Through my eyes

"Take care of him" the young boy would always tell his grandmother before leaving on a class trip. He was always very kind to me, just like the rest of his family. His mother was always working, but she was the one who had bought me for the boy's 12th birthday. Although sometimes rough, she was kind and loving. I spent a lot of my spare time with his grandmother. When the boy and his mother were working between 8 AM and 3 PM, she would make sure I always had enough water or biscuits. And when she finished cooking and washing, she would always talk to me and I would respond in my own language. You see, even though the boy's 15th birthday was approaching, the old lady still thought of me as a strange creature due to my colourful feathers or round beak.

And last but not least was the boy, always friendly and joyful to see me. He would talk the most to me, about what was happening at a place he called "skuul", or what his homework was. When he wasn't watching TV or writing on pieces of paper strange symbols, he would press two buttons and a large, rectangular machine would awaken along with its 32 inch partner. After a few minutes, the "scrin" would lighten up and show many i9mages which apparently made the boy laugh or get angry, though I never understood which made him happy and which didn't.

Still, there was one small, rectangular white box the boy liked the most. It had a hand held device which magically controlled it, which needed regular cleaning and battery changing. And sometimes he would put my cage next to the couch so that I could watch how he played. He played many games. When he was angry, he would play a game in which he either was or controlled magic sticks of different shapes and colors which would make loud noises whenever the man in front of them fell to the ground, never to rise again. With one press, the sticks would shoot small coconuts that made even louder noises and released more colours, mostly yellow and orange. When he was happy, he would play games in which a man would either steal cars and use the aforementioned sticks or he would use a sword and fly through the air killing ugly monsters. When he was bored, he would play a strange game in which you couldn't see the main character (although everyone called him "President") but you could see the city and decide wether to build buildings or not, what buildings to build and how much of that green paper with people's faces on it you would give to the workers.

I was always admired by friends that came by. His best friend would comment whenever I sang, but he liked me, while his class mate admired me since he had a parrot like me too. The two little cousins and neighbors would always stare at me with round eyes and pat my head while the adult guests would tell them not to, fearing that I may bite.

I can't say I long for my homecountry of Colombia, or for my spouse who died a year ago. I am well fed, always entertained, always happy and I am only 7 years old, so I will live to see the boy graduate from "skuul". But I've always wondered why he played the games in the first place. Was he addicted to them? I don't think so. Maybe he just liked to relax, like any other human, and everyone has his own ways of relaxing. Still, I wonder if he could give me some of the coconuts he throws to other people...

The gamer's Christmas carol

NOTE: After every lyric Tra la la la la, la la la la follows!

Deck the socks with games for Xbox

Tis the season to be addicted

To GTA and COD

Assassin's Creed from 1 to 2

And let's not forget about Fallout!

Put on your sword and fight the Horde!

But be careful, there's that Warlord!

Don we now our cool apparel

Check the ancient DOTA map

See the blazing Orc before us!

Strike that troll and join the server

Follow me on Left 4 Dead

While I tell of how I pwned!

Fast away these old games pass,

Hail the cool ones, lad and lass!

Play we joyous all together

Join me now on Multiplayer,

Heedless of those 10 year old gamers!

Tra la la la la, la la la la

Merry Christmas everyone!

Am I the only one who thinks this is strange?

The game industry, as big as it is, has had its share of strange games. Some never went past the first few screen shots, while others were released and even became successful. It is sometimes hard to clearly define strange, since its meaning has changed over the decades. In the '80s, the very concept of video games was strange. Are they still strange today? The answer: some of them yes... And they can be cataloged: strange by longevity, strange by innovation and simply strange.

The first type, strange by longevity, is best represented by the Sims franchise. From Sims 1 to Sims 3, the franchise has probably the most video games ever made on a single subject: life. It has expansion packs with magic tricks, pets, new jobs, new entertainment facilities, new characters, college and new life stages. It even has the three Sims Stories game that have, as the name suggests, a story mode, something new from the rest of the games which are freelance. Not to mention the Final Fantasy series, with at least 13 games.

The second type, strange by innovation, is best represented by games that bring new things to the industry (that doesn't mean games that have new things, but games that are new as a genre or at the core). At first, RPGs were deemed strange since they allowed you to make the character that you want. Now, strange games are games that I hate or don't like; games like Total War or stealth games. Total War puts you in the role of a general commanding an empire, so you have to not only do battle, but make sure your population is happy, take into account religion, gather taxes and build buildings in your territories. Also, the way you battle is strange since you control armies of units and have to strategically place them to win (I managed to defeat 70,000 French soldiers with 60,000 Byzantine soldiers by luring their army with the pikemen and hitting their flanks with my hidden Cataphract cavalry; but by the time all the turns were up and the game ended, I had only conquered Turkey, North Africa, parts of Araby and the Balkans). Let us hope that Empire Total War or Napoleon Total War will be better. Stealth games are also annoying since you have to sneak, assassinate, hide bodies, dress up like soldiers and avoid detection; why can't you just barge in guns blazing? I mean, at Hitman 2, I needed to read a walkthrough twice to manage to pass the first mission and at the seventh mission I used cheats to become invincible so that I can just massacre all those sons of b*tches, and at the end I was rated the worst hit man EVER!!!!!!

Finally, the last type, simply strange, has some prime examples: there was a planned SimMars in which you would run a Martian colony just like you would run a city in SimCity, but that was canceled in 2000. But another EA game, Spore, got more attention and was praised by critics. In it, you have to build your own creatures and guide them through Cell, Animal, Tribal, Civilization and Space stages (awkward, at the very least). And last but most f*cked up of all, a Japanese Nintendo DS game called Love Plus in which you need to be a girl's boyfriend (which includes kissing her by touching the screen or saying 'I love you' a hundred times in the Nintendo microphone). It is so popular in that Far Eastern country (and I'm happy it's far from me!) that one guy even married the video game character. THAT is strange... 

    

С Днем Рождения Кала́шников

If you've never heard of it, you've probably lived under a rock all your life. The brand everyone likes, from soldiers to Afghans to FARC militia, celebrates 62 years of existence, and its inventor 90 years. It has had many names, from Avtomat Kalashnikova model 1947, to Kalashnikov, to AK-47 to simply AK. But why is it so popular?

In response to the German Sturmgewehr 44, the world's first mass produced assault rifle, the Russians decided to make their own model. After all, if their weapons could resist in the Siberian tundra, they could do anything! This is how Kalashnikov enters the picture, a humble soldier with a talent for inventions. In '47, his invention was accepted by the Russian bureau and soon became the standard assault rifle of the Mother Country.

