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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 7:23:11 GMT -5
23. Deus Ex: Invisible War Deus Ex: Invisible War is a first-person computer and video game developed by Ion Storm Inc. and published by Eidos Interactive. Released simultaneously for Windows and the Xbox video game console on December 2, 2003, the game is a sequel to the critically acclaimed Deus Ex. Invisible War was well-received commercially, holding 80 and 84 scores at Metacritic for the Windows and Xbox versions, respectively, and selling more than 300,000 copies in North America. Despite this the game's critical reception was not as positive as its predecessor's — for example, PC Gamer gave Deus Ex a score of 94%, while Invisible War received an 83%. This was due to a large number of controversial design choices, which led certain critics to label the game as being dumbed down from its predecessor. Invisible War takes place twenty years after Deus Ex, in a world being rebuilt after a catastrophic event called The Collapse. Following a terrorist attack that destroys the city of Chicago, the player assumes the role of Alex D, a trainee at the fictional Tarsus Academy, whose support is sought by several organizations. As the game progresses, the player learns of conspiratorial factions which seek to drastically change the world. Invisible War was designed to allow player choice in both plot and gameplay, with branching plot lines and emergent gameplay elements. This freedom of choice was widely praised by critics. Like its predecessor Deus Ex, Invisible War is a first-person game, playing from a character's eye view in a 3D environment. The game combines gameplay mechanics from multiple game genres, including stealth, role-playing and first-person shooter. Regarding the categorization of Invisible War, Warren Spector stated, "... the whole genre thing, it's like 'Is Deus Ex a science-fiction game or a shooter?' Forget about shooter, role-playing, action and adventure... forget about those categories. ... If I make a first-person perspective Western, is it a Western or a shooter? The whole idea of genre is a mess when you start applying it to games. It gets in the way of serious thought about games ... when you're in the trenches making a game, you're kinda just making a game". Invisible War emphasizes player choice — for example, the player begins the game by selecting the player character's gender and skin color. Some of the quests and dialogs variated, depending what gender was selected. The developers designed the game to allow multiple solutions for all of the game's situations, such as enabling the player to commandeer an airship by either bribing a guard, attacking with lethal force, or using stealth. The player character may be equipped with nanotechnological implants called "biomods", which — like Deus Ex's nano-augmentations—grant special abilities, such as cloaking, a neural interface, or increased strength. There are five assignable biomod slots, with each slot granting different selectable abilities. However, each slot may hold only one biomod ability; thus, the player must decide which abilities to equip. Biomods may be upgraded twice after being installed, with each successive level being more powerful. Some biomods drain the player character's "bio energy", which must be recharged with energy cells or repair bots. Deus Ex's "skill points" are not present in Invisible War — instead, the player character does not have limitations on natural abilities such as aiming or proficiency with items. Biomods replace some of the previously skill point-based abilities, such as hacking. Invisible War contains a variety of items, including tools, weapons, food and others. An inventory, and a quickly accessible secondary inventory called a "toolbelt", provide twelve slots for storing items. Although with the strength enhancement biomod, this increases to 15. Unlike Deus Ex, where the amount of inventory space used by an item varied, a single item in Invisible War takes up a single inventory slot. Invisible War features several types of weapons, including mêlée weapons, grenades and firearms. Many weapons may be altered with "weapon mods", which may be found or purchased throughout the game. The effects of weapon mods include silencers, fragmentary rounds and increased damage, among others. A single weapon may be equipped with up to two weapon mods, which cannot be removed. All weapons in Invisible War use the same ammunition, explained in the game by a nanotechnology that dynamically configures itself to the appropriate ammunition type. Different weapons use different amounts of ammunition — for example, the rocket launcher uses more than the pistol. The player character may carry up to ten magazines of ammunition at once. When attacking an enemy, the amount of damage varies based on what area is hit — headshots deal much higher damage than shots elsewhere on the body. Unlike the first game, however, the player character does not have separate hit points for his or her head, torso, and appendages — instead, the player character has an overall hit point count. Invisible War is set twenty years after Deus Ex, and is based on the premise that a combination of all three of the original game's possible endings occurred. The actions of JC Denton in Deus Ex caused the world to descend into a period of war and economic depression known as "the Collapse", during which several factions built themselves into world powers. These factions include the World Trade Organization (WTO), which converted many of the world's remaining metropolitan centers into highly regulated city-states; The Order, a religious order which created a new world religion from elements of all major religions and sociopolitical principles; the "Knights Templar", who advocate the complete prevention of biomodification; the "Omar", a society of heavily biomodified humans possessing a group mind, which runs a global black market, and wishes to become a transhuman race through biomodification; and ApostleCorp, which seeks to help JC Denton achieve his goal of biomodifying every human on Earth, and thus equalizing the race. While JC Denton is seen by the public as a threat to society, these organizations seek to use or eliminate his power to rebuild the world in the way they see fit. In keeping with the series' conspiracy theory theme, several of the major factions are revealed to be secretly connected — the Knights Templar originated within The Order, while the WTO and The Order are separate branches of the Illuminati. The developers placed Invisible War further in the future than its predecessor to give it a distinct setting, rather than "rehash[ing] what had come before". Lead writer Sheldon Pacotti stated that the advanced timeline "loses a little bit of the frisson of a near-future real-world setting", but is "more visibly shaped by time and technology", bringing the "social and technological issues ... more into the foreground". At the same time, the developers wanted to make the game relevant to current world affairs, and focused on themes including terrorism, while placing the game in real-world locations "linked in the public consciousness", such as Seattle, Washington. Other criteria for locations included both a "distinct feel" and "recognizable landmarks", as well as "believable hooks for [the game's] conspiracies and fiction". Unlike the first game, factions and story in Invisible War were not constructed with the intention of presenting a specific group as the "heroes" or "villains", even though the factions of Invisible War have parallel and extremely different goals. Invisible War is told in a completely objective manner: in other words, who the player perceives as right and wrong is intended to vary depending on who is playing the game. While this was true about certain factions in the original Deus Ex (such as the Illuminati), MJ-12 was set in stone as the "villain". In Invisible War, every faction in the central conflict is eventually able to be sided with and presents a case that seems, at the very least, plausible to sympathize with. Additionally, the ability of the player to choose allegiance also increases his/her control over the storyline. The story is now told more through character interactions than through game text. Books and newspapers in the game world are still readable, though the interface is now modal — it halts the simulation. The player character, Alex D, begins the game shortly after escaping a massive terrorist attack in Chicago. Although Chicago is essentially destroyed, Alex, along with a fellow trainee Billie Adams and the project leaders, are safely evacuated to another Tarsus facility based in Seattle. The other trainees Leo Jankowski and Klara Sparks are enrolled there. Alex and fellow program trainees are kept in the dark about what really happened to Chicago by Tarsus official Dr. Leila Nassif. Before they have a chance to find out the truth, the facility is attacked by forces of The Order Church. The player is contacted by Billie Adams. She reveals that she is a member of The Order and that the Tarsus Program is actually an experimental program for biomod technology with the trainees as test subjects. She urges Alex to escape and to meet up with The Order in Lower Seattle. Dr. Nassif, however, assures Alex that he is not simply a guinea pig and requests Alex to keep his loyalties with Tarsus. Upon escaping the facility, Alex is next contacted by the WTO Security Chief Donna Morgan who orders him to meet her at the WTO Air Terminal. Chief Morgan instructs Alex to visit the apartment of Seattle's Minister of Culture (met later in Club Vox) who is suspected of illegal arms dealings. Alex finds Klara Sparks to be under the WTO payroll. Adams also instructs Alex to visit Nassif's apartment (in the same apartment building) for further details regarding the Tarsus Program and eventually finds that she is linked to the dealings with the Minister of Culture. On his way to the Order compound in Lower Seattle, Alex D is forced to clean up a toxic spill on the Inclinator- the link between the WTO ruled prosperous Upper Seattle and the grim slums of the lower city. In Lower Seattle, The Order's Second-in-Command High Augur Lin May Chen informs Alex that the group sent to Tarsus to mount a "rescue attempt" went rogue and Alex is entrusted to find what happened to them. She also tells Alex that The Knights Templar have been reported to rendezvous around the Inclinator. Upon visiting the Inclinator, Alex finds that the rogue group of The Order are indeed linked to the Knights Templar. The rogue element were attracted to the Templars by their more direct and extremist approach to matters than the peaceful approach undertaken by The Order. Alex also overhears that the Templars have commissioned a new super-weapon called the Mag Rail at Mako Ballistics in the outskirts of Seattle. The WTO wants to procure it and The Order wants to destroy it. Both urge Alex to fly to the facility to carry out their respective instructions. In search of a pilot, Alex can choose to rescue a woman named Ava Johnson from the WTO Air Terminal who will agree to fly him for free, or he can hire Sid Black from the Greasel Pit bar in Lower Seattle after freeing his jet from gangster Sophia Sak. At Mako, Alex meets up with the Chicago Tarsus Project Director Stan Carnegie and learns that Nassif has gone to Cairo, where an ApostleCorp stronghold remains. The player can now complete the Mag Rail objective as desired by one of the groups (thus angering the other), or can keep the Mag Rail to use as a weapon. At Cairo, the WTO controlled Arcology is prosperous while the outer Medina is infested with a nanite swell known as Plague-11 which contaminates the air. Alex meets with Leo Jankowski, who has now been hired as security for the Omar, and reveals Templar activity in the Arcology and a possible raid on the Omar. The final Templar stronghold in Cairo is the ApostleCorp facility, where Alex with the help of Klara Sparks interrogates Dr. Nassif (or kills her as the Order wishes, but Klara will oppose this) and finds out that the director of Cairo facility (eventually revealed to be Paul Denton) was taken captive by the Templars but one founder remains, Tracer Tong - who is located in Trier, Germany - which is also the site of a WTO-Order joint summit. Another revelation for Alex is that he is actually "Alex Denton", the second clone of Paul Denton. (JC being the first.) In Trier, Alex meets Tong and learns about the "Great Advance" that ApostleCorp has in mind. It is also revealed that ApostleCorp was created by Tong and Paul after JC Denton's disastrous merger with Helios at the end of the first game, which effectively brought about The Collapse. The aim was to find and perfect an universal biomod structure. Paul Denton was an earlier test subject but in a failed experiment he was comatose and had to be cryogenically frozen in Cairo, but is now in Templar captivity. JC himself now lies in an unstable state in Antarctica, waiting for a cure to come. JC's sanctuary can be reached through a teleporter (which can only be used by those having Denton DNA) in the abandoned Black Gate laboratories of the city, but the area is a Templar stronghold. Tong also reveals that the Templars have kidnapped the head of The Order, "Her Holiness", and are holding her in the laboratories. Chad Dumier, head of WTO gives Alex a go-ahead to attempt a rescue. Alex mounts a successful rescue, and in the process discovers that "Her Holiness" is actually Nicolette DuClare. She and Chairman Dumier are heads of the current incarnation of the ancient secret society Illuminati and the WTO and The Order, are merely separate tools to achieve global domination. It now becomes clear that the Illuminati wants to revive JC Denton and control him to take control of the world. ApostleCorp wants to revive JC Denton to enable him a truly democratic post-human civilization governed by Helios with the help of the universal biomodification structure. The Templars want to destroy JC Denton and biomodification. After retrieving the stolen sequencing module from the Templar church nearby, Alex steps in through the teleporter to find JC Denton in Antarctica. At JC's sanctuary, Alex repairs Helios' memory core by transferring the DNA of his universal biomod architecture and by visiting several places held in JC's memory from the first Deus Ex, like Maggie Chow's apartment in Hong Kong, Joseph Manderley's office at UNATCO, Juan Lebedev's bedroom at the 747, and JC's birth site at Area 51 - where Alex meets Billie Adams. If Alex leaves Billie alive, she confronts him again at the last level in New York. After repairing the core, JC reveals his philosophy and future vision of the world and instructs Alex to go to Cairo and rescue Paul Denton from the Templars and revive him from his coma. In Cairo, Dumier contacts Alex with instructions to murder Paul Denton. He also kidnaps Klara Sparks and holds her hostage. Alex meets Leo Jankowski who somewhat unwillingly has been subjugated to Omar biomodification and opposes every faction in the game, and can arrange the transport to Liberty Island. Saman again contacts Alex and requests Alex to give his blood to the Templar doctor at Flight Bay 24, where Paul is being held. Complying turns Alex into a Templar while greatly angering both the Illuminati and ApostleCorp. Refusing forces a battle between Alex and the Templar army. The player can also refuse giving the blood but can still kill Paul Denton by terminating life support from the computer of the cryogenic storage. The final chapter takes place at Liberty Island, the starting point of the first game. Liberty Island is now frozen, and the broken Statue of Liberty has been re-erected as a light sculpture by JC using nanotechnology. All the factions have erected bases on Liberty Island and will contact Alex to upload the Aquinas Spec to their respective needs. If Leo is present he will give a fourth option to destroy all leaders, otherwise The Omar will directly contact Alex to tell the same. The Aquinas Spec can be uploaded from the Aquinas protocol at the abandoned UNATCO base. Depending upon whom the Spec is uploaded to and who survives the game can have four endings. * ApostleCorp's Great Advance: Upload the spec to ApostleCorp, make sure JC survives and step into JC's machine at the Statue of Liberty. Result: JC's vision of universal biomodification becomes a reality and through a collective consciousness facilitated by Helios, the world becomes a perfect democracy devised by Helios/Denton. * Illuminati's Age of Light: Upload the spec to the Illuminati, kill the Dentons, make sure Chad or Nicolette survives, and destroy JC's machine at the Statue of Liberty. Result: The world becomes a positive controlled dictatorship under the Illuminati. * The Knights Templar's Flooding: Upload the spec to Templar, make sure Saman survives, eliminate the Dentons and step into JC's machine at Statue of Liberty. Result: Biomodification ceases to exist and the Templars rule the Earth with religious totalitarianism. * The Omar's Scorched Earth Ending: It hardly matters to whom you upload the spec, but all leaders must be killed and JC's machine should be destroyed. Result: Due to their high adaptability, the Omar take over the world as the rest of humanity is eliminated through constant chaos and fighting. * The Real Endgame: Enter UNATCO and when you come to the ruined wall pick up the flag on the left. Continue through UNATCO (while holding the flag) and go down the stairs to the floor below (the middle floor not the bottom one). Enter the room on the far left of the hallway (Manderley's old office for those who played the original Deus Ex) and continue through the office and into the bathroom. While holding the flag flush the toilet and you should get a message saying 'The REAL endgame'. You will be transported to a nightclub where you will find various characters dancing and a number of Quote Files floating about.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 7:25:17 GMT -5
22. Dead Or Alive 3 Dead or Alive 3 is a fighting game in the Dead or Alive series. It was released exclusively on the Xbox as a launch title. The basic gameplay controls and commands remain essentially unchanged from Dead or Alive 2; however, some minor tweaks have been added to the game system in the form of increased counter periods, unprohibited 3D-axis movement, and less emphasis on juggling combos. All these gameplay enhancements make the game more suited for beginners, and makes the artificial intelligence much more forgiving. Finally, the game incorporated less damage percentiles in counter maneuvers, and added 4 new characters to the roster. Despite the somewhat lacking gameplay updates of the US version, the Japanese version featured many gameplay changes, with new attacks for characters, tweaked move properties for attacks, and a new intro cinematic for the game. Among the tweaks was to render most moves as safe against throw punishment on a normal hit, and to make many more moves safe on block as well, sometimes even having a frame advantage on block, as in Jann Lee's Forward,Forward+Kick and Gen Fu's Up,Up (or Down,Down)+Punch. Many moves were given the additional status as guard breaking moves, crushing an opponent's guard when the attack is blocked. Slow escaping by holding Free, rotating the directional input, and pressing Punch and Kick alternatively resulted in guard break attacks being conditionally punishable by throws, if the blocker could perform the slow escape quickly enough. The main problem with the 3.1 update, as it is called, is that Hayate's cartwheel maneuver (Up+Punch+Kick or Down+Punch+Kick) became overpowered, being far too evasive and having virtually no drawbacks. This was fixed in the European version of Dead or Alive 3, which is termed by the hardcore Dead or Alive players as the 3.2 update. Ryu Hayabusa, the Super Ninja, put a stop to the evil doings of Tengu. Nevertheless, it was too late to stop the Tengu of Destruction from triggering a massive, worldwide collapse. The collapse churns up a dense cloud that covers the entire planet in a shroud of darkness and fear. DOATEC has gone astray, turning into the hunting grounds for power-hungry scam artists. This is when DOATEC's development department (a fortress for state-of-the-art military technology) witnesses the success of a genius. Following Project Alpha and Project Epsilon, the ever ambitious Dr. Victor Donovan completes the Omega Project, producing a new Superhuman: Genra. This man, who was once leader of the Hajin Mon Ninja, is no longer human. He (or it) is a force of singular and unprecedented capabilities. A slaughterhouse has now been provided as the exclusive domain of the Omega superhuman. It is a realm that has come to be known as the world Combat Championship, Dead or Alive 3. Characters are: * Ayane * Bass Armstrong * Bayman * Brad Wong * Gen Fu * Hayate (Can also play as the alter-ego EIN, who must be unlocked) * Helena * Jann Lee * Kasumi * Lei Fang * Leon * Ryu Hayabusa * Tina Armstrong * Zack * Christie * Hitomi * Genra (Boss character, unplayable)
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 7:32:41 GMT -5
21. Star Wars Jedi Knights II: Jedi Outcast Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (often abbreviated JK2 or JO) is a first- and third-person action game developed by Raven Software and published by LucasArts and Activision. The PC version was released in early 2002 and the Mac OS, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube versions were released in late 2002. Powered by the Quake III: Team Arena game engine, the game primarily revolves around ranged and melee combat. The player can wield classic Star Wars weapons such as blasters, lightsabers and Force powers. The game features both single-player and multiplayer modes. The story-driven single-player is set in the Star Wars universe two years after the events of Mysteries of the Sith, Jedi Outcast's predecessor. It follows the protagonist Kyle Katarn as he fights against the Dark Jedi Desann and his followers. The game was critically well-received on all platforms, with average scores between 75 and 89/100 according to Metacritic's composite averages. In 2003 a sequel titled Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy was released for the Xbox, Mac OS and PC. In 2006 the PC version was re-released with four other Star Wars games in a pack entitled Star Wars: The Best of PC. Jedi Outcast's gameplay is similar to that of its predecessor. The player moves through the single-player in a linear manner, meeting friendly and hostile NPCs. Enemies are usually killed with blasters, lightsaber or Force powers, and friendly NPCs will occasionally assist the player. While most of the game involves dispatching enemies single-handedly, there are several puzzles which the player must solve. The single-player also involves sections in which the player controls turrets, although such set-pieces are rare. After the first few missions of Jedi Outcast, the player can use a lightsaber. As in the films, lightsabers can be used to deflect shots from blasters. The player gains access to three lightsaber styles as they progress. Each style is different in terms of the speed of attacks and damage dealt. There are a number of combos which can be used, often unique to the selected saber style. With the lightsaber, Force powers (such as Push, Mind Trick and Lightning) become available. Powers are available in singleplayer and multiplayer, but more powers can be used in the latter. The use of powers is restricted by a "Force Meter", which depletes with use of powers. As the single-player game progresses, the number of powers available and their level increase. The "level" of a Force power determines the strength of the power and the amount of Force "power" required for its use. Jedi Outcast features a set of multiplayer modes. In the PC and Macintosh versions, these can be played over LAN or the Internet, but is limited to two players on the console versions. There are a variety of game modes (examples are free-for-all, team free-for-all and capture the flag) which can be played with other players, bots, or both. However, some players have taken the game beyond this level in the multiplayer mode, adapting rituals such as "bowing" (crouching and bowing one's head down before a duel). The one-on-one master/padawan training system from the films has been adopted by some clans. The single-player game is set approximately two years after the events of Mysteries of the Sith. As with the previous game in the series, the player controls the protagonist Kyle Katarn, a former Jedi Knight who cut his link with The Force after almost succumbing to the Dark Side. At the start of the game he is a mercenary working for the New Republic. Kyle is joined by other characters throughout the game. Three of the most prominent are Jan Ors, a fellow mercenary and love interest; Lando Calrissian (voiced by Billy Dee Williams), the sophisticated baron-administrator of Cloud City seen in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi; and Luke Skywalker, protagonist of the original film trilogy and leader of the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. The player also receives help from Jedi and other New Republic soldiers. Mon Mothma, Chief-of-State of the New Republic, gives Kyle and Jan objectives during the game. There are four main antagonists: Desann, a former Jedi who killed a fellow student before leaving the Jedi Order; Tavion, Desann's apprentice; Galak Fyyar, one of the leaders of the Imperial Remnant; and Reelo Baruk, a crime lord posing as a "respectable garbage collector" on Nar Shaddaa. They are supported by Imperial stormtroopers, numerous thugs and Dark Jedi. The game starts with Kyle and Jan Ors investigating a supposedly abandoned Imperial outpost on Kejim. It turns out to be far from empty, and as Kyle and Jan fight their way through the base, they discover an operation involving lightsaber crystals. Kyle and Jan escape and travel to Artus Prime to try and cripple the Remnant's lightsaber crystal mining operation. Kyle succeeds, but Jan is captured by two Dark Jedi known as Desann and Tavion. Before leaving the planet, Desann gives Tavion the order to kill Jan. To avenge Jan's death, Kyle travels to the Valley of the Jedi to regain his Force powers. He then goes to the Jedi Academy to earn his lightsaber from Luke Skywalker. Following this, Kyle travels to Nar Shaddaa to track down Reelo Baruk, a crime lord with links to Desann. After fighting past some of Reelo's thugs, Kyle meets and frees Lando Calrissian. Using Lando's ship, the Lady Luck, they escape to Bespin (from which Reelo's men are smuggling cortosis). In the process they kill Reelo. Lando drops off Kyle at the bottom of Cloud City. Kyle works his way upwards, encountering smugglers and Dark Jedi known as Reborn. Kyle fights several Reborn, and on the upper level, stormtroopers. He then meets Tavion, who is about to board a ship headed for Galak Fyyar's Star Destroyer, the Doomgiver. After losing to Kyle in a duel, she tells him that Jan is alive and on the Doomgiver. In exchange for her life, Tavion lets Kyle use her ship to travel there. After fighting his way past some stormtroopers on the Doomgiver, Kyle meets up with Luke Skywalker, who is searching for Desann. After defeating some Reborn together, they part ways. Kyle defeats another Dark Jedi: a shadowtrooper wearing lightsaber-resistant armor. Continuing through the ship, he finds Jan in the detention block. Kyle fights and kills Galak, in spite of Galak's lightsaber-resistant armor. He uses an escape pod to land on Yavin IV. Kyle and Jan find the Jedi Academy under attack. Kyle travels through the swamps to get to the Jedi Academy and Jan heads to a hangar to help in the aerial battle. After some fights with Shadowtroopers, Kyle finds the Academy overrun with Imperial forces. With the help of New Republic troops he fends them off. After traveling through some underground tunnels, Kyle finds Desann. Desann rejects an offer to rejoin the Jedi given by Kyle. The two duel, and Kyle kills Desann. When he meets up with Luke, Kyle decides that he will keep his lightsaber.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 7:43:21 GMT -5
Countdown Update
125. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 124. Silent Scope Complete 123. SSX 3 122. Madden NFL 2005 121. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 120. Star Wars: The Clone Wars 119. Darkwatch 118. The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age 117. The Simpsons: Hit And Run 116. Rainbow Six 3 115. Madden NFL 08 114. Blitz: The League 113. Mafia: The City Of Lost Heaven 112. Dungeons And Dragons Heroes 111. WWE Wrestlemania 21 110. World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International 109. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 108. GUN 107. NHL Hitz Pro 106. Top Spin Tennis 105. Rocky 104. TransWorld Surf 103. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy 102. MechAssault 101. Legends Of Wrestling II 100. NCAA March Madness 2005 99. WWE Raw 2 98. Brute Force 97. Metal Slug 3 96. Fahrenheit aka Indigo Prophecy 95. NCAA Football 06 94. Stubbs The Zombie In "Rebel Without A Pulse" 93. Midnight Club II 92. Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling 91. The Punisher 90. Dead Or Alive Ultimate 89. MVP Baseball 2005 88. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup 87. Shenmue II 86. Blinx: The Time Sweeper 85. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent 84. Fight Night Round 2 83. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition 82. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction 81. NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup 80. Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick 79. Timesplitters 2 78. Def Jam: Fight For NY 77. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy 76. Burnout 2: Point Of Impact 75. Evil Dead: Regeneration 74. MVP Baseball 2004 73. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 72. Fuzion Frenzy 71. Armed And Dangerous 70. Destroy All Humans 69. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance 68. Red Dead Revolver 67. Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding 66. Fight Night Round 3 65. Gladius 64. NCAA Football 2004 63. Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb 62. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 61. Forza Motorsports 60. Thief: Deadly Shadows 59. Godzilla: Save The Earth 58. Unreal Championship 57. Lego Star Wars: The Video Game 56. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 55. Tony Hawk's Underground 54. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 53. Freedom Fighters 52. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II 51. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 50. The House Of The Dead III 49. Max Payne 48. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 47. FlatOut 2 46. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 45. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 44. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age Of Heroes 43. Timesplitters: Future Perfect 42. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland 41. X-Men Legends 40. Project Gotham Racing 2 39. Spider-man 38. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 37. Spider-man 2 36. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay 35. Soul Calibur II 34. Ninja Gaiden Black 33. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 32. Beyond Good & Evil 31. Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction 30. Ninja Gaiden 29. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith 28. Star Wars: Republic Commando 27. Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack 26. Mortal Kombat: Deception 25. Amped 2 24. Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge 23. Deus Ex: Invisible War 22. Dead Or Alive 3 21. Star Wars Jedi Fighters II: Jedi Outcast
Next five clues are:
* 501st Legion
* Defeat The Vizier
* Kill Sekto
* Racing Variant Called Road Rage
* Terrell Owens Is On The Cover
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 10:44:00 GMT -5
20. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is an action-adventure game developed by Oddworld Inhabitants and published by Electronic Arts for the Microsoft Xbox. It was released in January 25, 2005. A version for the PlayStation 2 was planned, but cancelled. Oddworld Inhabitants have indicated that they will release the other chapters of Oddworld as movies, as they, supposedly originally, intended. The game details the adventures of Stranger, a fearsome bounty hunter. Throughout the game, Stranger pursues and captures outlaws in order to collect bounties. The goal is to ultimately earn enough moolah (in-game money) to pay for a mysterious life-saving operation. One of the most notable features is the live ammo system, which is literally ammunition made of living creatures such as the "Boombats", which are creatures that explode upon impact. Most of these creatures can be purchased, but also hunted and caught by the player. The story's hero, a bounty hunter known only as The Stranger, (his real name is never given) is seen gathering up small creatures he intends to set traps. Suddenly, an outlaw named Blisterz Booty appears, and begins to chase Stranger until he steps into the Stranger's trap. After bountying Blisterz, Stranger heads back to the western themed town of Gizzard Gulch, which is populated by the chicken-like Clakkerz. It is then revealed that Stranger collects bounties so he can pay for a mysterious operation from a Vykker simply referred to as "Doc"; the surgery bid comes out to twenty thousand Moolah (this amount is actually gainable in the game, if every bounty is captured alive, and absolutely no upgrades are bought. However this makes the game immensely difficult. Even if you don't make the 20,000 Moolah, the story continues). Later in the game, Blisterz' brother, Boilz Booty, destroys the town, forcing Stranger to proceed to the next one, after bountying him of course. Eventually, when the player completes the "Eugene Ius" mission, the player learns the story of a "demon" that has tormented a native race of creatures, called the Grubbs, for years that had been forced off by the guardian-like Steef creatures, a powerful, extinct species. We later learn that a person called Sekto who controls the dam that has dried the river, much to the Grubbs dismay. Sekto is apparently offering a large bounty for the heads of Steef; it is revealed here that Sekto is the reason the Steef are extinct. Stranger curiously takes this offer, and a suspicious Sekto hires outlaw D. Caste Raider to track down Stranger and find the location of the Steef, which they believe he knows. As Stranger approaches Doc's main office, he discovers it is overrun by outlaws, and D. Caste Raider captures him and brings him to his hideout to extract the Steef's location out of him. In a major plot twist, Stranger's surgery bid falls out from his pocket; the contents detail a procedure that depicts an operation to turn a strange quadruped creature into a bipedal creature, combining the two sets of legs together. After reviewing the bid, Raider orders his men to remove Stranger's pants, revealing two pairs of legs; Stranger was in fact, a Steef all along. Immediately after this happens, burning arrows fly into the compound, cutting the rope that binds Stranger. He defeats the outlaws and escapes from town as Clakkerz flee from the streets into their homes and fire at Stranger from their windows to take him down and acquire the bounty. The next day, Stranger follows a path to a Grubb village, who happily greet him as their savior. The Grubbs tell Stranger that Sekto is the "demon" of Grubb legend and that the previous Steef has disappeared, leaving Sekto free to drain the valley for his personal gain. The Grubbs give Stranger new armor and an improved crossbow, and send him to defend the village and raid the dam. At this point, the bounty hunting theme is dropped, as enemies the player "bounties" restore ammo, instead of giving moolah; the primary enemies the player encounters are not outlaws, as well, but instead are Wolvarks, alligator-type creatures in service to Sekto. In the final battle between Stranger and Sekto, Stranger destroys generators powering Sekto's shields he creates, which subsequently destroys the dam and releases the water into the valley again, flooding Dusky Hollow, the Clakker city that Stranger escaped from after exiting D. Caste Raider's hideout. As Stranger and the Grubb rebels stand over Sekto's body, one of his shoes has come loose, revealing two Steef hooves. Sekto was "possessing" the Olden Steef[1], so to speak, who now has a disfigured head with pale, colorless irises. As he dies, he asks in a gasping voice "Is the water...free?" proving, along with the fact that Sekto "possessed" him, that he had not been acting of his own accord. As the game ends, Sekto, revealed to be an octopus-like organism, or also known as the Oktigi as told earlier in the game, swims down the Mongo river.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 10:47:22 GMT -5
19. Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a third-person action adventure video game published by Ubisoft. It was released on November 6, 2003 and is a continuation of the landmark MS-DOS and Macintosh game series Prince of Persia, created by Jordan Mechner in 1989. The Sands of Time, developed internally at Ubisoft Montreal, successfully captures the mechanics of the original platformer and extends it to the 3D generation. An earlier attempt by The Learning Company to transfer the game to 3D (Prince of Persia 3D) was released in 1999, but failed to meet the standards set by the franchise. The Sands of Time was praised for its visual design and finely tuned game mechanics, and won several awards. Developed for the PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and later a 2D version for the Game Boy Advance and mobile phones, The Sands of Time was a major hit. The success of The Sands of Time led to two sequels, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Passing through India en route to Azad, King Shahraman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah's daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Shahraman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures. But Shahraman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. Denied also the hourglass itself, of which was to go to the sulton of Azad as a gift, the Vizier who wishes to harness the power of the Sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass in Azad. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion (there are a handful of unimportant survivors, such as two people who escape with Farah and a guard who assists you during the Azad defence system puzzle, who is possessed after his part). On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives the Prince limited control over the flow of time. Before they reach their destination, the Prince and Farah form a romantic relationship. However, the Prince knows that Farah has every reason to hate him for conquering her people, and he suspects that Farah plans to steal the Dagger of Time from him. While the Prince sleeps, Farah does at a later time take the Dagger, as well as his sword, and attempts to return the Sands to the hourglass herself, leaving only her medallion behind with the Prince. When the Prince catches up with her, she is being attacked by sand creatures, and is knocked into the hourglass chamber through a hole in the floor. The prince tries to grab her hand, but only manages to grab the Dagger of Time by it's blade, causing him severe pain. Farah, seeing that he won't let go of the Dagger choses to do so herself and falls to her death. Afterwards, the Prince uses the Dagger to return the Sands to the hourglass, and the timeline reverts to the point prior to the battle against the Maharajah. As a result, the relationship between Farah and himself is a memory that only he possesses. However, the Prince still has the Dagger in his possession, even in the past. He goes to find Farah, to warn her of the Vizier's treachery before the Sands are released, and to give her the Dagger of Time. At this point, it is revealed all of the Prince's narration in the menus and cut-scenes from the game were actually him recounting his adventures to Farah, in an attempt to warn her. But as the Prince shares his epic story with her, he is confronted by the evil Vizier, who still yearns for the Dagger, and eternal life. He plans to kills Farah and blame her murder on him. After defeating the Vizier, and preventing the opening of the hourglass, the Prince offers the Dagger to Farah. She questions why he needed to invent such a fantastic story. After he responds with a coldly-received kiss, he rewinds time a moment and instead agrees with her, that it was just a story. As he leaves, she asks him his name, and is left dumbfounded when he tells her to call him "Kakolookiyam", the name of a fairy-tale hero that Farah's mother told her stories about as a child and that only she would know of. (In the previous timeline, Farah had explained the significance of this word to the Prince. She also says this word as her last, before letting go of the Dagger of Time and falling to her death) Passing through India en route to Azad, King Shahraman and his son, the Prince of Persia, defeat the powerful Maharajah of India with the promise of honor and glory. After looting the city and capturing a giant hourglass full of sand, a mysterious dagger, and the Maharajah's daughter Farah along with other treasures, they continue to Azad. A dying Vizier, who had betrayed the Maharajah and aided King Shahraman in return for a share of the spoils, demands to have the dagger, as he was promised his choice of the Maharajah's treasures. But Shahraman refuses to take the dagger from his son, who captured it first. Denied also the hourglass itself, of which was to go to the sulton of Azad as a gift, the Vizier who wishes to harness the power of the Sands in the hourglass for himself, making him an immortal god and giving him control over time itself, tricks the Prince into opening the hourglass in Azad. When the Prince uses the dagger to unleash the Sands of Time from the hourglass, the Sands destroy the kingdom and turn all living beings into hideous sand creatures. Only the Prince, the Vizier, and Princess Farah, the kidnapped daughter of the Maharajah, remain unchanged due to their possessions; the Prince's dagger, the Vizier's staff, and Farah's medallion (there are a handful of unimportant survivors, such as two people who escape with Farah and a guard who assists you during the Azad defence system puzzle, who is possessed after his part). On a journey to repair the damage he has caused, the Prince teams with Farah to return the Sands of Time to the hourglass by using the Dagger of Time, which also gives the Prince limited control over the flow of time. Before they reach their destination, the Prince and Farah form a romantic relationship. However, the Prince knows that Farah has every reason to hate him for conquering her people, and he suspects that Farah plans to steal the Dagger of Time from him. While the Prince sleeps, Farah does at a later time take the Dagger, as well as his sword, and attempts to return the Sands to the hourglass herself, leaving only her medallion behind with the Prince. When the Prince catches up with her, she is being attacked by sand creatures, and is knocked into the hourglass chamber through a hole in the floor. The prince tries to grab her hand, but only manages to grab the Dagger of Time by it's blade, causing him severe pain. Farah, seeing that he won't let go of the Dagger choses to do so herself and falls to her death. Afterwards, the Prince uses the Dagger to return the Sands to the hourglass, and the timeline reverts to the point prior to the battle against the Maharajah. As a result, the relationship between Farah and himself is a memory that only he possesses. However, the Prince still has the Dagger in his possession, even in the past. He goes to find Farah, to warn her of the Vizier's treachery before the Sands are released, and to give her the Dagger of Time. At this point, it is revealed all of the Prince's narration in the menus and cut-scenes from the game were actually him recounting his adventures to Farah, in an attempt to warn her. But as the Prince shares his epic story with her, he is confronted by the evil Vizier, who still yearns for the Dagger, and eternal life. He plans to kills Farah and blame her murder on him. After defeating the Vizier, and preventing the opening of the hourglass, the Prince offers the Dagger to Farah. She questions why he needed to invent such a fantastic story. After he responds with a coldly-received kiss, he rewinds time a moment and instead agrees with her, that it was just a story. As he leaves, she asks him his name, and is left dumbfounded when he tells her to call him "Kakolookiyam"[3], the name of a fairy-tale hero that Farah's mother told her stories about as a child and that only she would know of. (In the previous timeline, Farah had explained the significance of this word to the Prince. She also says this word as her last, before letting go of the Dagger of Time and falling to her death)
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 10:51:28 GMT -5
18. Burnout 3: Takedown Burnout 3: Takedown is the third game in the high speed racing series, Burnout. Released on September 7, 2004, developed by Criterion Games and published by Electronic Arts (the first Burnout game EA published), the game drew critical acclaim and a large fanbase. A GameCube version was planned but was scrapped during development. It is also the only game in the series that received a T rating by the ESRB. This game has been followed up by Burnout Revenge and Burnout Paradise. There are five play modes, including two race modes and three crash modes. Before play starts, players choose their vehicle based on its speed and weight. In the race modes, the player gains "boost" by driving in the oncoming traffic lanes, narrowly avoiding traffic, and by causing competitors' cars to crash (called a "Takedown"). In "Race" mode, the object is to win the race around the track like a standard racing game, while in the "Road Rage" mode, the player must takedown a set number of computer-controlled opponents. In the crash mode, the player is not racing opponents on a track. Instead, in each crash attempt, the player races at high speeds towards an intersection and tries to do as much monetary damage to the vehicles there as possible, while collecting cash and multiplier bonuses. The three crash modes are very similar. In some, you drive alone, in others you crash as a team with a combined score, etc., but the goal of doing the most damage remains the same. In any mode, medals are awarded for achieving certain scores. These medals are used to unlock hidden tracks and vehicles. Burnout 3 features 173 different events in the offline mode, and 67 cars to unlock, including a City Bus, Lorry Cab, Fire Truck, and a Garbage Truck for use in the Crash mode. There is also online play where up to six players can compete in a race, and eight players can compete in a Crash event. In online races, there is less aggression than in single player. Racers must focus on good drifts and avoiding traffic, not just takedowns, in order to win. This gives the online mode a different feel from single player. There is a racing variant known as Road Rage where players are divided into two teams. The blue team receives a three second head start and must drive a certain number of miles without being eliminated by being taken down. The red team attempts to takedown the blue team before they reach the finish line. The game is split over three areas: USA, Europe and Far East. The exact locations of the tracks are just as differing as the tracks of previous Burnout series. A new asset to the race track environments are real-world landmarks and vehicles known famously to these locations: In the Downtown race track, Chicago's famous elevated subways can be seen, In the Waterfront race track, the San Diego Convention Center is seen, and in the Riviera race track, the Monte Carlo Casino is viewed briefly. As for the vehicular aspect, small three-wheeled taxis called tuk-tuks, which are found throughout Bangkok, can be seen in the Golden City track. The real names of these locations are never actually shown in the game, however.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 10:56:45 GMT -5
17. Star Wars: Battlefront II Star Wars: Battlefront II (abbreviated SWBF2) is a first-person shooter/third-person shooter video game developed by Pandemic Studios, and published by LucasArts. The game is the sequel to the successful Star Wars: Battlefront and features new vehicles, characters, game mechanics, maps, and missions. The game was released in PAL regions on October 31, 2005 on the PC, Xbox, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation 2 platforms, and in North America on November 1 of the same year. Unlike its predecessor, Battlefront II features a more narrative-based campaign, retelling portions of the Star Wars storyline from the point of view of a veteran Imperial Stormtrooper, reminiscing about his tour of duty in service of both the Old Republic and as part of the Galactic Empire. Upon release the game was generally well-received as an improvement over the original. One of the new additions is the use of Jedi and force powers. Battlefront II's gameplay is fundamentally similar to its predecessor's, albeit with the addition of new game mechanics, units, and vehicles. The general objective in most missions is to deplete the number of enemies to zero, called 'Conquest'. Killing an enemy unit subtracts from that faction's reinforcements, and likewise the death of the players or allies results in a similar decrease. Besides simply killing enemies, players fight for control of 'Command posts', at which units respawn after death and players can swap out their character classes. Most command posts can be 'captured', by killing all enemies nearby and standing by the command post for a set amount of time. Controlling a majority of the command posts scattered on a map results in the faster depletion of the enemy's forces, and allows the player to respawn in more locations. If all command posts are captured, the losing team has only twenty seconds to recapture one before the game ends in their defeat, regardless of the amount of reinforcements they have. In other game modes such as CTF or Assault, command posts cannot change ownership. In addition to this land-based mode of combat, Battlefront II adds several space maps, where players must gain a certain threshold of points to win. Players have the ability to choose between several classes throughout the game. There are two time frames from which to choose from; the Galactic Civil War of the original Star Wars trilogy, or the Clone Wars of the prequel trilogy. Each timeframe features two opposing factions; in the Galactic Civil War the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire vie for control, while the Clone Wars features the Confederacy of Independent Systems (CIS) and the Old Republic. While some of the character classes are similar to classes of the other factions, each faction has two unique classes, which are unlocked gradually. Battlefront II also features special heroes, which are found sporadically throughout the game. The hero each faction can receive is entirely dependent on the map. Heroes have a fixed amount of health which is depleted over time, but can be regained by killing enemy troops. Besides being far tougher than normal units, these heroes also have special abilities, such as Force powers. Whereas Star Wars: Battlefront's campaign featured missions spanning both the prequels and original trilogy, with the player assuming control of all four factions, Battlefront II contains only one campaign, called "Rise of the Empire", which is found only on the console and PC versions of the game. This set of missions is presented as the narration of a veteran Imperial stormtrooper of the legendary 501st Legion, known as "Vader's Fist", beginning with an attack on the planet Mygeeto during the Clone Wars and ending with the assault on Hoth as depicted in Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back. This Campaign includes battles on Geonosis, Mygeeto, Felucia, Kashyyyk, Utapau, Coruscant, Naboo, Mustafar, Kamino, the Tantive IV, the Death Star, Polis Massa, Yavin 4, and Hoth. Multiplayer in Battlefront II offers significantly more game modes and improvements over the original game. Besides the 'Conquest' gametype, there are several other modes, not all of which can be played on every map. Battlefront II also offers gametypes such as Capture the Flag and "Galactic Conquest". In this game, players move their fleets across the entire Star Wars galaxy, defeating their foes on land or in space battles. Winning a battle gains the victor credits, which can be used to buy bonuses or construct new fleets. Also there is another mode called hero assault. Heroes and Villains fight it out trying to earn a set amount of points. This mode features all of the heroes in the game in one place, allowing a new level of gameplay. The game supports 24, 32, or 64 players on the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and PC platforms, respectively. Like most other Star Wars games, Battlefront II takes place on many of the worlds featured in the film trilogies. In addition to visiting locations such as Endor, Naboo, Hoth, and Kashyyyk , which were seen in Star Wars: Battlefront, the second installment features new areas such as the Death Star, and Tantive IV. In addition, the game also travels to locations seen in the last film in the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith, such as Mustafar and Utapau. The game is told as a frame story, with an Imperial stormtrooper recounting the adventures of the 501st Legion. Originally, the Legion was part of the Old Republic, and fights against the Separatists from Geonosis to Utapau. After Emperor Palpatine commands that Order 66 be carried out, the 501st leads a massacre of the Jedi at their temple on Coruscant, coming under the direct supervision of Darth Vader. Feared throughout the galaxy, the 501st becomes known as "Vader's Fist". Under their new leader the 501st executes missions such as a forced regime change on Naboo, the destruction of a new droid army on Mustafar and an attempted clone rebellion on Kamino. With the Galactic Empire firmly established in the ashes of the Old Republic, the 501st soon grows bored of the endless tedium, drills and inspection associated with maintaining the empire. When the Death Star's schematics are stolen, Vader leads the Legion across the galaxy in search of the plans, eventually leading to the boarding of the Tantive IV. Despite capturing the Rebel sympathizer Princess Leia, the plans are still transmitted, and the Death Star is destroyed. The 501st is then pressed into crushing the fledgling Rebel Alliance, leading to the victory at Hoth, where the narrator proudly proclaims the Rebellion finished.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 11:00:00 GMT -5
16. ESPN NFL 2K5 ESPN NFL 2K5 has a ton of new features for the new season. To start off, the ESPN presentation has been greatly expanded. Chris Berman, who did voiceover for the half-time show in 2K4, returns for this season. Instead of just voice, there is a virtual Chris Berman, who does an introduction to each game, a half-time report, and a post-game show. To illiustrate certain points, he uses replays from each game. Every move you pull off of every quarter of every game is saved and used in these replays (Xbox only). Suzy Kobler gives reports from the sideline. One new feature is the V.I.P. system, which keeps track of how you play the game. If you pass 80% of the time, and run 20% of the time, your V.I.P. profile will reflect this. At a later time, you can play against your V.I.P., and the AI will play as if it were you. ESPN celebrates it's 25th anniversary this year, and as such, a special 25th Anniversary Mode has been added. This mode allows you to play moments from classic football games, including The Heidi Bowl and The Immaculate Reception. The Crib has an overhaul this year. Instead of earning specific items by completing tasks, you earn points, which you can use to buy items of your choice. New to the Crib is a dart board, as well as a phone, which you will use to answer calls from celebrities. You may get a call from Steve-O, Carmen Electra, Jamie Kennedy, David Arquette or Funkmaster Flex, challenging you to a game. Franchise mode also gets an overhaul. New to 2005 is the ability to schedule weekly preps for your team. You can choose to have players work out, play practice games, watch tapes, all in an effort to gear your team up for the next game. ESPN NFL 2K5 can be played over Xbox Live, with future support for leagues. The game is also "always connected", as long as you have an internet connection. This allows it to keep buddy lists up to date, see friends, receive requests, all the time, whether you're actually playing an online game or not. Roster updates will be available in the future.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 11:12:57 GMT -5
Countdown Update
125. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 124. Silent Scope Complete 123. SSX 3 122. Madden NFL 2005 121. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 120. Star Wars: The Clone Wars 119. Darkwatch 118. The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age 117. The Simpsons: Hit And Run 116. Rainbow Six 3 115. Madden NFL 08 114. Blitz: The League 113. Mafia: The City Of Lost Heaven 112. Dungeons And Dragons Heroes 111. WWE Wrestlemania 21 110. World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International 109. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 108. GUN 107. NHL Hitz Pro 106. Top Spin Tennis 105. Rocky 104. TransWorld Surf 103. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy 102. MechAssault 101. Legends Of Wrestling II 100. NCAA March Madness 2005 99. WWE Raw 2 98. Brute Force 97. Metal Slug 3 96. Fahrenheit aka Indigo Prophecy 95. NCAA Football 06 94. Stubbs The Zombie In "Rebel Without A Pulse" 93. Midnight Club II 92. Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling 91. The Punisher 90. Dead Or Alive Ultimate 89. MVP Baseball 2005 88. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup 87. Shenmue II 86. Blinx: The Time Sweeper 85. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent 84. Fight Night Round 2 83. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition 82. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction 81. NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup 80. Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick 79. Timesplitters 2 78. Def Jam: Fight For NY 77. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy 76. Burnout 2: Point Of Impact 75. Evil Dead: Regeneration 74. MVP Baseball 2004 73. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 72. Fuzion Frenzy 71. Armed And Dangerous 70. Destroy All Humans 69. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance 68. Red Dead Revolver 67. Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding 66. Fight Night Round 3 65. Gladius 64. NCAA Football 2004 63. Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb 62. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 61. Forza Motorsports 60. Thief: Deadly Shadows 59. Godzilla: Save The Earth 58. Unreal Championship 57. Lego Star Wars: The Video Game 56. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 55. Tony Hawk's Underground 54. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 53. Freedom Fighters 52. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II 51. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 50. The House Of The Dead III 49. Max Payne 48. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 47. FlatOut 2 46. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 45. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 44. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age Of Heroes 43. Timesplitters: Future Perfect 42. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland 41. X-Men Legends 40. Project Gotham Racing 2 39. Spider-man 38. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 37. Spider-man 2 36. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay 35. Soul Calibur II 34. Ninja Gaiden Black 33. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 32. Beyond Good & Evil 31. Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction 30. Ninja Gaiden 29. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith 28. Star Wars: Republic Commando 27. Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack 26. Mortal Kombat: Deception 25. Amped 2 24. Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge 23. Deus Ex: Invisible War 22. Dead Or Alive 3 21. Star Wars Jedi Fighters II: Jedi Outcast 20. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath 19. Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time 18. Burnout 3: Takedown 17. Star Wars: Battlefront II 16. ESPN NFL 2K5
Next five clues are:
* Capture Otomo
* The Galactic Republic vs. The Confederacy Of Independent Systems & The Rebel Alliance vs. The Galactic Empire
* Harmonic DNA Is Part Of His Plans
* Take Back The Streets From The Rokkaku Group
* The Soul Cube
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 13:45:41 GMT -5
15. X-Men Legends II: Rise Of Apocalypse X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse is a follow up to X-Men Legends. It is an action role-playing game released in 2005 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, N-Gage, PSP, and GameCube video game consoles as well as the PC. When Apocalypse kidnaps Professor X and Polaris, the X-Men and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants unite to save them. Cyclops, Storm, and Wolverine meet up with Magneto, Mystique, and Sabretooth at a military prison outpost in Greenland to free the Professor. Upon freeing him, the teams relocate to Genosha to work through the wreckage and find out what Apocalypse wanted with the area. Finding Quicksilver also kidnapped, the teams prepare to return to the X-Mansion, but Apocalypse arrives first. He plants a bomb, which more or less destroys the X-Mansion, and kidnaps Beast, who manages to point the team in the direction of the Savage Land. The teams work their way through the Savage Land, freeing Beast and hindering Apocalypse's plans, and continue to fight against his forces; however, Apocalypse manages to conquer New York and seize control. The teams work at sabotaging his army and resources, but Emma Frost and Angel are soon kidnapped as well. Angel is transformed into Archangel to act as a Horseman of Apocalypse, to defend Apocalypse's tower. When the teams infiltrate it, they find Beast, too, is working against them under the name Dark Beast; he kidnaps Sabretooth and escapes with Apocalypse and Mr. Sinister to Egypt while the teams deal with Archangel. The teams learn that Apocalypse's plan is to use Polaris, Quicksilver, Emma Frost, and Sabretooth - four mutants with Harmonic DNA - to power an experiment to grant him massive amounts of power. The teams then follow him to Egypt to defeat him once and for all, after first defeating Sinister and Dark Beast (returning the latter to normal). After besting the final guard, the Living Monolith, the teams take on Apocalypse and defeat him by stealing the powers from his machine. In the final cutscene, Magneto and Xavier part once again as adversaries, noting that Apocalypse was defeated but not destroyed. Beast ponders why the machine did not work properly, wondering if sabotage was a factor. As the X-Jet flies away, Sinister is seen on top of the pyramid, laughing. X-Men Legends II contains expanded versions of the gameplay features from the original X-Men Legends, with several notable additions: * Online multiplayer modes. New characters are playable, including characters from the X-Men * and the Brotherhood. * New powers and abilities are available for all characters, and the player can switch between more than 4 mutant powers at once. * After beating the game, the player could start a new game with their old stats. Several characters from the first X-Men Legends were dropped from the roster of playable characters in the sequel: Jubilee, Magma (despite her being the main character of the first game), and Psylocke do not appear in X-Men Legends II, and Beast and Emma Frost appear but are not playable. A boss from the first game, Avalanche, also did not get mentioned in this game. Despite the similarities with the comic book continuity, the X-Men Legends games are in a continuity of their own. The story of X-Men Legends II is inspired by the Age of Apocalypse storyline from the Marvel Comics series to coincide with the 10th anniversary of that event. It is not, however, a direct adaptation of the storyline. The original Age of Apocalypse occurred as a result of Professor X having been killed by a time traveler prior to his forming of the X-Men; Apocalypse was awakened from hibernation by this event and proceeded to take over an unprepared world. Apocalypse's rule in the game comes about as a result of events in the present day, and is not dependent on Xavier's absence. Some of the events and many of the principal characters still exist in the game the same as they do in the Age of Apocalypse, but many others exist as they do in the normal Marvel Universe. Notable differences in continuity include: * Sugar Man, a character who originated in the Age of Apocalypse, says that Apocalypse helped him escape the Age of Apocalypse, but he references the Age of Apocalypse as having been a future timeline, whereas the original storyline took place in the present. * Of Apocalypse's four Horsemen (Mister Sinister, Mikhail Rasputin, Holocaust, and Abyss), all but Sinister are the same as they were in the Age of Apocalypse. Sinister was a horseman until he committed treason against Apocalypse and created Nate Grey. In the normal Marvel Universe, Holocaust is from the comic's Age of Apocalypse storyline, but now dead, Abyss is a much more heroic figure, Sinister has been an adversary of Apocalypse for years, (although he has worked with him in the past, with Apocalypse directly tied to Sinister's origin) and Mikhail is unaffiliated with Apocalypse. * In the game, Beast and Angel are kidnapped by Apocalypse and unwillingly transformed into Dark Beast and Archangel, respectively. In the comics, Dark Beast is the Beast's evil counterpart from the Age of Apocalypse timeline, and Angel was willingly transformed after he lost his wings during the Mutant Massacre. His wings returned after he resigned as Death of the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse. * In the game, the Scarlet Witch, Juggernaut, and Pyro are all still members of the Brotherhood; in the comic book continuity, the former two are heroes and Pyro is dead (although Scarlet Witch briefly admits that she and Quicksilver stay with Magneto to try and balance his actions with justice). Banshee appears in the game, but was apparently killed in a comic book published shortly after the game was released. * The X-Men's appearances and costumes are based on their Ultimate Marvel counterparts, with the exceptions of Juggernaut (whose costume is based on the traditional design), Bishop (whose Ultimate incarnation only was a cameo at the time of the game's development), Sunfire (who doesn't have an Ultimate counterpart as of now), Scarlet Witch (whose costume is based on the one she wore around the time of the Onslaught crossover), and Pyro (who didn't have an Ultimate counterpart at the time of the game's development). However, costumes based on the classic, current, and Age of Apocalypse versions of almost all characters are unlockable by progressing through the game. * The Cerci, a race of insect enemies, are based on the Brood from the comics; they are referred to as such in the game's viewable concept art, and one type of Cerci is called a "Brood Queen". However, while the Brood are highly intelligent aliens, the Cerci are genetically engineered creatures with animal-like intelligence. As you fight the Cerci, some have a name with "Brood" in the title, as well. The storyline also derives elements from the X-Men storyline "Apocalypse: The Twelve". In this storyline, as in the game, Apocalypse is searching for specific mutants to power the machine that will make him a god. However, in the game, there are four mutants rather than twelve, and they are wanted because they have "harmonic DNA". It is interesting to note that only Polaris from the original "Twelve" is in "The Four" who are used in the game. It is also interesting to note that the "The Four" are each of the four mutant genome types (feral, psionic, molecular, and elemental) in Mutant X. Playable characters are: * Bishop * Colossus * Cyclops * Gambit * Iceman * Jean Grey * Juggernaut * Magneto * Nightcrawler * Rogue * Scarlet Witch * Storm * Sunfire * Toad * Wolverine Unlockable characters are: * Deadpool * Iron Man - War Machine * Professor X Villians are: * Abyss * Apocalypse * Archangel * Bastion * Cerci Queen * Dark Beast * Deadpool * Garokk * Grizzly * Holocaust * Lady Deathstrike * Living Monolith * Madri * Mikhail Rasputin * Morlocks * Mr. Sinister * Omega Red * Sauron * Sugar Man * Sentinels * Stepford Cuckoos * Stryfe * Zealot X-Men Legends II: Rise of Apocalypse brings up to 4 players either offline or online. Players who have purchased it on the Xbox can play online via Xbox Live. During Xbox Live play, however, only the "Danger Room" and "Campaign" modes can be played. Players must also have the unlocked the "Danger Room Disc" that they wish to play.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 13:48:16 GMT -5
14. Jet Set Radio Future Jet Set Radio Future (often abbreviated JSRF), is a video game developed by Smilebit and published by Sega. It was released on February 25, 2002 in the United States, which was near the beginning of the Xbox's lifespan. Similar to the original, it depicts a future Tokyo where freedom of expression is outlawed. You play a character in the GG's, a gang of rollerblading graffiti artists who skate around Tokyo covering up rival gangs' graffiti, knocking over Rokkaku police, and dancing to the eclectic soundtrack. The game uses the cel-shaded style of animation, and has been widely acclaimed for its unique music stylings, detailed art, and fun gameplay. In 2024 Japan, a group of teenage skaters (Groups collectively referred to as Rudies) called the GGs vie for control of the many districts of Tokyo against many rival groups. A mega corporate enterprise (the Rokkaku Group) has taken over the many districts of the city and there leader is now the mayor of Toyko and is oppressing the people taking away freedom of speech and expressioin, forcing other gang members to give up their territory using the corrupt police force of Toyko. Now it's your job to take the streets back. Jet Set Radio Future has 24 playable characters, which includes six who were not in Jet Set Radio. Furthermore, many characters who starred in both, were under different names when Sega localized the game for the American market as Jet Grind Radio.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 13:50:53 GMT -5
13. Star Wars: Battlefront Star Wars: Battlefront is a first or third person video game based around battles featured in the Star Wars films. It was developed by Pandemic Studios and LucasArts, and released on September 21, 2004 for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Microsoft Windows, the same day as the release of the Star Wars Trilogy DVD set. Aspyr released a Mac port in July 2005. People can either play Battlefront online with up to 50 players on PC (contrary to the stated 32 player limit), the Mac version has a limit of 16 players as does the PS2, or off line with up to 2 players. The Xbox version has a limit of 32 players. A sequel, Star Wars: Battlefront II, was released on November 1, 2005, for Microsoft Windows, Xbox, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. In late 2004, LucasArts released the Star Wars Battlefront BFBuilder, an unsupported mod that allowed fans to create new battlefields for Battlefront. It also has the side files that allow it to have mods. Star wars: Battlefront encompasses battles between four main factions from both the original and prequel trilogies: the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems of the prequel era, and the Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire of the classic trilogy. However, factions can only play their historical adversary; there can't be any Rebel vs. Separatist fights, for example. Within each faction, five different classes of characters become available. Four of the classes are fairly similar for each faction: a basic infantry soldier (a Super battle droid for the Separatists), a heavy weapons soldier, a pilot, and a sniper. Each faction also has a special fifth unit with unique abilities and weapons. In the game, both factions have a set amount of reinforcements (respawns), and the team to use all of them first, loses. A faction can also win by possessing all of the command posts and possesing them for 20 seconds. Jedi heroes are featured in the game: Luke Skywalker for the Rebellion, Darth Vader for the Empire, Mace Windu for the Republic, and Count Dooku for the CIS. Jedi characters appear but are not playable; they may only be allies in battle under certain circumstances. Certain modded maps or files available for download can result in the heroes being playable, but LucasArts does not support these files. Jedi cannot be killed with direct fire, but can be knocked off of ledges or crushed by vehicles. When the reinforcement meter reaches 10% of its original number the Jedi hero dies and does not return. There are other non-player characters (NPCs): Tusken Raiders in the Dune Sea of Tatooine, and Jawas on the streets of Mos Eisley. Ewoks aid the Rebellion on the forest moon of Endor, Gungans aid the Republic on the Naboo Plains, Geonosians help the CIS in battle at Geonosis, and Wookiees aid the Rebellion and Republic on Kashyyyk and the Royal Guards on Theed (Clone Wars Campaign only). As with the Jedi, modded files can be downloaded and result in the NPCs to be playable, but again, LucasArts does not support these files, and it takes a person knowledgeable in basic programming to use these, let alone create them with the Battlefront editor.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 13:59:00 GMT -5
12. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is a critically acclaimed third-person stealth-based video game developed and published by Ubisoft. Chaos Theory is the third game in the Splinter Cell series endorsed by writer Tom Clancy. The game follows the covert activities of Sam Fisher, an agent working for a black-ops branch of the NSA called "Third Echelon." Though originally announced for release in Fall of 2004, the actual release date was March of 2005 for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and PC. Handheld versions for the Nintendo DS and Nokia N-Gage have also been released. A version for the Game Boy Advance was planned, but cancelled. The soundtrack for the game—released January 26, 2005 on Ninja tune record label—is composed by the breakbeat artist Amon Tobin. Composer Jesper Kyd, best known for his work on the Hitman third-person stealth shooter series, composed the music for the game's cinematics. Actor Michael Ironside still plays Sam, while Don Jordan returns from the original game to voice Lambert, having been replaced by Dennis Haysbert in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow. The game went gold on March 22, 2005 for all platforms. The Official Xbox Magazine rated Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory Xbox "Game of the Year" (2005) for its outstanding gameplay and lifelike graphics. Because this game depicts a war between North and South Korea, it was banned in South Korea, along with many other games, until late 2006. This is the first Splinter Cell game that does not feature an additional level for the PS2, with the nuclear powerplant level in the original, and a jungle level in Pandora Tomorrow. The graphics in Chaos Theory feature a number of improvements, including the addition of normal mapping and HDR lighting. The game also features a number of major changes and improvements to the series' basic gameplay. Chaos Theory is also the first game in the Splinter Cell series to use ragdoll physics. Chaos Theory features refined stealth mechanics. In addition to the standard light bar, the game also features an aural monitor that measures the noise that Sam makes, along with the ambient noise of the environment. It is important for Sam to make less noise than his surroundings; otherwise, the enemy guards will hear him. The AI detection has been altered as well. In former titles, after Sam would leave a certain area, the game would do a sweep of the previous area for all unconscious or dead bodies in a well-lit spot. If any were found, an alarm would be triggered. In Chaos Theory, the bodies have to be discovered by a patrolling guard in order to trigger an alarm. Being spotted by enemies will still trigger alarms, and alarms will still cause enemies to become more alert and combat-ready (such as causing them to wear flak jackets and helmets). However, triggering too many alarms will no longer cause the game to end automatically. Even killing civilians or friendly soldiers won't cause Fisher to fail the mission, although doing so will cause Fisher to be seriously chastised by his superior, and cost him significantly in his mission score as well as canceling certain mission objectives, such as tapping phonelines and locating bugs. Chaos Theory is also the first game in the series to keep track of mission performance. Missions are summarized upon completion with various statistics such as the number of times detected or the number of guards killed. Chaos Theory adds a combat knife to Sam's close-quarters combat abilities. Sam can use the knife in multiple ways, such as threatening an enemy during an interrogation, or killing an enemy in close-quarters combat. Also, it no longer matters what direction Sam attacks from when using melee attacks, nor does it matter if enemies are aware of his presence, as opposed to earlier entries in the series where he had to attack from behind and the enemy could not be alerted to him in order to take them down in one hit. He also has the option of using lethal or non-lethal force when ending an interrogation. As an expansion on Sam's ability to shoot while hanging upside down (introduced in Pandora Tomorrow), he can choke down or break the neck of enemies below him. He also has the ability to pull people over railings while hanging off a ledge and throw bodies off of cliffs or over railings, even onto other guards. However, the ability to shoot around corners has been removed, although this is balanced by being able to switch the side of Sam's body the gun is on while in a firing position. Fisher is now able to choose from one of three different equipment "kits." There is Redding's recommended kit, an assault kit, and stealth kit. Redding's Recommendation gives Sam an even balance between ammunition and non-lethal weaponry. Assault provides more ammunition at the expense of non-lethal weapons while the Stealth kit contains more non-lethal weaponry at the expense of brute force, lethal weaponry, and spare magazines/clips. On missions where an objective is to cause no fatalities, the player is unable to choose the Assault option. The 5.7x28 mm pistol (realistically identified as the FN Five-seveN) returns with a new feature: the Optically Channeled Potentiator, or the OCP. When fired at certain electronics, the OCP can disable them for a limited time. Fisher can disable lights, security cameras, and more. If the device cannot be disabled, it will temporarily malfunction instead, such as causing the blue screen of death when attacking computer towers. When Fisher successfully disables the electronic device he aimed at, a green light appears on the pistol; if he misses, a red light appears. In both cases Fisher must wait a period of time for the OCP to recharge and become ready for use again. The SC-20K, (realistically identified as the FN F2000) modular assault rifle returns with a multitude of new attachments, such as a fore grip that reduces recoil and increases accuracy, a launcher that fires non-lethal weaponry, an under mount shotgun attachment for close quarters firing, and a 20 mm sniper attachment for long-range combat. The SC-20K's standard scope now only zooms to 1.5x magnification, while the sniper scope allows from 1.5x to 3.5x magnification. A large variety of non-lethal weaponry can be fired from the SC-20K launcher, such as the Sticky Camera, the Sticky Shocker, and the Airfoil Round, and Gas Grenade. The Sticky Camera will reveal an image of the area in which you shot it. In addition, it can make a clicking sound that will attract enemies, and also emit a CS gas that will render unconscious any enemies in the immediate area. The Sticky Shocker will shock and incapacitate its target when fired. If shot into a body of water, the shocker will incapacitate all targets in the water. The Airfoil Round is a hollow metal ring that will knock out the target. It is still possible for an unconscious enemy to die if shot, dropped from a considerable height or dropped into water, no matter how shallow. Non-lethal weaponry is important in missions in which Fisher is forbidden to kill anyone. Fisher also has multiple types of grenades. There is the Gas Grenade, which emits a CS gas that knocks enemies unconscious, the Smoke Grenade, which provides Fisher with a cloud of smoke to hide in, the flashbang, which will temporarily blind and deafen any enemy near it, and the Fragmentation Grenade, which will kill any enemy within its blast radius, and send objects flying in all directions. Enemy AI has been improved, with enemies taking cover, leaning around corners, using squad-based tactics. Enemy AI will also react to changes in the environment; if a light switch is turned off, an enemy may become concerned, more so if the light is shot out. Enemies may even become so frightened as to start firing wildly into shadows, or throw a flare onto the ground next to them, making it difficult to sneak up on them. They will also open fire on Sam if they walk into him, or if he is seen in the light. They will fire a large amount of rounds at his last known location, so if detected, the player is advised to reposition himself and attempt to sneak past or eliminate the enemy. The main plot of Chaos Theory sees a return to the original Splinter Cell's theme of information warfare, with Sam on the trail of the Masse Kernels used by Georgian President Kombayn Nikoladze to attack America's infrastructure. The main focus in this game is Japan, North Korea, and South Korea. The main focus of the game takes place in East Asia, 2007, with tensions running high between China, North Korea, and Japan, following Japan's formation of an Information Self Defense Force (I-SDF) (an event mentioned in a news report in Pandora Tomorrow). Considering this to be a violation of the Post-World War II Constitution, Chinese and North Korean forces establish a blockade in the Yellow Sea against Japanese shipping. Because Japan and the I-SDF are allies of the US and Third Echelon, the U.S. dispatches its most advanced cruiser, the USS Clarence E Walsh, to the Sea of Japan. The US hopes this show of strength will get China and North Korea to back down. Meanwhile, in a seemingly unrelated incident, Sam is dispatched to locate Bruce Morgenholt, a missing computer programmer who was captured by a Peruvian separatist group called "The People's Voice", led by Hugo Lacerda, and worked on deciphering Phillip Masse's algorithms. Masse, whom Sam assassinated in the original Splinter Cell, was a genius far ahead of his time, and the algorithms he used to launch his attacks on America have been extensively studied by the UN. The resulting Masse Kernels are being touted as the superweapon of the 21st century. Sam is tasked with making sure they do not fall into the wrong hands. Sam arrives too late to prevent Morgenholt's death. He is also unsuccessful in stopping the release of the Masse Kernels. Sam is told to go on board the Maria Narcissa to kill Hugo Lacerda and track the weapon deliveries so they can find out who they are dealing with. After completing the mission, and a mission in a Panamanian bank, unknown parties use the algorithms to black out Japan and the Eastern Seaboard, including New York City. Japan has previously suffered similar attacks that crashed its economy, and Admiral Otomo of the I-SDF contacts Third Echelon and warns them that North Korea and China are probably responsible. Meanwhile, following a lead discovered in a bank in Panama, Sam travels to New York to investigate Abrahim Zherkhezi, a man who worked with Morgenholt on Project Watson. He finds that Displace International, owned by Douglas Shetland is protecting him. He breaks into the Displace offices and learns of one Milan Nedich, later identified as "Milos Nowak", a Bosnian war criminal. Fisher finds that Nowak secretly relocated him to Hokkaido. Sam travels to Hokkaido and meets with Shetland, who claims that Nedich is clean. Regardless, Fisher infiltrates the hideout that Zherkezi is being held in. There, Sam kills Nedich, and witnesses Shetland murdering Zherkezi. Shetland escapes and goes underground. Meanwhile, the American show of force backfires when the Walsh is sunk by a North Korean anti-ship missile on July 4, initiating a war between North Korea and South Korea/United States. Since North Korea claims the missile was launched unintentionally, Sam is sent to the Korean peninsula (including the South Korean capital city of Seoul), to determine if North Korea is truly responsible for sinking the Walsh, or if the Masse Kernels are involved. (Note that the sinking of the Walsh and the U.S.-North Korea war is the plot for the PlayStation 2 and Gamecube versions of Ghost Recon 2.) Sam eventually learns that the entire war has been orchestrated by American private security corporation Displace International. Displace used the Masse Kernels gained from Zherkhezi to hijack North Korea's missile systems, and sink the Walsh, in order to draw the U.S. into a war from which Displace could profit through its status as a leading American PMC. Sam also realizes the mastermind behind the entire plot is none other than his old war comrade and friend, Douglas Shetland. Ultimately, Third Echelon sends him to spy on a meeting between Shetland and Shetland's unknown accomplices, who shockingly turn out to be the I-SDF. At the meeting, the I-SDF betray Shetland, and a firefight subsequently breaks out between Shetland's soldiers and I-SDF assault troops. Amidst the chaos, Sam pursues Shetland to the roof, where, after a tense Mexican standoff, Sam kills Shetland. Even after Shetland's death, one loose end remains. Admiral Otomo of the I-SDF has acquired a copy of the Masse Kernels from Shetland, and attempts to return Japan to Imperial rule by blackmailing the Japanese government officials and senior JSDF officers. He threatens to use the algorithms to launch a North Korean missile against a Japanese city. Because North Korea would be supported by China, and Japan would be backed by the U.S, the incident would spark World War III. Although Otomo's loyalist I-SDF soldiers manage to fight off the JGSDF commandos sent to stop him, Sam infiltrates the I-SDF's lowest levels and manages to put an end to Otomo's plans. Otomo attempts to commit seppuku, but Sam saves his life and captures him. Otomo stands trial at the UN and takes full responsibility for the entire Korean crisis, returning stability to the Far East. In two player co-op mode, two NSA operatives start off the campaign with basic training, introducing the players to the game-play elements of the cooperative play. Uncharacteristically, they are given similar weapons as Sam Fisher, boosting them to lethal status. After passing training, the operatives are sent to Panama, tying up the loose ends and clues that Sam Fisher picked up from Hugo Lacerda. The Operatives interrogate the Vice President of the bank and sifted through all available records to find out that other than aiding Hugo Lacerda, the bank had aided North Korea in smuggling nuclear and chemical weapons through Panama. A name, Jong-Pom-Chu appears in the records. Shortly after completing the mission, Lambert promotes the operatives into "Splinter Cells-in-Training." The action then picks up in a war-torn South Korea, with the operatives trying to locate Jong-Pom-Chu. The operatives were tasked to destroy any anti-air vehicles and look for the Korean scientist. Unfortunately he was moved during the mission, and Sam Fisher needed to interrogate a North Korean Special Forces soldier to find out where. The operatives dismiss the idea that he is another Splinter Cell, as they believe they are the first. The trainees eventually evacuate Jong in a truck. The operatives were then sent to a chemical missile bunker in North Korea, sometime after the end of the single-player campaign. The operatives were tasked to investigate what type of weapons development Jong was involved with. The operatives then later found out that the North Koreans were developing viral weapons, using monkeys as the guinea pigs. Lambert ultimately gives the order to create an anti-virus and retrieve a viral sample from a warhead. The operatives managed to exfiltrate by boat. The operatives were then placed in New York City, tasked to disarming bombs in the train systems planted by rogue North Korean personnel attempting to recover a virus stashed in a locker. With help from Jong, the operatives recover the virus and manage to thwart the investigating North Korean soldiers. The operatives are sent on a return trip back to North Korea, this time investigating a nuclear power plant. The operatives were tasked to finding out who helped Kim, the leading North Korean officer behind the weapons fiasco. The operatives' final mission ends up at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, putting a stop to a now-desperate Kim's plan to blow up the building before an important meeting takes place. The operatives kill Kim and disarm the bomb the North Korean agents planted. Like its predecessor Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory includes a competitive multiplayer component. Chaos Theory expands its multiplayer by including cooperative play allowing for two agents to play through a unique 7 mission story mode which parallels the single player campaign. It is playable via system link play, or over Xbox Live. The cooperative campaign follows the story of two Splinter Cells in training, merely known as Agent One and Agent Two. Their training is interrupted when a world crisis occurs that requires the Shadownet division of NSA to deploy additional resources, even including agents not fully trained. The missions become a trial by fire for the two new agents. The gameplay is built on the same design as the single player campaign. It introduces new techniques for the two-player gameplay, such as one spy kneeling down to give the second spy a boost over a wall. Though players can operate alone, the level design is such that it encourages teamwork. For example, there may be a switch down a long shaft that will unlock a door. One player will stand atop the shaft and extend a rope down the length of it while the second player will descend the shaft, hit the switch, and then return up the rope. The cooperative campaign was popular enough that Ubisoft developed two additional levels for download for the PC and Xbox versions. The Nuclear Plant and UN Headquarters missions are meant to end the story for the cooperative component. The popular (Shadownet) Spy vs. (ARGUS) Mercenary game mode returns from Pandora Tomorrow with many improvements. These include new gadgets for both teams, cooperative moves for the spy team, and improved close quarters combat for the mercenaries.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 14:04:11 GMT -5
