Of course, the aforementioned ‘terrorists’ biggest setback came when one of their generals, the man who strangely addresses himself as the underwear of a certain bald, angry, tricycle-riding anti-hero, was banned from the terrorist stronghold - Shout. This broke the back of the attack, leading to complete disarray. While some timidly backed off, others like Dante77 attempted a kamikaze attack by trying to get Reaper to ban him. Reaper, being the emo kid that he is, took the high road and… oh wait… most of you don’t know the Reaper story, do you? A petition to get him to come out of the closet once again is called for!

GI was also home to some interesting news this week, starting from the virtual tour of Michael Jackson’s arcade collection (which will probably have you drooling all over your laptop/PC), to Microsoft’s upcoming plans for the Xbox 360 in India. The discussion that followed the latter was set on fire by Godspeed4476, making full use of his “phoren” MBA to prove the futility of having Akshay Kumar and Yuvraj Singh visiting creepy villages in India, giving HundredProofSam some valuable marketing lessons in the process. Philip Kotler will be so proud!

Also, mad props to everyone who have come forward to help out ScorpioGuy in his time of need. We believe our biggest strength to be our community, and things like these only drive home the point. The force is strong in this one.

Pipi and Sam had the opportunity to get their hands on Capcom’s upcoming game Lost Planet 2. Check out how it’s shaping up in the GI preview. Last and quite a beast, here’s the weekly round up of reviews:

Fuel (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) – 7/10
Prototype (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) – 8/10
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood (PS3/Xbox 360/PC) – 8/10

So what’s in store for next week? More reviews, previews and discussions? Or will terrorism strike again with a vengeance? Stay tuned to find out! In the meantime, after killzone123 generously gave away a pair of triggers to enhance your controllers (wait, what!?), I’m giving away a copy of GT5: Prologue in a few hours.

Sync. Your. Clocks.

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Xbox 360 Elites coming back
There have been rumours of the Xbox 360 Pro SKU being discontinued internationally in favour of the Elite, and that seems all but certain now. We will soon get the Xbox 360 Elite consoles (originally launched here in limited quantities at Rs 35,000) back in India and Microsoft says they will be priced at Pro price points. The Pro was officially priced at Rs 27,750, which means the top-of-the-line Xbox 360, complete with a 120 GB hard drive and all-black demeanor, will compete directly with the PS3.

512 MB Arcade console + bundles
We’ve also been told that while the Arcade consoles that were sold here at launch contained 256 MB internal storage memory, the newer shipment will come with 512 MB, which means they are sure to contain the (mostly) RRoD-proof Jasper chipset. There will also be console bundles in the offing. We have finally seen the last of the Forza 2/Viva Pinata bundles and the newer ones will contain Halo 3 and Project Gotham Racing 4.

Halo 3: ODST and Forza 3 to release day one
Two of Microsoft’s biggest first-party titles this year, or rather the only first-party titles this year – Halo 3: ODST and Forza Motorsport 3, will both release in India on day one. Oh, but there’s more – the Forza 3 Collector’s Edition, the “amazing” contents of which are yet to be revealed, will also be sold in India on day one. There’s even talk of bringing the Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel to India. Microsoft is also making efforts to ensure that Indian Xbox 360 owners aren’t deprived of the awesomeness of Splinter Cell: Conviction, although no details were divulged. Lastly, there’s a new Gears of War 2 SKU releasing in December; it will contain additional content (my guess is map packs) and will be priced at platinum rates.

Xbox LIVE/Broadband packages
Finding it hard to secure an affordable internet connection that will let you play on Xbox LIVE lag-free? I know many are, and Microsoft is working with certain major ISPs to come up with an Xbox LIVE-Broadband connection package that will make getting on Xbox LIVE faster, easier, and more affordable. While the intention is great, it seems like a rather unusual pairing, and its unlikely that people would opt for an internet service purely because it works well with Xbox LIVE. Let’s see how it plays out though. More info as we get it.

