First Play Review - Sniper: Ghost Warrior (2010)

You may recall that in 2022 I reviewed Polish developer City Interactive's initial game in the Sniper: Ghost Warrior series entitled Sniper: Art of Victory. While it had some interesting ideas, it suffered from woeful execution and its production value even from a budget game was bad even for 'slavjank' standards. Budget games were something the developer abandoned in 2008 to begin work on their first AA offering - Sniper: Ghost Warrior.

While the game did perform well in expected sales numbers, it's fair to say that Ghost Warrior didn't set the world on fire when it was released in 2010 but was certainly a major step up from Art of Victory both in quality and production value - although the bar was certainly low to begin with. The sequel shed the WWII beginnings of the franchise to embrace the the more fictional contemporary conflict trend that all the main FPS games like Call of Duty, Medal of Honor and Battlefield had embraced by that. This pivot proved to be a good move, especially as Rebellion had the WWII sniper sub-genre sewn up with their popular Sniper Elite series.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior finds you playing a few different characters a bit like Call of Duty did but your main avatar is a U.S. Army sniper Sgt. "Razor Six" Wells whose team is sent in to the country of Isla Trueno to end the regime of a dictator who overthrew the democratic government. Elsewhere you play some different characters such as a Delta Force Operator and also a member of a group of rebels resistant to the evil regime to sort of flesh out the extremely lose plot more.

As with Art of Victory, City Interactive modelled wind factors and bullet drop physics into the game meaning that you would have to compensate for one or both of them the longer the shot. I eschewed all this by playing in easy mode which places a red circle in your scope to tell you where the bullet would actually land as that's where a trained sniper would put the round anyway and missing a shot would break immersion. And immersive it is - for more than 95% of the game you play as Wells, the titular sniper and stealthily move about the thick jungle rendered by the impressive -for-the-time Chrome engine watching and waiting for the perfect moment to snipe with your rifle, or take out a close enemy with your pistol or knife. The stealth mechanics are not anywhere close to the likes of Splinter Cell or Metal Gear Solid but still serve you well more often than they fail. When they do fail, it's usually game over because enemies tend to zero in on you quickly if discovered or even triggering an alert is sometimes an auto-fail condition.

While sniping is a joy for the most part, especially the "kill cam" where suitably impressive shots follow the bullet from the rifle all the way into the body of it's intended target, some of the game is not a joy. For just a few other missions you don't play as Wells you're witnessing possibly the worst implementations of FPS shooting you can imagine. It's a stark contrast to the well designed and satisfying sniping mechanics when you occupy a soldier either with the Delta Force or the local resistance fighters with only iron sights in a chaotic firefight with the enemy. The worst part of this is that you're using inaccurate automatic weapons that bring down your score of the game because of course you're no longer shooting as accurately as you are as a sniper where your shot/kill ratio is is closer to 1:1. In another mercifully short sequence, you operate the turret of an armoured car in the slowest chase sequence I've ever encountered. 

The one time where you don't play wells but it is satisfying is when you play as the sniper's spotter and your main tool is the binoculars marking targets for the sniper to take out. This is the only sequence that makes sense for the game because modern military doctrine heavily favours a spotter accompanying the sniper on all missions to provide communications, security, calculation of range and wind factors and usually be the senior qualified sniper of a team able to swap roles to reduce eye-fatigue or muscle fatigue from being in one position for too long. While this is done very well for a lot of the game to be fair, the rest of the time the narrative often removes your spotter in a logical way. Still it would feel more immersive to have your spotter call out the shots and enemy movements more than he does. Doing that may not have pleased the players who like being the one-man-army superman but it's not like that trope isn't represented in the vast majority of FPS games already.

Final Verdict: Sniper: Ghost Warrior is an adequate and immersive modern conflict stealth sniper FPS. It's is absolutely streets ahead of the abysmal Sniper: Art of Victory but also has room to improve even within the AA space. I look forward to Ghost Warrior 2 soon.

Technicals: 6.5 hours playtime through Steam using a Nvidia 4070Ti & RTX5080 @ 3440x1440/175Hz with max settings on Windows 11. Windows HDR provided no enhancement.

Bugs: Like Art of Victory's, Ghost Warrior's opening movies were borked, but rather than a blank screen with sound, these were upside-down. A minor fix corrected this. There was also a bug with Mission 13 where you were given an escape objective but the enemy AI would detect you and kill you much more  unfairly than the rest of the game, this was noted by many other users but a somewhat ridiculous strategy to "outsmart the AI" rather than play as you would have normally was employed to negate.

Availability: Sniper: Ghost Warrior is available from Steam for €7.99 or GOG for €5.99 when not in a sale. Review copy purchased from Fanatical (with both Sniper: Art of Victory and Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2) for €0.95 in December 2018.

Series:

•     Sniper: Art of Victory [2008]
•     Sniper: Ghost Warrior [2010]
•     Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 [2013]
•     Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 [2017]
•     Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts [2019]
•     Sniper: Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 [2021]

New Game Review - RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business (2025)

Following on from their superb shooter RoboCop: Rogue City in 2023, developers Teyon released a stand-alone expansion RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business in 2025. The premise of this is quite similar to Dredd, the 2012 Judge Dredd movie in so far as RoboCop enters the the ground floor of Omni-Tower, an OCP high rise apartment block and has to shoot his way up to the villain (who of course is on the top floor).

This is simplistic, nostalgic and most of all fun! The same attention to detail which impressed me on RoboCop: Rogue City is as evident here. The sights and sounds lifted from the original RoboCop movies return you to feeling like the man/machine himself as Peter Weller delivers his lines with the character's trademark monotone albeit sounding a little older. The UE5 engine has been mostly tamed with a shader compilation on startup that eliminates the level of stuttering that seems to plague other games with the engine. It's not non-existent and there were a number of crashes too but this is all excusable for an AA at €30.

RoboCop doesn't need much more by way of toys than we've already seen but Teyon provide a few new bits and bobs that can be fun if not exactly canon. As before you can pick up discarded bad guy weaponry but this really amounts to a curiosity as you have your trusty Auto-9 with an array of enhancements that you pick up and install along the way. There is a sequence where you're stripped of the Auto-9 and have to use a few other weapons to kill everyone between you and your real weapon.

This is a far more streamlined and less varied game in scope to the parent title; while it does restrict you to to one building, there are a number of sequences in the game where you don't play as Robo as a way of providing narrative context (and a way of preventing you from any burnout from the game's singular Omni-Tower setting). These are mostly flashbacks and include a sequence where you play as Murphy before he's transferred to Metro Central. The best of these is one where an incapacitated Robo takes remote control of an ED-209 unit and has it slowly walk through a level obliterating everything and everyone in a sea of dust, debris and mostly blood!  

