PC Game Roundup Review

By Darren Allen Published 30 April, 2007

We check out five new PC games you might not know about.

Version tested: PC

They can't all be Gods of War and Legends of Zelda, so with that in mind we take a dip into five PC games that you might not have heard of, and emerge with some scores. Let us know if the format appeals.

Wild Earth Africa

Game page

Imagine, if you will, that you're a photo-journalist. Which is basically a lazy bastard of a hack who can't be arsed actually thinking or writing, so swans about the globe here and there taking pictures [not bitter - Ed]. Wild Earth Africa casts you in the khakis of one such layabout, tasked with completing photo assignments for a magazine.

Think of it as an educational family-oriented version of Deer Hunter in which the rifle has been replaced by a camera. The player runs around the competently rendered landscape - with driving and a helicopter ride involved in certain missions - and objectives pop up on screen. "Snap elephant gouging tree" for example. "Photograph rhino having a piss." If you're not quick, you'll miss the action, and if you overlook too many photo ops the mission will be deemed a failure.

'PC Game Roundup' Screenshot 1

Giraffe twins audition for The X-Factor.

Along the way, pertinent facts about the environment and animals are imparted to the player, and the kids will likely find these quite interesting. Indeed youngsters can build up full photo albums of their shots and show them off to their parents, which more creative types will doubtless revel in.

The weakest element of Wild Earth Africa is that to snap some pictures, you have to be pretty quick-eyed and fleet-footed. Which is fine for adults, but that really isn't who the game's aimed at, and children may find this frustrating. Especially when coupled with the fact that you can be unsure as to what you're being asked to photograph, which can lead to the player snapping away repeatedly at all the beasts in sight in the hope that they hit the correct target at some point.

Despite these issues, Wild Earth Africa is a reasonable slice of edutainment which will hold the kids' attention for a while.

5 / 10

Tortuga - Two Treasures

Game page

Take two treasures into the shower? Not me - I don't shower. I'm a pirate for one-legged Pete's sake. I'm smelly and scary, bearded and blustery, and I say "avast me hearties" more often than is absolutely necessary (once). Tortuga has all the right and proper pirate clichés, complete with inspiration from Pirates of the Caribbean (a love story, voodoo and an undead ghost ship type thing).

The game is divided into two halves - sea-faring and land-lubbing sections. The ship-to-ship combat plays out like a basic arcade game with very simple controls. It's all about manoeuvring your vessel into position to deliver more broadside cannon volleys than your opponent, although there are some added tactical nuances. Different types of cannon shot can be selected (there's one which rips sails, for example, to cut a vessel's speed), and mines can be dropped, or enemies lured onto reefs. After a while these battles become rather repetitive, but at least there are some entertaining moments to be had here.

'PC Game Roundup' Screenshot 2

I'll cut the tongue from the next fella' to call me Sparrow!

Any enjoyment swiftly evaporates when you hit land and Tortuga turns into a completely bobbins third-person swash'n'buckle. The movement system is clunky, the animations are poor and combat itself is largely a matter of clicking the left mouse button and slaughtering your way through piles of guards or pirates. It all feels especially artificial as the auto-targeting feature even faces you towards your next opponent after a kill, so you literally only need hammer that mouse button and occasionally pop a health potion. There are special moves to be learnt, but they seem fairly redundant.

The clichéd storyline is accompanied by plenty of hammily acted cut-scenes, and the whole package is ultimately pretty forgettable. There's some nautical mileage in the sea battles, but that's not nearly enough.

4 / 10

Alpine Ski Racing 2007

Game page

The real reason people watch a plank speeding down a hill strapped to two further planks is in the hope that he or she crashes. Of course this rarely happens, unless you're a virtual skier with no care for his pixellated life and a wish to thoroughly road-test a game's collision detection. In this case, it happens a lot. And the collision detection, incidentally, is a little ropey (ski vaguely close to something and you'll almost certainly hit it).

