Well Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been out for nearly a week and what a shaky week it has been.

EA is still putting out fires in regards to issues with online play. The demand on the game has been a little stronger than initially anticipated and as a result the servers have been down around 20% of the time.

But enough about the usual problems that accompany an EA game. I was hoping to highlight a few points that I like a dislike about the game. If you are like me, you have played every Battlefield game to come to PC since the beginning with Battlefield 1942.

It is clear from BC2 that EA is changing the Battlefield franchise to a) appeal to the console market and b) make an easy transition for Call of Duty fans. Here are a few of the things that have changed:

Things that annoy me (but are not overly devastating):

1. While you are still able to spot enemies and send orders to your squad, all other voice commands (previously used by the function keys and then the radial menu) have been removed. This is quite annoying if you wish to thank someone or ask for ammo.
2. No more prone position. Yes that’s right, just standing and crouching.
3. You can no longer send a buddy a message in the friends tab.
4. Setting up the joystick properly for the UAV and the helicopter appears to be impossible.
5. You cannot change the spawn HUD key. It is defaulted to Enter, one of the most heavily assigned keys on the keyboard. Hopefully this is fixed in a patch.

Things that are just different

1. This one doesn’t annoy me so much as that it is just like CoD. Grenade and Knife are now a button rather than a weapon selection. This is more realistic and prevents you getting stuck trying to select your rifle again after throwing a ‘nade.
2. Another CoDism: There is no health bar, rather your screen just gets bloody as you get more hurt making it more difficult to see.

Things that are completely excellent:

1. Assault, support and medic skills have been redistributed. Assault class now contains automatic rifles with ammo packs. Medic now contains light machine guns and medical packs.
2. The recoil is much more realistic which forces you to make small bursts with your gun.
3. There are many more weapons to unlock to suit everyone’s different tastes.
4. Gravity and time delay are active on all fired munitions meaning that sniping and shooting at a distance involves some skill and patience.
5. Everything blows up! Sniper annoying you in a building? Blow out the wall. Trees in your line of sight? Drive over them. Blowing up barrels as the enemy runs past is also great fun and highly effective when sniping.

Conclusion

This game has an awesome amount of potential and the couple of nights I have played issue free have been very enjoyable. The scenery looks great and the simplified gameplay does not detract from the enjoyment of the game. Worth picking up a copy in a couple of weeks when the bugs have been ironed out. Although if you can’t wait until then and want to start ranking up and unlocking today, you can grab it off Amazon via the link below.

A great video from pixelenemy.com

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade has added an incredible amount of new content to the game. The level cap has been increased to 70 and along with this new talents and skills were also available. There is also two new classes, the Blood Elves (Horde) and Dranei (Alliance) which will now allow Horde to access the Paladin class and Dranei the Shaman class. Both side will need these classes as the battle on to new end game instances.

Unfortunately all of your tier gear is now outstripped by most greens that you will find in the new Outland area. If the video below doesn’t get you excited, I don’t know what will.

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Don’t have WoW? Get The Burning Crusade expansion in the World of Warcraft battlechest.

Official Trailer

Based on Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition rules, this fantasy style game gives you the choice of 8 classes to choose from. The original game alone contains over 50 hours of gameplay not including online gaming. 2 expansions provide you with nearly double the content as well as epic level feats and skills.

The storyline is a typical save the world and kill all the bad dudes. There is plenty of options to create your character into a super being of your choice. Take the path of a heavily fortified warrior with many layers of armour or become a sorcerer who can blast away all of his enemies in one fireball.

This is one of my favourite games of all time. While the graphics are a little dated, the story and gameplay are still top quality. I really can’t recommend it enough.

Buy it on Amazon cheap:

Neverwinter Nights Diamond

Check out these screenshots:

While the single player mode follows a linear, yet action packed story line, the online gaming mode offers a brand new leveling system. Points are awarded for kills, kill assists, reviving, healing, repairing and achieving objectives. Bonus points are awarded for specials like head shots and achieving objectives.

Rather than earning unlocks as you progress up the ranks like Battlefield 2 and 2142 you must play with a specific class to earn unlocks with it. As you continue to earn points with that class you unlock new weapons and gadgets.

At this point in time there are still some bugs being ironed out with the online play as there tends to be when these games are first born. Nothing like a few 100,000 gamers to give a game a thorough thrashing.

Personally, I really enjoy the graphics and new features like recoil. I also like how bushes and explosions in appear even in the distance, unlike in BF 2 and 2142 where you would think you were hiding in some shrubbery. However 500m from you in a snipers scope all that is seen is you lying in the open on a hill. Now you may hide in the bushes and snipe your heart out while being quite well camouflaged.

Single player plays like Call of Duty with no hit points and only 2 weapons being carried at a time. The story line is fairly standard but being able to blow apart every building you see does not get boring.

Pick up your copy of the best action game of 2010 on Amazon:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Check out this gameplay trailer:

Four expansions were brought out for Fallout 3, one allowing you to actually continue the game after completion. This was super awesome as many people completed the story quest before they were finished exploring the amazing map. The four expansions were followed up with an ever popular Bethesda Game of the Year edition which included the game as well as all four expansions.

Later in the year, Bioware’s much awaited Dragon Age: Origins was released has has received top marks from all major online game reviewers. Set in an all new world, this RPG takes you on an in depth and interesting journey through the world of Dragon Age.

The game is set in a massive fantasy world with the usual heroes and villains. You can choose which alignment you would like to be by your actions during the game.

