Holiday Gaming Potpourri

Illness and Holidays conspire to keep even the best intentioned reviewers from their goals, and so today you're going to get a potpourri of gaming goodness. November was a big month for games, but most of the attention went to Microsoft's new console. Three titles in particular stand out for creativity, for fun, for addictiveness, and for their lack of 360ness. Some of them have been out for a little while now, but if you're looking for recent releases to put under the tree and either can't afford or can't find a 360 to gift, these titles may be just what you're looking for. Read on for my impressions of Soul Calibur III, The Movies, and Civilization IV.

• Title: Soul Calibur III
• Developer/Publisher: Namco
• System:PS2
• Score:8/10

It could be argued that 1999 was the finest year in gaming. Half-Life, Everquest, and a little console called the Dreamcast all made themselves known that year to an unsuspecting gaming public. The Dreamcast introduced the world to Soul Calibur, the sequel to Soul Edge and arguably the finest casual fighting game ever made. Soul Calibur III follows in its footsteps with familiar fighting action, beautiful presentation, and some new twists on the old formula.

Soul Calibur III (SC3), like 2003's Soul Calibur II, is more evolution on the core fighting game than revolution. A PS2 exclusive this time around, the goal seems to have been to introduce players to new styles of gameplay without mucking with the extremely popular fighting system. Feints, devastating combos, and block attacks have all been added to the game, adding an element of strategy while continuing to be a perfectly serviceable button-masher. Block attacks are particularly effective, allowing a blocking character who times it right to open up an attacker for a harsh retaliatory strike. The combat may feel a little stale to someone who's been playing Soul Calibur II for two years straight, but there's enough variety to remind fans of the series why the original worked so well. New characters have been added, and while some older characters may seem to be absent most of them are unlockable through story mode play. Both new and old characters have some highly varied fighting techniques, and certain characters that in the past operated quite similarly (such as Mi-na and Kilik) now have more differentiation in their attacks and movement.

For the first time, Soul Calibur III does not have a cousin sitting in arcades, and so there is no real 'arcade mode' available. You can still fight a string of enemies through a quick-play option, but the primary single-player game is story mode. As in previous games, story mode puts you in the shoes of a wandering warrior on a quest out in the world. Each character has their own personal demon to slay or gewgaw to retrieve, and as you complete stories you'll gain access to unlockable content like characters and costumes. Cutscenes now have a Resident Evil 4 element to them, with interaction moments requiring you to hit buttons to influence a scene's outcome. These interactions aren't vital; if you fail likely the worst that will happen is you'll start battle down a little bit of health. They do add some interest to what would otherwise be traditionally incomprehensible story elements.

SC3 also incorporates a brand new game mode that attempts to add a real-time strategy twist to the Soul Calibur mode. Chronicles of the Sword allows you to take control of a character you design, and put her through a grand adventure of her own. Unlike the story mode, there are elements of tactical movement and an almost RPG-like atmosphere to the gameplay. Unfortunately, the series' weak storytelling elements make this mode fall flat. Generic opponents (like 'Thief' or 'Warrior'), uninspiring and lengthy text-based storytelling, and simple strategy add up to a play mode that is better in concept than in execution. Character creation, too, sounds more interesting than it really is. There are a number of options, but all of them are somewhat plain and any resulting avatar won't hold a candle to the quality of the main cast of characters.

Soul Calibur III's confinement to the PS2 has also resulted in generationally adequate graphics and no online support. SC3 looks good, to be sure, but it looks as I expected it to be. Nothing surprised me about the graphical presentation or the audio environment at all. The game is probably the best looking fighting game on the PlayStation 2, though, so it's hard to fault it for hardware limitations. Sony's on-the-fence attitude about online participation has resulted in yet another title that is inexcusably offline. Given broadband penetration numbers nowadays, it's mind-boggling to me that this solid fighting game doesn't allow me the option of challenging friends online.

In the end, online or not, Soul Calibur III upholds the good name of the series with complex and well-tested fighting, a memorable cast of characters, and a unique storytelling voice. Anyone looking for a title complex enough to challenge the gamer in their life but approachable enough for the button-masher will be well pleased by what this title has to offer.

• Title: The Movies
• Developer: Lionhead Studios
• Publisher:Activision
• System: PC
• Score: 6/10

Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios has become the industry name in sandbox-style gameplay. They turn from the heady power of a deity to the reality-controlling whims of the director in The Movies, and manage to come up with at least half of an interesting game.

The Movies is actually two titles wrapped up together in the same packaging. One title is a strategy game, where you fill the role of studio lead creating your own movie production company. Like with other strategy titles you purchase buildings, train mooks, and attempt to gather resources. In this case, mooks are hired to fulfill roles on the lot and your resources are gained by releasing films. The core of this aspect of the game is polished and attractive. The game does a fair amount of hand-holding, making sure that you understand what's involved in a film's production and forcing you to learn what it takes to keep the studio running before it sets you loose in the world. The title passes through several eras of film-making, and audience tastes vary with the times. This forces you, as studio lead, to pick and choose movie genres with care because not every genre will be popular in any given decade.

The actual process of making the movie is straightforward. You purchase or create a script, assign actors and a director, add a crew, and build sets. Once all the elements are in place the film's production is carried out by the game, allowing you to see to the studio. The only catch is that once you have a few movies under your belt, actors and directors have a tendency to flake out. You'll have to make efforts to keep them happy before they turn to sometimes embarrassing and destructive forms of entertainment, like pills and booze. The in-game timeline and character moods are what keeps the player thinking, always coming up with new ways to please the audience and their employees. Unfortunately, while these elements are the most interesting to think about they won't be what you spend most of your time doing. The strategy element of The Movies mostly centers around maintaining and expansion of the studio itself. If you can keep your actors and directors mostly happy, everything else runs almost on auto. As long as you keep building the latest sets, keep them looking nice, and pay for the newest building options, you'll be able to churn out good-looking shlock that the movie-going public will pay big bucks to see. Frustratingly realistic, isn't it?

The second game wrapped inside The Movies is much more interesting. As part of the strategy game you are allowed the opportunity to make your own scripts. In the script-creation mode you gain access to a sort of mini-video editing suite which offers up facial animations, moods, and actions. Using the suite you can put these all together, specify sets, change the lighting, add subtitles, and even (with a mic) dialogue. It's a powerful creative tool, and there have already been a number of notable machinima titles released by The Movies directors. Machinima.com has an entire The Movies channel for you to check out recent offerings. Some of them are quite profound despite the sometimes crude direction. A protest film made with the game about the French riots has received international media attention, a strong endorsement of the storytelling power of this title.

The problem is that, no matter how much effort you put into a title with the suite the game has no way of knowing whether it's actually good or not. The in-game audience judges it by artificial standards, and even something that could move a person to tears could get panned by the fickle virtual public. This results in a deep discontinuity between the strategy side and the sandbox side of the game. Despite the power of the suite there is no good in-game reason to expend effort with your own scripts. It's a better idea just to pay a lot for a pre-generated script, and concentrate your efforts on ensuring the studio can shoot it.

The Movies, then, is a powerful tool for creating original content wrapped inside a fairly mediocre strategy title. There are some clever elements to running your own studio, and if you're enamored with the movie industry you'll almost certainly get a kick out of the day-to-day activities you'll be monitoring. Otherwise, the strategy game is nothing more than a distraction from the real power of The Movies: the sandbox script creation mode. If you're looking for a powerful set of tools to express yourself, it's hard to recommend against The Movies for its sheer variety and flexibility. Take a pass on this one if all you're looking for is a strategy game, though.

• Title: Civilization IV
• Developer: Firaxis
• Publisher: 2K Games
• System:PC
• Score: 9/10

The addictive spawn of Firaxis Studios strikes again. I spent the better part of my days in college trying desperately to make the AI in Civilization III submit under my benevolent boot of order. That struggle began again with the release of Civilization IV (Civ IV). Civ IV is a turn-based strategy game, and the latest chapter in possibly one of the most popular franchises in the genre. Previous titles are often cited as all-time favorite PC titles, and the series (along with designer Sid Meier) has become an industry standard. Civ IV, then, has big shoes to fill. Luckily, it does so admirably. While Civ III was a refinement of the gameplay offered in Civ II, the fourth installment in the series makes some fundamental changes to the gameplay that results in a faster-paced game that still captures the epic feel of nation against nation combat.

The basics from previous games remain the same. Your goal in Civilization is to take a foundling nation-state and grow it into a world-girding superpower. Along the way you'll engage in diplomacy, develop technologies, and probably involve your country in some 'aggressive negotiation'. You begin by choosing which culture you'll be running. Each culture has an iconic leader, whose role you take on when interacting with other cultures. Every leader has a pair of characteristics which, to a degree, influence how your culture develops. Leaders are notable historical figures from the real-world culture, allowing you the chance to step into the shoes of Abraham Lincoln or Ghengis Khan, as you choose. There are many nations to choose from, far more than originally shipped with Civ III, and you're likely to find at least one culture in the game that will strike a cord.

Once you've chosen your culture you'll place your first city and begin your campaign to rule the world. You have several options on how exactly to go about that lofty goal. Cultural supremacy is a perfectly valid option. Unlike other strategy titles, focusing your energies away from combat is not a sure-fire way to lose. The Cultural win is far more quantified than it has been in the past. Every city produces a number of culture points each turn. These culture points can be increased by building new elements for the city. Features such as theatres, aqueducts, and courts all affect the happiness of the citizenry and the cultural sophistication of the city. Cities have an area of control, a swath of land around the settlement from which your cultural force is projected. By increasing the cultural output of a city, you increase the sphere of control. If an enemy city abuts that sphere of control, and your culture is impressive enough, they may abandon their original culture in favour of your more appealing nation-state. Cultural warfare was possible in previous games, but is transformed into a far more valid option via an important changeup in international relations. Border are no longer crossable by opposing units unless you agree to an open borders pact. While this can be frustrating if a nation is strategically placed, cutting you off from a portion of a continent, this means that the only way a nation can enter your lands without that pact is by declaring war. While this is sometimes not a deterrent to the occasionally bullying AI, at least you'll know they're coming.

Besides city features, religious affiliation is a factor in cultural dominance and the chance that a city could be swayed to your cause. Religions are a new feature in Civ IV, tied to technological developments, that open up another avenues for commonality between cities and cultures. Advancement up the tech tree opens up numerous city additions, military units, movement options, and seven religious movements. Though they're not a required part of the cultural strategy, one common religion can smooth the wheels of diplomacy and encourage your cities to act together. Alternatively, if you encourage several religions throughout your nation and develop the right technology, religious tolerance can be a boon as well.

While the faster pace offered by Civ IV isn't immediately obvious, advancing up the tech tree will quickly make you realize that Firaxis has stepped up the pace in this latest installment. The initial epoch of horse-riding, writing, and the alphabet flies by much more quickly than in previous titles. As much as I enjoyed eight hour marathons playing through one game in college, it's extremely gratifying to be able to tackle the world in a shorter timespan. While normal mode was fast enough for me, with a game lasting about three or four hours, there is an even faster mode available that could see you king of the world in as little as an hour. For traditionalists, there is an 'epic' mode that allows you the sedate pace of previous titles.

Epic would be an apt way to describe combat in Civilization IV, which has been streamlined and tweaked considerably from the third installment of the game. Military units, which previously had a somewhat murky relationship with one another, are now more clearly marked by their relative strength. Despite the inherent comedy, a spear-wielder can no longer take out a tank as more advanced military units are levels of magnitude stronger than their older counterparts. The mid-game is a frantic rush to gain gunpowder, as swordsmen will lose to musket-wielders in almost every encounter. Refreshingly, the AI has also been reeducated. Not only is it more varied in its tactics, but you are no longer subject to degenerate gameplay sometimes seen in previous titles. There are a number of ways to advance troops now, with each unit usually having more than one option to upgrade to a modern fighting force. In addition to upgrades, seasoned units have promotion possibilities open up. This allows for individually more powerful units within your overall army. Units of all types have been given a tweak, as workers now come equipped with a bevy of tools for improving your nation's infrastructure. Besides roads and irrigation, workers can deploy several types of mines, farmlands, and other civic improvements. A new type of unit has also been added to the game, the great leader. Great leaders come in several different flavours, and each are expendable to gain a useful cultural element. Some leaders create a powerful building within the city that houses them, while others allow you a free technological innovation. While leaders don't appear often they're a welcome rarity to spice up gameplay.

