PC

Baseball Mogul 2004

May 11, 2003

PC / Reviews / by Shane Quast Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Hello, my name is Soda and I am a Baseball Mogulaholic. I’d like
to share my story with you. I have been a baseball fanatic all my
life. I would say that I have invested more time playing baseball
games than any other type of video game. Before Baseball Mogul came
into my life, I’d say that I was pretty strong. I could play a game
for a few weeks and than be able to put it down. I wouldn’t say
that I ever really struggled with “addiction” to video
game baseball. Than came Baseball Mogul. I thought I would be able
to handle myself. “I’m not addicted, I can quit anytime I want.”

Boy was I wrong. Admitting you have a problem is the first step
to getting help.

When I first started playing I didn’t see how I could get addicted.
It’s just a sim; there is no actual game to play. Originally my
addiction began with Baseball Mogul 2002. My addiction carried over
it 2003 as well. One feature I always looked forward to with each
new addition was the new player pictures and action photos. I bought
Baseball Mogul 2004 over the web for download and I was disappointed
that it didn’t come with any player photos at all. Other than that
it was the same old Baseball Mogul screens that I have become so
accustomed to looking at. The best new feature graphically is the
ability to resize that game window. Sometimes that comes in handy.

Baseball Mogul is all about control. Being a GM of a professional
baseball franchise is my dream job, and Baseball Mogul puts you
right in that seat. You control every aspect of how your franchise
is run from how much money you have in your farm system budget to
how much you charge for hot dogs at the ball park. Trying to find
the balance of building a winning team while staying within your
budget and keeping all the fans happy is one heck of a job. At first
I would play as the GM of my favorite team, the New York Mets, but
because of their fan loyalty and high income and exposure they were
too easy to win with. You want a challenge? Try playing as the GM
of Montreal. I spent 25 years building that club into a respectable
franchise, and the only thing I could do to make them any better
was move them to Washington DC where I could make more money. Like
I said before, you have complete control. If you’re a franchise
sports junky, than this is your game.

The main challenge of Baseball Mogul is just keeping track of everything
that’s going on. You have to r
em
ember who you have in the minors
and who gets paid what and when their contract ends and if you can
afford to keep them. The best thing that they did with Baseball
Mogul 2004 is instead of player contracts and budget being based
on a “point” system, they are now in actual dollar figures.
It makes it a lot easier to put things in perspective. It takes
a lot of time and creativity to build a franchise that is successful
year after year. Another part of the challenge is keeping your cool.
One season I got swept in the series and got really pissed off.
I went out in the off-season and signed everyone who was anyone.
The results turned out to be a disaster. Plugging that many new
players into a core that I already had built turned into more losses
than wins, I didn’t make the playoffs, and because of the huge contracts
of every player on my roster I ended up going into debt. Once you’re
in debt you can’t negotiate with any of your players who’s contract
term ends, and I ended up losing five of my best players.

Baseball Mogul is the most fun and addicting baseball franchise
game I have ever played. Everyone who considers himself a fan of
baseball must play this game at some point in time. There are very
few games that I can imagine that you could invest any near as much
time in as you will to Baseball Mogul. If I were to rate games on
a scale Baseball Mogul would get a 10 out of 10 on replay ability.
Yes, it is that good.

The best part, its only 20 bucks. Do yourself a favor, go out and
get this game or download it online at www.sportsmogul.com. It might
take awhile to get the swing of things, but we’ll be seeing you
in our Mogulaholic’s support group in no time.

-Soda Out

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield

April 22, 2003

PC / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/raven/cover.jpg[/floatleft]Tactical games are not my really my specialty, hell I seem to want to run and gun more then anything. When the Rainbow 6 series came out at first I did not take to the game, but like all good PC games it really does grow on you. The latest addition to the series is Raven Shield, a culmination of the previous two game’s efforts, with some new options, and on the fly team commands. Like the previous games you are in charge of various missions, where you lead a team of utter badasses into hostile territory to complete particular objectives. Back is the briefing room where you gather the info you need for the upcoming missions, as well as your editing your team, their gear, and their plan. You can still edit your plan and save them, or just use default plans to go about completing your mission. Some missions require specialists to either defuse bombs or snipe, and each character has specific stats that group them in demolitions, assault, or sniper categories. Knowing how to use these specialists, and harder yet, keep them alive is where the challenge lies.