What I find interesting is Mikhail's history. His father was deported by Stalin when he was a toddler, he wrote six poetry books in his life and was conscripted in the Red Army in 1938. He served as a tank driver and mechanic till he was hurt in October 1941 during a failed counter-assault. That's when he decided to build a new infantry weapon due to his bad experiences with the weapons at that time. While healing, he designed a sub-machine gun. Although his first submachine gun design was not accepted to service, his talent as a designer was noticed. From 1942 onwards Kalashnikov was assigned to the Central Scientific-developmental Firing Range for Rifle Firearms of the Chief Artillery Directorate of RKKA. In 1944, he designed a gas-operated carbine for the new 7.62 x 39 mm cartridge; this weapon, influenced by the Garand self-loading rifle, lost out to the new Simonov carbine which would be eventually adopted as the SKS; but it became a basis for his entry in an assault rifle competition in 1946. His winning entry, the "Mikhtim" (so named by taking the first letters of his name Mikhail Timofeyevich) became the prototype for the development of a family of prototype rifles.

It is cheaper, lighter and more reliable than the American M14. It can resist sand, cold, heat, dirt and anything else that is dangerous for other weapons. It is currently used by mostly every type of soldier, from Romanians to Cubans to Russians to Afghans and militia men. It has several new designs such as the AKM or AK-74, plus grenade launchers and there are currently 100 million of all types being used worldwide. So... happy birthday Kalashnikov!   

TAKE THAT POSITION!

The first two games in the Brothers in Arms series distinguished themselves among the crowd of WWII shooters on the strength of their smoothly integrated first-person squad control and gritty, moving portrayal of a band of Allied soldiers. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway sticks to these strengths, and commanding your squads through Nazi-occupied territory is more thrilling than ever thanks to the vibrant, beautiful scenery and the brutal, exhilarating action. Sergeant Baker (your character) and his squad are all nuanced, sympathetic characters, though the story doesn't quite live up to the promise of its protagonists. Despite a few irregular beats, Hell's Highway is an exciting, intense shooter that is sure to quicken your pulse. 

This go-around finds Sergeant Matt Baker and his crew carrying the memories of their fallen brothers and welcoming replacements into the fold. As they get set to drop into Holland as a part of the ambitious but doomed Operation Market-Garden, you meet the men whose lives you will be responsible for. The story isn't so much a narrative as it is an exploration of the relationships between soldiers; it's a mature look at the way bonds can be forged and broken in the emotional furnace of war. Through engaging cutscenes and lively battlefield communication, you'll find yourself developing an attachment to these characters. Many great moments, both comic and tragic, resonate with an admirable emotional clarity that unflinchingly evokes the turbid reality of war, where triumph and tragedy walk hand in hand. 

Unfortunately, some of these potentially great moments will fall flat if you're not well acquainted with old characters like Leggett, Allen, and Garnett. Hell's Highway often tries to lean on emotional pillars created by traumas from the first two games (both released in 2005), but the "previously on Brothers in Arms" segment isn't solid enough to support these references, and the framework crumbles a bit as a result. As the game progresses you'll gain the knowledge needed to prop up these references; this makes a second play-through more appealing, but it's a shame this understanding isn't established earlier. 

Once on the battlefield, your comrades become potent weapons at your command. Hell's Highway offers a tutorial on the proper way to manage your squads, and you'd best pay attention, since going it alone will get you into trouble in a hurry. Strategy boils down to firing on German positions to keep them suppressed, then flanking around to a better angle and finishing them off. Your men are capable soldiers and will shout advice at you if you seem to be stagnating. They will also do their fair share of killing but are still occasionally liable to run on the wrong side of a wall when ordered to a different position. It hurts to lose one of your men in battle, regardless of the fact that he'll be patched up at your next checkpoint. You are their commander and they are entrusting their lives to you, a weight expertly transferred to your shoulders by Sgt. Baker's cutscenes and voice-overs. Hell's Highway motivates you strategically and emotionally to be a smart leader, and it's surprisingly engaging to focus on something other than yourself in a first-person shooter. 

Battles become even more complex as you take more squads under your command and incorporate machine gun and bazooka units. The former is excellent at suppressing enemies, while the latter can destroy sandbag barriers and elevated enemy positions in houses and towers (particularly awesome). As you get the hang of squad command, you'll begin wielding your men as extensions of yourself and moving through battlefields as an elite, coordinated unit. Taking apart and dispatching a field full of entrenched German units is immensely satisfying, and this feeling of power is what makes Brothers in Arms so rewarding. 

Despite the focus on squad combat, Hell's Highway demands a strong individual performance from you. Oftentimes you'll be the lone flanking unit, and you'll have to shoot accurately and make smart use of cover to survive. There are also sections where you go it alone, and you'll have to be nimble to both suppress and flank the Nazis yourself. Fortunately, you are a crack shot and can hit half-exposed German helmets from a substantial distance if you can find enough time to pop your head out and aim down your sights. When you score a particularly impressive shot or throw a well-aimed grenade, the action camera will kick in to highlight your success. The camera will zoom in on the Germans and the action will slow down dramatically, treating you to a gory display of flying limbs, severed torsos, or burst skulls. It's a bit overblown, but you'll probably be too busy roaring triumphantly to care. 


Realism is abundant throughout the game, though, thanks to the excellent audio and visual design. Each gun has a variety of unique sounds, and nearby explosions cause your ears to ring, drowning out all other battlefield noise. Bullets smack into cover you've hidden behind and whistle by your head disconcertingly, while tables and fences splinter and break in ways that both sound and look realistic. Your comrades are also quite detailed, though occasionally their facial textures will load a bit late, leaving you with a blurry, expressionless facsimile that can vitiate any emotional involvement you may feel. As you venture through the Dutch countryside and into more-populated zones, the landscape will change, but the superb level of detail will be constant throughout, only periodically marred by a lackluster texture or two. The different landscapes do have a certain sameness to them, as each tries to allow for squad-based tactics, but on the whole these battlefields provide fantastic arenas for combat. 

There are a number of multiplayer maps as well, and each supports up to 20 combatants. Two teams face off in successive standard capture-the-territory contests, respawning only at the beginning of each round. The twist is that each squad member has a certain role, from squad leader to weapons specialist to tank operator. Squad leaders can call in aerial recon, while weapon specialists travel with protective squads and deal their own unique brand of destruction. Well populated matches are lively and intense, as fully-manned teams work together to stay alive, back each other up, and thwart their opponents. Add in a vocal squad leader, and there is ample potential for exciting battles. However, there are still plenty of lone wolves roaming about, and whether players will fully embrace the squad mentality remains to be seen. 

