Red Alert 3 is coming.

You heard that right. Command & Conquer Red Alert Three will be probably revealed in a PC Gamer Exclusive in there special April issue. While RA3’s existence isn’t completely new (there were several unofficial announcements way back in 2004 and 2005), a sneak peak in an English magazine (the other rumor floating about was in a Belgium magazine) to find out just what EA is doing is definitely worth a look. Now all I gotta find is an issue of PCGamer waaay out here in the middle of nowhere and I’ll be all set. Until then though, I’ll probably just have to satisfy myself by taking a look through the scant few screenshots available that can be found here.

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If haven’t already had the chance to go play and/or try these two demos just yet, I highly recommend that you do so with all due haste. Till then though, here are my impressions on both:

First up: F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate

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Go to any local department store with a toy section or a gift shop. Chances are, you’ll see one of the many, cheaply-produced “game consoles”. You’ve might have seen them in the form of older 8-Bit/16-Bit models (NES, SNES, Genesis, etc), then later coming out in the form of mobile handsets and so on. But what do we see nowadays?

Introducing the POP Station! Looks familiar? Don’t be so quick to judge! Enjoy your favorite brick game on this handheld wonder, with its far-out layout. Wi-fi anyone? Don’t bother, because it’s not there! Available in stores now!

But wait, there’s more! (more…)

Ahoy thar me harties!

Aye, before you start readin’ this post, I’d recommend headin’ o’er t’ har and read up a bit on the most important day (okay, it isn’t but my mind likes t’ imagine it is) o’ the entire year: International ‘Speak like a pirate’ day, shiver me timbers! (not t’ be confused with the International ‘Speak Like the Goddamn Batman’ day or the far more local ‘Walk like I’’e been kicked in the balls by M$’ day which Enoon has been celebratin’ for the past few weeks). Due t’ the utter awesomeness o’ Pirates, I was goin’ t’ ask for a guest speaker t’ come in today, but it seems the Pirate-ninja feud sort o’ intensifies at this time o’ the year meanin’ their all out busy kickin’ ninja ass. So fer now its all me! YARRR!

*coughs as he’s kicked in the nads by several TAP members*

Okay, okay, fine! Onto more serious matters then. I’ve been rather quiet recently for several reasons. I finally got an Xbox 360 and my recent time has been divided between working, studying, writing and playing GoW, WiC, SoTS, PGR3 and a few other games.

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We had already brought you news and screenshots earlier about the upcoming expansion to this year’s hugely successful C&C3: Tiberium Wars,  which has been aptly named “Kane’s Wrath“. And now, we have an official trailer to go with the news as well, which can be found here.

Kane is an icon in a sense, and probably one of THE most enigmatic villains in all of gaming; one whom this expansion will teach us more about. The expansion is set both before and after Tiberium Wars, detailing everything from the beggining to Kane’s legacy and CABAL, to beyond the ‘ascension’ we see at the end of Tiberium Wars. The expansion will also add in several new units to both sides (it seems that the tick tank is returning in a fashion, as are the disruptor tanks of yore); while it’s most definitely confirmed that the Scrin will be involved in some way or the other.

Although in a way it’s not too good either. One of the qualities of Kane as a villain is the sheer amount of mystery that surrounds him; the fog that conceals not just his motivations, but the circumstances that led him to where he is now. To lift that fog is an anticipation that runs through the blood of many a C&C fan. Yet..yet there is that tiny bit of doubt…that tiny hint of fear that what one sees isn’t the grand masterplan that one would’ve imagined.

Such unveiling and disappointment has been seen in many other games before; where a previously cool, unique and somewhat strange villain is turned into nothing more than a tool or something incredibly shallow. But then, on the other hand there have been unveilings which have been awesome. Examples dont easily come to mind right now; but they are there, and the feeling still hangs over one’s self.

Either way, this one little gamer hopes that EA pulls it all off just right, and that the final legacy of the Messiah and Tiberium lives up to his expection - if not surpasses it. Until the game is released though, we’ll just have to wait and see.

No, this isn’t a spambot, nor is it an ad for that matter. You heard the topic right - there’s free stuff to be found on the internets, and now with 150% more legal awesome!