While Teyon have produced a bucketload or PC and console games since 2006, it's clear from the success of their Terminator: Resistance game as well as RoboCop: Rogue City that this polish AA studio has found a niche of adapting older movie franchises upon which AAA studios have largely ignored or dropped the ball on. They described RoboCop as their most successful game and with a peak of almost 5000 concurrent Steam users it stands to reason that they don't need mega numbers to be successful and considering that gamers who would have legally seen the original RoboCop in the cinema are at least 57 years old now, that's not too shabby a number. I'm satisfied with what's been put out for RoboCop now, so I'm eager to find out what franchise will get Teyon's treatment next.

Final Verdict: This is essentially a boomer-shooter but with modern graphical fidelity and bells and whistles. It's a shot of both adrenalin and nostalgia and is fun from start to finish. I'll play more RoboCop if they make more but I'd like them to resurrect something else next for variety's sake.

Technicals: 13.6 hours through Steam on Windows 11 with an RTX5080 @ 3440x1440 175Hz. Average  FPS: 120 on max settings

Bugs: 5 crashes in total, usually in cinematics.

Purchase Options: Available on Steam for €29.99. Review copy purchased from Fanatical for €16.24 in Jan 2026.

Series: 

• RoboCop: Rogue City [2023]
• - RoboCop: Rogue City - Unfinished Business [2025] 

First Play Review - Tomb Raider I-III Remastered (2024)

When I reviewed my first play of 2013's Tomb Raider reboot, I remarked that while I had played the free demo from the original 1996 game when it was originally released, I was quite frustrated the controls, lacked the patience to learn and dismissed the game as something people probably weren't going to bother playing. The monumental success of the franchise to this day proved me somewhat incorrect and while that is of course exceedingly rare, in this case it's a good thing. 

Despite my failure to adopt the original game into my library, its puzzle solving and Indiana Jones vibe did resonate with me enough to at least outwardly observe the franchise's evolution from the original Core design games all the way to the "Survivor Trilogy" from Square Enix/Crystal Dynamics, the first part of which I played and enjoyed but I understood from word of mouth that it was very different from the originals. When developers Aspyr created a well-regarded remaster of the first three original games in 2024 with updated graphics but especially updated controls, I knew I had to at least sample where the franchise had begun.

A remaster should only ever update the visuals, perhaps audio too and add in some quality of life features that allow newer players to enjoy the 'old game' on modern systems without being forced to deal with the outmoded jank that can't/won't work or look nice today. It shouldn't alter the hero's journey, or the story in any way. The original vision must be preserved or you risk annoying those that play the game for nostalgia's sake. Thankfully Tomb Raider I-III Remastered ticks all these boxes, it looks much better, Lara moves more fluidly than before and it's as difficult as it was ever.

The games are uncompromisingly old school, they don’t offer a map, waypoints or mark yellow paint to indicate this is where you go. You have to actually explore and try out things and any new thing you try can  lead to reward or death. The feeling of navigating ancient tombs is palpable. The remaster itself is treated with the utmost respect. The updated visuals clean everything up while keeping the original block-like geometry intact. Even with the enhanced textures and updated Lara and enemy models, these are still very much games from the late ‘90s and Lara's stiff animations reveal she is still following an invisible grid.

Purists will likely continue to use "Tank Controls", which are so called because they actually follow the movement principal of a tank. You head (turret) may look independently of the direction (tracks) your moving in. I think unless you used these because you had to in the original versions, it's not intuitive or worth trying to master them now when you don't have to. Controlling Lara is still a little awkward to get used to even with the "modern controls" scheme, but only because the game was designed around the tank controls. However once it's mastered it becomes more fluid and before too long it's like second nature. Once it clicks, platforming becomes less about reflexes and more about precision and planning.

You can switch from the original graphics to the modern graphics at any time.

While unlike most other games, combat here is something that happens every now and again rather than a purpose. The PS1 era lock-on is quite alien to someone not used to this 'console crutch' but there's no other way to play so one just has to suck it up. You have infinite pistol ammo but ammo for other weapons is scattered throughout levels and often your reward for exploring; just ignore the fact that for some reason magazines of 9mm ammo is lying in sealed ancient sarcophagi for thousands of years! While you can be shot by NPCs or mauled by animals, the greater threats you face in Tomb Raider is the environment itself. Most levels are littered with deadly insta-kill traps that would make Gary Gygax jealous. All can be avoided or disabled somehow but usually through trial and error and after you die to them once which is the bast way to reveal where they are.

Playing the three games back-to-back highlighted the level of experimentation that was happening at the time. Each entry refines ideas and mechanics, sometimes brilliantly but sometimes not. The first game is mainly an Egyptian adventure and has the most reason to have "tomb" in the title as that's where you spend the majority of the time. It's the most iconic setting which is why it was remade as Tomb Raider: Anniversary in 2007 and a second remake Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis is scheduled for release this year. Tomb Raider II in contrast didn't have a lot of tombs and mostly firearm equipped human enemies were more annoying than the awkward combat required to eliminate them. A lot of the game features underwater levels which additionally made you fight sharks and divers underwater with a speargun that never had enough spears and was an exercise in frustration when you ran out of breath. Thankfully Tomb Raider III turned it around introducing sprinting and crouching into the mix with some enemies that could poison you and while it was a harder game and didn't have a lot of tombs it had more interesting environments than the second game.

Final Verdict: While not everything has aged well; Tomb Raider I-III Remastered was worth my time exploring. Core Design's strong philosophy was obvious: trust the player, make the world hostile, and reward curiosity, especially when they're totally lost and Aspyr have redelivered this flawlessly with a new coat of paint.

Technicals: 84.7 hours though Steam using a Nvidia 4070Ti & RTX5080 @ 3440x1440/175Hz with no adjustable settings on Windows 11. Windows HDR does not engage for this title.

Bugs: None

Availability: Tomb Raider I- III Remastered is available from Steam or GOG for €28.99. Review copy purchased in Feb 2024 for €21.29.

The Tomb Raider Franchise (mainline only)

• Tomb Raider [1996]
• Tomb Raider II [1997]
• Tomb Raider III [1998]
• Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation [1999]
• Tomb Raider Chronicles [2000]
• Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness [2003]
• Tomb Raider: Legend [2006]
• Tomb Raider: Anniversary [2007]
• Tomb Raider: Underworld [2008]
• Tomb Raider [2013]
• Rise of the Tomb Raider [2015]
• Shadow of the Tomb Raider [2018]
• Tomb Raider I - III Remastered [2024]
• Tomb Raider IV - VI Remastered [2025]
• Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis [2026?]
• Tomb Raider: Catalyst [2027?] 