Post-warranty support
Those like me, who purchased an Xbox 360 at Indian launch, are probably starting to worry now, with the three-year RRoD warranty expiring this year. But Microsoft has us covered, or so they say, because they wouldn’t reveal to us exactly what the post-warranty support plan was. What they did say is that if your console does malfunction post-warranty, the process of getting it repaired/replaced will not be a cumbersome one and won’t involve shipping it abroad. There was no confirmation on how much that support would cost or whether there will be an option to purchase extended warranty.

There. Quite a lot to digest, but that’s how it is with Microsoft India. They lay low for months and when you least expect it, they drown you in news and announcements. And something tells me this is only the beginning; there’s lots more coming.

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The wind blows from the east, howling softly in your ears as tumbleweeds roll across the dusty empty streets. You see your enemy in the distance, his eyes fixed on you, his hand getting ever so close to his holster and the six-shooter in it. You keep your hand close, but not too close to your own. Sweat trickles across your brow as you hear your heartbeat getting louder and stronger with every beat. The bell could chime any moment now and you realise that a split-second will be the difference between who walks away on his feet this day.

Adrenaline kicks in, everything else becomes a blur. It’s just you, your enemy and your trusty six-shooter. The bell chimes, time comes to a standstill, and in one swift movement you draw your gun and pull the trigger. The gunshot echoes through the town while you pray it was your gun that made it. Slowly time starts moving again and your vision begins to clear. You’re still standing.

You were quick and your enemy is dead.

Congratulations, you’ve just survived one of the many boss fights in Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood, the new western-themed first-person shooter from developer Techland and Ubisoft. And now I would like apologise for the rather cheesy opening paragraph, but the game is so drenched in its spaghetti western atmosphere that starting the review any other way just wouldn’t have been fair.

Bound in Blood is essentially a prequel to the 2006 shooter Call of Juarez, a game which, despite being a pretty damn good title, went mostly under the radar. Those who played it loved it but unfortunately it was never able to rise amongst the many mediocre shooters that get released every year thanks to some rather frustrating issues with the gameplay.

However, fans of the first game will be happy to know that the prequel is a huge improvement on pretty much everything in the first game. For starters, the stealth-based levels which almost everyone hated are nowhere to be seen this time around. Instead, the levels are designed in a way that stealth can be an option, but is generally not required. The shooting mechanics have been improved a lot and the guns feel a lot more powerful and different from each other.

The game tells the story of the McCall Brothers – Thomas and Ray (who was also one of the main protagonists in the first game) and their younger brother William who happens to be a priest and becomes an unwilling ally during the course of the game. The story is told from William’s point of view through various in-game cutscenes and voice-overs during loading screens between missions. Thomas and Ray are both playable in the single-player mode and pretty much all missions give you a choice to play as either character at the start.

The game starts with the brothers fighting alongside the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. This section of the game also doubles as the tutorial. However they are forced to abandon their military duties when they learn of the Union Army invading their home town. I wouldn’t like to spoil the plot beyond that as the story is one of the highlights of the game. It’s not terribly original and, like most western movies, it becomes quite predictable at times, but it’s entertaining nevertheless. The brilliant voice acting and well written dialog really adds a lot and keeps driving you forward. By the end, the game will take you through almost every single western movie cliché and set pieces ranging from stagecoach chases, daring jailbreaks, Apache raids and numerous quick-draw gunfights with villains, among others. There are some very memorable sections in the game which I’m sure you will want to go through more than once.

Call of Juarez: Bound In Blood may be categorised as a first-person shooter, but don’t let that fool you. Yes, pumping enemies full of lead forms a large part of the gameplay, but it also has some other neat tricks up its sleeve that separate it from the usual mediocre FPS ilk. As I mentioned before, the game gives you can option to play as either Thomas or Ray. The way these two characters play is vastly different from each other. Thomas is the more stealthy and agile of the two brothers and can use his lasso to reach places that Ray cannot. The use of the lasso is mostly scripted, but it still does add some variety. Thomas is also better at using long range weapons such as various rifles and the bow as well as knives for some quick stealthy kills. However, he is also the weaker of the two and is more vulnerable to enemy fire than Ray is. So if you’re looking for a little more than just running around guns-blazing capping enemies left, right and centre, then Thomas is your man.

