Return mine to me. No. 27 (malicious-mining November 2004)

I wish you health, civilian! With you Gamepolice channel! The Red Dead RedMption 2, burned out of the video card and other distracting events, the new 27 release of the program to your services and with you is the Startarev officer.

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Today we go in 2004, in which, more recently, a new Telltale Games Game Studio was created in California. Its founders are industry veterans who worked at Lucasarts on the promising SAM & Max: Freelance Police project, which was canceled by the publisher without explanation. Quest fans then called on the developers to leave Lucasarts that “betrayed” the genre, where the company was a legislator. The founders of TellTale say that their main task is to inhale the new life into the genre, which is in stagnation. And years later, we understand that they certainly succeeded, so far, unfortunately, they themselves, until recently, have been trapped in a trap of self -digging.

Microsoft notes successful sales, so far, exclusive at that time Xbox Original – Fable. In the first week, the game diverged 375 thousand copies and many retail chains said that the game was sold much better than any game of this console before.

The Xbox Original itself is sold better, but still does not bring profit. The income of the Microsoft game unit for the quarter ended on September 30, 2004 amounted to 632 million. dollars, which is 9% more than last year. The popularity of Xbox is growing, especially in the United States, and for two months in a row it is better sold PS2. Nevertheless, the game unit once again graduated from the quarter with losses. This time they amounted to 142 million. dollars, but it is much better than in the past with 273 million. The income of the entire corporation amounted to 9.2 billion., and net profit 2.9 billion. dollars, so such losses – they have the right to afford.

Sony notes that sales of the PlayStation 2 console decreased by 20% compared to last year. The main reason for this is the insufficient number of prefixes in warehouses and Sony’s desire to present a new reduced console version to the market. Actually, this inability to satisfy demand and led to a significant increase in Xbox sales, which occupies 41% of the American market, and PS2 is 40%, although in the summer of the same year the Microsoft console occupied only 33% of this market.

The whole world of the gaming community rejoices in anticipation of Half-Life2, to the greatest joy of all the owners of the PC, the game will no longer be posted, finally went to print and will appear on the shelves on November 16.

Electronic Arts reports that in the first 10 days the game The Sims 2 diverged more than 1 million copies. This is the most successful launch of the project for PC at that time, and even this company managed to release a lot of hits then.
Well, and we have in line the review of November 2004. Traditionally, cook gingerbread cookies with tea and went.

Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
The ingenious company Activision every time for the time being very competently produced the new series of Games Tony Hawka. The developers from Neversoft selected the soundtrack, mowed gameplay elements proven for years, added a couple of new Fintifli, and now the press and players scatter in compliments – profits. This happened with the game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2.

Despite the serial number “2” in the name, nevertheless, this is the sixth game in the series. After the fourth part of the game, the developers decided to screw the plot to the game, and now in Underground we not only fiercely fighting for knocking out the combo, but also look at the formation of a novice skater in our face. True, in the first part, the plot was, right, it’s weak, and for some reason the added levels on cars did not inspire.

The second part began to fix the shortcomings of the first, and the whole situation is almost completely reminiscent of the once popular series on MTV “eccentrics”. Here we are again offered to make their playing alter the ego, which two unknown on the van abduct. Later we learn that the abductors are Tony Hawk and Bam Marger, and they collect two skaters teams in order to go to the World Destruption Tour, and the losers pay for tickets. Actually here you have the whole improved plot. But here is a gameplay – here holds well as well as.

The innovations are not enough, but they are quite tangible.
And the first is that at last in the series you can get off the skate and move in level to your two. In previous games of the series, the absence of such a logically true trifle as just running, greatly saddened players. In addition, this is also due to gameplay, that is, it was necessary to perform the combo in one place, quickly run around until the set of combo was expired and have time to finish it in another place.

The second innovation that could be repelled from the walls and handrails with hands. That is, again, during the combo, it was possible to jump towards the railing to push off from them and continue to perform the combo, of course and brought it much more points.

Third, this is Slow-Mo, not to say that it facilitates the execution of tricks, but in entertainment the game adds well. Especially considering that the engine has already Renderware has already been raised in order. The developers still tried to improve the details of the models, but it looks weak.

Well, the fourth mini-miserable is that now you can wander or throw your skate to hell when you unsuccessfully execute the trick, by means of a certain button to fill the scale of anger.
In general, you can certainly break the board, but the time period for completing tasks is limited here and is much more useful to get up and continue to perform tricks.

