| Best Games of 2008 | 31.12.2008 | |
3. Braid [Xbox Live Arcade]
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5. Rock Band 2 [Xbox 360]
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7. World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King [PC]
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8. Grand Theft Auto 4 [Xbox 360]
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9. Professor Layton and the Curious Village [Nintendo DS]
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10. Gears of War 2 [Xbox 360]
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Stalker: Clear Sky, Fable 2, Warhammer Online, Geometry Wars Evolved 2, Pure.
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| | | Overbooked | 25.11.2007 | |
I can't remember a gaming year (and especially christmas) this good since 1998, when the original Half-Life was released. Loads of must-have titles have been released back by back, and I've ended up diligently buying them all. Now all that remains is actually playing them.
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On PC, I've been playing lots of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and The Witcher, both extremely good games. The teamplay (when it happens) in ETQW can get sublime. The Witcher, on the other hand, must be among my personal Top 5 RPG games ever, even though I still haven't managed to complete it yet (about 40-50 hours in, I'm at chapter 4). Anyhow: It has several serious bugs and crashes on my Vista pretty frequently, but still I keep on playing, because it's just THAT good. Fans of storytelling and atmosphere in games should check it out immediately.
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The unfinished pile on PC currently consists of Crysis, Call of Duty 4 and Hellgate: London. HGL is shelved because our normal MMO playing team isn't complete at the moment, COD4 and Crysis I still haven't properly begun (played a couple of levels on both games, tweaked the settings etc., then went right back to The Witcher again).
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On XBox360, the list consists of Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect and Guitar Hero 3. The first two I've only played for a bit and while both look promising, I haven't dared to quit Witcher yet - except for playing GH3 for extended periods of time. There is just something magical in the GH series; I can't stop playing it once I start. Currently I'm stuck on the final boss @ hard difficulty and Tier 7 @ expert difficulty (kind of weird that the final boss of hard is actually harder than 80% of the stuff on the expert), but I guess I'll get there eventually.
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| | | FPS Month | 16.09.2007 | |
So, I did get around to finish Stalker after all. Actually finished it in one weekend after I set my mind to it. It's a little rough on the edges with several side-quest bugs, the main storyline heavily underusing some great locations (Pripyat) and whatnot, but overall an extremely fun shooter/RPG/adventure that I enjoyed a lot. Definitely will be picking up the expansion.
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I also just finished the new Medal of Honor: Airborne on PC. I've not actively followed the MOH series for a while now (the last one I finished was the MOH: Breakthough expansion, which was already starting to suck pretty badly in comparison to the then-emerging Call of Duty series), but I have to admit - this one is good. I thoroughly enjoyed the open environments and freedom to pick your own path. The game heavily encourages stuff like staying in cover, relocating often and finding opportune flanking positions while still managing to keep it arcade-ish enough for my tastes. I might end up playing this one through for another time, just to test different strategies.
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Otherwise, I've been mostly playing the new Enemy Territory: Quake Wars demo online. Even though it doesn't seem to be able to grab me as the original RtCW multiplayer did back then, I've been playing it online more than any shooter in a couple of years. I'll have to test the new Team Fortress 2 demo as well, as the beta starts tomorrow for people like me who've already bought The Orange Box from Steam, but I have my reservations on whether it can top ETQW or not. I guess this'll be a heavy-duty FPS month, which is a good thing; haven't had those for a long while.
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| | | The Sea and Beyond | 31.08.2007 | |
Finished Bioshock last saturday, the day after the Euro launch. Pretty nice, definitely one of the better games I've played in a while; a thinking man's shooter. I did like System Shock 1-2 better though, but that's just the jaded old "seen most of it before" me talking. And considering both Shocks rank very highly on my all-time top 20 list, Bioshock doesn't seem half bad in comparison.
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Anyhow, this autumn is shaping up to be one of the finest gaming seasons ever. Extremely interesting stuff like Call of Duty 4, The Witcher, Mass Effect, Crysis and Guitar Hero 3 lined up with lots of semi-interesting games I'll probably end up getting as well. Still not feeling Halo 3 though.
