addition that will add a load of replay intriguing new mode for Call of Duty value to traditionally intense but fairly and a welcome development for co-op short campaigns. play as a multiplayer mechanic. And World at War is certainly Of course, competitive co-op is an intense, with full-on guerilla warfare in Mangrove swamps will make for difficult battlegrounds. optional mode and will complement the brutal Pacific campaign introducing standard campaign co-op. Campaign a new level of lawless combat that co-op similarly puts you together with embraces the flesh-melting horror of harrowing as it is exciting. But it’s Duty: Modern Warfare) get into up to three other players, and the main flamethrowers, sword-based melee tactical too. Use the flamethrower for vehicles that aren’t on rails, including difference from solo play is that the fighting, booby-trapped bodies and instance to flush Japanese snipers from tanks, aircraft and even gunboats along game ramps up the difficulty bayonet charges. This is perhaps the tall grass and trees, smash through some coasts. The best news for vehicle accordingly in relation to your human most bloodthirsty and gruelling Call of destructible scenery to access new fans is that they will again return to Call team size, and while individual team- Duty yet, and the full-on action is as routes and areas, and (missed in Call of of Duty multiplayer battles, meeting for

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |10 Previews “Shoot captured Nazis in cold blood, or oﬀer them mercy”

Artillery batters the Nazis back into Berlin ratholes.

The Pacific conflict will offer really varied environments.

World at War continued of Duty 3, for instance. And as with the Pacific theatre, there’s a far more brutal the first time the perks and ranking side to the fighting, with moral choices systems that will be carried over from at times to shoot captured Nazi soldiers their introduction in Modern Warfare. in cold blood or offer them mercy. While there has been much focus on While Modern Warfare was so the exciting Japanese campaign, we brilliant that many initially bemoaned must not forget that Call of Duty: World the fact that Call of Duty 3’s Treyarch at War also features a significant and not Call of Duty 4’s Infinity Ward campaign as the Red Army fighting its would be developing World at War, we way into Berlin right at the end of the have to say that with the COD4 engine war, encountering fierce resistance and multiplayer mechanics, plus co-op Torch long grass and brush from the cornered Nazi forces. This gameplay, co-operative co-op and the to flush out the snipers. setting is more traditional Call of Duty reintroduction of vehicle use in solo action, with plenty of close street and multiplayer modes, there’s a whole fighting through a rubble-strewn city. lot to look forward to in the next Call of PCGZine HOW COMPLETE? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? But there are more opportunities to Duty instalment, and Treyarch seem 75% 90% flank than usual, with a tactical side determined to take the franchise to more akin to Brothers in Arms than Call an even greater victory. Brutal, innovative and co-op powered!

CONTROL www.egosoft.com PLAYBACK OPTIONS: www.deepsilver.co.uk

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |12 Previews EXCLUSIVE SCREENS “You’ll need to ﬂick assistance oﬀ for Publisher: Ubisoft that super-tight turn Developer: Ubisoft Mercenaries takes to the skies… Cick her e to see the or roll” Romania enhanced version! Heritage: Blazing Angels (PC) Link: www.hawxgame.com ETA: March 2009 PCGZine ROLL OVER EXCLUSIVE THE BIG PREVIEW VIDEO PICTURE FEEDBACK! Click here to tell us what you think of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X

t’s 2014, and nations now commonly The first thing you’ll notice about settle their differences using Private H.A.W.X is the visual quality, which in IMilitary Companies. In this lawless the words of the Top Gun soundtrack, Clancy near-future, mercs gain access will take your breath away. Flight sims to every area of high-tech military have traditionally been at the leading involvement, right down to piloting edge of graphical development, able to Over 50 real-world 50 cutting-edge, Mach 3 dogfighters focus heavily on detailed plane models fighters are licensed. loaded with awesome firepower. Ladies and lighting, as there’s not much else to render an extraordinarily realistic intelligence to the white world of and gentlemen, this is H.A.W.X (High- up there, while landscapes have and detailed world beneath the skies, commerce, and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X Altitude Warfare Experimental improved over the years, but remain accurately representing 16 real-world will bring that reality to gamers. With Squadron) and it’s going to do for the fairly sparse and un-textured the closer cities and landscapes in all their 3D videogame graphics becoming more flight sim what Advanced Warfighter you get to them. H.A.W.X. has taken glory. It really does look amazing. realistic, the use of high-quality did for the soldier sim – make it fun and visuals to a new level, using GeoEye GeoEye VP Mark Brender boasts: photographic ground textures in accessible without losing depth – or IKONOS satellite imagery (as used by “High resolution satellite imaging is H.A.W.X adds true photo-realism to the should that be altitude? current US National Security agencies) moving from the black world of air combat experience.” It’s also been

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |13 Previews Satellite imagery renders awesome vistas.

Squad play will be a multiplayer feature too.

Will we get to pilot a space shuttle too?

Come on Euroﬁghter – show those US ﬁghters what you can do!