The game itself offers a choice of two modes.
Classic – in which in two minutes it is proposed to complete a number of tasks, such as collect a word from scattered letters, set a record for glasses and so on.
And the plot regime, which is actually a set of mini-mission of non-nypical for the Tony Hawk series. For example, to steal a gurney with a skater with fractures from the hospital and roll it into a certain zone at the level, dodging the orderly chasing you. Or demolish the head statue of Benjamin Franklin. Or draw graffiti on the wall. By the way, you can wield a spray can on the walls when you want. Also, a whole crowd of skaters usually walk by levels, which is ready to offer you additional tasks, well, or, just to chat.

So that you do not get confused in local tasks, the developers carefully allocated a separate menu for them and provided with a detailed description. Among other things, it has not gone anywhere to create your own levels, tricks, combo, etc.
Surprisingly, from the seemingly unpretentious entertainment from the first part to this one, the series then turned into a car to extract money, in fact, without touching the gameplay component, but only a little grinding it.

In this part of the series, the developers tried to shift the emphasis from the execution of tricks to jokes Marger and others, but then, as they say, it is already a matter of an amateur. By the way, the soundtrack here, as it was almost always in this series, is chic.

Of the obvious disadvantages, we will probably allocate complaints about managing the version in the PC version, but everything was treated, as you guessed, by a simple connection of the gamepad, without which it is more expensive to meddle here. Well, brakes on machines are easily cope with the then graphic monster doom3. The PS2 version also often allowed itself to drop the frame rate.

But in general, this 8 points of https://slotsnogamstop.co.uk/review/betfoxx/ 10.

Almost perfect gameplay – verified to the smallest detail, a long campaign, a magnificent soundtrack, which is interesting to play almost the same as in the legendary second part. Fans of this topic, and not only, there was definitely something to do.

Evil Genius

Have you ever thought how difficult it is to be an evil genius and the owner of a megacorporation? Then some James Bond will want to destroy all your plans, then the construction of the base is not according to the plan, then the workers refuse to listen-you have to torture them-to reconcile something to come up with an unusual one … This is what the game from the developers of Elixir Studios-Evil Genius offers to do it.

The construction of your sinister base must certainly be located on some kind of island, preferably in the thick of the jungle or, on the contrary, in the sands. Where to start? First of all, you need, of course, to rebuild the entrance and barracks in which your loyal. Dining room so that they can eat well. Further, they, in distraction from the implementation of your villainous orders, need to create a rest room and entertainment. Subjects serve you faithfully, and no one prevents you from experiencing a new torture chamber on them. Torture here is given an honorable place – after all, this is one of the most funny elements of the game.

In general, to engage in construction, burrowing deeper and deeper into some mountain-great pleasure. The developers’ team includes people who previously worked on The Sims, Black & White, Dungeon Keeper 2 and let the studio not get Peter Moligne then, in the absence of originality and excellent gameplay – there is no doubt here to doubt.

Unlike most other strategies, here you do not need to poke a finger into the ground for every minister. You just put the secret database of the task that is performed as promptly as there is a lot of free and vigorous workers at hand now.
The condition of each ward in the game is characterized by five parameters: health, devotion, level of intelligence, attentiveness and strength. If you do not provide them with everything necessary, then they will turn into frail and stupid dummies, which your conquest of the world has not surrendered.

The whole law -abiding world with its annoying special services acts as our enemies.
All sorts of atrocities – the second phase of the gameplay. Having somehow set up our own command center, we get access to the map of the world. Actually, on this screen we will perform world evil, teaching and sending our insidious servants to various tasks at various points of the world. Himants can simply steal money from the regions or think larger atrocities, after which the heads of the world government will certainly be noticed. And then wait for the guests.

Annoying agents of two zeros and other annoying individuals surrounded by special forces, with machine guns at the ready, they will definitely want to prevent you. By the arrival of uninvited guests, not only their assistants should be prepared, but also all sorts of traps, of which there are a huge variety. However, it happens that especially dexterous agents of overcoming obstacles come across, and then you have to send professionals. As your fame increased in the world of world villainy, the notorious villains who are looking for a strong patron sake. Alas, it will not be possible to assemble a detachment from such pro and you have to choose one of the more suitable style for you.

Despite the promotion of the villainous lifestyle and perhaps world terrorism, Evil Genius was unlikely to force the censorship fighters, the developers did not set themselves the task of making Hitler’s kind simulator simulator. And the stylistic basis of the project was filmed about James Bond of the 60-70s or comedy about Austin Powers.
The few monologues of villains are saturated here with a comic pathos, and every detail of the external design of the game causes at least a smile.

The graphics here, frankly, are angular, but it is more likely to be more than stylistic, because the engine here flaunts with good work, for its time, with lighting and, for example, a reflection in the floors polished to shine.

As a result, this is 8.5 points of 10.