Alpine Ski Racing presents you with a league-based career mode as the main course of its skiing buffet (alongside one-off cups, an arcade mode, and a basic multiplayer). There are management aspects to tinker with here - you can hire a coach to train and improve your skier's statistics, and a waxer to wax your moustache. Well, either that or your skis - the correct wax mixture can be crucial to a fast time.

'PC Game Roundup' Screenshot 3

Skiing. You start a race and it goes downhill from there.

You can spend your money on expensive coaches and waxers, or splash it out on better gear instead; fancier skis, poles, or a more streamlined helmet. The equipment provides a more noticeable upgrade than your stats, but in all honesty there isn't a huge amount of depth on the management front.

The racing itself is also kept simple - you accelerate, steer, and there's a key to carve into the snow for sharper turns. Getting the correct line and mastering the latter skill is the key to fast times, and pelting downhill is initially quite enjoyable, the graphics conveying a good sense of speed. After a while, however, the races rather blur into one, as only the slalom is significantly different from the others (with its unrelenting tight turns).

Nevertheless, there's some longevity here with three career difficulty levels to tackle, and Alpine Ski Racing is a decent enough winter sports fix.

5 / 10

Genesis Rising: The Universal Crusade

Game page

Fortunately, this is a space-based RTS and not a pop management game about Phil Collins making a comeback with his old band. Genesis Rising is actually about the search for something called the "universal heart", some sort of powerful artefact which will save humanity blah blah. The plot and cut-scenes are best escape-keyed through at warp factor nine, but the single-player campaign isn't without its charms.

It's branching and persistent, with some varied, not to mention challenging missions. However, part of Genesis Rising's problem is it's tricky for all the wrong reasons. There are no difficulty levels to adjust, no in-mission saves and no pausing the game, which makes the already tough battles it throws at you arduous tests of clicking dexterity and micromanagement.

'PC Game Roundup' Screenshot 4

This spaceship is alive. Not to mention a right bloody show-off.

And there's a lot of micromanagement... Every vessel has special powers which need to be activated by clicking icons above them, and other considerations are thrown in, such as manually moving ships to dodge incoming enemy missiles. The end result can be something of a headache - especially as the interface is quite clunky all round.

Despite all this, the game design boasts some interesting elements. The resource collection system and unit upgrade paths are novel, as the organic HR Giger inspired spacecraft can actually have genes implanted in them to customise their abilities, and you can steal this DNA from the husks of dead enemies (or indeed trade for it using the simple diplomacy system). Aesthetically, these ships are rendered in some fine detail, too.

Genesis Rising is a step back to more hardcore gaming days, with its no-save no-pause underpants-over-the-head-charging-at-the-enemy-screaming attitude. Some gamers might relish this challenge, but the lack of any in-mission saving combined with unforgiving objectives and an imperfect interface will prove overly frustrating for many.

5 / 10

Dawn of Magic

Gamepage

In most RPG games, elven mages and halfling thieves abound. Dawn of Magic steps away from these stereotypes, which sounds great, until you realise you can only choose from a small selection of rather odd characters, such as: "The Baker's Wife. A friendly plump lady who loves to spoil people with her pastries. Has a high health score." I don't know if you've ever seen a goblin being beaten to death with a cream horn, but it's a novel concept.

You can't roll your own character up, which seems a bit odd in a game that prides itself on customisation in terms of a huge range of magic schools you can invest your experience points in. There are twelve different types of magic in total, from elemental through conjuring to blessing and healing (there are no baking incantations, thankfully). What's more, spells can be combined to produce a range of different effects, which gives the whole package an added dimension.

'PC Game Roundup' Screenshot 5

Is there any proof that the accused is a witch?

However, aside from the inventive magic system - and some interesting item-customisation options - this Diablo-style click'n'slash is as bog standard as they come. Bash the monsters, break the barrels, pick up the loot. The quests are largely bland, consisting mostly of kill tasks and other basic fare which fails to spark the player's imagination.

