PC GAMING - 4th Quarter Most Anticipated Games

Well, the 2 most anticipated PC games are out.

• Fallout 3 (F3) RPG

This is the long, long awaited sequel to Fallout 2 vintage 1998.

The Fallout series has a huge cult following, and many have decried that a sequel version had not followed by 2000.

Well, FINALLY, it's here. Published by Bethesda (aka Beth), the same people who brought us the Elder Scroll Series games like Morrowind & Oblivion (which I have mentioned before).

In fact, F3 uses the same Game Engine as Oblivion. It has the same open Game World as Oblivion and Morrowind.

I already know that I am going to become hooked on F3 just like I'm already hooked on Morrowind & Oblivion. There are going to be many different scenarios in playing F3, so I will enjoy playing over, and over, configuring my Character in different ways to get new experiences in F3.

• Far Cry 2 (FC2) FPS

This is the sequel to the original Far Cry (FC1) from Ubisoft.

There WAS one glitch, the retail PC-DVD was shipped with the DM (Download Material) version of the FarCry2.exe file which used SecuROM protection software. The PC-DVD would not run this way. You got a SecuROM error dialog with a link that did NOT take you to the fix, the page only had a Fallout 3 fix!

It took me several hours to find the actual Far Cry 2 SecuROM Patch file on a Forum. The patch does fix this problem.

Now, as to FC2 game.....

First, this game IS a resource hog. So, low-end PCs need not apply. You can gage if it will run on your system if you can run the game Bioshock. Even then you will have to tweak your settings (see Tweak Guides in sidebar).

The only real difference between FC1 & FC2 is the Game World. FC1 takes place on islands in the tropics, FC2 takes place in areas in Africa. Otherwise both games play the same, in open Game Worlds.

The biggest change is in the number of Missions in FC2:

There are 85+ missions!
(see Statistics on gameplay Options page)

• Main = 33 (aka Faction missions)


• Buddy = 12


• Side = 40


• Total 85


• AND unknown number of Underground missions, which you have to do to get your Malaria pills. This is a minor annoyance IMO, and I wish FC2 didn't have it.
  
  Note that Buddy Missions are linked to a Main Mission. If you do the Buddy first, the associated Main Mission is modified but IS completed. BUT, if you do the Main Mission first, this "kills" the associated Buddy Mission.

Travel: Trucks, cars, ATVs, boats, and of course you can walk

Weapons: I will not list weapons, but comment that there are more choices than FC1.

I am a FC1 fan; played many, many times, and will play again. So it is not surprising that I really like FC2 (so far). FC2 is immersive and fun to play, hard to STOP playing in fact.