Colin McRae Rally

Description

Colin McRae Rally is a rally simulation game, featuring the works-entered cars and the rallies of the 1998 World Rally Championship. There are three difficulty modes in the game, and each mode offers different cars: the Novice mode offers FWD F2-class cars, such as the SEAT Ibiza F2 Kit Car, the Intermediate mode offers 4WD World Rally Car class cars, such as the Subaru Impreza WRC, and the Expert mode offers the ability to unlock bonus cars, such as Ford Escort MKII, Lancia Delta Integrale, Audi Quattro S1, and Ford RS200. There are a total of 12 cars, produced using laser-modelling. When released in North America in 2000, only 11 cars featured due to Codemasters losing the license to use Renault in Novice mode. Renault were replaced by extra drivers from the remaining 3 manufacturers. Also unlike in the European release of the game (real driver names), the American release has made-up driver names (apart from Colin McRae)

Seven official rallies (New Zealand, Acropolis (Greece), Australia, Monte Carlo, Sweden, Corsica, and the United Kingdom), and one unofficial rally (Indonesia) from the WRC were included in the game. Rally Indonesia was originally part of the 1998 WRC season calendar, but the rally was cancelled due to civil unrest. Although the rallies themselves are named the same as the real events, all of the stages are fictional. …

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Colin McRae Rally 2

Description

It is the second game in the Colin McRae Rally series, featuring the works-entered cars and rallies of the 2000 World Rally Championship. The game has three difficulty levels, namely Novice, Intermediate and Expert. As with the previous game, Colin McRae Rally 2.0 lets players take part in rallying events set in various special stages across the world, and employs a number of cars featured in the 2000 World Rally Championship, such as the Ford Focus RS WRC and Subaru Impreza GC.

New features include Arcade mode, with direct head-to-head competition against AI drivers or another player, improved graphics with more detailed vehicle models and interiors, and a cleaner and more minimalist menu system, which would be retained for the rest of the series until the release of Dirt 2 in 2009. Nicky Grist, whom at the time was the co-driver for McRae in 2000, reprises his role from the first game, who would remain until the release of Colin McRae: Dirt in 2007; Grist later returned to voice as himself in Dirt 4 in 2017.

The race features a selection of cars featuring engines with a capacity in the region of 2.0, mostly which were in production at the time of the game’s release – the Ford Focus, Ford Puma, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, Peugeot 206, SEAT Cordoba, Subaru Impreza, and Toyota Corolla. A number of cars which had been in production a decade or more earlier are also featured – the Ford Sierra Cosworth and Peugeot 205 T16 from the 1980s, and the Ford Escort MK1, Mini Cooper S and Lancia Stratos from the late 1960s or early 1970s. …

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Colin McRae Rally 3

Description

It’s not often a racing game really catches our attention, but the Colin McRae games have always proved exceptions to that rule. While we were gliding round the Codemasters stand (we were still fresh and keen at this point), we were taken aback by just how much this third instalment in the series stood out from the all the other racers at the show. So we promptly accosted studio head and producer of the game, Guy Wilday, and bombarded him with questions to find out more.

First off we wanted to know exactly what’s changed since CMR2. apart from the graphics (there are 14,000 polygons in each car as opposed to 800 in CMR2) which are looking little short of stunning.

“With CMR2 we enhanced the original game, which had set the agenda and defined rally sport games. It was all about bigger, better, faster. For CMR3. we’re taking the graphics and physics to a level we’ve always wanted. However, the main point about CMR3 is that we’ve been working with Colin and the Ford team for many years, and go out on the rallies with them, so we get to appreciate the excitement of the whole event. What we want to capture in CMR3 is that event experience,” claimed Guy proudly. A few quick (if cack-handed) laps round one of the eight stunningly replicated real-life courses confirmed they’re well on the way to achieving this. …

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Dead Man’s Hand

Description

El Tejon was a member of the notorious “Nine” who was betrayed because he didn’t join the gang to murder women and children, but to be famous and rich and a chance to make a name for himself, as a gunslinger. The Leader of the Nine shoots him and leaves him for dead. However General San Juan Jacinto Blanco found El Tejon and threw him in a jail cell to rot. But Tejon’s cellmate Iago is the leader of a revolution that will free both Iago and Tejon to exact vengeance on those who betrayed them.

