Hotline Miami is an indie game that looks like the original GTA, is as difficult as Super Meat Boy with 8-bit music and a trippy storyline casting you as a hitman who receive hits via your voicemail. The game starts out with you in your house, while you direct your player to [...]]]>

More bloody than Breaking Bad

Hotline Miami is an indie game that looks like the original GTA, is as difficult as Super Meat Boy with 8-bit music and a trippy storyline casting you as a hitman who receive hits via your voicemail. The game starts out with you in your house, while you direct your player to the phone to answer an ambiguous and innocuous voice message that requests that you go do some errand. What it really wants you to do is to go kill a person, and off you go in your DeLorean.

Dial-a-murder! Be discreet!

The game is is reminiscent of the difficulty of Super Meat Boy because it requires a lot of well planned, well timed acts. You can’t simply go in and expect to win by just shooting everyone. In fact, there are a number of methods to kill someone – you can use a melee attack, throw an object (both to attract attention and to knock someone to the ground), or shoot your gun. Each has different consequences – the most significant being shooting, which attracts the attention of everyone in the level. Melee attacks don’t make a ruckus and attract attention, but they are rather useless if you’re confronted with a bunch of weapon.

This is where strategy comes in. However, unless you go out of your way to read some guide, you’ll never know what the best way to proceed is until you’ve played through the level for a few times. And play the same level a few times you will… sometimes to the point of frustration.

The game runs moderately well, FPS varies depending on the number of characters in the level.

How you kill someone has a bearing on the number of points you get.

Oddly enough, this is a game which I would recommend playing on a netbook because it is slower. When I played the game on my regular PC, it was really fast paced. With a more powerful computer, it feels like you are forced to react faster and think on your toes more often. However, on a netbook, the lethargic processing power does play in your favour as the game slows down as more and more enemies enter the fray.

The game has some bugs with graphics as sometimes surfaces don’t show up, but otherwise, it is quite a install-and-play game. Hotline Miami is best played with a real mouse as you would be at a major disadvantage if you aren’t able to react as quickly as a mouse would allow you to.

Like

Violent, gory, fun.

Plays even better on a netbook.

Dislike

Frustrating when you have to retry time after time

Verdict

Great fun, plays even better on a netbook because of how weak the netbook is.

Gameplay: Good

Graphics smoothness: Excellent

Work needed to get game to play: None

The third installation in the Hitman series, Hitman: Contracts is one of the most difficult games to rate. On one hand, it plays exactly like a Hitman game, with all missions requiring you to kill someone, and perhaps retrieve stuff. On the other, it doesn’t seem to be better than the second Hitman [...]]]>

The third installation in the Hitman series, Hitman: Contracts is one of the most difficult games to rate. On one hand, it plays exactly like a Hitman game, with all missions requiring you to kill someone, and perhaps retrieve stuff. On the other, it doesn’t seem to be better than the second Hitman nor as polished as Hitman: Blood Money.

Contracts takes on missions from the first Hitman, some favourites that include missions in Hong Kong and Bulgaria. And unlike the first Hitman, the game has been significantly smoothed out so you don’t get the terrible bugginess. There is also a some original content in the game, such as the missions in Rotterdam.

Introduced in the second Hitman, the scoring system keeps you coming back for the Silent Assassin rating.

With the release of the Blood Money, however, Contracts feels like it offers little to fans of the Hitman series.

I have followed the Hitman series all the way from the first game, and what I noticed is that every game did deliver something special. The first introduced a whole new concept of playing the role of a Hitman, trying to do everything as stealthily as possible. The second was more interesting because of how it was widely varied. The fourth introduced slicker graphics, more realism and a wider variety of ways to kill someone.

Showering: never forget to lock your bathroom!

Contracts seems to be a remix of the first two games, without putting a finish veneer on it. It is still quite a lot of fun, especially if you liked the levels that the first Hitman offered, but didn’t want the bugs.

But that’s pretty much its only strength when compared to the rest of the Hitman series. There isn’t too strong a storyline here. It’s all a series of flashbacks.

