Heroes of Might and Magic V

A turn-based strategy and role-playing game hybrid. Reinforce your town, build armies and level up your heroes to wage war against other heroes.

Release Date

Pros

The music is good and suits the game.

There is a good learn as you play tutorial during the first few missions of the single player campaign. It is quite beginner friendly.

The heroes can now attack. This is an improvement from Heroes of Might and Magic III, where they cannot. I do not know if this feature was in Heroes of Might and Magic IV as I have not played that game.

The game is now in 3D and it looks very good. You can zoom in, out and turn the camera to get better view of things. The tactical battle view can also be zoomed and turned. There are also close ups of the animations sometimes.

There are six factions, seven resource types and loads of monsters, spells and artifacts. Variety is a big strong point for HOMM5.

To help you get a grasp of all the many different things , there is in game information for everything. With a bit of reading you will know exactly how to best use your paladins or which spells to cast when.

The Heroes of Might and Magic series have the best blend of a role-playing game and a turn-based strategy game. HOMM5 continues this great hybrid gameplay. Strategy and a strong army are important, but levelling up your hero also plays a big part in the game.

The game comes with a map editor and there are lots of custom maps out there. There is a nice collection at maps4heroes.

There are also mods for the game. Check out Age of Heroes and Celestial Heavens.

There are six single player campaigns, one campaign for each faction. The whole story is quite good and flows from one faction to the next. As such, it is important to play the campaigns in order to follow the plot. If you want to try out the different factions quickly, you must get the mod that enables all the missions for all the campaigns without completing them in order. Or play a single scenario where you can choose your faction.

Cons

Wide screen is not supported properly. Everything looks fat.

Other Points

Heroes of Might and Magic V is pretty much Heroes of Might and Magic III with better graphics, better sound, better music and a few new features. Anyone familiar with HOMM3 will be right at home with HOMM5. I have never played HOMM4 so I do not know how that compares to these other two.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.60 for HOMM5.

I really liked Heroes Of Might And Magic II and III, Jagged Alliance, UFO: Enemy Unknown and XCOM: Terror From the Deep.

I have not played Heroes of Might and Magic IV.

I have only completed two out of the six campaigns and have only tried out three out of the six factions.

DRM

The game appears to be DRM free. It is strange as the manual has got serial keys in it but I have not been asked to enter it. The disc is not required in the drive to play either.

It is possible that the serial keys are required for installing the expansion packs or for playing online. Both I have not done.

Heroes of Might and Magic V is available DRM free from GOG.com.

Patches

1.60 – I am not sure why but the file is named heroes_might_magic_5_1.06_eu.exe. In the game it clearly says 1.60.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on box)

• Operation System: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• Processor: 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 or similare processor
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compliant, 128 MB DirectX-compliant, Shader 2.0-enabled
• Direct X: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)
• DVD-ROM Drive
• Hard Drive: 6GB
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Peripherals: Mouse, keyboard
• *Supported Video Cards at Time of Release (This part taken from the readme file as it was too difficult to read the tiny print of video cards)
  Desktop
  NVIDIA: (SE/GE/GS/GT/GTS/GTO/GTX/GTX+/GX2)
  NVIDIA GeForce FX 59×0
  NVIDIA GeForce 6100/6150/6200/6250/6500/6600/6610/6700/6800
  NVIDIA GeForce 7100/7200/7300/7350/7500/7600/7650/7800/7900/7950
  NVIDIA GeForce 8200/8300/8400/8500/8600/8800
  NVIDIA GeForce 9200/9300/9400/9500/9600/9800
  NVIDIA GeForce 120/130/140
  NVIDIA GeForce 250/260/275/280/285/295ATI Radeon:
  ATI Radeon 9600/9700/9800
  ATI Radeon X300/X550/X600/X700/X800/X850
  ATI Radeon X1050/X1300/X1550/X1600/X1650/X1800/X1900/X1950
  ATI Radeon HD2400/HD2600/HD2900
  ATI Radeon HD3400/HD3450/HD3650/HD3600/HD3850/HD3870
  ATI Radeon HD4300/HD4350/HD4550/HD4500/HD4600/HD4650/HD4830/HD4850/HD4870/HD4890Mobile:
  NVIDIA: (SE/G/GE/GS/GT/GTS/GTX)
  GeForce Go 7950/Go 7900/Go 7800/Go 7700/Go 7600/Go 7400/Go 7300/Go 7200/7150M/7000M
  GeForce 8800M/8700M/8600M/8400M/8200M
  GeForce 9800M/9700M/9650M/9600M/9500M/9400M/9300M/9300M/9200M/9100M
  GeForce 160M/130M/120M/110M/107M/105M/103M/102M
  GeForce 260M/280M