Then there's the combat. It's messy. You'll fling ranged spells at enemies and they'll mysteriously miss, presumably due to line-of-sight issues, but it's difficult to tell. Even melee combat seems buggy at times, with monsters you can't hit even though they're stood right next to you. The camera angles can be awkward, which doesn't help either.

It seems the developer thought that twelve schools of tweak-able magic would make a great game in itself. It doesn't. One of Dawn of Magic's blood spells is called Masochism. I'd cast it on yourself if you're intending a purchase.

3 / 10

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About Darren Allen

Read more articles from Darren by visiting the Darren Allen archive page.

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Comments (61) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • krudster #1 5 years ago

    *Thumbs up*

  • haowan #2 5 years ago

    I like the format, but IMO you should wait until you have at least one favourable review before setting up such an article.

    I would also like to take this opportunity to request more reviews of independent free or shareware software.

  • krudster #3 5 years ago

    Thing is...if one of the games is really good, then it'd deserve a full length review, no?

  • Killerbee #4 5 years ago

    Thing is...if one of the games is really good, then it'd deserve a full length review, no?

    Hmmm.... good point...

    But other than saying "here's a bunch of games that are't that good - steer clear", with all due respect to the work Darren has put into this, I suppose the question is: why bother at all?

    None of these games was on my radar before and they're certainly off it now.

  • calexico #5 5 years ago

    Wild Earth Africa is a really good game. Perfect for children and also for a casual game. The concept is pretty cool.

  • UncleLou #6 5 years ago

    Holy cow, that's quite the terrible collection you assembled there.
    I guess the format isn't bad, but maybe it should somehow be made clear from the beginning that it'll be an article about games not good enough for a "proper" review - I first had the impression it would be a roundup of overlooked little gems rather than the trash it is, and came away a little disappointed.

  • RE*AC*TOR #7 5 years ago

    Clusterfuck of shit

  • MoFo #8 5 years ago

    There are plenty of decent little indie games for the PC out there which have been overlooked, so why pick this mediocre bunch to review?

  • ZuluHero #9 5 years ago

    @Killerbee

    They could just give a title and a score and that would have the same effect :p

    Plus they'd get more crap games to a page then :)

  • Anora #10 5 years ago

    Thank you for giving DOM a 3/10, the game s*cks b*lls

  • Tomo #11 5 years ago

    Tricky situation really. I like the idea too. There are often loads of PC games you see in shops (and console games really) but don't have a clue about, so this is a useful feature.

    However, I agree with KillerBee at the same time. I imagine Darren is going to get a bit peeved each time you shovel five shit-to-mediocre games in his direction every month or so.

  • krudster #12 5 years ago

    We're already doing about 65 game reviews a month, and have been for some time now.

    The point is, Darren had no idea these games were going to be cack when he started the round-up, and in future there may well be hidden gems among them.

    Also, one thing we ought to point out is that we have a limited budget, and simply can't devote 1000 words to every single game that comes out. If you lot want to pitch in with in-depth reader reviews, that's all fine with me :)

  • Azazel #13 5 years ago

    Good roundup. I like reading reviews of bad games a lot more than the good ones (I know I'm probably going to buy them to start with...) And reviews for average games are the hardest kind to write.
    Edited by 1 at 30/04/07 @ 09:41

  • kangarootoo #14 5 years ago

    @disc

    Way to miss the point.

  • trevd72 #15 5 years ago

    soldat 1.4 is out.....that should be shouted about!!!

  • Tomo #16 5 years ago

    True krudster, but what happens then if Darren finds a game isn't cack? Are you going to pull it from this article and give the game its own review?

    I know that's what you were asking further up, but what do you reckon would happen? I'd be inclined to leave it in here. First rule of PC Game Roundup - what gets chucked at Darren (or whoever) and gets reviewed here, stays here!

  • haowan #17 5 years ago

    krudster - don't get me wrong, I think it's a good idea for a regular feature. The more games you review, the better, right? If one of the games turns out to be really good, I guess you could devote a longer review of it, but it wouldn't be required.