H.A.W.X continued “It’s been described The plane models are described more succinctly, by as like flying beautifully realised. Ubisoft spokesmen, as “like flying over Google Earth over Google Earth on crack!” We on crack!” have to agree (although we replaced crack with strong filter coffee in our you do it with a simple double-tap in- open up the combat flight sim to many tests for obvious reasons). game controller command. Assistance for whom it has been too off-putting The other major difference between isn’t intended to be a difficulty setting before. The Tom Clancy branding will H.A.W.X and traditional flight sims is its here, but a feature everyone is obviously aid more widespread appeal, use of pilot assistance. The concept isn’t supposed to use tactically in different while still appealing to the hardcore, new – select more autopilot features to situations. For instance, assistance on but there’s a really solid chassis beneath ROLL OVER allow easier control of your plane for will prevent you from stalling during the fuselage here and we can’t wait for THE BIG more of an arcade experience, or leave manoeuvres and allow ERS (which the chocks to get pulled away in them all off for the full simulation plots intercept courses to targets), but Spring of next year. PICTURE nightmare. But H.A.W.X is integrating if you’re really going to lose a assistance into gameplay as never heatseeker, or pull a switch on a tailing before. There are two modes of fighter, you’ll need to flick assistance off PCGZine HOW COMPLETE? FIRST IMPRESSIONS? assistance - on and off - and you don’t for that super-tight turn or roll. 70% 85% go back into menus to turn more or H.A.W.X is a welcome jet intake of less autopilot features back on or off, fresh air for this genre and could really A mid-air refuel for the flight sim genre

CONTROL The Complete Collection

FOUR GAMES ONE EPIC ADVENTURE

Play through all four chapters in the award- winning Guild Wars® universe, the game that redefined the massively multiplayer genre by removing the monthly subscription fees! 5th September 2008 EMBARK UPON YOUR GREATEST ADVENTURE

EXCLUSIVE GOLEM HERO! Includes M.O.X. the Golem, the ultimate in magic, mechanised party protection!

© 2005 – 2008 NCsoft Europe Ltd. All rights reserved. NCsoft, the interlocking NC logo, ArenaNet, Guild Wars, Guild Wars Factions, Guild Wars Nightfall, Guild Wars: Eye of the North and all associated logos and designs are trademarks or registered trademarks of NCsoft Corporation. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are property of their respective owners. www.DiscoverGuildWars.com CONTROL

PCGzine_ad_GW_Complete.indd 1 11/8/08 11:05:40 PCGZine NAVIGATE |15 Interview

Publisher: Sega Developer: Sports Interactive Players: 1 Certificate: TBC The third dimension Features: 3D match engine, 5,000 clubs, Football Manager 2009 makes the leap into 3D 350,000 players ETA: 14th November ou’ve finally gone and done [Collyer] was confident that, with the Japan’s sports studio’s games and it… the holy grail of 3D people we had on board, we were able some of it we’ve done ourselves “It’s a great tool for managers Ygraphics. Although it’s to do it properly, and by properly I based on the motion capture data, to be able to see things from a something that you’ve never mean it’s our match engine. It’s the but it’s all internal. We haven’t had dismissed doing, how long have match engine that people know and to license any engines or anything different angle” you had it kept under wraps? love from Football Manager, displaying else like that. We’ve been working on and off for in 3D. There’ll be no cutbacks at all. three years. On this. We’ve had a couple of failed attempts that we abandoned, So it’s literally the same action in and I just didn’t want to wind people the game but instead of a dot it’s a up before we had something to show, stick man, or better? because that would be a bad thing to It’s a player. But its not a gimmick, its a do. And we didn’t know whether we genuinely great tool for the managers Miles Jacobson, Studio were going to be able to do it or not, playing the game, to be able to see Director, Sports Interactive so it was literally late last year that Paul things from a different angle. Up until a couple of months ago, we didn’t know The classic view, we were going to be delivering it this but in 3D! year. Incredibly, it’s also something that we managed to keep under wraps from everyone at Sega as well.

On a technical level, how does it work? Is it basically the graphics from Virtua Striker? It’s the motion capture from the team who do Virtua Striker, who also do Let’s Make A Soccer Team.

So it’s a bespoke engine? Yes, its our engine, we’ve had people A slider bar enables you working in-house on it. Some of the to review the action. animations we’ve used from Sega

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |16

Interview Various widgets guide you through the action.

The times of key events such as goals and booking are displayed.

The TV mode is one of at least ﬁve camera angles.

Interview continued game will come from feedback in because all the players were white, but testing but there’s no reason why it that has been taken into account here, The one thing that separates shouldn’t be. The code’s all there, it still so we have 18 different skin tones in Football Manager from its rival is all works in the same way. at the moment to try and have it as that you haven’t previously gone accurate as possible. Doing it for for showbiz graphics. Are you What level of detail can we expect, 350,000 players we might miss a few expecting any backlash? can we zoom in or out? along the way, but we’re trying! The We had backlash when we went 2D, You won’t be able to zoom in close-up height and weight is in there as well. We remember when and that’s now fully accepted, so yes because you don’t need to in a this was all text. we will get some backlash but we’ve management game. At the moment What’s the motivation? Is it to left the old 2D mode in deliberately. there are five camera angles in there broaden the appeal of the game? and there might end up being more. We’re always looking to expand the So you’re breaking people in gently? You’ll be able to see skin colour and amount of people who play the game Completely. If somebody doesn’t like it, hair colour, and if we’ve got licensed because we do see ourselves as that’s fine, they can play 2D. Even the kits they’ll be the proper kits, too. In a entertainers, and as entertainers we old text commentary is in there at the review of FIFA Manager a few years ago want to be able to entertain as many moment. Whether it will be in the final the writer called it Aryan Manager people as possible.

CONTROL Get ready to unleash www.koei.co.uk your tactical nous and political cunning

Command your kingdom in stunning 3D, plan your strategy and then go to war.

