Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor Hands-On - Driving a Tank

If you played 2006's Company of Heroes, you'll remember the game's distinctive look and feel--how, unlike other real-time strategy games, it wasn't about harvesting resources or building structures, but about commanding a small squadron of determined troops in tough battles. The game turned heads with its explosive action and equally explosive environments; its impressive technology built war-torn environments with plenty of fully destructible cover. Now, the game is set to return in a new add-on, Tales of Valor, which will offer three new single-player campaigns, along with new drivable multiplayer vehicles. We had a chance to dive into one of the new single-player missions and try out the new tank controls, which will be available for one of the most feared tanks in World War II, the King Tiger. Please be advised that this preview may contain minor spoilers.

Ride a tank, hold a general's rank in Tales of Valor. Tank included.

The game will offer three new campaigns, and we had a chance to try out a section of the Tiger Ace campaign, a series of Axis missions in which you'll take control of a German tank crew. Each character can carry infantry weapons in battle, and indeed, you'll need their abilities as foot soldiers to complete your missions. We played two missions that took place in a tiny French village which, during the war itself, was locked down against Allied reinforcements by the resourceful crew of a single King Tiger tank--in the game, your crew, and your tank. And as part of Company of Heroes' role-playing game-like gameplay, your tank crew will be able to advance along certain skill lines that will result in immediate upgrades to the actual tank vehicle itself, such as increased firing speed or better handling.

This mission gave us a chance to try the new "direct fire" control mode, a toggle-able setting that lets you use your computer's mouse to freely rotate and aim your turret at different targets. The Tiger Tank's powerful cannon has two different firing modes that use different shells (and switching between them requires a brief pause as your cannoneer swaps out shells): one mode is highly effective against enemy vehicles, and the other is more effective against buildings, emplacements, and infantry. Firing the cannon is literally as easy as pointing and clicking, and there's a hovering crosshair that you can use to acquire targets as well.

The King Tiger mission starts off as an extremely satisfying romp in which you roll through the town, flushing out your foes. Your powerful tank can mow down smaller Allied vehicles and send enemy foot soldiers flying. (You can also simply run over enemy infantry in a tank to crush them.) Later on in the mission, the Allies send reinforcements in the form of their own tanks, and though none can compare to the sheer firepower or the massive frontal armor of the King Tiger, you'll still find yourself challenged to negotiate the abandoned streets of the city without coming under withering fire. The King Tiger is massive enough to barrel through most low-lying cover and powerful enough to blast through most small buildings, but you may prefer to keep your cover intact to ensure that your tank isn't immediately spotted and fired on by enemies as well. Once you've stomped through the map, you'll then maneuver your tank to various control points to help Axis infantry (your allies in this campaign) capture each point.

After completing this mission, we found that our tank, despite our best efforts, had broken down as the result of a story-related event, and our once-mighty tank crew became a small infantry squad in hostile territory. We found ourselves at the northernmost part of the town (toward which we had fought our way), tasked with sneaking down to the southern end to escape. In this case, we found that stealth was generally a better tactic than going in with guns blazing, though after the handful of skirmishes we did find ourselves in, we made sure to avail ourselves of the weaponry our foes left behind, such as Panzerfaust ammo to blast enemy vehicles.

The King Tiger's massive cannon will lay most ground troops to waste.

Given that the mission took place after the Allies sent along another wave of reinforcements, we were outnumbered and outgunned, and so we carefully did our best to avoid as many conflicts as possible. Tales of Valor is very much an extension of Company of Heroes, and consequently this was a small-scale mission with a small squadron of troops. Playing smart can help avoid casualties, but fortunately, the expansion's new "field dressing" feature lets you revive fallen comrades in battle, so that you can continue on your way without having to worry about losing key characters.

Tales of Valor is clearly looking to add more gritty, small-scale action to an already excellent tactical strategy game. The expansion is set to ship in early 2009.

Credits : Gamespot.com

The Godfather II Hands-On

We take rival mafia thugs to the breaking point in this sandbox strategy adaptation of the classic film.

If you've seen The Godfather II recently enough to remember its story in detail, take a moment to choose which of these genres is best suited to convey its unique portrayal of Mafia drama: third-person shooter, sandbox action, or role-playing strategy. Got your answer? So does developer EA Redwood Shores, and it has chosen "all of the above" for its upcoming video game adaptation of the same name. As you take on the role of up-and-coming Mafia don Dominic Corleone, you'll roam the streets busting heads, you'll charm your way through dialogue trees, and, when your empire begins to take form, you'll need to carefully allocate and manage your resources to make sure it continues to grow. We recently spent some hands-on time with The Godfather II to see how these disparate genres are coming together.

To be fair, the Godfather II game doesn't have the same plot as the film. The game tells a parallel story that often intersects with the film's story at critical moments, but for the most part you'll be forging a story of your own. That story begins in Havana, Cuba, on the night before the revolution of 1958. Just as a meeting of Mafia bigwigs is beginning to wind down, violence erupts in the streets, and you're suddenly responsible for guiding members of the Corleone family to a nearby airport so you can escape to safety. Sadly, Aldo Trapani, star of the first Godfather game, doesn't survive this frantic journey. His sudden death is the catalyst that establishes the premise for the rest of the game. Michael Corleone promotes you to Aldo's former position, a role that requires you to form your own semi-autonomous branch of the Mafia.

Once the family returns to New York, you begin establishing your own corner of the family by recruiting a new member into your ranks. Initially, this is as simple as talking to some of the freelance talent already wandering around the Corleone compound, then choosing which you like best. Each potential associate has a unique skill set that you need to take into account. The pair we had to choose from at the game's outset included a gentleman skilled in the art of arson and another who considered himself a talented medic. Each has a mini-bio and personality quirks, too, but these are essentially classes you'll want to keep balanced out in your crew. We went with the arsonist and set out to take over some of the local businesses in order to build our empire.

At the suggestion of Frank Pentangeli, a friend of the family, we set our sights on a local prostitution house disguised as a bakery in order to collect our first money-laundering front. Adding businesses to your burgeoning empire is key to The Godfather II, because to expand your influence, you'll need money and manpower. We took a car from the front of the Corleone compound, cruised through the late-1950s sandbox representation of New York City that makes up the first of three environments in the game (the other two being Miami and Havana), and arrived at the bakery. We began the takeover by exercising some melee abilities on the guard inside the legal front of this two-sided business. Melee is a simple but fun combination of triggers that lets you throw punches, grab enemies, and exercise a wide variety of intimidating moves while they're in your grasp. You can head-butt them, throw them, slap them around, and more. It's an easy system, but one that results in several dozen possible moves.

What's the point of doing this? Every character of interest has a breaking point where they'll start to give you information and access to what you want, but you need to be careful, because just beyond that breaking point is when they fight back, and further down eventually die. As long as you don't go too over the top with the violence, you'll be able to rough up people in a really slick, Mafia-inspired way. In our bakery mission, we began by shaking down the guard protecting the door leading from the legal face of this business to the shady basement where the unsavory deeds occur. This let us gain access without killing him, but the guards inside weren't so lucky. After a bit of third-person gun combat against these watchmen, we finally went into the back office and found the owner. This poor soul had the unfortunate luck of being the last man standing in the joint, so he wasn't exactly in a position of leverage. Nevertheless, we popped him in the face, threw him into his desk, then picked him up and began to threaten more violence. At this point, he gladly handed over the establishment in exchange for his life. Thus the "bakery" was ours.

Once you obtain a new establishment, it's a good idea to jump into the "Don's view" so you can see a visual representation of which properties you own and set a strategic plan for how you'd like to hold onto them. The first choice you'll want to make is how many guards you want to keep there. The more you have, the less likely the tables will be turned on you by a rival family, but guards cost money. However, money is also how you upgrade your stats and those of your immediate crew for more offensive-minded purposes, so you'll need to carefully decide how much to spend on securing your property.