  Radeon:
  Mobility Radeon 9600/9700/9800
  Mobility Radeon X300/X600/X700/X800
  Mobility Radeon X1300/X1350/X1400/X1450/X1600/X1700/X1800/X1900
  Mobility Radeon X2300/HD2300/HD2400/HD2600
  Mobility Radeon X3100/X3200

Computer Played On

• Windows 7 64 bit.
• Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
• 4Gb RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb RAM
• Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones. Or Logitech G35.
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Blade Runner

A classic point-and-click adventure game based on the movie Blade Runner but with a different storyline to the movie. You are Ray McCoy a rookie blade runner that has just been assigned an animal murder case. Suspected replicants are involved, so time to earn your keep.

Release Date

Pros

A solid detective type adventure game with an excellent storyline. You have to be very observant and pickup every little clue. Although very good, I think Tex Murphy’s “Under A Killing Moon” is better.

Scenery and locations are very faithful to the movie.

The sounds are very good and also faithful to the movie. Gives the game the movie atmosphere. The speech is also excellent.

The whole game is presented like a movie with transitions between locations all with beautiful Blade Runner scenery. The transitions do get boring after a while but you can skip them which is good. You could say this game is an interactive movie… except without the video footage.

If you install using the maximum install, you do not need to swap or even put the CDs in to play the game.

There are many different ways to get through the game and different things happen depending on what you say(or what conversation setting you use), what you do, how quick you react and even whether you draw your gun or not.

Starting a new game each time, assigns different agendas to different characters, so each time you play the game, things can be different.

Cons

Because of the use of Voxels, some times things get quite pixelated. But I guess that is the price to get a game running on a very low end computer of the times.

There are action parts in the game where you have to use your gun to shoot. You use the mouse cursor to point at the target and click to shoot and to simulate recoil, the mouse cursor will move and you have to re-aim. I actually found these action bits more annoying than entertaining and wish that I could skip it.

Other Points

The only place that I am aware of where you can get Blade Runner is GOG.com.

There is some Vangelis-ish music in the game but not a lot.

Biases

I really liked The Secret Of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge, Borrowed Time and Under A Killing Moon.

I also liked Martian Memorandum, Curse of Monkey Island, Escape From Monkey Island, Indiana Jones And the Fate Of Atlantis and Simon The Sorcerer.

I did not like Dark Seed.

I really liked the Blade Runner movies. I watched the original version first followed by the director’s cut version. Both versions blew me away.

I have completed the game twice. Although I cannot remember the ending from my first play through, I do remember some things happening differently between the two play throughs.

DRM

Blade Runner is DRM free. As stated above, if you choose the maximum install, you do not need the disc in the drive to play.

Patches

There is a patch but I could not install it. It kept crashing when I tried.

I do remember playing through the whole game without a patch though.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on box)

• Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 (with service pack 3.0 or higher)
• IBM or 100% compatible Pentium 90 MHz CPU
• 16 MB RAM
• 16-bit SVGA graphics card w/2 MB video RAM
• hard drive with 175 MB available
• 4x CD-ROM drive
• Microsoft compatible Mouse and mouse driver

Computer Played On

• Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
• 2Gb RAM
• ATI Radeon X1600 256Mb RAM (laptop version)
• Realtek HD Audio(no idea what model) with Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers or Logitech ClearChat Premium PC Headset.
• Win XP Pro
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Handy Tips

A fast PC(including my specs) causes problems in two areas of the game. First is, no targets appear in the shooting range. Second is, there is one point in the game where you need to run away from a bomb, but it is impossible to do so with a fast PC. I managed to get around this by slowing down the PC using CPU Eat ‘n’ Cool.