Rediscover an ancient civilization with an explosive history

Massive armies and the clever schemes of allies and enemies are yours to manipulate. WRITE YOUR NAME INTO HISTORY THIS SEPTEMBER

Romance of the Three KinK gdoms an d th e KOEI logo are registered trademarks or trademarksksk of K OEIOEE Co.,Coo., LtdL d. ©2©20000088 KOEIOOEIOE Co.CoC , LtLtdd. AllAl rightss reseres ved.ed. Windowsdow is the trademark or registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the USA aan d oto herheere councoucoountriei s.s CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |18 Reviews Brothers in Arms:

Glastonbury’s not what it was. Publisher: Ubisoft Hell’s Highway Developer: Gearbox Software We’re on the highway to hell… Heritage: Brothers in Arms Link: www.brothers inarmsgame.com or its devotees, the Brothers in If you’ve never played any of the ETA: 26th September Arms series offers a third way of previous games, this strategic slant Fapproaching World War II, offering manifests itself in an almost slavish a more tactical approach than the balls- adherence to the actual military System Requirements: out action of the better-known Medal procedure of applying suppressing fire Windows XP/Vista, of Honor and Call of Duty franchises. and flanking the enemy. In layman’s 2.6 GHz dual-core (3 GHz That’s not to say Hell’s Highway shirks terms, you’ve got a couple of boys with for Intel Pentium D 925), from the horror of global conflict – and a great big machine gun, whom you 1GB RAM, 128MB when you see the bloodied stumps of instruct to fire constantly at the nearest graphics card an enemy’s legs you’ll know you’re in a bunch of Nazis. Having that said, Nazis battle – but the key difference compared will be ripped to shreds should they so to MOH and COD is that you have to put much as move, this then gives you – a little bit of thought into it instead of either alone or with a couple of helpers Shooting sheep is simply running screaming at the nearest – the opportunity to sneak round the strangely disturbing. Nazi with all guns blazing. back and rip them to shreds.

Can you guess where FREEZE the Nazis are? FRAME Today’s lesson: Flanking 101 SUPPRESS HIDE RUN FLANK FOLLOW Start by sticking the MG Meanwhile, ensure that With the enemy Flank the suppressed Order the assault team team behind a wall and the assault team are suppressed, make a run Nazis from the safety of to follow you to the next order them to suppress. hiding safely. for that wall. your wall. ﬂanking spot.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |19 Reviews If you see this, Roll over screen for annotations you’re almost dead.

That chair will need reupholstering.

GORE VITAL If you want blood, you’ve got it…

Brothers in Arms cont.

BIA’s long-standing military advisor Colonel John Antal (retired) would probably explain it more elegantly, but ultimately, it’s a ruthlessly efficient Hitler on the nose and getting home for manner of decimating human life, albeit “Authenticity is Christmas.” As such, the scenery is an one that you tend to have forced down everything, from the impressive mixture of lush green fields, your throat throughout the game. If you windmills, Nazi-riddled farmhouses and so much as stop for breath, one of your strategy to the locations”burnt-out streets. The environments colleagues will immediately start everything, from the strategy to the are all highly destructible as well, so banging on about flanking. locations to the historical events. In fact, hiding behind a wooden fence isn’t It can get frustrating having to scuttle probably the only unauthentic thing is a particularly long-term solution. around, picking a spot for your MG team; the big red discs hovering over the It all looks extremely impressive trying to keep your assault team alive, as enemies’ heads displaying how much and there’s a definite sense that Hell’s well as not getting shot in the head they’re being suppressed, which slightly Highway is a big glossy production, Legless Kaboom! Up close yourself – and one misplaced click can detracts from the sense of immersion. from the title sequence to the cost the lives of up to four men. As for the story, you’re again with the flashbacks, to the cutscenes, with even Sometimes you just get the urge to 101st Airborne Division, post D-Day, Spielberg collaborator Captain Dale Dye overwhelm the enemy through superior embarking on Operation Market Garden. chipping in with some voice acting. The LeglessKaboom!Up close firepower, accurate shooting and blind This essentially involves ploughing characters themselves look pretty lifelike, TheyEveryoneFace-to-face say the loves firstwith to casualtyseethe aenemy good of warexplosion,can itbe truth. a terrifying and Well, no thatmore place may than to be,be us the in – this andtruth, case the but try luck. However, most attempts at gung- through Europe, opening the titular and the idea is that you’re supposed to tellingbiggerparticularly thethat better tofor this the as poor enemy. far assod, we’re The as he’snext concerned. looking time though, forFewer his youlegs.people might would not choosebe quite to so be sittinglucky. Keep on it yourwhen guard it goes up off, and though. stay sharp. ho heroics are swiftly met by the red Hell’s Highway, getting to Berlin and as care about them deeply, as the whole screen of death, as authenticity is one of the soldiers puts it, “Punching Brothers in Arms shtick suggests.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE z |20 Consider yourself Reviews ﬂanked, Herr! PULSOMETER Signs of life Stabilisers oﬀ, Defeat Hitler, A lot of chat engage Nazis win the war!

Rudimentary Spend a lot of training mission time hiding.

“If the goal was to recreate some of the panic of conﬂict, then it has been achieved”

goal was to recreate some of the panic of conflict, then it has been achieved, as Brothers in Arms cont. skulking behind a wall in the middle of the Dutch countryside with half the Ultimately, what you really care about armoury of the Nazi military flying is staying alive and getting through the overhead is a seat-of-the-pants experience. current mission, with a strong emphasis The source material is also treated on narrative. While arranging your squads respectfully, with a strong historical tactically can be somewhat irksome, bent, and allied to the stirring music, when a plan comes together it is mildly the overall feeling is that of an epic war gratifying, leaving you surveying the movie. Or indeed an epic war game. scene like some bedroom Montgomery. Steve Hill However, a lot of the time it’s a case of trial and error, and the Nazis have an annoying habit of self-preservation that PCGZine The series returns with takes a lot of flanking to overcome. another authentic slice of World War II may have been done to death, and while it requires a degree squad-based WWII action. of thought and manual dexterity, the Superb visuals % squad-based action does provide a Highly authentic refreshing change from the traditional The action heats up. one-man army approach of more Irksome orthodox first-person shooters. If the 84

