The Web’s Worthy Downloads #2 [Guide to Goodness]

This is a new feature that I’ve decided to put on the blog. Here every now and again, I will put down all the stuff on the web that’s been released lately (and sometimes not) which is worth downloading. It could be games; music; programs – you name it.

I might do this weekly, biweekly, or even monthly. I’ll see how it goes. But one things for sure – everything you read about here is free, and therefore, very likely legal to download and play or use.

This is issue #2 of this new feature on AAA.

What do we have for this instalment then? This time it’s not as varied as before – it’s mainly all about first person shooters, most of which are multiplayer, and inspired by the likes of classics such as Quake III Arena.

The first is called Alien Arena 2011. It’s described by the developers as a retro-themed shooter, with a dose of sci-fi and aliens – we need more of this in games. It’s supposedly like a cross between Quake and Fallout 3, or some such, just by looking at the screenshot on the right. The latest version of it is 7.51, and it weighs in at just under 300 MB.

Then there’s Red Eclipse, also a free multiplayer game which once again draws inspiration from the likes of Quake III Arena – but it doesn’t use the Quake III Arena, or id Tech 3 engine. It’s a TC for the Cube Engine 2, just so you know. That’s all there is to say, it seems, apart from the fact that version 1.0 weighs in at decidedly more than AA 2011: it’s 428 MB.

There is however something else; a break from the multiplayer madness. It’s a demo of Torchlight. Now I’ve heard a little bit about this in the past – it’s an RPG title developed by some of the people who brought you Diablo, operating under the name Runic Games. This is a free time-limited, or rolling, demo which lasts 2 hours. After that you won’t be able to play it anymore, and you’ll have to buy a key (serial number) to unlock the game so you can continue playing. This one is also quite heavy, coming in at over 400 MB. But just think about this: you’re essentially getting the full game, just with restrictions.

Something else I found just recently is a mod for C&C: Generals – Zero Hour: Enhanced. I know – Zero Hour is ancient. It was released about eight years ago as an expansion to C&C: Generals – a spinoff of the main C&C universe. And no, this mod I’m talking about is not The Forgotten, which is a mod for C&C 3. This mod for Zero Hour, made by the [FM] Enhanced Mod Team, introduces players to improved graphics, textures, units, maps, and AI. There’s a whole bunch of other changes that have been made too, and you can check them all out over at the official ModDB page. There’s two downloads to be had. The one is 131 MB, and is the beta version of the mod. The second one, released a few days later, is an update, coming in at less than half that: 60 MB.

Some of these downloads are quite hefty, but in the likely case that you won’t have the time or data to handle getting them yourselves, I have suggested all of these for the latest NAG cover DVD. Whether they’ll appear on there is another story. But more often than not, they often do. Note that NAG, to my knowledge, is only available for the most part in South Africa, as well as some limited bordering countries. Of course you might be able to smuggle one in to the USA or wherever you live.

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[DVD] May DVD suggestion thread

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Alien Arena 2011 v7.51 Full Game [294 MB] Website

Red Eclipse 1.0 (Free Full Game) [428 MB] website

Torchlight v1.15 Demo [410.94MB]

C&C: Generals – Zero Hour Mod: Enhanced [131 MB] official page on Mod DB

Zero Hour: Enhanced - Enhanced Graphical Content 0.6.2 [60 MB]

The Web’s Worthy Downloads #2 [Guide to Goodness]

Where are the Stars: Ranger

What about me? What about Ranger?

Ranger is the protagonist from Quake.

Ranger is another creation of the id stable, and originally appeared in Quake, the hit game from 1996, which introduced the gaming world to true 3D. His task was to explore military bases and travel to distant dimensions, and find magical runes which would open up the doorway to the ultimate enemy, Shrub-Niggurath.

“Imagine a big ugly plant-looking thing.” He claims.

He also starred in two mission packs for Quake, titled Scourge of Armagon and Dissolution of Eternity.

Ranger was shocked when he learned that there would not be a sequel to the game in terms of continuity.

“Quake II my @ss! They took the name and put it to a completely different series of games! Heck, Quake II even got a sequel!”

Ranger hates Bitterman, the guy from Quake II, with a passion.

“He stole my job! He took over the “Quake” series in Quake II, and that should have been ME! I tell you, every time Bitterman got fragged in Quake III… it was me. I owned you, b1tch!”

Ranger made an appearance in Quake III Arena along with all the “other id puppets”.

“What happened to single-player games?”

For the first time, in Quake III Arena, he met Wrack, a fellow slipgate explorer.