As you might have guessed, Ray plays exactly the opposite of Thomas and prefers engaging enemies up close usually with various types of handguns and shotguns. He can also dual-wield handguns and use dynamite, which Thomas cannot. This doesn’t make too much sense, since using dynamite isn’t really rocket science as evident from Looney Tunes, and it’s clearly done simply to compensate for Thomas’ lasso ability.

Still, giving you an option to play as either character is a noteworthy addition to the game, which brings me to a rather obvious omission - co-op. The game literally begs for an option to play it co-operatively with the another player. The levels are designed around that; the story is about two brothers and almost every mission features both of them. So the lack of a co-op option is a rather glaring omission. With that said, playing solo through the story is quite a rewarding experience in itself thanks to the varied missions and a well-written plot.

Next page: The verdict

The late Michael Jackson was often touted to be a huge gaming freak as well, allegedly spending as much as $500,00 on video games in 1992 alone.

So before you narrow your eyes and dismiss this as yet another attempt to garner some hits in the wake of his sad demise, redirect your attention to the virtual tour of the public display of over 2000 items that were a part of Michael Jackson’s arcade collection

This display was part of exhibition titled “Collection of the King of Pop”, and has enough collectibles to drop your jaws straight to the centre of the Earth. Whatcha waitin’ for?

Source

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In a nutshell, Radical Entertainment’s Prototype is a rush! It enters your system and turns everything upside down, leaving you with a heavy head and a bad hangover before fading away. For those who’d rather not read a lengthy exposition of its pros and cons, I’ll get a couple of things out of the way first:

Is Prototype worth your money? Yes.

Is it worth all the hype? No.

The game is set in New York, where there has been an outbreak of an unknown virus that makes anyone who is infected want to munch on other people. And our protagonist, Alex J. Mercer is back from the dead with uber powers and no memory of how he got them or who he is. In the journey through the 30-odd story missions, Alex attempts to piece together his past, figure out what’s wrong with the Big Apple and put an end to all the gooey nonsense.

However, the story and the entire narration possess holes larger than Alex can create by dropping down from the tallest building in New York. I’ll start with the latter. The story unfolds via cutscenes while playing missions, and the much touted web of intrigue feature. The web of intrigue is represented in-game by a matrix of neural nodes. While playing, Alex comes across characters with an icon above their heads, indicating that consuming them unlocks a piece of memory related to the story.

These memories are told through highly stylised cutscenes, but the problem with them is that they are too short and abrupt to mean anything substantial individually. In order to make some sense out of the whole thing, the player will have to make the effort of hunting down these individuals to unlock entire chains within the web of intrigue. There are 148 nodes in the web of intrigue (unlocked through main missions, side missions and free-roaming), boiling it down to a player’s dedication towards finding out everything there is to the story.

Which brings us to the story itself. Given how much the developers emphasised on the story, I expected a lot better than the standard military-experiment-gone-wrong affair. Sure, there are a couple of twists thrown in, but they are overshadowed by forgettable characters that you’ll hardly care about. Given Alex has no memory of who he is, I expected him to be more curious about his personal life. However, the developers chose to steer clear of any personal or emotional ties and kept a single-minded focus on revenge and deliverance to the unrighteous. I believe that a bit more focus on answering such questions would have added to the experience. Where’s the rest of his family? What happened to all his friends? And most important, why does he always wear a hood? What’s he got to hide under it?

And while we’re at it, Alex seems to have a warped sense of morality. His actions tend to indicate that he wants to get to the heart of the matter to prevent it from happening ever again. I would assume that he would want that so that innocent people don’t have to suffer. But these philanthropic tendencies end up taking the back seat when Alex beats a random guy on the street to a bloody pulp before consuming what’s left of him, for a boost of health or to figure out what’s going on. That said, the story is certainly not bad. It does a good job of carrying the game through to its end, and someone who diligently unlocks the entire web of intrigue will find a lot of depth in terms of back story and parallel points of view.

So while the story may well end up as a forgettable aspect of his game, the gameplay is where Prototype truly shines. Radical has poured in all their efforts to make sure that Alex is one the “funnest” playable characters you ever come across. His multitude of powers seems to suggest that he consumed Superman, The Hulk, Spiderman and Wolverine before this whole thing started. His primary offensive capabilities come from his ability to shape-shift his arm to a variety of weapons, enabling you to slice and dice, whip-lash out some damage, “claw” your way to victory, or simply bludgeon your opponents to a gruesome death.

You can also use weapons such as machine guns, rocket launchers, and grenade launchers, hijack tanks and helicopters, and when things get too tight, execute some ridiculously cool looking special attacks called devastators that can dish out a lot of damage. And if you are the weak of heart, stealth is also an option (in missions that require you to butt heads with the military). Simply consume a soldier and walk into the military base. Consuming a higher ranking soldier gives access to more segments of the base, further giving the player the chance to unlock upgrades for using military weapons and vehicles.

Speaking of upgrades, everything in the game dishes out experience points, which the player can use to upgrade both active and passive abilities. There are so many abilities and moves at the player’s disposal that it might seem a little overwhelming at first. However, this is one of the strongest points about the game. No particular weapon or move is overpowered compared to the others in its category, because of which the powers that you choose are not forced upon you, but more of a matter of preference and comfort. It is not practical to use every move beyond trying it out immediately after you spend some points on it. Figuring out which move works best in a given situation is the difference between success and failure in the game.

Next page: The verdict

Fuel

In case you haven’t been following the events in the lead-up to the release of Fuel, it was recently inducted into the Guinness World Records as the biggest console game ever. Fuel is an open-world racing game that plays out over a landscape the size of a small country. It’s as big as Trinidad and Tobago and bigger than Hong Kong and Singapore combined; and it’s all there for you to drive on. But the only way you will ever really be able to understand its massive scale is to get behind the wheel and just drive.

The entire area is broken up into 20-25 fragments, and only one of them is open to you at the start. As you complete career races, you unlock more areas, and only once you’ve actually driven through these different areas will you start to really appreciate the work Asobo have put into creating these environments, because they aren’t just bland deserts from end to end, though you will encounter some arid areas, but there’s lots of varied vegetation, and a healthy mix of asphalt and off-road terrain for you to explore.

Fuel is set in an alternate present, where earth has been ravaged by climate change, and the effects are seen in the different areas that constitute the game world. While on one hand, you’ll find lush rain forests and deserts comprised of mostly small shrubs, which might seem ordinary to us, at the other end of the spectrum, you’ll come across massive forests destroyed by forest fires with ash and burning timber everywhere. One area has been left overrun with sand and shipwrecks in the middle of nowhere from the effects of a tsunami. The most publicised of the game’s extreme weather conditions is the tornadoes. In some areas, you will often see two to three tornadoes on screen at a time and it’s quite a sight, but I’ll get to their effect on gameplay a little later.

Even when you aren’t in the middle of one of these areas destroyed by nature’s fury, you’re always reminded that not all is well. There is always lightning in the sky and stormy winds kicking up dirt and dust. There are trucks, cars and other wreckage abandoned on the highways, acting as obstacles during races but also to further the deserted feel that the game tries to accomplish.

Coming to gameplay, Fuel’s vehicle selection is very similar to that of the MotorStorm games; you have bikes, quads, buggies, muscle cars, SUVs, and trucks to choose from, but each race will only let you choose from one or two of these vehicle classes assigned to it. There was always the fear that with so much emphasis on the massive environments and weather effects, the vehicle controls would get overlooked, and just that has happened. Vehicles handle quite erratically and even after hours into the game, you never really feel in control. The handbrake turn, which would otherwise be a godsend in an offroad racing game, is best left unused because it will never quite work like you expect it to, and when it does, it slows you down so much that you’d rather just use the standard brake. But while the controls are less than ideal, they aren’t broken, so over time, should you have the patience to stick with the game, it will grow on you and you will even start to enjoy yourself.

Not helping matters though is the atrocious camera angle. There is only one camera angle i.e.: the chase cam, which most people would choose by default in any case, but here, the camera feels too low and in the process makes it difficult to see nearby obstacles and also to judge how close to the car in front you are. While you can use the right stick to temporarily move the camera up, down and sideways, it moves back to its default position the moment you let go. The camera also suddenly changes angle when another car is right behind you, and it’s extremely disconcerting during a long, tense race.

There are three difficulty levels and you can choose the difficulty before each individual race. The difficulty level affects the challenge the AI poses as well as the rewards in the form of fuel (which lets you buy new vehicles) you will earn if you win. Strangely, you only win Fuel if you finish first, and there’s no reward for finishing second or third. This can feel especially cruel after long races, where you could’ve missed first place by just a few tenths of a second.

To give you a chance to get to that coveted first place, the game employs a catch-up system whereby the AI would slow down to let you catch up to it and make a race out of it. But the implementation of it is a lot less subtle than you would hope. I was nearing the end of an endurance race in first place when I crashed. The second place car absolutely screamed past me at top speed and just when it looked like I had lost, it instantly slowed down to a crawl, allowing me to slowly get up to speed, catch-up to it, overtake it, and get the win. This was on medium difficulty and though I needed the fuel I won from that race, the blatant hand-holding did hurt my ego. The AI also seems pretty oblivious to your presence on the track. They’ll jostle for position among themselves, but let you pass without a fight.

Now, you might feel that being an open-world racer and with the freedom to chart your own course to the finish line/next checkpoint, you could simply succeed by scampering from A to B in a straight line. But in reality, that’s the fastest way to go from first to last. Even in an off-road race with a vehicle suited to that surface, there are parts of the terrain that are ideal to drive on and others that will slow you down. In off-road areas, there are often narrow paths with less vegetation where your vehicles can travel a lot faster as opposed areas with tall grass, bushes and shrubs. Guiding you towards and through paths most conducive to racing is a GPS system that displays arrows at the top of your screen showing you what it deems to be the quickest way to the next checkpoint.

Next page: The verdict

Would a PC gamer rather have DiRT 2 in September than with DirectX 11 support in December? Well, Codies’ chief technical officer Bryan Marshall sure think so.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers.”

Lets hope he’s right and the three-month delay is worth it.

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For those interested in the nitty-gritties, here’s the full press release:

COLIN McRAE™: DiRT™ 2 GAMES FOR WINDOWS® LIVE EDITION TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF DIRECTX® 11 TECHNOLOGIES

Multi-threading, hardware tessellation and Shader Model 5.0 to turbocharge off-road racer – AMD (NYSE: AMD) powers new levels of visual realism with DirectX 11 software engineering expertise

Monday 6th July/… Codemasters® today announced that the Games For Windows® LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2, the thrilling and stylish sequel to the award-winning off-road racer, will support the wealth of new performance enhancing features that will be available in DirectX 11.

With DirectX 11 hardware expected to ship in the second half of 2009, and DirectX 11 coming to home computers with the release of Microsoft Windows 7 on October 22, 2009, Codemasters also announced that the Games For Windows® LIVE edition of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will benefit from an extended development program to take advantage of DirectX 11 and is now scheduled to be published in December 2009.

“While the console editions of Colin McRae: DiRT 2 will retain their September ship date, we believe that the DirectX 11 feature set is too compelling to ignore, especially considering how much more it can add to the visual experience for PC gamers,” said Bryan Marshall, chief technical officer, Codemasters. “As a leader in digital racing entertainment, we are staying ahead of the pack by immediately taking advantage of key new technologies such as hardware tessellation, multi-threading and Shader Model 5.0 to deliver the most realistic, immersive and exhilarating racing experiences in the business. The fusion of DirectX 11 with Codemasters’ EGO™ Engine will raise the technical bar considerably in the racing genre.”

With the introduction of Microsoft Windows 7, DirectX 11 will be made available both as part of the operating system and as a downloadable update to Windows Vista. Codemasters intends to immediately take advantage of DirectX 11 features that add to the realism of the racing environment. Hardware tessellation will further improve the appearance of water and other surfaces as well as crowd animations.

The shader performance of Shader Model 5.0 (SM 5.0) will aid in creating an even richer 3D experience, enhancing key image quality parameters such as depth of field, ambient occlusion and shadows. These DirectX 11 features, and many others, will add the horsepower needed to improve performance.