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |21 Compo BROTHERS IN ARMS HELL’S HIGHWAY 10 copies of this awesome WWII soldier sim up for grabs…

crowded WWII theatre. It’s virtually your duty to serve To celebrate the release of the stunning Brothers with this awesome game, so why not do so for free by inWIN! Arms: Hell’s Highway, Ubisoft has generously winning one of these copies? sent us 10 copies of the game to give away. As you’ll read in our review this issue, Hell’s Highway pushes To be in with a chance of winning one of these 10 forward the boundaries of shooter realism once game prizes, simply answer the question opposite… again, and manages to forge its own oﬀensive in the

Competition closes 23rd October 2008. See website for full T&Cs. CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |22 Reviews Space Siege Hacking and slashing – this time, in space

s far as originality goes, it’s fair who want to hunt down and destroy you to protect what remains of the Publisher: Sega to say Space Siege isn’t exactly every last human. On board the human race, by any means necessary. This is your character. Developer: Gas Aleading the pack. With a Armstrong – the last remaining colony In case you haven’t already guessed, Cool, isn’t he? Powered Games distinctly generic setting, a by the ship that escapes the Earth – it’s up to Space Siege is certainly no Mass Effect. Heritage: Dungeon Siege, numbers storyline and a less than With a distinct lack of storytelling Supreme Commander inspirational name, Space Siege is “The constant grind prowess, and a generic sci-fi setting, Link: www.spacesiege.com something of a generic sci-fi opus. the only real similarity between the SPACED OUT OUT NOW Stepping into the shoes of Seth of killing monsters is two games is the ability to shoot How to reach for the stars, Earthling Walker, a lonely combat engineer, you actually surprisingly aliens and level up. System Requirements: enter the game as the Earth gets enjoyable” What Space Siege does have 2.6GHz processor, 512MB attacked by aliens (no surprise there), working in its favour, however, is some RAM, 128MB video RAM incredibly addictive, Diablo-style hack- or greater, with DirectX 9 and-slash gameplay, that almost makes Vertex Shader/Pixel up for its lack of a storyline. Taking the Shader 2.0 support best parts of Dungeon Siege and (Nvidia 6800/ATI 9800 almost tweaking it to perfection, the or better) constant grind of killing monsters in exchange for new parts and XP is actually surprisingly enjoyable, as you watch your character slowly build and gain a selection of new weaponry. Multiplay Modify Robot buddy

ModifyMultiplayRobot buddy AsOne you of progressthe coolerthings through functionsSpace Siege the of game, Spacedoes wellyou’ll Siege is have itsis your four-player the robotic chance onlinebuddy, to augment co-op. HR-V. Not yourselfonlyThere’s is it a withquiteseparate various fun multiplayerhaving robotic a robot additions. campaign follow This youto slog was around, through,meant but to HR-V and throw an is upgradableupadjustable a moral choicetoo,diﬃculty with for levelall the manner player, to suit of asyour weaponsyou’re (or your sacriﬁcing and partner’s) equipment your skills. own ready humanity to be installed. for the sake of Sometimes the destruction the rest of the human race. In reality, the story’s so weak that you’ll always can be quite spectacular. go for the robot option, reaping the rewards it provides.

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |23

Reviews However, possibly the most disappointing thing about Space Siege is just how linear it all feels. It isn’t so much an RPG as a straight out hack- and-slash adventure, where you just move from level to level, killing things as you go. This wouldn’t be so much of a problem either, until you realise balancing the two genres was something Dungeon Siege did so well. Here, the RPG facet’s really lost out to the hack-and-slash, and with it, Space Space Siege continued reduced to a single button press, as Siege has lost half of its appeal. A good There are loads of diﬀerent ways you automatically suck up all the loot story and an interesting set of locales to customise your character. The interface has been nicely that’s in range. It’s the little tweaks that were what kept us playing Dungeon polished, with a whole host of easy- make Space Siege so addictive, and the Siege. Space Siege has been forced to access buttons for speeding up the expertly staggered rewards encourage stand up on its gameplay alone. The more there are, more menial of RPG tasks – even you to keep playing just to reach the If you’re looking for a hack-and-slasher the harder they’ll fall. looting your opponents has been next landmark. that requires minimal brain activity for maximum reward (in the form of some “The little impressive physics and pretty graphics), Roll over screen for annotations then Space Siege could be right up your tweaks make street. It may not be a great alternative to Space Siege Mass Eﬀect, but it does have moments addictive” when it impresses. Ian Morris

PCGZine The story is lacking, but the hack-and-slash action is surprisingly addictive. Great gameplay % Impressive physics Beam weapons look No story extremely cool. 64

CONTROL w PCGZine NAVIGATE |24 The physics work in many Reviews ways. You should see how realistically this jeep bounces. Crysis Warhead Bigger, stronger, smarter and… faster?