I found this solution at BRmovie.com, but the Turbo application mentioned on that site did not work for me.

If you have FRAPS or another program that shows frames per second of the game, I noticed that the shooting range worked fine when the frame rate was averaging below 200 FPS in the first stage of the shooting range. Without CPU Eat ‘n’ Cool my game was averaging 600 FPS in the first stage of the shooting range. Even at 200 FPS I had to wait 48 seconds before the first target appeared, but at least it appeared.

Another application you can try to slow down the game is Slow. This tool worked for me as well, but I liked CPU Eat ‘n’ Cool better because it reduced the heat on my laptop.

There is a how to install Blade Runner on Vista 64 instructions here. I have not tried it so I do not know if it works on Windows 7 64 bit as well.

 

T.F.X.

If you are after the T.F.X. soundtrack, it is here.

The review section of this page is done completely from memory. I have not played the game in over a decade but I think T.F.X. deserves a page on my site because the soundtrack is absolutely awesome. It is so awesome that back in the day, I hooked up two PCs to record the soundtrack.

So what is T.F.X.? T.F.X. stands for Tactical Fighter Experimental and was one of the best flight sims of the 1990s. Fly for the U.N. in the EF2000, F-22 and the F-117 Nighthawk over various fictional hot-spots around the world.

Release Date

Pros

Very realistic flight sim except for guns and fuel.

The graphics were top-notch for the time and each plane looked very good, inside and outside.

It was the first flight sim to introduce the external fly-by camera and it looked very good.

It had a very good virtual cockpit view. I don’t think you could see the instruments properly but the whole pilot head movement when the plane moves just looked great.

Best soundtrack from a flight sim EVER! Along with Command & Conquer, T.F.X. had the best game soundtrack during the 90s.

Cons

The fuel was un-realistic and I found that flying the EF-2000, I always ran out of fuel.

The guns fired too slow for jet fighters.

Other Points

Box art picture was taken from DJ :: OldGames with permission.

I was so crazy about T.F.X. back in the day that I even tried to draw the EF2000 on my folder divider.

Biases

I really liked Falcon 3.0, Gunship 2000 and Knights Of The Sky.

Computer Played On

• 486
• Soundblaster 16
• That is all I remember!

T.F.X.: The Soundtrack

The absolutely awesome T.F.X. soundtrack was composed by Barry Leitch. I contacted Mr. Leitch seeking permission to provide the soundtrack for public download. He replied that unfortunately Ocean Software are the copyright owners of T.F.X. including the soundtrack and so he cannot grant the permission.

In my research I found that Ocean Software was acquired by Infogrames and later Infogrames acquired Atari and after that they changed their name from Infogrames to Atari Inc. I contacted Atari Inc’s legal department asking for permission for T.F.X.’s soundtrack. They replied:

We do not own the rights to “T.F.X.” Although we acquired Ocean Software, from our records we only got the rights to the “OCEAN” marks. Because the purchase was so long ago and was done the UK, we do not have any contact that we can forward on to you.

So it looks like T.F.X. is in ownership limbo. As such, I have decided to provide all the recordings I made years ago, to the public. Some of the music is already available on YouTube, but I am too lazy to generate a video to put up on YouTube.

If you are the owner of the copyright to T.F.X. please contact me.

The names of the tracks are the names I gave them when I recorded them. I do not know what their real names are.

The recordings on this site are of the Soundblaster version of the music.

If you download this soundtrack, there is one thing that I ask of you, KEEP THE MUSIC ALIVE. The T.F.X. soundtrack is too good to be kept in the basement of oblivion never to see the light of day.

Download T.F.X. Soundtrack zip .

Styrateg

A simple turn-based fantasy role-playing game(RPG).

Release Date

Pros

There is a nice tutorial that teaches how to play the game.

