New Games on The Great Games Experiment http://www.greatgamesexperiment.com/css/logo.jpg en-us Freedom Force is a computer game developed by Irrational Games and published by Electronic Arts in 2002. The player guides a team of superheroes as they defend Patriot City from a variety of villains, monsters, and other menaces. A sequel, Freedom Force vs. the Third Reich was self-published in early March, 2005.

The game is noted for its humorous but respectful evocation of the Silver Age of Comic Books; in particular, its visual style emulates the art style of the Marvel Universe co-creator, Jack Kirby. Also important is its versatile, expandable game engine, which has allowed a considerable fan-community to spring up. Total conversions featuring Marvel and DC Comics characters have considerably extended the life of an already entertaining game.

The alien mentalist, Mentor, fleeing Lord Dominion and his invading forces, heads towards Earth in a small spaceship containing many canisters of the mysterious "Energy X." Lord Dominion's ships pursue Mentor and destroy his craft just outside the Earth's atmosphere; the blast scatters containers of the substance over the metropolis of Patriot City. Energy X strikes several of the city's inhabitants, giving them superpowers that typically echo their personality traits (for instance, Minuteman and El Diablo) or draw on the situation they were in when energized (e.g., The Ant or Nuclear Winter). Most of the game is set in Patriot City, but a number of other locations and time periods are used, including magical realms, prehistoric times, and realms entirely removed from time and space.

]]> 03 Mar 2007 12:41:40 You arrive as the young soldier Adol alongside your friend Dogi in the town of Redmont. After a short catching up with his friends you soon find that the town is in fairly grave economic times. Travelers and marketeers have stopped showing up, and the mines are being shut down due to strange occurrences. Monsters and animals are attacking people left and right, but what's the cause of all the mayhem?

Battles range from hack and slash, to strategy based attacks, to Gradius style projectile dodging.

]]> 16 Feb 2007 02:31:14 Cubivore's gameplay is an action/adventure game with a few RPG elements in it. The purpose of Cubivore is to kill the Killer Cubivore and its cronies. To accomplish this your Cubivore must go through several mutations, through several lifetimes "laps" and generations of "offspring". Upon attaining 100 mutations, your Cubivore can become powerful enough to produce an offspring capable of fighting the Killer Cubivore. Thus, Cubivore is a game that is meant to somewhat represent natural selection.

Combat is simple, but strategic and often fast-paced. When facing another cubivore, your job is to attack it, weaken it, and finally kill it by tearing off its limbs. Cubivores are able to attack, jump, run, evade i.e. walk backwards, and block. Much of combat consists of trying to learn the enemy's attack patterns and hitting a weak point. Once the enemy has been subdued, it becomes a battle of wills when your cubivore clamps down the opponent and attempts to tear off its limbs (resulting in a large spurt of purple square-shaped blood, uncharacteristically dark for Nintendo). On eating a limb your Cubivore heals itself a bit, absorbs the color of that limb, and mutates if possible. Finally some boss monsters have a special limb called "Raw Meat", which grants special abilities when comsumed.

]]> 10 Feb 2007 11:19:43 The player controls Musashi, a boy summoned to the Allucaneet Kingdom by its Princess — named Fillet — to save it from the invading Thirstquencher Empire. Fillet's intention was to summon the legendary Brave Fencer Musashi, who had saved the kingdom from a monster called the Wizard of Darkness 150 years before; she is therefore disappointed when she gets a small boy instead. Nevertheless, Musashi is given the blade Fusion, and charged with the task of obtaining Brave Fencer Musashi's sword — Lumina, the Sword of Luminescence — before the Thirstquencher Army does.

The bulk of the game involves Musashi fighting a variety of enemies, using both Fusion and Lumina, to save the kingdom from various threats (which range from fires breaking out, to an invasion of half-vampire, half-zombie monsters called Vambees), and to acquire five scrolls which increase Lumina's strength and grant Musashi new abilities. There are also several minigames and puzzles scattered throughout which must be completed to advance the plot.

]]> 10 Feb 2007 01:38:47 Link, after setting sail for new experiences and adventures, finds himself caught in a squall at sea. Helpless in spite of his valiant efforts to last through the storm, he is overwhelmed by vicious waves and lightning...