ith its release in 2007, Crysis yearly update, in the form of stand- Publisher: EA turned the hardcore PC alone expansion pack Crysis Warhead, PCGZine Developer: Crytek Wcommunity into a gaggle of we were waiting with baited breath. Heritage: Crysis, Far Cry drooling teenagers. With its stunningly It was hard to believe that less than a Link: www.crysis gorgeous graphics engine, incredible year after it originally launched, we warhead.com physics and involving gameplay, Crysis could be treated to a game that lived OUT NOW was a mega hit – at least, for the up to the Crysis name. But almost perfection, Crysis Warhead is a non- people who could run it. The problem unbelievably, we have. stop power trip from start to ﬁnish. was, with graphics of such an incredibly Enter Crysis Warhead – a sleek, Firstly, and probably most System Requirements: high quality, only a very limited number streamlined, and altogether more importantly for a lot of people, XP 2.8GHz, Vista 3.2Ghz of people had PCs that could enjoy it at accessible version of Crysis, that’s about Warhead’s engine is a lot more reﬁned. CPU, 1GB RAM, GeForce its full potential. as close to the perfect shooter as we’re Adding a lot of features that used to be 6800 GT, Radeon 9800 So when EA announced (as EA tend likely to get this year. Moulding physics, Direct X 10 only (suck on that, Windows Pro graphics card and to do) that Crysis would be getting a gameplay and graphics to near Vista. Hah!), and massaging a few more 14GB hard drive space frames out in the process, you can expect a good 5-10 extra frames per Dual wielding second on top of the performance you looks especially got in Crysis, and a much better- cool in Crysis. looking game. On our modest rig (Athlon 64 X2 “As close to 4000+, 2GB RAM, GeForce 8800 GTS), How a rocket launcher functions the perfect we were managing an average of a correctly in such freezing shooter as perfectly playable 23 FPS, dipping as temperatures, we don’t know. low as 12, but as high as 45. This was we’re likely to with everything set to ‘gamer’, bar see this year” post-processing, and shaders, which were at their highest. But enough about the graphics, as the gameplay in Warhead does more than enough to talk on its own. With some impressive enemy AI, and surprisingly freeform gameplay,

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |25 Reviews

Did we mention Crysis Warhead continued that dual guns Warhead offers you a level of freedom were cool? Oh. that’s often missing from other shooters. The secondary objectives offer you incentives to go off the beaten track, and when you do, you’ll often find new ways of approaching key installations, or simply get a better view of the area. The fact you can go and explore pretty much anywhere on the island whenever you want (or at Icy environments play a big least, it feels that way) makes Warhead part in Warhead again. an incredibly liberating experience, Ah, mean and especially when a firefight breaks out. moody, then… There’s really nothing like shooting the main thing is that it’s fun, and the Scratch one out a stick that’s holding up a building, adrenaline rarely stops flowing. enemy hideout. and watching the whole thing collapse, A tour de force of the CryEngine trapping your enemies inside, but the 2.0, Warhead is an incredible physics like this really play an important accomplishment. Efficient, exhilarating part in Crysis. Whether you are and impressive in equal amounts, you demolishing buildings or setting off a should really give this a try. brilliant chain reaction of explosions, Ian Morris

This would be a good time to start backpedalling.

PCGZine An update to a classic shooter than actually betters the original. Faster and smoother % More intelligent Total freedom 90

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |26 Reviews

PCGZine

Spore The sheer amount of possibilities for your creature is mind boggling – Evolution. It’s a funny old business you’ll never ﬁnd an identical beast.

Publisher: EA ith a development period Seeing things that many times Developer: Maxis lasting almost four years, Will bigger than you, lurking Heritage: The Sims, WWright knows evolution takes beneath the surface must be Sim Ant Farm, Sim City its time. Luckily for us, it seems his terrifying for your little… thing. When you meet wild animals, Link: www.spore.com patience has paid off, as Spore is as you can choose to impress them, OUT NOW close to a perfectly formed God game or attack them. Impressing them as you’re likely to get. rewards you with a bigger brain. System Requirements: Taking the personality of the Sims, 2.0GHz Processor CPU, the tribal intricacies of Populous and 512MB RAM, 128MB the civilisation management of Sim w/P.S 2.0 graphics card City, Spore is quite simply one of the WE BUILT THIS CITY... most ambitious games of all time. In Spore there’s a game for everyone… Starting out life as a tiny little organism, it’s up to you to guide your creature If you were worried about the ‘traditional’ gameplay value of Spore then around the ocean, gobbling up all you don’t, as there’s something for everyone here. Each of the five modes see, in a quest to gain more DNA and offers a completely different gameplay experience, from RTS to city kickstart your evolution. building, as the focus slowly shifts from individual creatures to an entire economy. Seeing your little bug-eyed monster going from being frog While the initial similarity with flOw spawn to a global conqueror is a fantastically rewarding experience, and may be a bit disappointing, when you evolve – something you only realise find its way into classrooms nationwide, one you shouldn’t miss out on. get up on land, things start to get a lot when you look back at how far it’s come. but as a game, it’s an incredible more interesting, as it’s here the game What’s even better is the way your experience from start to finish. This is really comes into its own. As you creature reacts as you adjust it in the one of those games where ‘experience’ progress through the various stages of editor. Add a leg, and you’ll see it take doesn’t actually sound pretentious, as, PCGZine A stunning piece of software your species’ evolution (creature, tribe, its first steps; slap on a mouth and it’ll like Viva Pinata, you become attached and an experience that’s civilisation and space follow), you’ll find whinny with delight. Whatever you do, to your creature, and everyone will yourself constantly tweaking the design your creature reacts in an entirely have a different story to tell. From Sim really not to be missed. of your beastie, as you’re presented believable manner, adding enough Ant Farm to ‘Sim Everything’, as Spore Evolution % with new and ever more intricate charm to proceedings to get your should really be known, the God Great creatures challenges. What’s brilliant is that, children hooked, while raising a smile game’s evolution has come full circle. almost subconsciously, the game is on the more mature among us, too. Buy it, now. Deep, deep gameplay causing you to make your creature As an educational tool, Spore should Ian Morris 94