One of the first things I look for when a sequel comes out is whether or not they have improved the graphics and character models. By looking at screen shots early in development I was worried that we would not see any improvement in this area, not that the previous ones were very bad. When I loaded this game up however and saw my team I was very please with what I saw. The character models still look crisp and the FPS presentation is sharp. The details in this game are much improved as you can actually see how many grenades the other team members have or what kind of side arm they pack. Great details were given to the motions as well. When climbing up ladders the characters move their primary weapons to their back, it looks fantastic.

The environments are still top notch. Again you will see many factories and some good outside maps as well. You are able to blow out doors as well as shoot through some to take out some enemies that may be hiding behind them. The maps vary in size, some being massive, while some being very small, and better for multiplayer. Outside environments are done very well, and lighting looks good.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/raven/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]Sound is where I am usually the pickiest. I always think every game could do better with their sounds but FPS games usually seem leave this area the least focused. Don’t get me wrong, the ambient sounds while outside are fine, however you will be forced to listen mostly to your footsteps and the sound of your gear clanking. Ricochet sounds will fill the air as well as the sound of your guns blazing. The muffled silencer sounds are done right; however nothing beats the sound of a PSG-1 .50 caliber sniper… KABOOOM.

The games controls are legit. Like any FPS the same rules apply, however it’s the team management that is simplified to the point of A

Unreal 2: The Awakening

February 17, 2003

PC / Reviews / by Mark Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/unreal2/cover.jpg[/floatleft]I cannot say that I have anxiously awaited the release of Unreal 2: The Awakening. I really don’t like first person shooters (FPS) all that much. But, I can say that I am very much looking forward to the future games that will use its graphics engine. In the past, some pretty spectacular games have come from semi-modified versions of other companies’ game engines. Deus Ex immediately comes to mind. So, when Unreal 2 hit the stores, I decided to take a look and see what the graphical gaming future holds for us.

First: the engine. Wow! It was everything I expected and more. “Stunning” is a good word for quality of Unreal 2’s graphics. I had most everything turned all the way up: 1280×1024 resolution, 32-bit color depth, with texture detail and decaling at their highest levels. The particle density setting was mid-way. The game was very playable. One graphics setting that is missing is anti-aliasing, which is the smoothing of the jagged edges of lines on the computer screen. I wasn’t terribly surprised by this since anti-aliasing is a big hit to graphics performance and I had a feeling the engine was pushing my card pretty hard already. The dynamic lighting and shadowing of the game are just plain beautiful. The textures are rich and colorful. The polygon count of the models seems adequate so that fairly complex models can be well-represented and still achieve a decent frame rate. The graphics engine in this game is first-rate. For the game, the graphics choices were good enough to show of the engine well. The particle and weapons effects were really nice. Lights seemed well-placed, the textures and models were well-done. Although, it is probably a little too colorful for a space game (think Walt Disney does Babylon 5).

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/unreal2/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]The sound effects added some nice atmosphere to the game and were well-placed. Far-off monsters howled and croaked in the thunder and rain of the swamp. Bullets ricocheted off walls and heated battles in enclosed areas had a crazy-ass-shooting -everything-that-moves chaotic feeling to them. I had EAX enabled, but couldn’t tell if it was ever used properly. The music was appropriate, but nothing particularly special. The voice acting was not very good. NOTE: if you experience sound-related crashes and are using EAX, there is a beta patch available that may reduce the problems. It did not help my crashing at all.