 

Last Play - Anthem [2019]

It's actually my first play, but I felt it was more significant an event for saying "Last Play" as by the time this is being read, Anthem, Bioware's failed attempt at a live service game is permanently offline and unplayable forever.

A significant amount has been written about Anthem, specifically it's monumental failure for both Bioware and EA Games and I don't feel it necessary to delve too deeply into it but what I do believe was that Casey Hudson (then General Manager of Bioware) pitched the idea to EA as a departure from the Mass Effect and Dragon Age IPs to merge a live service service looter-shooter with Bioware's classic storytelling. As Bioware only had experience with the latter and the team had no experience with Frostbite - EA's engine of choice, the writing was on the wall for an unmitigated disaster.

Reviews were not as bad as they could have been averaging 6/10. Praise was heaped on the combat mechanics with particular attention to flying. But criticisms were levelled against it's mostly unfinished state, boring loot, repetitive game play loop and lacklustre endgame, the death sentence of a live service title. Most egregiously slighted however were the die hard Bioware fans who showed up for a new sci-fi story but were met with a half-baked plot that didn't hold much water after 30 hours of game with no traditional companions (romanceable or otherwise) for your nameless, unmodifiable!!! character. It was the latter issues that I picked up on in the reviews and decided then that it just wasn't something I would be devoting time to.

I didn't miss much. The first (delayed) post-launch content Cataclysm, the first of three acts of a story was released in August 2019. By September this was canned and instead "seasonal updates" were promised which would address the game's massive problems instead. By February 2020 this was also cancelled in favour of a complete 'reboot' of the entire game similar to FFXIV's A Realm Reborn. By February 2021 Bioware announced that all future work on Anthem had ceased. In July 2025 EA announced that the final nail in Anthem's coffin was to be hammered in on 12th January 2026 as the game's servers, essential to deliver the game's online-only content to the game clients, were to be sunset, so last week I installed the game I picked up from a sale that appeared after it ceased support.

An hour in the game gave me a look inside the vision for this new IP. As expected from Bioware the lore was laid on thick but clearly open to be expanded upon as one would progress. A plethora of proper nouns were introduced in a way that you would know that this was going to be your lingo for your foreseeable future. The opening cutscenes lasted more than 5 mins before you were given control of your Javelin (exosuit), the narrative being you crashed and have to reinitialise each "new" system one by one.

Once you have full control and all of the abilities you were going to get for the prologue though, I will say that the gameplay was thoroughly enjoyable. The Frostbite engine was made for shooters as opposed to RPGs so I think it looked far better here than when EA forced Bioware to leverage it for Mass Effect: Andromeda. Shooting, jumping and of course the flying all felt amazing and I found myself disappointed not that the game would be shutdown in a few days but because even if it wasn't, the game from all accounts would after a a few hours offer no incentive to progress.

 

Hudson's folly was the original pursuit of a live service game. Had he pitched the same setting and mechanics but as a traditional Bioware RPG, EA may have greetlit it based on the success of both the Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises as story-rich choice-driven RPGs. In the aftermath some have suggested that a reworking from it's live-service to single player RPG model may have saved it but after seeing the failure of Dragon Age: The Veilguard to do the same (as that was originally also set to be a live-service game) I doubt it would have worked. With Anthem and Dragon Age's failure the entire future of Bioware now rests on the next Mass Effect.

Final Verdict: Some great ideas were woven in to some impressive early gameplay and story that reportedly dies as one progresses towards an unremarkable endgame. We can only be left wondering if EA had given Bioware the time and resources to fix or reboot the game, could it have seen a revival like FFXIV, No Man's Sky or Cyberpunk 2077? Sadly we will never truly know.

Availability: You're too late, it's gone forever. Review copy obtained from the EAStore for €1.99 in December 2022. 

 

10 Future Games on the General's Radar (2026 edition)

Following on from last year's list, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater and Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 were all released; so here is a new list of 10 games that caught my intention in alphabetical order. Only the first is actually expected this year with others between 2027 and 2029 if we're lucky.

 

007: First Light (IO Interactive)

Last year, all we knew was that Hitman developers IO Interactive were working on a James Bond game under the working title of Project 007. Now we know everything and have seen it in action. 007 First Light will depict Bond as a rookie agent in third-person action much like Hitman. We'll know if it's any good in May this year.

Blade (Arcane/Bethesda)

 

Returning from last year's post, everyone's favourite daywalking dhampir is getting his own 3rd person action game with lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to Wesley Snipes' movies. I predicted last year that we'd hear something about this game this year after its reveal in late 2023.

The Blood of the Dawnwalker (Rebel Wolves/Bandai Namco)

 

It just so happens that the next game on the list is about another 'daywalker' a Dawnwaker - human by day, vampire by night from former Witcher developers who founded  Rebel Wolves. The Blood of the Dawnwalker will be a dark fantasy action RPG. 

Exodus (Archetype Entertainment)

Still on the list since last year, from Archetype Entertainment who were formed by ex-Bioware personnel, Exodus is being advertised as sci-fi action adventure RPG which looks to the the spiritual successor to the older Mass Effect games with a heavy dose of concepts explored in Christopher's Nolan's Interstellar. They even have Matthew McConneghy on board with some voice work. The promotional work being done here is some of the best I've seen. Release is currently scheduled for early 2027.

 

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn (Owlcat Games)

 

 

A new entry to the list, an upcoming ARPG developed and published by Owlcat Games who have entries in both the Pathfinder and Warhammer 40K franchises. Apparently Osiris Reborn's plot will run parallel to the events of the first two books and first two-and-a-half seasons of the television series The Expanse. 

Iron Man (Motive/EA)

We still know next to nothing about Motive's Iron Man game since the time of last year's post. As a major fan of the armoured avenger, I hope they use lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to the MCU. If there was a side game mechanic to manage Stark Enterprises, prevent your heart stopping and battling alcoholism as well as being a superhero it just might be perfect.

Mass Effect 5 (Bioware/EA)

Again, no news since the post last year but all reports suggest Bioware remain committed to working on the next Mass Effect which will be developed with Unreal Engine 5. If we see this before 2028 I'll be shocked.

Star Wars: Eclipse (Quantic Dream/Lucasfilm Games)

 

PR embattled Quantic Dream's games have always intrigued me by how different from other games they are. I'm fascinated by how this could be applied to Star Wars even though it's set in the High Republic era. 

 

Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic (Arcanaut Studios/Lucasfilm Games)

 

 

The final new entry is another Star Wars game from former Bioware honcho Casey Hudson's new outfit Arcanaut Studios. This will apparently be a game set in the time period at the end of the Old Republic era. Hudson's involvement suggest it's (hopefully) an RPG. This is expected to be on this list through 2029 now.

The Witcher IV (CD Projekt Red/CD Projekt)

Last year I mentioned that the reveal of a Witcher IV trailer reminded me that I need to play The Witcher III before this comes out in - I expect late 2027. I still do!

There's are of course a few other projects that I'm following but not enough is known yet or they could be too far into the future to get hyped for yet. These include Larian Studio's next projects, one of which is Divinity, a CRPG set in one of their own original IPs, likely some time out before it's early access period. Another is a Knights of the Old Republic remake currently with Mad Head Studios and Saber Interactive that's been sooooo long in the development that I fear for it outright. A Cyberpunk 2077 sequel from CD Projekt Red which is barely in pre-production. And Insomniac's Marvel's Wolverine game and GTA VI from Rockstar for which PC versions aren't even announced yet.

First Play Review - Assassin's Creed III Remastered (2019)

Assassins Creed III wasn't a hated game in the series but it had the task of progressing the franchise forward after the fan-favourite "Ezio Trilogy" (Assassin's Creed II, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood & Assassin's Creed: Revelations) in 2012. Unlike some missteps elsewhere with their custodianship of the Tom Clancy brand (specifically Splinter Cell), Ubisoft churned out seven Assassin's Creed titles in the five years between 2011 and 2015. Assassin's Creed III was the only AC title to release in 2012 and to date is the only full title in the series to be remastered.

Assassin's Creed III takes the eternal battle of the Assassins vs The Templars to Colonial America from 1754 to 1783. Here you will control Englishman Haythem Kenway who makes the journey from England at the onset of the French and Indian War and later a Mohican boy Ratonhnhaké:ton who becomes known as Connor, the first Native American member of the Assassin Brotherhood.

The plot once again has you as Desmond uncovering the secrets of the mysterious Isu picking up directly from Revelations. While I admit I was intrigued by this in the beginning, by now the fifth outing, I grew weary of it as it serves no real purpose and has become more incoherent and annoying more than anything. The true game anyway is inside the Animus and the American Revolution was an interesting backdrop to play in. Along the way you meet everyone from George Washington to Benjamin Franklin and even kill a few famous people (who historically died albeit under different circumstances).

Conor is a very different protagonist to Ezio and it was quite jarring to play as someone with such a different personality or dare I say lack thereof. I get he is supposed to be a Native American, incensed by outsiders invading his ancestral lands, destroying his village and killing his mother but this seems to be expressed through a petulant child's impatience and arrogance rather than someone taking mature and measured view of the changing political landscape while assassinating people in revenge. Being annoyed by the main character isn't a great feeling for a long game but thankfully each AC game from this point onwards has a new protagonist so it's a short-lived suffering.

It's fair to say that once Ubisoft scored a hit with a game, they often simply reiterate on the formula with little by way of significant innovation and that's very evident from ACIII. Traversal is as the older AC games, without the extra zip-lining of Revelations and now one can free run through trees as well as over rooftops. Combat is a little more streamlined and and a tad easier than before and also shows Connor's sheer brutality with his traditional weapons like a stone axe or tomahawk, very different from Ezio's more redefined and elegant combat. The majority of the game isn't vastly different from before other than the setting and characters and that's not necessarily a bad thing but there does need to be more significant innovation than what we got here for a title to be elevated above it's predecessors.

One new thing that did to come to ACIII is a naval battle mechanic, where you take control of a naval vessel and manage its sails and weapons to outwit the enemy and sink them before they sink you. While this is a welcome change from the other 30 hours or so of melee combat, it's underutilised here and wouldn't be until the sequel Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag where it would be explored properly.

While I wasn't bored by any means, I did not on this occasion seek out to reveal as much of the map through synchronisation points, nor did I complete all the side-missions after a time, preferring to concentrate on the main plot. I know that later titles in the series somewhat softlock you until you gain experience or wall off access to content through playing but this was not necessary here which is good in the way that Ubisoft respect your time and not require you to complete certain side content to progress, but bad in the way that I do feel I did miss out on part of the game that I may have enjoyed. I also chose not to engage with the DLC, The Tyranny of King Washington as it was essentially a "dream sequence" and unrelated to the main narrative.

At the time of playing Assassin's Creed III, I was unaware that the remastered version is considered partly inferior to the original release due to differences in lighting and character facial textures being more "plastic" looking. Knowing this I would still have elected to play the remaster due to some quality of life changes and modernised controls. The original retail version of ACIII is no longer available for sale.

Final Verdict: With a lacklustre protagonist and nothing too innovative, Assassins Creed III is not the most beloved entry in the franchise and a relatively by-the-numbers Ubisoft adventure. It was a bizarre choice for the only remastered entry of the series as of 2025.

Technicals: 35 hrs playtime approx though Ubisoft Connect in 2560x1440 @ 60FPS (engine cap) on RTX4070Ti in Windows 11. In-game HDR.

Bugs: Horses would occasionally get stuck in terrain.

Availability: Assassin's Creed III: Remastered is on Steam or the Ubisoft Store for €39.99. Review copy came as DLC included with a purchase of Assassin's Creed Odyssey - Gold Edition for €33.43 in November 2019. 

Series Timeline [PC]:

• Assassin's Creed [2007]
• Assassin's Creed II [2010]
• Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood [2011]
• Assassin's Creed: Revelations [2011]
• Assassin's Creed III [2012]
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag [2013] 
• - Assassin's Creed: Freedom Cry [2014]
• - Assassin's Creed III: Liberation HD [2014]
• Assassin's Creed Unity [2014]
• Assassin's Creed Rogue [2015]
• Assassin's Creed Syndicate [2015]
• Assassin's Creed Origins [2017]
• Assassin's Creed Odyssey [2018]
• - Assassin's Creed III Remastered [2019] 
• - Assassin's Creed III Liberation Remastered [2019] 
• Assassin's Creed Valhalla [2020]
• Assassin's Creed Mirage [2023] 
• Assassin's Creed Shadows [2025]
• Assassin’s Creed Hexe [202?] 

Happy 250th Birthday to the United States Marine Corps

 

First Play Review - Soldier of Fortune: Payback (2007)

Soldier of Fortune is one my all time favourite games. The Quake II engine was put to a greater use in 2000 by Raven Software than Id Software ever did. It was absurdly graphically violent but that was it's selling point, it  also had some deeply troubling politics even for the time, let alone in today's society. It was nonetheless some campy fun not unlike a 1980's action movie. The game's success green-lit a technically but not narratively better sequel with Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix in 2002 and there was talk of a third game later but that didn't happen.

But it did, sorta.

In 2007 Cauldron HQ were working on their own AA FPS title Mercenaries Wanted for PC, Xbox360 and PS3 using similar graphic gore and dismemberment mechanics not really seen since Soldier of Fortune. Publishers Activision saw the potential to elevate the game to AAA status (well AAA pricing) by permitting Cauldron to use the now dormant Soldier of Fortune licence and shoehorn in some cut scenes to tell a story of a betrayed mercenary out for revenge; and so Soldier of Fortune: Payback was born.

Initially when I started the game I couldn't hit anything when shooting. Apparently this is a known issue when playing with hardware that's generations ahead of the tech. I had to artificially cap the frame-rate before bullets would register. Once that bug was worked around things went mainly downhill from there.

While the game did have some graphic dismemberment probably more than most it was nowhere near the visceral orgy of gore Raven's games had. To be fair there were some some quality graphics for the era, it was let down by a totally ridiculous and disjointed plot even for 'dumb' FPS standards, that just finished half way through the plot as if they intended a sequel which is now the most blatant arrogance I've ever witnessed. It was like a fever dream from someone who watched several straight-to-video movies and fell asleep reading the lowest common denominator of Tom Clancy knock-off novels.

There are many tropes one can look past because it moves along the narrative, but when something is so stupid that you snap out of your immersion, you writing or game design have failed. For example, high security key-cards required to advance a level should be (a) on dead guard, that's either killed by you or not or (b) in a crackable safe in the base-commander's office. The place for a high security key-card is not under the bed of a slave being kept in a prison.

The combat itself was passable, if nowhere near any true AAA FPS. For the most part you're shooting humans with no body armour, and even less intelligence that drop after a realistic amount of bullets - except for the half-dozen or so end of level bosses which were still standing after an assault rifle magazine was emptied into their centre mass and they seemed to increase in sponginess with every boss. I rage-quit at the final boss, not because he was a badly voiced Irish terrorist, but because I emptied an entire belt of 400 rounds from my M249 SAW into him and he kept laughing. I watched a YouTube video of a guy use the same ammo but also about 8x30-round clips of 5.56mm from a H&K G36 and about 7 fragmentation grenades before the otherwise "human" Irish terrorist would fall. If this super-soldier was around for the troubles we'd have a 32 county nation and probably would have invaded the UK by now too.

Final Verdict: If Cauldron had been allowed to develop and publish their original game, it probably would have been regarded as an ordinary AA FPS without much fanfare or regard. However with the marketing force of the Soldier of Fortune label brought expectations and shoes that Cauldron could simply not have filled. This was a bad lacklustre AA FPS but it was excrement as a Soldier of Fortune branded game, a blight on the franchise best ignored forever.

Technicals: 4 hrs playtime though GOG Galaxy in 2560x1440 @ 60FPS (artifical cap) on RTX4070Ti in Windows 11. No HDR.

Bugs: Without an artificially capped frame rate, your bullets won't hit enemies.

Availability: Soldier of Fortune: Payback is only available from GOG. Normal Retail price €9.19. Review copy purchased in a bundle of of all three SoF games for €13.49 in June 2019.

Soldier of Fortune franchise:

•     Soldier of Fortune (2000)
•     Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix (2002)
•     Soldier of Fortune: Payback (2007) 

 

Crysis: Remastered (2020)

Back in 2018 I replayed the original Crysis as it was meant to be played and did a full review here. It had been my intention to play Crysis 2 after I played Crysis: Warhead in 2019. However, in early 2020 Crytek announced remastered versions of the Crysis trilogy were being worked on so I delayed playing though the trilogy until it was time.

Now as the game is practically identical in gameplay to the original, there is no need to add comments to my last review in that regard. This is a remaster from the same company that produced the original but the game is different in some regard.

Some of these differences may stem from the bizarre fact that this remaster uses code from the console version of the original game as it's newer code than the original PC version. However as the console version is technically inferior to the PC version, it did introduce some issues that were previously only native to consoles but never before seen in the PC version.

Crysis Remastered does bring full in-game HDR and Ray-Tracing which provide some of not a massive visual enhancement to the game overall. The jungle island doesn't seem too different other than the enjoyment of sun rays coming through the dense jungle vegetation but the sections of the game I hate - the zero-gravity alien environment were brought to life under the new visuals and made the sequences much more bearable to play.

It would have been nice if the assets themselves had got a makeover considering the price they were charging at launch and stand out as bing very blocky and this is now far more noticeable as a the game uses 2007 assets with a 2020 skin on them, it's a bit jarring. It's less jarring to play the original at full settings.

I noticed also that the A.I., which was great at the time, has been altered for the worse and enemies are now far more aim-bot-ish in comparison to the original. They seemed to have a significant vision and able to see you from a greater distance than should be possible and end you. This was an issue twofold because manual saves were removed to use a checkpoint system, I dislike these, especially as I'm more used to saving when I want to.

I did clock a few minor bugs, and I noticed also that the sound mix of the game was a bit off in places, some music and sound FX being louder than others that shouldn't have been. I wonder if they took sounds from the later games and grafted them to this to make it a more cohesive trilogy in that regard?

The gimmick of the game as I mentioned in the earlier review is your Nanosuit, a high tech armour that allows you to throw further, jump higher, sprint faster, and resist bullets more than a common FPS. It even has a cloaking device! Crytek changed the way the suit operates in the later games and offers that here, but still offers you the original suit control method if you desire. I tried out the later method here because I want to be used to it as I play the sequels. I think it's a little more intuitive to be able to double up on your suit powers so I'll chalk it down as a positive.

Final Verdict: As 2007 Crysis still holds up much more than most games of that era, this was a pointless remaster in light of the mods available for the original now. If this had been just the graphical upgrade without some buggy knock on effects or even the suit upgrade, I'd say fair enough to take advantage of RT and HDR. At least it runs on high settings at a stable frame rate without overheating. I'm not a purist for many games, and I'm not for this but I still think the original is a better experience overall.

Bugs: Some enemies passing through scenery, some floating objects. One game freeze, app reset required.

Technicals: 7.6 hours through Steam on Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti @  3440x1440 @ 120FPS on Hight settings with in game HDR.

Availability: Crysis: Remastered is available from Steam or GOG for €29.99. Review copy obtained through Humble Bundle in November 2024 for €2.25.

Crysis Series:

• Crysis (2007)
• Crysis: Warhead (2008)
• Crysis 2 (2011)
• Crysis 3 (2013)
• Crysis: Remastered (2020)
• Crysis 2: Remastered (2021)
• Crysis 3: Remastered (2021)
• Crysis 4 (?)

20 Years of Whopper's Bunker

On Friday 9th of September 2005 I wrote a post entitled "This Blog Thingy". Hardly the most auspicious representation of my extraordinary writing talent; but nonetheless it's what began the now 20 year history of this blog.

Originally entitled "The Colonel's Eagle" and changed the following year in 2006 to "Whopper's Bunker", the blog was actually suggested by Mark Twomey after he observed my extensive "show notes" for one of the early episodes of 2IGTV and in its initial years I used it to cover the stuff we didn't get to on the show.

As one would expect, one's interests may change over the course of 20 years. I certainly have no time to observe the day-to-day antics of Paris Hilton or critique the latest movies nor would I care to do either now if I had the time.

Blogging itself isn't as it was 20 or even 10 years ago. People's use of the Internet has evolved. Later users don't read long-form posts now and they don't need to because everyone can just record a video for YouTube or social media will feed it to you in other ways. If you write more than 100 words people will have AI summarise it and read it to them.

To be fair, being a 3-star general and responsible for the global operations of a multi-national security and defence organisation protecting the planet from what no one believes actually exists takes up most of my waking hours but I still enjoy writing about my video game experiences every once in a while.

I'll be here 'til it goes dark.

Review: Warcraft II Remastered (2024)

While Blizzard have made their indelible mark on the game industry with the MMO powerhouse World of Warcraft for over 20 years now, it's always worth remembering that the universe that that game enjoys as a setting was created for a series of real-time strategy (RTS) games between 1994 and 2002. 

 

I only very briefly played the original Warcraft: Orcs & Humans on a friends laptop in early 1995, and it paled in comparison to the significant upgrade of Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness which became the first (of very few) RTS games I played. Blizzard's development style, humour and flair for interesting gameplay carried over into the superior Starcraft and Diablo later but it was Warcraft II which first peaked my interest and I enjoyed crating obedient armies of overwhelming force to crush my enemies after an hour of meticulous planning.

In November 2004 Blizzard shadow-dropped Warcraft Battlechest - remasters of both Warcraft and Warcraft II on Battle.net to both offer an upgrade to fans of the original games for modern PCs and to provide a way for newer fans introduced to Azeroth through World of Warcraft a way to experience the roots of the setting.

My nostalgia wasn't triggered by Warcraft Remastered but it certainly was by Warcraft II Remastered so that soon found its way into my library. I enjoyed the game for it's relative simplicity, shallow learning curve and logicial approach to creating building and combat units as well as their upgrades by funnelling more and more resources into your base.

Warcraft II, much like Starcraft later were games that I could never finish because playing as the enemy never really interested me. While Starcraft's three factions had some unique abilities that kind of prompted you to play them so you could learn to be better at your chosen faction, Warcraft II's two factions were basically identical only with different names, sounds and skins. So sure if you wanted the whole story you'd have to play the game from both sides but for these games the plot was little more than filler every few levels and quite unimportant to the game as a while in my opinion.

I will say for all their recent faults (Overwatch 2, WoW: Shadowlands ahem) Blizzard did a great job of modernising Warcraft II without actually changing it. There are some quality of life features, resolution upgrades and most notably a sweet graphs pass that looks great on a modern monitor now. The gameplay however I from my perspective pretty untouched. And I was left wondering if perhaps they should have? I didn't finish the Alliance campaign but I played it for long enough to notice that the strategies I used to use to win, still worked flawlessly. That's an issue of course for a 3-star general and an actual master of combat strategy as I can't feel challenged if I know I can't lose.

Final Verdict: It was nice nostalgic diversion to replay one of the very first PC games I ever played. The technical and graphical upgrades are worth it it you want to play the game on modern hardware but be warned that it is the same game, nothing of substance was changed which might be a good or a bad thing. You decide. 

Technicals: 12 hours through Battle.net on Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti. Game limits to 16:9 ratio.

Availability: Warcraft II Remastered is available from Battle.net for €14.99. Review copy obtained through Battle.net in April 2025 for €7.49.

Warcraft series (excluding expansions):

• Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (1994)
• Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness (1995)
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002)
• World of Warcraft (2004)
• Hearthstone (2014)
• World of Warcraft Classic (2019)
• Warcraft III: Reforged (2020)
• Warcraft Rumble (2023)
• Warcraft Remastered / Warcraft II Remastered (2024)

First Play Review - Grand Theft Auto V: Enhanced Edition

One of the very few times I interacted with a PlayStation (any version) was in late 1998 or so when a buddy handed me a controller to play Grand Theft Auto a game that I had known about due to the controversy surrounding its themes and violence after it had been marketed in the U.S. and thus gained exponential popularity. I contend that the later coined "Streisand effect" for this should be called the "GTA effect", but I digress.

It certainly wasn't my normal type of game (it existed for the PC but never tried that). The premise was basically a top-down driving simulator where you followed job objectives assigned by organised crime bosses, stealing cars, shooting police officers and generally causing mayhem. I can understand the controversy as much as the popularity it gained because of it - as well as the general gameplay appeal.

The franchise really took off when it entered the 3D era and broadened it's appeal with GTA III in 2001. Considered one of the pivotal moments in video game history the controversy never abated and increased ten-fold as the series grew in popularity. Fast forward 24 years and the franchise has evolved into a 3D 3rd/1st person action game which has generated sales from 440 million copies, the largest contribution portion of developer Rockstar Games' $20bn+ valuation.

With a 6th mainline entry in the franchise where even trailers are more hyped than some AAA game releases on the way and that a new Ray-tracing and graphical enhancement update was added to the last entry in the series I decided that I should probably take a look at Grand Theft Auto V, to see what all the fuss was about.

In his chronically misguided attempt to entice people to purchase from his online store, Epic Games honcho Tim Sweeny used to give out over a dozen high quality or AAA games for free every year. He more recently announced significant losses from this idiotic endeavour and now rarely offers more than indie slop or repeats of previous games. But in May 2020 he did grant us GTAV: Premium Edition which got the free upgrade to the Enhanced edition, so I won't complain.