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |27 Reviews S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky Fade away and radiate… he original S.T.A.L.K.E.R was shooter RPG affair, and you’re lost in “The chemically damaged seemingly beset by problems the radioactive wastelands around Zone is littered with so- Down, Fido! Publisher: Deep Silver Tfrom day one, finally appearing Chernobyl, where all kinds of unnatural Developer: GSC Game World after about six years in development phenomena are occurring – the more called anomalies, which Heritage: hell. Clear Sky returns as some kind of extreme of which you improbably you obviously identify by S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Cossacks hybrid standalone expansion-cum- survive. As before, the chemically throwing bolts at them” Link: www.stalker- prequel, however, the development damaged Zone is littered with so- NIGHT AND DAY game.com team do themselves no favours here, called anomalies, which you obviously crucial part of the game, but to be Playing the game from dusk till‘till dawn dawn OUT NOW taking a wilfully obscure approach that identify by throwing bolts at them. honest, if you’re not paying attention or may be enough to deter even These anomalies sporadically offer up don’t read the manual, it’s an area that committed stalkers. mythical artefacts that can be used to can easily pass you by. It’s indicative of System Requirements: As previously, it’s a first-person massively enhance your powers. It’s a the game’s ethos as a whole, as it Windows XP/Windows doesn’t so much lead you gently by 2000, P4 2.0Ghz, 512MB the hand as throw you up shit creek RAM, 128MB DirectX 8.0 without a canoe. compatible card/ Trial and error is key, as you find nVIDIA GeForce 5700/ATI yourself wandering aimlessly round the Radeon 9600 swamplands, suffering arbitrary deaths through no apparent fault of your own. You pick up missions from other stalkers, although many of the early ‘quests’ are as banal as delivering a leather jacket from one part of the swamp to another, and you almost hope for a mutant animal to attack you Clear sky Sundown Pitch black just for something to do. Eventually the game takes some kind of shape, and you even find yourself allying with one of the factions in an ongoing conflict. PitchSundownClear blacksky When the action does kick in, it’s InAsThe thethe sun deadsun is up,sets, of burningnight, all the what offanimals the better cloud come way and out. to exposing pass Sick, the hideous timethe post-apocalyptic than mutants to tunelessly stalk the highly explosive, but the game often strumundergrowth,radioactive a battered landscape whimpering acoustic in all guitar? in its the majestic Well,twilight. there’s beauty. And probably no,Who it’s said not a millionglobal Newcastle. warming and one feels like being trapped in a recurring thingsAlthough,was a bad that thing?there are better, are similarities… but it’ll do for now. dream, and you rarely seem to be

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |28 Reviews Stay alert... S.T.A.L.K.E.R continued making progress, as buying sufficient armour and weaponry to enter more dangerous areas is a painstaking business. Which makes it all the more infuriating for you to play through when a gang of bandits casually relieves you of every penny you own. On the plus side, the scenery looks terrific, and the atmosphere can be This is no time to sleep. genuinely unnerving, with an edgy paranoia brought on by the hours of the same mission. “On the plus side, the bleak solitude. However, for every The multiplayer is competent Shoot to kill! innovation there’s a step backwards, enough – in a pseudo-Counterstrike scenery looks terrific, and with the experience stymied by fashion – but the core single-player the atmosphere can be frustrating inaccessibility, not to experience is simply too fractured to genuinely unnerving” mention some truly appalling bugs, wholly recommend, hampered further such as having to constantly replay by reams of text, an impenetrable storyline and unnecessary difficulty. Come on lad, Self-appointed hardcore players will Glastonbury is over. probably consider this a bonus, but while we’re all for a challenge, Clear Sky simply doesn’t play fair, and is ultimately as frustrating as it is bewildering. One day they might get this game right, but until then this is for devoted stalkers only. Steve Hill

Just look at the graphics... PCGZine Some innovative ideas hampered by impenetrable implementation. Stunning graphics % Unfairly diﬃcult Impentetrable 74

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |29 Reviews Civilization IV: Colonization PCG Zine Publisher: 2K Games I came, I saw, I conquered Developer: Firaxis Heritage: Civilization f you’ve had your ear pressed to the formula, and made everything more of four factions, you can set out to Link: www.firaxis.com/ ground over the past few months, intuitive, detailed, and a damn sight explore the ‘New World’, reaping the games/game_detail. Iyou may have heard about just how prettier along the way. rewards that come with it. php?gameid=21 damn good a game Civilisation IV is. Civilisation IV: Colonization is actually Upon choosing your historical CIVILIZED BEHAVIOUR OUT NOW Not so much a complete reinvention of a cunning remake of the 1994 game, leader, you can set off on your voyage Your brief guide to world domination the series, as a fantastic overhaul of the Colonization, but with all the extra bells to the New World, ordering your System Requirements: interface graphics and strategy engine, and whistles that Civ IV added to the colonists to construct their village on 1.2 GHz Intel Pentium 4 or Civilisation IV took the basic Civ series. Putting you in the shoes of one whatever land you find, while being AMD Athlon processor or sure not to build it too close to the equivalent, 256 MB RAM, native Americans (or anyone else that DirectX 9.0c-compatible got there before you). After that, it’s up 64 MB video card with to you to start constructing the Hardware T&L support foundations of a whole new civilisation, with all the city building, negotiations, and micro-management that comes along with it. Keeping your colonies balanced, and constructing new ones is a tricky business. Add too many colonists, and Specialise Perfect Royally your colony might starve. To make things a bit more interesting, you can introduction stuffed actually change what your colonists do inside your village. If you run low on food, you can set them to harvest grain. SpecialisePerfectRoyally introductionstuffed EachThe goal one ofof theyour game colonists is to cansecure specialise your colonies’ in a certain independence discipline, by often building up If you’re constructing new buildings, Colonization has got to be one of the most accessible strategy games resultingenough of in a hugemilitary bonuses presence to their that performance, you can finally whether tell your it’s King harvesting or Queen set them to produce tools to aid the we’ve ever played. The tutorial is an entirely perfect introduction to the morewhere grain, to stick or it,being and abledefend to withstand against the more marauding damage. forces they’ll send to construction. If micro-management is world of Colonization, not leading you by the hand, but poking you gently Careful. You don’t want incrush the yourright rebellion. direction. Survive, and you’ll win. Simple! to anger the natives. your thing, you’ll love Colonization, as there’s tons of stuff to be getting on

