Star Trek Online - One Year Old Goodies

Atari and Cryptic studios are celebrating the one-year anniversary of the launch of their Star Trek Online game by releasing a new Feature Episode Series, continuing to discount C-store offers and Lifetime Subscriptions by 20 percent and hosting special in-game events.

Especially for the game's anniversary, Cryptic and Atari are discounting Lifetime Subscriptions to Star Trek Online by 20 percent. The discount guarantees users perpetual access to Star Trek Online’s universe for £153.99 (excl.VAT). The special promotion ends February 4, 2011.

Players can also get to know the development team behind the game as they will make appearances withing the game from Feb 2nd bearing challenges of trivia - so be prepared your knowledge could well be rewarded!

The Feature Episode Series, 'Cloaked Intentions', centers on the Romulan Star Empire and charges players with preventing a civil war between differing factions inside the Empire. The five-episode series also introduces a new ship type and continues Star Trek Online's story beyond 2409. The first Episode is set to debut February 5.

Taking place in the year 2409, Star Trek Online boasts extraordinary features and lets fans both new and old experience unparalleled adventures. Players have the opportunity to become high-ranking Starfleet officers and participate in missions that take them into the depths of space, across exotic planets and inside other starships. Star Trek Online offers total customization, from a player's avatar to the ship he captains.

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Review: Mass Effect 2 (PS3)

Unless you’ve been actually living in space, you may have heard of Mass Effect 2. Winning multiple Game of the Year awards last year and making up one-thirds of every Xbox fanboy’s arsenal in console wars, the game has finally arrived on the PS3. We already reviewed Mass Effect 2 last year and gave it a perfect score, so this review is just to help you make up your mind in case you were still on the fence.

If you’ve never heard of Mass Effect and really can’t be bothered with what’s happening on the PC and Xbox side, here’s the lowdown – this is a space opera played out as an action-oriented RPG. The game creates a very rich universe, with its own civilisations, history and politics. The first game saw protagonist Shepard chase across the galaxy in search of a rogue alien and uncover a deeper conspiracy hatched by a long forgotten race of super beings. Mass Effect 2 continues Shepard’s campaign; this time on a mission to find why humans are disappearing from colonies. You will tie up with a rogue human organization and befriend a motley crew of new and old allies, and even meet up with some old faces who’ve moved on with their lives in the two years separating the two games. The game is much more action oriented than its predecessor, and battles can be brutal at higher difficulty levels. This is one of the finest adventures you will embark upon on PC or consoles, and I thoroughly enjoyed replaying it.

The PS3 version includes a comic to bring you up to speed on the events of Mass Effect 1, in case you didn’t play it and because it isn’t available on PS3. The Dark Horse comic is bright and colourful, and well narrated. Over ten minutes, you will also get to make some of the key decisions, which will reflect their outcome in Mass Effect 2. While a ten minute comic is no substitute for 25 hours of gaming and the rich universe created in the first game, it does an admirable job of getting you up and running.

 However, and this is where my gripe with the PS3 version starts, the comic is only available as downloadable content free with every new copy of the PS3 game. They could’ve included it on the disc; it’s not like there was a dearth of space. The game itself requires a ridiculously long installation; 25 minutes on a near empty PS3, and up to 50 minutes on a full PS3. Add to this the time required to download the Cerberus pack, which includes the comic and a very useful ally, and you’re in for a long wait before you can get gaming. Ideally, the comic and the DLC should have been included on the disc, and the comic should have played out during the installation. Starcraft II did this to great effect.

The game looks fantastic. The opening sequence will leave you stunned. The characters are livelier this time, and the cutscenes and conversations have a cinematic touch to them. There is more camera movement, character expressions, and even an option to interrupt the conversation in a helpful or nasty way. The PS3 version is supposed to use the same graphics engine as Mass Effect 3, but it’s difficult to make out any major changes. I had some teething problems playing with the PS3 controller, being used to the Xbox 360 controller. There’s a nifty setting in the Options to switch the bumpers and triggers, which really made life simpler.

