Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Hydro Storm

In Hydro Storm players take on the role of a grizzled warrior competing in a post-apocalyptic death race. Instead of cars, motorcycles, or tanks, however, weaponized jet skis are the vehicles of choice.

As players race through the relatively small maps, they pick up abilities that they use to take out their competition. The pick-ups include speed boosts, smoke screens, mines, and a couple of types of missiles.

The game plays out a bit like Mario Kart, but it lacks the sense of fun. There

Hydro Storm

Angry Birds PC version

Angry Birds PC has arrived. After iPhone, iPad, Android and other mobile versions, also iPhone cases and toys, this game has finally arrived on the PC thanks to the Intel App Up store. It’ll work fine and dandy on PC laptops and netbooks and will set you back $4.99 to download now.

Angry Birds is a global phenomenon in mobile gaming and the top grossing iPhone app of 2010. So if you're not a smart-phone wielding hipster, you no longer have an excuse not to be part of the Angry Bird

Angry Birds PC version

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Adventure Games

Adventure games were some of the earliest games created, beginning with the text adventures, also known as interactive fiction. Over time, graphics have been introduced to the genre and the interface has evolved. Adventure games began to supplement and later on replace textual descriptions with visuals (for example, a picture of the current location). Early graphic adventure games used text-parsers to input commands. The growing use of mice led to the "point-and-click" genre of adventure games, where the player would no longer have to type commands. The player could, for example, click on a hand icon and then on a rope to pick up the rope.

Unlike adventure films, adventure games are not defined by story or content. Rather, adventure describes a manner of gameplay without reflex challenges or action. They normally require the player to solve various puzzles by interacting with people or the environment, most often in a non-confrontational way. Because they put little pressure on the player in the form of action-based challenges or time constraints, adventure games have had the unique ability to appeal to people who do not normally play video games.

In the late 1990s the genre suffered a large drop in popularity, mass-market releases became rare, and many proclaimed the adventure game to be dead. More accurately, it has become a niche genre. Adventure games are not entirely uncommon, but they tend to be very low budget in anticipation of modest sales. The genre was somewhat rejuvenated with the release of The Longest Journey in 1999, which emphasized stronger story elements and more interaction with different characters. A recent resurgence of adventure games on Nintendo consoles might signify a new interest in the genre.

A visual novel is an adventure game featuring mostly static graphics, usually with anime-style art. As the name might suggest, they resemble mixed-media novels or tableau vivant stage plays. Many visual novels track statistics that the player must build in order to advance the plot, and permit a variety of endings, allowing more dynamic reactions to the player's actions than a typical linear adventure plot.

Action-adventure games combine elements of their two component genres, typically featuring long-term obstacles that must be overcome using a tool or item as leverage (which is collected earlier), as well as many smaller obstacles almost constantly in the way, that require elements of action games to overcome. Action-adventure games tend to focus on exploration and usually involve item gathering, simple puzzle solving, and combat.