“We expect Codemasters’ early move to DirectX 11 to place them in a leadership position in developing the next generation of PC games and simulations,” said Rick Bergman, senior vice president, AMD Products Group. “To aid in transitioning to DirectX 11, AMD is providing Codemasters with access to our software engineering expertise in DirectX 11 technologies such as tessellation and shader modelling. DirectX 11 has all of the ingredients needed to take PC gaming to a new level of realism by giving developers tools to effectively utilize the multi-CPU, multi-GPU systems now available to players.”

Colin McRae: DiRT 2 is being turbocharged for Games For Windows® LIVE supporting DirectX 11 and is set to ship this December. Editions for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, Wii™, Nintendo DS™ and PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system are scheduled to launch in September. For the latest videos and information, powerslide over to www.dirt2game.com.

Lost Planet 2 takes place on the planet of E.D.N. III some ten years after the events of the first game. It seems that much has changed over this time period as we look at environments much more varied than the snowy landscapes of the first game. Tropical forests are now a vital part of the scenery, though why and how is a question that is yet to be answered. You will play part of a band of soldiers who are fighting the good fight to gather the precious T-ENG (Thermal Energy) from the planet’s native creatures - the Akrid. Only this time around, the Akrid are bigger and more dangerous. Variety comes not only in the form of environments, but also in the scale and scope of the fights with the Akrid.

Capcom has realised that this generation can only be won over with a healthy dose of offline as well as online gameplay, and with this in mind, Lost Planet 2 looks to provide a cooperative mode for up to 4 players online for the main campaign. The campaign can also be taken care of by a lone player with the help of AI bots. Lost Planet 2 also becomes the first Capcom game to use its proprietary in-house MT Framework 2.0 engine, which is supposed to help it aid with more physics, particle effects and help increase the scope of gameplay.

Recently, we got to play the E3 preview code of Lost Planet 2 and the scenario laid out for us was to face a giant six-legged creature called the Salamander. The first thing you notice is that the game looks stunning. Lush environments, a rich colour palette, motion blur, and depth-of-field effects leave you with a feeling that if this is what games look like now, we can very well afford not to wait for the future. But I digress; let me come back to the game. Lost Planet still uses Thermal Energy as the form of health for the player and in this game, you can manually pump in Thermal Energy by using the Harmonizer (pressing the Start button) unlike the previous game. Thermal Energy can also be gained by setting up data-posts around the level.

Among weapons, we found machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenades and even a Gattling gun. There are two weapons that you can use and switch between at a time. You can also use mech suits (known as Vital Suits) to help you out, and we found quite a few of them all over the Salamander level. Each has their own strengths; some with higher offensive power than the others while some are easier to move around in. The grappling hook is also back in Lost Planet 2, and you can use it not only to climb up on things but also to stick to them. For example, you can now stick off a ledge using the hook, the caveat being that you cannot shoot while you are doing the spider act. You can even use the hook to climb up on the beast and attack its glowing weak points for some massive damage.

Coming back to our jaunt with the Salamander, let’s just say we did not quite fare well. It has quite a few weak points on its body, indicated by a bright orange glow that you can target. After some damage though, it has a tendency to dive into a stream and come back with regenerated health and vigour. If you do manage to damage it significantly, it lets out an electric charge which reduces your health to an extent where you are sure to die unless you hurriedly use the Harmonizer.

The Salamander can also swallow you and it leads to a rather disgusting travel down to its core, which you can damage significantly provided you are not busy thwarting attacks from creatures in its belly. Needless to say, we died a lot. But it did provide the knowledge that this is a game built ground-up for co-operative action and playing it alone was not the best way to tackle it. In this context, it needs to be stated that our AI teammates did absolutely nothing to help us and somehow they were busy taking shelter in some corner of the map. While I do not expect this to be the case with the retail version of the game, I did not quite appreciate the fact that I got hammered by the Salamander for the lack of support from the AI mates.

All in all, Lost Planet 2 is looking great and more importantly, playing great. I would confidently say that we are looking at another awesome game from Capcom. Though we played this preview build on the Xbox 360, it is also slated to be released on the PlayStation 3 some time next year, and as with other Capcom releases, the PC version will probably be further delayed.

