The Fox Blog

This game has created a controversy in Lebanon ever since it was released a couple of months ago. You play the role of American Soldiers deployed in Beirut and combating enemy troops’ (Terrorists, Syrian Army…) occupation of the city during the Lebanese Civil War.

There’s nothing new about the gameplay which already exists on previous Close Combat releases and other several FPS games. The theme however is new: Beirut has been almost modeled exactly as a lot like and the game required the expertise of military personnel. Site’s description:

First to Fight is a tactical first-person shooter in which you lead a four-man fire team in close-quarters urban combat in the streets and buildings of Beirut. It was created with the help of more than 40 active-duty U.S. Marines fresh from firefights in the Middle East and will be used by the United States Marine Corps for training.

Nice screenshots and trailers, as a well as a very-complete fan kit are available to download on the Official First Fight Web Site. Too bad there’s no free demo to have a preview of the game, the only way to test it is to buy it.

I’m not sure if “exceptional” is enough for describing this game. Fahrenheit (aka Indigo Prophecy) is a one of a kind RPG game by Atari, not just because of the content but also because of the incredible gameplay. It’s not a static game where you have to perform specific actions in order to finish the game. Actually, the way you play, “truly play” determines what happens next and how the story will end, I completely love this new gaming concept. So you’ll never get bored playing it once, twice or three times. The game script is also excessively rich, “Quality stuff”, good story line and characters performance.

The story starts in a regular American diner. You play Lucas Kane, who possessed at first by an extraordinary spirit, hits a man three times with a knife cutting his three main arteries leading to the heart. Your first task is to escape the diner before anyone discovers the body and reports to the police. Throughout the game, Kane must find out what happened to him on that night which completely changed his life and turned it upside down on a cold winter night - does Fahrenheit has something to do with it?

You’ll play the game as Lucas Kane, as well as many other characters including a sexy-looking cop called Carla Valenti and a weird-looking fellow who claims to be 2000 years old. Believe me when I say that you’re making up the story not just following a pre-defined path the characters should follow in order to reach the ending credits – even the credits are great. I’ll give two-thumbs up for the graphics and the animated scenes in the game. Extensive work was done on the scenes, just the way it’s done in movies using motion capture – did I mention that you’ll find make-of movies and art in the Bonus zone?. The game was done in association with the French institute of cinematography, serious people made in Europe. It’s as if you were watching an action movie only that you’re controlling the actors.

A small problem I faced when playing the game: you reach a point where using your keyboard brutally becomes a necessity, some actions cannot be completed unless you just focus 100 % on the screen and rip off your keyboard keys. You’re probably wondering what I’m talking about, you’ll have to play the game to answer your question.

Good thing you can download a demo version from the Official Fahrenheit Web Site to get a taste of what the game is like. Try it, you’ve got nothing to lose. And if you like it, well just buy it, you’ll be happy to spend the most useful dollars on PC games this year.

Finally! A new expansion for World of Warcraft is to be released soon. People were starting to get bored with the game; some players have even decided to stop playing. They probably reached Level 60, discovered every area on the continents, killed every deadly monster on their way and collected most of the items. Well let’s get obvious, once you finish all the main quests – you’d have to be a daily player for a couple of month in able to do that – and that you spend your time killing low level players, that’s no fun anymore. In the middle of it all, some people would just never stop playing because they’re simply addicted to it – hell yes!

“World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade” is the name of the expansion; it was confirmed by Blizzard earlier this week and a mini site for the game is already set. A new race, the Magical Blood Elves, seem to be the center of attention of the update. They’re the elves gone bad, using demonic means for magic and joining the Horde in order to reach the promised land of the Outland… In the mean time, here are some of the features offered in the pack:
- Players can now reach level 70 (was 60 previously)
- Two new races: one alliance (still unknown) and one horde (Blood Elves). This increases the total number of races to be chosen from to 10, 5 in each clan.
- A new continent (called the Outland) that can be reached from Kalimdor or Azeroth using Dark Portals. It will probably be the starting point of one of the new races.
- New profession: Jewelcrafting.
- New dangerous monsters and flying mounts.
- Hundred of new quests, items…

