Creeping across the decayed checkerboard tiles of the dentist's office, I happen upon a desk set in the alcove of a wall. Searching furiously for ammunition and a rememdy to the gunshot wound I had been carrying, I unearth a small collection of armour-piercing rounds and a hyperdermic of ADAM.



I hear a low hiss, at my feet steam begins to swirl. It envelops me.

Shrouded in it's choking, unpenetrating curtain; the feeling of dread and isolation flush through me. My shuddering hand reaches for the revolver at my hip, as I grasp the handle, I take solice in its offered protection. I start at the pain in my leg, stepping backward and drawing the revolver I realise nothing is there, groping the blinding steam ahead of me, I catch the corner of the desk.

A shiver surges down my spine as emptiness echoes in my ears, the hissing had stopped, I feel more isolated than before; however, the steam starts to dissipate. The shroud melts before my eyes as I stand staring at the raided desk. I feel my shoulders relax, and my breathing slow. Replacing the revolver in it's holster I begin to turn, wringing my hands as I notice the layer of sweat and condensed steam covering them.

I look up.

I feel my skin tear on the old desk now behind me, I crash into the front of it as I jolt backward from the shock.

His jaw covered with a dentists mask, a reflector adorned his head. This only resulted in intensifying his stone like gaze, as it brushed over me with questioning authority. Watching me frozen in shock, piled against the desk, he lunges at me.



I fumble with the revolver, forcing it into my hand only a second too late, the strike tears the skin on the side of my head, through the spotted vision and spinning visage of the dentist splicer, I take aim. The reflector made for a perfect target, it's reflected light breaking through the daze. A gunshot rings through the room. The reflector shatters as a trail of blood escapes from the back of his skull. The destist's body goes limp as he falls to the floor dead.

-----------------------------------------------------------

So it may not have happened in such a overly dramatic way, but this moment in 2K's bioshock genuinely scared me. I jumped so high when I saw him standing there, I swear I came close to hitting the roof!

Bioshock wasn't an extremely scary experience, this seems to be a one off sort of case. I'm not sure this has even happened to anyone else, my other gamer friends seem to have either forgotten or not recieved this near brutal shock.

I'm not one to scare easily, but turning around in a room you thought was empty only to see someone watching you with so much intensity you would swear thier eyes where burning through you, really made me jump. Not just me either, my brother jumped almost as high as me, and he was just watching!

I think bioshocks immersive nature really 'added' to the scare, otherwise it would have just been another enemy lurking about. Throughout the rest of the game i kept thinking this was going to happen again, it became the classic 'monster under the bed' situation, you thought something was there, but you really didn't want to check just in case there was.



This scenario is a tribute to the work that 2K did, although im not really a big fan of the overall game, these sort of moments are what made this game so immersive, so revolutionary, so much fun until about the 3rd or 4th level when everything got a bit too easy and a tad too repeditive. Bioshock was as story, much like Assasins Creed, only with better gameplay. The story is so well embedded in the game and so well expressed and explored through the gameplay that, really, without the story it would have been another forgotten game.

This remains my biggest scare in a video game, it hold the title above anything in Resident Evil and beating, but not by much, the darkened floor of 'zombines' in half-life 2: episode 1.



The dentists eyes keep plaguing my memory, and will continue to, at least until Resident Evil 5 comes out.



...He watches you while you sleep...

First Off, there are a couple of spoilers here, so be fair warned!

Now I'm sure I’m just leaving myself open to be flamed, but I enjoyed this game, all six hours of it!

Yes, it’s extremely short; it’s almost the ‘Altered Beast’ of Next-Gen in this sense. However, I can't say I didn't enjoy it, the game with its’ many, many flaws still held my interest. I shall try to explain.

First off; in general I’m a bit of a Star Wars fan; however, I'm no fan-boy. Secondly; 'The Force Unleashed' is definitely not the best Star Wars game, not even close. That title, well for me anyway, is held by Jedi Knight and KOTOR. Thirdly; I didn't feel like I was lied to.

Although I tried to read as little as possible on the game, the trailers I watched and the posts I read didn't seem too dissimilar to the end product, even if it could have been better polished.

With all this said, there are problems, as I'm sure you are all aware. The lock-on system AI needs some serious work; there are some map problems, especially on the second ‘Felucia’ level (yay for walking on air in some parts! N-gons, or bad collidable sets?) and some other game play elements where a pain in the ass. Pulling the Starfighter down was full of fail, and because I didn't grow up playing ‘International track and field’ for 6 hours a day, surprisingly, I can’t tap fast enough to get out of Darth Vader's force grip!

And, please, don't even get me started on the ps3 version, slideshows when all that’s shown is you and the map with NO NPCs is just bullshit!

However, there are a couple of redeeming qualities, and these made up for all the problems in this game.

