Crysis Warhead

Sometimes derided as nothing more than tech demos, Crytek's Crysis games indeed demand capable rigs and generate some of the most impressive real-time rendering in the medium -- but they are much more than that simplistic characterization suggests. Few non-simulation shooters have been as uncompromising in their willingness to let the player explore the world at will and carve out a particular tactical approach (with one exception in Far Cry 2, below).

Even Crysis Warhead, which consciously takes a few steps back from last year's sometimes overwhelmingly wide-open Crysis, offers leagues more freedom than the rest of today's on-rails shooter experiences in the vein of the Half-Lifes and Call of Dutys (great games in their own right). What Warhead trims in terms of scale is balanced out by a greater attention to pacing and sensible gameplay variety, as well as level design that seems more tuned to the game's unique (and enjoyable) combat and suit mechanics.

Finally, the "tech demo" detractors do have the right idea in one respect: Crysis Warhead is gorgeous, declining to make a statement with nontraditional rendering techniques and instead allowing the composition of its sprawling natural vistas to speak for itself.

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Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines

Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines is a single player real-time tactics computer game developed by Pyro Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. The first installment in the "Commandos" series, the game was released in 1998 and is set in wartime Europe and Africa where a group of six Allied Commandos performs missions using small unit tactics. Each Commando has a unique set of skills and tools determined by his class which forces the player to establish cooperation among them so that further progress can be made. The objectives varies from sabotages to rescuing allied informantsand assassinations.

Commandos employs an isometric view with a whole map visible, thus allowing player to think out a strategy and its execution in advance. The same system was later used in the expansion pack Commandos: Beyond the Call of Duty released in 1999 as well as in two installments Commandos 2: Men of Courage and Commandos 3: Destination Berlin released in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

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Dragon Age : Origins

The traditional formula of creating a character, becoming a hero and saving the day is nothing new to BioWare. After all, this is the company that introduced classic role-playing game experiences to gamers everywhere with titles including Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Knights of the Old Republic and Mass Effect. For Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare fleshed out its customary design by including radically different characters with unique backgrounds for gamers to experience. The result is that Dragon Age dwarfs other role-playing games in size and scale, and weaves in mature themes amidst a backdrop of chaos and destruction.

The plot of Dragon Age is extremely rich with details that unfold over dozens of hours of play. All of this is documented in your in-game codex, which tracks conversations, plot points and other elements of your journey. The general backstory revolves around the Darkspawn threat to the land of Ferelden. Darkspawn are a race of creatures born from magic users who attempted to become gods, but were cursed for their efforts. Led by the powerful Arch-demon, the beasts emerge from underground lairs every few hundred years in a swarming plague known as the Blight.

The Darkspawn's destructive plots would succeed were it not for the Grey Wardens. An ancient order of elves, dwarves and humans, Grey Wardens dedicate their lives to hunting down Darkspawn wherever they go. It's been centuries since the Darkspawn appeared, and the signs of a new Blight are even more troublesome since the numbers of Grey Wardens have dropped precipitously. To make matters worse, Ferelden is bitterly divided by an internal war, making the repulsion of this threat harder than before.

This is the fractured world your hero or heroine inhabits, a world which can evoke Tolkien-esque imagery. Ferelden has an impressively vast history (as your codex will indicate to you through your adventure). The biggest issue, that arises with the storyline of Dragon Age is that plot elements suffer from repetitiveness. Even though different cities house unique quest events, they all incorporate similar motivating factors – assassination, betrayal or murder. Even though the results of your actions vary, it can become a bit stale. Not every single city needs Macbeth, King Lear or other Shakespearean styled machinations to drive the action forward.

The character creation reveals more of Dragon Age's depth and flexibility. You have three separate races (human, dwarf and elf) and three base classes (warrior, rogue and mage) to choose from. Additionally, your hero will have general skills, class-specific talents and specializations, which you can learn from manuals or other characters willing to teach you their arts. By the end of the game, your hero will feel like a true legendary Grey Warden with a full complement of abilities to destroy the Darkspawn.

Dragon Age provides a ton of customization without a level cap, so it's possible to take two characters with the exact same background and develop them in completely different ways. For example, do you want a berserker that mows down enemies, a stealthy rogue that strikes from the shadows or a mage that wields the elements? These are only a few of the options you can explore as you grow your character.

Selecting your character's race and class decides which one of six unique origin stories you'll explore. Choose your origin carefully, because this decision affects how the world treats and views you. Since each background starts in a different location, the origin stories play out in distinctive ways. As you travel on your journey, your character may return to the lands they hailed from, and people you knew will respond differently to you. For example, if you play a mage, you start out in the Mage's Tower. Eventually, you'll return to the site of your training, and the instructors and guards of the tower will remember who you are and what you did as a young magician inside the tower walls.

The largest issue that I had with the Origin feature is that some of the background elements fade away too easily as the game progresses, becoming little more than an afterthought. For example, many of Ferelden's citizens are extremely prejudiced against elves, but this bias eventually just disappears. Considering that a portion of the game revolves around uniting Ferelden against the Darkspawn, it would seem like you'd have to address these issues of racism somehow, especially if you happen to be an elven character. Simply tossing these endemic problems aside without any attempted mediation or resolution seems unrealistic and forced, and insults the plot of the game.

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