Prototype is an action adventure game that was developed by Radical Entertainment and published by Activision in 2009. I have played the pc version.

The game takes place in present time New York City, on the island of Manhattan to be specific, where a horrific virus is spreading through the streets. The entire island has been put under quarantine by the US Marine Corps to prevent the spread of the virus.

You play as Alex mercer, person with no memory of his past and with the ability to change his body parts into various weapons and defenses, and the ability to consume other persons and take their identity, memories and their entire body.

When starting a new game you are taught how to move, attack and change your body. In this stage the virus is at its peak. After completing this level you flashback to the beginning of the outbreak. By completing the primary missions you progress in the game. After completing a certain amount of those missions, you get a flash-forward and a part of the story is revealed. This Is however not entirely right. To uncover the history and facts around the game, you can consume targets for your Web of Intrigue. When you consume a target you get a small video which gives a few hints about what happened during and what happened before the events that take place in the game. Back to the primary missions. After the fast-forward, you get another flashback. when that happens the days change and a percentage is given to show you how many people are infected in the city. You work your way from day one up to day eighteen.

Next to the primary missions you also have side missions. These can vary from consuming targets, killing a certain amount of infected or marines or running and jumping through a course.

With completing missions, consuming and killing enemies or innocent people you get Evolution Points. These points can be spent on increasing your survivability or making you more deadly in combat by unlocking special moves and new powers.

Alex has an arsenal of deadly weapons that he can use. Some have to be unlocked first with EP. An example of one of those weapons are the claws. This is my favorite weapon. Every weapon has a basic attack and a special attack. The reason why I love this weapon is because with this attack you can rise up spikes of biomass from underneath the ground and impale anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in the radial area of damage. So yeah, I love it. But the most devastating powers in the game are the Devastator attacks. These attacks are the superweapons in his arsenal. But I will not be a spoiler and will let you discover what these things can do.

But the fun doesn’t end there. After a while, Alex is able to pilot certain military vehicles. At first there are only Black Hawk and Bradleys, but as the situation in the city escalates, more and more heavy equipment is brought in, so you’ll end up driving Abrams and Apaches.

You can speak of two factions in Prototype. The first group is the US Marine Corp, who are commanded by the black operation, Blackwatch. The marines orders are to contain the virus, but are really used as shock troopers, soldiers who do the heavy damage and take the full blow i.e. casualties. Now Blackwatch is a nasty organization, they do the clean up after the work is done and are the real badguys that want to take you down by any means necessary.

The other faction are the infected. You have the population that has gone berserk, trying to kill every non-infected, and you have the abominations. The result of the virus transforming their host into something else. You have some minor abominations, as I would call them, that are not that powerful. But the other ones, called Hunters, are the ones that can really ruin your day. These creatures from hell are twice the size of a normal human and with a lot more muscles.

The game looks pretty good. In combat you will see bodyparts and blood flying freely through the air. The city itself might feel a bit empty, and I mean that most of it looks the same with a few subtle differences. But on the streets its chaos when the virus finally goes crazy. You will see soldiers firing at infected, civilians running for their lives, infected people and Hunters.

Though I have some complaints about the game. You will find yourself doing the same things over and over, but you will be too busy to really care about that. Moving around the city, especially in combat, can be quite chaotic. This really comes to light when driving ground vehicles, they drive towards where you are pointing at. And that’s where the controls get weird, but you really have to experience that yourself. And my final complaint is that combat can be incredibly annoying. Sometimes you are chased from one end of the map to the other end, but also that some special moves of the Hunters can’t be countered or stopped.

So my conclusion of Prototype, I really good game. It has it flaws but that’s common in every game. A nice storyline and awesome moves make this game awesome.

Dune 2000 is a RTS developed by Westwood Studios and Intelligent Games and was released in 1998 on Windows and later ported on the Playstation. The game is based on Frank Herbert's Dune universe.