    Anyway :) Cave Story review! :D

  • trevd72 #18 5 years ago

    @krudster to be honest I don't read the whole review never mind the the two or three page reviews. i zip to the summing up and score then the comments. Less is more and the rest is just masturbation; as they say.

  • alimokrane #19 5 years ago

    Glad you guys are doing this. Other websites seem to have forgotten that the PC exists and they tend to review only those super hyped games ... you give us hope!

  • pauleyc #20 5 years ago

    We check out five new PC games you might not care about.

    I certainly hope this feature won't be regarded as proof for the incorrect stereotype that PC gaming is dead - at least as far as the scores are concerned.

  • Killerbee #21 5 years ago

    The point is, Darren had no idea these games were going to be cack when he started the round-up, and in future there may well be hidden gems among them.


    Fair enough - that's answered my question, thanks Krudster. Here's hoping (not least for Darren's sake!) that there are a few hidden gems next time around.

    @disc:

    So only good games deserve good reviews?

    No - all games deserve a review. Having said that, I am well aware that Eurogamer can't hope to revew every single game that gets released, so I'd much rather those resources were devoted to bringing us reviews of great games we really should play or to warning us about over-hyped crap.

    The reason for my question was that I'd not particularly heard of any of these games and really wouldn't have given it a second thought if there was no EG review. That fact that there is a review is good, but it's disappointing that none of the games are really that great.

    /shrugs

  • aldo_14 #22 5 years ago


    No - all games deserve a review. Having said that, I am well aware that Eurogamer can't hope to revew every single game that gets released, so I'd much rather those resources were devoted to bringing us reviews of great games we really should play or to warning us about over-hyped crap.

    The reason for my question was that I'd not particularly heard of any of these games and really wouldn't have given it a second thought if there was no EG review. That fact that there is a review is good, but it's disappointing that none of the games are really that great.

    On the plus side, if you happen to glance upon one of these games at the bargain bin at Tescos (etc), then you can tell if it's worth a pop or not.

  • ZuluHero #23 5 years ago

    @disc

    how many ppl only flick to the review scores anyway? Good game or not? :p

  • MyPointIs #24 5 years ago

    And only good men deserve a fair trial?

  • The-Bodybuilder #25 5 years ago

    >"how many ppl only flick to the review scores anyway? Good game or not? :p "

    Those people who whing and moan about the score, yet not bothering to read the review as to why it got tht score?

    We all know how that ends up.

  • ZuluHero #26 5 years ago

    lol, true :)

  • krudster #27 5 years ago

    I think we'll try and keep all the obscure games in a round-up format, good or bad. If they're just crap, then I can understand why people would ask why we're even bothering. Hopefully there should be some decent stuff around at different times.

  • huxathon #28 5 years ago

    was hoping for a little gem to be uncovered in that bunch, but alas... good review format for smaller releases though, sort of a quick fire round.

  • kinggid #29 5 years ago

    Personally, I prefer the reviews separately. I'm happy with the mini-reviews but think each should have it's own page. This saves flicking through 4 game titles I know I'm not bothered about to find the one I am. Plus, if there is a good game in there, it will get lost.

  • ZuluHero #30 5 years ago

    @Krudster

    I think that’s a fair point. It seems ppl are hung up with the fact that ALL the games in this line up received bad scores (myself included), that doesn't necessarily mean that some real gems might not turn up in the future.

  • Talha #31 5 years ago

    Love it. That's precisely the sort of column EG needs to set itself apart. As for the games not getting good scores - people, THAT's the reason many people don't know about them, right?

  • PlugMonkey #32 5 years ago

    Nice article. I'd much rather read 5 straight to the point reviews of obscure/average games than one full length review that's been done in a 'hilarious' writing style to fill the void.

    And as someone else said, these are the sorts of games you find in the 2 for £10 section of Game. If there's one that sounds like it might keep me entertained for a few hours on a hungover Sunday, that's often enough to pique my interest.