What is certain now is that Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is another rousing entry in a great series. The beautiful landscapes complement the gritty combat, and thoughtful cinematic techniques breathe life into the engaging characters. Despite the somewhat spotty story and sundry oddities, Hell's Highway is a game you should consider playing twice. The unlockable "authentic" difficulty mode removes all the heads-up display elements and really allows the visual design to shine. The story resonates more powerfully because you know the characters well, and the renewed challenge ratchets up the intensity. With so many exciting elements, Hell's Highway provides ample motivation to don the Allied uniform once more.

Get ready to get Airbone

It seems you can't read a preview or review of a World War II-based FPS without hearing about how many games there are in the genre. With good reason, too--it's a crowded one. But just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean there can't be some good ones. Medal of Honor: Airborne is one such game. It starts off really slow, and the whole parachuting hook is little more than a gimmick; but later on the game realizes its potential and gets good. 

There's not much of a story to Airborne. It's WWII; Nazis need killing and the world needs saving. You're in the Airborne division, so you'll be jumping out of planes and doing your part to swing the war in the Allies' favor. Before each mission you're given a brief rundown on what's going on and list of objectives to accomplish. Rather than spawning on the battlefield you'll arrive in style by parachuting out of a plane. As you fall to the ground you'll want to maneuver toward green smoke, which indicates a safe landing zone. In theory, parachuting into the level is supposed to open up a whole new style of play. You're free to land wherever you want, but invisible walls prevent you from getting too clever, and nine times out of 10, when you do land somewhere other than the safe zone you'll end up dead in a matter of seconds. There are some special landing zones to discover and sometimes these areas will provide you with an advantageous starting point, but because you find most of these locations when you're already on the ground, they're of little use.

Once on the ground you'll take on waves of Axis soldiers over the course of the game's six levels. Six levels might not sound like a lot, but each generally takes an hour or more to complete, so it'll probably take most people around eight hours to finish the game. Your objectives are shown on your radar and you're free to tackle them in whatever order you choose. Between choosing your starting location and being able to pick what to take on first it might sound like there's a lot of freedom here, but there's really not--you can't start from many different places, and you have to do the same tasks regardless of the order you start them. Mission objectives range from blowing up AA guns to clearing buildings of enemy soldiers, taking out tanks, and detonating lots of explosives. On their own these tasks aren't anything unique, but because the levels are so long and feature so many objectives you often feel as though you're performing monumental feats rather than routine tasks.

The first three levels aren't very interesting. They're fairly linear, take place in unexciting settings, and don't play to the game's strengths. Starting with the fourth level the game picks up since you're given more freedom as to how you want to tackle the levels. You might decide to climb towers to take out snipers (their position is given away by a reflection off their scope), clear the area of ground troops, and then make your way into a building, while a different player might head to the building first, clear the ground troups second, and hide from the snipers rather than kill them. The game's artificial intelligence isn't very good, but at least it's aggressive. You can pick off guys as they peek around corners, but they won't just take it lying down. They'll spray bullets in your direction without looking, and they're rather fond of blindly tossing grenades over their backs. If you get too close or they get some reinforcements, enemy soldiers will charge right at you and inflict serious damage until you can fend them off with your weak melee attacks. 

The controls are pretty standard on both the PC and the 360. A sprint button comes in quite handy when trying to dash from one bit of cover to the next. Once you're behind that cover, the ability to lean and fire is extremely useful, as is the ability to raise your weapon and aim using its sights. As you progress through the game you'll be able to upgrade your weapons, earning bigger clips, faster reloads, and secondary firing abilities. You can carry two weapons at a time as well as a pistol, which isn't very powerful but has unlimited ammo. Grenades are often tough to come by, but ammunition is plentiful, as are health packs, which are scattered throughout the levels. It's a good thing, too, because once you start getting hit your health depletes in a hurry. 

While most of Airborne is good, it does have its share of problems. Hit detection is terrible--it's not uncommon to hit someone with three or four shots before even one registers. Many of the automatic weapons have too much recoil, making them extremely difficult to aim--a problem not shared by the CPU, who is more than capable of hitting you from across the level regardless of the gun. Your fellow soldiers are sometimes quite useful, but other times they don't do anything at all--or worse, they stand right in front of you and block your shot. We also fell out of the level a few times, though this was usually when we parachuted someplace the game probably didn't want us to. When all of these problems come together the game can be extremely frustrating, as you're forced to try the same part of a level over and over again in an attempt to find the best way to circumvent the game's sometimes cheap tactics.

Unlike the last Medal of Honor, MOH: Airborne has a solid online component. Up to 12 people can hop online and play ranked and unranked matches on half a dozen maps and a few different game types. The action's always fast-paced and for me, at least, lag-free. Interestingly enough, multiplayer is the one area where choosing where you want to parachute into a level actually lives up to the hype. As you descend you can see both friends and foes and, if you're quick enough, can land in areas that are quite advantageous--like right behind that jerk camping on a rooftop with a sniper rifle. 

Airborne isn't a great-looking game, but it does run well and the visuals don't hamper the experience. It looks best on the PC thanks to higher quality textures. Outside of a few nice-looking buildings most structures are simple, and look pretty much the same, not only to each other, but every other WWII game out there. There are only a few different types of soldiers and while they aren't very detailed, you can tell one type from the next easily. At least, you can if you're up close. It's tough to tell the good guys from the bad guys when you're far apart, and it's even harder to hit them thanks to a lack of transition animation, meaning they might instantly jump from one position to the next. Weapons look great, but explosions look embarrassingly last-gen. Not only do weapons look nice, but they sound great, too. The rest of the game sounds pretty good as well. You'll hear the familiar orchestral theme from previous MOH games, and there's lots of chatter from both Axis and Allied soldiers. 

Medal of Honor: Airborne is a game that rewards those who are patient enough to stick with it. The first half of the game is dull and just rehashes the same sort of gameplay you've seen countless times before. But about halfway through, things pick up and gradually get better and better until the last two levels, which are quite intense and a lot of fun to play. The multiplayer isn't anything groundbreaking, but it's quite good and adds some value to an otherwise short game. If you're tired of the genre, Airborne won't do anything to change your mind, but if you're looking to fight for the Allied cause yet again, it's a worthy tour of duty.

The game to end all games

As one of the most critically acclaimed shooters of all time, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a prime example of a tough act to follow. Yet, amidst a raging storm of anticipation and expectation, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has done it. The new campaign is chock-full of intense action and dramatic moments, and though it is more muddled than its predecessor (in more ways than one), it's still an absolute blast. The new Special Ops mode allows you to experience some campaign-inspired thrills with a friend and it's an engaging challenge to coordinate your maneuvers and tackle the varied objectives. Last but not least, the competitive multiplayer that took the online shooter community by storm two years ago is back and better than ever. Though the addictive action remains the same at its core, there are a host of new elements that make it more accessible, more strategic, and more rewarding. This all adds up to a thoroughly excellent package that is sure to thrill shooter fans and deprive them of sleep for months to come.

The campaign picks up where its predecessor left off, and there's a new violent ultranationalist terrorist on the scene. Once again, you play as a few different soldiers who are part of the effort to make the world a safer place. Your missions take you around the world to a number of exotic locations and engage you in a variety of different conflicts, ranging from stealthy and silenced to crowded and cacophonous. The action is smooth and exhilarating, thanks to sharp shooting and movement mechanics that allow you to be as quick and deadly as your skills permit. Environments are well-designed and detailed, though many textures don't look particularly good upon close inspection. Modern Warfare 2 isn't a beautiful game, but it looks great in action. The diverse levels not only provide varied sights, but they are cleverly designed to allow the action to flow at an exciting pace. Opportunities for cover and flanking present themselves naturally, allowing you to move through the battlefield in a variety of fluid ways. The aggressive enemy AI will keep you on your toes, and success is hard-earned and satisfying. 

Modern Warfare 2's campaign, like that of its predecessor, is quite short, and you'll likely finish it in about five hours. Though it is disappointing that there isn't more of it, what you do get is a relentless barrage of tight combat and thrilling set pieces. In one early level, you man the turret of a Humvee patrolling the claustrophobic streets of a Middle Eastern city. Enemies seem to be behind every corner, but you are ordered not to fire until fired upon. The tension builds, and once you are engaged by the enemy, all hell breaks loose. After a hectic (and unsuccessful) flight from danger, you end up fighting door-to-door in the streets and ruined buildings. This frantic combat ratchets up when you head to the slums of Rio de Janeiro, and reaches a whole new level when you find yourself engaged in similarly intense firefights on the grassy lawns and paved driveways of suburban America. The fight on the homefront has some very cool moments, but it doesn't mean you're done adventuring abroad. A dramatic prison rescue, a marine infiltration, and a snowmobile chase are just some of the other exhilarating moments that make this campaign so enjoyable. 

Though completing the campaign is an intensely satisfying and exciting endeavor, you may not feel very triumphant when all is said and done. Modern Warfare 2 features some dark plot turns, and your missions sometimes have drastic unintended consequences. In one mission in particular, you infiltrate a terrorist cell and are called upon to do the kind of things that terrorists do. What follows is a neutered attempt at portraying the grim reality of terrorism, and concessions are put in place here and elsewhere to keep the plot from getting too dark. Despite these limits, the scene in question is undeniably disturbing and it undermines your sense of having the moral high ground. The game gives you the option to skip this particular level entirely, but the shocking consequences of this grim mission ripple throughout the game, making it difficult to feel like a hero. Subsequent developments further muddle your overall objective, and it doesn't help that many of the subtleties and connecting threads are mumbled during voice-overs between missions. The plot ends up being a bit disorienting, and you may get the feeling that, rather than being the tip of the spear, you are just along for the ride.

If you're looking for some campaign-style action unburdened by any sort of plot, then Special Ops is the place to go. The timed missions are campaign excerpts from Modern Warfare 2 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare that you can play solo or with a friend, either split-screen or online. The missions cover a variety of objectives, which include surviving waves of enemies, moving from point A to point B stealthily (or not), eliminating a certain number of enemies, and racing snowmobiles. You earn a rating based on your completion time or difficulty level and unlock new missions as you progress. Though the missions will adjust to allow you to play solo, Special Ops missions are made to be played cooperatively. Two guns are better than one when clearing out a crowded slum full of enemy combatants, and coordinating a simultaneous sniper attack is much more fun when you are counting down with a buddy. There are also a few missions in which one player uses an airborne vehicle-mounted gun to clear the path for the other player on the ground, and these are frantic and explosively awesome. There is no matchmaking, however, so if you don't have any friends online and need a teammate, you'll have to go fishing in the multiplayer lobbies. As is the nature of cooperative play, missions can fall flat if teammates don't communicate or go off on their own. It can be tough to find a communicative teammate who is willing to let one player take point, but it is certainly worth the effort. When you have a strong team assembled, cooperative play is uniquely fun, and Special Ops provides a great variety of engaging missions.

Of course, you could completely ignore both the campaign and cooperative modes and be perfectly happy with Modern Warfare 2. The insanely addictive, intensely exciting multiplayer formula pioneered by Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is in full effect here. The action is even faster and deadlier than the campaign, and killing enemies, accomplishing objectives, and completing challenges earn you experience points. These points increase your level and unlock new guns, new equipment, and new skill-boosting perks. You can design different classes to highlight different skills and then switch between them to adjust for the ebb and flow of battle. The core action remains largely the same, and folks who didn't enjoy it the first time around aren't likely to have a change of heart. But what was great about it two years ago is still great today, and there are a number of tweaks and additions that make Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer substantially different and more excellent than its predecessor.
First off, weapon loadouts have been restructured. Guns you may have previously equipped as primary are now only available as secondary, so you can equip both an assault rifle and a shotgun if you so desire. This restructuring creates an intriguing array of gun combinations, and one of the new options isn't even a gun. The bullet-resistant riot shield can be equipped in your primary slot and used to assault heavily contested positions. Having multiple-shielded teammates can change the battlefield significantly, and new equipment items deepen the strategic possibilities. The blast shield can protect you against grenade-happy opponents, while the tactical insertion flare (allows you to designate your next spawn point) can be a powerful asset in objective-based modes like Demolition and Domination. 

The perk system has also been overhauled. Perks can now be upgraded through use and will eventually grant a secondary ability. These bonus abilities are often just as potent as the primary perk, though they aren't a linear extension of the primary ability. Upgrading the perk that grants increased melee distance, for example, will cause you to take no fall damage (allowing you to perfect your drop-and-stab maneuver). The new death streak perks may seem familiar to those acquainted with the infamous martyrdom perk from COD4, but they also provide some welcome (and cleverly implemented) aid for new players. These perks kick in after you die a few times in a row without getting a kill. Painkiller grants you increased health for a short time upon respawning, making it easier to resist getting spawn killed. Copycat allows you to mimic the class of the last person that killed you, potentially granting you the guns, equipment, and perks of a much higher ranked opponent. Nothing mitigates the frustration of getting killed by a weapon you can't access like getting your hands on that weapon and doing some killing of your own. 

