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May 12, 2006
Thoughts from 2K
Good stuff coming out of 2K games. Checked out "Bioshock" and "The Darkness," two first-person shooters that thankfully provide a lot more than just shooting the enemy.
"The Darkness" is made by Starbreeze, the wizards who put together "The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay" -- perhaps the only truly great movie-based game in recent memory. "Darkness" features a mob hitman possessed by an evil force, which gives him wicked powers every time he steps into dark areas. The demo features our mob hero summoning creatures from the floor, using dark tentacle to throw things and conjuring up a mini black hole to suck in enemies.
Sweetness personified. It's based on a comic of the same name.
"Bioshock" rocked as well, showing off an world trapped underwater that doesn't follow the usual tenets of first-person shooting -- it's not going to be linear, you start out with nothing for weapons, and you rely more on guile than reflexes. The demo showed off how instead of wiping out the creature guarding a door, you can get it into a fight with another creatures as a distraction. One lasting memory is a little girl injecting a giant needle -- twice -- into a dead body to collect a form of currency. Not disturbing at all.
I also took a look at the "Civilization IV: Warlords" expansion which gives props to great minds like Alexander the Great and Winston Churchill (a new addition), and well as "Railroads," which showed off a very easy system for laying down your own personal business empire.
That's all I can muster right now -- I'm headed off to see "Gears of War" and "Viva Pinata." Then it's "Mercenaries 2," which I hear is a must-see.
Posted by Redmond Carolipio at May 12, 2006 12:11 PM