PCTech Forums

Hey all, I was just thinking, when liljim (I think) said about stranglehold using the dual core, it just made me think.
I’ve got stranglehold, and firstly id like to say its pretty good. Graphics are unreal, everything looks amazing, its like your playing a cut scene the whole game! It uses in game graphics for the cut scenes to, so it all looks coherent. You can blow up a lot in it so its fun.
The only problem I have with it, well its not such a problem, I thought it looked like it was going to be a max Payne type game, but its not.

So this leads me on 2 Max Payne, Max Payne 1 I liked but not loved. Max Payne 2 I think is one of the best games i've ever played. I can play it over and over and because of its size and complexity it’s just perfect. You can have fun just blowing the same dude up over and over!
But I was doing some research the other day, into Max Payne 3. Apparently it was announced, but its status is now cancelled, so it doesn’t look like its going to be made id much rather a new game than a max Payne movie

But this leads me on to Alan Wake, which is made by the same company as max Payne. The game looks awesome. It utilizes quad core processors. I saw a demonstration video of it, where they made a tornado, which I think really looked real. I am going to buy that game when it comes out.

Any one else seen it? It’s a psychological thriller apparently.

Any other games look insane that people are looking forward to?

Venney

Some that im waiting to play is Assassins Creed and Hellgate London. I think hellgate was released but i dont know for sure. The trailers on both of those are extremely enticing.



The very top of my list is Unreal Tournament 3, theres a lan party in my future as soon as it comes out. I've always been an unreal fan, its tons of fun with a group of players all in the same room. Theres nothing better than fragging someone and being close enough to hear them utter profanities


I loved Max Payne 2 also, never played the first one. I've never heard of Alan Wake so im gonna look it up and see what its all about.

Crysis has generated alot of hype, i think it was released a day or so ago. I had the demo for about a week now but never installed it. Guess i'll get around to doing that soon. The trailers look decent, seems they made good use of the Far Cry engine.

I really do think Max Payne 2 may be the best game I’ve got. Really worth it. Appeals to my humour, my style of game, awesome graphics/game play. Just perfect i think.

I’ve not seen crysis at all really, but I know there’s hype about it. UT3 will be fun indeed, shame I’m not at the LAN beating you down lol! (I think I would be rubbish).

Another personal all time favourite of mine, CSS I love counter strike. Unfortunately over the past year and a half I’ve not played it that much at all because of uni. Last year I couldn’t play it, this year I just don’t seem to have enough time to play it as much as I used to. Starting to love Team Fortress 2 as well.

Hl2 again is another classic game. Love that a lot even though I’ve not completed it yet!

I would really quiet like one of the new consoles as i am yet to keep up with any type of console gaming since ps2. I think I would choose PS3, then maybe Wii, then 360. But I would love any of them!!!!! - actually i say that but i do play my psp a fair amount and i've always got the latest releases.

I have just got the new need for speed game, I will give my thoughts on that after playing for some time.

Just been playing Need for speed pro street, and i dunno. For some reason it doesnt seem to run all that well, which im shocked at. I would of thought i could run it fine, performence doesnt seem to change when i put settings down either. I suppose the performence and looks of it arent bad, but for some reason the sound crackles so badly its insane. Its as if i have bad speakers but just in certain parts the audio goes all crackly. Ive even turned the audio quality to low, made no differnce
Maybe its just my copy

I loved Max Payne 1, and unfortunately have never had the opportunity to properly play the second, although I have heard very good things about it. I'll have to borrow it from you when you're home loz

I completely agree with Liljim, I think the UT series is my favourite. So much, so chaotic, and UT3 is simply stunning, and top of my list as well. It won't run on my computer which is very lame, so i'll have to upgrade some time soon.

Assassins Creed I am also looking forward to, although from what i've read it doesn't live up to the hype is recieved before it's release.

Also, Mass Effect looks really cool, and i'm still yet to try Crysis. Both of these look amazing.

Team Fortress 2 I really enjoy as well. I never played the first one so to me the concept is quite original. It could do with a few more maps though.