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Review:Wanton destruction's never been so cheap

It would be easy – and also very wrong – to immediately dismiss Breach out of hand as another generic online shooter. Looks can be deceiving; yes, it borrows generously from the best games of the genre, but Breach’s twists on the oh-so-commonplace FPS model will give many a Modern Warfare-weary virtual soldier an addictive new way to create online mayhem.

It takes a mouthful to define Breach. Officially, it’s a downloadable, online-only, multiplayer-only military simulator from developer Atomic Games. There’s no single-player mode, so you’re thrown into the fray right from the get-go. All the typical accoutrements you’d expect in a modern-day shooter are here, including standard game modes (deathmatch, stronghold, and escort), multiple soldier classes to encourage team-based play, character “perks” you unlock as your experience levels increase, and a variety of map styles that lend themselves to the different modes.

However, Breach really shines as you start to become familiar with the four maps (with one nighttime variant), all of which are layered and full of nooks and crannies that invite exploration, exploitation, and utter destruction. Much of the environment can be blown to bits, including walls, bridges, and floors. This isn’t just for show, either, as bringing a bridge down on top of an enemy is a great way to kill them, or blasting a tiny hole in a brick wall creates a superb sniper spot. Of course, your cubbyhole doesn’t stand a chance against the business end of a rocket launcher – another great tool to alter the environment.

Plentiful gadgetry also alters the balance of power between the warring groups in Breach; investing in nifty items like sticky bombs or sniper detectors as you move up the experience chain goes a long way in helping you win skirmishes. Even better, when you go from the standard settings to Hardcore, radar disappears and you’re left to work with your teammates in an incredibly tense atmosphere.

OK, so it’s not the best-looking title out there, the relatively small number of maps could get tiresome after awhile, and any long-term enjoyment hinges mightily on the establishment of a strong online community. However, at $15, Breach is a great value. Sporting plenty of weapons, upgrades, and gobs of stuff to blow up, it’s an undeniably fun way to get out of your current FPS rut – or get back into one.

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Scarface: The World is Yours Cheats

Decrease Cop Heat

Pause the game, choose CHEATS and enter the following:
FLYSTRT
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Decrease Gang Heat

Pause the game, choose CHEATS and enter the following:
NOBALLS
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Fill Balls Meter

Pause the game, choose CHEATS and enter the following:
FPATCH
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Increase Cop Heat

Pause the game, choose CHEATS and enter the following:
DONUT

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Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike DLC Review

The first DLC map pack for Black Ops is here and it’s great! Not only do you get four great new maps for the online component, but also a cool new map for Zombies to sink your teeth into. If you were at all querying whether or not to purchase this new map pack, you can rest assured that you’re getting your money’s worth.
Kowloon
This map pits you on the rooftops of Chinese city Kowloon. Plagued by rain and dark colours, this is one of the darkest maps in Black Ops. There’s definitely a sense that you’re running from building to building across rooftops, which seems to have been Treyarch’s intention. One of the most intriguing elements of this map's design is the unconventional route layout; there’s barely a straight and uncompromised path to be found, with movement from building to building normally involving a large jump across platforms. This makes combat a little bit more interesting, as you now also have to keep an eye out for small holes and gaps that you would otherwise expect to be there. Treyarch has done a great job of portraying the feeling of being on rooftops, thanks in part to the countless broken pathways and death drops.
Traveling from one point of the map to the other is made easy with the inclusion of a zip line, which improves speed but obviously makes you vulnerable to any enemies down below.  It's a neat little addition, especially if you have an enemy waiting for a carepackage in the open area below.

Stadium
Stadium is set in and around a US ice hockey rink, with a central location and a number of fantastic flanking points making it a worthy addition to the map list in Black Ops. This is not a map to take lightly though; killstreaks will be aplenty and ratios will be hurt, thanks in part to the maps numerous dead ends and maze-like central corridor. The action is quick and intense on this map – think Terminal in Modern Warfare 2 – and with a number of decent vantage points, as well as the opportunity to flank your enemy at will, Stadium may very well propel up the ranks as the best map in Black Ops.

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