CONTROL PCGZine NAVIGATE |30

Reviews course, this is another classic catch 22, as if you don’t have enough colonists ploughing the fields for you, your colony will just starve to death. And then there’s no point attracting immigrants in the first place. “Once you get going Another huge part of a Civilisation in Civilization, it’ll be game, diplomacy makes its return here, incredibly hard to pull and plays an important part in proceedings, as often you’ll be forced yourself away” to negotiate with native Americans who aren’t too happy about you Civilization IV cont. immigrants from back home should be setting up shop on their land. The The graphics have really a prime concern for your burgeoning other colonists will also try and set up come a long way. with, and there are plenty of things that colony, as when your city grows in size trading agreements with you, to which need tweaking on each turn. and stature, you’ll start to attract skilled you can be as accommodating or as What you set your colonists to do labour from back home. The easiest arsey as you want. Sticking two fingers As your city grows, it’ll will actually make a huge difference to way to do this is to set one of your up at the French will never get dull. start to sprawl out. how well your colony grows. Attracting colonists to work in the church. Of But once you’ve got going in Colonization, it’ll be incredibly hard to pull yourself away. This is one of those Roll over screen for annotations games you’ve got to invest a fair amount of time in to get yourself going, but once you’ve got started, you’ll never, ever stop. Give it a try. Ian Morris

PCGZine Veni, Vidi, Vici.

Accessible % Eﬃcient distribution of Addictive your city’s settlers is Strategic paramount to their growth. 91

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www.gamerzines.com CO N T RO L PCGZine NAVIGATE |32 Reviews

Audiosurf Tank Mutant Storm Rescue the TECNO – Publisher: Steam Publisher: PomPomGames.com Developer: BestGameEver Universal Developer: PomPomGames Beagles The Base Price: $9.99 (£5.99) PCGZine Publisher: Meridian4 Price: $9.95 (£5.90) Publisher: 16x16.org Publisher: www.tecno-base.com Developer: Dialogue Design Developer: 16x16 Developer: GURUY Entertainment udiosurf is one Price: $9.99 (£5.99) f you’ve got an Xbox 360 then Price: Free! Price: $15.99 (£9.00) Aof those games Iyou’ll no doubt be familiar with that’s so simple in aking its cues from Battlezone, Mutant Storm. A fast paced, dual- ow, this game is definitely a bit ECNO – the Base (a strange design, yet so utterly addictive to Tand, to a slightly lesser extent, analogue shooter, the game’s been Nof a weird one. The obligatory Tname for an independent first- play that you just can’t tear yourself Tron (mostly for the visual style), one of the most popular games on freeware game in this month’s person shooter if we ever heard one) away from it. The game works by Tank Universal is basically an the Xbox Live Arcade service, and round-up, Rescue the Beagles is a seems to be aiming for the same taking music you choose, and updated version of the arcade surprisingly the port works charming 8-bit style platformer, sort of indy stylings as the turning it into a visual track, which is classic from the 80s, with some incredibly well on the PC. Making which sees you parachuting into a Penumbra, but fails by offering populated by coloured blocks that pretty visuals and impressive the switch from dual analogue warzone to, well, rescue beagles. neither the professional stylings, nor drop in time with your music. By gameplay on offer to complete the controls to mouse and keyboard There’s a surprising amount of depth in-depth story of the others. What catching these blocks, and arranging package. With over 20 levels on with great effect, the added here for something that takes place remains is something’s that’s solid, them into groups of three or more, offer, a fully upgradable tank and precision the mouse offers really in two dimensions, and trying to yet ends up feeling far too amateur you score points – and once you’ve the all-important unlockable does add an extra level of control beat your high score of “beagles throughout for us to consider got started, you really won’t put it Steam achievements, the only to the game – something that’s saved” will keep you going for some recommending you spend £9 on it – down. Try the demo for yourself, and disappointment here is a lack of sure to be of some use in the time. It’s an odd one to be sure, but which is a bit too much to be asking get those five pounds ready. multiplayer. Shame. insane later levels. it’s also loads of fun, too. in the first place.

Incredibly addictive Good gameplay Great visuals It has dogs Ambitious Very clever Tron-style graphics Nostalgic stuﬀ Great gameplay But perhaps overly so Very cheap No multiplayer Disappointing gameplay Charming visuals Low production values % Tanks for the % % % % Rock to the rhythm Frantic Woof woof! Dated 90 memories 80 75 82 55 CONTROL PCGZine NAV I G AT E |33 Q&A “In a ﬁt of m a dn ess I

AGP was good enough back over-excit e dly b o u gh t Tech Support in 1999, why not no w? S.T.A.L.K.E.R C l e ar Sky” We’ve received so many emails asking for advice, we thought we’d better open up a dedicated help desk. Send your questions to [email protected]