Customizable kill streak rewards are the other significant addition. In COD4, kill streaks of certain lengths would earn you rewards like airstrikes and attack helicopters. In Modern Warfare 2, there are a host of new rewards that you can unlock and then equip as you see fit. The rewards themselves range from tactical aids like unmanned aerial vehicles that reveal enemies on the radar (or counter UAVs that block the enemy's radar) to powerful assaults like gunships, airstrikes, and the exceedingly fun laptop-guided predator missile. Each kill streak requires a certain amount of kills to activate, and you can only equip three at a time, so there's a risk/reward mechanic at play. The chopper gunner reward is superpowerful, but if you aren't confident you can score the required 11 kill streak, you'll essentially be wasting a reward slot. Even if you can't string together 11 kills, you can still get a chance to use some of the more powerful rewards courtesy of care packages. This reward drops a crate on to the battlefield that either contains an ammo resupply or a kill streak reward, like a precision air strike. Not only do these rewards add an engaging strategic dimension, they do so in a way that allows all players to enjoy them. 

The result of all these multiplayer tweaks is a richer, more customizable experience and a busier battlefield. Fortunately, the action generally remains on the good side of violence (if we ignore that nasty airport mission), and the stream of rewards is as satisfying as ever. Two new elements, title and emblem, are little graphics and titles that you earn through your match performance, and these range run the game from serious to totally goofy. While not exactly in keeping with the serious tone of the campaign, they add an amusing way to further customize your online presence. With a robust variety of playlists in which to ply your deadly trade, Modern Warfare 2's competitive multiplayer is the best in the series and one of the best available on consoles. The inelegant campaign plot may make you feel like you're just along for the ride, but it is such an intense, roaringly great ride that you will be glad just to have played it. The cooperative missions provide a uniquely fun angle on the action that rounds out the package superbly, making Modern Warfare 2 thoroughly entertaining, thoroughly rewarding, and thoroughly worth the wait.

That gun looks slightly less... crappy than the other one

In Battlefield: Bad Company, no one is safe. Not a sniper hiding inside a tower. Not a soldier driving a massive tank. And definitely not you, as you bob and weave across a fiery sandbox of destruction. If you thought the action of the Battlefield franchise was intense before, you haven't seen anything yet. Thanks to a fleshed-out single-player campaign, Battlefield's trademark multiplayer action, and a new level of destructibility, Bad Company is quite simply one of the most fun shooters released this decade.

With its Frostbite engine, Dice has created a warzone that is almost completely destructible. Nooks and crannies that were once a safe haven in other shooters can be reduced to rubble with a well-placed tank shell or mortar strike. Is a quaint Russian home standing between you and an objective? Blow a hole in a wall and walk right through. The system is not perfect since not all buildings can be completely destroyed. Some materials like brick may crumble to dust, but wood crates will often withstand whole missile strikes. Frostbite has its foibles, but Bad Company still gives new meaning to breaking and entering.

A good place for new players to enter is Bad Company's single-player campaign. That's right, a Battlefield game has a bona fide single-player campaign and not a collection of multiplayer maps littered with AI bots. You play as Private Preston Marlowe, recently reassigned to the 222nd Battalion, B Company, which is a collection of misfits and castoffs that the Army likes to send into battle first. B Company, in short, is expendable. You complete a four-man squad composed of Sergeant Redford, a grizzled veteran who volunteered for B Company so he could retire early; Sweetwater signed on to take advantage of a college scholarship without realizing he may actually have to fight; and Haggard is a country bumpkin and demolitions expert who loves to blow stuff up. Together, you'll fight your way into Russian territory and take out a number of well-guarded installations. When the Army leaves you stranded behind enemy lines--something about plausible deniability--the squad goes AWOL in search of mercenary gold. Along the way you'll rescue a flamboyant dictator that resembles Saddam Hussein on ecstasy, and then make your escape in a pimped-out gold chopper. No, the story isn't exactly the stuff of Stephen Ambrose, but the tongue-in-cheek humor and numerous unlockables scattered throughout the campaign make it worth fighting.

Marlowe is a jack of all trades and can handle any of the weapons and vehicles in Bad Company. Often he'll be in control of a mortar strike or laser designator that can lay waste to entire villages. The designator is meant to be used on heavy armor, but it's hard to resist dropping 50-ton bombs on lone troops just for the heck of it. There's a short recharge time so you don't inadvertently start World War III here, but you'll never get tired of unleashing explosive mortar strikes on our foes.

Your squadmates are full of friendly chatter during the campaign, but they never die and don't work together very well at times. Whereas multiplayer requires you to coordinate with your teammates, single-player feels as if you're truly playing alone, with three characters in the background that only list new objectives and provide a little comic relief. They'll take out a few enemies, man turrets and take cover, but you're doing the bulk of the work. This wouldn't be so much of an issue if friends could jump online for a little co-op, but there's no option to do so unfortunately.

Enemy soldiers are not exactly the sharpest bunch and some have no problem standing in the open, waiting for their own demise. Luckily there are so many enemies and objectives that the game never feels easy, but the firefights would be even more intense if enemies more frequently made use of cover, if only so you could blow it up. Marlowe comes equipped with an automatic health injector that refills your life bar and can be used over and over again after a short recharge. Is stabbing yourself in the heart with this panacea any more unrealistic than regenerating health as seen in Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas? Not really. But it certainly feels cheap plunging that needle into your chest every 20 seconds during an intense battle, something you'll surely do toward the campaign's final few missions that border on ridiculousness. You would think that four Army oddballs versus an entire mercenary force and Russian army equipped with tanks and attack choppers wouldn't stand a chance, but you would be wrong, thanks to the handy health injector.

When you've got the hang of the weapons and gadgets of the single-player campaign, jump into Bad Company's excellent online multiplayer mode. It's called Gold Rush, but it's really just a basic attack and defend mode in which an attacking team tries to blow up crates of gold. If you're successful, a larger portion of the map opens and the attackers push forward to do it all over again. This has been done before in other games, but no one does it better than Bad Company, thanks to absolutely massive maps that support 24 players, a vehicle list that includes tanks, jeeps, choppers, boats, and Humvees, as well as laser-guided rocket turrets and artillery cannons. There are five character classes in multiplayer and each has its own special abilities and unlockable extras that will make you giddy. The specialist can lace enemy vehicles for demolitions experts--their rockets will automatically hone in on tagged targets. The sniper can utilize the laser designator to nullify tanks, and the specialist can drop med kits, repair vehicles, and call in mortar strikes.

It's strange that the conquest mode in which teams vie for points on the map and drain enemy tickets, a mainstay of the Battlefield franchise, is absent. The mode will purportedly be made available as a free download at some point, but it should've been in the game right out of the box. That said, you're not likely to get bored of Gold Rush anytime soon. The maps are perfectly balanced with defensive turrets and offensive weaponry, and often matches are decided by the smallest of margins. This is the kind of game where you call your friends to let them know you somehow sniped an enemy chopper pilot or dropped a missile on the final gold crate on a map for the win. The game would've benefited from more vehicles; there aren't nearly as many on each map as you find in Battlefield 2, so teammates will often fight over fun toys such as choppers. But with its persistent ranking system and unlockable weapons, Bad Company is surely the most addicting multiplayer shooter since Call of Duty 4.