Emperor Corrino has issued a challenge that the House which can produce the most spice will control its source, the desert planet Dune, with no rules as to how the Houses can achieve the goal. However, when you're playing with the Harkonnen (the evil House), the Emperor will eventually team up with the Atreides and tries to destroy you, how ironic. Meanwhile, Lady Elara of the Bene Gesserit and bound concubine to the Emperor, secretly takes the commander (you) into one of the Heighliners, a person whose bloodline and future the Sisterhood had checked. According to Elara, they saw many visions of the commander dying many times and only in one vision does the commander live and even rise to control massive armies and bring peace to Arrakis.

I will explain the three Houses below, as taken from the intro.

House Atreides- Hailing from the water-planet of Caladan, the Atreides have a strict loyalty to their Duke and follow him with zeal. The Duke's famous Mentat, Noree Moneo, advises and resides over the Duke's forces on Arrakis. The House's fleets of ornithopters ensure their superior air power. The Duke also wishes to develop an alliance with the Fremen, the native warriors of Dune.

House Harkonnen- The Harkonnen are ruled by the wicked Baron and come from the volcanic waste-planet of Giedi Prime. According to Lady Elara, the only thing human about the Harkonnen is their genetic makeup, as all humanity was abandoned long ago in favor of brutality and maliciousness. The Baron's Mentat, Hayt De Vries, was born from the flesh of a dead man in the Tleilaxu Flesh Vats.

House Ordos- The Ordos originate from a frigid, ice covered planet unnamed in Dune 2000 but later called Sigma Draconis IV in Emperor: Battle for Dune. As they import their goods from nearby star systems, House Ordos relies on their skills as merchants to make their profits; however, their wealth has made them increasingly paranoid. According to the manual, House Ordos buys all of its units instead of constructing them themselves. Unlike the other two houses, House Ordos is not mentioned in any of Frank Herbert's Dune novels.

There are also four non-playable subfactions: House Corrino, the Fremen, the Mercenaries and the Smugglers.

Spice is the main resource in the game, which you have to collect with harvesters. It is advised to regularly check where your harvesters are, because there are always giant worms around, and those worms sometimes consume your harvester. You'll know that a worm is there when you see sparks coming out of the ground. With spice you can purchase everything ranging from infantry to building upgrades. Before placing a building you'll have to place concrete, because otherwise it's health is not at 100% but will decrease to a certain point over time. You'll also need to build energy sources, Wind Traps. If you don't have enough energy the training and building process is slowed down and your missile turrets and your radar won't operate. Your most valuable building is the Construction Site. If you lose this building you won't be able to construct other buildings, unless you're able to build or order a Mobile Construction Verhicle from a Starport. When playing the singleplayer campaign I recommend you to seek and destroy your enemy's Construction Site before destroying the other buildings, because otherwise they'll just rebuild the buildings they've lost.

Although each house has many common units, such as infantry, Wind Traps, and Mobile Construction Vehicles, each House also has its own set of units, such as the Atreides Sonic Tank, the Ordos Deviator and the Harkonnen Devastator. Houses Harkonnen and Atreides share the Trike, while House Ordos has an upgraded version, the Raider. Like many games of the Westwood franchise, a player can gain access to other Houses' special units by capturing an enemy building and manufacturing the desired units.

The graphics of this game aren't that special, but I think they're good enough for a game from 1998. There isn't really much to say about the level design, because you play on a desert planet and everything looks the same. This game received a lot of criticism from the hoax called GameSpot, because they thought the game's production value was 'drab' for 1998 standards. Whatever they thought, I, on the contrary, had a lot of fun with this game. I spend many hours playing this game, it can be very challenging at times.

Sins of a Solar Empire has been developed by Stardock and Ironclad Games.
Since its release, two micro-expansions have been released, Entrenchment and Diplomacy.
Entrenchment’s main focus was defence and introduces new ships, the ability of deploying mine fields and the option of building powerful starbases in the gravity belts of planets.
There’s not much to tell about the Diplomacy as it speaks for itself. It grants you the ability of making pacts with other factions.
The third micro-expansion hasn’t been announced yet, but will be the last one.

Sins of a Solar Empire is a mix between space-based RTS and a genre called 4X. 4X means that the player controls an empire and has to, and I quote, to explore, expand, exploit and exterminate. This game follows the rules of the 4X-genre for a big portion. At the beginning of a new game, your first tasks are building ships, scouting new planets and colonizing them, starting your economy and start research.

There are 3 factions you can play:
- the TEC, the Trader Emergency Coalition. Founded after the invasion of the Vasari and the Advent and is a cooperation between independent empires.
- The Vasari. It’s the only alien race in SoaSE. The Vasari were once a great civilization and expanded its empire by assimilating other civilizations. Because of hysteria on a galactic scale in the Vasari empire, a small colony fled the empire, eventually ended up in human territory. And in this territory they fight against the TEC and the Advent over resources.
- The Advent. Originally a religious sect, they were driven out before the rise of the TEC. This faction uses psychic powers to manipulate populations and to destroy their enemies.

The first downside of the game comes to light shortly after starting the game. That’s because the game doesn’t feature a campaign mode, which is a shame. The 3 factions have a long history together and a campaign could’ve made good use of that.

Your main resources are metal, crystal and credits. Metal and crystals can be harvested by placing mines on top of asteroids containing metal or crystal. Additional metal and crystal can be obtained by building refineries. Credits are created by planets and by trade stations. But these are the normal ways of obtaining the game’s resources, the other one is by selling or buying metal or crystal at the black market.

When you colonize a planet, the planet is unable to create credits due to the fact that they are under developed and suffers from operating costs. So instead of making credits it consumes its. For the planet to create credits, you first have to invest metal, crystal and credits into upgrading its infrastructure. Next to upgrading a planet’s infrastructure, you can also invest in increasing a planets hitpoints by building emergency facilities. Two other upgrades grants you the option of building more civilian and tactical structures in the planet’s orbit. And finally you can invest in exploring the planet for natural resources, relics etc.

Combat in Sins of a Solar Empire is slow. And by slow I mean it takes a while before a battle is over. That’s not only due to the fact that ships (not talking about the structures) have shields and armor that constantly recharges, but also because reinforcements can be brought in at all times. The galaxy never stops in Sins. Almost every frigate and cruiser has a special power to be used in combat. This can be to increase the damage output for a moment or to support other ships in battle.
Capital ships are the heavy guns in Sins. They can possess more than one ability. They are the only ships that can earn experience points and level up. Experience points are earned by destroying enemy ships in combat. Every faction has 5 ships to choose from ranging from all out combat ships to support ships.

The AI in Sins is pretty smart and get smarter in the expansions that followed. It can really be a pain, but it has an addiction. It seems that it can’t get enough of building countless frigates, while neglecting capitals and cruisers. But you won’t hear me complaining, this only gives impressive fleet battles and extends the amount of time you put into a single match.

I had a lot of fun playing this game and will continue in doing so. Though it lacks a campaign mode, it still is a solid RTS/4X game that will keep you busy for hours.
And for those planning to buy this game, Stardock has released Sins of a Solar Empire Trinity. It contains the original game and the two expansions, Entrenchment and Diplomacy.

Europa Universalis III is a historical strategy game made and released by Paradox Interactive in 2007. The game got three expansion packs: Napoleon's Ambition, In Nomine and Heir to the Throne. I myself own In Nomine.

Europa Universalis III is a very extensive game, just like Hearts of Iron III. You can choose from more than 250 nations that exist during the period of 1399-1820 (1453-1789 in the original game), including native American tribes, and try to establish a strong nation by conquering other nations by force or in a more diplomatic way by turning them into vassals.

A very important aspect of the game is the market. You have to get a strong position in the centres of trade to get additional income. With more income you can create a larger army. You can also invest money in certain fields of expertise, in which you want your country to develop in. These sectors are: Government, trade, naval, land and stability. When you invest in government you'll unlock more government types such as a merchant republic, which improves trading efficiency. When you invest in naval, you'll unlock better ships and your colony range will improve so you can colonize further away from your closest port. When you invest in land, your army will fight better and you will be able to create more advanced units. When turbulent times are there (such as war) it is needed to invest in stability, because revolts can occur. There are different types of revolts. For example, when you conquer territory you can expect patriotic revolts in that province. You can also put the money in your treasure chest and invest nothing, which is best to do in the beginning since you have low income.

Another thing that is extremely important is to have diplomatic relations with other countries, such as a military alliance, trade agreement (which is an agreement that makes sure that the two nations don't compete with each other) or royal marriage (government type has to be a monarchy), which greatly improves relations. When you have a royal marriage with another nation you can also claim there throne, which gives you a casus belly against them. When you have a casus belly against an other nation you won't lose as much stability as you would without a casus belly, and thus it's extremely useful.

In the beginning of the game most territory is still Terra Incognita, which means that that area isn't discovered yet. If you want to explore these area's you'll need explorers (naval) and conquistadores (land). When a discovered province lies in your colonization range, you can send a colonist to colonize the province. This will give you a lot of prestige, which gives you some additional bonuses, such as more tax income and more yearly merchants. You'll also get prestige by winning wars and by completing missions, such as: Free the Dutch people in Zeeland or build a large army.

You can also choose one of the national ideas (only when you have a free slot, more will come available over time) which give you an additional bonus, such as a higher moral for your armies, so that they can fight longer. Another thing you have to do is to make national and regional decisions. National decisions mostly are laws, while regional decisions are building an embassy in a certain province to improve relations with another nation.

There is also a list of structures that you can build to improve the economy of a province, such as a fort or weapons manufacturer. Most of these structures are very expensive and you'll also need more advanced technology for better buildings.

There isn't really much to say about the graphics, since you're looking at a world map. When comparing it to the first two games in the series, the graphics have been improved and it is the first Europa Universalis game that is in 3D.

I really liked playing this game. I'm still playing it today, experimenting with different nations. It's a great game, but you really have to be into the genre.

This game has been developed by Gas Powered Games and released by Square Enix. The game has been brought out for the pc, but also for the Xbox 360. ( Don’t ask me why)

The story begins 25 years after the end of SC: Forged Alliance, the expansion of Supreme Commander, where the UEF, Cybran Nation and the Aeon Illuminate have formed an alliance. The story really revolves around the breakdown of that alliance, but in the end you will find out that all is saved. The campaign follows a chronological order, beginning with the missions of the UEF, then the Aeon and ending with the Cybrans. In the effort to connect the players with the main characters, they added personal histories and experiences to those characters. While it adds a little RPG into the game, but that all it does. Now the main characters, you will fight with their ACU and with them sitting in it. The main’s are Thalia Kael, who works for the Aeon, Ivan Brackman, is on the Cybran side, and last but not least the UEF commander Dominic Maddox. Throughout the game you will encounter a commander named Gauge. He’s the bad guy that tries to ruin the fragile alliance between the major factions.

A lot of gameplay features of SC are also present in SC 2. Like in SC every shell, missile or bomb fired never hits the same location. Again mass and energy are your main resources. Although this time they did things different and that’s not positive. You know get a steady income of mass and energy units instead of a stream. With this I mean that before you can construct a unit, you have to get a number of mass and energy. Where in SC you could queue a large number of units without looking at your economy, now you are forced to save units of mass and energy. My opinion is that this is a step down. It was an art in SC to get your economy stable and now you get a income system that has been made casual.

The maps in SC2 are smaller than the previous game. Instead of big maps we got maps that look great when you zoom out. Zoom in and you get a bit disappointed. To me, the maps feel empty.

Over to the units. In SC2 they threw away the concept of having T1/2/3 units and went to having a few basic units and more experimental units. Unlocking some basic units and experimental’s forces you to do research. This accounts for a lot of structures too. With research you can upgrade your basic units and structures, so they can do more damage, have more combat capabilities or are better protected. But for you to research something you have to amass research points. And to get them you need to build research centers. Very original, but let’s move on. To build your experimental units you first have to build gantries, for land and air experimental’s. Naval versions are build on water without gantry. Another thing they did was optimizing how your units merge into formation. A thing that I appreciate, because in SC you would see your units bumping against each other, eventually forming together in a sort of formation.