NOT VERY CLEAR sure this is turned off and isn’t forced by In a fit of madness I over-excitedly your driver. As for your lighting problem, bought S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky and I’m we’ve been told the following console now regretting it as I’m suffering slow commands should cure it. Press the ~ key framerates and terrible lighting and type these in: problems. Is there anything I can do? Neil Mohr has been r2_sun_depth_near_bias .00001 playing with and > We understand GSC have a number r2_sun_depth_near_scale 1 SHOCKED AGAIN into st an dby m od e. This d oe sn’t playing on PCs for of patches already in the works, so look I’m running Bioshock on a Windows ha p pen in ot h e r gam e s. Is t h e re over a decade out for those and we’d hope that NVIDIA THAT’S SHOCKING Vista PC with an NVIDIA GeForce anyt hin g I c an d o? and ATI driver releases will help I am having problems with System 8800GTX. It had been running fine up performance. So stay updated. As with Shock 2. Whenever it tries to play a until I get to the point where it has to > PES 200 8 clearly isn’t letting Windows the previous S.T.A.L.K.E.R game it’s not video file cutscene it crashes. When I load Fort Frolic and then it just crashes. k now that th e gam e p a d is i n d e e d be i ng designed to work with AA at all, so make try to register Lgvid.ax then I get the Have you come across this or have any use d . Eith e r this is a p ro b l e m with PES error message “LoadLibrary(lgvid. ideas for me to try? 2008 o r it’s a p ro b l e m with th e gam e p a d’s S.T.A.L.K.E .R is back ax)failed – The specified module could and as bugged as e ver. not be found”. Can you help fix this? > Two things to try here: we’d strongly suggest you get an updated driver – we’ve > System Shock 2 is a great game and read that most people say an NVIDIA there’s a fantastic website over at www. driver newer than version 163 will solve ttlg.com that has all sorts of resources for the problem. Alternatively, open the this and the Thief series. The advice there Graphics Options and turn off the High is that the video codec is incorrect or Detail Shaders. corrupt. If you have the original CD, try reinstalling it by running the IV5PLAY.exe IGNORED PAD found on there. Or else attempt to re- I bought a cheap PS2-style gamepad a register the file by pressing the Windows + while back and I’ve just noticed an odd R key, type REGSVR32 “c:\path\to\ss2\ problem with it. It works fine on my PC You should definit ely opt f or LGVID.AX” and click OK. Hopefully this with Windows Vista but whenever I a bett er-k no wn gaming pad. should cure the problem. play PES 2008, after a while the PC goes

CO N T R O L PCGZine NAVIGATE |34 Q&A Relive those brave imperial “Sound drivers can be a days, fending oﬀ local tribes wielding sharp mangos. real pain to train down, Tech Support particularly onboard ones”

buy now will be a huge step up and make drivers, but if it’s a cheap one as you a big difference, as long as your processor describe, we’d imagine it’d use the default isn’t too weak. For £40 there’s the ATI Direct Input settings. Either way, the only X1650 Pro, but if you can afford it we’d real option is to open the Power Options strongly recommend the ATI HD 3850 Pro Control Panel and clear the System for around £80, which is excellent value Standby settings, so it will never sleep for money. again! That should sort it out. SOUND OF SILENCE LOCAL EMPIRE create a direct IP connection over your currently have a NVIDIA GeForce FX I’ve been reinstalling my gaming I’m trying to play Age of Empires III on LAN. Then Google the file AGE3vpn.rar 5200 graphics card. I’ve upgraded to system and everything is back up and my two Vista computers over my home and extract this into your AoE folder. Use 2GB of memory but that’s made little running pretty well so far, except for LAN. Both are connected through my this whenever you want to play AoE over difference to gaming framerates , but I the computer’s audio, which seems 4-port ADSL modem and I don’t your local network. don’t know what card to choose. to be listed as a multimedia audio necessarily want Internet play. Also one controller. I don’t have the original discs is running War Chiefs and the other THE AGP QUESTION > The FX 5200 was new about five any more but have no idea where I can Asian Dynasties, if that matters. Can I’ve got a Windows XP PC with an Asus years ago and even then wasn’t get them from. This is an eMachine you please tell me if there’s something K8V SE mobo with an AGP slot, and I particularly stunning, so anything you t2240 and I know the onboard sound is obvious that I’m doing wrong? Thanks. from Intel but can’t figure out what Yeah you’d love to see model of sound card or motherboard > AoE was never designed to be played this, but you can’t. this is. What do you think? over a LAN but via its Internet service ESO and each copy comes with a free ESO > Sound drivers can be a real pain to account connected to the CD key, despite track down, particularly onboard ones. having a LAN option. However a program The usual advice is to first try your PC from www.hamachi.cc will enable you to manufacturer’s support site or phone line for advice, otherwise check the motherboard or PC manual for model information. This should enable you to GOT A PROBLEM? track down the correct driver for the correct onboard sound. In this case head Send us your technical questions and to www.emachines.com/support, or as we’ll try and help you out we’re kind (no, really, we’re lovely. Honest) use this address to take you exactly where you need to be http://tinyurl.com/55ht42. Click here now! That should do the trick.

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Download issue 23 for DON’T MISS ISSUE 23 SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE ! free on 23rd WA RNIN G! M ULT IMEDIA DISA BLED! October 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. With o u t t h e m ul tim edi a p l a yin g , t h e m a g a z in e w il l l o o k co r re ct, b u t yo u w il l b e m i ssin 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 ssu e , l ike vi d e o s , an im ated sc re en sh o ts , an n o tati o n s , q u i zze s , co m p eti ti o n s an d m o re . We re co m m en d yo u c l o se an d re-o p en t h e m a g a z in e an d sel e ct “Pl a y” w h en a s ked ab o u t t h e m ul tim edi a to en j oy t h e m a g a z in e a s in ten d ed .

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