1. I fought 'Darth Maul', yes I do realise he was just a persona of proxy, but it was still awesome.

2. The storyline was very fulfilling; showing the origins of the rebellion was a very interesting idea.

3. Using DMM, Euphoria and Havoc in the same engine will leave some sort of mark on the Industry. Bending the odd pole or door here or there was much more interesting than just blowing a hole in a wall!

4. And the reason I enjoy this game:

Pick up Stormtrooper. Ram Stormtrooper into other Stormtrooper. Pick up both Stormtroopers whilst they hold each other in loving embrace (:p). Lightning. Sabre Throw. Force push through plate-glass window into space!



You see, THIS is the redeeming quality. Try and do that in Halo!

So am I the only one who appreciated this game? It's nowhere near a fantastic game, but it was enjoyable and I didn't think I wasted my money.

So who’s with me?

Ok heres a little questionnaire for you guys:

--Are you yet to buy the full version of the Spore creature creator?

--Do you live in Australia?

If you answered yes to these, then you should be very interested and keep reading :D

The Saturday Daily Telegreaph has teamed up with EA to bring everyone who buys there god awful paper a copy of the Full version of the spore creature creator in this saturdays paper(August 2nd)!

Yes the same company that initially refused Australians from downloading the program is now giving it out for 'free'. Maybe it was just a server error :p

Anyway, all you Australians who haven't spent $12 to download it, go and spend two dollars on the paper, get the game then throw the paper back at your newsagent!

Who the fuck reads the Saturday Daily Telegraph??

I think every kid grows up wanting to be a astronaut, if it wasn't for living in Australia (No space program, we leave it up to you guys :p), being short-sighted, slightly colour blind and having a stigmatism (yeah, my eyes are fucked!), I might have been able to follow that dream. Actually, I lie, i would still be doing a games dev degree :D

Anyway, more to the point, I have an obsession with space and certain Sci-Fi, so, obviously I like games in this genre.

So in jumps Jumpgate Evolution (sorry i couldn't resist), a space based MMO, and its got me dreaming of something akin to a Freelancer MMO. The gameplay is not classic MMO either, no point and click here. Which is good, because I am yet to get into a pont a click MMO, and I dare not try WoW because i fear the addiction. Controls are going to be old school, flight stick based or something alike.

Seriously if they used exactly the same combat system Freelancer did I would be a very, very happy man.

Story wise it seems very close to the EVE online story. People leave earth, get taken to another universe, get cut off from home, then rebuild to form different societies, in this case, 3 of them. So very much like EVE, so this is fine if they only take this element, because i hated EVE.

So far its a beautiful game too, and the engine is scalable, so people with older rigs can join in on the space pirating :D

So hopefully this project turns out well, It's very close to a definite buy for me so far. More people need to know about this, becaise I have heard next to no buzz on the interwebs, so tell your friends!

Yeah I'm going too keep playing on this fantasy. I would like there to be a Half-Life movie but only as long as it doesn't end up like other hollywood game based movies.

Fucking Uwe Boll.

Anyway, because of the suggestions some people threw at me in my last post, i have decided to compile a list of actors for my fantasy Half Life movie.

So here we go.

Freeman:



Played by Hugh Laurie, of House fame.
The guys just a shoe-in.

Alyx:



Played by Shannyn Sossamon, from 'A Knights Tale'.
There faces are way to similar.

G-Man:



Originally i thought David Bowie would have done really well, but as LEWIS BELL pointed out "NO YOU FOOLS!", Christopher Walken is they way to go.

But for those who aren't sure, heres BOWIE!!!



He would still do good XD.

Eli Vance:



Not only does Morgan Freeman look like Eli Vance, but he could play the part really well.

Barney Calhoun:



Yes it's Greg Grunburg of Heroes fame, this is a gamer site so im sure you all at least know of Heroes.

Dr. Breen:



The whole time i was playing Half-Life 2, i saw Dennis Hopper whenever Dr. Breen's visage appeared on a monitor.

Dr. Kleiner:



This one is a little hard, I like the similarity between Christopher Lloyd and Dr. Kleiner but as many people have pointed out, the acting style would not suit it. ( I just wanna see a Doc Brown-ish Dr. Kleiner, yay back to the future :p)

Who other Suggestions are Ben Kingsley:



OR, Bill Nighy:



I'm really not sure who would do better :p

And no Mossman doesn't get a look in, mainly because I don't like her character, but i haven't finished Episode 2 yet, so she may get better.

But thats all, let me know if you have any alternatives. XD

I'm not sure why I'm posting this.

But you know you have all thought about it!

I present, Gordon Freeman.



Yeah it's old, and not mine, but its funny.

However the reason for this post is for the role of G-Man. and thus i present him.



IT'S BOWIE!! God knows he'd suit the role.

Anyway, yay for drunken ideas :D