I was in game for about 90 minutes when it clicked why this had sold over 200 million copies by itself. This was a cinematically directed interactive crime movie. Heat, Scarface, Boyz n the Hood in fact literally any movie there's been, law-enforcement activity, a heist or criminal drug-related shenangans probably gets a nod here and it's seriously impressive. It's a bit jarring to hear the N-word coming so much from a video game or something not done by Tarantino but it's always spoken by black characters so that's makes it OK right? The atmosphere created by Rockstar never leaves the game and while some situations are a bit far fetched it never truly breaks the cinematic immersion you just get some scenes paying homage to William Friedkin and others to Tony Scott.

You play three different characters, a low level car 'reposessor' and gang-banger Franklyn, Michael an ex-robber family man in wit-sec and Trevor a loose cannon arms trafficker and meth dealer. You control them at different points in their interwoven story as they meet and begin to plot for the biggest heist they've ever undertaken, ripping of the Federal Repository. This is a game however where the side-content, not integral to the plot is worth completing as it's as expertly produced and as well written as the main path. Often you have free reign over any character and as them you can travel around the extensive map stealing cars, ripping off other criminals, robbing armoured cars, taking part in illegal street races, visiting strip clubs and even playing some golf (I sucked at the golf).

This is Grand Theft Auto and of course the Auto part is probably the most important aspect as you will need to drive anywhere from objective to objective. You might want to use your own personal car but in this world you can just smash a window and boost or pull out the driver of a stopped car and get yourself a new ride. There are pros and cons to each different vehicle of which there must be dozens of different types and part of the appeal is finding out which vehicle would be better for each situation your find yourself in.

Despite the inevitable action sequences I did find myself driving on the freeway aimlessly just listening to the in game radio. The stations hosted by a DJs voiced by Cara Delevingne and Kenny Loggins were my favourite and I ended up missing some objectives due to wanting to hear all of INXS' "New Sensation" or Belinda Carlisle's "Circle in the Sand" to name but a few. It also made me thankful that I don't drive in reality as I started driving far too recklessly when Loggins played his own hit "Dangerzone".

Final Verdict: I initially just wanted to play for a little while just to see what the hype was about, but got totally pulled in and stayed for 60 hours before the credits rolled. It's easy to see only from this why the game generated $8.6bn (albiet likely the majority from its online component) and why Rockstar will most certainly get away with charging $100 for GTA VI. I was very tempted to continue the game in an online persona in the included GTA: Online but it's best I leave the criminal life behind... at least for now.

Technicals: 60 hours through Steam on Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti @ 3440x1440/60FPS with in-game HDR and full Ray Tracing.

Availability: Grand Theft Auto V is available from Steam for €29.99. Review copy received through EGS in May 2020 for €0.00.

Grand Theft Auto series (mainline only):

• Grand Theft Auto (1997)
• Grand Theft Auto 2 (1999)
• Grand Theft Auto III (2001)
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2003)
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004)
• Grand Theft Auto IV (2008)
• Grand Theft Auto V (2013)
• Grand Theft Auto VI (2025?)

Review - Outliver: Tribulation (2023)

This game landed in my EGS account one day and despite it's genre tags turning me off, namely : "Souls-like" and "Survival Horror" I couldn't pass up an opportunity to sample this small game from a 3-man indie development studio GBROSSOFT because I don't think I've ever played a video-game from Africa! GBROSSOFT are based in Lagos, South West Nigeria and according to themselves: "create African themed games with a global appeal". Tim paid for it, so why not?

You're put into the shoes of a female African special forces operator who apparently has fallen into an ancient mystical temple with the rest of her team and was the last to wake up from unconsciousness. The third-person perspective, African music and the bells and whistles of the Unreal Engine create a very unique atmosphere, something sadly lacking from AAA titles over the past 20 years.

The general movement of your character and weapons handling is competent and serviceable for what it is. The puzzles are not more difficult than standard modern video-game puzzles (ie. much easier than in the old days) and it's clear from the attention to detail in the story and mythology there's a more than passing religious significance to the developers woven into the plot. I think despite the likes of Western-themed adventurers exploring parts of Africa, nothing like this has been done before.

As this is an indie I overlook it not having features like professional voice-actors, movie-quality cut-scenes, re-mappable controls, no mouse in menus and some general feel of jankiness that just can't be ironed out by a team of just three devs. The environments are repetitive and at least from what I saw were somewhat confusing which was compounded by a map that was probably too simplistic for a 3D action game and didn't show your character's exact position/direction in a traditional way. While I do appreciate someone doing something differently, it should never be so obtuse as to not give enough information at a glance.

I only played about an hour of the game which seems to be 25% of it's playtime and this was due to the relative difficulty I have with souls-like games and my aversion to the survival-horror genre. It'll be fun for people who like to have enemies blink into existence from the mist and darkness and take a quarter of your health in one shot. It might have helped if the sound mix didn't confuse me into thinking something was in a different direction to where it was but it still meant my character was not long for life.

Final Verdict: It's a shame that to find anything unique and new these days, you have to delve into the virtual bargain bin, but this is a game that a fan of either or both survival horror or souls-like (but with guns) should investigate for as little as €2.

Technicals: 60 mins through EGS Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti @ 80FPS

Availability: Outliver: Tribulation is available from Steam for €7.79. Review copy granted Free from Epic Games in Oct 2024.

Retro Review - Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002)(2024)

In honour of Star Wars day on May 4th I decided to try out a recently ported PS2 game that Amazon gave me as part of my Prime subscription. Star Wars: Bounty Hunter was originally released as a console exclusive in 2002 by LucasArts who wanted to throw a spotlight on one of Attack of the Clones most hyped characters - Jango Fett.

Players play Fett in a 3rd person action game using all his tricks and weaponry such as his twin pistols, flamethrower and jetpack. The game serves as backstory for Fett being chosen as the clone template 10 years before Episode II. The bounty hunter sets his sights on a 5 million credit bounty to eliminate the leader of an evil underground organisation that threatens to disrupt Darth Sidious' ultimate plans. Fett needs to gather information by threatening (and then killing) targets with knowledge of his quarry and any bounties of opportunity as he shoots and burns his way through somewhat simplistic but classically vertical LucasArts level designs.

Atmospherically it's very Star Wars, it uses the LucasArts/Lucasfilm library of authentic sounds from blaster fire to the Willheim Scream, John Williams' themes with some of Jeremy Seoule's equally unmistakable score provides a familiar soundscape. Temura Morrison lends his voice to the character providing a continuity of immersion. Zam Wessel's screen actor Leeanna Walsman voices her character and Clancy Brown portrays a rival hunter.