Great for spending some time on it, but if you had the choice, go try the rest of the Hitman games first.

The game runs well on a netbook at the lowest settings, although you’d have to be prepared to play it in a non-widescreen format as the game doesn’t support that natively. It does face some slowdowns at times when there are a lot of characters in the game.

Like

Same old Hitman gameplay

Some great missions from the first game now remixed and bug-free

Dislike

Brings nothing special to the table as compared to the other Hitmans

Dated graphics

Verdict

Try Blood Money. Then Silent Assassin. Then Codename 47 before trying Contracts.

Gameplay: Fun… I guess.

Graphics: Dated.

Work needed to get game to play: Minimal.

The game feels like a mix of Jazz Jackrabbit, Deus Ex, Resident Evil and Terminator. You play as Iji, a [...]]]>

Retro? Very!

Do you like 2D-platform games with a cyberpunk, Jazz Jackrabbit style of gameplay and a story about aliens invading the earth and you’re the only cyborg left that can save the planet along with your brother?

The game feels like a mix of Jazz Jackrabbit, Deus Ex, Resident Evil and Terminator. You play as Iji, a brown-haired girl who starts with a shotgun and picks up more badass weaponry as you complete levels, and your only goal is to use them against the Tasen and Komata, both extraterrestrial species that have invaded earth and intend on killing each other, except you come into the picture as the ‘human anomaly’ and therefore both of these groups also want a piece of you.

The game is simple, you play with your arrow keys and a few buttons, with no need for a mouse at all. You shoot, dodge bullets, and hack locked storage boxes, bots and other things that will allow you access to ammunition, weaponry and weapon upgrades. You’ll collect experience points and upgrade your attributes which will allow you to carry more ammo, use more powerful weapons or have more health, etc.

Iji is sad. The truth hurts her.

Along the way, Iji will realise conspiracies that she will pick up reading logbooks written by both the Tasen and Komata. Inside both of them, they will record down tips and bits and pieces that will add to the storyline and overall appreciation of the apocalyptic world that Iji is stranded in.

Gameplay is very simple, but it is one of the most addictive freeware out there. Iji has what I call the Terraria syndrome – it might not look good, but it certainly is excellent once you’ve played it, and if you’re like me, can’t stop playing it because you wanna get to know the storyline and just love the platform-shooter gameplay. Each level, called Sectors, take about 12-minutes to play, and therefore it won’t ruin your life like Terraria will.

This game is probably better for people with some patience to read each logbook’s contents, as they can be quite lengthy for the “TL;DR” crowd who might lose out on bits of the story. Also, some other annoyances are the limited experience points system – you can only get 5-levels’ worth of upgrades each Sector, which becomes a disincentive to explore the level once you’ve hit the cap.

Kill a boss, get cool effects like a boss

Playing Iji on a netbook is no problem at all. While the game is configured for 4:3 screens, it doesn’t look one bit blurry or stretched. You just need to download the game off Daniel Remar’s website.

Like

Simple gameplay, but very addictive

Good storyline

Small size, runs excellent on a netbook

Dislike

Lots of reading!

Small annoyances such as limited levelling

Verdict

Iji is free, and it’s fun. If you like platform-shooters, and need something that will help you pass the time while you’re flying or taking the long bus home, Iji is a manageable, easy-to-play game that can last quite a while.

Tested on both ION and Intel GMA 3150

San Andreas is a notable game in the Grand Theft Auto series because it is the first to feature a black protagonist and the first to have a few cities which you’ll have to travel to and fro via a variety of methods including airplanes [...]]]>

Tested on both ION and Intel GMA 3150

San Andreas is a notable game in the Grand Theft Auto series because it is the first to feature a black protagonist and the first to have a few cities which you’ll have to travel to and fro via a variety of methods including airplanes or cars. The game starts off slow, with you trying to blend in back to the hood you came from. Once the leading faction of gangs in San Andreas, after you, CJ, come back from the East coast, you find your gang reduced to a rut. And that’s where you come in… to try to fix things.

The game is very enjoyable, but if you recently played GTA IV, you might find that San Andreas lacks polish and realism. Shooting is also less refined as is other things like crash damage and definitely graphics. But the storyline of how you get back in the hood is quite an interesting one, and then there’s the vastness of the game both in terms of space and storyline. It will keep you on your computer for quite a while.

The sad thing is that the game does not work well on anything other than Fusion processors. On the Nvidia ION 2, the frame rates were great but with one major problem – it won’t load into the main menu on the ION processor, but it will do so if you used the GMA processor instead. However, the latter means frame rates of 10 or so, with signficant slow downs. Definitely not playable. The former, on the other hand, is extremely playable, even if you stretch it all the way up to its maximum res at 1440×900. How do I know? Well, I realised that if you plugged in an external monitor, you can successfully load San Andreas and play it. There’s just no logical explanation for this!

If you know of any fix, please do contact us.

Like

Great storyline

Lengthy game

One of the more unique GTAs

Dislike

Has compatibility issues with ION, isn’t playable on GMAs

Verdict

It’s fun, but you’ll need to get past the compatibility issues with an ION or just do the right thing and get an AMD-powered netbook.

Gameplay:  Great! Not as good as GTA IV, but still up there.

Graphics: A bit dated, but extremely smooth on the ION (1400×900, 25 fps)

Work needed to get game to play: No known fix for ION 2 netbooks other than plugging in an external monitor.

The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes. [...]]]>

Multiplayer deathmatches with the Force is something new

Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast is a first- and third-person action game powered by the Quake III: Team Arena game engine. The game primarily revolves around ranged and melee combat. The player can wield classic Star Wars weapons such as blasters, lightsabers and Force powers.

The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes. The story-driven single-player is set in the Star Wars universe two years after the events of Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast’s predecessor. It follows the protagonist Kyle Katarn as he fights against the Dark Jedi Desann and his followers. The game was critically well-received on all platforms, with scores between 75 and 89/100 according to Metacritic’s composite averages.

Gameplay

The player moves through the single-player in a linear manner, meeting friendly and hostile NPCs. Friendly NPCs will occasionally assist the player in combat. In addition to combat, the campaign features a variety of puzzles.

The game starts as a shooter only, as Kyle has forsaken The Force after the events of the previous game. However, after a few missions, the player gains access to the lightsaber and some Force powers. As the single-player game progresses, the number of powers available and their level increase. Progression of Force abilities is fixed, and cannot be customized unlike the sequel, where the player chooses which powers to “level up”.

Kyle is joined by other characters throughout the game. Three of the most prominent are Jan Ors, a fellow mercenary and love interest; Lando Calrissian (voiced by Billy Dee Williams), the sophisticated baron-administrator of Cloud City seen in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi; and Luke Skywalker, protagonist of the original film trilogy and leader of the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. The player also receives help from Jedi and other New Republic soldiers. Mon Mothma, Chief-of-State of the New Republic, gives Kyle and Jan objectives during the game.

There are four main antagonists: Desann, a former Jedi who killed a fellow student before leaving the Jedi Order: Tavion, Desann’s apprentice; Galak Fyyar, one of the leaders of the Imperial Remnant; and Reelo Baruk, a crime lord posing as a “respectable garbage collector” on Nar Shaddaa. They are supported by Imperial stormtroopers, numerous thugs and Dark Jedi.

Performance On a Netbook

You won’t need the Force to play this game on a netbook, nor will you need a optical drive as the game can be gotten off Direct2Drive or Steam.

Straight off the net, JK2 plays extremely well with occasional slowdowns in areas where you have a lot of objects and massive fights. Other than that, there are no modifications you need to do to play it well, even if you have a weak Intel Atom and only 1GB of RAM.

Like

Lengthy single-player

Great use of Star Wars concepts

Good storyline

Bang-for-buck ($10 for a classic)

Runs great on a netbook

Dislike

Poor integration of single and multiplayer

Sometimes, I’d rather not have the puzzles.

Verdict

A great game that offers great value with great integration of what you like from Star Wars. You’d be amazed for what your next $10 purchase can do to cut the boredom on long commutes or flights.

Description adapted from Wikipedia