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Ancient aliens have invaded the popular consciousness in recent years, so it’s no wonder that their reach has extended to the universe of Nancy Drew in Tomb of the Lost Queen, the franchise’s 26th installment from Her Interactive. Where conspiracy theory, unsolved archeological mysteries, curses, and eternal love intersect is 100 kilometers outside of Cairo at the University of Kingston dig site. There you’ll ferret out the fact from the fiction by investigating a burial tomb and interrogating members of the expedition.
Pros:
- Smart and original puzzles. Solid production values. Well-done edutainment about Ancient Egypt.
Cons:
- No option to click through dialog. No interactive map.
ARE YOU ALIEN OR ALI OUT ? TOMB OF THE LOST QUEEN IS A POLISHED UNIVERSE THAT YOU’LL WANT TO PLAY IN
Updated May 8, 2012, 8:24amAncient aliens have invaded the popular consciousness in recent years, so it’s no wonder that their reach has extended to the universe of Nancy Drew in Tomb of the Lost Queen, the franchise’s 26th installment from Her Interactive. Where conspiracy theory, unsolved archeological mysteries, curses, and eternal love intersect is 100 kilometers outside of Cairo at the University of Kingston dig site. There you’ll ferret out the fact from the fiction by investigating a burial tomb and interrogating members of the expedition.
Sixty years ago, a team of British archeologists set out to find Nefertari, the lost queen of Egypt, when a sandstorm suddenly uncovered a tomb. The expedition was never seen again and their sphinxlike deaths served as the only reminder that the enigmatic tomb and its secrets were still in the desert, waiting to be solved… Now the tomb has revealed itself again, and an enterprise spearheaded by Abdullah, archeology’s next big thing, has begun digging. But a nefarious sandstorm strikes, and Professor Jon Boyle is injured—only his medical report states he’s been attacked with a blunt object by someone other than Mother Nature. He calls in his distinguished colleague, Nancy Drew, to find out who attacked him and who is in the tomb.
Tomb of the Lost Queen’s gameplay pays homage to the classic point-and-click adventure games with its story-based puzzles artfully dispersed throughout relevant environments that require sleuthing, interrogation, and an investment of thinking time to solve. Players get the best of the old and new, as the game features modern elements, such as an expandable, interactive task list and a customizable mobile phone that serves as your Hint Hotline and connection to subject-matter experts.
I was especially fond of the Hint Hotline that provided gradual tidbits of puzzle help. That way I could choose just how much help I received, and, unlike games of yore, I was never blocked by a puzzle, because eventually the phone would offer the solution. Players who bought the Bonus Edition also had minigames installed on their phone, adding a fun layer of metagaming that passed the time as quickly as actual mobile games. I had to laugh when I tried to make a call from within the tomb—there was no service!
Those who’ve played other games in the Nancy Drew series will immediately notice the sleek new UI. Usability is much improved, and the expandable task list and journal keep the inventory panel minimal, so more screen real estate is allotted to in-game scenes. I liked that I had to check off tasks in the task list, as it somehow instilled a sense of achievement when the game agreed I had indeed completed them. Completed tasks are sent to the bottom of the list, so active tasks are always on top.
Although the theme of a cursed tomb in Ancient Egypt has been explored to death in casual games, I was relieved that this encounter was modern, humorous, and intelligent. Her Interactive has clearly done extensive research to create puzzles, events, and characters that are authentic and faithful to the world of archeology in Egypt while taking creative liberties where appropriate. Most of the puzzles require knowledge of Ancient Egyptian culture, all of which is imbibed in game. I applaud this studio for entertaining me and making me feel like an Egyptologist simultaneously.
But as shiny as Tomb of the Lost Queen is for the Nancy Drew series, its upgraded art and new UI could be considered almost baseline for top-selling casual games. (Although I must say, their 3D characters look great.) Some fairly standard functionality was missing that I would’ve really liked to have had: right-click to drop an inventory item and click to progress dialog. The lack of the latter could get especially irksome if I’d initiated a phone call that I didn’t want to finish or I just wanted to speed read through a conversation. And for those of us who are just a bit navigationally challenged, an interactive map, either fast-travel or GPS-style, would’ve been extremely helpful. I also found the parallax scrolling at the camp to be a mixed bag: while useful, it felt inconsistent with the rest of the game’s navigation mechanics.
If you like smart puzzle-adventure games, I’m sure you’ll be alien—er— all in. Her Interactive operates in a niche market—adventure games targeted at female gamers but playable by anyone. I know I’m not alone when I say that I look forward to the next one (even if the Nancy Drew brand is getting a bit tired) and to the day the studio creates an original intellectual property. Tomb of the Lost Queen is a testament that they have the talent to
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Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a new turned-based strategy game set in the fantastical world of Ardania, popularized in Majesty franchise. Warlock: Master of the Arcane invites players to take on the role of the Great Mage and build a powerful magical empire, giving mightly mages the ability to control armies and wield magic to wage war against another, as they compete with other wizards for the title of Warlock.