The game is a product of it's age and sadly no amount of graphical remastering on Aspyr's part can snap you out of the reality that this is an early 2000's console game, albeit a relatively good one - amazing even - considering it's basically a movie tie in. While you can chose a classic or modern control scheme, it's something that you often have to fight with or at least get used to the camera. It does start out drip feeding you apilities and enemies but before long you're fighting waves and waves of identical enemies, that wear your patience down more than your health. I had enough of this after about 4.5 hours, I enjoyed what I saw but I knew I had seen it all by then.

Final Verdict: Aspyr have has some Star Wars related misses recently with the KotORII Nintendo Switch Port and the remasters of the Battlefront games but in general they have the most experience with Star Wars game ports and Bounty Hunter certainly seems like one of their success stories. They did a great job of modernising the textures, lighting and effects and delivered a serviceable remaster and PC port that runs glitch free on a modern system.

Technicals: 4.5 hours through GOG Galaxy on Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti @ 120FPS (Game limitation) using Windows HDR

Availability: Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is available from Steam or GOG for €19.50. Review copy granted Free from Amazon Prime Gaming in Dec 2024.

Star Wars games ported by Aspyr: (Ported to various Windows, Linux, MacOS, iOS, Android, Microsoft consoles, Sony consoles and Nintendo Switch depending on title)

• Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds
• Star Wars: Jedi Knight II - Jedi Outcast
• Star Wars: Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy
• Star Wars: Battlefront
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
• Star Wars: Empire at War
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed - Ultimate Sith Edition
• Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II - The Sith Lords
• Star Wars: Episode I - Racer
• Star Wars: Republic Commando
• Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection
• Star Wars: Bounty Hunter
• Star Wars Episode I: Jedi Power Battles
  

25th Anniversary Review - Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (2000)

Raven Software may be a support studio for Call of Duty now, but they once took modified forms of id-Tech engines and built some of the best FPS games of the turn of the century. Three of my personal favorites were Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Soldier of Fortune and of course a very unique game in Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force.

One would not have thought of the Star Trek franchisee being ripe for an FPS game as shooting things with phasers to a degree that would support an entire game and was never really Star Trek's style, especially on Voyager. Nontheless we got a sort of "created only for the game" elite Starfleet Hazard Team that would be sent on the most dangerous missions the regular security officers would be unable to do because... video game plot device.

Raven's gambit worked because Elite Force which leveraged id Tech 3 (used for Quake III) lent itself superbly to realise the most incredible Star Trek experience for it's time. The plot wasn't out of place in any episode of the show and the visuals were created from what must have been exhausting levels of research. Much like prior Star Trek franchise games, the entire main cast provided their characters voice overs for the game to truly cement your immersion.

There was a significant amount of scripted sequences to build tension and further the narrative but you had agency to affect the outcome through your actions which was not the norm for the time. Gameplay usually has you transport to usually hostile environments on away missions to shoot your way through alien vessels and eliminating threats with everything from your TV show accurate phasers to some interesting additions by Raven to round out the common 10-slot weapon load-out for the game genre.

Final Verdict: It's not my first time back in the 25 years since release but I still enjoy returning to Voyager - Elite Force to shoot things with phasers for about 8 hours, which is short for a game yes, but long for an episode of the show, an atmosphere that Raven so expertly recreated here and (thanks to GOG) runs great on a modern system.

Technicals: 8 hours through GOG Galaxy on Windows 11 with an RTX4070Ti

Availability: Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force is available from GOG for €9.99. Review copy purchased in September 2023 for €5.99 from GOG.

Star Trek: Elite Force series:

• Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force (2000)
• Star Trek: Elite Force II (2003)
  

10 Future Video Games on the General's Radar

A list of 10 games that caught my intention in alphabetical order. A few are expected this year but the way things are going in the games industry it possible that that only some of these will even be completed.

 

Blade (Arkane/Bethesda)

Everyone's favourite daywalking dhampir is getting his own 3rd person action game with lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to Wesley Snipes movies. It'll be 2026 before we see anything about this game after its reveal in late 2023.

DOOM: The Dark Ages (Id Software/Bethesda)

The third installment of the 2016 rebooted DOOM franchise.This is touted as the "epic cinematic origin story of The Slayer's rage". I get worried when id use the word "story" for a DOOM game but we'll see this year.

Exodus (Archetype Entertainment)

From Archetype Entertainment who were formed by ex-Bioware personnel, Exodus is being advertised as Sci-Fi action adventure RPG which looks to the the spiritual successor to the older Mass Effect games with a heavy dose of concepts explored in Christopher's Nolan's Interstellar, they even have Matthew McConneghy on board with some voice work. The promotional work being done here is some of the best I've seen.

Iron Man (Motive/EA)

EA has the license for an Iron Man game and have tasked Motive to develop a game we know little about but expect it to be a single-player action adventure and have an open world judging by some job listings last year. I'm a major fan of Iron Man and I hope they use lore from the Marvel comics as opposed to the MCU. If there was a side game mechanic to manage Stark Enterprises, prevent your heart stopping and battling alchohlism as well as being a superhero it just might be perfect.

Mass Effect 5 (Bioware/EA)

With Dragon Age: The Veilguard not exactly inspiring too much confidence in the studio, Bioware remain committed to working on the next Mass Effect which will be developed with Unreal Engine 5. If we see this before 2028 I'll be shocked.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater (Konami)

An Unreal 5 remake of Metal Gear Solid III for current gen consoles, but more importantly - the PC! It's just a remake so hopefully it's gone smoothly without Hideo Kojima on board. We should find out this year.

 

Project 007 (IO Interactive)

Hitman developers IO Interactive are working on a James Bond game. I'm assuming a third-person action game but I guess we'll see in due course. 

Star Wars: Eclipse (Quantic Dream/Lucasfilm Games)

 

PR embattled Quantic Dream's games have always intrigued me by how different from other games they are. I'm fascinated by how this could be applied to Star Wars even though it's set in the High Republic era. 

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 (The Chinese Room/Paradox Interactive)

 

This is a long, long, long awaited sequel to 2004's Bloodlines. It began development at Hardsuit Labs in 2016 but was halted in 2021. Publishers Paradox decided against cancelling the game and instead unveiled in 2023 that The Chinese Room had picked up development. I'm not holding my breath expecting it this year.

The Witcher IV (CD Projekt Red)

The recent reveal of a Witcher IV trailer reminded me that I need to play The Witcher III. before this comes out in I expect 2027.