Some time later, a gentle girl named Marin discovers him washed up on Toronbo Shores.. the beach of Koholint Island. She finds a way to get him home and takes care of him until he finally awakens. Marin and her father, Tarin, explain to him where he is, and after he sets out to reclaim his sword, he encounters a mysterious owl... The owl cryptically warns Link about the perils this island faces should the Wind Fish be disturbed from his slumber, and thus Link decides he must do something to save them.

This owl guides him throughout the rest of his journey, slowly helping him uncover just what exactly is going on. Link learns that, unfortunately, in order to save the islanders he had grown to love, and to set himself free, he must also end a dream, a romance that he might not want to... To save all those people he had come to know and cherish from the Wind Fish's Nightmares, he would also have to end the illusion that caused them to exist in the first place.

It's a heart wrenching choice to confront, one that Link no doubt regrets with every deep ache of his very soul.. but the only alternative was to let the Nightmare take over and destroy everything.. This was the only fate he could offer them...

A tragic, touching tale that is told in the simplest way, Link's Awakening is a dream that I'll always hold dear to my heart...

]]> 08 Feb 2007 11:34:05 From legendary game developer Rare comes Kameo: Elements of Power, a larger-than-life journey full of intense combat, magnificent exploration, and innovative morph-into-monster action.

The future of the world depends on Kameo, who must master her new ability to transform into various warriors and harness their elemental powers to save her family from Thorn, the evil troll king.

In true Rare fashion, the world is wondrous and immense, the puzzles and challenges are brilliant, and the creature-oriented combat and exploration is innovative and unique.

]]> 04 Feb 2007 02:56:24 Once upon a time...

Scratch that, this is no fairy tale.

Imagine a world where every choice and action determines what you become. Where you evolve in real time based on every little thing you do. Fable is an RPG action adventure unlike any you've ever dreamed of. And now more than ever - with extra quests, additional customization, and extended content - your destiny is yours to choose!

Evolve in Real Time - Your decisions make you a hero, villain, or anything in between. Your actions determine how you look and how others react to you.

Expanded Content - Discover additional regions, storylines, and side quests as well as new optional missions.

Fable is designed to offer pure, concentrated role-playing, with a primary emphasis on open character development and influential interaction with the game world. The game begins as the player's character enters the fantasy land of Albion, a growing, interactive environment that develops and changes with each new event. The character grows and changes as well, beginning the adventure as a youth but slowly aging as he or she lives life in Albion, gaining wrinkled skin, graying hair, and (hopefully) becoming quite elderly by the end of the story.

The game is designed such that every choice and action the character makes can have an effect on his or her development. Physically active characters become more fit, while those who spend their time studying the arcane arts may develop receding hairlines. Characters who spend time working in the hot sun will get a tan and individual wounds heal into distinct, telling scars. Less tangible characteristics mature according to behavior as well. Players are free to commit nearly any conceivable action, but acts of cruelty will lead to vilification by NPC townsfolk, while noble and altruistic deeds may inspire loyalty and adulation from the masses.

It is important to note that instead of focusing on a limited number of scripted "good versus evil" plot points, character development in this game occurs mostly through hundreds of minor day-to-day decisions that gradually come to define and refine the player's place in the game world. In short, !Xbox gamers are offered a virtual lifetime of choices to play through. Fable is developed by Big Blue Box, an affiliate of Lionhead Studios, whose popular Black White shares the theme of free-form, consequential character development over a broad span of time. (http://www.starpulse.com/Video_Games/Fable/Summary/)

]]> 24 Jan 2007 07:52:51 The third game in Quest for Glory series is set in the Africa-like world of Tarna, where you travel with your new liontaur friends you have met in the second game. Shortly after your arrival, you learn about the conflict between the liontaurs and the neighbor Simbani village, populated by the leopardmen. It is now time for our hero to become a skillful diplomat and to prevent an upcoming war between the two nations.

The gameplay system of "Wages of War" is the same as in the two previous games. The game plays like an adventure, with puzzles to solve and characters to talk to, with the additional of RPG elements: combat (action-based) and character development. You can play as either a fighter, a thief, a mage, or a paladin, and raise your skills directly after battles or by performing various actions. Graphics and interface underwent a major change. This is the first 256-color Quest for Glory game, and the first one to utilize the new, icon-based interface.

(from the Moby Games QFG3 page)

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