I really, really want to try Kane and Lynch as well. Any one played that yet??

well guys, i went ahead and bought Crysis. It took me FOREVER to get it to run smooth. I was assuming i needed video drivers so i went to Nvidia and grabbed the latest version, installed and still couldnt play. I had major glitches, textures not loading, split screen, it was just a mess. To cut a long story short, i wound up completely uninstalling my video drivers, rebooting and doing a "clean" driver install instead of an update. This was a success.

Finally, im playing. Im about 2 hours in it and already have mixed feelings. Everything about it just screams Far Cry, i know, i know, its built on the same engine, blah blah blah but its SO similar its ashame. The only thing really seperating the 2 so far is the suit your wearing and weapon modification. The suit gives the game a pretty cool aspect, it has different modes such as speed, strength, stealth and armor. The weapons allow you to change sights, add a flashlight, silencer and something called a tactical attachment that i havent figured out yet.

The vehicles are duplicates of Far Cry's with the exception of ways to destroy them. You can shoot the tires of a fast moving one and flip it, certain ones have an exposed gas tank that can be shot, etc. That gives it an element that i can appreciate.

Another thing i like is the noticeable damage difference between weapons. Some are actually more effective than others and distance was also factored in. The farther away you are from your target, the less damage you do.

Its probably too early for the story line to be very interesting, and i hope thats the case. As of now im not extremely interested in whats actually going on. Hopefully something will change with it before too much longer. One of the beauty's of bioshock for me was i was hooked on the story right from the beginning.

Im more than sure the game has some amazing graphics however i assume im not quite up to par as im only able to run at 1024 X 768 with only a few effects on medium, everything else on low. Even at that i will get some lag when the screen gets busy.

Heres the specs im playing on
Asus A8N5X socket 939 motherboard
AMD 64 3700 single core 2.2 OC'd to 2.5
Nvidia 7950 GT 512
4 gigs ddr 400
Creative X-FI extreme audio 7.1
500 watt silent assassin PSU

Be sure your running something bigger than my setup to really see what the graphics have to offer. Its quite interesting though, im well above the minimum requirements however theres a vast difference in the min ans recommended requirements.

Minimum vid requirement is a Nvidia 6800GT and recommended is a 8800GT. I cant imagine it being worth playing on a 6800 after seeing the strain it puts on a 7950GT.

My computer is so old that I got my computer when Max Payne 1 came out. Max Payne 2 is still installed on my computer and when I get the chance I always go back to playing it....what a great game. I love loading up and just blowing up the guys, especially in the skyscraper coming out of the elevator ;) haha, classic.

I'm upgrading soon to get a nice laptop with Core 2 Duo and hopefully the Nvidia chipset (I hate the Intel X**** video card crap!) Maybe then I can finally play some good games the rest of you are playing now.

This is the best game ever! With a wide variety of characters from all around the world, you'll get to compete to be th best! From killing snails and green mushrooms to doing party quests, you will eventually level up to lvl 200! The best thing is, leveling up actually takes quite a bit of time, unlike most MMORPG games out there, but I can guarantee you will NEVER get bored. Just give Maplestory a try... I know you will LOVE it!!!

Here are my general evaluations on the game:

Presentation
The presentation of the entire game is pretty spectacular. Although some might not like the 2D scroller format, many "oldies" from the 90s might be brought back to the old times with this game.

Graphics
The graphics can be bit pixelated at times, but since the game is a full-screen game, what more can you expect? Maplestory is unique in this way.
Sound
The background music is pretty lyrical, and the sound effects of killing the monsters are pretty realistic too.
Gameplay
The characters are very easy to manipulate, and you can change what your character wears literally from top to bottom.
Lasting Appeal
I give 10s out extremely rarely, but the lasting appeal of the game is so great that I cant help but give it a ten. Once you start playing, I guarantee one will be addicted to it forever.

Overall, I'll give this game a 9.5/10 for general gameplay. Just go to MapleStory's official website and download it at: