Imperium

I’ve decided to conduct an experiment of sorts. I’m trying to decide which game to write about for my next review, and I want to see if I can get a popular vote here on Imperium. If you’re sufficiently concerned to pick one of the games in the selection below and leave it as a comment, or indeed e-mail me at c.scrace@gmail.com, then I salute you.

Crysis
Gears of War
Sins of a Solar Empire
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic
Psychonauts

I’ve thrown Dark Messiah in there because I started writing a review of it many months ago, but for some reason I can’t recall, I stopped. I’d have to go back and refresh my memory of the game, which would be fun. The other four games are much fresher in my mind. I completed Crysis only a week or so ago, I’m still playing through Gears of War on insane difficulty (sporadically), and I’m nearing the end (or at least I think I am) of Pyschonauts as I type this post. Sins is a special case. So far I’ve devoted myself to playing as the Advent, so if I’m going to evaluate the game properly I’d have to play as the TEC and the Visari - an interesting prospect.

I’m already making notes and gathering my thoughts in preparation, so don’t keep me waiting long. Stick a knife in me!

- Chris

And lo, Crytek didst bring forth a new patch (1.2) for their flagship action game Crysis, and the people waited for the download to complete with much nervous twitching. The change log was extensive, the fixes were many. The download came to an end, the people fell silent with quivering anticipation, and then, shit happened.

What exactly is wrong with patch 1.2 for Crysis? Oh, nothing much really, I’m sure there are a lot of fine fixes hiding behind the scenes, things are probably generally better, but I can’t help but notice a certain something has gone horribly wrong. You see, there are no rear wheels on the jeeps.

No rear wheels on the jeeps? Come on! How does something like that slip through the patching process? These wheels aren’t itsy-bitsy; they’re big bastards. We’re talking about Humvee size tires here. Granted, this isn’t a first - there are load of graphical screw-ups in Crysis that I’ve noticed (Koreans occasionally getting stuck in floors, US marines stacking on top of each other as they skip down the ramp of a VTOL craft, and phoney flashlight effects to name a few) but it can’t be a good sign that more are being added after the game’s release, can it?

I had a bit of a scare for a minute or two after I installed the patch too. All of my settings (graphics, hud, sound and all) had been reset to their defaults and my save games weren’t showing up. If you’ve had this problem, don’t fret: simply reselect your profile and your saves should appear.

Maximum game, indeed.

- Chris