Well I really don’t have anything else to say about this game. I really liked the first one and waited long time to finally play this game. Now I have played it, I really think they took a step back. The maps are smaller, you have fewer units and the economy is messed up. But I wouldn’t say that it’s a bad game, it’s just a step back from a good game.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is the second game in the GTA III era. Although it was released after Grand Theft Auto III, it was set 15 years earlier. The game was released in 2002 for the PS2 and later on the PC and Xbox version were released in 2003 and 2004.

GTA Vice City is set in Vice City, Florida in 1986, and concerns the exploits of protagonist Tommy Vercetti as he rises to Vice City's major criminal power. And this time the character talks, hooray!

Having just made it back onto the streets of Liberty City after a long stretch in maximum security, Tommy Vercetti is sent to Vice City by his old boss, Sonny Forelli. They were understandably nervous about his re-appearance in Liberty City, so a trip down south seemed like a good idea. But all does not go smoothly upon his arrival in the glamorous metropolis of Vice City. He's set up and is left with no money and no merchandise. Sonny wants his money back, but the biker gangs, Cuban gangsters, and corrupt politicians stand in his way. Most of Vice City seems to want Tommy dead. His only answer is to fight back and take over the city himself.

A significant influence on GTA Vice City is the 1983 film Scarface, starring Al Pacino. Several in-game locations, such as the mansion that becomes Vercetti Estate, are obviously styled after locations featured in the movie. Elsewhere in the city, there is a hidden apartment containing a chainsaw within a blood-stained bathroom, a nod to Scarface's infamous chainsaw torture scene; and the Mr. Vercetti outfit strongly resembles an outfit worn by Pacino's character. Even Tommy Vercetti himself takes many character and lifestyle traits from Tony Montana, specifically his short temper and heavy dealings in the cocaine trade.

When you're playing this game it really feels like you're back in the 80's again. That's mostly because of the in-game radio stations, because you'll hear lots of 80's classics when traveling in Vice City. There has been put a lot of effort in those radio stations, because they all have a playtime of at least 45 minutes and there are nine radio stations in the game. You can also add your own music to the game if you don't want to listen to the in-game music.

If you've played GTA III you'll recognize most of the cars that are driving around town, but there are also some new cars. You're also able to take a boat and a helicopter, which is new. Another new feature is that you can now buy properties where you can save your progress. There are also some companies that you can buy, such as Kaufman Cabs and Sunshine Auto's.
You can play additional side missions for Kaufman Cabs and find cars for Sunshine Auto's. When you try to find these cars you'll recognize the same phenomenon as in GTA III: It's hard to find those specific cars but after you found one it'll appear a dozen times before delivering it.

I played this game on PS2 and PC, and I have to say that the PS2 version has better graphics than the PC version. The PC version also has a short draw distance, but I'm not really sure if I have to blame my PC for that or the game itself.

I really love this game, I often find myself laughing about the same radio joke over and over again, the game never gets old. I've played this game more than any other GTA game, I like it even more than GTA IV. You've never played this game before? Just buy it, you'll see how great it is.

And now the second part of my review of Chronicles of Riddick. This will not only be the story of Assault on Dark Athena, but I will also tell you about some features that I forgot to mention in the previous review.

Assault on Dark Athena (AoDA) starts from where Escape from Butcher Bay ends. You managed to escape the desert planet and went into cryo sleep. You first have to complete a tutorial level, just like in Escape from Butcher Bay. The intro shows your ship being dragged in by the Dark Athena, but not before the main character, Riddick, awakes and hides. Johns, the merc who originally took Riddick to the Butcher Bay prison for a bounty, helped him escape to avoid becoming a prisoner himself, is still in cryo sleep. Your ship is boarded and you get a first look of the enemies you are up against. John is taken aboard the Dark Athena and taken prison. This is the point where the game really begins. You will fight your way to freedom not only inside the ship, but you will also be running, sneaking and blasting your way on the surface of the planet the Dark Athena is orbiting and on the exterior of the ship in a mech. During your ‘mission’ to get off the ship, you meet a small child, named Lynn, who is hiding from Dark Athena’s guard and meet various characters in the cells of the ship. You will have to do some tasks for them to advance in the game. But that’s only in the beginning of the game, later on you will never see them again, only the child. There’s one thing I want to mention before I conclude the part of the story. You will see different kinds of guards in AoDA. These guards are humans stuffed with cybernetic hardware and called drones. Drones have no free will. To be more accurate they have no conscious and are being kept alive by implants. They can be controlled by the ship’s real crew remotely. And if not controlled they just patrol the area.