A part of the expansion will be available to current players of World of Warcraft. However, in order to benefit from all the features of “The Burning Crusade” including the new continent, the expansion pack should be purchased. In other words, it’s a new expansion pack that you’d have to buy; watching the number of players currently playing (2 000 000 – that’s 2 MILLIONS), Blizzard should be out of stock 15 min after the release of the game – lol

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade Official Site

There are some games you never get bored off. Although they might be old, 2D or even in 16 colors, you just can’t stop playing. Well I’m talking about a specific category of games, the one common-users decided to classify as abandonware. “Abandon” for “abandoned” and “ware” for “software” – duh !, these are not games that have lost their family or something, they’re just old games, let’s say everything up to 1995.

You can get most of the old games on the net for free, or by paying a symbolic tribute (not exceeding $10). Here’s a nice site you should visit: The-Underdogs.org
This site, also know as HOTU (Home of The Underdogs) has been online for I don’t know how many years, it’s managed by a private fellow in Bosnia I think and the list of games they provide doesn’t stop expanding. I got from the site several games I used to play on my first computer, which I’ve lost obviously due to lack of data space back then (the PC had a 700 Mb hard disk).

The site is very well designed and is regularly updated. They also have a “Wanted List” where the wanted games are listed, a community forum, and provide several game tools such as manuals, solutions and so on…

My all-time favorite abandonware: Street Rod, Pizza Tycoon, Transport Tycoon Deluxe

This is probably the most famous strategy game known among gamers (and non-gamers!). Ever since Command & Conquer (“The Original”), the game has come a long way with Red Alert, Red Alert 2 and Generals – which is relatively old compared to other current hits since it’s already 2 years old. Well, you never forget some old games (some of which are even classified as abandon ware). The story is that I’ve started playing Generals a couple of days ago. The game was sitting on my desk for almost a year now and time was not a luxury during that period so all it did is eat dust.

I’ve already finished the campaigns missions which I must admit, although boring a bit, extensively explore all the units, buildings and other issues the game can offer. So if you’re still new to Generals, you should start with playing the campaigns missions, they’ve been a great help for me in order to know what are the strong points and weaknesses of each nation. Talking about the nations let me talk about what the game is about. Well first of all it’s a strategy game (you should at least know that, the game was voted the best 2003 strategy game). Another famous game you could compare it too is Warcraft III.

Three nations (countries, territories, clans… call them whatever you want) face each other in the game:
- U.S.A.: this nation exists in the Command and Conquer series ever since it was created. Let’s face it, the U.S. army has the strongest weaponry in the world, no doubt they should play a big part in the game.
Units: The U.S.A. has a very strong air force (some of the planes available: Raptor, Stealth Fighter) and a powerful ground and tank army.
Special Weapon: Practical Uplink Cannon.

- China: the second greatest nation, in my opinion, today. Ten years ago, the cold war was opposing the western world (headed by the U.S.A.) and the eastern world (headed by the U.S.S.R.). Today, the most notable division we could talk about is between China and the U.S.A. (economically rather than military-related).
Units: China has powerful but slow and expensive tanks; its ground force is acceptable. As for its air force, it’s less sophisticated than the U.S.A.’s one.
Special Weapon: Nuclear Missile.

- GLA (Global Liberation Army): the nearest similar country that could be considered to be represented by the GLA is Iraq and more generally Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Iran…).
Units: The ground troops of the GLA are the most powerful, their tanks are very cheap and the least powerful but very strong if used efficiently. As for the air force, well GLA doesn’t have any.
Special Weapon: Scud Storm.

The game graphics are great, could be better of course (well today, graphics are more real than reality). The music in the game is also superb. Briefly, the game play is just great, assuming you have the right hardware equipment (1.5 Ghz, 256 Mb Ram and 32 Mb Graphic card should be more than enough).

Download Command & Conquers Generals Demo
Command & Conquers Generals Official Web Site