August 2007 Archives

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Pilot a space giraffe, complete with steerable hoof shots and an exploding tail, through 100 levels of Tempest-inspired space combat. Replete with wild visuals and retro-arcade humor, Space Giraffe is as off-the-wall as its title.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The puzzle action introduced in Hexic HD returns in Hexic 2, but now includes fancier graphics, more pieces and a fast-paced competitive battle mode.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

In the near future, war has destroyed cities everywhere and corporations have taken control of the remnants of civilization. And how does the generic counterculture youth respond to this generic, dystopic, corporate-controlled future? By engaging in hoverboard races and urban combat among the ruins of New York City's X warehouses and crumbling highways.

Platform: Xbox 360, PC
Reviewed on Xbox 360

BioShock paints the portrait of an underwater utopia – a city beneath the waves, constructed by a Russian industrialist in 1946 to serve as a haven for other brilliant industrialists, as well as artists and scientists. The city of Rapture, accessible only through bathyspheres anchored in a remote tower in the middle of the North Atlantic, was designed as a place where the free market could flourish and all its brilliant inhabitants could live in decadent harmony. Certainly, there were perils: leaks of cold seawater could be deadly, oxygen was a precious commodity and the entire community needed to be kept secret from the world above. But for a time, Rapture prospered.

Rapture prospered so well that its residents uncovered marvels of science unparalleled in the surface world. With a firm grasp of genetics, Rapture's fisheries were precious, not as much as a source of food, but because of the treasure trove of genotypes represented by the undersea web. With one fortuitous discovery, the people of Rapture uncovered mysteries of genetics that could allow people to be reformed. The crippled were healed. Race and gender became irrelevant because they could be changed. Unique powers were unlocked, coded genetically and inserted into the human genome.

But playing fast and loose with deoxyribonucleic acid isn't without risk. As the residents of Rapture learned, such changes can cause physical and mental instability. So when the player's plane crashes from the sky, it's perhaps calamitous that the wreck landed near the entrance to Rapture. The city is now something more dystopian than its original design. You're thrown into a genetic civil war that has devastated Rapture – and that will also test the mettle of your personality.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The AI known as "Durandal" has awakened you, seventeen years after you survived the attack on the ship Marathon by the alien Pfhor. Your new task – to explore an ancient citadel on the planet Lh'owon, homeworld of the S'pht, searching for information about a lost tribe of that friendly race.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

The Red Falcon alien threat is once again plaguing Earth. Only Lance and Bill can save the planet, and only by leaping through the air and shooting everything that moves. Super Contra brings the classic coin-op game to Xbox Live Arcade.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Spyglass Boardgames includes four classic boardgames: Chess, Checkers, Mancala and Reversi. The collection supports both single-player games (against an AI) and games against human players on Xbox Live. Players can share images of themselves playing using the Xbox Live Vision Camera.

Details: Paperback, 329 pages

"MMORPGs are made of very sophisticated software built around a massively distributed client-server architecture. Because these games push the limits of software technology... they are particularly interesting as a case study in software security. In fact, MMORPGs are a harbinger of technical software security issues to come."

Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: Pentium III 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c compatible video card (Geforce4 MX440 64MB or ATI Radeon 7000 or better), 6 GB HD space, internet connection, Windows XP or more recent operating system

Ferrucio Espada answered the King of Opoluto's call for explorers and led a fleet of twelve ships across the ocean in search of an alternate trade route to the distant land of Katai. Not only did Espada fail to reach Katai, but he lost ten of his twelve ships. He did, however, discover a new content that could provide the wealth and resources the nation of Opoluto needs to battle its foes Illier and Vespanola.

The New World was named for Espada and the other surviving captain from the exploratory fleet, Gilbert Granado. Thus the land of Granado Espada was named. But Opoluto bankrupted itself establishing colonies, and its enemy Vespanola laid claim to Opoluto's lands. Yet another nation, Bristia, launched an epic war against Vespanola and sought to gain its own foothold in the New World.

As a wealthy family from the Old World, you have ventured to Granado Espada to make your presence known and improve your fortunes. But not only will you face the political and religious intrigues of the Old World, the New World is filled with foul mythical beasts to plague honest tradesmen and adventurers alike.