It is DRM free. At least I think it is DRM free. It has not tried to contact home and it just plays after installing.

Cons

There are some shortcut keys to make life easier but not enough. You cannot even press ENTER to make a screen go away, you must move the pointer to OK and click on it. Using the mouse to do everything may be OK for some people but for me with experience with Heroes of Might and Magic, shortcut keys are very important.

The music sounds suitable at first, but after a while I found it annoying. There seems to be only 3 or 4 tracks, which does not help.

I am so glad I got this game for free. Because it is sure not worth $9.95 that RakeinGrass are asking. For $0.04 extra you can get Heroes of Might and Magic 3 from GOG.com. And Heroes of Might and Magic 3 is better in every way except for simplicity. Styrateg is simpler to learn and to play.

Other Points

There are two modes to play the game, strategy and RPG. The only difference is, in strategy mode you only get a limited number of turns to complete the current mission.

The game plays like Heroes of Might and Magic but there are no armies. You start of with one character and as you progress, you collect more people to control. There are no towns, no mines to generate resources and no armies to build or control. You could say that they stripped out the strategy part of Heroes of Might and Magic to give Styrateg a heavier RPG feeling.

Styrateg comes with a map editor, but so does Heroes of Might and Magic 3.

Biases

Reviewed version UNKNOWN.

I really liked Heroes of Might and Magic 2 and 3.

I also really liked Baldur’s Gate 1, 2 plus expansions and Oblivion.

I also liked Lands of Lore 3, Might and Magic 3, 4 and 5.

I have not completed the campaign.

DRM

I think it is DRM free. Not quite sure.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on the official website)

• Windows 98/2000/XP
• PC 500Mhz
• 128 MB RAM
• 3D Video Card

Computer Played On

• Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
• 2Gb RAM
• ATI Radeon X1600 256Mb RAM
• Win XP Pro
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

Anno 1404

Take SimCity, expand it to be several islands large, fix it in the 15th Century, add warfare and a C-5 Galaxy load full of different resource types, and you get Anno 1404, also known as Dawn of Discovery. This large and complex real-time strategy(RTS) game focuses more on keeping your people happy and trading rather than fighting all the time. Don’t relax too much though as there are battles to be fought.

Release Date

Pros

The graphics are very nice. The landscapes look nice, the buildings are well detailed and you can also see people walking around and carts and caravans transporting goods.

The music is excellent. Not something I would listen to out of the game, but very suitable for the game.

There are so many different types of resources to manage. How you acquire some of these resources can get complex, but it also adds to the fun of the game. Not all the necessary resources are available in any one location so there is a big focus on trading and logistics.

There is some rare but well placed humour in the game. I won’t say what they are, but they gave me a chuckle when they occurred.

You can get custom built scenarios from Gateway to the World.

There is a Where’s Wally type mini game where you have to find certain people roaming among the citizens in your settlement. It is not as difficult as the Where’s Wally books, but it is still a fun break from the rest of the game.

Cons

For such a detailed and complex game, the manual is grossly inadequate. I had to explore the controls myself and read the tool tips to try and figure out most of the things. The in-game information boxes help a little bit, but some things are not mentioned.

You can zoom quite far in and quite far out. Unfortunately when you zoom in, it zooms to the centre of the screen rather than where the mouse cursor is. This annoyed me a bit as the close up view was not what I expected. I find that I have to zoom in and scroll to where I want the view to be.

For a game that has a large focus on trading, it has an inadequate trading route planner. You can add ports, ships and what goods to trade where, but you cannot insert a port destination in between already existing routes. It will always add a port last on the list. So if you don’t build your trade route perfectly from the start, you have to remove ports and goods and reinsert them again. Quite annoying.

There is no multiplayer in plain Anno 1404. The expansion pack Venice adds multiplayer to the game among other things. I do not have the expansion so I will not comment any further on that.

As can be seen in the screen shots, on a screen resolution of 1280×800, the text is generally small, but still easy enough to read. When I played the game on a screen with 1366×768 resolution, the text became too small and quite difficult to read.