The game is somewhat unusual in that between levels, the player plays poker for extra health and ammunition. The character is armed with 4 default weapons; a knife, a pistol, a rifle and a shotgun. Other weapons that can be found are TNT and Whisky bombs. The player can shoot objects such as whisky bottles, cans and enemies to score legend points, thus filling up the “trick shot” meter that lets the character use the secondary mode of firing which varies depending on the current weapon. The combat in the game also makes use of the game’s physics engine, with the player being able to trigger physics based traps such as shooting a rock and causing it to fall onto an enemy below – kills obtained this way are rewarded with extra points and a greater increase in the “trick shot” meter. …

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Freedom Fighters

Description

The Soviet Union became a world superpower by dropping the first atomic bomb on Berlin, ending World War II, and propping up communist states throughout the globe which begin to surround the US in the present day. New York plumbing brothers Chris and Troy Stone travel to meet with their next client, an activist named Isabella Angelina, only to find her apartment abandoned. The Soviet Union launches a surprise invasion of New York City and suddenly Soviet soldiers, led by General Vasilij Tatarin, seize Troy. Amidst the attack, Chris escapes to the streets, encountering a man named Mr. Jones and resistance member Phil Bagzton. After rescuing Isabella from a police station and Troy from a post office, the group retreats to the sewers and sets up a base of operations as New York is lost, with the media now being controlled by the Soviet Union.

Months later, Chris, Phil, and Isabella sabotage key Soviet facilities and reclaim areas within the city, building up a resistance group of New York citizens and disillusioned Soviet soldiers. Chris becomes known as the “Freedom Phantom” within the Soviet-controlled media network, SAFN. Troy is captured by Soviet troops and tortured for information. Forced into issuing a public statement aimed at the resistance to cease their actions, he breaks from the prepared text and urges Chris to continue fighting. In response, General Tatarin has Troy taken to Fort Jay and executes him personally. Mr. Jones suggests assassinating Tatarin in retaliation. Chris succeeds, but returns to find Isabella missing and the resistance base occupied by the Soviet Army. The operation was orchestrated by Mr. Jones who reveals himself to be KGB agent Colonel Bulba. Chris escapes with Phil and others to a new underground area while SAFN reports on the death of Tatarin, Colonel Bulba’s promotion to General, and the “end” of the resistance in New York. …

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MySims

Description

The game puts players in charge of redeveloping a town that has become run down. Through creative building and design elements, players can improve the town, which attracts new residents, who subsequently need homes built for them. Customization is a large element of the game, including houses, furniture and outfits.

Apart from creating a custom Mii-like character, players may also modify their houses and build furniture and appliances using a selection of building blocks. This gives the player more building options, allowing them to create objects by using blueprints, a change from the usual virtual catalog found in The Sims. There are 80 characters with whom the player may interact in the Wii version (30 characters in the Nintendo DS version), such as a mad scientist, a magician, a librarian, a pizza chef, and a martial arts teacher. Some of these characters may ask the player to build things for them. As with previous Sims games, meeting people and forming relationships is a major gameplay focus, but unlike previous Sims games, the characters do not have to fulfil needs such as hunger and sleep. Becoming a Sim’s best friend will earn the player either a special blueprint not available anywhere else in the game, or a style of clothing for their wardrobe. Players can also earn blueprints by performing tasks for Commercial Sims (Sims who have their own businesses). Typically this involves building around 5-10 items for Sims, depending on the Star Level (the 1-5 level) of the player’s town and the essences they have access to. …

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Age of Empires

Description

Age of Empires (AoE) is a history-based real-time strategy video game developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft, and the first game in the Age of Empires series. The game uses the Genie Engine, a 2D sprite-based game engine. The game allows the user to act as the leader of an ancient civilization by advancing it through four ages (the Stone, Tool, Bronze, and Iron Ages), gaining access to new and improved units with each advance.

Originally touted as Civilization meets Warcraft, some reviewers felt that the game failed to live up to these expectations when it was released. Despite this, it received generally good reviews, and an expansion pack, titled The Rise of Rome, was released in 1998. Both the original Age of Empires and the expansion pack were later released as “The Gold Edition”. A sequel, Age of Empires II, was released in 1999. Age of Empires: Definitive Edition, a remastered version of the game, was released on February 20, 2018.

Age of Empires requires the player to develop a civilization from a handful of hunter-gatherers to an expansive Iron Age Empire. To assure victory, the player must gather resources in order to pay for new units, buildings and more advanced technology. Resources must be preserved, as no new resources become available as the game progresses; for example, trees that are cut down will not grow back. …

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