As stated earlier, Unreal 2 is a first-person shooter. Plain and simple. It uses the standard W-A-S-D control scheme so it is pretty easy to jump right in. No manual required. It handles really smoothly. There is a head bob control to control how much the camera bounces when you run. And there is also a dodge sensitivity adjustment, just in case you don’t like accidentally double-forwarding a stop-drop-and-roll right into a monster’s waiting maw.

As far as FPS’ go, it seems pretty run-of-the-mill. I did not find it particularly challenging. The monster AI was not bad but neither was it very good. The game resorted to the traditional triggered scripts and monster spawning, as well as on occasional jumping puzzle. *yawn* The missions and maps were 100% linear, as expected. The entire game is pretty much plow your way through 1 hallway at a time, press the candy-like red button at the end, and on to the next cut-scene.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/unreal2/ss05_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]While Unreal 2: the engine was absofriggin beautimous[sup]1[/sup], I did not find Unreal 2; the game particularly entertaining. The only thing that kept me wanting to see the next level was the prospect of a bigger gun. That… and boobies. Aside from being a snoozer of a game, the game suffers from some severe bugs. It crashes regularly (at least once every 30 minutes). The only patch for it, after 1 week, does nothing for me. Also, there is no multiplayer. That was probably by design. But, why the hell would anyone release a FPS without multiplayer? So, with all of these problems, it was impossible for me to play more than a few missions into the game.

Alas, I cannot recommend anyone buying this game. Although the game engine seems straight from heaven, the game content is just not much fun. If you absolutely must purchase this game, wait a month for the price to come down and a few patches to be released. I do indeed look forward to the future games that will use the Unreal 2 engine.

[sup]1[/sup] i.e. “really damn pretty”

Grand Theft Auto 3

February 6, 2003

PC / Reviews / by Tito Jackson Make a comment! / Tweet it!

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/gta3/cover.jpg[/floatleft]One day, a good friend of mine introduced me to a game called “Grand Theft Auto: Vice City” for the Playstation 2. I got to playing it, walking around the city, shooting people at random, stealing cars whenever I felt like it, and trying to pick up hookers. Just from that, I was hooked. The gaming experience was so fun that I had a constant itch to go out and buy [b]Grand Theft Auto 3[/b] for the [b]PC[/b]. I finally caved in and threw the sombitch on my computer, and I’ve been badly addicted ever since.

Grand Theft Auto for the PC is quite a game, let me tell you what. Note, though, that I never played GTA3 for the Playstation 2, so I can’t tell you if the PC game is like the Playstation 2 game or not? But I can say that the gameplay is very similar to Vice City, although the city of Liberty City is much darker in colors than Vice City is.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/gta3/ss02_thumb.jpg[/floatright]If you’ve never played Grand Theft Auto before, the trick is that you’re some thug, fresh out of jail, and that your goal is to make money in life by doing special “jobs” for people. Those “jobs” range from picking up hookers for the police, humiliating gangsters, blowing up mobster’s cars, or just killing a person for someone. That’s how you make your big money. Now, you can shoot people on the street to get chump change, or even run over a hooker to get your money back, but the jobs are how you beat the game and make your best money.

And there are a crapload of jobs to take, too. Plus, there are other things to do. You can steal a cab and take fares as a mission. You can steal a fire truck and put out fires as a mission. Then, you’ll be in a long search for hidden packages, all 100 of them. This game, along with the PSX 2 Grand Theft Autos, will take a long time for you to beat. Hell, I’ve put many hours into GTA 3 for the PC already, and I’ve only put a small dent into the game, thus far.

The graphics for this game are top notch. Rockstar Games has done a great job on the graphics for the recent GTA games, putting a lot of realism into their people, buildings, scenary, and vehicles. The sound is great as well. Everything from gunshots, to the motors, to the people on the sidewalks. Crystal clear.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/gta3/ss04_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]From what I know and assume, GTA 3 for the PC has everything that the Playstation 2 game has, but possibly more. One feature I know Playstation does not have is the Mp3 radio station. You can store ANY mp3 file of your choosing in this folder, and when you’re on the road with a stolen vehicle, you can change the radio to the Mp3 station, and your music will play. If you’re just “dicking around” in the game, it’s fun to listen to your own music while you drive around the city like a madman. Awesome feature.

This PC game may not be for everybody. No, I’m not talking about the violence or content of the game. If you don’t like it, don’t buy it. If you’re a parent, keep this game away from your kids. ‘Nuff said. But what I mean is the computer requirements to hold this game. Here are the specifications that the box [b]recommends[/b]: Windows 98 and up, 700 Mhz Pentium Processor, 128 MB of RAM, 8X Speed CD Rom, 700 MB of free space, and a few other things.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/gta3/ss05_thumb.jpg[/floatright]My school computer has these requirements, BUT still experiences slowdown every once in a while. I recommend not giving into the “minimum requirements” that are listed on the side of the box, because that could be disasterous and frustrating to deal with. If you have a Playstation 2, buy GTA 3 or Vice City before the PC version, unless you have a high powered computer and would love the Mp3 radio station feature.

For better gameplay, too, I recommend getting a USB controller. I have the Microsoft Sidewinder, and it’s pretty good overall. Playing with the mouse or keyboard can be hell, so I highly recommend getting a game controller to enhance your fun much more.

[b][u]CONCLUSION:[/u][/b] Mighty fine game we have here on the PC. Sure, I’ll probably go to hell for enjoying such a real game, but oh well. It’s all fun and games to me, and this is one of the most fun games I’ve ever played. Kudos to Rockstar Games for inventing such a great new concept in the video game market, and I hope they keep it up. I just hope it doesn’t invent a new breed of criminals in 10 years or so.

[u][b]TITO STATS (0 to 5 scale)[/b][/u]
Graphics: 4.5
Sound: 5.0
Control: 4.0
Challenge: 5.0
Fun Factor: 5.0

Email Mr. Tito at [email protected].

No One Lives Forever 2

February 4, 2003

PC / Reviews / by Shane Quast Make a comment! / Tweet it!

Every once in awhile you come across a game that you just feel good about from the second you put the disk in. You can’t really explain it, but somehow even the install screen manages to keep you in awe. The game is great from beginning to end and you’re instantly in love. [url=http://nolf2.sierra.com]No One Lives Forever 2[/url] is definitely this type of game. Having never heard much about it and never having played NOLF I didn’t have much interest in this game until one of the guys from [url=http://www.paladin-its.com]Paladin[/url] giving it “game of the year” hype. Regular visitors to the site know that I’ve been on a bit of a gaming exodus lately, for some reason I’ve felt the need to try out genres that I typically haven’t enjoyed in the past. I even found myself spending my free time immersed in Final Fantasy VII. So when I heard so many positive things about a game in such a short amount of time I figured it was time to give the old “sneaker/ spy” genre another go.

In my opinion there are two basic schools of spy work. One is the “sneaker” style, you might find someone like James Bond employing this tactic. You know the type, the guy slips into the party undetected to snap some pictures of a secret lair hidden under the bathtub. The other school of spying I like to call the “Run n’ Gun.” Obviously the Run n’ Gun is self-explanatory. For some reason game developers seem to feel that everyone prefers the sneaker style and they design their games accordingly. This has really turned me off to spy games in the past, because I would much rather sit up on a peak and snipe everyone before I smash my way into the party with crossbow in hand. Instead of forcing you to do things a certain way, the game developers at Sierra decided to give the player the option. Each mission can be completed by using the “sneaker” tactic or the “Run n’ Gun.” Giving the user the ability to complete the objective the way they want to complete it is what it’s all about. Many spy games I’ve played in the past give you one way to do something and give you a “this is the only way to do it because I said so” attitude. Allowing for various ways to complete a mission paved the way for endless hours of replay value. Props to Sierra games for letting me decide what type of spy I want to be.

