GamingCrap

"Why would I spend $60 on Old Republic? I have Skyrim to play!" I said. "Ugh, this beta is pretty bad - how could Bioware have released such a half-baked product?" You may have heard. Well, now you're seeing me eat my own shoe. I broke down and bought The Old Republic for its launch and have been playing it daily for an hour or two (or many more on select weekends) pretty consistently. I only partially feel bad about spending the money on it. What it gets right Warzones  - like battlegrounds in World of Warcraft, Warzones are your quick two-team PvP affairs. The maps are all based on objectives: Voidstar = Assault a thing, Huttball = Capture the flag named "Huttball," Civil War = Control things. As simple and fast as these warzones are, they actually promote playing the game and not just farming kills. You get more rewards for winning and you get rewarded for performing or assisting the objectives of the game (kind of), which is a nice switch from...

(Guest poster, SteveH) Oh come on, its only been, what, 3 or 4 months since I last wrote an article! Yeah, I know. But I've got a good one today! Late last week I got a bet invite to Diablo 3! After beating the Skeleton King (the end boss of act 1 and the end boss of the beta) with all but one class I'm ready to type up my experience with it. First we must explore the "getting there" portion, pre-Saturday patch, then we can get to the good stuff. So lets begin at the beginning (an odd choice). The download and install was as easy as one would imagine, I started it on its path when I came home briefly for lunch and it was done by the time I got home from work for the day. After dinner and some homework I was ready, willing and... not able. This brings me to problem 1 with the game, always online. When I tried to log in I would get an error message telling me that my request timed out and I should try again later. I tried again and again for a few minutes and th...

I tested Star Wars: The Old Republic this last Friday as a republic Jedi Knight (how edgy is that?). What you'll see here is from just about 4 hours of game-play, which, yes, is not enough time to truly test everything in the game. I'm going to be quite candid, and while this may seem very negative, my overall rating for the game (well, RTM candidate beta) would be a B-, 74%, 3.7 out of 5, whatever. I'll just go straight down the list of the focus areas I generally care about. Graphics : Sub-par. It's somewhat cartoon-like, but not as cohesive or stylistic as World of Warcraft. It's kind of in-between, and doesn't really pull it off well. I was suspicious of Bioware since Dragon Age 2, and it seems that their art team is functioning at about 80% capacity. It's not horrible, it's not bad, it's blah. Animations are decent, and at first glance seem a lot more "matched" than WoW (when you hit a guy, they parry or have a hit animation) but it ...

(Guest poster, SteveH) Hurrah! Yesterday I reported a release date push back, today I'm announcing a release date release! Star Wars: The Old Republic now has a release date of 12/20/2011 ! Warm up those blasters and prepare to jump to light speed!

(Guest poster, SteveH) If you hoped to see Diablo 3 by the end of this year, as was previously stated, well, hope is lost! Word on the Diablo 3 main site tells us that Blizzard is officially pushing the game back to early 2012 in hopes of using that time to open up the beta a little more and ironing out issues found in said beta. /sigh I still hold to hope that we will see Diablo 3 before the end of the world. Though, now that I think of it, is there any major religion that sites the games release as one of the signs of the apocalypse? I think maybe... If you don't believe me, here's my proof!

The short version: Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great action/stealth game that is worth the money if you like the first Deus Ex or other action/stealth games (Splinter Cell, Metal Gear Solid, etc). The long version Deus Ex: Human Revolution (DX:HR) is a great action/stealth game that has some minor design decisions/flaws that keep it from legendary status. The game play, visuals, world design and sound design are all top notch. The story and voice acting have some issues. The inclusion of boss fights is abysmal and soul crushing. Since this will be a non-spoiler review, I'll just give you a basic rundown of what DX:HR is: you are a cybernetically altered super-agent that is trying to unravel a mediocre conspiracy after your employer is attacked. The world is a decade or so ahead of present day, where cybernetic augmentation of the human body is a common occurrence. Unfortunately though, those who choose (or are forced!) to get augmented are dependent on anti-rejection medication...

(Guest poster, SteveH) If you're the type that doesn't like to read too far into a review to hear the reviewer opinion here's mine, Space Marine is one of the best action games I've ever played, if not the best. Big claim, right? Let me explain the why-for's and whatnots. I think a disclaimer I have to get in here is this, I love the Warhammer 40K universe which, if you don't know, is where this takes place. Warhammer 40k started as a tabletop mini game that has been slowly making its way into computer and console games. Lately the fine people at THQ and Relic have been really kicking ass with it, the fantastic strategy game of the Dawn of War caliber, then the insanely fun Dawn of War 2, now Space Marine. For those of you who are not familiar with the Warhammer universe, here's a quick run-down (for those of you who are, skip on to the next paragraph). Fast forward to the 41st millenium, the Emperor sits deathless on the Golden Throne on holy Terra,...