Hands-on

When Croteam released the original Serious Sam game over eight years ago it was considered a bit of a novelty. It was a $20 game that was a throwback to the beginning of the first person shooter genre with only a tiny plot, tons of enemies on screen and co-op play through the single player levels. By 2001, first person shooters had begun to evolve away from these kinds of features to include stuff like real storylines and acting, only a few enemies on screen but with smarter AI and small levels.

Serious Sam The First Encounter didn't have any of that. What it had was fast arcade-like shooter gameplay, massive outdoor areas for levels, and lots and lots of weird but wonderful monsters. For those of you who played the game for the first time, tell us you didn't get scared when the headless kamikaze bombed-filled men started charging at you. You can't tell us that because you would be lying. You were frightened out of your minds. That's the kind of impact the original game had on our young minds back in March 2001.

Welcome once again to Mac Monday, where we preview the latest Mac game releases. This time around, we look at Trapped: The Abduction by Gogii Games, and Harvest: Massive Encounter by Oxeye Game Studio. And once again we find ourselves in a situation where one of these games isn't so great and the other is surprisingly compelling. Find out which after the jump!

Welcome to another edition of Mac Monday, where we shine a light on Mac games that might otherwise not get the notice they may deserve. This time around we're looking at Christian Teister's Grappling Hook and Dingo Games' The Three Musketeers. Read about 'em after the jump!

Welcome back, my friends, to the show that never ends. This time around we're looking at Bullet Candy Perfect by Charlie's Games, and PlayFirst's Avenue Flo. Both of these games are entertaining in their own ways, and one of them even has its own song! Who, what, where, when, why? Find out after the jump!

For those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few years, first of all, welcome back to civilization. Second of all, remember Diablo? Yeah, they're making the third one finally. But we don't know when it's coming out, so to hell with them ... literally. Because third of all, Runic Games's Torchlight is dropping on the 27th! Yes, of this month!

What? You've never heard of Torchlight or Runic Games? Well, then, let me school you big money style. Read on to find out why Torchlight is going to stave off those waiting-for-Diablo 3 jitters.

Welcome to another edition of Mac Monday, your source for the latest and greatest Macintosh game demos! This week, we're taking a look at Machinarium, by the fine folks at Amanita Design, who gave us Samorost and Samorost 2. After that, we'll have a peek at QuantZ, a casual title by Gamerizon that offers a new look at the Match 3 genre. Check 'em out after the jump!

Every time a new MMO comes out, it is often heralded as the "WoW killer." The one MMO that will manage to dethrone Blizzard's impossibly popular epic once and for all. This is a ridiculous expectation for any game to have, and thusly, MMOs need to be judge on their personal merits rather than in comparison to how popular they will be beside World of Warcraft. Aion is one of these games, and while it is rather generic, it manages to offer up a good mix of storytelling, graphics, and gameplay that make it a game to at least try out.

After what feels like forever, we've got a single game to review this week, rather than the two-fers we've been doing. This time around, we're looking at Miriel's Enchanted Mystery, by Game House, the publisher who brought us Miriel the Magical Merchant. This sequel offers the same basic gameplay as the original, but offers a few new twists that make owning MEM worthwhile. Find out more after the jump!

It's really hard to complain about getting some new content for free for one of the best PC games released in the last few years. So we won't be doing that here. The just released new mini-campaign Crash Course represents the first major content update for Valve's zombie co-op shooter Left 4 Dead since last April's Survival Pack (which added the Survival Mode and one all new map). For Crash Course, Valve made an all new two level campaign for single and co-op play and those maps can also be used in Survival and Versus mode. It's the first time Valve has released a new official campaign since the title shipped to stores back in 2008.

Check out the jump for our impressions:

It's that special time once again! Time to talk about Mac games. This week we're taking a look at Zuma's Revenge and Creeper World. Both of these games surprised me with how engaging they proved to be. How, you ask, or I imagine you asking? Find out after the jump!

There are rare few good superhero games that are based on existing licenses, and there have certainly been no great games involving Batman. You can cringe every time you hear about a Batman game, and it will normally be justified. But not with Batman: Arkham Asylum. This is one of the best superhero games of all time, and certainly the best Batman game ever made. It combines some excellent atmosphere with a truly amazing faithfulness to old-school style, and this classic feel makes it one of the best games this year.

Volition has been hard at work on their Saint's Row series for their past few years. They recently returns to one of their flagship franchises with a new game, however, and Red Faction Guerrilla is that game. By initial accounts and over-quick judgements, one might think that it is poor, given the delay in release as well as the knowledge that it is a port of a console game. Thankfully, Red Faction Guerrilla surpasses these two premature gaffes and sets itself as easily the best entry in the series. This is not jsut a console port, it's a vast improvement on everything that the original series set out to do, and is one of best times you can ever have in a sandbox game.

The original Majesty was an excellent, if rather unknown, take on the tried-and-true real-time strategy genre. Instead of giving the player direct control over their forces, it instead gave all of the units separate AI and motivations, requiring the player to lead by incentive rather than by command. This was incredibly innovative at the time, and Majesty 2 picks up where the original left off. While its steep difficulty curve and lack of radical new features prevents it from truly surpassing its predecessor, it's a worthy addition to the series and manages to capture all the things that made Majesty great.

Download the Majesty 2 Demo (569 MB)

The legacy of the Tribes series of games is legendary in the first-person shooter community. It's just that much fun, accessible, and innovative. Its influence will likely never die, and many games will attempt to live up to the legend. Timegate's Section 8 has often been compared to Tribes directly, and for good reason, as a lot of similar features and thematic elements are in place. The kicker is that Section 8 really does live up to all of it, and is easily one of the best multiplayer shooters I've played in a long time. Certainly the best of 2009.

Check out our collection of Section 8 related downloads here on Big Download!

Welcome to another thrilling installment of Mac Monday, the soup that eats like a meal. This time around we're looking at Simone Bevilacqua's BOH and Charlie Dog Games's Cuba Letra. And although we love all our babies equally, one of these two games provided me surprisingly more entertainment than the other. Which one? Read on to find out!