The most obvious change to Civilization IV is in the graphical presentation. While Civ III offered a semi-3D look, Civ IV is a true 3D experience. You can scroll in to get as close to the action as you like, or pull far back to get a good sense of the overall scope of your empire. Units and cities are handsomely displayed, with a surprising amount of personality offered up in the little characters that help you run your empire. Combat is much more emotive than in previous games, and you'll have no misunderstandings who is winning and who is losing when the bodies start hitting the dirt. The audio environment is outstanding, with an evocative soundtrack that draws heavily on African rhythms and nationalistic tempos. New tech advances are made just a little more exciting, too, by the addition of the vocal talents of Leonard Nimoy. When he tells you that you've developed a monarchy, you feel good about it.

Civilization IV is a triumphant return for the venerable series. With several careful decision they've breathed new life into this extraordinarily addictive game setting. 'One-more-turn' syndrome is a true danger when you get deep into a confrontation, and easily matches the draw of previous titles. Multiplayer is finally a viable option outside of play-by-email, thanks to the faster pace and variable speeds. Graphical improvements make the user experience more palatable while combat and diplomacy streamlining makes for more understandable moment-to-moment play. If you're at all interested in turn-based strategy titles, you will not be disappointed by Sid Meier's latest offering.

Comments

Sounds fun

[Anonymous Coward]

I think I'm gonna just keep on playing Animal Crossing, though.

OMG a Lovely Chair!!!

Re:Sounds fun

[Anonymous Coward]

Get back to work, you're not done til you have the holiday set AND the halloween set.

Re:Sounds fun

[Stormwatch]

I think I'm gonna just keep on playing Animal Crossing, though. OMG a Lovely Chair!!!

Fucking Shigeru Miyamoto is a fucking pussy. I'm going to fucking bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to fucking kill Nintendo!

*tosses chair*

Civ IV

[ehaggis]

Civ IV is excellent. Great gameplay, AI and graphics. Only one crash so far (after many hours of play).

Re:Civ IV

[Ooter]

Only one crash so far (after many hours of play). It still amazes me that crashing is often considered acceptable in software these days. Software is the only "product" I can think of where its failure is not always considered unacceptable. Would you feel the same way if instead of your latest PC game crashing, it was your car breaking down, or your oven not turning on, or your bed frame falling apart?

Re:Civ IV

[Anonymous Coward]

my bed frame takes a beating so if it crashes I can live with it. It's all part of the "fun"

Re:Civ IV

[ChefInnocent]

As an old time Civ player (I played the original Civ on my Amiga), I'm kinda torqued that they seemed to have forgotten their base. No previous Civ game in the past required the latest and greatest hardware. Also, no previous Civ game didn't just work out of the box. I thought Civ has always been more about playability rather than amazing graphics. Although I like some of the improvements they made to the game, I wish they had considered their past audience a bit more.

Since this game failed to play out of the box, and requires a PC designed to play games rather than the majority of machines, I shan't be buying anymore Civ games unless they reconsider these issues. Further, I still contend that Civ 2 was better than Civ 3 in game play. I haven't played enough Civ 4 to compare it to its predecessors.

Re:Civ IV

[Topherbyte]

This reviewer is on crack. I think all he did was look at the pictures on the box and copy PR flack from the company.

Civ4 is so buggy, jerky, and all-around lame I would laugh in the face of anyone who spent money on it. Sid Meier should be ashamed to put out such a POS -- Firaxis must have canned their whole QA department to get the profit margin higher.

Do your own homework people! When a lifelong gamer like me decides to call BS on a glowing review you know something is fishy.

C=64 rulez

Re:Civ IV

[Raumkraut]

I too was rather disappointed with how demanding Civ4 is on hardware - it's a TBS, not an FPS. It's even more demanding than they imply in the requirements as well - I would *not* "recommend" 512 MB RAM for it. Load and quit times were ridiculous for even "standard" sized maps. Blistering after I upped to 1.5GB though.

One thing I do love about this version though is it's fantastic moddability (with Python).
It does seem somewhat slack on Firaxis' part though, when you have to use 3rd-party mods to fix bugs in the game - the trade (commerce) icon is the same as the money icon by default...

Re:Civ IV

[AvitarX]

Wrong Wrong Wrong.

Civ II ran like poop when I got it on the HW front, and CivII was soooo easy. It took only a couple games to dominate at the hardest level of play. CivIII had its problems too, but at least it was hard.

Re:Civ IV

[DeafByBeheading]

People aren't going to die because Civ IV crashes on you. In more critical software, standards are stricter. Besides, if my car breaks down, it's broken till I get it fixed. If Civ IV crashes, it's broken until, uh, I restart it.

Software bugs are a problem, but your analogy is flawed.

Re:Civ IV

[Anonymous Coward]

> Do your own homework people! When a lifelong gamer like me decides to call BS on a glowing review you know something is fishy.

Unless of course you're the only one doing it.

I've played all four Civs and Civ IV is brilliant.
Yes it's buggy, but it's less buggy than Civ II and Civ III were...

Re:Civ IV

[Forbman]

Hmm... Civ3PTW plays WAY better than Civ2 or Civ3, just by the simple fact that you can now move a stack of units together, instead of one at a time.

A gaming machine for Civ4? The Civ4 demo runs just fine on my computer: Athlon 1400, NVidia GForce FX5200 (I bought it 3 yrs ago to play Halo) and 1GB RAM. and the mobo/proc combo is about 4 yrs old to boot.

The major source of problems with Civ4 seems to be with ATI cards.

Re:Civ IV

[Topherbyte]

How odd indeed -- parent ostensibly derives value from restarting buggy yet "brilliant" software.

I've got a few copies of Windows 95 you may be interested in...

GTA made this possible.

[Douglas Simmons]

So so many people have bought game consoles only because they wanted to play GTA. So if Rockstar hadn't bundled such great soundtracks for the car radios, there would be less demand in the industry for new consoles and therefore less demand for softare companies to make games that strive to be as God-like as GTA.

Alls I'm trying to say is to take a few seconds and think, "Thank you, GTA people."

Re:GTA made this possible.

[wampus]

I know I bought GTA and my PS2 at the same time. Didn't realize it was that common.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[jshaw001]

so should we thank microsoft and bungie for Halo and Halo 2?

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Quiet_Desperation]

I just wish more developers would use GTA as a model. In addition to being fun games, the GTA3 series games are fun *toys* in the sense you can turn them on and just wander about a virtual world that reacts to your actions. I probably spend more time exploring and testing the limits of the game's law enforcement personnel :) than on the actual missions. And Rockstar must have a team of people who just design the various neighborhoods the way you can wander down back alleys and find lots of details.

I want my RPGs, platformers and adventure games to be like this now: an endless world where there's no map screens with limited areas. I want the world to just go and go and go. Shadow Of The Colussus did this well. I know a lot of the online worlds are like this, but those seem to require more free time than I have. I need the console stuff where I can play a bit and save and come back days later.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Douglas Simmons]

No idea, haven't played Halo; but you should thank your employer for enabling you to buy the thing.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Red Samurai]

You're so full of shit. You go on like there haven't been great games before GTA. What about Final Fantasy? Zelda? Metal Gear? The Mario series? They did miles more for the gaming industry than bloody GTA. You need help, it appears your mouth and asshole have switched places.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Horatio_Hellpop]

For the life of me, I _still_ don't get the attraction of GTA ... why would you want to take on the persona of a complete asshat, running around blowing up people, stealing stuff, and being a general dicksnot? Whatever. Have fun with it, I guess.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Anonymous Coward]

why would you want to take on the persona of a complete asshat...and being a general dicksnot?

Because some of us are not asshats in Real Life(TM).

Re:GTA made this possible.

[SmallFurryCreature]

It also appears he doesn't know that GTA is for the PC as well, and two of the reviewed games are pc. Civ PC only in fact.

Oh well, what do you expect from a GTA player.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[infochuck]

WTF? How old are you, sonny? Civ was a franchise before GTA was even a glimmer in somebody's eye. But yeah, thanks RG, because this superior-quality game whose name is synonymous with quality turn-based strategy obviously never would have made it past the first iterarion without you. Even if those wacky Civ guys DID manage to make a sequel, and it sold (yeah, right!), NOBODY would EVER buy a THIRD installment (or something called "Alpha Centauri"). Sid who?

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Anonymous Coward]

we apparently have practically college students writing slashdot reviews

What, do you need 20 years of job experience to write a freaking game review?

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Angus Prune]

because you get to take on the persona of a complete asshat, running around blowing up people, stealing stuff, and being a general dicksnot.

Re:GTA made this possible.

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, and a wife and children to neglect too.

Don't you know anything?

Well...

[Anonymous Coward]

Block attacks are particularly effective, allowing a blocking character who times it right to open up an attacker for a harsh retaliatory strike

Um, since when have they not been? Did you actually play any of the other versions?

Re:Well...

[RollingThunder]

World War 2 Online is also a MMO that is available for the Mac, although it's a MMOFPS (first person shooter) rather than MMORPG. First of it's kind, despite claims by Planetside. :) It's certainly not for everyone, but those who like it can't be pried away from it.

Cool!

[Shadow Wrought]

Now I can reject my own scripts for a change!

SC III

[Shadow Wrought]

So does anyone know why Soul Calibre III was released solely on PS2 when, of all the platfoms, it sold, by far, the least of the Soul Calibre titles? Does that strike anyone else as counter-productive?

Re:SC III

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea, but what you don't see is the huge amount of cash Sony paid for this right.

Re:SC III

[hector_uk]

no idea, i never got SC2, i played it at an EB and it did not feel nearly as fluid as soul caliber on my DC (i still play it :D)

someone needs to come out with an accessory that you plug into the controller port and into your pc/mac to be able to play and split screen game online, i'd love to deal out some mitsurugi ownage to someone, the AI is not good enough.

and seeing as i dont own a ps2 i wont buy SC3, i'll probably buy it for a friend then play it through on their ps2.

Re:SC III

[mrbaggs]

You shouldnt have modded parent down, he's right you know. Sony forked out a wad of cash for exclusivity, nothing else. Theres no other reason why Namco woulda backstabbed all the loyal fans with Xbox/GC that bought SC2 in huge numbers.

Re:SC III

[itscolduphere]

You shouldnt have modded parent down, he's right you know. Sony forked out a wad of cash for exclusivity, nothing else. Theres no other reason why Namco woulda backstabbed all the loyal fans with Xbox/GC that bought SC2 in huge numbers.

I don't feel backstabbed...I'll just continue to enjoy SCII on my Cube. SCIII doesn't sound that amazing anyway, in comparison. The only ting I wonder is why would Sony bother to do such a thing? Isn't it a little late in the game to worry about moving PS2s?

Re:SC III

[Anonymous Coward]

Stop smoking pole.

Re:SC III

[sesshomaru]

I had this opinion that it might be ego. I mean, you could say the same thing about Resident Evil 4, why bother pressuring Capcom to port it?

Soul Calibur II was just obviously inferior on the Playstation II compared to its incarnation on the other two platforms, I imagine that didn't sit well with Sony. So, having Soul Calibur III come out as a Sony exclusive is a way for Sony to rectify that situation.

Re:SC III

[Shadow Wrought]

*slaps forehead*

Duh. Thanks;-)

Re:SC III

[Anonymous Coward]

Soul CalibUr
calibur as in EXcalibur, not caliber as in ".50 caliber desert eagle"

Re:SC III

[outsider007]

I dunno, I just bought a cube last month. there's a lot of cheap-ass games for it that are fun as hell. if they had a must-have title for ps2 (gotham racing3?) they might get my $100 before microsoft sees my $400. Plus there's a lot of rpg's that I wouldn't mind playing on ps2 (never owned one). Sure graphics are choppier but gameplay is king. everyone knows this.

Re:SC III

[itscolduphere]

Do yourself a favor: pick up a used PS2 somewhere, and start hitting the back-catalog. It'll be the best value you've ever experience, fun/dollar-wise. There are enough PS2 exclusives that were well worth playing, most of which are pretty old now, and thus available cheaply.

I'd start by finding yourself a copy of Ico. But there are also several RPGs you should look into.

I just thought this whole Soul Calibur 3 thing was bullshit because there were a couple reasons that the PS2 version of Soul Calibur 2 was the worst: A) the system was grossly underpowered compared to the other two, and it showed, and B) the special character for the PS2 version (Heihachi, if I remember correctly) sucked compared to Link and Spawn. Of course, that second part is just my opinion.