Be sure to crank the volume up to 11--Bad Company has some of the finest sound design out there. A sniper shot echoes perfectly through the mountains, while indoor firefights are so loud you may want earplugs. Visually the game does not fare as well. While it's by no means ugly, there is a strange graininess on each texture. Even looking into the clear blue sky in the first scene of the game, you'll be amazed at how fuzzy it looks. Of course, the destructible environments and exciting explosions make up for any graphical shortcomings.

Battlefield Bad Company is the most fun, addictive shooter released so far this year. While far from perfect, the intense sandbox warfare is something that you have to experience. Dice calls it tactical destruction. We call it explosive fun.

Why so serious, Bats?

You've heard of Batman no doubt, but if you don't read comics, it's conceivable that you might be unfamiliar with Arkham Asylum. The iconic psychiatric hospital is essentially Gotham City's Alcatraz, and it has housed just about every villain Batman has ever tangled with at one time or another. Now, thanks to Eidos and developer Rocksteady, Arkham is also the setting for a great third-person action game in which the lunatics take over the asylum and only you can stop them. As Batman, you not only get to go toe-to-toe with thugs in fast-paced punch-ups, but you also employ satisfying stealth tactics, play with great gadgets, solve some remarkable riddles, and do a decent amount of detective work. In short, you get to do all of the things that you want to when you don a Batman costume in a game, provided you weren't hoping to get behind the wheel of the batmobile. 

Because just about everything else needs to be unlocked, the first time you boot up Batman: Arkham Asylum, your first port of call will inevitably be the Story mode. Here, you learn that Batman has captured Joker, and as the lengthy intro sequence plays out, you see him being returned to the asylum under Batman's watchful eye. Joker doesn't seem at all perturbed by his predicament, and it quickly becomes apparent that he has deliberately allowed himself to be captured as part of a grand plan that involves taking control of Arkham Island and throwing a party there with Batman as the guest of honor. Clearly it's a trap, but as Batman (and as someone who demands more than two minutes of gameplay before the credits roll), you just can't walk away from it. 

As you take the controls, Arkham Asylum wastes no time throwing you into the thick of the action. Almost immediately, you're rushed by a few of Joker's goons and encouraged to knock them out using both basic attacks and counters. Using just two buttons, you can perform a huge number of moves from Batman's superbly animated repertoire, and it isn't at all difficult to string together combos worthy of Hollywood's finest fight coordinators. That's because for the most part, at least early in the game, combat requires you to do little more than mash the attack button and then hit the counter button anytime you notice an enemy with an "I'm about to attack you" icon above his head. None of the thugs that you encounter pose much of a threat individually, but you rarely encounter fewer than three or four of them at once, and often, you'll be up against six or more. Furthermore, the vanilla thugs are joined by enemies with knives, cattle prods, and guns later on, who force you to raise your game and incorporate stun attacks and evasive rolls into your deadly dance routine. Boss battles against supervillains like Scarecrow and Harley Quinn are definitely among the game's highlights, though it's a little disappointing that there aren't more of them. One supervillain in particular makes a number of appearances, but you never actually get to fight him. 

The combat in Arkham Asylum never gets overly complicated, though the number of moves and attacks at your disposal increases quite dramatically as you progress through the Story mode, earn experience points, and subsequently spend those points on acquiring new combo moves and gadgets. Throws, takedowns, and even batarang attacks can be incorporated into your combos this way, but you never need to press more than two buttons simultaneously, and the timing of your moves doesn't have to be particularly precise. Fighting against mobs of up to a dozen enemies or so is a blast, and while they're not smart enough to all just jump on you at once, they're not stupid either. Given half a chance, thugs will pull pipes from walls to attack you with, pick up boxes to throw at you, and recover weapons from fallen colleagues. Fortunately, there's one weapon that your foes seem blissfully unaware of but which Batman is incredibly comfortable with: the environment. 

Your surroundings don't always have a role to play in combat, but during large set piece encounters (many of which can be replayed against the clock in Challenge mode), using them to your advantage is practically a requirement. Picture this: You walk into a large room where eight gun-carrying enemies have been instructed by Joker to keep an eye out for you. You can't leave the room until every single one of them is unconscious, and going toe-to-toe with them isn't an option because--at least as far as this game is concerned--bullets are Batman's kryptonite. What do you do? Job one is to stay out of sight, which can often be accomplished by crouching atop gargoyles mounted high on the walls that, while an unusual interior design choice, make near-perfect hiding spots from which to survey the scene using your X-ray-like detective vision. From a vantage point like that, you can perform glide kicks to swoop down and floor enemies passing nearby, perform awesome "inverted takedowns" to grab guys as they pass directly beneath you and leave them hanging on ropes for their comrades to see, and throw batarangs that serve a number of useful purposes. Or, if you need to move, you can use your grapnel gun to zip to another location. Just be sure to suspend your disbelief as you do so because you're invisible to the enemy when you're in transit. 

Once you've thinned your number of enemies a bit, it's safer for you to move around on the ground, and that's when you can really start to use the environment to your advantage. You can rig explosives to bring walls and ceilings down on top of enemies, crash through windows and ceilings, hide in floor grates and emerge directly behind unsuspecting enemies, and, well, you get the idea. All of these actions can be performed quickly and easily, but that doesn't make them any less satisfying when they work.

The reactions of enemies who know that their colleagues are being picked off one by one adds massively to the feeling that you're playing as a bona fide superhero. As their numbers diminish, enemies become visibly more scared--they start to move around in pairs rather than individually, press up against walls and lean around corners, and ultimately get so panicked that they fire a shot anytime they turn a corner. Listening to their superbly voiced conversations clues you into their state of mind as well. Initially, your enemies will be quite bold, loudly making threats and musing on how famous they're going to be for killing you. But as the odds gradually shift in your favor and Joker taunts them, they exude less and less confidence--ultimately sounding like they're resigned to their fates and might start crying at any moment.

The quality of the voice acting never falters for a second in Arkham Asylum, and while Mark Hamill's Joker is unsurprisingly a standout, there are great performances from other characters too. Listing them here would be to risk spoiling elements of the story for you, particularly where the other villains are concerned. You just need to know that every character in the game is well written, well voiced, and often well worth listening to--whether it's a supervillain, a thug, an ally, or a lowly security guard.