Other Points

When you start the game, it first checks for updates and automatically downloads updates without asking. This is annoying, but luckily you can cancel the update and the game will start.

Anno 1404 is a real-time strategy game but has a much larger focus on building and running your settlement. There is so much involved that, playing the main campaign does not introduce you to battles until the fourth mission. It reminded me of SimCity, but with fights.

Anno 1404 is complex and slow to play. If you are after an action packed RTS, try C&C3 Tiberium Wars, Act of War or Dawn of War instead.

There are no different sides like Nod vs GDI. All teams have the same units and buildings.

Although there is no multiplayer mode, there are three other game modes other than the single-player campaign. Continuous game lets you set options such as how much resources are available and what the winning conditions are. There are lots of options to set. Once you are happy with the options, a map is randomly generated for you to play. Scenarios mode has six fixed scenarios for you to go through. Finally, custom scenarios allows you to play custom built scenarios.

I found the pacing of the game to be quite slow. Slower than Sins of a Solar Empire even. But at the same time I found it very interesting as there is always something to do. And if you really are waiting for more resources or a ship to reach its destination, you can hit the fast forward key.

There is this thing called “Gateway to the world” where you can share all your achievements, screenshots and other player profile information with the world. Registration, a special online profile and connection to the Internet are required for this. I did not try this out as I thought it was quite pointless. Luckily you can download custom scenarios without an account.

Anno 1404 is the most peaceful and relaxing RTS I have played so far. The choice is there to raise the difficulty though.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.03.3650.

I really liked Star Wars Empire at War, Act of War, Sins of a Solar Empire, Dune 2, Command And Conquer, C&C Tiberian Sun, C&C3 Tiberium Wars, Rise Of Nations and The Moon Project.

I also liked Kingmania, Empire Earth 2, Dark Reign, Warcraft 1 and 2, Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation.

I did not like Homeworld.

I have completed the campaign.

I have not played any of the Anno games before this one.

Although I compare SimCity with Anno 1404, I think that SimCity is more a simulation where as Anno 1404 is definitely a real-time strategy game.

DRM

Anno 1404 uses TAGES for DRM. At least the Australian version does. Not sure about the rest of the world.

Apparently the DRM is removed with the 1.1 patch. I have not verfied this.

The game DVD does not need to be in the drive to play the game. YAY! This was the case even before I patched the game.

It does need an internet connection to phone home and activate the game. I am not sure if this happens once the patch has been installed.

Patches

1.1 – You must upgrade to this patch before going to 1.2. Apparently it removes the DRM, but I have not verified this.

1.2 – No comments.

pre-patch2 – After installing patch 1.1 and 1.2, when I start the game it still downloads another patch. This time it is the Ubisoft patcher application update to be able to get more automatic updates.

1.3 – Then when I ran the game again, it gets this patch.

The autopatcher says what file is being downloaded and where it is being downloaded from. I cancelled the autopatcher downloader and downloaded and installed the file manually. Much faster this way.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on box)