A feature that is also present in EfBB (Escape from Butcher Bay) are the side quests. If you completed a quest in EfBB, you get a special item or money as a reward. In AoDA you don’t receive anything in-game, but when playing it on the ps3 you get a trophy for completing them. This feature is more apparent in EfBB.

The level design of the game is once again done great with enough options to sneak around, though some levels are a pain to get through undetected. Though not everything is good in the game. The lip sync in the game is not done properly, creating some weird moments in the game. Also the AI is stupid and surprisingly alert. It tends to run away from you in fire fights or get right on top of you, without considering taking cover. And with alert I mean that they can spot you in the most impossible ways. To sketch a situation, let’s say a drone/guard is standing with his back towards you and you are standing in the shadows. The moment you get clear of the shadow it spots you. That alert the AI can be. Something else that is pretty cool, that is also present in EfBB, is the close quarters combat. Sometimes there are moments where you perform a special move. This can be breaking the neck of a guard or cutting them open. After a hundred kills it never gets old, but that’s my opinion. It acts as a pressure release valve, really.

And where would a game be without collectables. In EfBB you have to find packs of cigarettes and in AoDA it’s replaced with bounty cards. When you collected one of them, you get some concept art. And if you manage to find them all, you get a well deserved trophy, when playing on the ps3 ofcourse.

To finish the final part of the review, I had a lot of fun playing this game. There were some moments where I went berserk thanks to the incredible AI, but the shooting and the sneaking around made me forget it fast. So if you are a fan of Riddick, Vin Diesel or you just like to sneak around and killing people, you will probably like this game.

Grand Theft Auto III is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by DMA Design (Rockstar North), and published by Rockstar Games. GTA III was the first game in the series that was in 3D. It was first released on PS2 in October 2001, then in May 2002 on Windows and in November 2003 on Xbox.

The game takes place in Liberty City, the city that also appeared in the first game of the series. Liberty City is a fictional city that is based on New York City. We follow a nameless criminal who successfully robs a bank, but his girlfriend betrays him and their companion afterwards and they're sentenced to jail. While they're being transferred, the police convoy comes under attack by some criminals and you are free again. However, the criminals destroyed the bridge which goes to the other part of the city, so you're unable to travel to this part in the beginning of the
game.

This game is the first game that follows a storyline. You don't have to earn a certain amount of money to get to the next level, you can go wherever you want to go, with a few limitations. The first limitation is water, because you can't swim. However, later on in the game you can find some ships and then you can travel on water too. The second limitation is the bridge that leads to the other part of the city. But after you've completed a certain amount of missions the bridge is repaired and then you're able to travel to the other part too.

To gain ground on the criminal ladder, you have to complete several missions for rival gangs. At first, they're very easy and the reward is low, but after you complete more missions they'll become harder and reward more money. There is something I find strange with these missions, since you're character never talks. Sometimes you'll get missions by cellphones, but how do those guys know that it's you? The only thing that your character does is nodding, even on a phone.

There are also other ways to earn money, such as taxi-missions (you need a taxi for that) and vigilante missions (only available when you're driving a police car). There is also a collectible mission where you have to bring certain cars to the port, the wanted cars are on a list in the harbor. The strange part of these missions is that it's often hard to find these cars, but after you found one almost everyone is driving in the same car. For example, it's hard to find a Whoopiee ice-cream car, but after you found one and you're driving it to the port you'll encounter more ice-cream cars on your way.