I think Namco shot themselves in the foot on this one, because by releasing it for PS2 only they haven't fixed the problem, just made sure a lot less people will buy the game. I think they figured that multi-platformers like myself would just pick it up for PS2 if that is the only system it was available for...except that given the choice between playing SC3 on my PS2 or just continuing to play SC2 on my Cube (and keeping my fifty bucks), I'll go with the latter every time. I'm guessing a lot of people who own the Xbox version feel the same.

Civilization IV

[Minwee]

One element of Civ 4 gameplay is missing from this review. It's BIG and SLOW.

Although the producers claim that it requires a minimum of 256M and recommended 512M the game, even with the recent 1.09 patch, regularly baloons up to over a gigabyte by the time I reach the Renaissance. With a mere 512M of RAM this leads to heavy swapping during regular play and several minutes of thrashing like a beached whale between turns.

After struggling along like that for a while the game will eventually just crash. Between the infrequenct auto-saves and painfully long loading times that can cost me anywhere up to a half hour of play time and generally destroys my interest in the game.

I hope that having more memory will at least lessen these problems as I have heard some glowing reviews of Civ 4 from other sources, but trying to play with the recommended system is just a little bit too painful for me.

Re:Civilization IV

[Zonk]

I've heard many reports of this problem, but I didn't mention the problems in my review because I never experienced those issues.

I've got a gig of RAM in my box, though. It stinks that they list the recommended specs at 256 megs of memory. Is there any big commercial game made within the last two years or so that ran well on 256 megs of RAM?

More RAM should almost certainly take care of those issues, and if you like the genre the game will be 'worth' the hassle.

Re:Civilization IV

[snuf23]

Looks like they really did mess up on the minimum requirements. I've been playing it on a 3.2GHz P4, 1GB ram and Nvidia 6800GT without any problems except slight slowdown on the AI turns in the very late portion of the game (which is to be expected).

Re:Civilization IV

[Tibor the Hun]

Hi Zonk!
I'll save you the trouble:

I've heard many reports of this problem, but I didn't mention the problems in my review because I never experienced those issues.

I've got a gig of RAM in my box, though. It stinks that they list the recommended specs at 256 megs of memory. Is there any big commercial game made within the last two years or so that ran well on 256 megs of RAM?

More RAM should almost certainly take care of those issues, and if you like the genre the game will be 'worth' the hassle.

Re:Civilization IV

[x_codingmonkey_x]

I've been playing it with a P4 1.8, a gig of ram and an ATi 9600 Pro and being in the modern era (1950s) it's unbearibly slow, even when I just launch my saved game. I assumed that this has something to do with the large amount of objects on the map, but I still have a bit better than the recommended specs and it crawls. Hopefully this will change once I put together my new rig with a 6800 gs.

Re:Civilization IV

[RobFrontier]

I had a Gig of RAM and saw crashed in the late game, I went to a gig and a half, and no more crashes

Re:Civilization IV

[mcb]

You can change the frequency of the autosaves from the config file. Open the shortcut '_Civ4Config' in your Civ4 folder and look for 'AutoSaveInterval'.

It really slows you down if you have to pass a lot of turns quickly though (like the beginning of a game on epic speed).

Re:Civilization IV

[cliffski]

this is a turn based game right?
Are they going out of their way to make it run slow? When I wrote Democracy (www.democracygame.com) I ran out of processing I needed to do, WAY before there was any chance of a performance bottleneck. Thats with a pretty hefty neural network running too.
Of course, I didn't bolt a totally superflous fancy pants 3D engine on top, which is what makes most modern games take 3 years, 120 staff and 8 million dollars to make. And as you have noticed, it also makes em run like a dog.
ho hum.

Re:Civilization IV

[craXORjack]

Bad news. I have run it on both P4 1.8GHz with 768MB and an Athlon 3GHz with 2GB RAM and both had weird slow downs. It will run fine for a while then inexplicably slow to a crawl. Sometimes if I let it sit for a half hour it will recover. Other times it won't even after several hours. But spending 30 minutes waiting for the menu to come up and saving my game then exiting and rebooting does reset everything. Seems like a pretty severe memory leak. There are also major graphics glitches. I have different models of Nvidia in these systems and experience similar problems. Again the problem may go away if I endure it long enough or may require exiting to the desktop and restarting. On the bright side, I ran one game with no problems but it was on a tiny world in duel mode with only one other civ.

Re:Civilization IV

[thesandtiger]

I've 2GB of RAM and I don't have any of the slowing problems - huge maps, long game sessions etc. It's quite a bit of game to get in to, but now that I've begun mastering the details of the interface (how to get all cities to follow the same build queue, etc) it is ROCKING.

Re:Civilization IV

[Anonymous Coward]

Civ IV 3D graphics is not needed to play the game. All it does for me is crash or hang my system like crazy. I have neven seen a game that unstable. Any other game which I play crashing on my machine is rare event, so it is not the machine.
Changing the drivers and tweaking the video card just make the game crash in different scenarios. The game became more or less stable only after I got the patch and switched to minimum video settings.
Overall, 3D graphics is huge disadvantage for the game.

Re:Civilization IV

[RestartLater]

I had the same problem as you, although never a crash. It was maddeningly slow. I couldn't stand it. That's when I had 512MB of RAM. Went out and bought a 1GB stick a week ago. Now, smooth as silk with that 1.5GB of RAM. Commit charge I notice still goes to 1.2GB tho...

I was miffed at the installation as well, since I have an ATI card. Imagine my frustration when I paid for this game, only to find it wont work, and takes all these stupid steps to even get it working on ATI cards... What a piss-off that was...

Re:Civilization IV

[Conroy]

Besides the fan-made patch (which works pretty well for me), you can make the auto-saves more frequent - edit the AutoSaveInterval value in CivilizationIV.ini.

The patch is being discussed on civfanatics.com also. It seems to help a lot of people.

Re:Civilization IV

[AuMatar]

I'm actually playing it on 256 MB of ram, as one of my memory channels died on my mobo. Its surprisingly playable. Huge maps aren't playable, but standard is. Expect 10ish seconds of lag between turns on late turns. Only loading a save is truely painful.

Re:Civilization IV

[briancnorton]

Right on the money. I have problems with the gameplay, but they are minor. (500,000 culture and I still can't convert a level 1 city!) My big problem is performance. Even Civ3 was butt slow, but it played. I have a very new PC with a gig of ram and reasonable vid and I still have to have almost every graphical option turned off or down to stay playable.

Re:Civilization IV

[itadaku]

Well a 512 DIMM of RAM would cost you a whole US$40, that's less than the game itself. I guess that never crossed your mind when you "bought" it.

1G of RAM is a bare minimum these days. I can't believe, given how cheap memory is currently that people still plod along with 256/512 meg and are always complaining that their puta is slow.

Re:Civilization IV

[Minwee]

That's a problem for me because anything less than a huge map just isn't worth playing on.

I think that Milton put it best when he said that it is better to Blue Screen in Heaven than to reign in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Re:Civilization IV

[Detritus]

Many people have older systems that can't accept more memory or use memory technology that is still expensive. It would cost me $420 to upgrade from 512 MB to 1 GB of RAM.

Re:Civilization IV

[Anonymous Coward]

dont talk while youre chewing on sour grapes

What about if you hated Civ3?

[Erioll]

I know I'm not the only one that was VERY disappointed with civ3. I could go into the details, but I'm sure others could do that as well as I. But the long-and-short of it is that I was a fan of Civ1, 2, SMAC, and even CTP (even though that wasn't made by Sid, it was still not bad IMO). But Civ3 was just a massive disappointment.

Does Civ4 redeem the series? Or at the least, does anyone know of a review that's by someone that EXPLICITLY says that they HATED civ3?

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[aetherspoon]

Note: My favorite game of all time is SMAC.
Civ4 introduced a lot of SMAC elements in to Civ. For example, instead of government types, you have the social choices similar to how SMAC works.
As I've put it before, it is a great game from what I've played. Too bad the coders royally screwed it up with their showstopping bugs, extreme slowdowns, and bloated code. Seriously, when I see my VCard driver BSOD from playing Civ4, something is wrong. I refuse to run that thing again (luckily, I just borrowed it from my next door neighbor while he was playing Call of Duty 2 still) until I can be completely assured that it won't do that crap again.

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[C10H14N2]

I thought Civ III was a piece of trash.

Civ 4, although tremendously resource-hogging, is glorious. It simply is what the game should be. No Elvis advisors, although Leonard Nimoy's comments occasionally get a bit tedious, but usually they add a bit of cute without being cheesy.

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[Anonymous Coward]

I hated Civ III and Civ IV does make up for the disappointment of the previous version.

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[Misch]

"Beep... beep... beep." - Sputnik I

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[Anonymous Coward]

This is not Civ3 (Thank god!). From someone who played Civ3 for a game an a half then when back to AC, Civ 4 is not a reincarnation of civ 3

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[roguenine19]

Civ 4 is Firaxis' way of redeeming itself for the disappointment that was Civ 3. While they kept culture in, it's been improved so that it actually works, and most of the things that made Civ 3 so annoying have been either scrapped or reworked. On the whole, it's just a better game in every way (if you have a system that can run it). So yes, Civ 4 is a huge improvement on the mediocrity that was Civ 3.

Re:What about if you hated Civ3?

[Anonymous Coward]

If you thought CTP was worth playing, then I don't care what you think of Civ IV.

Great innovation

[Anonymous Coward]

the best the gaming "industry" can offer is sequel after sequel
good to know there is so much innovation and forward thinking, perhaps Hollywood should take a few ideas......oh wait

Silent Storm

[SunPin]

There is no other... unless you pay /. to hype the retread crap listed above.

Civ 4 for the Mac?

[maynard]

Is anyone porting Civ 4 for the Mac? Would love to know if/when I can buy this title for my machine. --M

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[NewWorldDan]

Fortunately for you, in the not too distant future, Apple will be producing a Macintosh capable of properly running Windows. Then, all the Mac fans out there can finally enjoy all the software the rest of the world has taken for granted for years. Since these new fangled wonder computers have yet to be released, you will likely have to wait until they are and then upgrade.

Peace out and flame on. :)

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[Misch]

yes, a Mac version is coming, according to CivFanatics, via this source.

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[loonyboi]

Yes, Aspyr announced they are porting the game to OS X. It'll be out sometime next year.

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[BadMrMojo]

Aspyr is porting it. I just read a brief message from Brad Oliver mentioning that he'd just rolled the 1.9 (is that right?) patch code into the port.

No official word on when, yet - at least as far as I've heard.

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[AlpineR]

Yes, Aspyr Media is porting Civ IV to Mac. It's due in early 2006 and I can hardly wait. Strangely, they also just released Civilization III: Complete for Mac that includes the Conquests and Play the World expansions. I'd like the expansions for the gameplay improvements (especially smarter workers), but it hardly seems worth $50 when I already have the standard Civ III and all the PC gamers are playing Civ IV.

AlpineR

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[strider44]

How about the same question with Linux replaced with "the Mac"?

Re:Civ 4 for the Mac?

[Bazzalisk]

Unless you manage to raise Loki from teh dead I wouldn't count on it.

Even then I wouldn't expect it.

sciii

[Anonymous Coward]

Is anyone else flat out pissed that SC3 doesn't have team battle? It is all I ever used (after i unlock everything). My buddy actually took his SC3 title back to wallyworld over this. I do love the gameplay, random creation in vs., and all my old fav. characters but its not the same game w/o team battle.

My only complaint...

[Anonymous Coward]

Is that Civ IV is too fast, even on epic mode. You never have a chance to play with the vast majority of military units. Technology advances far faster than production. It takes a couple turns to research a technology, so by the time you have a few knights, riflemen and machine guns are available.

Other than game speed it's awesome. I've only played Civ III before, though.

That depends what generation you belong to.

[dstone]

So so many people have bought game consoles only because they wanted to play GTA.

I bought a game console because "PRESS PLAY ON TAPE" was getting old.

Re:That depends what generation you belong to.

[blair1q]

What's old is new again:

http://www.pressplayontape.com/

They forgot the SWG:Starter Kit

[Shakes268]

Yea, this is more of a dig at SOE than anything else. "Move along...."

speaking of the lack of 360ness

[js3]

I heard it bombed in japan where only 39% of their stock was sold, yet noone can find em to buy em around here.