One character that you definitely want to listen to carefully is Edward Nigma, also known as Riddler. That's because there are no fewer than 240 "riddles" for you to solve on Arkham Island, and doing so not only earns you a good number of experience points but is also the only way to unlock character bios, character trophies (detailed character models that you can examine and admire at your leisure), and Challenge mode maps. The riddles come in a number of different flavors, many of which don't involve riddles at all, and the one thing that they all have in common is that they're rewarding to solve. For example, finding hidden patient interview tapes or chronicles of Arkham affords you additional insight into the asylum's history and inmates, while cracking a cryptic clue to locate an item that you need to take a photo of might make you feel smart and, if you're lucky, earn you enough experience points to purchase your next upgrade. The best of the proper riddles are those that lead you to photograph question marks painted around the island, which doesn't sound very interesting until you realize that these question marks can only be seen using detective vision from very specific locations. That's because these elusive punctuation marks are painted in two parts at different locations that are often quite far apart, so the solution requires you to find both parts and then figure out where to take the photo from so that they line up perfectly. It's clever and compelling stuff, though it does encourage you to spend more time than you'd probably like in detective vision mode. 

In fact, it's likely that you'll spend a good portion of your time with Arkham Asylum in detective vision mode even if you're not looking for hidden question marks. In regular vision mode, you just get to see that this is a great-looking game with superb animation, excellent lighting, and impressive attention to detail. But when you switch to detective vision, you can immediately spot destructible surfaces, more easily locate hidden items, and spot enemies through walls. You can even tell at a glance which of those enemies have guns and which don't because they're colored differently. It's unfortunate that the predominantly blue-with-white outlines vision mode is so invaluable because, while it's an interesting look, it's akin to reading a black-and-white photocopy of a beautifully colored comic book. 

If you're a fan of Batman comic books, you should feel very at home in Arkham Asylum. There are plenty of nods and winks to inmates who don't actually appear in the game, and even some of the minor characters have neat backstories that are faithful to their previous, infrequent appearances in comics. You shouldn't feel intimidated if you're not that familiar with Batman, though, because the game does a great job of giving you all of the information you need, as well as plenty that you don't. For example, taking the time to read prominent character Harley Quinn's bio and listen to her patient interviews offers valuable insight into her motivations that might add to your enjoyment of the game, while unlockable information on such characters as Prometheus, Calendar Man, and Humpty Dumpty just adds a little flavor. 

More significant unlockable content comes in the form of eight challenge maps, which come in regular and extreme difficulties for a total of 16. The maps are based on areas that you visit in the Story mode, and the challenges are split 50/50 between purely combat-oriented sequences and stealth-based "Predator" gameplay. In the former, you're pitted against four increasingly tough waves of enemies and score points for performing combos, avoiding taking damage, executing ring outs, and using a variety of different moves. In the latter, you're dropped into a level where every enemy has a gun and your goal is to take them all down as quickly as possible. The twist is that to earn a respectable position on the leaderboard in the Challenge mode, you also have to earn medals, and in order to do that, you have to deal with some of your enemies in very specific ways. During a stealth challenge, for example, earning the maximum possible three medals might require you to perform a silent takedown from behind and an inverted takedown, as well as pull an enemy down from a walkway while hanging from a ledge. 

The medals get even more demanding in extreme challenges, where you need to knock guys out while crashing through windows, pull floors out from underneath multiple enemies, and even cause three different walls to fall on three different thugs simultaneously. In regular stealth challenges, the wall-mounted gargoyles are your best friends, but on extreme maps, all of the gargoyles are booby-trapped to blow up shortly after you land on them. Robbed of these safe vantage points, you have to spend a lot more time moving around on the ground, which--because you have detective vision--you can do without needing to stop and peek around every corner. Stealth gameplay is almost never this fast-paced or action-packed, and it's rarely this fun. 

Regardless of whether you're getting sucked into the Story mode or competing for high scores in the Challenge mode, Batman: Arkham Asylum does an outstanding job of letting you be Batman. Everything about this game--the impressive visuals, stirring soundtrack, superb voice acting, fiendish puzzles, hard-hitting combat--feels like it has been lovingly crafted by a development team that's both knowledgeable and passionate about the source material. Miss out on this one and the joke's on you.
 

The public enemy, the leak and the therapy session

Wow! Just wow! I've found THREE really interesting stories in one day! What are the odds of that? Also, all three of them are different and more or less fascinating! Now, let's start with something I found on Y! Games...

A poll shows that games are public enemy Nr. 1 for parents with underage children. The results are simply astounding! 20% or so said they are most afraid that their kids might smoke marijuana, 18 % said they are afraid the kids are playing GTA, while 17% and 15% said they are afraid of pornography and addiction, respectively. Has GTA become the symbol of violence, nudity and evil in the parents' eyes? Most likely yes... Not to mention that more than 17% of the people who bought GTA IV were underage (meaning around a million kids).

Now we move on to the infamous leak... Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 is a long awaited game, especially after the successes of Call of Duty Modern Warfare and COD World at War. But this week some French guys decided to upload a part of the game, the first mission to be precise. I saw the video and the quality isn't too good, so I could barely read in French something related to "extreme violence" and "skip the mission". The player didn't skip the mission, and so we find ourselves in an elevator at an airport... What follows made me ashamed for being a gamer and for liking the COD series. After you exit the elevator, you and your friends flash out their MGs and start to mercylessly kill the civilians. You have the option to watch or to participate. Gunning down innocent and harmless people, blowing up stores, killing SWAT teams and splashing blood everywhere... So much for gamer dignity...

http://www.gametrailers.com/user-movie/modern-warfare-2-leaked-footage/333509

The last part is a happier one. There are two cases in which people were actually helped by video games! The first case is that of a Japanese paralyzed man who was connected to a device which was connected to the MMORPG Second Life. Electric pulses through the spine and to the legs gave the man the impression that he was actually walking while playing! These Japanese... The second case is that of Iraq War veterans who use a computer simulation of the US Army called Virtual Iraq to relieve painful moments of their service and to help the get over them.

A witch-hunt, a soon-to-come controversy and a new hope, all of them provided by videogames. And they say they're useless... 

Of men and mosters... (or The Survival Guide of the Post-Apocalyptic Man)

You might wonder why this article is in English and not in Romanian as usual. To tell you the truth, someone sugested I should try writing in English. I also think it's a good challenge, a way to improve my skills and artistic sense. So my idea is to test my writing skills by writing about the spookiest and most frightening things I can think of: the monsters of Fallout 3, with all the details and gore you can handle. I'll start from the weakest and continue to the strongest.

1. RADROACH

DESCRIPTION: As the name suggests, it is a common cockroach mutated by radiation into a flesh-eating monster the size of a cat. It lurks in dark and damp areas, or in places where there are decomposing bodies, like the subway stations.