Title: Lost Planet 2
Developer/Publisher: Capcom
Genre: Third-person Shooter
Rating: Pending
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Release date: 2010

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The show had its fair share of controversies including one in which undergarments of both men and women in the audience experienced a very annoying itch and another in which a certain young member in the audience kept asking others if Kesri Chacha was secretly a woman.  This inquisitive fellow, however, kept disappearing and reappearing mysteriously before his question could be answered, for which he kept blaming the hammer-wielding gate Keeper.

But Kesri Chacha’s master plan, involving Amar Juice Centre selling atleast 2 glasses of juice that day, was soon to be shot down when it was unveiled that Sati was betrothed to another already. Kittens were flushed down the toilet and some innocent threads were locked up in the chaos that ensued. Nevertheless, the show continues.

Fiction aside, GI still remains a land of gaming, and gaming is what the awesome E-Xpress Pricebuster offer on ‘Dirt’ and even more awesome () review of ‘Ghostbusters’, represent. Also, the reckless act of saving damsels in distress by our favourite gun-toting, Xbox-playing politician, Godspeed, only goes to prove the popular (the popularity is debatable actually) theory that playing video games is the only way to become a ninja in real life (“Hayeeeeee Yaaaaaaa!!”).

This week, however, the ever-so-happy land of GI was also plagued with some rather heartbreaking disasters. It is rumoured that some mysterious desh-drohi vendor ratted about the extremely awesome GI games pre-order offers which might lead to their discontinuation. Sadder is the fact that one of our members is having a serious family crisis. The GI community is trying its best to help in whatever way it can through various user contributed items up for auction (here, here, here, here and here). Well wishes, donations and bids are more than welcome.

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Fortunately, Ghostbusters: The Video Game sticks to the same formulae. Written by the original writers, the game feeds on the same familiar universe created by the movies and features the same star cast lending voices to the main characters. Add some locations lifted straight off the original material and a few recognisable un-dead faces, and the game seemingly manages to strike all the right chords.

The game starts off with the player assuming the role of a new cadet, the 5th Ghostbuster referred to as ‘Rookie’ throughout the game. The non-customisable appearance and lack of speech and personality would have left a pretty sour taste in the mouth had the other characters who surround him not been overflowing with their own quirky styles. Halfway through the game, it becomes obvious that having the player replace one of the original veterans would have been blasphemy.

The story is the usual run-of-the-mill affair which starts off with some familiar spectres, previously encountered by the Ghostbusters (in the movies), reappearing all over Manhattan. In dealing with these spooks, the Ghostbusters realise that the alternate dimension of Ghost World is trying to cross over into the ‘real’ world, and a young female museum curator is somehow related to the paranormal activities surrounding this event. In the course of the single player story campaign, which lasts 8 hours or so, the ‘Rookie’ would linearly traverse multiple gorgeous locations which include a slimy sewer system, an ancient castle, and a cemetery, and try to unravel the mystery of the grand architect of all things that go bump in the night. What appears to be a drab and linear narration turns out to be pretty entertaining nevertheless with subtle moments of brilliance thrown in.

The gameplay is a mix of a typical coverless third-person shooter, with the cumbersome heavy sprinting sequences included, and some very interesting lasso controls. The former is used to hammer ghosts into oblivion and latter is used to capture some of the more reluctant ones once they are beaten and bruised. The mini-nuclear proton pack saddled on the player’s back serves as the lock, stock and barrel of the ghost-busting arsenal. With 4 different proton pack beams, each having dual upgradable modes, equivalent of shotguns, machine guns and rocket launchers, unlocked through the single player campaign, there is more than enough variety in the gameplay to tackle all sorts of pesky ghouls who fly by.

What makes the game a little less challenging is the fact that, apart from frequent checkpoints, there is unlimited ammo for each beam, making the player an endless source of ghost busting nuclear power. Capturing ghosts involves throwing a lasso around a weakened ghost and then trying to reel him into a mini tractor beam. Slamming the rebellious apparitions around or pulling them back as they amusingly try their best to escape the proton beams is pure unadulterated fun. Also, apart from the wacky ghosts, ranging from dead opera singers to kitchen chefs, there are numerous gigantic bosses who keep popping up often enough. Taking down these mammoths at the end of each chapter feels extremely satisfying and adds to the grand delusion of truly walking in the shoes of the Ghostbusters.

Next page: The verdict