Gorgeous atmosphere of old espionage films, stylish graphics, magnificent black humor and a great delaying gameplay delivered a lot of pleasure to gamers and this, perhaps, is, for our time, the only project allowing themselves to try on a loan of evil genius.

Mortal Kombat: Depation
Mortal Kombat, although it lost its former attractiveness at that time, was still able to cause people in violent emotions, both negative and positive. And before us, a delegate of a series of games that does not need to present Mortal Kombat: December.

Since the series then experienced the best times, then you should start with the minuses.
And first of all, it is an extremely unnatural animation of fighters. At that time, Tekken 4 and Dead or Alive 3, where the movements were smooth and the people who played in them were not easy to come to terms with a small number of animation personnel, and with a very strange behavior.

The creators of the game were proud that they seriously approached the creation of combat styles. Accordingly, the fighters are always in the right racks, or rather, here they freeze in a certain position and almost do not move and after the strikes are always returned to them. Because of this, situations often arise when a fighter goes from one position in a fundamentally different without intermediate animation.

The second important minus is an outdated game mechanics. Since the previous games were very scolded for the deception gameplay is very trying to resemble MK3, and borrowed something from other 3D fitings. But again, if you compare MK with other topsters of that time, then the brainchild of Midway Games is completely losing to them – 3D, few special techniques are used – only three four for each, one type of throws.

However, nevertheless, if you do not compare the game, then here you can find a lot of entertaining. Finally, for a long time, the old fighters from MK3, like Kabal and Netwitwulf, returned here, new. In total, the game became 24 fighters.
The long combo also returned and, right, which the creators for some reason decided to remove in the premersh of the fourth part. The combo themselves look excellent and brutal, especially those that use switching the battle style.
To reasonable limits, strokes of cold weapons were weakened, which from 4 parts made a decent imbalance. Well, and as counteracting a long combo, it was here that Combo Breaker appeared.

Jaggls are also very competently implemented here – when you raise the enemy with a blow and continue to beat him in the air, he allows the enemy to cause great damage, but only very hardcore players will be able to fulfill it.
Also, from MK3, the opportunity returned to the enemy to send the enemy to another part of the arena, as well as throw it on the spikes or under the press. There is also the opportunity to make two fattals, and there was an opportunity to make a fighter to make a harakiri fighter in order to ruin the pleasure of the player who gained fatalia at that moment, shout the defeated into small pieces.

In addition to the actual fights in Mortal Kombat: Deception there are also very interesting additional modes.
Firstly, Puzzle Kombat is another variation of puzzles, such as your mother plays in “classmates”, only here decorated by a bloody fight.
Kombat Chess – chess, where in order to kill the figure it must first win.
Konquest is the plot mode of the game, and a mixture of adventure and fighting water, however, there is also an excellent tutorial for all fighters and coins and keys for crypts are immediately mined, where, as you know from new parts, various bonuses are opened. Graphically, it is Konquest that looks weak, and the plot in places is good, in places funny, in general, not a couple to the late parts of the series.
Also, the online mode has become available in this part, but it is a pity that in Russia, at that time, there were a few units from their consoles from their consoles.

But in the end it is 7.5 -8 points of 10.

The game of the Mortal Kombat series and this says it all … Himplem, a bunch of additional modes, and a network playing for years. Despite the poor animation and a slightly unfinished plot regime, she forced the players to say that the series still began to crawl out of the pit into which she drove her part.

What we have from games lower than?

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
Favorite of gamers of the late 80s Larry Laffer in the late 90s, it seemed already outlined. “American cake” and other films of that time firmly occupied the theme of humor below the waist, that the rest of the similar in the game industry simply became interested in teenagers.
And the developers from High Voltage had no choice but to change the protagonist to his nephew Larry Lovija.

In ardent and covered by passion and spermotoxicosis, Larry, like many at his age, problems with the opposite, floor. Our task is to help, in order to finally excuse, give and preferably more than once.

The case takes place in a college, where the rut of an unknown plot will make you try to visit the cowards of the surrounding girls, work in a gay club, participate in reality show, and so on the like.
Gameplay in relation to other parts of the series has decently changed and now it is not a quest as before, but a series of mini games. Everything is reduced here to walk around the student town and retention of the Emmm … Spermeater at the proper level, which will not allow spermotoxicosis to deprive Larry of reason.
When Larry with a girl, a heart meter appears, which will display the success of your conversation. This success is inversely proportional to air damage and belching. From time to time, Lovidge will need to participate in the quotes, and your share will have to draw naked models for him, interfere with cocktails, dance and so on.