11. Doom 3 Doom 3 is a science fiction, survival horror, first-person shooter video game. Developed and published by id Software, it was released on August 3, 2004. Doom 3, despite its name, is not a direct continuation of the original Doom series storyline. Doom 3 is a re-imagining of the first game in the series, and has a completely new game engine and modern graphics. Doom 3 is set in the year 2145 in a fictional Union Aerospace Corporation (UAC) research center on Mars. In the game, the player takes control of a UAC security replacement marine as he fights to survive a mysterious invasion of inter-dimensional demons. In the process, the marine learns more about the nature of the shadowy research being conducted within the massive base, as well as information on its main instigator, Dr. Malcolm Betruger. Doom 3 was developed for Windows and ported to Linux in 2004. Seven months later, it was also released for Mac OS X (ported by Aspyr) and Xbox (co-developed by Vicarious Visions). The Xbox version is graphically similar to the original, although less detailed. It also features an additional two-player online co-operation mode. An expansion, Doom 3: Resurrection of Evil, developed by Nerve Software and co-developed by id Software, was released on April 4, 2005. The Xbox version of Doom 3 is an Xbox 360-compatible title, and the Xbox version of Resurrection of Evil is also forwards compatible as of July 2007. A Doom movie, very loosely based on the franchise, was released roughly one year later on October 21, 2005. The gameplay of Doom 3 is similar to the original Doom. The main objective of the game is to navigate through the hostile game environment to an area of safety at the end of each level. The basic gameplay mechanic lies in a run and gun mantra, requiring the player to essentially "shoot anything that moves." Movement in Doom 3 is more simplistic than many other FPSs released in 2004. The player is able to move in the four cardinal directions, crouch, jump, and sprint, but cannot go prone or lean around corners. The level layout and design architecture are quite linear, but access to some destinations may require the player to complete a number of tasks. These include total destruction of all enemies, item collection, and basic puzzle solving. There are numerous weapons available in Doom 3. The game inherits a number of weapons from its predecessors Doom and Doom II, while adding several new weapons and modifying several of the old standbys. The iconic chainsaw and BFG 9000 return, as do the pistol, shotgun, chain gun, rocket launcher, and plasma gun. New additions include the flashlight (vital as a light source), hand grenades, a submachine gun, and an alien artifact known as the Soul Cube. An important element in the gameplay and action of Doom 3 is light. Most levels in the game have a variety of moody lighting effects and are quite dark. This design choice is not only intended to foster feelings of apprehension and fear within the player, but also to create a more threatening game environment because the player is less likely to see attacking enemies. This aspect is further enhanced by the fact that the player must choose between holding a weapon and holding the flashlight. This forces the player to choose between being able to see and having a readied weapon upon entering a room, which consequently leads to a more deliberate pace for the player. This aspect is more conducive to a horror game, and has been criticized by some players as being an artificial constraint that should have been avoided. A third-party modification known as a "duct tape mod" provides the capability to mount a flashlight on the shotgun and machine gun weapons, thus providing illumination while the weapon is in use. The tongue-in-cheek rationale for this mod is that a roll of duct tape must exist somewhere on Mars (which would allow the player to tape their flashlight to a weapon). Doom 3 was released with a four-player deathmatch multiplayer component only. However, computer game modders released an eight-player support patch soon after release, and this aspect was included in the Resurrection of Evil expansion. As a typical deathmatch game, the player's objective is to kill other players as many times as possible within an allotted amount of time, or to reach a specified number of kills before the opposition does. The player begins each game and respawn with a basic set of weapons: flashlight, a pistol with four spare magazines, and two grenades; RoE adds a machine gun with 30 bullets. The player may acquire health items, armor, ammunition, power-ups, and most of the weapons featured in the single-player campaign, which respawn after a fixed amount of time upon being picked up. In a new twist, players can steal other players' weapons by attacking them with the fist. When a player is punched, they forfeit the current weapon they are holding to the attacker. In addition to deathmatch, three similar gametypes exist. In team deathmatch, players are placed on either the Red team or the Blue team, and the opposing teams fight. In tourney mode, two players duel while the others wait in queue; at the end of the match, the victor faces the next challenger and the loser is placed at the end of the waiting line. In last man standing, players are each allotted a specified number of lives; when a player loses all their lives, they are forced to spectate until the end of the match. Three power-ups exist in multiplayer: berserk, mega health, and invisibility; the latter two do not appear in the single-player campaign. Berserk lasts for 30 seconds, enhancing the player's speed by a factor of 1.5 and tripling their damage given. Mega health boosts the player's health to 200, exceeding the health limit of 100. Invisibility lasts for 30 seconds, and renders the player nearly invisible; the power-up emits a subtle green glow, and does not conceal wounds. The Xbox version of Doom 3 included four-player deathmatch over Xbox Live and system link, as well as two-player co-op on Xbox Live and system link. Similar to the story of the original Doom, the game focuses on an anonymous marine who is transferred to an extraterrestrial base on a routine mission. Following the unexpected arrival of demons via experimental teleportation gates, the marine is forced to fight his way through a variety of demonic monsters to reach safety. Also in both cases, the protagonist visits Hell, though in the original Doom, it is the third episode Inferno (The Ultimate Doom adds a fourth, Thy Flesh Consumed), whereas in Doom 3 it is only one level. Although Doom 3 retains the rather basic premise of the first game, it also makes a number of changes, most notably a much more detailed plot which introduces an alien aspect to the story. Other differences include the game taking place on the planet Mars itself, rather than its moons Phobos and Deimos. For Doom 3, id Software employed professional science fiction writer Matthew Costello, who had worked on the games The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour, to write the script and assist in story-boarding the entire game. id focused on retelling the story and creating a tense horror atmosphere. Cut scenes give purpose and context for the player's actions and introduction to new enemies. Similar to other science fiction action/horror games such as System Shock, System Shock 2, and Aliens versus Predator 2, hundreds of text, voice, and video messages are scattered throughout the base. These messages appear as internal e-mails and audio reports sent between lab workers, administrators, maintenance staff, and security personnel at the Mars base. They serve to help explain the background story to the player, show the feelings and concern of the people on the Mars base, build atmosphere, and reveal information related to plot and gameplay. Augmenting these are video booths and televisions which give planetary news, corporate propaganda, visitor information, and technical data about the base. Doom 3 also uses a number of other classic horror elements, the most prominent of which is darkness. Many areas in the game have little or no lighting. Also, power outages are occasionally simulated (especially in earlier levels) which plunge the player in near-complete darkness. These aesthetics are explained by the game as due to the Delta Labs diverting power for sustained teleportation experiments. Frequent radio transmissions through the player's communications device also add to the atmosphere, by broadcasting certain sounds and messages from non-player characters meant to unsettle the player. Early in the game, during and directly after the event that plunges the base into chaos, the player often hears the sounds of fighting, screaming and dying through their radio transmitter. The ambient sound is extended to the base itself through such things as hissing pipes, footsteps, and occasional jarringly loud noises from machinery or other sources. Often ambient sounds can be heard that resemble deep breathing, although this may also just be the player character breathing. The story of Doom 3 surrounds the discovery of ancient underground ruins on Mars. Tablets found at these sites record how an ancient Martian race developed a form of teleporter technology. They realized an important fact all too late, however; the route the teleporter took passed through Hell. Quickly invaded by demons, this alien race created and sacrificed themselves to a weapon known as the Soul Cube. This Cube, powered by the souls of almost every being of this alien race, was used by their strongest warrior to defeat and contain the demons in Hell. Having done so, the remainder of the alien race constructed warnings to any who visited Mars, warning them to avoid opening another gate to Hell. They then teleported to an unknown location, fleeing Mars; there are hints that at least some of them fled to Earth, and that humans are descended from them. It is also stated that the demons once inhabited Earth in an unknown context, but lost possession of it due to an unknown cause. The UAC, discovering the Soul Cube and the warnings, used them to develop the same teleporter technology. Discovering that they opened a gate to Hell, scientists decided to explore further (encouraged by the head scientist, Malcolm Betruger), sending teams in and capturing living specimens from the realm at great loss of human life. The portal experiments had strange and disturbing effects on the Mars City research facility where they were conducted. Scientists and workers, unaware of the nature of the work being performed by Dr. Betruger and his team, frequently reported strange phenomena and unlikely industrial accidents. A general sense of paranoia and fear spread throughout the facility, leading many workers to request a greater marine presence and/or weaponry accessible by themselves. In response to numerous industrial accidents, complaints, and requests for transfers off Mars, the UAC sends Counselor Elliot Swann to investigate these problems. Accompanying Swann are his personal bodyguard Jack Campbell and a single marine corporal (the player). Upon checking in, the marine is called to Marine HQ to meet Master Sergeant Thomas Kelly, the marine commander of the facility. He sends the marine to track down a missing member of the science team. On the way, he overhears a tense meeting between Swann and Betruger. The marine finds the scientist in a decommissioned communications facility, preparing to send out a warning message about Betruger's extreme portal experiments. The message warns that Betruger's tests are threatening to overload the portal's containment fields, which would create a catastrophic scenario. The scientist was unable to finish and send his message before the next portal experiment. As soon as the portal opens, Betruger takes the Soul Cube into Hell and apparently makes a deal with the creatures there. The marine and scientist watch on the monitors and radio as chaos erupts throughout the base. Under Sergeant Kelly's orders to all units, the marine returns to Marine HQ. Returning to Marine HQ, the marine is sent by Kelly to assist Bravo Team (one of the few surviving squads) in reaching the Communications Tower to send a distress signal to the fleet. Bravo Team is carrying a military transmission card which contains the encoded message. The attack has left most of the Mars base population either dead or as zombified slaves. After entering the Administration sector, the marine overhears another conversation between Swann and Betruger. Insisting on taking over command of the situation, Swann is rebuffed by Betruger, who informs him that it is Swann who is out of control and not the situation. Swann deduces correctly that Betruger is in control and that matters are proceeding according to his plan. At this point Campbell opens his case to commence "Plan B." The Player, a short time later, comes across the room where Swann and Campbell enact "Plan B", and finds the empty carry case of a BFG9000. As the marine enters the energy production facility, Bravo Team is ambushed at the nearby motor pool. Before the marine can reach them, he learns that Swann is also heading for the communications tower. However, Swann wishes to prevent the transmission to the fleet. Unable to find Bravo Team's communications card, he and Campbell grab a vehicle and drive to the tower. The marine later obtains the card from the last member of Bravo Team, who was hiding from Swann. The marine is catching up, but was not able to get to the tower's control room before Campbell destroys the computers with his BFG9000. Believing they have succeeded in stopping the transmission, they head off towards the Delta Labs, where the main portal (and source of the invasion) is located. However, the marine is able to find a way into the satellite control room and access the transmitter directly. Swann contacts the marine and tells him to abort the transmission, arguing that until they understand what they are up against, the base must remain cut off from the outside world. Kelly presses the marine to send it. The marine makes the final choice whether or not to send the transmission but, aside from immediate comments by the other protagonists, this has no influence on the plot in the remainder of the game. After leaving the communications tower, the skyway to the monorail station is crushed by an invisible power, forcing the marine to find an alternate route through the waste treatment plant. In the plant, he learns that Betruger plans to wipe out the reinforcements that are on their way, and use their ships to take the demons to Earth in order to conquer it. If the marine aborted the transmission at the tower, Betruger announces that he will send the distress signal himself. Betruger then attempts to trap the marine in the plant, which is filling up with toxic gas. Surviving the attack and fighting his way out of the plant and through the monorail station, the marine ultimately reaches the Delta Labs, where the main portal is located. The marine also learns of the Soul Cube and the portal to Hell where it is held. The marine, pursuing the Soul Cube, is sent into Hell by Betruger via the main portal in the Delta Labs. After losing all his weapons during the teleportation, he picks up scattered weapons while fighting his way through the demons. The marine claims the Soul Cube and takes it back through the teleporter to Mars, where he learns that his actions have made Betruger unable to use the teleporter technology. Resurfacing at the Delta Complex, the marine must again find his weapons, and battle the remaining demons in the base. Betruger, upset by his loss of the teleporter and the Soul Cube, tells the marine of a natural portal to Hell which could transport millions of his minions from Hell. On the way to the new portal, the marine encounters Swann, who is wounded and unable to move. Swann, who is unwilling to allow the invasion of Earth, gives his PDA to the marine, and tells him to go through Central Processing and then to the caverns, where the portal is located. Swann warns that Sarge is no longer human and that Campbell has gone after him. In Central Processing, Campbell is found dying on the floor without a weapon; he utters "Sarge, he's got my gun." as his last words. After his final breath, a demonic voice begins to taunt the marine. Upon entering the arena, the BFG-wielding Sabaoth reveals himself as a mutated hybrid of Sarge and a military tank. After the battle is over, the BFG9000 is seized by the marine as he advances to Site 3 and transfers to the caverns. At the Primary Excavation site of the caverns, the portal to Hell has been opened at the site of the alien ruins. There, the marine uses the Soul Cube to defeat "Hell's mightiest warrior," the horrific Cyberdemon, and seal the portal. The ending scene shows the marine being rescued by the fleet, and that Swann is dead. Betruger is "nowhere to be found" in the base and is instead in Hell, reincarnated as a dragon-like demon called the Maledict. Being in effect a remake of the original Doom, Doom 3 makes a number of references to its pioneering forbearer. An example of this is the fictional arcade game Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 found at the beginning of Doom 3. Though the goal of the game is to punch cartoon turkeys into mush, both the HUD for Turkey Puncher as well as the fist used in the game are taken from the original Doom while the logo used on the cabinet is a copy of the Street Fighter Alpha 3 logo and the company name "Nabcon" is written the same as the logo for Capcom. Another example occurs in Site 3 of the Artifact Research area, the last of the four tablets has a picture of the alien warrior using the Soul Cube. The picture is identical to the original cover of Doom, save that the warrior is holding the Soul Cube and a portion of the Tablet is broken, so his head is not visible. Additionally, entering iddqd, idkfa, idspispopd and similar codes into the console will display a message saying: Your memory serves you well!. These are cheat codes from the original Doom games. References to other id games are evident as well, for instance in Site 3 of the Artifact Research area, (last level before excavation), The man who lets you in gives you his PDA. Inside the PDA, one of the emails contains a message from his nephew who claims his new "Quake 43 game blows his mind" and is better than Super Turbo Turkey Puncher. Many id employees also make cameo appearances within the game, with most of the id Software staff doing voice overs. When recovering the first key card in administration, Specialist Wilson, played by John Carmack, asks for orders on radio. Sergeant Kelly responds with "Stay sharp marine!" More than half the PDAs in the game are also named after id Software staff members. In addition, there is a hidden id Software PDA before the final fight. If the player turns left at the very end before the bricks open up, there is a branch-off hallway with the id logo on a brick at the end. Also in the Delta Labs the names on the cell keypads near the Security Area are the names of ID Software employees. Steven Blum, a popular American voice actor who is best known for voicing anime characters (including Spike Spiegel on the anime series Cowboy Bebop, Shishio Makoto from Rurouni Kenshin, and Orochimaru from Naruto) in their English dubs, appears in Doom 3 playing various marines, technicians and zombies. In the Common Area, near the Super Turbo Turkey Puncher 3 cabinet, the IPN newscaster on the television is voiced by Cam Clarke, a voice actor known for providing the voices to (among others) Leonardo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Die Fledermaus from the original cartoon version of The Tick, Kaneda from the anime film Akira and Liquid Snake. The screen's captions mention the winner of QuakeCon. The player character in the game is also modeled after id lead artist and co-owner Kevin Cloud.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 14:12:44 GMT -5
Countdown Update
125. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets 124. Silent Scope Complete 123. SSX 3 122. Madden NFL 2005 121. Jurassic Park: Operation Genesis 120. Star Wars: The Clone Wars 119. Darkwatch 118. The Lord Of The Rings: The Third Age 117. The Simpsons: Hit And Run 116. Rainbow Six 3 115. Madden NFL 08 114. Blitz: The League 113. Mafia: The City Of Lost Heaven 112. Dungeons And Dragons Heroes 111. WWE Wrestlemania 21 110. World Soccer Winning Eleven 8 International 109. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell 108. GUN 107. NHL Hitz Pro 106. Top Spin Tennis 105. Rocky 104. TransWorld Surf 103. Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy 102. MechAssault 101. Legends Of Wrestling II 100. NCAA March Madness 2005 99. WWE Raw 2 98. Brute Force 97. Metal Slug 3 96. Fahrenheit aka Indigo Prophecy 95. NCAA Football 06 94. Stubbs The Zombie In "Rebel Without A Pulse" 93. Midnight Club II 92. Showdown: Legends Of Wrestling 91. The Punisher 90. Dead Or Alive Ultimate 89. MVP Baseball 2005 88. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup 87. Shenmue II 86. Blinx: The Time Sweeper 85. GoldenEye: Rogue Agent 84. Fight Night Round 2 83. Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition 82. The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction 81. NASCAR 2005: Chase For The Cup 80. Evil Dead: A Fistful Of Broomstick 79. Timesplitters 2 78. Def Jam: Fight For NY 77. Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy 76. Burnout 2: Point Of Impact 75. Evil Dead: Regeneration 74. MVP Baseball 2004 73. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 72. Fuzion Frenzy 71. Armed And Dangerous 70. Destroy All Humans 69. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance 68. Red Dead Revolver 67. Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding 66. Fight Night Round 3 65. Gladius 64. NCAA Football 2004 63. Indiana Jones And The Emperor's Tomb 62. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 61. Forza Motorsports 60. Thief: Deadly Shadows 59. Godzilla: Save The Earth 58. Unreal Championship 57. Lego Star Wars: The Video Game 56. Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne 55. Tony Hawk's Underground 54. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance 53. Freedom Fighters 52. Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance II 51. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 50. The House Of The Dead III 49. Max Payne 48. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 47. FlatOut 2 46. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy 45. Mortal Kombat: Shaolin Monks 44. Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age Of Heroes 43. Timesplitters: Future Perfect 42. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland 41. X-Men Legends 40. Project Gotham Racing 2 39. Spider-man 38. Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 37. Spider-man 2 36. The Chronicles Of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay 35. Soul Calibur II 34. Ninja Gaiden Black 33. Mortal Kombat: Armageddon 32. Beyond Good & Evil 31. Mercenaries: Playground Of Destruction 30. Ninja Gaiden 29. Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith 28. Star Wars: Republic Commando 27. Grand Theft Auto: Double Pack 26. Mortal Kombat: Deception 25. Amped 2 24. Crimson Skies: High Road To Revenge 23. Deus Ex: Invisible War 22. Dead Or Alive 3 21. Star Wars Jedi Fighters II: Jedi Outcast 20. Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath 19. Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time 18. Burnout 3: Takedown 17. Star Wars: Battlefront II 16. ESPN NFL 2K5 15. X-Men II: Rise Of Apocalypse 14. Jet Set Radio Future 13. Star Wars: Battlefront 12. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory 11. Doom 3
Next five clues are:
* Emperor Sun Li
* Restore Order In The Land Of Albion Or Lead The Land Into Terror And Death
* The Free Man
* Whispering RocK Psychic Summer Camp
* You Can Finally Swim In This Game
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 17:13:27 GMT -5
10. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas is a sandbox-style action-adventure computer and video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the third 3D game in the Grand Theft Auto video game franchise and fifth original game overall. Originally released for the PlayStation 2 in October 2004, the game has since been ported to the Xbox and Microsoft Windows, and has received wide acclaim and high sales figures on all three platforms. San Andreas was preceded by Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and will be succeeded by Grand Theft Auto IV. Set in late 1992, the game revolves around the main character, Carl "CJ" Johnson returning home from Liberty City to Los Santos after learning of his mother's murder. CJ finds his family and his old gang, the Grove Street Families, in disarray. Over the course of the game, CJ gradually unravels the plot behind his mother's murder while reestablishing his gang and exploring his own business ventures. Much like the previous entries in the Grand Theft Auto series, San Andreas's critical and commercial success has not been without controversy; explicit hidden content in the game resulted in the game's re-rating and subsequent removal from many retailers' shelves. Following the success of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, many gamers anticipated a new Grand Theft Auto game on the PlayStation 2 in late 2003. The first concrete evidence of a new installment came on October 29, 2003, when Take-Two Interactive announced that an untitled GTA game was set for release in the "later half of the fiscal fourth quarter 2004".[9] By this time, pundits online had theorized about the plot of the game; it would either be based in the fictional city of San Andreas, California in the modern day, or in Sin City, Nevada. On March 1, 2004, Take-Two announced in a press conference that Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas would be released on October 19, 2004 in North America, October 22 in Europe, and October 29 for Australia. The first news of the game's content was revealed on March 11, when it was divulged that San Andreas would not be a city, but rather an entire state consisting of three whole cities and the surrounding territory. On September 9, 2004, in Take-Two's third quarter financial results for 2004, it was announced that the release date would be pushed back by a week. In the same release, Take-Two announced the Microsoft Windows and Xbox versions of the game. San Andreas was released for the PlayStation 2 on October 26, 2004 in North America and on October 29, 2004 in Europe and Australia. It was released in Japan on January 25, 2007. The Windows and Xbox ports were released on June 7, 2005 in North America and June 10, 2005 in Europe and Australia. San Andreas is structured similarly to the previous two games in the series. The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, affording the player a large, open environment in which to move around. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, running, swimming (which makes this the first GTA game in which gives player the freedom to swim), climbing and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand to hand combat. Players can steal and drive a variety of vehicles, including automobiles, boats, airplanes, helicopters, trains, tanks, motorcycles and bikes. The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game and unlock certain cities and content, they are not required, as players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can free-roam and create havoc. However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities. The more chaos caused, the stronger the response: police will handle "minor" infractions (attacking people, pointing guns at people, stealing cars, killing a few people, etc.), whereas SWAT teams, the FBI, and the military respond to higher wanted levels. The player can also partake in a variety of optional side missions. The traditional side missions of the past games are included, such as dropping off taxi cab passengers, putting out fires, driving injured people to the hospital and fighting crime as a vigilante. New additions include robbery missions, pimping missions, truck and train driving missions requiring players to make deliveries on time, and driving/flying/boating/biking schools, which help players learn skills and techniques to use in their corresponding vehicles. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas takes place within the fictional state San Andreas. It is based on sections of California and Nevada, comprising three major fictional cities: Los Santos and the badlands correspond to real-life Los Angeles and the California badlands; San Fierro corresponds to real-life San Francisco; and Las Venturas and the surrounding desert corresponds to real-life Las Vegas and the Nevada desert. Players can climb the half-mile (800 m) tall Mount Chiliad (based on Mount Diablo), parachute from various peaks and skyscrapers, and visit 12 rural towns and villages located in three counties: Red County, Flint County, and Bone County. Other notable destinations include Sherman dam (based on the Hoover Dam), a large secret military base called Area 69 (based on Area 51), a microwave dish, and many other geographical features. Previous Grand Theft Auto titles are set in a single city, whereas the events of San Andreas span the entire state. San Andreas is 13.9 square miles (36 square kilometers), almost four times as large as Vice City, and five times as large as Liberty City. Los Santos is the largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Los Angeles, Los Santos is comprised of several diverse areas. This includes the gang-ridden neighborhoods of Ganton, Willow Field, Jefferson, Idlewood and East Los Santos, based on their actual counterparts of Compton, Willowbrook, Watts, Inglewood, and East Los Angeles, respectively. Also located in the city is a busy downtown section based on Downtown Los Angeles; the wealthy Rodeo and Mulholland districts (Rodeo based on Beverly Hills and named after Rodeo Drive); the beach-side districts of Santa Maria Beach and Verona Beach, representing Santa Monica and Venice Beach; and the glitzy Vinewood and the giant Vinewood Sign are based on Hollywood and its Hollywood Sign. Los Santos features landmarks reminiscent of Los Angeles, which include the Watts Towers, the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Capitol Tower, the Los Angeles City Hall, the U.S. Bank Tower, the Griffith Observatory, the Forum, the Santa Monica Pier, the Vincent Thomas Bridge, Rodeo Drive, the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, the Westin Bonaventure Hotel, and Grauman's Chinese Theater. San Fierro is the smallest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of San Francisco, San Fierro is characterized by a prominent cable car system and hilly terrain. San Fierro features several interpretations of many of San Francisco's districts and landmarks, including the Haight-Ashbury district (Hashbury), the Castro district (Queens), Chinatown, and the Golden Gate Bridge (Gant Bridge). Several other familiar landmarks have been recreated, from the Embarcadero clock tower and the Transamerica Pyramid (Big Pointy Building) to Lombard Street (Windy Windy Windy Windy Street), and the San Francisco Bay Bridge (Garver Bridge). There is a district known as 'Garcia', a tribute to Grateful Dead frontman and San Francisco native Jerry Garcia, and San Fierro's City Hall closely resembles San Francisco's ornate city hall. San Fierro also contains remains of the Cypress Street Viaduct which collapsed in 1989 during the Loma Prieta earthquake. There is also an aircraft carrier in San Fierro, docked at the naval base. Las Venturas is the second-largest city in San Andreas. Like its real-life counterpart of Las Vegas, Las Venturas is home to legalized gambling and several casinos. In these casinos, the player can partake in blackjack, poker, roulette, or play slot machines. In addition to gambling, strip clubs are also prevalent in Las Venturas. Many real Las Vegas Strip casinos are faithfully interpreted on Las Venturas' Strip, including the Excalibur Hotel and Casino (Come-a-Lot), the Sphinx and pyramid of the Luxor Hotel (The Camel's Toe), Treasure Island (Pirates In Men's Pants), The Mirage (The Visage), Circus Circus (The Clown's Pocket), Hard Rock Hotel and Casino (V-Rock Hotel and Casino), and Imperial Palace (Four Dragons Casino). Other casinos are the Pink Swan, Caligula's Palace, the Starfish Casiono, the High Roller, and the Royal Casino. Other landmarks include a replica of the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign and interpretations of Vegas Vic and Vicki as Vice City characters Avery Carrington and Candy Suxxx. Suites in several of the hotels are available for purchase. Additionally, Las Venturas features a large surrounding desert region, residential areas, and strip malls, as well as a seedy area (Old Venturas) with several strip clubs and gambling parlors based on the Old Vegas Strip. The characters that appear in San Andreas are relatively diverse and relative to the respective cities and locales which each of them based himself in. This allows the game to include a significantly wider array of storylines and settings than in Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City. The player controls Carl "CJ" Johnson, a young African-American gang member. The Los Santos stages of the game revolve around the theme of the Grove Street Families gang fighting with the Ballas and the Vagos for territory and respect. East Asian gangs (most notably the local Triads) and an additional Vietnamese gang are evident in the San Fierro leg of the game, while three Mafia families and the Triads who all own their respective casino are more prominently featured in the Las Venturas section of the game. Like the previous two GTA games, the voice actors of San Andreas include notable celebrities, such as David Cross, Andy Dick, Samuel L. Jackson, James Woods, Peter Fonda, Charlie Murphy, Frank Vincent, Chris Penn, Danny Dyer, Sara Tanaka, rappers Ice T, Chuck D, Frost, MC Eiht and The Game and musicians George Clinton, Axl Rose and Shaun Ryder.[14] Young Maylay makes his debut as the protagonist, Carl. After living in Liberty City for five years, Carl "CJ" Johnson returns home to Los Santos for his mother's funeral. There, he finds his family and gang, the Grove Street Families, in disarray. While ironing out issues with his fellow gang members and fighting enemy gangs for territory within the city, Carl begins to bring the Grove Street Families back to prominence. However, with the Families on the cusp of retaking control of Los Santos, he discovers that his best friends, Big Smoke and Ryder, are working with the crooked Officer Tenpenny and Grove Street's rival gang, the Ballas. Smoke and Ryder set a trap and help the Ballas ambush Sweet, Carl's brother. Tenpenny sends the police to arrest Sweet and kidnap Carl, whom Tenpenny ditches in the distant rural countryside. Carl, realizing Tenpenny is his only hope of staying out of jail or getting Sweet released, continues to run the cop's crooked errands, in the process killing or discrediting people involved in building a criminal case against Tenpenny. Carl steadily befriends new allies, among them blind Chinese gang leader and businessman Wu Zi Mu, a hippie called The Truth, and Cesar Vialpando, a Hispanic gang member who, like Carl, has been betrayed by his old friends. Carl and his friends open a garage in San Fierro while they wait for an opportunity to return to Los Santos. After finding and killing Ryder, Carl becomes immersed in the affairs of a shady government agent, Mike Toreno, who implies that he will release Sweet if Carl helps him with his covert operations. Then, Carl works alongside Wu Zi Mu to promote the growth of a new casino in the mafia-run Las Venturas. Consequently, Carl enjoys newfound wealth and eventually returns to Los Santos. Toreno makes good on his earlier promise to release Sweet, but much to Carl's surprise, his brother wants no part of Carl's new lifestyle. Sweet insists on returning to the hood and working to reestablish the GSF rather than rest on the laurels of Carl's success. Tenpenny goes to trial for several felonies, but the charges are dropped for lack of evidence, as all the prosecution's witnesses are either missing or dead. Tenpenny's release sends the citizens of Los Santos into a citywide riot, similar to the 1992 Los Angeles Riots. Fueled by Sweet's resolve to topple Big Smoke, who has become the city's biggest drug kingpin, Carl reacquires lost gang territory and hunts down the traitors responsible for pushing drugs that destroyed the Families. He kills Smoke in a shootout, and seconds later Tenpenny shows up and flees with Smoke's drug fortune. Sweet and Carl pursue Tenpenny through the streets of Los Santos in a car chase. Tenpenny loses control of his firetruck, and he drives it off a bridge. Carl is about to shoot him, "just to make sure it's finally over," but is stopped by Sweet. Sweet simply tells him, "It's just a cop that died in a car accident." Tenpenny then dies from his injuries. The final scene shows the Johnson family reunited. All of CJ's friends, including Rosenberg, Paul, Maccer and Zero show up. Madd Dogg comes into CJ's house, showing them his first gold record. As everyone is celebrating, CJ goes to leave the house. When asked where he's going, he replies, "Fittin' to the hit the block. See what's happenin'." Many characters, locations and fictional elements from previous Grand Theft Auto games reappear in San Andreas. Catalina, the main antagonist in GTA III, accompanies CJ on a number of robbery missions. Claude, GTA III's protagonist, also makes a brief appearance as Catalina's new boyfriend after she dumps Carl. They proceed to compete in a street race, which Claude and Catalina ultimately lose. Catalina hands Carl a deed to a garage in San Fierro instead of the car's pink slip, stating that, "He needs his car to get to Liberty City". In a bit of an inside joke, numerous remarks are made about Claude's apparent muteness, due to the fact that he had no spoken lines in GTA III. Ken Rosenberg and Kent Paul, from GTA: Vice City, feature prominently in several Las Venturas missions in connection with Salvatore Leone, the Liberty City mob boss featured in GTA: III and Liberty City Stories. Maria, who later becomes Salvatore's wife, also appears as a waitress in Caligula's Palace. Unlike Vice City and GTA III, which needed loading screens when traveling between different districts of the city, San Andreas has no load times when the player is in transit (which is notable, given how much larger the in-game map is than in the previous games). The only loading screens in the game are for cut-scenes and interiors. Other differences between San Andreas and its predecessors include the switch from single-player to multiplayer Rampage missions (albeit not in the PC version), and the replacement of the 'hidden packages' with spray paint tags, hidden camera shots, horseshoes, and oysters to discover. The camera, fighting, and targeting controls were reworked to incorporate concepts from another Rockstar game, Manhunt, including various stealth elements, as well as improved target crosshairs and a target health indicator which changes colors from green to red to black depending on the target's health. Car physics and features are similar to the Midnight Club series of street racing games, allowing for much more midair vehicle control as well as nitrous oxide upgrades and aesthetic modification. In total, there are nearly 200 types of vehicles in the game, compared to the approximately 85 in GTA III. New additions include bicycles, jet planes, a jetpack, quadbikes, tractors, trains, a combine harvester, police motorcycles, a forklift, a street sweeper, a ride-on lawnmower, and many others. In addition, players can swim and climb walls for the first time in the series. The ability to swim has a great effect on the player as well, since water is no longer a viable barrier to the player and can no longer instantly kill the player (although it is possible to drown). For greater firepower, players can also wield dual firearms or perform a drive-by shooting with multiple gang members. Also, due to the immense size of San Andreas, a waypoint reticule on the HUD map can be set, aiding the player in reaching a destination. Rockstar has emphasized the personalization of the main character. Clothing, accessories, haircuts and tattoos are now available for purchase by CJ, and have more of an effect on non-player characters' reactions than the clothing in Vice City. CJ's level of respect among his fellow Grove Street gang members varies according to his appearance and actions, as do his relationships with his girlfriends. Players must also ensure CJ eats to stay healthy and also exercises properly. The balance of food and physical activity has an effect on his appearance and physical attributes. San Andreas also tracks acquired skills in areas such as driving, firearms handling (when skills are high enough, double-wielding of certain weapons is possible), stamina, and lung capacity, which improve through use in the game, adding an RPG aspect to San Andreas. CJ may also learn three different styles of hand-to-hand combat (boxing, martial arts and street fighting) at the gyms in each of the game's three cities. CJ can also speak with a number of pedestrians in the game, responding either negatively or positively; Rockstar claims that he has a total of about 4200 lines of spoken dialogue. The game's artificial intelligence was also improved. No longer can the player beat a pedestrian to death on a busy street in broad daylight and have bystanders not respond. While most pedestrians will flee or duck for cover, some armed civilians such as drug dealers and enemy gang members will attack CJ, and friendly gang members will shoot at and pursue his opponents. Cops will now chase other rival gang members who are committing crimes, instead of just the player. Other new features include: * Car modification: Most automobiles in the game can be modified and upgraded at various garages. All car mods are strictly visual apart from a nitrous oxide system which gives the car a speed boost when activated; and hydraulics, which lowers the car's height by default and allows the player to control various aspects of the car's suspension. Other common modifications include paintjobs, rims, body kits, side skirts, bumpers and stereo system upgrades. * Gang wars: The goal is to gain as much territory within the city as possible in order to earn money. Battles with enemy gangs are prompted whenever the player (either alone or accompanied by fellow Grove Street Families members) ventures into enemy territory and kills 3-4 gang members. If the player then survives multiple waves of enemies, the territory will be won and fellow gang members will begin wandering the streets of these areas. Occasionally, your territory will come under attack from enemy gangs and defeating them will be necessary to retain these areas. Once all marked territories are claimed for the Grove Street Families, they no longer come under attack. * Robbery: Continuing the series' tradition of controversy, home invasion is included as a potential money-making activity.[16] By stealing a robbery van, CJ is able to sneak into a residence at night, and cart off valuables or shake down the occupants. * Minigames: Numerous minigames are also available for play in San Andreas, including basketball, pool, rhythm-based challenges (dancing and 'bouncing' lowriders, with hydraulics), and video game machines that pay homage to classic arcade games. In addition, there are the aforementioned casino games and methods of gambling, such as betting on virtual horse races. * Multiplayer: A two-player cooperative mode has also been added for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions. Accessing this mode will launch a series of special objectives similar to 'Rampages' from previous Grand Theft Auto games. Two human players will be able to travel by car or on foot. Both players are required to remain on the same screen and within a reasonable proximity of one another. * Money: The money system has been expanded upon, compared to previous titles. Players can spend their cash on gambling, purchasing weapons, buying meals, etc. However, excessive spending can force the player to sink into debt, which is shown in red negative numbers. When the player leaves a safehouse, CJ gets an unexpected call and a mysterious person tells him about his debts. Four gang members suddenly appear and shoot Carl on sight if he does not erase the debt when the mysterious person calls him a second time.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 17:19:43 GMT -5
9. Psychonauts Psychonauts is a platform video game created by Tim Schafer (known for several LucasArts adventure games such as Grim Fandango and the first two Monkey Island games), developed by Double Fine Productions and published by Majesco. The game was first released on April 19, 2005 for the Microsoft Xbox, and has subsequently been ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows; it has also been released on the Steam platform, as an "Xbox Original" through Xbox Live Marketplace, and as a free playable title on the GameTap basic subscription service. Psychonauts is based on the exploits of Raz, a young boy gifted with psychic abilities who escapes the circus to try to sneak into a summer camp for those with similar powers in order to become a "Psychonaut". He finds that there is a sinister plot occurring at the camp that only he can stop from happening. The game is centered on the widely strange and imaginative minds of various characters that Raz enters as a Psychonaut-in-training in order to help them overcome their fears or memories of their past in order to gain their help and progress in the game. Raz gains use of several psychic abilities during the game that are used for both attacking foes and solving puzzles. While the game suffered from poor sales and publisher Majesco suffered financial difficulties relating to Psychonauts and other titles in its catalog, Psychonauts received strong praise and is considered one of the best platformers of the sixth console generation. Psychonauts combines traditional console platformer elements with the kind of strong storytelling, humor and dialogue found in adventure games. The camp itself is fully explorable by the player to find hidden arrowheads that can be used to purchases items at the camp store and psi cards that help to improve Raz' Psi Ranking, to talk to other campers and camp advisers, and to make way to the various "levels" within the game. There are also areas in the "real world" of the camp, including a nearby insane asylum, that the player will explore during the course of the game. Throughout these areas are characters whose minds Raz can enter, either through their own actions, or by use of a small door that Raz uses on the character's forehead. Each of these character levels has its own unique visual design and set of challenges, related to the demons, nightmares and secret memories of the mind that Raz is exploring; for example, within the mind of the lungfish that terrorizes the camp lake, Raz is seen as a giant monster attacking a city filled with lungfish beings, while within the mind of Boyd, the security guard at the asylum, Raz encounters Boyd's alternate personality of "The Milkman" who sees everything as a conspiracy theory. Within the mind levels, the player can collect various "figments of imagination" which can also lead to increasing Raz's Psi Ranking, and can locate tags to match with various "emotional baggage" within the level to unlock a slideshow that helps to explain the background of that character and his or her mental problem. The player must also avoid taking damage from censors that attempt to remove Raz from the character's mind. Each mind level typically ends with a boss fight that represents the main cause of the character's mental problems. Raz gains new psychic powers through the game through either instruction by the camp counselors, or by increasing his Psi Ranking. These powers include telekinesis, levitation, invisibility, pyrokinesis, clairvoyance, PSI Shield, PSI Blast and confusion. Additional Rankings increase the range, duration or potency of these abilities. These powers are directly involved in the puzzle-solving aspects of the game as well as to defeat foes within the game, and allow the player to tailor the solutions to his or her own playing strengths. The player also gains items that can be used either for solving puzzles, to escape from a mind level if they become stuck, or to get advice for solving some of the puzzles. The story is set in Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp (a remote government training facility under the guise of a summer camp), where students are trained to become Psychonauts. The area was hit centuries ago by a meteor made of psitanium (an element that can grant psychic powers or strengthen existing powers), creating a huge crater. When settlers began inhabiting the region, the psychoactive properties of the meteor slowly drove them insane. An asylum was built to house the afflicted, but within fifteen years the asylum had more residents than the town did. The government relocated the remaining inhabitants and flooded the crater to prevent further settlement, creating what is now Lake Oblongata. The asylum still stands but has fallen into disrepair. The government took advantage of the psitanium deposit to set up a camp for training Psychonauts. The local wildlife has been profoundly affected by the psitanium as well. Bears are able to attack from afar using telekinetic claws, and cougars are endowed with pyrokinesis. Also, the rats in the upper levels of the old asylum are kamikaze creatures, running at anyone that comes close and exploding in a cloud of Confusion. One pet turtle displays human-like intelligence due to his human-sized brain. Raz (short for Razputin) is a young boy whose family is part of a circus. Raz finds that he is gifted with psychic abilities but his father refuses to let him attend Psychonauts training at Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp; Raz disobeys his father's wishes and sneaks off to join the camp. After sneaking into the camp, Raz is discovered by the camp advisers, Sasha Nein, Milla Vodello, and Coach Morceau Oleander. Though they discover that Raz has strong psychic abilities, they allow Raz to stay until his parents can come collect him, but bar him from participating in any activities. However, Sasha asks Raz if he can explore his powers further, and puts him through the "Brain Tumbler", both inside Sasha's mind as well as Raz. While in his own mind, Raz discovers that one of his fellow campers, Dogen, is about to have his brain pulled out by what seems to be a dentist, calling it a "bad tooth", but is unable to surmount an obstacle to learn more. In the real world, Raz find that Dogen in fact now is lacking a brain, and tries to warn the others, but they shrug it off, accounting for Dogen's odd behavior as being eccentric. Raz learns a Psi technique that allows him to re-enter his mind and to get past the obstacle blocking him before and finds that the "dentist", Doctor Loboto, is working with Coach Oleander to extract all the minds of the children at camp to make them the power source of psychic death tanks. When he returns to the real world, he learns from Ford Cruller that Sasha and Milla have been called away on important Psychonauts business and takes it upon himself to rescue the next victim, Lilli, who has been kidnapped and taken to the insane asylum across the lake. Ford offers as much help as he can, though he is unable to leave the camp, but offers Raz a piece of bacon that Raz can use to telepathically talk to Ford at any time. After using a bathysphere and defeating the monstrous lungfish that inhabits the lake, Raz finds himself at the base of the insane asylum, and uses his abilities on the few that reside in its ruin to gain entry to the upper levels of the asylum. He finds that Oleander and Doctor Loboto has taken Lilli, Sasha, and Milla hostage. Raz is able to free them, where they turn to fight Oleander and Loboto. As they fight, the insane asylum is burned down, and while the others escape safely, Oleander transfers his mind to one of the death tanks and attacks Raz. Raz nearly defeats the tank before Oleander is able to force Raz's brain out, but Raz acts quickly and moves his brain into the tank, where it merges with Oleander's. Raz finds himself in a mental world that combines his own fears of the circus with Oleander's childhood features of his father, a butcher. Raz escorts "Little Oly", the child version of Oleander, safely through the world, and is able to defeat the gruesome visions of both of their fathers successfully. However, as their minds are still melded together, the two visions combine into a overall amalgam of the two that Raz attempts to fight unsuccessfully. Suddenly, Raz's real father shows up in the mental world, and explains to Raz that he too had psychic abilities, and did not mean to dissuade Raz from exploring them further. Together, the two are able to defeat the amalgam, and pull Raz' and Oleander's brains apart, restoring them to their proper bodies. As the rest of the children's brains are restored, Raz is congratulated for his outstanding work, and is allowed to become a Psychonaut. As he is leaving camp, news arrives that the Grand Head of the Psychonauts, Truman Zanotto, has been kidnapped. Raz and his fellow Psychonauts fly off to rescue him. Psychonauts features a large cast of characters, led by the game's protagonist, Razputin. These include camp Coach Oleander, Psychonaut agents Sasha Nein and Milla Vodello, Raz's mentor and idol Ford Cruller, Raz's love interest Lili Zanotto, and Bobby Zilch, the camp bully.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 17:26:06 GMT -5
8. Fable Fable is a video game for Xbox, Mac OS X, and PC. It was developed by Big Blue Box, a satellite of Lionhead Studios, and was published by Microsoft. Shipped to retail on September 14, 2004, Fable was well-received by critics for the quality of its gameplay and execution, even as they lamented its failure to include many of the features promised by creator Peter Molyneux. The game's music was composed by Russell Shaw, and the opening title theme was composed by Danny Elfman. An extended version of the game, Fable: The Lost Chapters, was released for Windows and Xbox in September 2005. In the game, the player controls the main character from a third person perspective. The character can be made to interact with people and objects, and in battle can be made to attack and execute skills through button presses or by utilizing user-defined keyboard shortcuts in the PC version. Fable features a character-customization system based on the concept that everything the character does affects him to a certain extent. Eating too much causes the character to gain weight. Battle damage causes scarring, while the sunlight causes tanning. Drinking too much alcohol can cause the character to get sick and vomit. The method of combat affects the hero's appearance. A warrior who uses heavy weapons increases his musculature and size, an archer will be lean and sleek, a mage will have glowing hands and can gain access to blue tattoos. Every article of clothing the character acquires will change his in-game appearance. He can be further customized through a variety of haircuts, facial hair, and tattoo cards that allow for a range of body modification options. The clothing, hairstyle, and tattoos the character wears will affect the way he is seen by the non-player characters. The character's actions will award either good or evil points. Killing monsters or saving villagers will result in achieving good points. Committing a crime, killing an innocent person, or getting a spouse to divorce you will accumulate evil points. These affect not only the responses of the non-player characters but also the appearance of the character. A hero with an abundance of good points will soon find a halo surrounding his head, butterflies swarming around him and his hair will turn blond. An evil character will sprout horns, emit a red haze from around his legs, draw flies, and have glowing red eyes, in addition to getting a receding hairline. As he grows older, whether he is good or evil, his hair will start to turn white. The apparent age of the hero is related to the core skills he acquires. The higher he raises his level, the older his appearance becomes. The player is able to buy property, and then either rent it out or live there. In each of the larger towns, there is a marital house that the player can buy. The player can also kill citizens of the town, and the deceased person's house or shop will appear for sale. When bought, the player can decorate the house and place trophies on trophy mounts to increase the value of the house. This value increase is especially beneficial if the house is being rented out. Throughout the game, a player has to earn experience points in order to purchase or upgrade abilities and statistics. Points earned have four categories: General, Strength, Skill, and Will. General points are gained through completion of quests and killing enemies and creatures. How the player goes about killing those creatures will affect in which of the other three categories they will gain points. Making the Hero use melee weapons to attack an enemy or making him eat healthy food earns Strength points. Firing the bow or engaging in trade earns Skill points. Using magic often earns Will points. The experience the character gains can be multiplied during combat through the combat multiplier. As the character successfully hits an enemy (melee, ranged or will attack), his combat multiplier increases. If the character is hit by the enemy, the combat multiplier drops down to the next multiple of five, or zero if below five. For example, if twelve experience points are earned and the combat multiplier is ten, the actual experience awarded is 120. Leveling up also ages the Hero. In game-play you will every once and awhile find potions that increase your experience by 1000, these are called Ages of Might, Ages of Will and Ages of Skill potions. The primary method of defense in the game comes from the types of clothing that the Hero acquires and wears. In addition to providing defensive properties, clothes also affect the way the Hero is perceived by the various NPCs throughout the game. Light-colored clothing makes the Hero look more noble to the townspeople, and thus cause them to praise and respect him. Dark-coloured clothing causes the Hero to seem evil or threatening to townspeople and cause them to fear him. The game centers on the only playable character, a male referred to by his title or only as the hero. Players start with the title Chicken Chaser and are able to buy new titles throughout the game such as Ranger, Arseface, and others including ones that can only be earned via completing a special accomplishment. The Hero lives in a land known as Albion.[2] The period in which the story is set is similar to the European Middle Ages, but the history behind it—the land being ruled by one king (who is unnamed and does not appear) through an ancient bloodline that leads directly into the current chaos—is clearly not. As a child, the Hero's village, Oakvale, was raided and destroyed by bandits. During which, his father was slain and his mother and sister were kidnapped and severely abused (this included the removal of his sister's eyes). An older Hero named Maze arrives on the scene, saves him, and convinces him to join the Heroes' Guild to be trained to become a Hero; despite the Guildmaster's opinion, Maze sees great potential in the boy. He then embarks on a journey to discover the reason behind his village's destruction, discovering his destiny, and the true fate of his family along the way. After numerous small quests, and Maze's discovery of a blind seeress living among the bandit camp near Oakvale, the Hero proceeds to infiltrate the bandit camp. To the Hero's surprise, the blind seeress is actually his older sister who was taken in by Twinblade, former hero and present Bandit King. The Hero is given the choice of killing or sparing the bandit king Twinblade. Later, after more smaller quests, the Hero is invited to fight in the Witchwood arena, where he meets the legendary Hero named Jack of Blades and is given the choice of killing his old ally and rival Whisper. However, it soon becomes clear that it was Jack of Blades himself who was responsible for the destruction of the Hero's home. Aided by his blind sister, the Hero makes it his mission to defeat Jack of Blades and restore order to the land of Albion or to become evil and lead the land into terror and death. Characters are: * The Hero The Hero is the main character of the game, whose birth name is never mentioned during the game. His appearance is customizable, and thus depends on the players' preferences. The Hero is to become the strongest Hero in Albion because of his ancient bloodline connected to Archon, the royal bloodline of the Old Kingdom.The hero's name has been discovered to be Aarkan from a book hidden in Oakvale, which is only available by stealing. * The Guildmaster The Guildmaster is one of the oldest Heroes alive. He operates the Heroes' Guild and is in charge of training Hero apprentices. The Guildmaster watches over every step of the Hero's journey through the Hero's Guild Seal, often offering advice and issuing orders along the way. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Snowspire Oracle reveals that the Guildmaster's true name is Weaver, and that along with Maze, he led a bloody revolt against the previous Guild due to his belief that the Guild should not force its Heroes to walk the path of good, but rather should give them the freedom to choose their own destiny. Maze * An old wizard and one of the strongest heroes in the Heroes' Guild, Maze rescues the young Hero from bandits during the Oakvale raid and takes him to the Heroes' Guild to be trained as an apprentice. He becomes a father figure to the Hero, and he helps to guide the Hero on his search for his missing family. However, the Hero eventually learns that Maze is in league with Jack of Blades, the being who destroyed Oakvale and killed the Hero's father. He, in fact, was part of Jack's raid and was left behind to kill the Hero. Upon seeing the boy, Maze had a change of heart and took the boy in, thinking that he could kill Jack. His hope wavered eventually and fear brought him back to Jack. The Hero then proceeds to kill Maze in battle, and, before he dies, Maze reveals that he helped Jack because he didn't want to die. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Snowspire Oracle reveals that as a young boy, Maze's parents were killed by Balverines, but Maze was saved from certain death by Jack of Blades and two Heroes (Jack killed the Balverines that were about to kill Maze and then killed the Heroes). Maze was never able to escape from Jack's shadow. * Whisper The Hero's friend and sometimes his rival, an acrobat who fights with a pole staff. Whisper and her older brother Thunder were stranded on Albion after a storm wrecked their ship and, subsequently, were raised in the Heroes' Guild. She trains with the Hero when he is a boy, and the two quickly develop a strong rivalry. Whisper and the Hero battle against each other during a few quests. Ultimately, the two cooperate in a battle against monsters in the gladiatorial Arena, only to be pitted against each other in a fight to the death, thanks to the interference of Jack of Blades. The player can choose to kill Whisper or not, earning 10,000 gold for doing so. * Thunder Thunder is Whisper's brother, and Champion of the Arena, being one of the two Heroes to win without a break. He is initially disdainful of the Hero, and continues to look down on him throughout the game. Thunder is in love with Lady Grey and courts her obsessively and thus develops a grudge against the Hero when Lady Grey becomes interested in him instead, as well as Whisper's death if the Hero chooses to kill her. Thunder makes a brief appearance near the end of the main story to aid the Hero in fighting off some of Jack of Blades' monsters. * Briar Rose A very powerful and intelligent female Hero. She is from a noble background, but her family fell into hard times when she was a child, so she ended up joining the Heroes' Guild. She is more of a scholar than a fighter, and relies more on intelligence and magic rather than physical strength. Although she initially vilifies the Hero, Briar Rose slowly begins to respect him after the two fight together in quests against Jack of Blades' forces. * The Archeologist One of the only men to examine the ruins of the Old Kingdom of the era, his study of the Focus Sites and Old Kingdom passages put him at odds with Jack of Blades, and as a result he has become rather reclusive, hiding wherever he can. The Hero first meets him on a mission for Maze, who claimed he was an old friend of his, which is unlikely since he was working for Jack at this point. The Hero later saves him from Jack's minions, only for him to continue hiding. He runs off to the Cities of the West disguised as a glove trader. He then never stepped near a ruin or opened a book since. * Lady Elvira Grey The seductive but villainous Mayor of Bowerstone; in her youth, Lady Grey was convinced by Jack of Blades to murder her older sister, Amanda, so that she could inherit the position of Mayor. In the original game, the Hero is given the option of marrying or not. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, the Hero may also expose her villainous deeds and take her place as Mayor. Although the parts of the quest that involve exposing her as a murderer are in the original Fable, the player cannot act on it even when finding proof. * Scarlet Robe The Hero's mother, she was once a famous Slayer of Balverines, and was respected as Champion of the Arena and the greatest female hero. When she was severely injured by Balverines during a particular battle, Scarlet Robe was found and nursed back to health by Brom, and the two of them fell in love, got married, and raised a family. She is eventually killed by Jack of Blades to activate the Sword of Aeons. In Fable The Lost Chapters, her spirit is one of the three used by the Hero to open the Bronze Gate. * Brom The Hero's father, he is a woodcutter from Oakvale and married Scarlet Robe after he nursed her back to health when she was injured after an attack against a pack of balverines in the arena. Afterward they had two children, Theresa and the Hero. He was killed in the bandit raid of Oakvale while fighting to protect his family. His statue is in the Oakvale memorial graveyard and his tombstone can be found on the Lychfield graveyard. * Theresa The Hero's older sister who has prophetic powers due to their ancient bloodline. During the Oakvale raid, Jack of Blades blinded her, and she was found by Twinblade and raised by bandits, eventually becoming Twinblade's second-in-command because of her prophetic powers. Despite her blindness, Theresa possesses extrasensory perception because of her exceptional Will abilities and is thus more than capable of killing all those who oppose her. However, she leaves Twinblade's service after he is defeated by the Hero. Searching for their mother on her own, Theresa is eventually captured by Jack of Blades. After the battle with the villain, she tells her brother that he has a choice: "Strike me down now with the Sword of Aeons and gain the power Jack dreamed of, or cast it into the vortex and rid the world of its evil forever." Whichever choice the Hero makes, Theresa is never seen again. After the battle with Jack of Blades, she headed off to the mountains and is taken in by a nomad who later tried to steal her prophetic powers. Theresa killed him and moved off to live in the east. * Twinblade A gigantic ex-Hero who left the Guild to unite a dozen bandit factions and become the King of Bandits. When Maze alludes to him being responsible for the raid on Oakvale, the main character then enters into his camp and defeats him personally. Before finishing the duel, the Hero is interrupted by his sister, who reveals that it was Twinblade who found her after the raid and saved her from the eventual death Jack of Blades—the real commander of the raid—left her for dead after cutting her eyes out. Teresa then leaves, and the Hero is given the choice of eliminating or sparing him. Either way, Twinblade or his followers later hire a band of assassins to try to kill the Hero. * Scythe Scythe is an ancient Hero and one of the oldest beings in Albion. He is obsessed with cheating death, and he has only managed to live for so long because of supernatural means. He is a withered shell of a man, resembling a tall, mummified corpse. At the beginning of the game, he leaves for the distant Northern Wastes to guard the Oracle of Snowspire. He returns after the defeat of Jack of Blades to seek the Guild's help in battling a new threat to the Northern Wastes. * Nostro A deceased hero, once known as the Gatekeeper. When he was alive, Nostro founded the Heroes' Guild but was only happy with a blade in his hand. It is revealed that he had not died the way he wished because he had died at the hands of his assistant, who had poisoned him. Because of his manner of death, his soul wanders Lychfield in perpetual torment until the Hero defeats him in battle. * Jack of Blades The primary antagonist of the game, Jack of Blades is widely known as the oldest and strongest of heroes, as well as the most evil and feared. After traveling the world in search of knowledge and power, Jack became the unofficial ruler of Albion. His face is perpetually concealed by a white mask with a strange pattern. His study of the Old Kingdom, despite his hatred toward it, has allowed him to control minions and his influence and wealth (some of which is gathered from his own Arena winnings) allows him to hire bandits and bend Maze to his will, giving him an impressive army. He rules over Bargate Prison, which he uses to imprison his more important enemies. This power, however, is not enough, with his ultimate sadistic desire to make the world burn. To that end, he seeks the Sword of Aeons, uncovered the bloodline that could unlock its power, and led bandits and Maze to Oakvale to find the Hero's family, killing the Hero's father himself. Once he gained the Key for the sword, Jack unleashed his minion army and activates the Focus Sites. His army lays siege to the Heroes' Guild and Jack nearly kills the Guildmaster. He kills Scarlet Robe to free the Sword but is defeated and slain by the Hero, as in the original game. In Fable: The Lost Chapters, it is stated that Jack was never a hero or even a mortal man but a malevolent being who predated the age of gods and demons by millennia. Jack's spirit lives inside the mask, which he forged of pure evil to gain immortality and has used countless host bodies to influence Albion from century to century. After his initial defeat, Jack's soul escapes and takes the form of a large dragon sealed behind the Bronze Gate near Archon's Shrine. The Hero uses Jack's mask to gather three hero souls and open the Bronze Gate, then he proceeds to slay Jack's new form. The player is then given the final task of casting the mask into the vortex and destroying it, thus banishing Jack from the living world forever. The Hero can also choose to wear Jack's mask and take over the latter's identity and reign of terror.
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Mar 14, 2008 17:35:34 GMT -5
7. Jade Empire Jade Empire is an action RPG developed by Canadian developer BioWare. It was published by Microsoft and released for Xbox worldwide in 2005. Later released was a two-disc Limited Edition containing extra content. On May 10, 2006 BioWare announced that it would release a PC version of the game for Microsoft Windows, to be published by 2K Games. This version was released on February 26, 2007 in North America as a Special Edition. It was also released on the Steam delivery system on February 27, 2007. In 2005, senior BioWare staff suggested the possibility of a sequel;, but on January 2007, BioWare staff said there weren't plans for Jade Empire 2. As of December 2007, there were continual hints of Jade Empire 2. Jade Empire is in the wuxia genre, based in a mythical setting inspired by ancient China, and allows the player to progress through an adventure based on traditional martial arts. As the character (who can be either male or female) progresses through the game, he/she is able to discover and develop new fighting styles (either martial arts, weapon styles, magic styles, support styles or transformation styles). During combat the player can switch between styles by hitting a pre-assigned direction on the D-Pad. Combat is not turn-based, but is in real time and gives players the ability to control how and when his character dodges or attacks. In this fashion the player has the ability to change styles during combat and possibly initiate a Harmonic Combo. The traditional RPG stats are not featured in this game; rather, they are replaced with just three: Body, Mind, and Spirit. These primary stats control the secondary stats of Health, Focus, and Chi (respectively), and the conversation skills of Charm, Intuition, and Intimidation. Focus is used by fighting with weapon styles (such as a longsword or a staff) or by choosing "focus mode", which slows the movements of other characters, allowing the player to attack at high speeds. Chi is a character's spirit energy. The player can use it to heal himself, to charge up a powerful "chi strike" to deal large damage, or to use it as "mana" when casting spells or transformations. Health, focus, and chi can be replenished by collecting power-ups left by defeated enemies in combat or by using Focus Shrines and Spirit Fonts found in the game world. Additionally, certain party members have the ability to add their power to yours—refilling your stats while they remain out of harm's way. Certain aspects of Jade Empire's gameplay engine, dialogue and quest systems are handled in a way that is very similar to BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic games for the Xbox and PC. Players can speak to NPCs in the game's towns (and other areas), asking questions for information to learn more about the world, the storyline, and other characters (also some have willing to join your party). Many of these NPCs will offer the player side quests that can be completed for experience points and items. These quests often have more than one method of completion depending on whether the player chooses to follow the "High path" (in the game referred to as The Way of the Open Palm) or the "Low path" (The Way of the Closed Fist). The player can respond to questions or take courses of action that are consistent with the philosophy he or she follows; different actions will affect a character's alignment and his ability to cast certain spells or equip certain items. There is also a vertical-scrolling airplane shooter included in Jade Empire as a mini-game, which is triggered by certain events in the storyline. In the mini-game, only the health and chi bars are active. Chi is replenished by shooting enemies, and is used for special attacks specific to the mini-game. The yellow focus spheres will upgrade your primary cannon up to three times. Red health spheres refill your health bar as in the main game. Jade Empire also features the constructed language Tho Fan developed by Wolf Wikeley, a Ph.D. candidate in linguistics at the University of Alberta. Much of the game places emphasis on the two major philosophies in the world of the Jade Empire, the Way of the Open Palm and the Way of the Closed Fist. These paths bear a close resemblance to the "Light Path" and "Dark Path" described in the BioWare title Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. Thus one who follows the Way of the Open Palm is not necessarily good, and one who follows the Way of the Closed Fist is not necessarily evil. According to the "Way of the Open Palm," the key to maintaining the universe is by being in harmony with nature, one's surroundings, and one's station in life. As an effect of being in nature with one's surroundings, one is expected to actively assist in lessening the chaos in the area, through the assistance of lessening burdens. While this seems "Peaceful", the Way of the Open Palm is strict in another form: one should not act outside their station and purpose in life. According to the "Way of the Closed Fist," on the other hand, the purpose of life is to follow the ways of serving oneself — to face one's challenges head on, challenge one's station in life, and work to become self-reliant. The emphasis of the Way of the Closed Fist is combat, turmoil, and constantly challenging oneself, which is why many of those who are evil tend to be considered to follow the Way of the Closed Fist, in that they bring about chaos in the universe. Context plays a large part in the interpretation of these philosophies. For example, an evil follower of the Open Palm path could enable the suffering of others in order to achieve greater order, and a good follower of the Closed Fist path could encourage self-reliance in others, thus making them happier. For instance, if a follower of the Open Palm came upon a peasant being attack by a gang of bandits, he would help because it is the right thing to do. Conversely, if a follower of the Closed Fist encountered this situation, he would reason that the peasant must survive on their own merit, or die. However, the Closed Fist student might also help the peasant if he felt that the peasant was too far out of his league for such a battle to be a valid test of his strength. Interestingly, if a common thug came upon this situation he would not help the peasant due to concern for his own safety, but then later claim he did it because he follows the way of the Closed Fist. In this way, the Closed Fist tends to be misconstrued as evil. Despite the philosophical nuances, the actual game play in Jade Empire for the most part casts Open Palm actions as selfless and heroic, and Closed Fist actions as selfish and thuggish. Prior to starting the game, the player must choose one of either six or seven playable characters, depending on the game version. The sex of the character is by far the most important factor at character creation, since it will determine the various romance options as well as the responses of many non-player characters throughout the story. There are no differences in combat capabilities between the sexes. The default playable characters are labeled "fast" (Mind specialists), "magic" (Spirit specialists), "strong" (Body specialists), or "balanced." However, this distinction is largely irrelevant since Mind, Spirit, and Body can be independently customized before the start of the game, as well as within the game through natural level progression. The male playable characters are Furious Ming (fast, tattooed), Lu the Prodigy (balanced, stocky), Monk Zeng (magic, dressed as a Buddhist monk), and Tiger Shen (strong, heavy-set). The female characters are Radiant Jen Zi (fast, diminutive), Scholar Ling (magic, contemplative), and Wu the Lotus Blossom (balanced, wide-eyed). Monk Zeng is only available in the Limited Xbox and Special PC editions of the game. The names of the characters can be customized prior to starting the game. Other than sex-based differences, the Jade Empire plot does not distinguish among the player characters (e.g., all male characters will have the same dialog response options, and will be received the same way by the story). As a minor detail, some NPCs will give a vague description of the player character's appearance. The player character models all share common expressive traits. Through most conversations, the faces of the playable characters are calm and expressionless. When choosing a rare humorous or witty response from dialog options, a slight, barely perceptible smile appears on the character models. When choosing a mean-spirited or angry response, a much more perceptible scowl shows itself. Many of the pre-generated video cut scenes are rendered separately for each player character model. During the course of the game the player will meet various non-player characters. Some will have the willingness to join the player's party and thereby become a follower. Many more characters will not become followers, but will present opportunities for side-quests or casual conversation. Jade Empire gives the player-character the option to form a romantic relationship with several of the non-player characters, including characters of the same sex. Successfully romancing a character results in them standing outside your tent on the eve of the battle against the golems, whereupon, unless you choose to reject them, your character and the NPC will lean in to kiss (although if the character is of the same sex, the camera will pan away before the actual kiss itself). Male characters can romance Dawn Star, Silk Fox or Sky. Female characters can romance Sky or Silk Fox. Male characters can also romance both Dawn Star and Silk Fox at the same time. If this is the case, the cutscene and dialog at the tent implies that Dawn Star and Silk Fox spent some time together in their grief and lead you off for a menage-a-trois. When you romance a certain character, you are also given the opportunity to influence his or her way of thinking. For example, the normally calm and collected Dawn Star can be persuaded to stand up for herself and become an altogether less mellow person, effectively following the path of the Closed Fist. Jade Empire takes place in the eponymous kingdom, inspired by ancient China. Tho Fan is a constructed language created by Canadian linguist Wolf Wikeley for the game. The language has been designed to sound ancient and distinctly Asian.[16] Tho Fan does without the verb "to be"; instead, articles — words like "a" and "the" — would be used to mark tense. In the game, the Tho Fan phrases do not actually match up to their on-screen translations — most of them are actually a set of a few dozen pre-rendered cow jokes. E.g. "You must go to the ruined temple" might actually mean "Bandits burned all my cows." In fact, the game will often use the exact same audio track to say successive sentences. * Chapter 1: Two Rivers The game casts you as a martial arts student under the tutelage of Master Li, head of the Two Rivers martial arts school, based in the in-game geographical locale of the Golden Delta. The player's training is interrupted as the town of Two Rivers comes under attack from an aggressor in a strange ship who summons ghosts to attack the student. The attacker is defeated by Master Li who comes to the student's rescue and reveals that the attacker was a member of the Lotus Assassins, a mysterious force serving the Emperor of the Jade Empire. Gao the Lesser, a rival of the student, issues a challenge for a duel and loses. He is expelled from the school after he attempts to use explicitly forbidden magic on the student. Master Li explains that the student is the last of the order of Spirit Monks. He, a brother of the Emperor and leader of the army, had ordered an attack on Dirge, where the Spirit Monks' temple existed, in order to end the Long Drought. He claimed to have opposed the act and to have saved the student and the Dragon's Amulet. He sends the student to a cave beneath the school where he or she finds part of a Spirit Monk amulet and has a vision of the Water Dragon, the entity whose death at the hands of the Emperor ended the decade-long Long Drought but left spirits roaming the land. Dawn Star, one of the students at the school and a friend of the player, is kidnapped by Gao The Lesser. The student rescues her but returns to find the village in flames and Master Li kidnapped. The student, Dawn Star, and Sagacious Zu, a man whom they had met in the swamps around the village, head off in a borrowed flying machine towards the Imperial City, where Master Li has been taken. * Chapter 2: Tien's Landing The party crash-lands their machine in Tien's Landing and sets out to find a new flier and a wind map that will show them the way to the Imperial City. The new flyer, called the Magnificent Dragonfly, is taken from the base of Gao the Greater, the father of the dead student of the first chapter. Gao the Greater is working with Grand Inquisitor Jia's elite subordinate, Inquisitor Lim, and is distressed to hear of his son's death. The player tracks down and kills him, and recruits Sky, a rogue, and Kang The Mad, Gao's personal engineer. The party goes to a recently drained area near Tien's Landing, which flooded when the dam was first constructed. The Lotus Assassins opened the dam in order to search the ruins of old Tien's Landing. The student fights Chai Ka, a demon bound in the body of a little girl, and learns that Chai Kai was sent to protect the student and that the Lotus Assassins already have the amulet. The player can then close the dam or destroy the controls, keeping it open forever. The student then heads to the Great Southern Forest, which is under the ownership of Lord Yun. The player then has the option of helping the Forest Shadow defeat a demon known as the Mother, or helping the Mother's cannibalistic demons destroy the Forest Shadow. In either event, the player can convince Lord Yun that the forest is recovering and get his wind map. Inquisitor Lim will ambush the player at this point; the player kills him and recovers a piece of the amulet. * Chapter 3: Imperial City The party lands in the Imperial City and meets up with Silk Fox, who is revealed to be Princess Lian the Heavenly Lily, daughter of the Emperor. She is unconvinced that her father is behind the sickness the plagues the land, and believes that Death's Hand, the black armor-clad head of the Lotus Assassins, is responsible. After joining either the Executioners or the Inquisitors, the student's party infiltrates the Lotus Assassin's training ground to recover the last part of the Spirit Monk amulet. Sagacious Zu reveals that he was one of the Lotus Assassins who killed Master Li's family. During their quest, the party helps Master Gang assassinate his superior, Master Shin, making it look like an accident, and puts a corrupted Spirit Shard into a Jade Golem, causing it to malfunction. The golems go out of control, damaging the underground complex. The party battles two Jade Golems and a handful of Lotus Assassins, killing Master Gang in the process. They also find Grand Inquisitor Jia, who reveals that the Emperor knew about what Death's Hand and the Lotus Assassins were doing and had, in fact, ordered them to do it. The player kills her, but Death's Hand arrives. Sagacious Zu sacrifices himself to save the student, burying Death's Hand in rubble. * Chapter 4: Imperial Palace The party fights their way to the Emperor's throne room where Silk Fox learns of what her father has done. He is aware that the Water Dragon's death is stopping the dead from reaching the underworld but is mad with power. The Emperor knocks down everyone in the throne room with a blast of magic and summons guards to attack the student, who defeats them. The student battles the Emperor, who is able to alternate fighting styles and damage immunities. The student kills the Emperor, but Master Li gets up, takes the Jade Heart for himself, and kills the student. * Chapter 5: Spirit Monk Temple The student wakes up in the underworld as a spirit. The Water Dragon reveals that Sun Li had planned this all along; he wished for the Water Dragon's power and needed to obtain the amulet and defeat Emperor Sun Hai. The student meets up with the spirit of Abbot Song, who tells him or her what truly happened at Dirge. He reveals that Sun Li wore Death's Hand's armor and killed the abbot when he tried to stop him and his brothers. The brothers arrange for Dirge's fountains to be tainted with human blood, weakening the Water Dragon, and Emperor Sun Hai killed Sun Kin when he and Sun Li attempted to oppose him. Abbot Song then reveals that one of his order attempted to escape with the student, but Sun Li, who had escaped from Sun Hai, killed the student's guardian and assumed his identity. The player and Abbot Song make their way through Dirge and learn that an evil being has taken control after the fall of the temple. The student reaches the place where the Water Dragon was slain, and defeats aspects of his or her darker emotions. The student then returns to life, and the rest of the party, who learns about this through Dawn Star, flies to Dirge to reunite with their friend. * Chapter 6: Defending the Temple While the student was dead, Sun Li realized that action would have to be taken in case the student managed to return to the realm of the living, and he retrieved Death's Hand from the rubble of the Lotus Assassin headquarters. He then sends the Imperial Army against Dirge. Sky pretends to betray the group, and lures Death's Hand out so that the student can defeat him in single combat. However, this is not enough to defeat him; Death's Hand rises again, but the student uses the force of his will to expel Sun Li's influence. The player may then release Death's Hand, use him as a slave, or convince him to seek redemption. * Chapter 7: Back to the Palace The party flies back to the palace to confront the Emperor. As they make their way through the palace they discover that the Emperor had stopped the drought by cutting open the Water Dragon's corpse and letting the water that flows from it feed the Empire. The student chooses either to destroy the Water Dragon's body, thus freeing her spirit and allowing the dead to find the underworld, or defile the water to weaken the Dragon and claim her power after defeating the Emperor. The student reaches Emperor Sun Li, who first sends Constructs of Bull and Elephant demons, the most powerful in the game, after the player. Sun Li then encases the student in stone and attempts to defeat the player with the force of his own doubt. However, if the student's companions survived, they will reduce the number of enemies that must be fought in each of the two stages. Sagacious Zu appears and helps free the student from his mind. Emperor Sun Li offers to help his student live in legend forever, if the student dies without fighting. If the player makes this decision, the student is remembered as a hero for knowing his or her place as Sun Li looks on and laughs. If the player does not, Sun Li attacks, and the student defeats him. If the student chooses to free the Water Dragon's spirit, then the end sequence shows the people of the Jade Empire cheering the student and their party. If the student chooses to enslave the Water Dragon, the end sequence shows the Lotus Assassins kneeling at the feet of the student. After this end sequence, there are short text summaries detailing the fate of any characters who survived the adventure. These vary depending upon whether or not the student chose to enslave or free the Water Dragon, and also what romance options the student pursued. * Dawn Star: She either settles down with the student, settles down on her own, rules the empire with the student, or if the student talked her into a Closed Fist philosophy and/or abandoned her, wanders the Jade Empire alone. * Silk Fox: If the student does not romance Silk Fox, she will become Empress of the Jade Empire. If the student does romance Silk Fox and the student is male, the student and Silk Fox will rule the empire fairly, or with an iron fist. If the student is female, Silk Fox will either rule the empire fairly with her 'companion,' or will again rule with an iron fist, and both the student and Silk Fox don the Silk Fox costume to silence dissenters. * Sky: Sky will use the Guild for good purposes, or serve as the student's consort or as the new Death's Hand. If the student is female and romances Sky, they leave the imperial city and live on the outskirts of Tien's Landing. * Black Whirlwind: Black Whirlwind will roam the empire cutting off heads, eventually making his way around the world. * Henpecked Hou: After a series of mishaps, Hou starts a delivery business which he immediately uses as a method of escaping his overbearing wife. * Chai Ka: Chai Ka will either return to the heavens, freeing Wild Flower and giving her the gift of life, or he will remain trapped in Wild Flower's body causing her wander the empire as a raving lunatic. * Ya Zhen: Ya Zhen will either serve the student until he or she passes away (resulting in him moving to bigger plans) or serve the student forever and loyally. * Death's Hand: Death's Hand will either become more evil, mutating so badly that his armor cannot hold his demonic form, or he will spend the rest of his days wandering the empire as a crusader for good, in order to make up for his past misdeeds. * Kang the Mad: Kang will continue to invent machines until an explosion appears to take his life, although strange machines continue to appear on the student's doorstep every year on his or her birthday. As Lord Lao, Kang's lack of danger affects his imagination in building machines, so as a radical solution Kang starts arming the mobs that chase after him. If the player chose the Closed Fist ending, Kang works for the emperor(player), worrying his use will eventually be worn out and he will be disposed of. Eventually, he crafts a portal to another dimension and disappears in a huge explosion, taking an entire lake with him. A third, alternate ending is available if the Student agrees to the terms of surrender presented by the main antagonist in the final confrontation. The ending sequence features a statue of the student being praised years later by a class of children with a skin condition similar to that of the Lotus Assassins. One child asks what life was like before the protagonist's honored sacrifice and is quickly shushed by his teacher as a Jade Golem readies an axe to quell such questioning. The sequence ends with the main antagonist laughing evilly.
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