    You should do a Steam round up - that's where my hungover Sunday games come from when I'm too hungover to leave the flat...

  • motslaps #33 5 years ago

    not one of these games got over 5 - why bother telling us about them?

  • azwipe #34 5 years ago

    I'm of the opinion that 'obscure' or not, I want to read about more about good games and less about bad ones. There are plenty of great games that don't get enough coverage because they come from small studios, don't have huge marketing budgets, etc. I'd value Eurogamer alot more if they told me about those, and gave them the coverage they deserve because of their quality, not their market significance.

    Some games are more obscure than they deserve to be and EG is complicit in that. I've been enjoying the hell out of the source mod 'Minerva' which I only stumbled across in the forums. Why?

  • UncleLou #35 5 years ago

    not one of these games got over 5 - why bother telling us about them?

    So they should rather play the games, find they're bad, and not tell us about them?

    Where would you draw the line? Should they not write a review if the game got less than an 8? Or 7?

  • Dezm0nd #36 5 years ago

    Fives games I don't know about and still don't because the review scores were average.

    Get some PC games people dont know about which get a 10!!

  • urban #37 5 years ago

    ...bizarrre that you'd list so many shit games.

  • trevd72 #38 5 years ago

    this kinda asks the question:

    Should only worth while games and hyped (to see if the hype is true) games be reviewed and the rest deemed as not worth looking at or spending money on?

  • AHiFi #39 5 years ago

    I was hoping you guys would get around to doing a format like this; thumbs up from me too. I like reading about obscure titles, even if they are mediocre. It's because they haven't been shoved down our throats.

    So please keep this format!

  • Pulsar_t #40 5 years ago

    Interesting format, I like it so far.. But regarding the PC well it's just sad seeing it decline like this. Indie won't save it either.

  • Ryuken #41 5 years ago

    Oh yeah, because there has been nothing but junk like this on the PC this year...

  • UncleLou #42 5 years ago

    Interesting format, I like it so far.. But regarding the PC well it's just sad seeing it decline like this. Indie won't save it either.

    Because a sign of a succesful platform is of course that only AAA stuff gets released...

  • spongebob #43 5 years ago

    Nice article!

  • stoopidgreg #44 5 years ago

    it's a sad day for PC games

  • loeffe #45 5 years ago

    Guess I was right not to know them...

  • Tyronne #46 5 years ago

    As these titles are all crap , why bother reviewing them on their own page , when one page would of sufficed titled 'crap' with the scores on.

  • YourMessageHere #47 5 years ago

    I find it unlikely that there's enough good but unknown stuff out there to actually justify this idea over a long space of time, but I see no reason not to put the thing out there if you EG people feel you have enough free time to do so =P. Shame these particular 5 are as "bleh" as they are.

  • Perrythegreat #48 5 years ago

    Think this is a very good concept, and one I think should be continued. As you said, you might get a game of the year out of it, which would be good

  • Freek #49 5 years ago

    It's nice to shine a light on some forgotten games, but I agree with the people saying that it's a bitt useless if all you get is sub standard garbage.
    Point us to some unkown stuff that's worth getting. :)

  • Darts_Venom #50 5 years ago

    Agreed.

    But its good practice for withering scorn mode.

  • Scimarad #51 5 years ago

    Damn, I was cautiously looking forward to Genesis Rising.

    Just bought a new PC and seriously enjoyed the Supreme Commander demo. STILL can't abide playing FPS with a k/b and mouse, though!

  • GitSomE_UK #52 5 years ago

    I think the reviews for the WH Smith/PC World kack corner titles should be even shorter.

    1 or 2 paragraphs with a quick summary. There is just so much crap churned out for the PC these days. I need to bat the missus and the kids away from the shelves when they see another game with a great cover and lovingly hand crafted screen shot at the back.

    Pippa ruddy Funnell 3: The Golden Stirrup Challenge I'm looking at you, I want to stick your golden stirrups right up the developers arse for churning out this shit and letting my missus blow my hard earned wedge on this crap for "the kids".