Of the special disadvantages in the game, this is the loading of mini-locations, that is, as Larry goes into various rooms and each time when moving from one to another, the load lasts about 20 seconds and this is wildly annoying. However, this opportunity is observed only on the consoles, on the PC with this full order and everything is loaded quite quickly.
It is also worth noting that humor does not fall to the level of Russian quests and for humor lovers below the waist – it will come in. 6.5 points.

Shade: Wrath of Angels From developers Black Element Software.
Before the release, the developers promised a mystical plot, exotic worlds, fights on swords, logical tasks – everything is present in this game, however, it is served in such a strange form that it is possible to play this, only for lack of better, at least something better.
The plot tells us the story of the two brothers, one of whom is an archaeologist, and the second – yes to hell with what he does. The important thing is that the brother archaeologist disappeared during the study, and our task is to save him armed with a magic sword, while visiting as many as 4 era and bring the hearts of 4 x angels.

That is, theoretically there are already 4 worlds: modern, medieval, ancient Egypt and the country of shadows.
The player is practically driven along the corridors from monotonous linear levels, each of which runs in 20 minutes. The battle system is simple, like three kopecks – we hit with the left mouse button, we block the right. Interestingly, in the block, our ward is invulnerable to any enemy attack. Logical tasks are reduced to the simple movement of boxes or turning a couple of levers.
Even magic is available and the hero can turn into a demon, and in a new form of bundles destroys various kinds of living dead and moves especially heavy objects. By the way, enemies here are quite diverse, and there are not few dead and skeletons of different stripes.

True, their animation is noticeably limping on both legs. However, as it was stipulated, if there is nothing straight at all, and if you squint, then you can even run with excitement with excitement and open new combo. Generally 5 points.

Terminator 3: The Redemption

At first I wanted to bring this game a smaller rank of smaller games, but having read about it and watching the gameplay – I decided for myself that it was worthy of more, and I, being a fan of the Terminator universe, will try to go through it all the same.
Well, we have the game Terminator 3: The Redemption from the middle hand of the developers of Paradigm Entertainment behind the shoulders who have such games as … damn it, they are all really medium and there is nothing at all. However, I note that the studio was closed in 2008, and most of the employees moved to Gearbox Software.

Let the name “Redemption” not allow you to mislead you, the plot of this game is based on the events of the film “Terminator 3: Rise of Machines”, even despite the fact that in 2003 the game of this film was already released.
How do you know everything from the moment of the second part of the film, a good ten years. John Connor grew up, and Skynet once again decided to send the murderer the model of the T-X, even more perfect than the T-1000. The old T-800 model is still responsible for the safety of John … What am I crucifying here? You yourself know and saw everything … already 15 years ago? – Fuck!

Although the film, by and large, is just a base, there are many points in the film, of course, there was no. Mindful of the past shameful games about the terminator, in the form of jokes in the first person “War of Machines” and “Rise of Machines”, the developers decided this time to make a third -party shooter.
Moreover, quite diverse, where, in addition to the levels standard for the genre by levels, we will be able to ride on a variety of technology from motorcycles to tanks, in some places they will be given to shoot from a machine gun, and your main task, sometimes, is not reduced to the stupid shooting of enemies, namely the protection of Conor and his girlfriends.

The terminator himself, despite the old model, is quite cheerful with enemies, steaming them from different guns, and sometimes even with both hands, and when the enemies are nearby, he famously wielding his arms and legs. In the intervals between shooting, your ward can spend earned during the game, pumping glasses: reducing the time of reloading weapons, attacks of attacks, passion for infrared vision and other.
By the way, the appearance and voice of our terminator was presented in the game – the former governor Arnold himself, which is inherent in the game of atmospheric whists.

Of the shortcomings, this is that the cyborg is only able to go when shooting, but to run – did not bring. Therefore, he is an excellent target for enemies, and therefore it is necessary to shoot constant, and maneuver is hardly possible to work.
The second disadvantage is aiming problem, inexplicably it is corny difficult to aim, especially in the moments where a quick reaction is required, for example, when driving by car.

The graphics in the game are nothing supernatural, but at a pretty good level. Wonderfully detailed T-800 and T-x, well-drawn ordinary enemies from Skynet, bright special effects, but locations lay down and look pale. Video also pleases the eye, but it is not entirely clear why to alternate CGs with fragments from the film.

But in general it is 7.5 points of 10.

In principle, good graphics, a good rather diverse gameplay, the appearance and voice of Schwarzenegger, in the compartment with a rather strange control and the lame dynamics of shootings, still make this game almost the best in terms of the terminator to this day.

For today it is time to say goodbye to November 2004 and we, of course, will return to him in the future, because there are still many games left about which you need to tell. And now all civilians – to leave the territory, there was an officer Startarev with you. Bye.