Beta Preview – World of the Living Dead

Another zombie game, is it? Jump in, boys, there’s plenty of room in this overcrowded market if you squeeze in-between Resident Evil and The Walking Dead. Don’t mind the smell.

Developers and gamers just can’t leave the damned things alone – zombies are EVERYWHERE these days and there’s no sign of the outbreak abating. This is especially true of the browser-based title currently in its beta-testing stages, World of the Living Dead, though where virtually all other games are keen to show off their horribly mutated/mutilated celebrities, this game is all about focused management and survivor coordination.
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Serious Sam 3: BFE

Serious Sam 3: BFE  -  Beta Preview

When playing a Serious Sam title, players have come to expect more carnage than you can shake a sledgehammer at; the newest installment in the franchise, Serious Sam 3: BFE, is no different. During beta testing I found myself loving every satisfying splatter, blood spray, and explosion.

This game makes most shooters look like a walk in the FPS park, and it’s hard to wipe a grin off your face as you mow down wave after wave of ill-tempered baddies. I was once told that to enjoy life you need to ‘embrace the chaos’; well, to enjoy SS3 you need to not only embrace the chaos, but own it. Read More

Hawken – Why We’re Excited!

Ever heard of Adhesive Games? Us neither! Well, that was until they came out of nowhere and slapped us round the chops with a stunning and stylish trailer for their upcoming indie title, Hawken. The game appears to be a fast paced, multiplayer FPS where giant robots endeavour to tear each other fresh input-holes. Hawken looks epic, with sharp lighting usage, a real grand-to-minute sense of proportion and keen attention to detail. And all this from a tiny team in very little time; it almost seems unbelievable…

Hawken’s first person perspective straps players in their own pneumatic, post-apocalyptic, vertical murder machine. The cockpit display is grainy but detailed with various switches, dials, screens & alarms, which will crap out if your mech takes too much flak. All these little details are designed to heighten player immersion, making you the pilot of your own anime-style robo-warrior. Adhesive’s control system seems realistic enough to create a sense of hulking heft while still being responsive enough to appeal to the high-octane, FPS mentalists. Read More

Bounty Bay Online – Atlantis (Everything you need to know!)

We`ve been at sea fer moons now, most o’ th’ crew be havin’ scurvy, th’ water ran ou’ moons ago, at least we still be havin’ bee….Bilge water be ou’ grog..Set sail fer th’ nearest port!! Bounty Bay be closest!

For our readers not familiar with Pirate speak, roughly translated that means it has been a few months since we last took a look at Frogsters Pirate based MMO, Bounty Bay, and with the launch of its latest expansion, Atlantis, what better time to check in with them than now.

With that in mind, I decided to take a look at what players can expect to find in this anticipated expansion.

Level Cap Increases
An MMO expansion staple, Atlantis will push the level cap on Bounty Bay Online from 120 to 150. This will allow the players that had reached the level cap a new opportunity to expand their characters.

New areas to Explore
One of the good things about being out at sea is the opportunity to discover new lands to explore and plunder. Atlantis adds two entire new regions for the adventurous seafarers to explore as they work towards their new level cap. Read More

Biker Battles (Hands-On)

If you want to get anywhere in the MMO business the major thing you need is innovation. But the trouble is that there are so many ideas floating around out there that it’s damned difficult to come up with a truly unique approach to gaming.

Most browser games suffer from ‘copycat syndrome’, a condition where game designers flat out lift ideas from other, more successful games. Crime RPG ‘Biker Battles’ is one of the few games that actually seems to be innovating, at least at the moment anyway.

Inspired by his love for the TV show Sons of Anarchy, Biker Battles is the brainchild of one Stefan Gaasbeek and is currently in open alpha, meaning anyone can register a character and get playing – just remeber that because game is still developing you currently only have the bare bones to play with. However, Gaasbeek had a spark of ingenuity when creating the game, deciding that the players themselves should play a big role in forging the gameplay of the new MMO.
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Lost Horizon (Hands-On)

Tally ho, pip pip and other such nonsense. Nowadays the kids are too hopped up on their Pokemons and Michael Bay movies to give two toots of the vuvuzela about good old fashioned adventure. You know, exotic locales, mysterious ladies, treasure and all that jazz. Good thing that adventure game stalwarts Animation Arts, the developers of the popular Secret Files series, are giving it to us in spades in their upcoming release: Lost Horizon. This month I strapped on my flying goggles and played through a preview – and there wasn’t an Optimus Prime in sight.

We begin with a prologue in Tibet, 1936, where a British cartographer recieves a strange artifact from a dying Chinese man whilst being pursued by Nazis. After escaping a large chamber with bizarre writing etched into the walls we cut to China, 1938 and our hero Fenton Paddock, a loveable rogue who is talking to his bartender friend, Shen, about the trouble he has got himself into with the local Tong Triads. Read More

FIFA Online (Hands-On)

“He cannot kick with his left foot, he cannot head a ball, he cannot tackle and he doesn’t score many goals. Apart from that he’s all right.” I would have to agree with George Best if he was describing my footballing skills, but FIFA Online is set to change that with a free-to-play FIFA football game for the PC, packing a new simple control system that can even make me look more like Lionel Messi than Terry Hurlock.

