I'm currently playing Dragon Age:Origins, which is an awesome game, although a little old now (they brought out a sequel not so long ago). I was up until 2 last night because I was determined to finish one of the sections

And when I feel like taking a break from fighting Darkspawn, I play a bit of FIFA 11 (at the moment in 'Be A Pro' mode) as light relief.

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^Many Thanks to Pandora for this fantastic banner

I Melain berio le

[+@*$%=#_?&:;]

Joined 31st Oct 2005, contrary to what it says over there <--- and am thus missing 2500+ posts

Angry Birds!!!

I've just completed Spyro The Dragon 1,2&3 and Crash Bandicoot 2&3 on Ps1 again as revision distraction too. I love the old games!!!

....I'm such a 90's kid

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World of Warcrack. Yeahhhh...

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You got back. I knew you would get back.

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I was cured all right.

Yeah it's a trial account right now but I'm still back in. I have to wait to get my old account back because it's currently locked... I lost my authenticator.

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Ouch...what do you mean you lost your authenticator?

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I was cured all right.

I normally have it attached to my keys, and when I went to look for it yesterday to login to my Battle.net, my authenticator... wasn't on the keys.

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I'm playing the Dragon Age sequel right now. It's actually pretty good, and that's coming from someone who doesn't get very attached to new games easily.

Went back and started playing The Third Age again.. that's actually what got me back into my LotR obsession.

@ Elegost- I KNOW RIGHT- I swear the first spyro is one of the best games EVER- though I love the minigames on the other 2 aswell... even if some were infuriatingly difficult!

Ara- I loved Third Age when I first played it- epic LotR Graphics and really fun, even if the story was kinda odd

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Mainly LOTRO but I kind of switch off with some internet games

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"Shall I describe it to you, or would you like me to find you a box?"

Medieval II Total War.

Playing as the magnificent Empire of Venice.

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I was cured all right.

Alice: Madness Returns.

Hmm a cute mentally broken English teenage girl with a snarky tongue and the Vorpal Blade and wears thigh high boots and dresses? BRING IT!

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I was cured all right.

[^What? Like Alice in Wonderland on drugs meets Tomb Raider-Lara? Why do I find that disturbing.. (<-- Funny smiley!]

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>>Be the change you wish to see in the world<<



Banner credit: Shadowcat & Nurrantiel Mashiara

Well it's the sequel to American McGee's Alice.

Essentially Alice from (guess what!) Alice in Wonderland loses her family in a house fire and she completely lost her mind. So she spends roughly ten years in an asylum before she finally confronts her guilt and anger in the first game. But then in the second game, she runs into some issues (once more) and has to go back to Wonderland.

Oh Wonderland is pretty much the analogy to her sanity. So the more insane she is, the more messed up Wonderland is.

The artwork is absolutely beautiful and while the platforming can get really frustrating, it's quite worth it. Plus Alice is such a delightful sarcastic girl. Upon hearing the Mad Hatter's tragic rant about no tea, she simply says "Tragic."


Btw I lied about thigh high boots. They're only up to her knees. Most unfortunate.

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I was cured all right.

Sorry for double post but I've just beaten the game so here are my thoughts.

Whatever I say following this, know that the art design is freakin' fabulous. Each level is incredibly different from each other from the Oriental tea garden to the noisy and smoky steampunk factories to the absolutely visceral Queen's lair. These really help distract you from the rather standard platforming that is ubiquitous in this game. Alice's dresses changes to match the level and they look even more phenomenal. And the enemies looks freakin' amazing. And ****in' SCARY!!! To give you an idea, one of the bad guys you face is called the "Broken Doll". It's a porcelain doll with scissors or hooks and she's taller than Alice and the scissors are at least her size. Then her eyes are gouged out and black goo is dripping from her mouth, her eyes, and her nose. Oh and then here's the fun part how you kill her. When you attack it, you shred her clothes off, which causes her to shriek. Then you blow off a portion of her torso to expose her heart. And then if you're fortunate, you can blow her arms off. Needless to say, having said porcelain doll, naked and armless, shrieking and wailing as it's chasing you is rather terrifying.

Gameplay wise, it borrows heavy from the old Nintendo 64 platformers where you jump on platforms, glide on vertical air currents, pull levers, push buttons, etc. It is extremely linear and it can get rather repetitive as well as frustrating. One part I recall near the end called me to hold down a button with a clockwork bomb, run to the other side of a platform, dodging falling spiked pillars along the way, and shoot a switch all before the bomb blows, thus relieving the button of the pressure and thus allowing the switch to disappear. One mess up and I would have started the whole damn thing over again. One little annoyance or blessing is the ability to shrink into a smaller size. When shrinked, you can see invisible platforms, helpful hints on where to go, and slip through keyholes that often than not have lovely treasures and collectibles. One such collectible is memories of Alice's past and the people she has interacted with. They help weave the intriguing story that this game has. Then there's this...the little minigames in between. Now, I loved the puzzles and the chess puzzles. Those were awesome because they actually made you think. The 2D shooter with the ship and the 2D platformer was also nice but not as enjoyable as the puzzles. The freakin' dollhead games where you basically control a doll head in a Rutenberg machine was bloody GOD AWFUL!!!! I HATED THAT!

Combat is rather interesting. In contrast to the first game where you gained a colourful arsenal of jacks, decks of cards, a blunderbuss, a croquet mallet, and the infamous Jabberwocky staff, you get four weapons in this game: the Vorpal Blade, the Pepper Grinder (a machine gun), the Hobby Horse Hammer, and the Teapot Launcher. The enemies range a lot and do require a different strategy. The unarmoured globbery Insidious Ruins just need you to charge at them with your Vorpal Blade, slicing and dicing your way through them. The Samurai Wasps on the other hand needs you to smash their defences first before you can kill them. And while the combat is incredibly enjoyable, there's the...flying units. The ones that like to stand in the back and harass you and make life so much harder for you. Word to the wise, take those guys out.

The story was incredible, I thought. The ending was just so so so so so satsifying but at the same time left you for more. I want to know what will happen to Alice. Anyway those are my final thoughts!

Caunion's Judgment: 8/10.

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I was cured all right.