Gizmophobe Technology & Gaming

Team Fortress was the first few games which pioneered the class based team play, then it went on to become a rage with online community around the world. The game spawned innumerable user created mods which many play to this day. Team Fortress 2 was supposed to come out almost a decade ago, it finally saw the light when it was released last October as a part of the Orange Box. TF2 remains true to its roots; two teams battle out in an objective based contest. Players on both the teams get to choose from nine classes, each of them having their own specific strengths and weaknesses. The game’s cartoon styled graphics and basic classes underplay its complexity and dynamics. The final result is a thrilling multiplayer experience which proves to be a commendable successor to its predecessor. Being a purely multiplayer game Team Fortress 2 doesn’t require a storyline; instead the focus is on characterization. Each of the class in the game has its own unique personality and arsenal of weapons to choose from. The weapons are casually classified as a primary firearm, a secondary weapon and melee. The classes are classified into offense, defense and support; although in actual combat their roles are extremely fluid. The offensive class includes the soldier, the scout and the pyro. The scout is agile and fast, also he is extremely quick at capturing points. The downside is his low health which makes him susceptible to sentry guns. The pyro is lethal at close range with his flamethrower but far less so in open spaces. The soldier is armed with a deadly rocket launcher which is effective at pretty much all ranges; however it has a slow reloading time which can be a hindrance.

The defensive group features the engineer, demoman and the heavy. Demomen have remote-donated sticky bombs which are great for ambushing and laying traps. They are also armed with rocket launchers capable of ricocheting off corners. The Heavy are armed with a powerful minigun which can shred nearby opponents in a matter of seconds. They also have a longer health bar; unfortunately they are annoyingly slow which renders them vulnerable to swifter foes. Engineers have the exclusive ability to build structures such as health/ammo dispensers, sentry guns and teleporters. They also possess a shotgun which they will have to rarely use as their primary concern is to build structures. Support characters include the spy, the sniper and the medic. The spy can disguise himself to be the member of your opposing team and is capable of delivering one hit knifing kills. He also possesses devices for destroying engineer structures making him deadly when behind enemy lines. The sniper is lethal at long ranges where he can make one shot kills. The medic can restore the health of his team members and also release an ubercharge which renders temporary invulnerability to his target and himself. Valve had done a stunning job of balancing the classes, maps and various elements of the game and it’s a must play for online FPS enthusiasts.

Pure is the latest offering from Disney Interactive and Black Rock Studio, the game’s previews were released in February and it was clear to be a different take on the severely worn out ATV genre. Pure has lots of fun off the road features, but the game looks stunning even when the tires are ripping through the dirt. The updated looks of the game featured three tracks, Wyoming, Italy and New Mexico. The visual improvements in the game are immediately obvious especially the particle effects. The bikes kick up a lot of dust around the corners and the designers have incorporated a much better sense of swiftness such as trails from the bike when boosted. The New Mexico track is quite unlike the flat and featureless expanse one would expect, it’s built into the mountains and is blend of straights and deadly switchbacks set amidst a landscape of scrub grass and rocky outlets. Far from straight, the New Mexico track features some of the most extreme jumps in the game, the leap instigates way up and as the cliff ends you are thrown hundreds of feet in the air between the cables of the Gondolas. You finally plummet onto a gorge below to continue the race.

To give you an idea of the height, the developers playing the game have managed to do four full flips in midair before landing back on ground. The most interesting feature of the game has to be the ability to craft your own custom ATV quad bikes using the tons of parts you’ll earn as you make you play the game. You’ll be able to assemble A-arms, shockers, handlebars, frame, swinger and many more, these are all real parts licensed by the manufactures. The way these parts will affect the performance of your bike will be constantly updated, mostly they will enhance the top speed, acceleration, trick ability and handling. Those of you who are not into bike building can simply order the game to make one for you, just mention whether you want the bike to be optimized for racing or stunts. You’ll be given two garage slots to save your assembled bike and as you play on you’ll receive as much as 10 slots.

The World Tour mode is the highlight of the game, it’s basically a series of tournament held in seven locations around the world. Each if the tournament is comprised of up to seven different events including sprints, traditional races and freestyle races. Sprint events emphasize on raw speed featuring shorter laps and lesser number of jumps where as traditional races are your average multilap races. Disney was tightlipped about the freestyle races; however it is expected to concentrate on tricks. The developers have revealed that there is lot of work to be done on the game, including a new HUD, signature trick moves for each of the pre0built eight characters. Gamers are eagerly anticipating how the 16-plyeyer online mode will play out, especially regarding to frame rates, which feels pretty sold in the single player mode.

Board Games crafted by the Britain based mathematician, Reiner Krizia are renowned for their intensely addictive nature. Lost Cities, a two to four player card game on the Xbox Live is bears further proof of this man’s immense creative skills. The gameplay mechanics are pretty straightforward and has a hint of solitaire and rummy. The object of the game is to build up a suit of five different colors which depict an archaeological outing, to lost cities in the corners of the world. Each suit features 60 cards which are numbered within 2 to 10, there exists three investment cards for each color, and these are the scoring multipliers. You have to play the cards in an ascending order from the respective suits, much like solitaire, this makes the game pretty easy to grasp. Depth is rendered by the multiplier cards, these needs to be laid down first, if they are to have any effect on the score which your numbered cards earns you.