I have always liked the FIFA games, going all the way back to the SEGA Megadrive days, but it doesn’t mean I have ever been that good at them. FIFA Online is trying to grab the PC football market here, with a game that is quick and easy to get into but tougher to master. It is free-to-play but will use micro-transactions to buy various upgrades and other items, both practical and cosmetic. Read More

Lego Universe Hands-On

‘I wish I had a son so I could justify getting Lego Universe to my wife. And explain why a grown man is playing with his Lego again’

Lego Universe is essentially a game for little boys, but will be played by Lego fans of all ages. Much like the real bricks themselves.
It promises to bring the fun and creativity of building your own models to life, in a world where everyone is doing it without the risk of your pain-in-the-ass siblings coming in and trampling all your hard work into a pile of rubble. Pure Lego, no tears. Bliss.

The first thing you come across in any MMO worth it’s weight in salt is the character creator, and it is excellent here. All the usual coloured legs, bodies, shirts and badges are present, and with so many facial expressions, hats and haircuts to choose from, you can spend a decent amount of time making your own Minifig. The animations are well executed and feel natural…erm, for Lego…and the in-game emotes, which you can earn throughout the game, are a lot of fun to watch. Read More

Cold War Clambake

About the game

Written by TurkeySaladBoy

Order a cocktail – shaken, not stirred – toss your morality out of the window and prepare to be induced into the mindset of a secret agent through Big Daddy’s Chick’s espionage-themed role-playing game on Facebook, Coldwar: Clambake. Tuxedo hire not included.

It is somewhat apt that your foray into the clandestine world of spies begins with a game of Daddy-or-Chips, in that you are asked to look into your heart and choose your alliance. The options are as polarised as right or wrong. In one corner are the Spymasters, Martin and Dick, bound to the network of F.R.O.S.T. (David Jason does not feature) where the ringleader, Ms Butterpat, calls the shots. In the other corner, a heinous motley-crew of Masterminds hell bent on disrupting the natural world order. Once you have decided on how you want your bread buttered, its time to create a character using the customization tool. You can have some eye-watering fun mixing the abstract pre-formatted heads and bodies; imagine playing around with Mr Potato head after a bottle of Absinthe. Facial hair is optional, but every spy needs a moustache to conceal their identity. Oh, and you also need to set up an alias, or codename, which is how you will be referred to throughout the game.

Coldwar: Clambake is a role-playing game where the traditional gameplay mechanic of engaging in missions to level up and earn experience points apply. The statistics are displayed in the top right of the game menu. At first glance you would be forgiven for being daunted by the menu, with its unfamiliar options and the complexity of the statistics. Thankfully there is a helpful tutorial, which slips onto your arm like a soliciting double-agent and leads you gently through those tentative first steps.
The tutorial box, while being prominent in the top left, can prove a nuisance since it covers up incoming messages and status updates as per the new Facebook layout. However, this is an ergonomic point that the design team can easily correct.


Read More in Issue 24

Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty Beta

About the game

Written by Drunken Gamer

There are many challengers to the RTS throne, but one thing that every fan of the genre will agree on is that the original StarCraft is up there with the very best of them. If you don’t agree, then, well..you are wrong.
With its evenly matched multiplayer gameplay, engrossing single-player storyline and well designed races, StarCraft was instantly loved by gamers the world over when it was released. So much so, in fact, that it is still being played regularly to this day, 12 years after it’s 1998 release.
Thankfully, after years of delays and excuses, StarCraft’s much anticipated sequel, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, has finally gone into the closed beta stage. To say i’ve been eagerly awaiting this would a gross understatement.
Whether me getting a beta key was luck, or just the Blizzard PR guys attempts to stop my constant questioning as to when it would arrive, we will never know.
Nor do I want to know – I got my access to the beta either way!!
Somewhere during my first match, between having my base overrun by Zergling’s and watching the attack force I had sent to my first opponent being torn apart, I realised I should probably share my opinions on the game with you guys.

The very first thing to talk about is the new look BattleNet system. When you log into the game you seamlessly log into BattleNet at the same time. The interface looks great, everything is simple to understand and it’s all easily accessible. One of the most important things you can access from this view is your player profile. Anything you could want to know about your account is here, from achievements (which were disabled at this stage of beta) to match history and even your win/loss statistics.
Selecting a previous match from the history will present you with the final overview of that match, showing you a bunch of interesting details, such as your average resource collection rate, unit production and even an overview of your build order.
This is all very useful information for the future, allowing you to determine exactly how, and why, you lost or won a match. Hopefully, using this information, you can then refine your tactics for a more successful battle next time. You can even see what your opponent did during the game, helping you figure out what worked so well for them, and why your troops were cut to ribbons while theirs just stood there..laughing.


Read More in Issue 24