There are several races to choose from, many which can be recognized from the other Elder Scrolls chapters (Morrowind and the Daggerfall games). You can then choose from a huge range of attributes what exactly your character is good or bad at. You can turn him or her into a spell caster, sword wielder, archer or a heavy mace heaver as just a few ideas.

The graphics are absolutely stunning. Detailed 3D environments with a huge range of NPC’s set across one of the biggest maps in offline RPG.

Oblivion opened up a lot of people to fantasy RPG who had previously never played RPG’s before and this alone makes it one of the best RPG PC games ever made. It was also released on Xbox 360 and PS3 and some stores put it out in some PS3 bundles.

Since it’s release it has had several expansions which are all included in the GOTY (Game of the Year)  edition.

Buy this fantastic game on Amazon:

Oblivion Game of the Year Edition

Details:

Made by: Bethesda
View: First Person or Third Person
Game Hours (including side quests and exploring): 100+
Offline only.

Gameplay Video:

After the nuclear wars that nearly destroyed the planet, mankind is left barely alive. The planet is a barren wasteland in which barely anything survives anymore.

Fallout 2 is set about 80 years after the conclusion of Fallout 1. Your character is an ancestor of the Chosen One who saved Vault 13 in the first story. This time the world is a lot bigger with about 30 times more side quests.

While out on the quest for your village, you can choose be tainted by the outside world, or to rise above and become a hero. There are many towns that you can visit in your travels, including some that were in the original Fallout, although 80 years has had a remarkable impact on them.

You will enjoy many new perks, weapons and characters throughout the story. The maximum level was 12 in the original game, now it is 99 so you really can turn into the ultimate wasteland warrior/geek/charismatic hero.

As in the first Fallout, always be wary of your decisions as they could impact seriously on you further along the game. I like to use about 6 saves slots so that you can always go back if you make a decision that destroys the ability to complete a major quest.

Buy this classic game on Amazon:

• Fallout 2

• Fallout 1 and 2 Bundle

• Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics Bundle

Details:

Made by: Black Isle (a division of Interplay)
View: Single Angle Third Person
Game Hours (Main story): 5-10
Game Hours (including side quests and exploring): 100+
Gameplay is offline only.

Screenshots:

Buy Fallout 2 on Amazon:

Fallout 3 was the super successful sequel to the 1990’s insanely popular RPG PC games Fallout and Fallout 2.

The background on the Fallout games is that you are set in a post-nuclear apocalypse world. The world is covered in dirt and grime (think Terminator 3). Those few who have survived the nuclear war have built small towns or taken refuge in existing buildings. In a time like this there are hero’s of the people and villains who use the unfortunate times for personal gain.

During Fallout 3 you are an inhabitant of Vault 101. The Vault’s are large underground ‘worlds’ in which some of the population sheltered during the nuclear war. Once the war was over the Vault’s were to stay closed until the fallout had settled and the air was safe to breathe. Some opened early and were overrun by bandits and mutant animals, others stayed closed and were ruled by dictator like overseers. After you leave the Vault you go off on your quest, along the way picking up many side quests, meeting colourful NPCs and shooting the crap out of bad dudes.

The game is made by Bethesda rather than Black Isle you made Fallout 1, 2 and Tactics. Like Bethesdas previous works (Oblivion and Morrowind), the world in which the game is contained is simply massive. There is so many random points of interest out in the wasteland. Abandoned gas stations, old manufacturing buildings, police stations, slavers, radio towers and dozens of townships are just a few of the things you may come by.

It’s not only the huge world that gives you freedom in this game. Like all of the Fallout series you are often given choices in which you can take the good, the bad or ‘I don’t give a crap’ path. Making these choices will effect how some NPCs react to you and what bonus quests will become available to you.

I really cannot recommend this game enough. If you explore this game fully it offers you hundreds of hours of game play, so in terms of value for money, it’s right up there. It is by far one the best RPG PC games of 2009.

Here’s the link to buy this awesome game on Amazon:

Fallout 3

Details:

Mady By: Bethesda
View: First Person or Third Person
Game Hours (Main Quest): 10-15
Game Hours (including side quests and exploring): 100+
Offline only.

Gameplay Video:

The Game of the Year edition is now out. It includes all 4 expansions as well as the original game. Amazon is selling it for a pretty good price.
Fallout 3: Game Of The Year

Check out other Fallout 3 games and expansions:

World of Warcraft is an MMORPG or massive mutliplayer online role-playing game. It is focused around the story of the games Warcraft I to III which were produced by Blizzard throughout the 90’s and early 2000.

You may choose to be on Alliance (good guys) or Horde (bad dudes). Each side has four different races with different unique bonuses which range from humans to elves to orcs. Each race has access to different classes which you can then choose to play.

By far the thing that makes Wow so popular is the unending amount of content that is added to the game. The world is already huge and Blizzard update it regularly with new quests, items and places to discover. There are two expansions, The Burning Crusade and Wrath of the Lich King that have been released that also provide a massive boost to the content of the game including new races and classes. A third expansion has also been announced: Cataclysm.

Other benefits to World of Warcraft include a huge social network with 1000s of players on each server and heaps of end game adventures and challenges to complete. Due to the nature of the game it can be played and enjoyed by all ages.

Pick up your free, no strings attached 14 day trial at Amazon.com

Buy it on Amazon: World of Warcraft | Pre-order Cataclysm today!

Details:

Made by: Blizzard
View: Third Person
Game Hours (levels 1-80): 100+
Game Hours (including end game and PVP): 1000+
Gameplay is online only. Monthly fee of US$15.

Here is a video of the new expansion Cataclysm to wet your appetite: