Developed by Obsidian and published by LucasArts in 2004, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords is a fitting sequel to one of the best Star Wars games of all time.
Continue reading Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – The Sith Lords, PC
The 2006 sequel to the hit RPG Neverwinter Nights was created by American developer Obsidian Entertainment and published by Atari, Inc.
In many ways Neverwinter Nights 2 improves on the original game, and uses a new game engine (actually a suped-up version of the previous engine), this one called the Electron Engine.
Gameplay is essentially the same as before: a mixture of third-person, real-time and turn-based adventuring with a multi-character party system. The version currently available (time of writing: September 2018) features a main single-player campaign, plus three add-on campaigns (one of them – Mask of the Betrayer – being considered a classic); multiplayer mode, and the toolset for making your own quests/graphics/scripts/games.
There are some subtle but fundamental changes to the game, though, which makes playing Neverwinter Nights 2 somewhat different to the first game.
For starters: companion AI is much more complex, creating a bit of a mire in the process. What I mean by that is: a “mire” of options, which you can switch on and off to activate/deactivate certain behaviours. You can have companions be full AI controlled, custom AI controlled, or ‘Puppet’ controlled – puppet control being full manual.
Also different to the first game is the fact that you can now have up to three party members with you, making a party of four. In the previous game you just had one companion. It makes this sequel much more involving, and probably a lot more interesting. Actually, it is a much more ‘well-rounded’ game, this sequel, although not without its problems. Initially I struggled to get the camera to do what I wanted it to do, and almost gave up, but carried on in the hope that it would get better. It did, with some practise, but it took a while for me to get used to the interface (not to mention quite a few deaths).
Overall: Neverwinter Nights 2 is a fine, tactical RPG. It looks great; plays like a dream (now most of the bugs have been ironed-out), and is a worthy follow-up to a great title. It’s definitely worth a look if you like RPGs but have never played it, so look out for it in the next GOG.com sale.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neverwinter_Nights_2
GOG.com: https://www.gog.com/game/neverwinter_nights_2_complete
Fallout: New Vegas really is the game Fallout 3 could have been. Don’t get me wrong: I quite liked Fallout 3 (and loved Fallouts 1 & 2), but the storytelling and decision-making in Fallout 3 I felt left a LOT to be desired.
In Fallout: New Vegas, if you really wanted to be bad, you could be very “bad”. And, this game being set in Las Vegas (and the surrounding desert), there is plenty of scope for being VERY bad.
And there is also plenty of scope for getting yourself killed, and for killing other people too. In Fallout: New Vegas, life is cheap, and the weapons are even cheaper…
In short, Fallout: New Vegas is a Role-Playing and shooting classic. Cazadors, deathclaws, Glowing Ones… They are all now part of gaming folklore.
More: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas
Steam: http://store.steampowered.com/app/22380/Fallout_New_Vegas/