Re:speaking of the lack of 360ness

[Anonymous Coward]

It's somewhat off-topic, but the article did mention the subject, so, here you go:

CNN article on Japan XBox 360 release.

That makes me think of an interesting poll possibility. Which will sell more in Japan in the first 90 days after release:

1. XBox 360
2. Soul Caliber III for the old Playstation
3. Civ IV for PC
4. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", Blu-Ray edition
5. "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", HD-DVD edition
6. "CowboyNeal: The Untold Story" on regular DVD

Re:speaking of the lack of 360ness

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah, yeah. I'm out in the Tokyo Suburbs, and there's no great run on them. The release seems to have been generally greeted with ambivalence.

Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[onkelonkel]

As somebody who saw the sun come up more than a few times playing the original Civ, I have to laugh at Zonk reminiscing about playing Civ 3 like it was a way long time ago. I guess "Back in the Day" isn't so far back anymore.

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[Zonk]

Hey, I played a fair amount of Civ, too. :)

And I'm not saying Civ 3 was all that long ago. Though, thinking back on when it was released reminds me painfully how long it's been since I graduated from college. *sigh*

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[Idealius]

Its like that story about the junior manager addressing a conference:

"..In all my years of management I have NEVER seen anything like this."

dumbfounded co-workers:

"You're only 24. How many years could you possibly have managed?"

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[Anonymous Coward]

indeed, i lost many a good nights sleep to civ 1 on my amiga 1200

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[ShaggyBOFH]

Addictive doesn't even discribe it...herion is addictive, Civ is beyond that. Civ II will keep you sober and make you piss your pants because you can't be bothered to get up from your pc. It's frickin' turn based for Christ's sake!!!

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[xnderxnder]

I guess "Back in the Day" isn't so far back anymore.

No, it just means you're getting old.

Y'know, like me.. ;>

(as someone who played Civ1 on a B/W 13lb "laptop"..)

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[oGMo]

Seriously, especially for those of us who remember stuff like M.U.L.E. (more info), even the first Civilization wasn't "back in the day".

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[onkelonkel]

You can always go further back.

I started gaming with Lunar Lander, Hunt the Wumpus and SPACWR on a PDP-8E (12 bit CPU, 4k of magnetic core memory, KSR-33 teletype console - pure gaming goodness)

I'm sure somebody can go further back than that....

Re:Back in the Day....not so far Back Anymore

[oGMo]

Oh, always... "back in my day when we didn't have computers", etc, but I was referring to things that were precursors to Sid-Meier-like games.

Best Civ IV advance

[iamlucky13]

New tech advances are made just a little more exciting, too, by the addition of the vocal talents of Leonard Nimoy. When he tells you that you've developed a monarchy, you feel good about it.

I don't think you can get much better than having science officer Spock on your side.

1999 ?

[Anonymous Coward]

It could be argued that 1999 was the finest year in gaming. Half-Life, Everquest, and a little console called the Dreamcast all made themselves known that year to an unsuspecting gaming public.

Actually, Half-Life came out in 1998, right?

And anyway, 2000 was clearly the finest year in gaming, because that's when Deus Ex was released. :-)

Re:1999 ?

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

Actually, I'd argue 2004 was the finest year, because that was when City of Heroes came out, and you could set up your girl, slide the ass slider all the way to JLo, the waist slider all the way to pencil, and the boob slider all the way to large grapefruit, and throw sheer string panties and a bare midriff on her, and presto! Finally something fun to run around behind for hours every night.

Re:1999 ?

[Pop69]

You don't get out much do you ?

There is a fan-made patch available...

[QuantumPion]

There is actually a fan-made patch in the form of a DLL that fixes a major memory leak in the game. It can be tweaked for systems with 512 or 1024 megs of ram in order to eliminate massive disk paging.

I can't get to the page where it's hosted because I'm at work, but if you go to apolyton.com and go to the general discussion for civ 4, the thread should be near the top.

I havn't had to mess with it, since I have a nice system with 2048 megs of ram. The only bugs I've encountered with the game were graphical glitches in 1.0 that were fixed by rolling back to a previous video card driver. There are a few other in-game usability annoyances, but on the whole, civ 4 is much more playable on release then civ 3 ever was, even after all of its patches and expansion packs.

Re:There is a fan-made patch available...

[Minwee]

*rummage rummage rummage*

Here it is. Thanks for the tip.

Unfortunately the actual link to the patch is hidden inside some kind of forum which is down at the moment. If it returns to the world of the living I'll have to give it a try.

Re:There is a fan-made patch available...

[ljw1004]

The patch is here:
http://209.174.48.134/downloads/harkfix.zip

Copying out what the author wrote about it:

You will need 3 files to be placed into your civ4 game folder
(where Civilization4.exe resides)

A single zipped pack is attached to this post (see bottom of the post), or you may visit this URL (thanks to phalzyr for this mirror):
http://209.174.48.134/downloads/harkfix.zip

Or you may want to download those files separately:
http://www.sampo.ru/~headden/zlib1.dll
http://www.sampo.ru/~headden/Patch.v...yHarkonnen. dll
http://www.sampo.ru/~headden/Patch.v01/Harkonnen.i ni

'zlib1.dll' just loads 'PatchByHarkonnen.dll', otherwise it was compiled from most recent zlib source from zlib.net

Note that it is necessary to download and replace zlib1.dll (either via .zip or solely), otherwise memory fix won't have any effect because PatchByHarkonnen.dll won't be loaded.

I recommend to turn AGP on (SMARTGART for ATi cards for example) and set AGP apperture size to maximum in BIOS (if you don't know how, just don't care). Your AGP setting might be off because it helped some people earlier to keep game non-crashing, so they still might have it off.

This patch is primarily for those who have at least 64Mb (better 128Mb) of video memory with preferably TnL card above GeForce2. You may give it a try even with lower specs - some people reported it had effect on very low-end machines.

First of all please follow these steps. Note that some steps are about decreasing graphics quality. This is not required, it is just to make sure that your first start with my memory-fix to be success, so you may increase graphics quality later when you get it running for the first time.

So, let's go:

1) Modify "Civiliation4.ini" - set "D3D9Query = 1", "DynamicAnimPaging = 0". If you have trouble finding/editing this file, don't care and skip to step 2.
2) If you have 1 Gb of memory or above, skip past step 9.
3) Run the game (if it doesn't run, follow past step 9)
4) Set it to windowed mode (not must-do, but preferable to get stable first launch)
5) Set anti-aliasing to 0 (also not 100% required)
6) Set all low/high settings on the left to 'low' (same as above)
7) Check 'Low resolution textures' (same as above)
8) Then you may check anything on the right, i.e. effects and animations.
9) Exit the game

If the game hangs during 'Initializing Python' step, just restart it and hold down 'Shift' key, so it updates its files cache. This thing is not about my patch, this is something about fresh python24.dll sources...

If you could do all of these steps, try loading some of your huge savegames. If the game crashed or graphics becomes damanged (main menu globe and sun), set 'insane_mode = 0' in Harkonnen.ini file and try again.

!IMPORTANT!

If the game crashes during loading (and crash comes from PatchByHarkonnen.dll if you click details), try recommendation from this post on this thread (post #50):
http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpo...0&postcount =50
It says to turn off ATI Tray Tools software. RivaTuner appears to be ok with my fix (thanks to Kolyana for pointing that out).

Also, xFire coming with 1.09 patch is also causing this crash according to a lot of data sent by filterban per my mail requests. This will be fixed with the next release, and thanks to filterban for his help! It's enough just to quit xFire, no need to uninsntall it. And, again, it's temporary solution until next release of my fix.

!END-OF-IMPORTANT!

Subscribe this thread if yo

Re:There is a fan-made patch available...

[blahplusplus]

"There are a few other in-game usability annoyances, but on the whole, civ 4 is much more playable on release then civ 3 ever was, even after all of its patches and expansion packs."

What are you talking about? I played Civ 3 all the time from the very first release, it mostly had minor bugs, I never had any problems with it even with 1.0. It never crashed, I've had Civ 4 crash to desktop once a game almost and it's always right when a wonder building goes up.

Re:There is a fan-made patch available...

[shadow0_0]

This patch works like a miracle. The guy who wrote it, Harkonnen, frequents the civfanatic forum.

forums.civfanatics.com

Re:There is a fan-made patch available...

[QuantumPion]

What are you talking about? I played Civ 3 all the time from the very first release, it mostly had minor bugs, I never had any problems with it even with 1.0. It never crashed, I've had Civ 4 crash to desktop once a game almost and it's always right when a wonder building goes up. What I meant to say was game-play issues. Even after all of the work done to it, Civ 3 still has many gameplay flaws. Such as the erratic diplomacy, ICS, tech trading, and other bugs. While Civ 4 may have some technical issues, there are few gameplay annoyances and the ones that do exist are relatively minor.

Maybe its a dead horse and a stick, but..

[Morgalyn]

Three titles in particular stand out for creativity, for fun, for addictiveness, and for their lack of 360ness.

How about "Three titles in particular stand out for creativity, fun, addictiveness, and lack of 360ness." ? Did anyone else stumble over this (and other) weird sentence structure in this review? At least it was still in a parallel format (technically speaking).

But Civ II is already destroying my free time

[yerdaddie]

Civ IV looks great and all, but with all the time Civ II is still consuming I think I won't dare buy it.

Civ II can be downloaded from abandonia here:

http://www.abandonia.com/games/en/99/Civilization2 .htm

Fire up your favorite windows emulator. Clear your calendar.

Re:But Civ II is already destroying my free time

[Kaimelar]

Civ II can be downloaded from abandonia here:

...

Fire up your favorite windows emulator. Clear your calendar.

Or try Freeciv -- versions available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. No emulators required!

Re:But Civ II is already destroying my free time

[Rei]

Is it just me, or is the AI in freeciv too easy? I always play on hard or experimental, and it always gets trounced. It never builds up its cities, so whenever I conquer a city, even late game, it usually doesn't have much more than city walls and a coastal defense, with production=6 or so. It seems to play the entire game as though it was beginning-game.

Not that I don't really enjoy freeciv, mind you :) One of a surprising number of really good freeware linux games.

Re:But Civ II is already destroying my free time

[Anonymous Coward]

Yes, it is too easy. In Civ II (on Emperor and Deity level) the AI can be quite hard for me to beat. But that is because the rules are adjusted to be in the AI's favor. And even then, I'm told that if you're a good player, you can still eat the AI consistently.

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[Red Flayer]

seems pretty obvious to me. especially since the answer is in your post:

"A miscellaneous anthology or collection"

That is, the selection of games isn't themed, so it's a miscellaneous collection.

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[fishybell]

So... I'm not sure how this is a potpourri of gaming goodness, but I like Soul Caliber, so I forgive the submitter.

I think you answerred your own question:

1. A combination of incongruous things: "In the minds of many, the real and imagined causes for Russia's defeats quickly mingled into a potpourri of terrible fears" (W. Bruce Lincoln).

Soul Caliber III, Civilization IV, and The Movies are just about as incongrous as you can get.

Civ 4 a huge step back!

[Smegoid]

I keep seeing Civ 4 getting excellent reviews and I just can't fathom why. I find it a huge step back compared to Civ 3 (plus expansions). The civlopedia is a mess and near impossible to navigate (what happened to the links?). The technology advances now have no supporting historical text, which IMHO reduces tech advances to a mere pesky requirement for upgrading or building infrastructure. Since Civ 1, the great thing about Civ is that you can actually learn a few things about the inter-relationship between technology and cvilizations. Without any description of the technology (except for a quick sentence by Leanord Nimoy) you no longer have a sense of why it was so important to aquire it in the first place.

The 3D graphics add nothing to the game and actually make it more difficult to play (zooming out to a comfortable vantage makes the text blurry, and I'm playing at top res with a geforce 6800 ultra). All in all, I think it's a big step back from Civ 3, and certainly underserving of all the 90+ ratings it's getting. The game feels rushed and dumbed down. I think the only reason it's getting such great reviews, is there's nothing out like Civ (well... except for the other Civs).

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[Anonymous Coward]

Its obvious Civ4 game was rushed. 2kGames quickly bought it as soon as the game was released. After all the bugs that were found after Civ3 were released you'd think they would want to make sure Civ4 would go out the door a bit more cleaner. Unfortuantely not, since after install the game didn't even run if you had certain ATI video cards. Also, certain diplomacy cheats that existed in previous versions still weren't hardened: (e.g. 1 gold per turn to acquire technology and resources). I haven't even played it long enough to have it run out of memory for me, and I probably won't. One of the big selling points originally for Civ4 was the fact it was being written in Python, and everything could be customizible. So, did it SDK ship with the game? Of course not. It had to meet the shipping date so 2kGames would be happy.

A 6/10 for the Movies? Did Zonk even play the game?

The problem is that, no matter how much effort you put into a title with the suite the game has no way of knowing whether it's actually good or not.

Actually that's not completely true. There is a "reviews" option as part of the production house you can drag your movie to before you release it to see if its going to be any good or not. Also, during the game you obtain a Public-Relations house to hype up your movies before you start filming. This also allows you to gauge how much marketing you can spend on your film to make it a success.

Despite the power of the suite there is no good in-game reason to expend effort with your own scripts. It's a better idea just to pay a lot for a pre-generated script, and concentrate your efforts on ensuring the studio can shoot it.

Also not true. There are hidden weights and scores that gets assigned to your movies based on if your characters wear the same costume throughout the film, if scenes are in proper order (i.e someone dies in one scene but is alive later on in the film). Pre-generated scripts don't always max out your starting film score, so it is a good idea to send it to the custom script house to boost your score.

I'm so glad I don't use Slashdot as a barometer to buy games.

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[jpietrzak]

In answer to your complaints, you yourself have already explained some of why you don't like Civ IV. First, you compare Civ IV to "Civ 3 (plus expansions)". Instead, you should compare it to Civ 3 without expansions -- it's quite obvious that Civ IV was built with room for a number of expansions; there's room for plenty more civilizations, leaders, and probably more techs and units in the future. If you try playing the original release of Civ 3, you might be surprised how limited it seems; the later expansions really did add a lot of flavor to the game.

Also, while the underlying game is still fundamentally Civilzation, this release is a much bigger change from Civ 3 than Civ 3 was from Civ 2. Culture is a much bigger part of the game now; the introduction of "religion" (and a variety of other, smaller changes) has really changed the flavor of international relations; and, of course, they've tied everything to this new (and gorgeous!) 3D display.

I do agree that the Civilopedia isn't quite as easy to use as before, and doesn't seem to have as much data. But that seems like something that can be easily updated in one of the future Civ IV expansions. Also, I've had no problem with blurred graphics when zooming out. And although using the 3D interface is somewhat different than the Civ 3 interface, I've found it to be fairly easy to use once you get used to it.

I think they've put most of their effort in this initial release into making the gameplay flow well; I've been putting some hours away against the game for the last few weeks, and I can confirm that it is both enjoyable and addictive. It's certainly a good game!

--John

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[cliffski]

how is this flamebait?, seems like a reasoned critique of the game. Talk about groupthink. just *maybe* civ 4 isnt the second coming?

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[potat0man]

here here! I think it's bloated and overhyped.

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[Ben Newman]

Agreed, although I never liked Civ 3 all that much either. I was a huge fan of Civ 1 & 2, but my true love is SMAC, I still play a game every couple of monthes. I've gone through a few games of Civ 4 and it's not really doing it for me. Some of my problems are technical, my system just barely meets the minimum specs so it crawls and the early game consists of me waiting 15 seconds for the turn to complete so I can hit the enter key over and over again, but I also don't really like the feel of the game. It's hard for me to put my finger on, but it just doesn't feel "epic" to me. The maps are smaller, you have fewer cities, your armies are smaller, the wonder movies are lame, tech advances give you a sentance from Spock but nothing else to make it feel like an achievment, and when you destroy an enemy civalization all you get is a sentance in the corner of the screen that's easy to miss. No throne room or castle to make, no advisors calling you "My liege" (ok, some, but it's just annoying pop-up hints that you'll disable after the first game). The over all design just feels smaller too. I never feel like I'm Alexander or Grant or Patton when I'm on the warpath. When I'm waging a WWII tech level war against a civ my same size, I want to feel like my forces are sweeping across the ocean to invade a distant continent. Instead it feels like I'm shoving a handful of tanks into a couple of boats and invading Haiti from Cuba. I can understand that they wanted to grab a more mainstream gamer audience and reduce the complexity of the underlying game, but I want a combination of more complexity and slicked up game presentation. It's one of the reasons I've never switched to console gaming because I enjoy the complexity possible in pc games more. Micromangement sucks, but am I crazy in thinking they could create a more complex civ game and spend some time really thinking about automation options that would minimize that micromanagement, rather then shrinking the entire scope of the game? Unfortunatly turn based games are almost dead at this point, but I for one would gladly give money to someone willing to give it a try.

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[eap]

I still think Call to Power was much more of an advance than any of the Sid Meier Civs since Civ II. Why couldn't they include futuristic units like space fighters?

How about colonizing the oceans?

Why can't you have group combat where archery units can bombard from the back while infantry fights?

The depth of play in CTP was much better, although the AI sucked royally. For human-human play I'd choose Call to Power over Civ IV, graphics or no graphics.

Re:Civ 4 a huge step back!

[mabinogi]

Civlopedia and interface issues are my only problems with it...

I want to be able to go to the city screen from the F1 screen by double clicking a city.

I want to be able to go to the Civlopedia entry for any tech or resource by double clicking or right clicking its name from anywhere (bonus points if its consistent which one will do it - unlike Civ III). And then the civlopedia itself needs to have the historical information right there in front of you, not hidden away on a tab - and more of it.
And yes - LINKS!!

I don't really like the quotes for new technologies, and the wonder movies are pretty lame, Civ II had some thought put in to its wonder movies.

I also really miss the palace / throne room. Sure it was pointless, but it's _supposed_ to be there!

No problems with performance here even running at 1920x1200 with the highest settings, but then I'm on a 2.1Ghz Pentium M with 2 Gig of memory and a Gefore 68000.

I think the 3D interface works pretty well, and I really like actually _seeing_ the battles take place.

All in all, I really like it, but I hope they fix a couple of the interface issues - particularly with the Civlopedia - in a future patch.

A couple of things in particular that I like are the fact that The Unitied nations is far more interesting ("Diplomatic Victory" is no longer something I turn off), and the fact that real borders make it easier to co-exist along side other civilisations.

Other Celebrity sightings...

[QuantumPion]

No Elvis advisors, although Leonard Nimoy's comments occasionally get a bit tedious, but usually they add a bit of cute without being cheesy.

Actually, Elvis DOES make an appearance later in the game, as the great artist of the modern era. Also, a likeness of Al Gore is used for The Internet. :)

Re:Other Celebrity sightings...

[C10H14N2]

Hah, I loved Gore.

That's just it (god knows why people thrashed me with modding, :/) -- they got it to nuance with Civ4, whereas in 3 it was just ticky-tacky-cheesy. The jibes they work into 4 are just enough to be humorous, but not so over the top that you roll your eyes and groan. Like the poster below, that "Beep... Beep... Beep... -Sputnik" RECITED by Nemoy made me howl. It's almost as if they knew they didn't take 3 serious enough and just made it clowny, so the clowning they did pull in this one is done completely straight-faced, with just a little bit of a wink. Almost like in Starship Titanic where Adams gets John Cleese (uncredited) to voice a bomb with a robot butler who upon encountering anything _remotely_ related to Monty Python, sighs and in the most dissmissive voice just says "You just had to be there, I'm sure."

Nintendo DS for me

[GweeDo]

Mario Kart + Animal Crossing + WiFi is all I need this holiday season.

Re:Nintendo DS for me

[kuzb]

So what you're telling us is that the DS only has one game worth playing?

Re:Nintendo DS for me

[GweeDo]

I am not sure how you got that out of my previous statement. For this holiday season I am playing Mario Kart and Animal Crossing. Before those there are MANY games I have enjoyed on my DS. If you want a list I can name a few for you...

Re:Nintendo DS for me

[kuzb]

..how about something that isn't animal crossing, and doesn't contain the standard set of nintendo icons?

Re:Nintendo DS for me

[Anonymous Coward]

how about removing some doubt? because it makes you look like a fool..do your research before you judge. skepticism isn't always cool.

The Movies is not a sequel

[snuf23]

The Movies is not a sequel to anything. In some ways it builds on previous games Peter Molyneaux has worked on (i.e. Theme Park and Theme Hospital) but it also adds the complete tool set for making your own movies.

Civ IV

[MaestroSartori]

We've been playing this a lot in the office, and although it's fun I'll warn you all that it's fairly buggy. The first patch is already out and does seem to help a little, but it still manages to crash back to Windows, and sometimes brings the whole machine down on various differently-specced PCs. Not sure if the patch has fixed this one, but there's also a tendency for graphical corruption on my home PC which persists even if I close and reload a saved game after the corruption has started.

Other than that, it's an excellent game. I'd never played any of the previous Civs but I'm having a good time with this one ;)

An accurate simulation

[aftk2]

The in-game audience judges it by artificial standards, and even something that could move a person to tears could get panned by the fickle virtual public...It's a better idea just to pay a lot for a pre-generated script, and concentrate your efforts on ensuring the studio can shoot it.

So, you're saying that this is actually a very accurate movie-making sim.

It is your MORAL DUTY to STEAL THIS GAME!!!

[Anonymous Coward]

" Those industry fat cats try to put a price on my music, but it wants to be free "

Coming for Mac in 2006

[snuf23]

Per this announcement on the Firaxis Games site - Civ 4 will be released for the Mac in 2006.

Soul Calibur 3

[Puhase]

I remember getting SC2 for the PS2 and playing the heck out of it and loving every minute. Then I read scathing reviews and felt, what did these people not get out of the experience that I did? I simply couldn't understand it. Yet, SC2 is still one of the most beloved fighting games out there, partially due to the cross-platform release.
So now with SC3, I see people consistently criticizing the Create A Character mode as being gimmicky and mundane. This is ridiculous folks! How many of us fighting game peoplehave always wanted to put our own imagined characters into the game and see if they can cut it. The shear amount of customization is incredible, so with a little creativity, you can creat some simply amazing characters. It just takes a long time to unlock all of the items, as you have to unlock access to them in the store and then earn gold to buy them. So my guess is that these editors did not go through this process and simply based their reviews off of a shallow quick run through of the character edit. I wonder if they know that you can unlock main character's weapons styles for your created character classes? Ever wanted to have a small, puny, neko girl weilding Astaroth's Axe? Neither did I, but you can do it.
They essentially took the most well polished weapon fighting system here imaginable, and tuned it up, balanced the fighters more (darn that Ivy!), and then gave the player a window to be as inventive with the game as they wished. The reviewer here didn't even point out that the custom characters have their own ten seperate unique weapons/fighting styles that the main characters don't use.
I couldn't live without the jousting pole charge!

Re:Soul Calibur 3

[Anonymous Coward]

The bad reviews were because Soul Calibur 2 didn't live up to the Dreamcast's Soul Calibur. Namco has managed to turn it into yet another uninspired Street Fighter-esque sequel factory.

Re:Soul Calibur 3

[Anonymous Coward]

Balanced the fighters more? Please, SC3 has way more balance issues than SC2 ever did. The sisters (Cassandra and Sophitia), run this game with an iron fist. Xianghua is still dominating like she did in SC2 (most of her good stuff from SC2 remains and has the same levels of abusability). Mitsurugi is still really good. On the flip side, crappy characters like Raphael and Talim are now worse and have even more issues with fighting the top characters.

Factor in the rendering of guard impacts useless due to VCs (not to mention the extra damage now available with VC cancels) and it shows that SC3 is already more imbalanced than SC2.

On a side note, the European release actually has some bug fixes not in the North American release.

Thanks a bunch! /nt

[Anonymous Coward]

. ..

Well...

[snuf23]

I'm not a Mac user but I feel I should point out that a large portion of "hit" PC games do get ported to the Mac. The ports tend to come out 6 months to a year after the PC version however. Some even later. Battlefield 1942 made it to the Mac only slightly before Battlefield 2 was released for the PC.
There is also almost no MMO support the one exception being World of Warcraft.
Big games like Civ 4 will wander over to the Mac eventually.

No such thing as "great leaders" in Civ4

[JSR $FDED]

You probably meant "great people".

There's only one leader in the game, and it's you. You might be a great person yourself, but let's get to know each other first.

Wait a tick...

[ErMaC]

allowing you the chance to step into the shoes of Abraham Lincoln or Ghengis Khan, as you choose.

Gee, that's interesting, considering http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/home.htmCiv4 doesn't have Lincoln as a leader! (click Civilizations in the flash thingy, it's the first civ selected in the next screen).