A multiplier cards raises your score by a multiplier of two, put down two and your scores gets multiplied three and three multiplier card earns you a whopping factor of four. Unfortunately you can’t toss card around like crazy, this is because you lose points for funding every time you start an expedition. If you start off with a numbered card, then you begin with an easy to adjust -20 minus the number on your card which you played. For instance if you start off with a red two, you instigate a red run of cards at -18. Start with a blue three and you start a blue run with -17 and so on. Every multiplier card you play pulls you deeper into -40 , two for -60 and three for -80. This means you will have to commit to cards which you can built up before the round ends due to the deck running out, other wise you stand to lose major points. To further perplex things, you are allowed to hold a maximum of eight cards at any given time; this means you’ll have to throw off the extras to their respective color piles.

Players will often find themselves gambling whether they are going to draw enough colored cards so that it’s worthwhile to play the investment cards or two. Besides players will have to watch that they don’t discard cards which their opponents can capitalize on to make massive points. You cannot carelessly dump unneeded investment cards, your foes would be more than happy to scoop them up and play it against you. Gameplay is a tricky balance between reward and perils; you’ll constantly find yourself in a situation where you’ll have to make a hard situation. This makes the game tremendously addictive and tense, especially when it comes to deciding when to play a good run of cards or to hold back and wait for an expedition card which will boost their value. If you are willing to overlook a few minor mistakes, Lost Cities is arguably the best game to hit Xbox Live since its launch.

Iron man is the next biggest Marvel star to be offered the big treatment, with the movie hitting the theatres the spring and Sega expected to come with a game at the same time. Though the previews that have been released are sketchy, they give a pretty good idea of where it’s heading. The game is based on the same lore which the movie is based on, which goes something like this: Tony Stark is a billionaire industrialist invests his millions on a specialized suit which actually turns him into a human tank. The difference is that this tank can fly for large distance; blast deadly repulsor rays and allows you to toss missiles like they were twigs in the backyard. You play as the protagonist who fights his way though a host of enemies in a story which is a concoction of the present day movie and more than 40 years of Marvel history. The released demo features Iron man flying through icy mountain slopes, all the while dodging a swarm of SAM’s and anti air guns fire. The scene gave a pretty good idea of Iron Man’s capabilities. His primary weapon will be the repulsor rays; it can be fired either from his palm or a dazzling node on his chest. The chest launched rays are more powerful but will drain more of Iron Man’s energy.

The control scheme for the game has not been finalized yet; the teams have however separated out the hover and fly abilities on the controller. Hovering allows you to drift from side to side and also allow you to fire more accurately. While flying, you can choose between normal and super speeds, the latter as to be expected will offer you less maneuverability. The design teams have introduced certain restrictions in certain levels; like you can’t fly beyond a height or else you will be knocked down by enemy MiG jet missiles. One of the slickest moves in your arsenal is the ability to catch missiles and throw them back at the launcher. It gives a pretty good indication of the amount of power this guy possessess.The mountainous landscapes which most of the demo levels feature is a good indication of the openness to gameplay. The developers have indicated that the terrain will constantly be evolving to accommodate additional challenges. Sega was not willing to reveal the names of the Marvel villains who are expected to appear in the game. However, the demo did reveal some familiar names, including Tony’s best friend Jim Rhodes and Jarvis, the butler from Avengers. Both the characters are expected to help Tony by giving him audio tips and give new mission objectives. Tony Stark’s secretary w, Pepper Potts will also make an appearance in the game. There is wide anticipation on the appearance of couple of cameos from Marvel luminaries though Sega is tight lipped about it. The wait for the movie and the game seems eternally long for the fans; both are expected to be released spring 2008 on a multitude of platforms.

Ever since the Prada came out, the US market was longing for a similar handset. They were further tormented when LG released the Viewty, the 5 MegaPixel sibling of the Prada in the European and Asian market. Finally in April 2008, AT&T and LG decided to launch the Vu which many claim is the successor to the Vietwy. However, its shot to fame is not the camera, but it’s the first phone to support AT&T’s Live TV, supposed to launch in May 2008.

At first glance, the phone looks to be a beefed up version of the LG Prada. It sports the same sleek piano-black finish, silvered sides and minimalist styling. The difference is that it’s larger and features rounded edges. The front center of the phone sports a generously sized 3-inch diagonal touch-screen. The display is capable of supporting 2, 62,000 colors and 240 x 400 pixels which translates into same stunning graphic detail. As with the iPhone, you will have to navigate using the finger as there is no stylus provided. The navigation is pretty intuitive; you tap to select something and swipe to scroll through pages.

A classy combo of style and features make the LG Vu a showstopper in its own right. The phone is expected to be priced at around $299.99 which is pretty reasonable considering its features. LG Vu is basically the US version of LG Prada with a 3G/HSPA and Media FLO TV features thrown in. The TV service is separate from the phone and costs you $15 a month. The Vu features a haptic touchscreen which is touted to be extremely user-friendly and simple. The comparison with the iPhone is inevitable; although the Vu is extremely good looking with a sleek touchscreen, it lacks the seamless web browsing experience and support for email data type which the iPhone provides.

The Vu comes with a side loadable music capability which renders it a reasonably good music player, the camera quality is pretty ok and the web access is speedy even when the phone is used as a modem. Business crowd will be disappointed by its inability to sync calendars when connected with PC. The XM radio was tried on by only a single reviewer who was unsuccessful in getting it to work. The LG Vu is for anyone who is into Live TV; it has some really slick features like picture in pictur