As usual, there is also a police force in this game. Criminal offences, such as carjacking, murder and theft will result in increasing levels of resistance from the authorities. If the player's wanted level reaches certain levels, the police, FBI, and army will respond accordingly. When the player character collapses from his injuries or is arrested, he will re-spawn at a local hospital or police station, at the expense of losing all weapons and armor and an amount of money for medical expenses or bribes. While this is similar to previous Grand Theft Auto games, the player character is essentially offered an unlimited amount of lives.

Just as in GTA I and II you're able to respray or rig your car, which is needed in some missions. There are also some arms dealers in town where you can buy guns and armor.

As I mentioned before, this game is the first GTA game that is in 3D, and DMA did a great job with that. You really get the feeling that you're a part of the city now, instead of that eagle view. There is also a day-night cycle now and a dynamic weather system. Another thing that is added is a mini-map, so that you can navigate yourself around town. It also shows you where to go in your missions.

I own this game on my PS2 and I have to say that I liked it a lot, but the GTA I liked the most will be my next review: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, which I also own on my PS2. Oh, and if you ever stumble across this game, I guess you could buy it. It is a fun game to play and it might keep you busy for some weeks, just like any other GTA.

Gunman Chronicles is a game published by Sierra Studios in 2000. The game was produced by a company called Rewolf Software, which is a Dutch company which changed it's name to Streamline Studios in 2001, that company is known for contributing to many great titles, seeing as they were a company specialised in programming and graphics outsourcing. Some of titles are Ghost Recon 2, Overlord, Saint's Row, Gears Of War, Unreal Tournament 3 & 2004 and Battlefield 2142.

Gunman Chronicles uses the Goldsource engine which is also used in Half-Life. Gunman Chronicles is a standard fps with a few changes to the concept such as the fact that you're able to customise your firing options on your guns.

The storyline of Gunman Chronicles is the following, you start as Major Archer, a member of the Gunmen. You're send out on an exploration mission with other Gunmen in order to investigate a planet on which you meet a guy known as The General. The General was abandoned on a planet a few years back by Major Archer, because they thought he was dead, but he wasn't, so he managed to survive and repair his ship and get an army for himself. It's needless to say that The General has quite a grudge against the main character for leaving him there, so he does everything he can to see you die. During the game you'll notice that there are three factions, the Gunmen, a robot faction ruled by a computer known as AI and The Pirates(ruled by The General). In the first few levels you'll fight against the Pirates and local wildlife such as dinosaurs, but as you progress through the levels you'll encounter other forces such as the robots, because you manage to hide in the cargo of the General's spaceship which brings you to a moon which is ruled by the AI, who's under attack by the Pirates, since they want to expand and enslave creatures in order to sell them, that's also the reason why they invaded the first planet aswell, in order to capture dinosaurs. The AI first sees you as an enemy and tries whatever is in her power to stop you, until the very last moment when she's at the verge of capitulating, then she explains that she knows that you're not a member of the Pirates and wants to sign a truce. You'll then have to take her core with you in order to infiltrate the base of the General in order to crumble his empire. Because as it turns out the General is more than simply a warlord, he's also experimenting and breeding the Xenome race, which is a very aggressive alien race.

Like previously mentioned, Gunman Chronicles is a standard fps, so you're main objective is to blast your way through hallways with enemies. Every once in a while you have to solve a puzzle which aren't very difficult, most of the time it's simply blowing up some reactors or flipping a switch. The game also has a few parts in which you can drive a tank, which offers some fun variety. Although the game has some variety, for the most part it's still shooting a lot of enemies in order to progress through levels, which is just fine for some but could be boring others. About the customization options of your weapons, it comes down to choosing a firing speed in combination with accuracy, amount of projectiles being fired and in what form. Of course, the options all vary with the weapon you're holding. The game also offers little help in what you're objectives are, which can be quite frustrating, especially when you're stuck somewhere.

The level-design is quite mediocre, the variety between levels is great but the fact that you have to follow one path is quite limited. Another thing that makes it even worse is the fact that sometimes it's completely and utterly unclear on what you should do next, especially in the later levels this becomes a big annoyance, especially in the level rebar0b, at that level you have to fall and drop on a ledge between an elevator and the wall, which is impossible to see and therefore you'll probably spend quite some time trying to figure what you should be doing.