Even though I was playing NOLF2 on a GeForce 2 the graphics were great. NOLF2 was trying to achieve it’s own type of style with the graphics and the results were a huge success. Instead of going down the path of pre-rendered cinematics they did a somewhat cartoony/ live rendered style. It’s hard to describe, but trust me, it’s very well done. One of the major problems I’ve run into with FPS games in the past is the clipping. NOLF2 is done so well that you don’t even pause to say “Hey, there’s no clipping in this game,” because you don’t even notice. I just couldn’t possibly say enough good things about the graphics in this game. The guns look great, the enemies look great, scenery and backgrounds are perfect, footprints in the snow are great, the list could go on and on. Normally I don’t rate things on a scale, but if I had to rate the graphics on a scale from 1 to 10 I would defiantly give this game a 9.

Amazingly enough the sound matches the graphics in quality. The voice-overs are excellent and humorous, the gun sounds are fantastic, the background music doesn’t ever get annoying, and they did a great job of incorporating sound proximity. As you get closer noises get louder, like they would in real life. If you sneak around you can eavesdrop on two enemies having a conversation that might give you a good chuckle or reveal an integral part of the puzzle you are trying to solve. If you get too far out on the ice with the snow mobile you will start to hear the ice cracking. And the music and sound fits in perfectly with the style of the graphics and story. In case you are just catching on, the developers did an excellent job with this game.

Another reason that I have hated many FPS in the past is that there is just so many damn buttons you have to push to accomplish anything. The first thing I usually do when I play a new FPS on my PC is set up the controls similar to the old [url=http://www.counter-strike.net]Counter-Strike[/url] style that I used to use. In my opinion you should be able to pick up a game and be able to play it within five minutes, even if you only think you are playing but are just going through a tutorial like in [url=http://www.blizzard.com/war3]WarCraft III[/url]. NOLF2 is pretty much grab-and-go. The buttons aren’t very complicated at all and the game will tell you what you need to press from time to time. For the most part the controls make sense too, like you press “Enter” to “Use” and item; that just seems natural to me. The only weak point about the controls is that my mouse seemed to be a bit hypersensitive and not very smooth. This could be due to the optical mouse of use, or that my graphics card is outdated. I tweaked with the settings for a little while, but nothing really made a significant difference. It just takes a little getting used to, and defiantly does not deter from the game very much at all.

Ever play a game that is too hard? Ever play a game that is too easy? Either way you are pretty much going to be done with that game in a very short amount of time. I’ve been playing the Single Player mode of NOLF2 on easy mode and the difficulty is nothing short of perfect. The only time I’ve had to play has been at night after work, and it will usually take me about two or three nights to beat each level. You can also save your game in the middle of a level and resume there later without having to restart the whole level. You’ll find this feature pretty handy because it will take you awhile to beat some of the levels. As you progress further into the game new enemies are introduced and they increase in difficulty, bigger and badder guns come into the picture as well.

While I haven’t had time to play the multiplayer mode much the single player mode is enough to make this game great. NOLF2 brings back the joy I used to have for video games when I was a kid and to be totally honest is one of the most fun games I have ever played. There is enough variety in the missions to not feel monotonous, and once I learned how to use the compass right I didn’t spend a lot of time wondering where I was supposed to be going. This is one of those games that you can’t wait to get home and play because you can’t wait to see what’s going to happen next. And of course I can’t say enough about being able to pin a ninja to a wall with an arrow shot from a crossbow. Few things in life bring a gamer as much pleasure as scoring a headshot with a sniper rifle from 300 yards away.

Again, I hate to go to the rating scale, but this game is as close to a ten as you could possibly get. NOLF2 is a must own for fans of spy games, FPS or hell if you like games at all you need to have this game! I am still a huge fan of WarCraft III but this game defiantly deserved GameSpy’s game of the year award with all the new ground it broke. NOLF2 has earned itself a special place in my heart and I will be using it as a standard for PC FPS games in the future. Go buy this game!

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