HOW TO KILL: It's the weakest enemy in the game. One hit from any weapon, be it lead pipe or assault rifle will finish it.

BEWARE: It's more of a nuisance than a threat, so I suggest to kill it with a meele weapon or not to attack it all, just run!

2. BLOATFLY

DESCRIPTION: It's origins are unclear, but I suppose it is a large fly. A very large one! You can hear it's distinct buzz from about 5 metres. It shoots with a type of larvae that have stings, so be careful (not that it has that much power...).

HOW TO KILL: The same as above...

BEWARE: I sugest you don't run, but rather get rid of it. It's very annoying.

3. RADSCORPION

DESCRIPTION: What can I say? A very big scorpion that tries to kill you with its pincers or tail. If you cripple them it will just follow but it won't be able to attack you (very funny!). 

HOW TO KILL: Aim for the tail or torso and a few shots will take it done. You can also have a meele duel and try to hit him with the baseball bat.

BEWARE: There are also GIANT Radscorpions, not to mention the infamous and venomous ALBINO Radscorpion. If your game difficulty is higher than Normal, make sure you're packing some firepower!

4. MOLERAT:

DESCRIPTION: Half mole, half giant rat, this discusting creature will try to disembowel you (with little succes) with its giant teeth and bad smell. They live mostly in the sewers in packs, but can be found in the more sun-bleached areas of the Wasteland too.

HOW TO KILL: Aim for the head with a Power Fist or a Hunting Rifle. You can also use the Molerat Repellent to make it explode after two or three hits.

BEWARE: It can be dangerous if you're under level 5.

5. GIANT ANT:

DESCRIPTION: There are 4 types of ants: the small workers, the relatively dangerous soldiers, the ugly warriors and the giant, green-blob-shooting queens. The ants appear mostly underground in the caves, and there are only three queens so you're in luck! BUT, in the Grayditch and the Marigold Metro Station area, there are Fire Ants, that shoot fire at short distances. They also have 5 unique Nest Guardians that protect the oversized fourth queen.

HOW TO KILL: Aim for the head with a sniper or throw a grenade, just keep your distance (or shoot in the antennae to make them frenzy!).

BEWARE: The queens and fire ants (and warriors at lower levels) are quite dangerous.

6. WILD DOGS:

DESCRIPTION: The dogs haven't suffered any mutation since the war, but have become more aggresive and now roam the wastes in packs searching for food. You can domesticate only Dogmeat from Scrapyard.

HOW TO KILL: Head as usual.

BEWARE: At lower levels or harder difficulties, when you have lower stats or weak armor, you'll be more like canned food for them than a threat.

7. MIRELURKS, HUNTERS AND KINGS

DESCRIPTION: The post-apocalyptic version of crabs, these bipedal sea creatures roam near the irradiated Potomac or in flooded subway stations. The normal ones and hunters attack you with their claws and pincers, while the more humanoid kings use claws or a sonic attack that can cripple your head.

HOW TO KILL: It's tricky... For the first two, aim for the small unprotected face, as the rest of the body is covered in tough scales and can absorb a lot of damage. As for the king, aim for the head and maybe you can cripple it, thus stopping his sonic attacks.

BEWARE: Keep your distance at ALL COSTS!

8. FERAL GHOULS, ROAMERS, GLOWING ONES AND REAVERS

DESCRIPTION: Ghouls are humans that were subjected to so much radiation that their skin melted, revealing their flesh and bones. Some of them became feral, wild and now reside wherever there is radiation or darkness, attacking anything that is not a ghoul. The ghouls of the Capital Wasteland were mostly people who hid in the metro stations when the bombs fell, thus becoming irradiated and subsequently feral. The roamers are ghouls that were soldiers, so they have armor and higher damage. Glowing Ones are ghouls that absorbed so much radiation that they glow in the dark! They can also emit a radiation pulse that heals them and other ghouls. The reavers are stronger than Glowing Ones, have better armor and can shoot with grenade-like "radioactive gore".

HOW TO KILL: Head and distance. Head and distance!

BEWARE: They come in groups of at least three.

9. YAO GUAI

DESCRIPTION: Mutated bears. This agile creatures come in pairs sometimes and just love to eat your tender human flesh. A shotgun comes in nicely (or a rocket launcher if possible:).

HOW TO KILL: As I said, use a strong weapon and aim for the head.

BEWARE: They can sneak up on you.

10. PROTECTRONS

DESCRIPTION: The weakest of the four robots, these slow pieces of junk will shoot at you with three lasers before being easily destroyed. Still dangerous at low levels. You will also see them guarding some cities and greeting you, or acting as presidents.They provide Energy Cells, scrap metal and sometimes module sensors or fission batteries.

HOW TO KILL:  Aim for its large and glowing head or shoot of the combat inhibitor, making it frenzy and shoot everything around it! Can't miss.

BEWARE: Its low audio card and strange voice will scare the f**k out of you if you're playing in the middle of the night.

11. ROBOBRAIN

DESCRIPTION: A brain encased in a jar and attached to a big bucket with lasers and a feminine voice, it is always funny to shoot the brain out. And to hear them say "Be careful, I'm quite good at killing" or "I hope we can still be friends after this". They have grown tired of killing but cannot override their programs.

HOW TO KILL: Head. Head. Head.

BEWARE: It can unleash a psychic attack and cripple body parts.

12. MISTER GUTSY

DESCRIPTION: The Mr. Handy robot is a floating butler with a British accent. The Mr. Gutsy is an unpleasant killing machine armed with a flamethrower, a plasma rifle and an agressive sargeant voice.

HOW TO KILL: Keep moving and aim for the main part.

BEWARE: It shouts anti-communist slogans.

13. SENTRY BOT

DESCRIPTION: The T-Rex of the machines, this 2 metre high monstruosity is armed with a minigun, a rocket launcher and some armor! Very rare and very angry!

HOW TO KILL: Head, a lot of stimpaks and a good shotgun!

BEWARE: One of the most dangerous enemies! Its voice will reach the depths of your heart and its bullets the depths of your lower intestine.

14. DEATHCLAW

DESCRIPTION: The most dangerous of them all, this 6-feet reptile has claws the size of your arm and can leap towards in a devastating attack! It is also used by the Enclave as pets and guard dogs, something that can be used against them if you aim for the mind-control device.

HOW TO KILL: Head and a good assault rifle.

BEWARE: If it sneaks up on you at night and leaps at you from behind, chances are you won't live enough to get frightened by its teeth!

BONUS: BRAHMIN

The cows of the future, this two-headed animals are used as pack mules for traders, for meat,leather, milk and for games (it's funny to knock it off). But be careful at he Mad Brahmin, which will stop at nothing to kill you.