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Features:
- Research and master dozens of spells, conjure strong enchantments and find out powerful spell combinations
- Use the forces of three races, along with summons and wild creatures
- Innovating city management system with less routine actions
- Epic battles with large armies marching across the landscape
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RATING:
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Warlock: Master of the Arcane is a new turned-based strategy game set in the fantastical world of Ardania, popularized in Majesty franchise. Warlock: Master of the Arcane invites players to take on the role of the Great Mage and build a powerful magical empire, giving mightly mages the ability to control armies and wield magic to wage war against another, as they compete with other wizards for the title of Warlock.
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Features:
- Research and master dozens of spells, conjure strong enchantments and find out powerful spell combinations
- Use the forces of three races, along with summons and wild creatures
- Innovating city management system with less routine actions
- Epic battles with large armies marching across the landscape
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RATING:
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Left 4 Dead 2 is a cooperative first person shooter video game. It is the sequel to Valve Corporation's award-winning Left For Dead The game launched on November 17, 2009, for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in the United States and November 20 in Europe; in 2010, Left 4 Dead 2 was made available to the Steam client for MAC OS X. It has been ported to linux but, as of May 2012, has not been released yet. It builds upon the cooperatively-focused gameplay of the original and uses Valve's proprietary ,SOURCE ENGINE the same game engine used in Left 4 Dead. The game made its world premiere at E3 2009 with a trailer during the Microsoft press event
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STORY:
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CHARACTERS:
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INFECTED CHARACTERS:
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System requirements
| Minimum | Recommended |
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| MICROSOFT WINDOW'S |
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| Operating system | Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Vista64 or Windows 7
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| CPU | Intel Pentium 4 3 GHz | Intel Core 2 Duo E4600 |
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| Memory | 1 GB of RAM (2 GB for Vista and 7) |
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| Hard drive space | 13 GB of free hard disk space |
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| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 6600 128 MB or ATi Radeon X800 128 MB | NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS 128 MB or ATi Radeon X1600 128 MB |
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| Mac |
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| Operating system | Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.4 (Snow Leopard Graphics Update required) |
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| Memory | 1 GB |
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| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATi Radeon HD 2400 Pro |
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| Network | Internet Connection |
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Team Fortress 2 is a free-to-play team-based first person shooter multiplayer video game developed by Valve Corporation. A sequel to the original mod Team Fortress based on the Source Engine, it was first released as part of the video game compilation The Orange Box on October 10, 2007 for Windows and the Xbox 360 A PlayStation 3 version then followed on November 22, 2007 .The game was later released as a standalone package for Windows on April 9, 2008, and for Mac OS X two years later. Team Fortress 2 is distributed online through the Steam system, while retail distribution was handled by Electronic Arts. On June 23, 2011, the game became a free-to-play title, supported by microTransactions for unique in-game equipment through Steam. The development of Team Fortress 2 is led by John Cook and Robin Walker, the designers who originally created the Team Fortress Modification for Quake in 1996.
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System requirements
| Minimum | Recommended |
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| Microsoft Windows |
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| Operating system | Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000 |
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| 3.0 GHz |
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| 1 GB RAM |
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| Direct X 9.0 video card; 512MB recommended video card memory. (NVIDIA GeForce 5000 or higher / ATI Radeon or Sapphire w/ HD support) |
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Counter-Strike: Source (officially abbreviated CSS) is an FPS Video Game developed by Valve Corporation. It is a complete remake of Counter-Strike using the Source game Engine. As in the original, Counter-Strike: Source pits a team of Counter-strike against a team of Terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won either by completing an objective (such as detonating a bomb or rescuing hostages) or by eliminating all members of the enemy team.
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GAMEPLAY
Counter-Strike: Source is a remake of Counter-Strike, and retains its team-based objective-oriented first-person shooter style gameplay. The aim of playing a map is to accomplish a map's objective: defusing the bomb, rescuing all hostages, or killing the entire opposing team. The ultimate goal of the game is to win more rounds than the opposing team. Once players are killed, they do not respawn until the next round on most servers. This gameplay feature distinguishes Counter-Strike from other first-person shooter games, where players respawn instantly or after a short delay.
Shooting while moving dramatically decreases accuracy, and holding the trigger down to continuously shoot produces severe recoil. Shot damage depends upon where the bullet hits, with hits to the head often being lethal.
There are also mods for Counter-Strike: Source such as zombie mod or zombie escape, which change the gameplay of Counter-Strike: Source for fun or just for different gameplay, so you don't have to play normal Counter-Strike: Source all the time
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Battlefield 3 (commonly abbreviated BF3) is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA digital illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. It is a direct sequel to 2005's Battlefield 2, and the eleventh installment in the Battlefield franchise franchise.