Seriously, these reviews could be written after playing the games in question for an hour. It's spitting out the feature list of each game but devoting a paragraph to each feature.

How do the new characters in SC3 actually play? Do they fit in well? What about The Movies, what are some of the interesting scripts you come across? What are some of the genres you have access to? Are there any sort of ties between real movies and the fictional ones? Or are there actor stereotypes like the Arnold-ripoff or something like that? How well does Civ4 play now that it's 3D? (Answer: poorly)

BTW for my opinion on Civ4: 3 was a better game, and it ran a HELL of a lot faster. 4 is a dog, even on a 3GHz with Geforce6600GT. I ran Civ3 on a freaking 366MHz laptop, and it performed decently. Yes, 3D means you need more horsepower but the game runs rediculously slow even on modern PCs. I can't even use the numpad to move units around anymore because you have to hit the direction, wait for the unit to move, then hit it again, because moving the damn unit one square takes 3 seconds and the game will not queue up movement commands input via the keyboard! Does something that obvious make it into the review, though? No.

Re:Wait a tick...

[Anonymous Coward]

He may not have run in to the problem. I know it works very well on my system and dosn't bog down untill late on in the larger maps. Wich isn't really much of a change from the older civs. I have a Atholon 2500+, 512MB of ram a 10000rpm hard drive and an ATI9600AIW.

The only things I can think of is you are that you are running into a bug I am not, that you have a really slow hard drive, or much more likely you have a virus scanner thats up and it's scanning every one of the files that Civ4 loads. Check the assets directory. Thats over 3000 files that it has to load. If each one gets scanned things will get really slow.

Thank heavens for unit strength fixes...

[lpangelrob]

Despite the inherent comedy, a spear-wielder can no longer take out a tank as more advanced military units are levels of magnitude stronger than their older counterparts.

Agreed. It's hilarious to see a lone spearman straggle against an army of musketeers. It's not so funny when the spearman wins, elite status or not. :-)

I didn't try the nuclear option on the spearman, however...

Re:Thank heavens for unit strength fixes...

[ShibaInu]

I remember playing as Germany in Civ III and getting the panzer. Excited that I had a special unit that was a tank, I invaded the country next door. Problem was they were the Aztecs and despite not even having riflemen, they kicked my ass. One jaguar warrior beat back FOUR of my panzers. I quit the game and deinstalled right then.

Re:Thank heavens for unit strength fixes...

[Pop69]

I did, he glowed nicely after his dose of rads......

4 years a painfully long time?

[snuf23]

Civ 3 came out in 2001. I started this job in 1999. I played Civ 1 over 14 years ago. Man, you are making me feel REALLY old.
Young whipper snappers don't even know that proper consoles have an artifical wood grain finish to match the paneling on your station wagon.

Alright, I'll bite...

[Flamerule]

I know I'm not the only one that was VERY disappointed with civ3. I could go into the details, but I'm sure others could do that as well as I. But the long-and-short of it is that I was a fan of Civ1, 2, SMAC, and even CTP (even though that wasn't made by Sid, it was still not bad IMO). But Civ3 was just a massive disappointment.

Huh. Could someone explain what Civ III did wrong? I've played many, many games of SMAC and Civ3, and I love them both. Can't really say that Civ3 is better, but still lots of fun.

The Movies, not quite there

[prototype]

While The Movies is a more mogul type game, similar to The Sims 2 but more focused on the actual movie making process (script -> pre-production -> filming -> post-production -> promotion -> release) it fails on the part of offering a true "sandbox". You can enter a sandbox type mode in the game and build your studio, create scripts and even start at almost any decade with up to 100,000 million dollars. The problem is that a) you have to unlock the game in play mode before you are allowed to begin your studio say at the year 2000 (where you have cool technologies like CGI to add your films) and b) the sandbox mode still isn't sandbox because your actors and directors are still Simmish. They need TLC, need to be able to work together, need trailers to keep themselves occupied, etc. Sandbox mode should be sandbox mode where the only output is interesting movies you can make and release on the net. I think LH has a fantastic community out there that can become even bigger than The Sims with it's releases but there need to be more tools that we can use and the mode has to shift from part-play/part-sandbox to a true "screw-around-and-blow-10-million-dollars-on-a-fil m" mode.

Re:The Movies, not quite there

[ph117]

b) the sandbox mode still isn't sandbox because your actors and directors are still Simmish. They need TLC, need to be able to work together, need trailers to keep themselves occupied, etc.

That's actually somewhat inaccurate (I worked on this game so I have to defend this :) You need to check the "Star's don't misbehave" and "Scripts shoot instantly" options on the sandbox dialog to enable these options. That should make the sandbox behave more as you'd like.

With regards to point a) if you check the Lionhead boards you'll find some posts on how to bypass this if you don't want to play through the game. The sandbox actually unlocks 30 years ahead of where you've played in the game so you only really need to get up to 1970 :)

Re:The Movies, not quite there

[prototype]

Thanks for the reply and clarification. Yes, there is the hack to edit the .ini file and it does play 30 years ahead so you only have to get to play mode until 1970 to unlock everything. I agree there is the "Stars don't misbehave" and "Scripts shoot instantly" but there's a few problems with that. First, while starts might not misbehave, there are still relationships that have to be built in order for a movie to be successful. If the goal of sandbox mode is simply to build a movie and shoot it for releasing on the internet, this is less of a problem but still plays in as a factor (at least from my perspective).

I think the main point was that while there are workarounds, a true sandbox mode would let you do anything. I feel that the sandbox mode the Movies offers is still somewhat tied to the game mode. Maybe I'm wrong here but that's what I experience from using it. I don't feel like I can get really into using it as a tool (which I understand it was primarily built as a game) for machinima vs. a game that kinda lets me use it like a tool for making films.

Don't get me wrong, the game is great and fun. I see it's potential to have a bigger online community than The Sims. There just seems to be a lot of people saying the same thing I am and that is that sandbox mode is almost but not 100% a true sandbox (again, maybe my/our impression of a sandbox isn't the same as LH's).

I'm also interested in building tools for the game and was hoping to get some insight into capabilities and file formats (rather than completely going from scratch). Not looking for an SDK, but someone's insight (perhaps someone who worked on the game?) might help. I've worked on many tools before for The Sims (http://www.simstools.com/ and was potentially hoping to get some info to build something for The Movies.

Thanks!

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[Red Flayer]

"Soul Caliber III, Civilization IV, and The Movies are just about as incongruous as you can get"

Oh yeah?

How about muffins, Kimodo dragons, and superconductors?

I'd say that's a way more incongruous set. ;)

My own "The Movies" review for the pc, Harsh mode

[SmallFurryCreature]

First it is a console game. Now consoles may or may not be your thing. HOWEVER what most people agree upon is that a controller is not the same as a mouse and keyboard. First person shooters are an obvious victim on consoles who survive on, horror of horrors, aimbots.

The Movies is in many ways a The Sims game and controlling this with a gamepad would not be my first choice. Worse the designers seem to have made very few allowences for the PC port. In short the interface is a clutch and often frustating.

But first the game as this will explain why the interface just isn't up to it.

You start the game by creating creating a movie company choosing a company name, your name and a logo. Nice touch is that if you choose the pregenerated company name it actually can be spoken during the oscar awards. There are different ones and it is a nice touch. Pity all the logo's are so.... childish.

Once started you are presented with fixed size typical movie lot. Buzzling street outside the gate (actually a fairly big area with cars driving buy, very scenic but of no use) and 1 fixed building inside the gate where your first unemployed will be queing up. The year is 1920 and you have 150.000 dollars to make a movie empire.

The first fixed building allows you do hire from a que of nice rendered people standing actually in line on your property both builders and janitors. Female and male, white and black (No racism in this hollywood) and all equally crap. Management games are nothing new and usually you start by carefully examining your new empoyees stats to get the best for the price you can afford. None of that here. Just hire builders to build your soon be put up buildings and sets (and maintain them) and some janitors to keep the area clean.

Then start building the other buildings. If you got some experience you know that you got 3 kinds of buildings. Hire buildings wich allow you hire a type of staff, namely movie crew, scientist and actor/directors. Static buildings wich you only use sometimes like the makeover department, script writing building and your actuall movie making buildings namely the casting building and the sets themselves.

Experience will teach you that you can put most of the buildings off to one site and put the casting building at the center of a circle of sets. Your employees actually got to walk between the casting building and the sets so you want to optomize the distances involved. Space will be an issue so learn to optomize.

Your movie crew will all have the same useless stats so just hire some random ones again. Now it is time to select your stars.

There are five movie genre's (comedy/horror/sci-fi/romance/action) and your wannabe's will have some or no stats in either. Ignore it. What is more important is their personality. They got a stat in how they handle stress and how they handle boredom. Working creates stress and reduces boredom, resting reduces stress but increases boredom. Can you spot the conflict? Yes a stressfull and easily bored character will be impossible to keep happy. Work them and they will stressout, let them rest and they will get bored.

One thing must be said about the game and that is you can hire people from other ques for different proffesions, so if you don't like any of the wannabees you can make a janitor hopefull your next star. Just make them an extra first to get their stats to display and promote if needed. Oh and acters can also be used as directors and vice versa. Helps keeping them fresh when the audience gets bored with them I guess.

So you got your hopefulls. you got your buildings and a few sets. Lets make some magic. Drag your script writers over the part of the script building that has the genre you want and after a while a brand new max 1 star script will roll out. Yes it is 1920 and till much much later post ww2 in any case you will only be able to write crap scripts. No matter what you do. No way to improve. The quality of your script is determined by the level of the script building and

Huh?

[Jack Johnson]

There are a few articles which showed the PS2 trailing behind the GC and XB immediately after release but the overall numbers show the XB in last place.

Though, no matter how you slice it, SC2 was not a huge seller with fewer than 2M units across all platforms. Therefore, developing for all 3 outmoded systems probably wouldn't be wise when they can release for the PS2 now (greatest sales potential by FAR) and develop for the next-gen around the corner.

Besides, these days, exclusive really doesn't mean anything unless it's a first-party title. For all we know, SC3 could be a time-limited exclusive and appear in glossy new form across the board this spring.

Re:Huh?

[Miniluv]

Especially since DOA is THE button mashing fighter for Xbox and DOA4 for 360 comes out in a week.

Re:Huh?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's an interesting take on it, cosidering the Gamecube version of SCII outsoled the PS2 version of SCII. I've seen later sales which would suggest that the Gamecube version was only a few thousand copies ahead of The PS2, but the only link I could find (most of that data is illegal) is here. Now, a few Japanese developers are known to make incredibly stupid decisions regarding what platform their games appear on, but Namoc are smarter than that. To me, this feels like a contract with Sony.

Civ 4 is what Civ 3 should have been

[Prien715]

Civ4 is by leaps and bounds much better than Civ3 and finally makes a game by all qualifications better than Civ2.

* Tech tree more remniscent of Civ 2 -- Civ 3's tech tree was horribly shallow and game could be won or lost by a couple of advances. Civ 4's tech tree is more like Civ2 since there's more choices at any given point as to what to research and the greater diversity of research advances allows more strategic freedom -- like civ2

* Corruption was redone -- In Civ3, cities far from the capital were useless.

* Combat is the best yet -- Specialization makes it possible to play defensively or offensively based on unit production.

* Diplomacy is better -- Civ2 diplomacy was infexible. Civ3's had bugs. In Civ4, it's very clear why the AI will or won't allow certain deals

* Multiplayer finally ws done correctly -- Finally, you can play Civ with your friends without wanting to hurt yourself

All in all, I loved Civ2, was disappointed with Civ3 (but liked some of the improvements), but Civ4 I can say without reserve is an improvement.

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[IgLou]

How about Global Warming, Punky Brewster, and rayon?

Soul Calibur III Selling Very Poorly in Japan

[Anonymous Coward]

It's worth noting that Soul Calibur III, in spite of its new options, only made the Top 10 sales chart in Japan for a single week (11/21/05), with a grand total of 106,920 units sold during its initial release window. Since then, Soul Calibur III promptly dropped off the Top 10 and has not appeared since.

Games like Rockman EXE 6 and Animal Crossing have blown it out of the water in terms of overall performance, in the same span of time.

For the record, the following week saw a game with about 26,000 units sold achieve 10th place in the sales rankings, meaning Soul Calibur went from 100,000 to less than 26,000 units sold in the span of a single week. It's pretty clear that the exclusive license (1) damaged the selling potential of the title and (2) insured it will not even sniff the sales totals of its older relatives.

Being someone who despises exclusive licenses (see EA's NFL license as an example), I cannot help but feel some satisfaction knowing that, no matter what may have been paid to Namco, they hopefully learned a lesson about selling out potential sales for cash. I suppose it's possible Sony dumped a lot of green at them, but ... here's hoping.

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[Red Flayer]

" How about Global Warming, Punky Brewster, and rayon?"

I'm sure I could find the connection... I know Punky got hot when she got older, maybe she caused some Globule Warming in my rayon pants?

You must be new here

[SmallFurryCreature]

No actually I did not. Just as my handwriting has gone to hell with keyboard use, constant exposure to the internet has made me capable of reading past the most hideous grammar astrocities and commit themselves with laughing ease.

Future generations will probably have an english more like japanese where grammar is an optional extra and meaning must be derived entirely from the context or by beating your talking partner over the head until they make sense.

Re:You must be new here

[Morgalyn]

ROFL. Excellent point, mate. Don't forget, spelling will be completely voluntary, as well. Maybe we'll devolve language back into pictures, because we all know a picture is worth 1000 words!

You'll like Civ IV

[Amonnil]

Civ IV is a great game. I am a big fan of Civ 1, 2, and SMAC. I personally thought Civ 3 was a deeply flawed game (although it had some interesting ideas), and is the worst in the series. But I love Civ IV--I've already played though it more than I did Civ. III.

Civ IV fixes a lot of problems I had with Civ III--no more corruption and buildings have no upkeep(so undeveloped cities aren't better than developed anymore). Also, the trade resources work a lot better. You might look at http://www.civfanatics.com/civ4/info/ for some specifics about how things are fixed.

There are some things I miss about Civ II but they're mostly minor things, or unballanced things (like keeping a bunch of caravans handy to build wonders as soon as you have the technology). Really, I don't think I can go back.

So yes, Civ IV redeems the series.

The movies - much like The Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

"The in-game audience judges it by artificial standards, and even something that could move a person to tears could get panned by the fickle virtual public."

Yeah - the public *always* goes and turns the best movies into mega-blockbusters while letting crap like, say "House of Wax" rot and show a loss... oh, wait...

Congratulations

[Anonymous Coward]

2005 Dumbest Post of the Year

The Movies

[rAiNsT0rm]

This seems to be a pretty accurate review of this title and it is also becoming a pretty accurate reflection on what Peter Molyneux and co. have been putting out... highly ambitious games that come out crippled and lacking fit and finish.

While I can respect innovation and trying new things, I can't respect half-assed games based on a multitude of unfulfilled promises from Lionhead Studios anymore.

Re:The Movies

[Anonymous Coward]

Have you actually seen any of the movies that are being released by players on the online site? I'd be tempted to reserve judgment until I'd either a) played the game or b) taken a good look at some of the creativity this game has unlocked in other people.

Online Multiplayer

[tedrlord]

I am so sick of reviewers complaining about the lack of online multiplayer in games. I really don't care about online multiplayer on consoles at all, and I don't know anybody that actually uses it. I do not want developers wasting their resources tacking on awkward multiplayer modes to games designed for a single player. When I'm on a console, I want to play a game I can play myself. If I want to play a fighting game, I have my friends over. That's what they're for. If I wanted online gaming, I'd play on a PC. It works so much better that way, and I'd think anyone with broadband connectivity for console games would have a decent PC already.

Honestly, how big is the market segment for online console gaming? Ten percent? Fifteen at most? It doesn't seem like a good demographic to target your games toward. Maybe I'm wrong and next year everyone in the country will have broadband access on their home appliances, but I doubt it.

Re:Online Multiplayer

[Rude Turnip]

I don't know about the current percentage, but I doubt it's going anywhere but straight up and fast when you consider that the current generation of consoles all have online capabilities and the next generation is placing emphasis upon online gaming. That's not to say that every game should have online multiplayer in some way, of course.

I have a decent PC, but it is not decent enough. The ability to play the latest and greatest games that come out every year is an expensive proposition. I'd rather spend $300 -$400 every four years or so for a new console than ride the PC upgrade treadmill and spend thousands.

Re:Online Multiplayer

[tedrlord]

I guess that's what I worry about. I don't really want the next generation of consoles to place emphasis on online gaming. I like console games for the advancement. Completing goals, figuring out puzzles, following stories, etc. You can't really do that kind of thing with online games. They're mostly just "beat this guy" or "clear this area" type of games. And if console game makers are going to start focusing on them, I'm going to be seeing a lot less games I'd like to play.

On the PC side, it's possible to make a decent mid-range gaming rig for under a thousand, and if you're really good, you could get a workable gaming system for like five or six hundred. Sure you won't play the latest FPS at 1600x1200 at 90fps, but it will work well enough to be decent. The graphics on the 360 don't measure up to my current PC, which I got at the beginning of the year for about $1200. Today, it'd be even less. Spending $150 on a new graphics card every 18 months isn't terrible, either. It's not as inexpensive as an XBox 360, sure, but as I said, most people who have broadband have a PC anyway, and that $400 right now could get you a GeForce 7800 which would blow the hell out of the 360 and last for years.

Re:Online Multiplayer

[Rude Turnip]

Well, here's something to consider...you can go online with XBox Live Arcade and actually buy single player games through the console. Geometry Wars is such a game, and from everything I'm reading, it's supposedly the killer app for XBox 360 thus far (and only costs $5).

Re:Online Multiplayer

[tedrlord]

That is pretty neat, I agree, but I can't tell yet if it's a gimmick or if they'll really do much with it. I didn't really like anything they said about the Live service at the unveiling back at E3.

Either way, I guess all I can do is wait and see how it turns out.

Re:Online Multiplayer

[Art Tatum]

If I want to play a fighting game, I have my friends over. That's what they're for.

What? Fighting games, or your friends?

M$ sucks ass as usual

[GunFodder]

Microsoft bought Bungie while they were in the middle of development for Halo, which was originally going to be released as a PC game. All Microsoft did was deprive the PC gaming community of Halo for a year or so. I'm not thanking them for that.

Re:M$ sucks ass as usual

[MagicHateBall]

And is apparently intent on depriving the PC (ok, Windows, really) community of Halo 2 forever.

Bastards.

Re:M$ sucks ass as usual

[Nataku564]

Mac game, not PC. Bungee was originally going to release it on Mac, from what I recall. Makes a lot more sense for Microsoft to have bought them then.

Re:Obligatory Explanation

[Impy the Impiuos Imp]

How about slashdot readers, girls, and 32" belts?

Need for speed - Most wanted, Summit Strike

[dindi]

I am a racing fan, really bored with the new breed of "street racing" type games.

However the latest NFS - Most wanted is really a cool piece of game, which returns to the roots:
polica cars are back, and pretty clever, and they have a new system that offers you only to run a selection of races to move to the next level (not forcing you to play modes you hate that much (I hate drag race e.g.).

I have the xbox (not 360) version, and it chokes the system sometimes, but it is the most enjoyable racer I have ever played in my life. If you liked "Hot Pursuit" and do not mind upgrading car parts and a little of buying/selling, you will love it.

It also received very little attention in the shadow of "Project Godham", which I find a very crappy game btw (only played v 2, do not even wanna see the 3rd).

Another game, also wit little attention is Ghost Recon 2 - Summit strike.
Many treat it as an expansion pack, but besides a ton of new maps (multiplayer too) you have new fun multiplayer modes
and the networking code is a lot stable. I am playing on KAI/XBC though, so dunno about Live, but disconnects and other problems are gone.

Ohh, when you start the game, have your communicator disconnected, otherwise most discs crap out with an error. This is a programmong error and the only fix is to disconnect communicator and/or additional gamepads. This is nasty, but well, I live with it. Also used it runs for like $15 on ebay.

Well these are my December games.

Also try "Path of Neo" as a rental first, I have mixed feelings (because the camera controls kinda suck), but it is a fun slash and dash with nice character animations and lotsa stuff to blow up (the freeing morpheus machine gun on helicopter demolition is just beautiful) :)

Re:Need for speed - Most wanted, Summit Strike

[Osty]

It also received very little attention in the shadow of "Project Godham", which I find a very crappy game btw (only played v 2, do not even wanna see the 3rd).

Project Gotham (here on referred to as PGR) is a completely different type of game than Need For Speed (NFS). For comparison purposes, I'm going to restrict myself to PGR2 and NFS:MW (though PGR3 is out, I don't have an Xbox 360 yet and haven't played it much).

• NFS uses rubber banding for the AI competition, and the difficulty level has a poor ramp up (you go from old clunker crown vic cops chasing you to fast and intelligent Pontiac GTOs that can be nearly impossible to evade, with nothing in between). PGR allows for difficulty settings ranging from insanely easily (steel medal) to impoossible (platinum medal). The AI is not rubber banded, but can be very aggressive at higher levels, intentionally slamming you into a wall. However, if you can drive cleanly and get to within a second or two of the leader, the AI will be more likely to make a mistake so it is possible to beat the AI with skill.
• NFS has customization, but it's poorly implemented. I like the fact that you can reduce your car's wanted level by changing its look, but you can do the same by letting it cool off in your garage for a couple races as well. Besides, "changing the look" of your car really means "making it progressively uglier and uglier until only a rice boy could love it". Performance upgrades are equally silly. You pretty much have to put a turbo on every single car, even if the car technically couldn't handle it (for example, the M96 3.2L-bored-and-stroked-to-3.4L engine in the Cayman S is notoriously fragile from its Boxster and Carrera brethren, runs at a high compression ratio of 11:1 or higher, and would likely blow up if you put on a turbo or supercharger running at more than 4-5 psi -- for what it's worth, the 911 Turbo, GT3, and GT2 do not use the same M96 engine found in Boxsters, 911s, and now Caymans). PGR has no customization at all.
• NFS is all about winning races. While there are several different types of races, all but the checkpoint type involves beating four other cars to the finish line. PGR is all about style, and while there are street races and one-on-one races that require you to finish above a certain place, there are also time-based races, speed-based races, and cone challenges that require you to have skill.
• PGR has many more cars than NFS. Granted, they're not as new (PGR2 shipped in 2003, so don't expect to find the new 997 911 Carrera S or Cayman S, for example), but there's much more variety.
• PGR has awesome Live integration, and is one of the best games I've ever played on Live (my top 3 are Halo 2, Forza, and PGR 2). NFS uses EA's crap. Of course, if you don't have Live, you're missing out on half of PGR's content, as there's no story to the single player game (just a series of challenges intended to allow you to unlock cars and tracks for online play).
• PGR has the Nurburgring Nordschleife (PGR3 actually includes the Nurburgring F1 track as well).
• NFS was only over-shadowed by PGR on the Xbox 360. It's also available on GC, Xbox, and PS2. However, it was overshadowed by PGR3 on the 360 with good reason -- PGR3 is a game truly designed specifically for the 360. As such, it has beautiful graphics, tight gameplay, and no slowdown. NFS:MW is a multi-platform game designed and implemented for the previous generation. It suffers in terms of geometry and texture detail (yes, the 360 version has some better textures, but it's not nearly as impressive as PGR3). As well, NFS:MW suffers the occasional performance problem in its 360 incarnation (according to reviews, anyway). If I had to choose between PGR3 and NFS:MW on the 360, it'd be PGR3, no contest. However, on the Xbox there's really nothing else available in terms of new racing games, so NFS:MW it is. Then again, I'd rather just go back to Forza :).

Re:Need for speed - Most wanted, Summit Strike

[dindi]

Hmm mostly agree on what you wrote.

I know that NFS MW is more of an arcade racer, but I find it a lot more fun than other arcade racers.
Midnight club can be fun, but it is somehow repetitive, and I got bored.

Burnout was a great game, however revenge is messed up. I hate how cars bounce off you in many races, it is just not fun anymore.

Now on realistic game: I liked Juiced, which is pretty different with every car and seems realistic with damage model and stuff.

Toca race driver is also great, never saw Forza though.

OK, now my problem with PGR: there is something I cannot stand, it is something with the controls, or the responsiveness of the game. I have the same problem with some other games, such as Amped (vs SSX), PGR (vs anything except SRS (which is a crap)), Halo (vs most other FPS).

Every time I play these games I have the feeling, that my thumbs or the cars or the characters are made out of lead, and are too heavy.