What I’m referring to, of course, is the announcements from both Ubisoft and EA, releasing some of their games to the public for FREE! That’s right, you heard it. FREE! (oh God was there ever a more glorious word?!)

To be more specific, EA has announced that the Windows XP version of Command & Conquer: Tiberium Dawn (the same one found in their C&C Pack, “The First Decade”) is now freeware, and is available for download in celebration of the 12th anniversary of the series. More details and download links can be found here.

This is a higly welcomed move - C&C Tiberium Dawn was pretty much what pushed the modern RTS era into what it is today. While older veterans may know that the system actually originated from the old Dune 2 games, C&C is pretty much what made it the standard. To see it free and legal - and most importantly working in xp - really brings about a tear to this old retro fool.

However, its not the only game that’s gone freeware. Ubisoft has also released three of their titles - albiet, ad-supported - on FilePlanet for subscribers. The ads are supposedly given only on loading and menu screens, but it may depend from game to game. The three games in this case are Far Cry, Raving Rabbids and Prince of Persia: The Sands of time. You can find the article on it here.

The direct download links to the files can be found here:

Raving Rabbids
Farcry
Prince of Persia

And to clarify: from the looks of it, you need just a basic account on FilePlanet to download PoP and Farcry, while Raving Rabbids doesn’t seem to have public servers (just yet anyway). With a little bit of searching, one may be able to find mirrors for the games as well. Or you could just them get them off the torrents at GameUpdates.org.

With the latest flood of new game releases and with almost everyone around disappeared to either play BioShock, watch awesome videos, kick back on their Xbox 360 or otherwise write possibly spoiler filled reviews of the “Game of the moment” *glares at certain people*, it leaves those of us without systems or 360s or PS3s to contribute to the one niche that is still left open: random rants and raves.

As seen by the ever-awesome scenes from BioShock, Crysis and even Assassin’s Creed, games nowadays are becoming more and more realistic. As with the previous generations, each set of games coming out these days pushes the visual boundaries further and further. Sooner or later, we’re going to end up seeing games that are really, really hard to distinguish from the movies we watch everyday. Of course, this usually ends up coming at cost of system resources, money and time so high, that the line that defines ‘sane’ is so far away; it looks most akin to a dot to those individuals that would dare look back (I’m looking at you, id. You and your bloody 20GB of Rage textures! You want Rage? TRY HULK RAGE! *SMASH!*).

However, since this issue has pretty much been discussed to death time and again over a million of the internet’s websites, forums and other venues for discussion, I won’t touch on it too much. Such discussions are normally peaceful and more expressions of opinion. Usually they just start out as words, but then slowly descend into a madness from which everything from Ion Cannons to Tactical Nuclear strikes are deployed to bring about devastation upon the armies of tanks, planes and infantry that struggle for control upon a massive and varied terrain of jagged programming code, drivers and the occasional wreck of an old 486s or Amiga of yore.

Okay, kidding. So it usually doesn’t end up like that. But the flame wars that usually emerge can be ferocious in nature and were it to be mapped into an RTS of sorts, I bet it’d put even Supreme Commander to shame.

To focus back on the subject (do random rants even have subjects?) the realism of today’s games is nothing short of awesome, but it does have its drawbacks. Having been spoiled by F.E.A.R., Doom 3 and other new games, it is becoming incredibly harder to revisit the old retro-days of yore.

Upon seeing the old, dated graphics that came with many a DOS game, my mind cringes; as if demanding that resolution be higher than the mere 640×480 pixels that was once considered ‘king’ of gaming in its day and age. When I finally got a chance to play Turok 1 again – a game that, for the one level I played it back when it came out I thoroughly enjoyed, I couldn’t get through even half of the same level before giving up. The graphics, the sound…my mind simply couldn’t wrap itself around how something could be so awfully painful – even as it recollected memories of all the fun it had with it at one point of time.