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Nevertheless, recently I've been trying to come into grips with console FPS controls (once again), but I have to say I'm still not convinced. The latest experiment started with The Darkness, which I actually finished although I was never satisfied with the control system. I continued with Condemned: Criminal Origins, which proved out to be an extremely fun and gripping experience. The pad controls actually worked very nicely with the visceral hand-to-hand combat, and in the end I have to say that Condemned is a damn good FPS (console or not) and has one of the most intensive FPS combat systems ever (along with stuff like F.E.A.R. and Soldier of Fortune 2). I really did feel the fury while playing this game.
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I also got around to actually starting Gears of War properly as well, and after a bit of practice the pad controls also fit GoW pretty well, at least if you don't try to move too much during combat. Absolutely glorious graphics by the way!
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In the end where it came down to the actual choice with Bioshock, picking PC as the platform of choice was a second nature. I tried the demos on both PC and XO, and PC just came out as a very clear winner. I do miss the amazing hand-to-hand combat of Condemned while swinging the wrench in Bioshock, but that sensation couldn't be replicated in the XO version either, so I don't really feel like I'm missing anything.
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Now all I need to do is to properly start playing and finish S.T.A.L.K.E.R., which has been lying on the shelf for way too long already.
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| | | Back | 12.07.2007 | |
Hello. Spent two years in Azeroth, still recovering. I didn't have much motivation to keep this page updated during those years, so most of it is now woefully out of date. Therefore, I've decided to take most of it down for the time being. | |
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I'm keeping the Aphex Face page since it seems to generate interest in the public every now and then (occasionally even making the site go boom when the bandwidth limit is exceeded). Also, the front page can stay, although I'll nab off the old stuff - which is basically everything. During the last two years I realized the futility of trying to keep your game/record/DVD collection lists up-to-date all by yourself, since there are loads of great sites on the net that will do it for you.
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So, nowadays clicking on the "records" link will take you to my discogs.com account, which has the most accurate listing of the CD's on my shelf available. Clicking on the "games" link will take you to my mobygames.com account. I'm still working on the "movies" listing (I use the word "working" in the loosest meaning possible). I even added an Xbox Live profile tracker for the heck of it, feel free to send a friend invite if you're interested. And there you have it!
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| | | Games I've enjoyed in 2007 so far | 12.07.2007 | |
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar [PC]
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Medal of Honor: Airborne [PC]
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Penumbra Overture: Episode 1 [PC]
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Tomb Raider: Anniversary [PC]
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Trauma Center: Under the Knife [DS]
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Sam & Max episodes 1-6 [PC]
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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - The Shadow of Chernobyl [PC]
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| | | Games from 2005-2006 I only had time to play in 2007 | 12.07.2007 | |
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth [PC]
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Condemned: Criminal Origins [Xbox]
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Dark Messiah of Might & Magic [PC]
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Guitar Hero 1-2 [PS2, XO]
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Shadow of the Colossus [PS2]
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Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory [PC]
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| | | Top Ten Games of 2006 | 12.07.2007 | |
01 - 10. World of Warcraft [Blizzard, PC]
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| | | Top Ten Games of 2005 | 12.07.2007 | |
01 - 10. World of Warcraft [Blizzard, PC]
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| | | Top Ten Games of 2004 | 13.01.2005 | |
01. Half-Life 2 [Valve, PC]
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02. Thief: Deadly Shadows [Ion Storm, PC]
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03. Burnout 3: Takedown [Criterion Studios, X-Box]
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05. Gish [Chronic Logic, PC]
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06. Rallisport Challenge 2 [DICE, X-Box]
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07. Champions of Norrath: Realms of Everquest [Snowblind Studios, PS2]
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08. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas [Rockstar North, PS2]
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09. Doom 3 [id Software, PC]
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10. Jak 3 [Naughty Dog, PS2]
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