    It doesn't help when Amazon tards rave about it and it's pointed as absolute proof of the joy you can have with Pippa.

    EG you are doing all Fathers a stirling service keep it up.

  • Tango #53 5 years ago

    "We check out five new PC games you might not care about."

  • MasterControlProgram #54 5 years ago

    A couple of seasons back I highly enjoyed Ski Racing 2005: downhill was pure speed joy; Super-G and G a tad harder to master, requiring good eye for trajectories; and Slalom was a real beast: taking the right rhytm and not being disqualified was a challenge not for people who easily get nervous and frustrated.

    All in all, although the player skills were increased a little too much after half of the medals and points were collected, winning the world cup at the end of the season was a true satisfaction.

    Judging from the demo, Alpine Ski Racing 2007 seems a worthy successor: animations and physics are more realistic, there are more options, jumping and start are different but the rest of the control system should be easy for those who played 2005 or 2006.

    5 points? Definitely too low: 7 is more adequate. 8, if you love skiing.
    Edited by 1 at 30/04/07 @ 23:55

  • Veracity #55 5 years ago

    Good idea, thanks for trying it, at least. Second the hope it'll turn up something a bit more deserving of the attention in future if you choose to continue it. I'd be in favour of dropping scores when you're writing up in a couple of paragraphs, but I'd pretty much be in favour of dropping scores altogether, so that may not mean a lot. Of course, you'd lose click through from metacritic and its ilk, so maybe not practical.

    Regarding the limited resources point, would anyone else be in favour of a similar format for ports to XBLA/VC/whatever it's called on PS3? Full-length reviews for these titles often seem excessive to me. They're reasonable for new titles, but all I personally want to know for relatively bare-bones ports of old console or arcade titles is how good the port is and what optional features it supports. If I wanted to read the wikipedia entry for Pac Man or Gyruss, I know where it is, thanks, no need to copy and paste it to EG. I'd say most people already know whether they want games like this - a review's usefulness is limited to drawing attention to problems or extra modes unique to the port in question.

  • krudster #56 5 years ago

    Looking at the stats, the XBLA/PSN reviews are among the most popular out there, so I think it's safe to say they're here to stay. A VC round-up every week/fortnight in this format makes sense to me, though.

  • pjmaybe #57 5 years ago

    Shouldn't this article be titled "5 PC games you're better off not knowing about" ?

    Peej

  • Martin #58 5 years ago

    FWIW, I like the idea as well as the execution.

  • secombe #59 5 years ago

    5 out of 10 isn't bad, it's average. And if you have a passing interest in Wild Earth Africa (for example) that may be enough to try it out if you find it cheap.

    As it happens, I do like the idea of Wild Earth Africa, and the average review is enough for me to pick this up cheap one day, as I know it's not crap.

  • gnarl #60 5 years ago

    This reminds me of those paper things I read in my youth. They had random short reviews towards end that were useful to tell if games that particularly appealed to me, e.g. those from the point and click genre, were generally mediocre or terrible. And that could be the use of this. Good idea.

  • Veracity #61 5 years ago

    > XBLA/PSN reviews are among the most popular out there, so I
    > think it's safe to say they're here to stay

    Fair enough, relegation to round-up status for cursory arcade and 8/16-bit ports will have to wait until after the revolution, when sharing my arbitrary preferences will become obligatory. Round-ups of VC releases would certainly be nice.

    Following on haowan's note about independent game coverage - I think independent stuff has a somewhat longer meaningful shelf-life than larger-scale releases, since it's rarely even attempting to compete on production values, and usually lacks substantial marketing. I imagine several people who write for EG have at least one pet indie project they'd like to see get more recognition, so commissioning a handful of people to knock out four hundred words on something they think deserves pimping might be one way to get the most interesting stuff highlighted. Maybe once or twice annually, this could be of use to readers who just want to hear about the outstanding stuff, not trawl through round-ups of everything that comes out.
    Edited by 1 at 03/05/07 @ 20:39