Blazkowicz is back!

Great news today! I found out that Raven Software along with the legendary id guys are about to launch Wolfenstein, the 5^th major title (excluding all expansions and special editions) in the epic series for the pc!

The aspect that appealed to me most in Return to Castle Wolfenstein was the wicked -almost– unreal story-line and it’s atmosphere. Don’t forget that RTCW was released way back in 2001 and being powered by id software’s Quake III arena engine worked miracles for it, at least that’s what we were saying back then.

Epic video game! One of my most favorite 1st person shooters of all time! Mixing a tremendous atmosphere with an eerie story-line that involves Nazi warfare, the occult and bioengineered monsters, it captivated my interest for a long time! Oh and how could I forget the elite -full leather clad– commando babes ?

Death Track – Ressurection

Does anyone remember DeathTrack
, an ancient (1989) DOS game by Dynamix Inc.? Well, I do! In fact I loved DeathTrack! It was really brutal (back then) and fun to play with. The story couldn’t be more simpler: buy a sports car, beef it up with armor and cannons, guns, missiles and other firepower goodies, enter the races and eliminate your opponents and while you’re at it try to complete some laps just as an excuse to say that you’ve raced! Amazing game! I still remember those all-nighters in front of my Amstrad 1512pc playing it with 4 glorious colours! It was either that or Rogue (Epyx, 1983) that pulled off the night. Deathtrack did not have an ending, and the vehicle selection was really limited, but it brought the racing/fighting concept to light and it played extremely well! And as far as I’m concerned it is one of my most favourite games of all time!

Luck has it that I’ve surfed in 1C’s website tonight. 1C company is a well known Russian game publisher with some very good releases under their belts. So as I was looking on some info about UAZ 4X4 Racing, my eyes stopped when I saw this title in the forthcoming section: Death Track Ressurection!

Aquadelic GT: Wet Dreams

Speedboats is an ‘on and off’ interest of mine; I do not think about them all the time like I do about cars:) but whenever I see a photo or a video of a speedboat I get really excited by those long blade-like shaped boats and the humongous splashes of water behind them. It’s pure speed combined with technicality, all being wrapped up in fabulous glossy excitement!

The colors, the aggressive boat shapes, the monstrous engines roar, the taming of the unpredictable water surface, the speed, it’s all pure stimulation for the mind and soul.

Although Aquadelic GT is a brand new release (Jan. 2008), my relation with it dates back one and a half year, when Aquadelic GT was known simply as Aquadelic and was available as a free demo of a “maybe” forthcoming release! The moment I saw the first screenshots of Aquadelic, I knew I really wanted this one, even if it was crap in terms of gameplay. The graphics of the game seemed to be way too good!

Truckers Of The Apocalypse

Hard Truck Apocalypse is one of the latest releases in the long Hard Truck Series. You might know the games in the franchise as Hard Truck – 18 Wheels Of Steel, or Hard Truck Haulin’. Their basic concept was to simulate the trucking/hauling business by giving more attention to the actual driving than the actual financial and bureaucratic elements involved in the real profession. The player was beginning the game with a beaten up rig and the aim was to build up reputation and eventually buy more trucks, hire drivers etc in making a large transport company. There was no ending in the game unless you had lost all your money and your only truck was terribly damaged, something that made you loose interest in the game after a while, cause all you could do was to transport goods from one city to another and gain more profit and that was it. No storyline, no real substance, nothing to keep you going for long. Product life cycle equalled to one week on your hard drive then back to the box and of to the self to catch dust . In that vein several titles came out: Hard Truck 18 Wheels of Steel, Hard Truck 18 Wheels of Steel Across America, Hard Truck – Pedal To The Metal and finally the recent (and pinnacle title, in my opinion) Haulin’.

Hard Truck Apocalypse is something completely different and new to the Hard Truck series. For one, it does not play the same, nor does it feel the same as the rest of the games in the series. Best of all, H.T. Apocalypse finally has a storyline to follow! And this storyline comes in 2 varieties according to how you start off the game. It also has a huge map for you to explore!

Coin-ops of the 80’s – Top 20

Here’s a list of my favorite coin-op arcades of the late 70’s to the early 90’s when I actually stopped visiting arcades! The year number in the brackets is the official release date of the machine, not the year I’ve seen/played it). The list is loosely based on memory and I’ll put some pictures when I find them and maybe add a few more games if I remember them:

1. Can’t remember the title -will find it- it was a car game (70’s)
2. Space Invaders (1979)(of course!)

Moon Patrol – The New Path

If there’s one game I really loved in the coin-op arcades (and spent fortunes on it) that was Moon Patrol.

The scenario was about a little space-buggy which was running on the surface of a hostile planet and the player had to shoot all alien vehicles and avoid all physical obstacles such as craters, rocks, boulders etc. The buggy could make jumps and had two guns, one shooting front and one shooting upwards. I really don’t know why but the whole concept appealed to me more than anything else that era (1986-88 perhaps). And I also remember that I was playing this a lot during my summer vacations in the island of Naxos (along with Pole Position).

Hellgate London

Hellgate London is what I’m spending most of my time nowadays.

On it’s core, Hellgate London is more an RPG with some shooter elements. Therefore you have all the RPG goodness and context, dressed as a mediocre 1st or 3rd person (your choice) shooter.

Following the tradition of good RPGs you have the option to choose from a variety of characters and create your own character based on their skills. A few base character options are available such as: Marksman, Guardian, Swordsman, Summoner (mage) etc. Each character has unique dress code and weapon skills. For example should you want to take the clean shooter approach (as I did) you should choose the Marksman, or woman, since you have options to further customise your character as to their gender, skin colour, hair style, hair colour, body size etc. These customisations won’t affect the gameplay so much as they aim more to your visual liking rather than the game’s mechanics. I should guess that female characters have less strength than their male versions in favour of their agility.