Then came Turok 2; although a fair bit better (especially with controls) than its predecessor, once again half-way through the game I had to stop. I just couldn’t stand the low-poly models; the horrid textures. Although I had insane fun with the game play (very, very little can actually beat using a cerebral bore, or watching as your arrows impale an enemy dino in the neck), it soon got tiring – especially with the constant annoying “Turok! Help us please!” whining from those damn brats in their damn cages! I mean, seriously, when I open the cage they should at least, you know, stop whining and make a break for it. But nooooo! Idiots have to wait for Turok to come and rescue them so they can just ‘disappear’ into nowhere. If they could disappear before, why the heck did they even have to wait for Turok in the first place?!

I have absolutely no clue how I withstood and enjoyed the game to its fullest the first time around I played it. Perhaps the fact that I was a fair bit younger and more naïve might’ve done something to the lack of criticism. Back then, to get –any- game to run well on your systems was a miracle.

But there are some games, some which despite their age seem to have that sense of style that never grows too old to enjoy. This applies both to the game play and the visuals itself. It’s a sense of style – a uniqueness that somehow newer games seem to have difficulty replicating. Doom 3 and Quake 4 are good examples of this lack of style – both games are virtually identical when it comes to graphics and game play as a whole. Although Q4 did have a few (and somewhat cool) vehicles, there really wasn’t anything that set it apart; besides perhaps the story (which rode a lot on it’s predecessor actually). Something similar could be said about FEAR. Although visually, it’s far darker and the firefights more intense with the use of slow motion, it still strikes me as ‘just another FPS’ when it comes down to it.

What gripped me about FEAR was not its dark, brooding hallways, or the scary girl ghost jumping out at me from the dark corners when I absolutely least expected it to the point where my heart skipped a beat every time I saw a little girl wearing red (oh my god did that shadow just move?) or such. What gripped me about FEAR was, rightfully, the story – which still does. However, despite this the fact that it really just looked like another shooter on the market sort of made it slightly less…unique, as it were.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for realism and awesome graphics – the two easily make up some of the best games around. But in the strive to better graphics, for some reason developers seem to be moving more and more away from having unique styles to those graphics.

By styles, I don’t mean completely cartoony or even cell shaded stuff. Team Fortress 2 is an excellent of how going on with style and cell shading works to make something unique. Yet, at the same time having everyone do that would just be counter-productive.

Its just that when every game that comes out looks incredibly real, where does the true difference lie? In the lighting? In the models or scenery? In the textures and artwork?

Whenever I see concept art for any games, it’s simply mind boggling just how good the artists of these various developer companies are. Then one compares the art to the actual in-game models themselves and then it ends up somewhat…underwhelming. Although no doubt that in certain cases the models come out far cooler than the art; many times the art itself just looks better. Be it colors or lighting, there is something about the way the artist made it – the style of the entire thing as it were, that appeals to viewer.

To take another example of such style – Defcon.

Its colors are simplistic, the details to a minimum. Yet it is this simplicity; this denial of any details that seems to flow with any player’s perceptions. The nuclear missiles are little but simple icons, yet it does not matter – the entire visual theme blends into that of the game play, creating in essence, a style hard to replicate by many other games.

It is by far not the only example. Many of us have heard of the addictive fl0w. I had the pleasure to play this simple, almost beautiful game’s limited version on the PC. Despite being rather short, its visuals merge well with the soft chimes and sound, and in turn merge with the game play again to make something different; unique almost.

Then there are older games, from the era where realism was not very possible. Games in this era relied on impressive artwork, visuals and impressive action to draw in the gamer. A few good examples could be like Crusader: No Regret and maybe even to a lesser extent Mortal Kombat and the street fighter series.

Yet another recent example can be Battleships Forever – a successor to the hit classic Warning Forever. Indeed, one could quote a myriad of examples of games with their own unique styles – but such wishful thinking is really futile.

The market’s prevailing attitude rests more on realism than anything else right now, dictating where the majority of publishers wish to aim their content. Although developers do move to the whims of the majority of their collective audiences, the trend is thankfully not universal. Team Fortress 2 will come out, while Starcraft 2 seems to hold some promise as well. Other good, fun games to look out for is perhaps Little Big World on the PS3 or alternatively, one could just go to the Xbox Live Arcades for a dose of nostalgia.