System requirements
| Minimum | Recommended |
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| Microsoft Windows |
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| Operating system | Windows Vista (Service Pack 2) 32-bit | Windows 7 64-bit |
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| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon X2 2.7 GHz | Intel or AMD quad-core |
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| Memory | 2 GB RAM | 4 GB RAM |
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| Hard drive space | 20 GB for disc version or 25 GB for online distributed version + 100MB for Origin Platform Installation |
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| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT or ATi Radeon HD 3870 with pixel shader 5.0 | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 or AMD Radeon HD 6950 |
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| Sound hardware | DirectX compliant Sound card |
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| Network | 1 Mbit/s broadband internet connection for Online play and Online registration and Activation |
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Sniper Elite V2 is a 2012 tactical shooter video game developed by Rebellion Developement for Mcrosoft Windows,Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a remake of Rebellion's 2005 game Sniper Elite. The game takes place in the same timeframe and location—the BAttle of berlin in April-May 1945—but now the main character, an American Office of Strategic Service officer, must capture or eliminate the scientists involved in the German V-2 rocket program
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GAMEPLAY
Sniper Elite V2 is a thied-person shooter that stresses employing stealth, rather than using brute force Fairburne uses several WWII-era weapons, including sniper rifles, a silenced Welrod pistol, sub-machine guns and German and Soviet hand grenades (which can be also used to make trip wire booby traps). One of the main features of the title is the realistic Ballistics, involving factors such as bullet drop, wind strength, and the effect of holding one's breath when attempting a shot. Sniping gameplay is from a first person scope view, whereas movement and use of all other weapons is in third personview
A major difference from the original Sniper Elite is the introduction of a controversia ‘X-Ray Kill Cam’, which activates when the player makes a particularly extreme shot. The view then follows the path of the bullet in slow motion before slowing further as it reaches its target, whereupon the target’s body is rendered as an anatomical cutaway to show the bullet’s passage through the body and the damage it causes to organs and bones Other new elements include being able to mark enemy fighters to highlight their position along with target information, and a white-outlined figure which marks the point where enemy soldiers last spotted the player so that players can make their escape
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Diablo III is a dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment, making it the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the Hack and Slash and dungeon crawl genres, was released in North America, Latin America and Europe on May 15, 2012, and is scheduled to be released in Russia on June 7, 2012 Before its release, the game broke several presale records and became the most pre-ordered PC game of all time on Amazon.com
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Artisans
Artisans are NPCs who sell and craft. Two types of artisans can be acquired by completing a quest for each: Haedrig Eamon the Blacksmith and Covetous Shen the Jeweler. The previously announced Mystic Artisan has been pulled, possibly to be released later on. Artisans create items using materials the player can gather by scrapping acquired items and reducing them to their component parts. These materials are used to create items which will have random bonuses. Unlike Diablo II, rare and magic items can be enhanced, not just basic weaponry and armor. Crafting can also be used to train and improve the skills of the artisans rather than create new items. When artisans gain new levels, their shop reflects their higher skill level. The process of salvaging items into materials also makes inventory management easier. Blizzard stated that this crafting system was designed so that it would not slow down the pace of the game
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Followers
Followers are NPC allies that can accompany the player throughout the game world. There are three types of followers in Diablo III: Kormac the Templar, Lyndon the Scoundrel and Eirena the Enchantress, each having their own skills and background. As followers fight alongside the player, they gain new skills, experience and equipment as they level up. Only one follower accompanies the player at a time, creating a gameplay strategy decision. Originally, followers were only going to appear in normal, single-player mode. However, Jay Wilson stated at BlizzCon 2011 that followers would now be usable in later difficulty levels. Followers will not appear in co-op games
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CHARACTER CLASSES
1: THE WITCH DOCTOR
2: THE BARBARIAN
3: THE WIZARD
4: THE MONK
5:THE DEMON HUNTER
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
| Minimum | Recommended |
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| Windows |
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| Operating system | Windows XP/Vista/7 |
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| CPU | Intel Pentium D 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ | Intel Core 2 Duo 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+ |
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| Memory | 1 GB (1.5 GB for Vista and 7) | 4 GB |
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| Hard drive space | 12 GB of free space |
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| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GT 256 MB or ATi Radeon X1950 Pro 256 MB | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 896 MB or ATi Radeon HD 4870 512 MB |
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| Sound hardware | 100% DirectX 9.0c compliant card |
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| Network | Internet connection required for activation, single player, and multiplayer |
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| Mac OS X |
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| Operating system | Mac OS X 10.6.8/10.7.x or newer | Mac OS X 10.7.x or newer |
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| CPU | Intel Core 2 Duo |
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| Memory | 2 GB |
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| Hard drive space | 12 GB of free space |
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| Graphics hardware | NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT or ATI Radeon HD 2600 or better | NVIDIA GeForce GT 330M or ATI Radeon HD 4670 or better |
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| Network | Internet connection required for activation, single player, and multiplayer | | | | | | |
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