The graphics in this game were good at the time of the release with the exception of the backgrounds. Because the backgrounds in this game are very pixelated and have a very low resolution. Whilst the rest of the graphics, like objects, characters and buildings are done quite nicely. However, some of the terrain is very unrealistic, like canyons which have walls that are completely leveled and look like they've been carved by someone with too much time on his hands. But for the most part the graphics are quite good, although there is some alternation when it comes to the quality of the graphics.

The sound of this game isn't too special, you can't really be negative or positive about it. Something that is worth mentioning is that there's barely any music to be found in this game. So, you might want to play some music in the background if you get tired of hearing gun-noises all the time.

So to conclude this review, I'd like to say that I had fun playing this game, both because of the nostalgia factor and the oldschool gameplay. Although the game had a few points that aggravated me a lot, I can say that the storyline and fun gameplay kept me playing until I had completed the game, I wouldn't say that there's much replay value to the game, but the game's worth checking out, especially when considering it's quite old an therefore cheap. So if you like FPS'es you should check this game out.

This is going to be a two part review, part one is Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and part two is Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. So here comes part one.

The original game was released in 2004 for the Xbox and the PC and was developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by Vivendi Games. To this day Starbreeze still exist, but Vivendi Games merged with Activision. But I'm going to review the upgraded version. It was released in 2009 on a CD wich also holds Assault on Dark Athena and was released by Atari.

The game was used as prequel to the movies Pitch Black and Chronicles of Riddick.

In the game you play as Richard B. Riddick, or simply said Riddick, a master in the art of escaping and a convict with a bounty on his head. The story starts with a small tutorial where Riddick is dreaming of an escape. The tutorial ends when he walks out of the sewers into a blinding white light. From that point on the game really starts, you arrived at Butcher Bay. A prison situated on a desert planet. There are three main prison levels in CoR: the first level are the normal holding cells, the second level is placed inside a mine and the third level are the cryogenic cells, where inmates are freezed and given 1 hour recreation per day.
You fight, sneak, talk and trade your way through the levels, Though you will be sneaking a lot through dark places to reach your final goal, to escape the prison.

Somewhere in the middle of the first prison level a riot starts and you fall into the pitt with a scratch on your arm. Essentially being a sewer below the prison, it's inhabitants are not your average inmate. They look human, but are really messed up and only want to hit you to death. But they are not the only ones crawling in the dark. A crazy man called Pope Joe lives there too. He is willing to stitch your arm, but first you have to get his Voice Box. After doing so, he stitches your arm. Then everything around Riddick freezes and a a woman tells you that "you have been blind too lang". It is here where Riddick receives his ability to look into the dark. Because it hurts like hell and because Pope is the only one around, he blames him for the 'eyeshine' nightvision. But he only stitched the wound on his arm.

In various parts in the game you can drive certain vehicles: a riot mech and a large robot. But those trips are really too short too really add something to the game, but it is fun though.
You can use every weapon in the game. Knives, pistoles, shotguns, assault rifles you name it, you can use it, with the exception of heavy guns like rocket launchers.

Because this game is an upgraded version of the 2004 version, the graphics are pretty good. The mapdesigners had the liberty to make levels that are really different from each other, because the player has to use shadows and dark places a lot.

Three have worked in this game to give three characters there voice. First of all is Dwight Schultz known for his role as Maddock in the A-Team. He playes the role as Butcher Bay's warden. Second is Xzibit, a famous rapper, actor and television personality, who plays the role for the guard Abbot. And finally Cole Hauser, who plays the role of the mercenary William J. Johns. He also plays the role of this character in the movie Pitch Black.

One drawback of the game is it's multiplayer. I've noticed that is filled with lag and that there aren't that many people online.

I had a lot of fun playing this game. Nice graphics, smooth gameplay and a solid storyline makes it a great game. This is the end of part 1, stay tuned for the second part, Assault on Dark Athena.