Feed aggregator

Mirror's Edge is a beautiful paradox: a first-person action game that emphasized "flight" over "fight." But while it took a familiar genre and reconfigured it into an entirely new kind of gameplay, it was also deeply flawed. Michael Cook examines what brought Mirror's Edge close to greatness, and what held it back.

If there was ever a game that exemplified the term "flawed masterpiece," it's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, a 2004 PC title that aimed high and very nearly made it. Logan Westbrook looks at what went wrong - and right - with Troika Games' swan song.

Not many games use psychoactive drugs as necessary plot elements, but the intense visuals of Outcry do little to make up for the nonsensical puzzles and gaping plot-holes. Still, Outcry has enough artistry going for it that Lewis Denby urges you to play it, warts and all.

The latest addition to the Alone in the Dark series was almost universally panned when it hit shelves in 2008. But while Yahtzee heaped his share of scorn onto the game in his review, he actually has a strange affection for it. Yahtzee explains how Alone in the Dark came closer to greatness than you may think.

The Konami Code and the Game Genie may be relics of another time, but there's one corner of the gaming space where cheating still runs rampant. John Szczepaniak looks at how certain game reviewers are encouraged to cheat, and what the consequences may be.

Red Faction: Guerilla lets players level entire city blocks with little more than a sledgehammer, yet players must still worry about health bars and limited ammo. But Jaz McDougall has had enough of this developer oppression, and he's decided to throw off his shackles the only way he can: by rewriting the rules of the game.

The line between a clever use of game mechanics and a blatant abuse of a programming error isn't always clear-cut. But many developers could be doing more to help police their games' communities. Murray Chu takes a closer look at how Valve has responded to exploits in Left 4 Dead and Team Fortress 2.

Most people play computer role-playing games in order to find out what happens at the end of the story, but one gamer chooses to exploit every digital loophole in such games to create his own wacky narratives. Alan Au shows us the man behind the anti-walkthrough.

Just as speculative fiction foretold computers and the Internet, some of the weapons in today's shooters might just end up in tomorrow's armies. C J Davies profiles some of new military advancements that may have been inspired by videogames.

Despite the near daily advances made in science, the knowledge we have of the way our world works is staggeringly incomplete. Lauren Admire looks at four phenomena that scientists haven't been able to explain in spite of their best efforts.

Long before "physics engines" or "AI ecosystems" were familiar to gamers, a couple of British programmers created a game that practically defined those concepts. John Szczepaniak speaks with Peter Irvin, co-creator of the BBC Micro game Exile.

Videogames have always been children of science: From games played on university mainframes to current technologies like Project Natal, gaming will forever be indebted to science. But what are they giving science in return? Jacob Aron examines how videogames can better portray both scientists and science.

James Bond is an icon of escapist literature and the silver screen. Bond's influence spreads into gaming as his mission briefings, weapon upgrades and suave car-jacking skills are apparent in any AAA action title. Graeme Virtue takes a look at what videogames owe Bond.

Russ Pitts talks to the developers behind the upcoming games Splinter Cell: Conviction and Alpha Protocol about what makes spies tick - and why playing as them is so much fun.

Long before Ryu versus Ken, Scorpion versus Sub-Zero or Mario versus Wario, there was Spy vs. Spy, the videogame adaptation of the long-running Mad magazine comic. Peter Parrish examines what made Spy vs. Spy such a fun (and frustrating) experience.

Most videogames about espionage present highly stylized accounts of what it's like to be a spy. But one mid-'90s gem had the guts to offer an unflinching simulation of real CIA operations. Anthony Burch revisits Activision's Spycraft: The Great Game.

Leveling up your in-game cooking skill is often as simple as gathering up some ingredients and clicking a button a couple dozen times. But Nova Barlow has more ambitious plans: to max-out her real-world cooking abilities with a series of videogame-inspired recipes.

Fable 2 is a game about choices: If you rescue villagers from bandits, you'll earn a halo and a saintly glow; if you sacrifice them to a dark god instead, you'll grow horns and draw flies. But some decisions are a little more superficial. Susan Arendt recounts her time spent dieting in Albion.

Cooking is time consuming, enraging and frequently dangerous. But if you have a mind for details and an obsessive focus on self-improvement, you may find the hobby a natural fit. Rob Zacny explains how gamers and cooks have more in common than you may think.

When Brendan Main and his wife got stuck in a slumhole apartment in an unfamiliar city with Cooking Mama as their only entertainment, they both had the same hare-brained idea: to assemble a makeshift kitchen and try their hands at a few of Mama's strangest recipes.