Q: What do you get when you pit the world’s greatest literary detective against the world’s most infamous serial killer? A: Johnny Depp in From Hell? Well… yeah. No. What you actually get is Frogwares Studio’s newest game Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper. Set against the backdrop of 1888 London during the height of the Ripper’s reign of terror, players are immersed in the oppressive poverty and dark, dangerous streets of the faithfully recreated …
If you’ve spent any time hanging out with the FFC regulars, you’ll have noticed that several of us are deeply attracted to weird (Chulip), obscure (The Fifth Disciple) and niche (Chibi-Robi) games; for us, the stranger the better. So, it should come as no surprise to hear that I’m all atwitter for Lux-Pain, Killaware’s debut game for the Nintendo DS. Historical Kisaragi City is plagued by “Silent”, a worm born of hate and sadness. The …
Review by Steerpike Developer DICE Publisher EA Released November 12, 2008 (Console); Jan 14, 2009 (Windows) Available for Windows XP/Vista, Xbox 360 (version reviewed), PS3 Verdict: 3/5 Middlin’ “While it is innovative, and very courageous, it doesn’t hold that much needed glass up to the rest of videogaming and say ‘see? This is what you look like. Aren’t you ashamed?’ It could have, but it didn’t.”
Square-Enix has a new trailer for the it-seems-like-they’ve-been-working-on-it-forever Final Fantasy XIII on their Japanese website. There’ll be a demo for this RPG with the undoubtedly horrible upcoming CGI fest Final Fantasy Advent Children Blu-Ray disc, but the game itself is not expected outside Japan until 2010 at the earliest, when it should launch for PS3 and 360 simultaneously.
Four Fat Chicks Forums got hacked again. Whoopee! In other news Bethesda released the eagerly awaited first expansion for their hit Fallout 3, Operation Anchorage. Link to the download here for the PC version. This means I will finally have to break down and download Microsoft’s Games for Windows Live which you can find at the above link along with instructions on how to proceed. If you have an Xbox I assume you already know …
As those of you who frequent our forums know, we’ve been having problems with security recently. Last night, after a few weeks of silence, the hackers attacked again. This attack was more severe, with several administrator passwords compromised. We have shut down the forums as a precaution, and they will remain so until further notice. All users, please check your passwords to make sure they are secure. The blog does not appear affected, but better …
Movie review by Scout Cold Prey Directed by Roar Uthaug From SR Norge AS Released October 13, 2006 Available on DVD Verdict: 4/5 Thumbs Up “Five teenagers wend their way to the top of a mountain to snow board down the back slope. There is the very hot teen couple, the not-quite-as-hot teen couple having relationship problems and the lone and lonely male with a crush on one of the hot teen girls. They all …
Having spent countless hours days months caught up in the addiction that is Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords, I can honestly say I was shaking with an addict’s anticipation of their next fix when I heard about the imminent release of Infinite Interactive’s new game drug, Puzzle Quest: Galactrix. I’d have posted the news earlier, but I made the mistake of playing the demo first. I’m just now getting around to showering and eating.
I had never heard of the Nurburgring Nordschleife (North loop) until I started driving computer sims. That’s not unusual for a racetrack in Germany but this is a pretty notorious racetrack. At most tracks there are a handful of corners to learn and the job of finding the braking and turn in points, the maximum speed that can be carried through the turns, and finding the driving line itself almost seems doable. In contrast the …
Review by Steerpike Prince of Persia Developer Ubisoft Montreal Publisher Ubisoft Montreal Released December 2, 2008 Available for Windows XP/Vista, Xbox 360 (version reviewed), PS3 Verdict: 2/5 Rotten Egg “…Prince of Persia is a lazy, careless game, both stubborn and annoying due to clumsy mechanics and constant repetition. It is neither innovative nor particularly fun to play. At moments it teeters on the very edge of greatness, but always it falls back, as though afraid …
It seems obvious, when you think about it. Activision/Blizzard recently announced that Zork Legends, a browser-based, presumably free massively multiplayer game! Now you can visit the Great Underground Empire with your friends, and reflect in live chat on the various inadequacies of the Flathead Dynasty, leading all the way up to Lord Dimwit Flathead and the collapse of his kingdom. Zork’s natural silliness seems to lean well into MMO territory, as oddly-named players behaving badly …
Word has recently come across the FFC teletype that Phantasy Star Zero, the latest installment in Sega’s long-running series, will be arriving on western shores in convenient Nintendo DS-compatible cartridges in Q2 of this year. Once again we all have a chance to put on thigh high stockings and battle improbable monsters! Wear big blue hairstyles! Sport unnecessarily pointed ears! All the tropes we love from Phantasy Star. The franchise has come a long way …
Well, it gets my vote. While the film biz is busy with its annual gold-plated hand job telethon, Errol Morris has quietly submitted what may be the most important film of 2008. Standard Operating Procedure I just watched it for the second time and was pretty much devastated. I’ve been watching this filmmaker since his 1978 Gates of Heaven, a pretty okay documentary about pet cemeteries and the people who take them seriously. Morris has …
Originally, driving games were not a genre I pursued. Even a minimal dose from the annual demo of the Need For Speed series was enough to satisfy the urge for some arcade like driving action. I’ve always felt real life motor sports were silly, harebrained endeavours but maybe that’s due to lack of proper exposure. European racing is difficult to find in North American media, and even things like NASCAR are about as far away …
This was a fine year for Adventure games, with these five titles being, in order, the best of the two dozen I’ve owned and played: The Colour of Murder Diamonds In The Rough Professor Layton and the Curious Village The Lost Crown Rhiannon: Curse of the Four Branches Check below for comments and the complete listing.