The Don's view is definitely what separates The Godfather II from other action sandbox games. This collection of screens is where the heart of the strategy and role-playing aspects exists. You can look at your property, compare it against that of other families, inspect which properties are most ripe for the taking, and manage your crew to best take on those challenges. Let's say another family is exercising too much dominance over the city and you want to take it down but you don't have the manpower to do it. Using the Don's view, one option is to send an explosives-trained associate to bomb one of the family's properties. Another is to stage a hit on one of its higher-level underbosses. A third option? Channel your energy into making sure your crew is the most fashionably dressed in the entire city. That might not get you anywhere, but hey, it's an option.

As we continued to go around town, hijacking cars and collecting property, we were impressed by The Godfather II's mix of combat and cinematic drama. There's a stark contrast between the stylish executions you can pull off on a wounded enemy and the careful prodding you need to perform on those whom you're trying to pry information from, but it's a really interesting change of pace and speaks to the fact that you're not just out to mow everyone down--you're a businessman, first and foremost. One thing that may turn people off is the driving. Since this is an open-world game, you'll be spending a lot of time behind the wheel. But because the game is set in the 1950s, you'll see a lot of boats out on the road that drive about as advanced as they look (imagine a city filled with the Hermes from the Grand Theft Auto series). However, this only adds to the level of realism and works well alongside the unfortunate 1950s fashion and period weaponry to give you the feeling that you're really in that time period.

Altogether, The Godfather II looks like a very intriguing take on the sandbox action genre. It's hard to think of many games falling under that category that have attempted the level of strategic depth that this game is going for, so we're looking forward to seeing how it all comes together when The Godfather II is released in February.

Thx So Much

Credit: Gamespot.com

สเปคที่แนะนำอย่างเป็นทางการของ Grand Theft Auto IV PC

แวะมาเตือนความจำกันอีกทีสำหรับเกม GTA IV ในเวอร์ชั่นพีซี พร้อมกับสเปคที่แนะนำอย่างเป็นทางการจากทาง Rockstar Games โดยสเปคที่สามารถปรับได้ Option ทั้งหมดได้สุด (ระดับ 11) ทาง Rockstar games แนะนำสเปคตัวนี้มาครับ

Processor: Intel 2.4GHz Quad Core / AMD Phenom X3 2.1GHz
RAM: 2.5GB
GPU: Nvidia 8600 512MB / ATI 3870 512MB
Hard Drive: 18GB Free Space (36-54GB for digital distribution installation)

เห็นสเปคแล้วหนาว ๆ ร้อน ๆ พอตัวเหมือนกันสำหรับหลาย ๆ คนสำหรับลูกเล่นอีกหนึ่งที่น่าสนใจคือ Social Club ซึ่งเป็นบริการจากทาง Rockstar เพื่อออกมารองรับฟีเจอร์ใหม่ภายในเกมนั่นก็คือ Video Editor ที่ทำให้คุณสามารถตัดต่อวิดีโอเป็นของตัวเองโดยใช้เค รื่องมือที่มีให้ในเกมได้ในทันทีและอัพโหลดสู่ Social Club เพื่อให้คนทั่วไปได้เข้าชม

โดยการจะเป็นสมาชิกของ Social Club นั้นจำเป็นต้องอัพโหลดวิดีโอเข้าสู่ระบบด้วย ส่วนบุคคลทั่วไปนั้นก็จะสามารถเข้าชมวิดีโอได้ตามปกต ิ ที่สำคัญบริการของ Social Club นั้นจะมีการใช้งานในเกมต่อ ๆ ไปของทาง Rockstar ด้วยโดยอาจจะแฝงเข้ามาอยู่ในรูปแบบของโทรทัศน์จากภาย ในเกม

Grand Theft Auto IV เวอร์ชั่นพีซีมีกำหนดการวางจำหน่ายในวันที่ 3 ธันวาคมที่จะถึงนี้

สำหรับ Screenshot ใหม่ ๆ รวมถึงวิดีโอจาก Social Club สามารถเข้าไปชมได้ ที่นี่

Source : VE3D

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Credit : Thaigaming.com