If you look at the list and compare the games (if you know them) you might know what I mean.

And as I said I am not run&gun and love GhostRecon or Rainbow6, and realistic racers, but somehow PGR falls into the HALO control problem: cars are like halo characters, they look nice, but they wear a heavy space suit, and move like they pooped into their pants.

To really feel the difference load up SSX, then load Amped....

Re:Need for speed - Most wanted, Summit Strike

[Osty]

OK, now my problem with PGR: there is something I cannot stand, it is something with the controls, or the responsiveness of the game. I have the same problem with some other games, such as Amped (vs SSX), PGR (vs anything except SRS (which is a crap)), Halo (vs most other FPS).

Well, part of the problem is that you consider Juiced to be realistic :). Really, though, I think what you're experiencing is a difference in game style. For example, PGR is much more realistic in comparison to NFS or Burnout, and feels "heavier" for it (better physics simulation, cars don't skid and slide at the drop of a hat, you have to actually brake often). For example, in NFS:MW, come to a complete stop, mash on the gas, and try to turn. The physics simulation in NFS is so weak that even a little underpowered VW Golf can break traction for 30 seconds from a standing start, and when you try to turn you just slide around because you have no traction. Do that in PGR2 and you'll probably not even spin your tires before getting traction and going. The same goes for Amped vs SSX, where at least the first Amped was very much a simulation compared to SSX's over-the-top arcade gameplay. You had to pre-wind jumps and spins, or you just wouldn't really do anything (maybe get a little air, do a 180, but you had to really prepare to get anything more than a 360 spin or flip). I'm not really sure I'd lump Halo in with the other two comparisons, though. You probably just need to adjust the sensitivity level.

I notice that same type of feeling when I play a more simulation-oriented racing game, like Gran Turismo 4 or Forza Motorsports, from a third-person perspective. Once I switch to a hood view things feel much better.

Re:Need for speed - Most wanted, Summit Strike

[dindi]

Hmm, I will try Forza you seem like a driving freak (no pun) ...
somehow PGR just does not cut it for me :) I tried and disliked.

But still Toca Race driver is more of a sim for me than any.

Grand turismo: got an original, but I have a chipped PS2 (mostly for imports and REZ - I could not get an original and just love that game) , and somehow it did not run, I had to return it (and actually exchanged to NFS MW).

SSX: yep I agree amped is more realistic, but SSX is more fun. Do not get me wrong, I did real extreme sports (competed BMX for years, did MTB for years and ride dirt bikes/quads), but on that scene I want a fun game, not overly real physics. If I want real I just get on my bike. Amped is sloppy and boring, SSX gets you pumped.

Arcade vs Sim: hmm yep, I am not on either side. Burnout is too arcade, Juiced is an OK street racer sim for me. I swear I get Forza (at least rent and get if I like).

Halo issue: you know it is maybe the 12 year old kids shouting "dude i owned them" that scares me away besides the pink monsters:) . I really would play it if it wasn't 4/team 4 teams all the time on the smallest map, no sword no shield. I will get an unchipped xbox and get a live account, and see wherer it goes from there. Kai and XBC is all that crap.

And again: I like real stuff: Ghost Recon and RS3 is my favourite definetely, and I will take your advice and get Forza. On that DAMN PGR: no way, PGR2 I hate.
PGR3 I might try if I decide on a 360 (when PS3 is out). I just do not want to get 2 consoles again and have one only collect dust (as my Ps2 now).

Hood view: only that. Or cockpit. No outside view, that makes arcade even more arcade. In burout it works well, but again I do not play Revenge as it is waaay tooooo arcade, more than the precious.

cheers:)

Buy the games here!

[Anonymous Coward]

You can buy the games here: Soul Calibur III. The Movies. Civilization IV. And if you use the "secret" A9.com discount, you can save an extra 1.57%!

Bleh... I could think of better games to get!

[wilgibson]

"but if you're looking for recent releases to put under the tree and either can't afford or can't find a 360 to gift"

It may just be me, but it seems like the author of this article thinks I should have a 360 sitting in my cabinet!?!?!

Anyways, I was never a fan of SC or for that matter fighting games(Killer Instinct was the last game fighting game I really got into and that was in '96 with KI 2/Gold). I can proudly say I have never bought into the whole "The Sims" phenomenon. Civ IV looks interesting but I'm afraid my lappy, while it is only a year old and has a dedicated video card, could probably not handle it. Personally(besides Civ IV) I think there are a lot of better games to have come out since fall started. Guitar Hero, Dragon Quest VIII, Animal Crossing: Wild World, Mario Kart DS, Wilds Arms: Alter Code F are just a few on my list. Of, let's not forget the remake of Final Fantasy IV on GBA, which I can't wait to pick that up and play between classes next semester.

I think I'll stick to what's in my PS2 ATM before I rush out to get any of these... Dragon Quest VIII for the win!

Re:Bleh... I could think of better games to get!

[slaughts]

I have had more fun with Guitar Hero the last week than I have had with all the games I bought over the last 2 years combined! This games rocks (no pun intended), and the guitar peripheral is a blast!

Re:Bleh... I could think of better games to get!

[wilgibson]

I got to play it a few weeks back. My friend was helping his manager shutdown(he works at my local EB Games) and while they were putting stock away I was jamming out on it for about 30 minutes! It is really one of the more inventive games of the past few years. I was amazed at the fact that even though I was suckin' at it I was still having loads of fun. It's definitely a game everyone should try!

Shadow of the Colossus

[5n3ak3rp1mp]

Is a fairly amazing game for the PS2. You have to find and figure out how to climb up a series of huge, living, breathing, (sometimes even flying) painful monsters so that you can kill them. All you have is a sword, a bow, and a horse. The horse animation is unbelievable. The only annoying thing about the game is the camera dynamics- they often seem to be working for the enemy ;) But holding on tight while the thing tries to shake you off, with your stamina draining... A quite exciting experience indeed.

Civ 4 rocks.. and requires a very modern rig

[Hydryad]

Civilization 4, the most mixed bag of responses when you ask people about their experience with it I have ever seen. Some people are chiding it for the most unstable, buggy, craptastic gameplay, while personally I find it to run just fine. The problem is, civ 4 just isn't going to run at the larger maps with more units unless you have enough ram, that is the single biggest problem I have noticed. Or rather, not noticed because I have 2 gigs of ram and I have yet to have civ 4 crash on me.

Before you start ripping the reviewer/Firaxis a new one, consider that. Not saying that it is necessarily unwarrented, but you have to understand that Firaxis is trying to move forward.
(Also, the biggest map size I have played is the 12-civ pangea, and anything bigger just seems cumbersome to me)

You could have just said...

[glitch23]

"Illness and Christmas conspire..." since you mention "tree" later on in the quoted text and only one holiday in December has a tree. I guess we have another person too coward to state what they really mean and make it completely ambiguous to the level of sounding stupid. I guess you could have meant Arbor Day too huh? You didn't exactly qualify the fact you were referring to December so I shouldn't jump the gun and assume you meant Christmas; Arbor Day is fun too, right?

Another interesting example:

[carlmenezes]

From my Civ playing days, I remember having a nice shiny new Stealth Bomber being defeated by a good old Phalanx unit! :) From that moment on, it was only Phalanxs for me :)

What I liek about Civ 4 is that you can tell who's winning - a guy with a spear (spearman) will easily dodge blows from a guy with a club (barbarian). The spearman then takes one strong jab at the barbarian and it FEELS like he's done a good deal of damage :) and sure enough, at the next spear strike, the barbairan goes flying a few feet into the dirt :) Very nice change to the game :)

Re:Another interesting example:

[Inoshiro]

Could you :) use anymore :) smileys! :)

(A joke, for the humour impared :))

Re:My own "The Movies" review for the pc, Harsh mo

[Anonymous Coward]

Just a few minor points - thanks for the thorough review.

First it is a console game. Now consoles may or may not be your thing. HOWEVER what most people agree upon is that a controller is not the same as a mouse and keyboard. First person shooters are an obvious victim on consoles who survive on, horror of horrors, aimbots. The Movies is in many ways a The Sims game and controlling this with a gamepad would not be my first choice. Worse the designers seem to have made very few allowences for the PC port. In short the interface is a clutch and often frustating.

Actually, The Movies is an original PC title, but console ports (Xbox, PS2, GC) are in development for release next year. I really can't see where you got the gamepad reference from - it's mouse and keyboard all the way.

Or do you mean "First it feels like a console game"?

But it also asks me to the drag the script from rehearsel to shooting AND that is just extra work. What else am I going to do? Just do it automatically. Same with releasing.

Firstly you don't have to drag around everywhere - hitting Tab jumps to the guiding stream's target (which will be the first set for a script that is ready to shoot.) That covers most situations in the movie making process pretty well. When a script is in casting though it can't move to shooting automatically as you might want to change actors etc before you're happy with things.

Worse, after a movie has been released for a while it will stop loosing money. You can then archive it (bin it) and that too is a manual action. I mean why? Just do it automatically. It is not like I got a choice.

You do have a choice - you can drop your completed movies back into the Advance Movie Maker to edit and reshoot films. You can also drag 'dead' released films into the movie viewer or into the finance/review screens. I'd be pretty pissed if it just disappeared instantly.

Holiday Gaming?!?!

[SpiceWare]

Where's the Holiday in those games?

By that title you should have been reviewing Reindeer Rescue, a brand new game released for the Atari 2600.

How long...

[kcbrown]

The Movies?

I can't wait to see the major motion picture based on this game!

*ducks*

If you ask me...

[Anonymous Coward]

...holiday gaming begins and ends with the Postal "Santa patch" add-on.

Re:Civ IV Mac client?

[Anonymous Coward]

So, if it requires boatloads of memory, why not port it to the Mac? Mac users already max out their RAM capacity just out of necessity.

Re:Seaman (shudder)

[Psykechan]

Apparently you never played Seaman.

All of the Spock in the univerrse can't stop that thing from being creepy.

For those that haven't heard of it, allow me to summarize. You have to infect a mollusk with eggs that hatch and cause it to writhe with pain until it dies and expels the Seamen that eventually kill each other until there is one remaining. The last one then constantly probes you with personal questions and carries on disturbing conversations with you until it eventually dies.

Apparently the designers of this virtual "pet" tried to ease your loss when it dies by making you realize that you never really liked it.

Leonard Nimoy gives you advice every time you check your tank. I wouldn't say theat he's exactly on your side though as he never warns you of the horrors that will befall you after playing.

Re:My own "The Movies" review for the pc, Harsh mo

[SmallFurryCreature]

The whole interface just screamed console to me not making use of the high resoultion available. Weird sliders and just in general not the kind of controls you would expect in pc game. They reminded me far more of the PC version of Final Fantasy (7 I think) where the whole interface was a cludge designed around a gamepad not mouse/keyboard setup.

You say you like the choice of watching the reviews of a movie that was no longer making money, fair enough. I would have preffered a more PC like interface where I could simply go to a subscreen and and see all the movies and sort them and compare them and see what made one a success and not the other.

I like the game but not the micro management and not the interface. I am now in sandbox mode making hammer movies.It is fun because I editted out all the micromanagement crap.

Do yourselves a favour...

[zenmojodaddy]

... do a quick Google for Overgod. It's a fantastic retro-flavoured little game which puts me in mind of a cross between Asteroids and Tron. Zero cost, tiny download (about 2Mb) and hours of blasty fun. Too damned hard, natch, but maybe that's just me getting old.

That should be "strike a chord"

[Anonymous Coward]

Not being negative, just saying. It's one of those phrases that is getting lost in English due to its verbal ambiguity. Another example is "good riddance".

Don't do it!!

[Anonymous Coward]

I downloaded Civ II from there...and lost about 40 hours of productivity that week. It is a huge time sucker. Civ II adds some nice refinements, but is essentially Civ I with different/better graphics. They have a strange angle on their isometric view, so it took some getting used to.

Civ IV is absolutely awful. I haven't stopped playing it in 3 weeks, and my work is suffering from it. The game is almost perfect, and given that it is hugely moddable, you can make it perfect if you care to take the time.

For the sake of your work ethic and free time, I strongly advise you keep both off your computers.

Soul Calibur III Graphics

[MadMoses]

Am I the only one that does not like the new Soul Calibur III graphics style?

I'm not trying to flame here, it's a serious question. I liked the style of SC2 much better. SC3 graphics look more like a kids cartoon.