By Leif Johnson PC Reviews Feb 20, 2013 12:16 PM You know things are bad when you start to sympathize with hellspawn. At first I acknowledged my in-game avatar, demon lord of the depths Baal-Abaddon, only with the intended smirks and half-laughs warranted by his dialog. But in time I came to feel a kinship with him as we braved Impire's clumsy micromanagement in search of hard-won glory. By the sixth hour, I was sure we were both in a place where we didn't want to be, but no matter how repetitive or boring the circumstances became, I could take comfort in the knowledge that my new scaly friend and I were in this mess together. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 20, 2013 12:03 PM So, we didn't like Aliens: Colonial Marines. Nor did most other people. But what if there had been another Aliens game entirely? What if Obsidian had made an RPG in the Aliens universe? Well, thanks to this leaked footage of a very early prototype of Aliens: Crucible, we're lucky enough to see more or less what that would have looked like. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 20, 2013 11:09 AM For me, summertime is about one thing: Grillin' up some delicious, delicious meat. Pork is among my favorites. However, I suspect that Amnesia: A Machine For Pigs won't exactly whet my appetite for BBQ. The sequel to the amazing Amnesia: The Dark Descent is officially due out this summer. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 20, 2013 10:43 AM R. Kelly would be proud of Firefall. Rather than just accept that the shooter's players would be stuck to the ground, they believed they could fly. Those tend to help. This new trailer shows off a bit of what's possible with the things strapped to your back. By Mike Sharkey PC Articles Feb 20, 2013 10:29 AM According to 20th Century Fox and Gearbox, Aliens: Colonial Marines is part of the official Alien series canon. That means the disastrously bad shooter, which takes place shortly after the end of 1986's Aliens, has ramifications on 1992's Alien 3 and 1997's Alien Resurrection which didn't do the lore any favors either. Here are my three biggest problems with this incredibly damaging new version of the Alien lore. Note: We're about to delve into MAJOR SPOILER territory. By Mike Sharkey PC News Feb 20, 2013 9:10 AM Commence game jam! Minecraft studio Mojang, a group of indie studios, and the folks behind the Humble Bundle have teamed up for Mojam 2, a 78-hour game jam that starts right now. Watch along via TwitchTV and be prepared to pay what you want for any new pixelated creations that catch your eye. By Mike Sharkey PC News Feb 20, 2013 7:28 AM Oh, hello there, new game from Square Enix. Didn't see you lurking in the shadows back there. An unromantic videogame spin on Patrick Swayze's seminal work, Ghost, perhaps? Whatever it is, I'm interested in learning more about Murdered: Soul Suspect. By Mike Sharkey PC News Feb 20, 2013 6:50 AM EA and DICE kinda sorta announced Battlefield 4 back in July when they were shilling for Medal of Honor Warfighter. Preorder Warfighter, get access to the BF4 beta, the deal went. Seven months later, it appears we're finally about to learn more about the next installment in the shooter franchise, because EA and DICE are now showing off Battlefield 4 behind closed doors and an official reveal appears imminent. By Andy Mahood PC Articles Feb 19, 2013 2:44 PM Despite the popularity of '90s classics like Wing Commander, X-Wing vs Tie Fighter, and Freespace, the combat space sim genre has been as dormant as a white dwarf for more than a decade. Thanks to crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, however, there may be some light at the end of the wormhole for Luke Skywalker and Buck Rogers wannabes. By Matthew Rorie PC Articles Feb 19, 2013 1:40 PM The original Crysis was one of the most graphically intensive games ever released on the PC, pushing the boundaries of what most graphics cards could handle even years after it arrived. Crytek's continuing to live on the edge with the release of Crysis 3, which thankfully ships with a much broader suite of graphical options than Crysis 2 originally possessed. As such, I've found myself clicking my way over to Steam to pick up the new Assassin's Creed 3 DLC, The Tyranny of King Washington Episode 1: The Infamy. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got shackles to throw off. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 19, 2013 11:25 AM I love the generosity of many indie developers. They really just want you to play their games. The latest in this trend of giving devs is Arcen Games, the team behind A Valley Without Wind. As of today, they've launched A Valley Without Wind 2, and are giving it away for free to anyone who purchased the first game. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 19, 2013 10:22 AM Remember World of StarCraft? How about StarCraft Universe? If you remember one of those, you remember them both, because they're the same game, just renamed after some legal disputes with Blizzard. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 19, 2013 9:58 AM Here's one thing I won't be doing in March of the Eagles, which launches today: invading Russia. I remember my history classes, and that never ends well. There's way too many people there, it's way too cold, and my Napoleonic-era soldiers aren't anywhere near ready for that sort of fight. I think I'll go ahead and let them do their own thing while I take the rest of Europe. Blizzard unexpectedly canceled its annual show last year to focus on actually making games, much to the chagrin of purple-painted night elves everywhere. The convention hiatus will end in November when Blizzard opens the doors to the Anaheim Convention Center for the seventh BlizzCon. By Matthew Rorie PC Reviews Feb 19, 2013 6:00 AM Let's get this clear up front: Crysis 3 is a better first-person shooter than Crysis 2 in almost every way. Gameplay is more robust and varied, the storytelling is more mature, and it's often visually stunning. Unfortunately, it's also not very ambitious: it leans heavily on ideas already established by better games, and as such isn't an especially remarkable experience. Its reach might exceed its grasp in a few key areas, but Crysis 3 is still a largely enjoyable excuse to take a trip to post-apocalyptic New York. By Mike Sharkey PC News Feb 19, 2013 5:39 AM Gamers have learned not to expect much from co-op AI companions. Keep up, don't block doorways, and throw out the occasional one-liner is about the best we can hope for. Irrational Games will attempt to raise the co-op AI bar with its time-and-space-tearing partner, Elizabeth, in BioShock Infinite, and as the latest trailer demonstrates, she will, at the very least, pack a powerful punch. I really like the sense of constant danger their presence provides. It seems that others feel the same way, as Ubisoft is implementing a patch that will allow us to reset every last one of them, a feature apparently requested heavily by players. Oh, and there's some other stuff too. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 18, 2013 1:05 PM It's a good time to be a fan of sword fighting in games. We've got Chivalry: Medieval Warfare, War of the Roses, and now Blade Symphony, as spotted by Rock Paper Shotgun. That means flips, dives, and flying slashes. Soon, all that goodness will be on Steam. By Taylor Cocke PC News Feb 18, 2013 11:31 AM When I was but a young child, my father tried to make me understand the value of a dollar. I'll cut out the middle of the story, but the result of the lesson is my ability to wait until games are on sale before I buy them. We appreciate the mod, and think it's pretty great. You really didn't have to go through all this trouble of making the standalone product so darn awesome. The fact that you've been completely remaking the zombie survival shooter from the ground up is completely unnecessary. Oh, you went ahead and did it anyway? Well, you're just the best. By Katie Williams PC News Feb 17, 2013 3:57 PM I like how this faction-by-faction reveal of Total War: Rome 2 gets a little more barbaric each time. We've seen plush feathered headdresses devolve into ankle-tattoos-on-shields and now? People are totally wearing dogs on their heads. Say hello to the Suebi, a tribe so barbaric that they seem a-okay with sauntering into battle shirtless. By Katie Williams PC News Feb 17, 2013 12:27 PM Huggable-looking 16-bit critters? Yeah, that's not what I'd have expected to find on the front page of a certain famed torrent website either. Yes, it's a videogame promo for Zelda-esque indie adventure Anodyne, but it's also sort of an interesting remark on the state of videogame piracy.
