Before we start, lets get this one thing out of the way – Call of Duty 4 (COD4) is woefully short as far as the single player campaign is concerned. Agreed, there’s tons of fun to be had with the superbly well done multiplayer aspect of the game, but still, once you see the end credits roll, you have this feeling that the game could have gone for a little more.

Now that we have that out of the way, we come down to what we have on hand, which is nothing short of amazing. This is a game that will grab you by your throat and never let you go till the very end, such is the quality of it. Right when you thought that war games were passé, Infinity Ward came out with COD4, completely revamping the series, taking it light years beyond Treyarch’s Call of Duty 3. While it is still essentially Call of Duty as far as the gameplay is concerned, the wise choice of shifting the setting from the much used World War II theater to a grittier, modern day setting comes as a breath of much needed fresh air, even as announcements start to go out that Treyarch will be taking the series back to boring World War II with the next game in the series.

(more…)

Continuing with the tradition of our Thursday Top 10’s, we decided to look at something very obvious, but yet very distinct. So far we’ve looked at the Memorable Character Deaths, the Best Weapons Featured in a FPS and the Top Ten Nine (don’t ask) Original Game Songs. This week, we’re doing a run on some of the most memorable video game themes.

Why? Because apart from the fact how great games really are (no, really!), gamers themselves often tend to rate a game based first on graphics, game play and artistic appeal (though not necessarily in that order) – which is pretty much what decides whether its good enough to play. But EVERY game has to make use of sound and it’s plain to see that, what with games like Half-Life 2 and System Shock 2. Music forms a crucial component of the game-play experience; get the right music at the right time, and you feel the adrenalin pumping. But while most newer games now use ambient noise and music, a lot of cue based intros and then outros – the games we’ve all grown up on and loved have always had that catchy tune, hook, phrase or riff that made everything that much more captivating!

Hit the jump to read more.
(more…)

The world is such a better place when you’ve got what everyone has. But what makes it even better is when you’ve waited for something for the better part of a decade! Since November 2002, we’ve waited. But now it’s here and Live will now see a new breed of gamers – Maharaja styleee!

Announced to launch officially on 05/11/07, we all waited for that day when Monday would be everyone’s most favourite-est day. But yesterday (04/11/07, well?!), I walked into my regular game/music store to pick up my copy of Orangebox so I could check what all the buzz around Portal was, and what actually greeted me was the nice, ‘hard-to-rip-off’ orangey soft pack screaming for my attention! Xbox Live was here and a day before the official launch date! Now I don’t know how much trouble this will get me into, but what the hell, I’ve said it now!

So yeah – Gold subscriptions here now in 1, 3 and 12 month subscription options and Live points are here too. I picked up a pack of 1600 points for ± 1000 INR (± $26). Picked up good old Castlevania – SOTN and Geometry Wars, although strangely, Doom was not available for purchase! Strange, indeed.

Up next, I’ll check out all the “Edutainment” products we were promised. Hell, maybe they WILL have an ‘Arbiter teaches typing’ game after all!!