• Operation System: Windows 2000/XP/Vista
• Processor: 3GHz Intel Pentium 4 or similare processor
• Memory: 1GB RAM
• Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compliant, 128 MB DirectX-compliant, Shader 2.0-enabled
• Direct X: DirectX 9.0c (included on disc)
• DVD-ROM Drive
• Hard Drive: 6GB
• Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible
• Peripherals: Mouse, keyboard
• *Supported Video Cards at Time of Release (This part taken from the readme file as it was too difficult to read the tiny print of video cards)
  Desktop
  NVIDIA: (SE/GE/GS/GT/GTS/GTO/GTX/GTX+/GX2)
  NVIDIA GeForce FX 59×0
  NVIDIA GeForce 6100/6150/6200/6250/6500/6600/6610/6700/6800
  NVIDIA GeForce 7100/7200/7300/7350/7500/7600/7650/7800/7900/7950
  NVIDIA GeForce 8200/8300/8400/8500/8600/8800
  NVIDIA GeForce 9200/9300/9400/9500/9600/9800
  NVIDIA GeForce 120/130/140
  NVIDIA GeForce 250/260/275/280/285/295ATI Radeon:
  ATI Radeon 9600/9700/9800
  ATI Radeon X300/X550/X600/X700/X800/X850
  ATI Radeon X1050/X1300/X1550/X1600/X1650/X1800/X1900/X1950
  ATI Radeon HD2400/HD2600/HD2900
  ATI Radeon HD3400/HD3450/HD3650/HD3600/HD3850/HD3870
  ATI Radeon HD4300/HD4350/HD4550/HD4500/HD4600/HD4650/HD4830/HD4850/HD4870/HD4890Mobile:
  NVIDIA: (SE/G/GE/GS/GT/GTS/GTX)
  GeForce Go 7950/Go 7900/Go 7800/Go 7700/Go 7600/Go 7400/Go 7300/Go 7200/7150M/7000M
  GeForce 8800M/8700M/8600M/8400M/8200M
  GeForce 9800M/9700M/9650M/9600M/9500M/9400M/9300M/9300M/9200M/9100M
  GeForce 160M/130M/120M/110M/107M/105M/103M/102M
  GeForce 260M/280M

  Radeon:
  Mobility Radeon 9600/9700/9800
  Mobility Radeon X300/X600/X700/X800
  Mobility Radeon X1300/X1350/X1400/X1450/X1600/X1700/X1800/X1900
  Mobility Radeon X2300/HD2300/HD2400/HD2600
  Mobility Radeon X3100/X3200

Computer Played On

• Core 2 Duo 2.16GHz
• 2Gb RAM
• ATI Radeon X1600 256Mb RAM (laptop version)
• Logitech G35 headset and/or Realtek HD Audio(no idea what model) with Altec Lansing ACS41 speakers or Logitech ClearChat Premium PC Headset.
• Win XP Pro
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Handy Tips

If you download custom scenarios, you must put the files in my document\anno 1404\scenarios folder. If the folder does not exist, you must create it manually.

With plain Anno 1404 the only custom scenarios that can be played are version 1 scenarios. Version 2 requires the Venice expansion pack.

 

Aliens Versus Predator Classic 2000

As a Xenomorph, eliminate your enemies silently, swiftly and from any direction. As a marine, pick up whatever weapons you can find and take down your foes. Or, be a Predator and hunt with your specialist equipment. Aliens Versus Predator Classic 2000 is the first first-person shooter that allows you to play as all three entities from the Alien and Predator movies.

Release Date

Pros

The game is just as I remembered it back in 2000, except this time I get to play multiplayer and it works very well with GOG Galaxy. Not many people play it, but the odd game here and there is fun.

The sounds in the game sound just like the movies. Everything from the motion tracker beeps to the predator’s snarl (or whatever that clickity-clackity sound it makes) sound just like the movies.

The graphics look old by today’s standards, but it is good enough to give the game the awesome movie atmosphere.

After all these years the face hugger still freaks me out.

The music is very well done. It does not always play, but it does play at the right time, adding to the great atmosphere.

Variety is a very strong point for Aliens vs Predator Classic 2000. You get to play as an alien, a marine, and a predator. Each species has different abilities, their own single player episodes and plays very differently.

Cons

There is no LAN option for multiplayer.

Cooperative multiplayer involves you and your mates running around as marines or predators, trying to mow down an endless horde of aliens. There are no special cooperative maps with end points and you cannot cycle maps either. It gets boring very quick and seems completely pointless as a game mode.

Other Points

The game moves very fast, both in single player and multiplayer. This also means that marines and aliens tend to die very quickly, just like in the movies! Unlike the movies, the predator also dies pretty quickly. Well, the predator dies quickly when I use it.

I am not sure whether it is just me, but I get lost a lot. Maybe the game is too dark, but I seem to go around in circles quite a lot and other times I miss the switch that needed activation. The objectives are not clearly highlighted either. When they say destroy this, I had to really look at what kind of stuff can be destroyed. Despite getting lost a lot, I do think the levels are very well designed.

