You would think so. I didn't read Gamespot or Eurogamers reviews, but the IGN one just said it was generic and average, did nothing new, but wasn't particularly buggy. So the rating is completely random. The problem with those big sites is 1 person does the review. They need to have multiple opinions because clearly that 1 person shouldn't be playing old skool shooters and reviewing them. 

You would think so. I didn't read Gamespot or Eurogamers reviews, but the IGN one just said it was generic and average, did nothing new, but wasn't particularly buggy. So the rating is completely random. The problem with those big sites is 1 person does the review. They need to have multiple opinions because clearly that 1 person shouldn't be playing old skool shooters and reviewing them. 

You would think so. I didn't read Gamespot or Eurogamers reviews, but the IGN one just said it was generic and average, did nothing new, but wasn't particularly buggy. So the rating is completely random. The problem with those big sites is 1 person does the review. They need to have multiple opinions because clearly that 1 person shouldn't be playing old skool shooters and reviewing them. 

You would think so. I didn't read Gamespot or Eurogamers reviews, but the IGN one just said it was generic and average, did nothing new, but wasn't particularly buggy. So the rating is completely random. The problem with those big sites is 1 person does the review. They need to have multiple opinions because clearly that 1 person shouldn't be playing old skool shooters and reviewing them. 

they want their shrimp back! 

You wouldn't think so. I read the Gamespot and Eurogamers reviews, and the IGN one just said it was awesome and groundbreaking, did everything new, but was completely buggy. So the rating is bang on. The brilliance of those big sites is lots of people do the reviews. They don't need to have solo opinions because clearly that review group should be playing nu-skool shooters and reviewing them. 

:D 

Starcraft 2 is $30 until November 28th from the Blizzard Store if anyone is interested and doesn't have it. 

For anyone interested, I did two more reviews for Secret Service (4.5/10): http://www.electricescape.com/etherealhell/reviews/2011/secret_service.php

and Turning Point: Fall Of Liberty (6.5/10): http://www.electricescape.com/etherealhell/reviews/2011/turning_point.php

Am probably gonna play History Civil War and Brothers in Arms - Hells Highway next. Both i'm expecting to suck shit. 

Shit am I the only one that reads this read?

Reviewed Brother's In Arms: Hell's Highway
http://www.electricescape.com/etherealhell/reviews/2011/biahh.php

6.5/10 

Which has an average playtime of 150 hours. 

yeah, for most games, price is the barrier for me, but i haven't gotten skyrim because my productivity will plummet into negative values and i'll probably somehow start undoing things i've accomplished. :P 

I recently got my hands on Terraria because it was super cheap on Steam and... well, nuff said. Goodbye productivity. 

by Terry Cavanagh 

i bought ubersoldier [the first one] from amazon [$3! free shipping too] and i got it last saturday.

so i installed it on my desktop [win7.64bit] and everything seemed to go ok until i was asked to restart. so i did and then i got a windows system restore screen. which was very strange.

so once i did get to windows, the ubersoldier folder was empty!

so i installed the game on my netbook [winxp] and again, no issues. restarted and nothing bad happened, but this time i cant activate. i'm asked to put the disc on the drive and activate it online, and after 2 or 3 minutes i get a error screen.

i can input a key, but there is no serial key on the manual [the screen says it should be on one of the discs, but nothing].

so i did some deep cleaning on my desktop and my notebook [from any left other drm junk] and now i'm going to download it from whatever site i can if it on.

apart from bioshock, this is the worst problem i had with drm. not even games for windows gave me any issues. the bioshock problem was similar, couldn't activate it or verify on the first try, but the second time it worked.

i'm not mad i lost $3, btu i'm kinda annoyed now i have to get it the illegal way to play it. all for a cheap game that might end up being crappy & buggy. :) 

that this is why we should have drm free games! seriously, online activations are the most evil shit ever created by publishers. 

Bought the two Crusader titles during the sales on gog.com! I already own them with the collection big box, but this way was less hassle to install them again. And they're fun games aside from the clunky controls.

Also grabbed Descent 1 & 2 from there, first time giving those a spin. Literally. Can get disorientating since I'm not used to that amount of movement. I did get annoyed with Descent 2 though once booting it up, with it's obnoxiously loud metal track suddenly being pierced through my ears while I was on my headset at the time... can't even turn the volume for it down in the settings :/ 

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/12/10/on-the-importance-of-s-t-a-l-k-e-r/

I agree with this so much. I had only discovered STALKER semi-recently, but it is one of the best games I ever played, and it tops all FPS I ever played, too.

I especially agree about the cultural observations. Crappy games get made mainly because their designers have no cultural background to draw from, and this is part of the reason why STALKER was so good. It drew from a strong background. 

yeah, GoG is pretty awesome because they provide all the stuff like dosbox or whatever haxoring is needed to run the game right from the download.

also, i'll probably remember "get out of here, stalker" until the day i die. :P
it's really really unfortunate stalker had some many technical issues at launch as well as being constantly pushed back on it's release date.
otoh, i'd say this is a good example of game, who's dev team overreached, and managed to make something truly interesting out of it despite the problems. 

There are (community) patches which make all three games run pretty much bug-free, even Clear Sky. 

I'm pretty sure you can turn down the volume in the settings. Did you try the faithful new Engine d2x-rebirth? 

I actually tried those engines recently and they work like a charm. The music volume wouldn't decrease at all when running through dosbox (gog's setup) but the music is different here compared to what I hear when using the port, perhaps MIDI, which is much nicer. I'm guessing the gog setup uses CD audio? From what I've heard, I honestly don't like it, too obnoxiously loud and heavy for my tastes. 

for descent 2, it's preferable as there are only 4 midi songs for the whole game (not counting intro and credits). :(
shame too, cause the midi music is really good. 

Since you are on a mission to play mediocre or underrated shooters, have you tried Damnation? Its another game that looked interesting in previews, but got completely trashed by the reviews and gamer public. 

Ok here's a review of White Gold: War in Paradise (aka Xenus II), which is an open-world action/rpg.

http://www.etherealhell.com/etherealhell/reviews/2011/xenus_white_gold.php

It was pretty good for the first 10 hours, but I got bored after that. 5.5/10. Probably worth playing for those into RPGs.

Lightmill: Yep I know the one you mean. It actually looked pretty good in youtube videos. I haven't played it... i'm still working on 2008 games and it's released in 2009. But I'm definitely gonna play it next year sometime.