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Conclusion
Our Impressions
Hostile Waters is doing a lot of things right. There are many times where you can tell the developers went out of their way to bring a more realistic feel to the game. For instance, there is an accelerated day/night cycle. The sunrise is a little on the short side, but the compromise is meant to prevent the glare of the sun from becoming a nuisance. When night falls, the battles are fought with the help of night vision goggles.
Weather conditions also play a role on the island chain. Rain is accompanied by thunder and lightning, while the morning air brings heavy fog from the ocean into the lower valleys of the islands. You can actually see the fog rolling into the battle grounds.
Errr, maybe not
Look at all the shells falling!
Sample mission
We watched as one of the developers started a mission centered on the assassination of an enemy pilot. The pilot was positioned next to his helicopter deep within his own territory. The developer began by dispatching a couple of attack choppers to weaken the defense. Shortly after the first shots were fired, a support chopper was dispatched to retrieve a crate from the enemy shipyard. The crate contained a new weapon - the Rapier sniper laser.
Capturing the weapon allowed the Anteaus to create units with long range sniping capability. After designing a chopper armed with the new laser weapon, we dispatched this vehicle to a good sniping spot to take out the pilot. Once the other combat vehicles eliminated the defense surrounding the target, our newly designed craft was able to get a clear shot on the helicopter pilot.
Looks like this chopper has had a long day
A bird's eye view of the action
Last But Not Least
Things are definitely looking bright for Rage Software. They have done a fine job thus far in blending both action and strategy without alienating fans of either genre. The only thing Antaeus Rising lacks is a multiplayer component. Although the Rage Software developers would love to have some sort of multiplayer component, time is not on their side. Hostile Waters is scheduled for a release in mid-April. Regardless of the lack of multiplayer, the game is shaping up to be a fun single player experience.
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress Preview Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a standalone expansion pack and follow-up to developer Stardock's previous game in the series, subtitled War of Magic. That 4X strategy game was highly-anticipated and slated to compete with games such as Sid Meier's Civilization V for your turn-based strategy play-time, but was released in an incredibly broken and unfinished state that it never fully recovered from. Lead designer Brad Wardell apologized profusely to fans and set out with his team to go back to the drawing board and try again.
Almost two years later, the result of that proverbial mulligan is currently undergoing closed beta testing. In today's article, Will reports his thoughts on how Fallen Enchantress is shaping up, and will tell you whether or not you should be keeping an eye on it as it nears release later this year.
The Elder Scrolls Online Details Leak - Should Fans Be Excited? The Elder Scrolls Online, long rumored to be in development, was officially announced yesterday. Still in development at Zenimax Online Studios, this MMO aims to combine traditional genre mechanics with the spirit and sensibilities, not to mention setting and lore, of the immensely popular series of single-player RPGs. Though the game is set for a full unveiling in the next issue of Game Informer magazine, what appears to be the entire cover story article has been leaked to the interwebs already. In today's article, you'll find summary and analysis of all the alleged details, as well as feast your eyes on the very first screenshots and concept art from the game. Of course, the burning question now is, should you be excited?
ANNO 2070 Review
The year is 2070. The majority of life on Earth was devastated when global sea levels surged after the melting of the polar ice caps. Swaths of previously habitable land are now deep underwater, and sovereign nations are a relic of the past. But there is still hope...
This city-building RTS/simulation game from Ubisoft tasks you with re-colonizing what little land areas are left on the planet following a global warming apocalypse. Does it have what it takes to be worthy of your time and money, or should it be cast out to sea with the rest of civilization? Find out in today's review!
Mass Effect 3 PC Review
This latest release from EA/BioWare is the final entry in their trilogy of sci-fi action RPGs, putting you in a dire situation: rally the troops to save Earth at all costs. There was a lot of hype surrounding the final act of what has been a vast and highly-customizable story-telling experience, and the reception among many hardcore fans has been less than stellar. Even people that haven't played the game have probably heard about all the nerd rage going on over Mass Effect 3's ending...
If you want to cut through all the crap and find out whether or not the rest of ME3 is worth playing, come check out Will's spoiler-free take on the first blockbuster game release of 2012.
Batman: Arkham City PC Review Batman: Arkham City is the sequel to 2009’s smash-hit action game Batman: Arkham Asylum. As the name suggests, you will be reprising your role as the Caped Crusader and going against an even larger 'prison' filled with Gotham's criminals and villains. A textbook example on how to do a proper sequel, Arkham City takes what worked in the original, excised or improved upon what didn’t, and elevated everything to an even greater scope. The PC version suffered from a few months of delay, but in that time, Rocksteady worked closely to NVIDIA to implement some familiar technologies from the last game, such as PhysX and 3D Vision, along with new DirectX 11 optimizations. But how well was the whole package executed? Read on to find out!
Saints Row: The Third PC Review Saints Row is one of most unique series of games to build upon the open-world action template forged by Grand Theft Auto, and has met with plenty of critical and commercial success since it began on consoles back in 2006. This latest iteration, titled Saints Row: The Third promises the most outlandish fun and freedom of customization of them all, and in a much more PC-friendly package than its predecessor. Does it live up to those expectations and, more importantly, is it worth the price of admission? Find out in Will's latest review!
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim PC Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is Bethesda Softworks’ latest offering in their series of epic fantasy RPGs, as well as one of the most highly-anticipated PC titles of 2011. As the Dovahkiin, or Dragonborn, prepare to take the fight to the mythical beasts that have returned to the realm after centuries of slumber, all the while exploring a huge and highly-detailed open world.
The PC version of the game promises enhanced graphical fidelity, standard RPG trimmings such as hotkeys and quick-save, as well as unbridled mod support, something we’ll all be thankful for once they release that SDK. Skyrim has already sold millions of copies and set records for play-time on Steam... Find out why in today's review, which happens to be one of the biggest and most in-depth articles on the subject out there!
L.A. Noire Complete Edition PC Review L.A. Noire, as the name clearly states, is a video game built on the tropes of one of the greatest periods of American cinema: film noir. Developed by the now defunct Australian developer Team Bondi and published by Rockstar Games, this title has been out on consoles for a full six months before finally making its way to the PC. This “Complete Edition” of the game features improved graphics, keyboard/mouse controls, and every bit of previously-released DLC for free. But was it truly worth the wait? Read on and find out!
Mass Effect 3 PC Demo Impressions Mass Effect 3, EA/BioWare's third iteration in their series of sci-fi action RPGs and one of the most anticipated titles of the year, is fast approaching its March 6th release. This week, though, they released a playable demo on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 that offers a glimpse into both the single-player and multi-player portions of the full game.
Whether you're waiting impatiently for your download to finish or don't have the time to check it out yourself, go ahead and read some impressions of the demo from resident FSers Synch and Vandy in today's article!
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Xbox 360 Review
The self-appointed "most anticipated game in history" launched worldwide this past Tuesday. Why, it's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, of course (of course), what else? Unsurprisingly, the military FPS debate between this and Battlefield 3 rages on, but now that both have been released, surely we can take a look and objectively evaluate them both? Luke's taken the Xbox version of MW3 for a spin this week, so to find out what he thinks of it in today's review!
Questions or comments? Does Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising sound like your kind of game? Click the pull-down menu above and visit our games message board to share your thoughts!
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ Errr, maybe not @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/17-s.jpg)
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ Look at all the shells falling! @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/18-s.jpg)
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ Looks like this chopper has had a long day @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/19-s.jpg)
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ A bird's eye view of the action @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/20-s.jpg)
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ OWNED @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/21-s.jpg)
![Hostile Waters: Antaeus Rising Preview [ Notice the fog rolling in from the left @ 640 x 480 ] > View Full-Size in another window.](images/23-s.jpg)
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