There are three difficulty levels: training, realistic and director’s cut. If you play realistic or director’s cut, there are target objectives that if met, will provide you with cheat options. The developers called them cheat options, but all they do is allow you to play certain completed levels with some “cheat” type abilities. For example, a predator with unlimited ammo for the spear gun and shoots like a shotgun.

According to the manual, when you finish the standard levels, bonus levels are unlocked. The higher difficulty of standard levels completed also means more bonus levels unlocked.

The difficulty levels also determine how many times you can save the game on each level. For those that like unlimited saves, the save limits can be turned off quite easily.

Biases

Reviewed GOG.com version of the game.

I played this when it was still called Aliens Versus Predator. This was way back in 2000. Never completed it though.

I really liked Aliens Versus Predator Classic 2000 many years ago and I still like the game today.

I also like Alien, Aliens and Predator movies. The rest were a bit of a let down.

This is the only AvP game I have played so far… except for the arcade beat’em up.

I have not completed all the standard episodes yet.

DRM

The GOG.com version of the game is DRM free, but if you want to play multiplayer then you must login with a GOG Galaxy account.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on GOG.com)

• Windows: Windows XP (XP 64bit is NOT supported) / Vista / 7 / 8
• Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent
• Memory: 4 GB
• Graphics: DirectX compatible graphics card
• DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c
• Hard Drive:500MB
• Sound: DirectX compatible sound card

Computer Played On

• Windows 7 64 bit.
• Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
• 4GB RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1GB RAM
• Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones.
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.

Handy Tips

To enable unlimited save games, create a shortcut for the file AvP_Classic.exe and add the parameter -unlimitedsaves.

Sins of a Solar Empire

A very large space based real time strategy game with lots of things to research and big battles to fight.

Release Date

Pros

There are lots of things to research and use. They are split into war stuff, non-war stuff and stuff to support a larger fleet.

The three sides are quite different.

The graphics are beautiful. The ships, structures and space battles all look great. However, I do think Empire at War looks better.

There are a bunch of fixed maps of different sizes to play through. When you get bored of those you can build your own maps or just play a randomly generated one.

The battles can get huge! We are talking masses and masses of ships shooting everywhere and powers being activated. Luckily, even these chaotic battles are easily managed with the well-thought-out user interface and the smart AI on your side.

Cons

There are no storyline campaigns. It is just one battle after another of your choosing.

The game is insanely difficult. Sure the tutorials explain a lot of how to play the game but the AI is just way too good. Even on easy I only win half the games.

To get the latest game patches, you must install GameStop App.

Other Points

As good as this game is, after playing Empire at War, I prefer to play that over Sins anytime. After this write up it is unlikely I will return to Sins because I enjoy Empire at War so much more.

Biases

Reviewed version 1.193.078 of the game.

I really liked Star Wars Empire at War, Act of War, Dune 2, Command And Conquer, C&C Tiberian Sun, C&C3 Tiberium Wars, Rise of Nations and The Moon Project.

I also liked Kingmania, Empire Earth 2, Dark Reign, Warcraft 1 and 2, Supreme Commander and Total Annihilation.

I did not like Homeworld as I kept running out of resources and found it too difficult.

This is a re-review as I have played Sins of a Solar Empire a few years back, but the review write up was not up to current standard.

DRM

When you first start the game, there is an activation key to enter and the game connects to a server to register the game.

Patches

To get the latest game patches, you must install GameStop App.

Minimum Requirements (as stated on box)

• Windows XP SP2/Vista
• 1.8GHz Single Core Processor
• 512 MB RAM (1GB RAM for Windows Vista)
• 128 MB 3D Video Card
• (GeForce 6600/Radeon 9600 or Better)
• DirectX 9.0c
• Broadband Connection for Internet Multiplayer

Computer Played On

• Windows 7 64 bit.
• Intel Core i5 2.3GHz
• 4Gb RAM
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M 1Gb RAM
• Conexant SmartAudio with egg speakers or earphones. Or Logitech G35.
• Graphics settings are set to whatever I feel comfortable with playing on this PC. They are usually not set to the highest settings. All screenshots are taken with my settings.