“Where the hell was he when I needed him? I was there all alone the whole time, and you mean to tell me that there were others?! Not that I was glad to see him anyway- he was an arrogant old man who kept going on about the good old days. He’s such a faker though, because I was the one who did all the work.”

Ranger now spends his days trapped in one of the gothic medieval dimensions that he was tasked with exploring, bitter and alone, besides the other vicious creatures that inhabit the place with him.

Where are the Stars: Ranger

News: ZeniMax Media Has The Rights to Rage

Day of Reconciliation (SA)

Although that headline may seem as though their planning some horrible sort of revenge on the world (which they might be), it’s actually related to the game Rage, by id Software, currently still in development.

Previously, EA was going to publish the game, but ZeniMax Media recently acquired the publishing rights to the title, and has said that Bethesda Softworks will publish the title when it’s released, hopefully next year.

Earlier this year, ZeniMax bought id Software to add to their stable which includes Fallout 3 developer Bethesda. This was a move that shocked most of the world, or at least the gaming population, seeing as id, up until then, had remained independent for 17 years.

As regards the publishing rights being shifted to Bethesda Softworks, some people have claimed that EA got shafted on the whole deal, and that it was coming for months, but EA claims there are no hard feelings, and wishes them all the best. It’s nothing personal; it’s business.

As Loot Ninja wrote though, why should ZeniMax pay EA, an outside, third party company to publish the title, when they can do it themselves? Initially after the buyout earlier this year, id’s next shooter, Doom 4, was going to be the first game by id published by BethSoft, but now that’s going to change, and Rage will be the first. It will also be the title to debut the id Tech 5 engine. That should mean it will be called the “Rage engine” for some time, and not something else, like the Doom, Quake, Quake II, Quake III, or Doom 3 engine. Damn, that’s also a first.

ZeniMax is going to handle all sales and marketing as regards Rage, and issued a press release with all this information, among it, saying that Rage’s development will be unaffected by this issue.

The game should be out in 2010 on PC, Mac, Xbox 360, and PS3.

News: ZeniMax Media Has The Rights to Rage

Apocalypse Then: Doom

So, November was certainly Valve Month, it seems as though December is id month, seeing as Quake III Arena and Quake II were both released in this month years ago. Another game that was released this month was Doom, on the 10th of December, 1993. The shareware version was available for free download on this day and featured the first episode of nine levels. The full version was available via mail order, as a retail version only became available in 1995 in The Ultimate Doom.

The first time I played Doom was when I got my first real computer back in 1996. The shareware versions of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D, two of id’s most legendary progenitors in their respective series, were installed along with all the other software and such that was part of the setup cost.

Doom is one of id Software’s most successful franchises and even though it wasn’t the first First-person shooter (the term hadn’t even been invented then), it paved the way for the genre we know by this name today, and for years afterwards, games of the same nature were referred to as “doom clones”.

Doom was no doubt controversial, featuring a lot of violence and satanic imagery in its plot involving a demonic invasion of various locations surrounding Mars, and eventually featuring a trip to hell, which seems somewhat tame when compared to Doom 3, another game in the franchise that would be released more then ten years later. It also popularized multiplayer and deathmatch, a term coined by the game’s designer and co-founder of id, John Romero. Another thing that Doom introduced to the world was the infamous BFG 9000, which has appeared in other id games. Tim Willits recently said that some classic weapons from past id games would feature in Rage, their new IP (somewhat similar to Fallout 3 or Borderlands, at least in setting), and many are likely holding thumbs that the BFG makes an appearance.

Recently the man who made the Doom box art, Don Ivan Punchatz, passed away. His son, Gregor Punchatz, did some of the modelling for Doom and Doom II, especially the monsters.

Doom was followed by Doom II: Hell on Earth, The Ultimate Doom (essentially Doom but the retail version with a fourth episode), as well as Master Levels for Doom II and Final Doom. There was also Doom 64, not considered a true part of the series by some, and Doom was ported to many systems and not to mention its received thousands of mods, TCs, and such over the years.

Doom 3 came out in 2004 and many people were too chicken to play it, and there was an expansion for this in Resurrection of Evil. Doom 3 inspired the Doom movie with The Rock (now calls himself Dwayne Johnson), which was…quite terrible really.

Doom 4 is currently in development at id Software, and will be published by its parent company, ZeniMax Media, which bought id this year.

Apocalypse Then: Doom

Apocalypse Then: Quake II

The other day we all celebrated the 10th anniversary of Quake III Arena. Today is the 12th anniversary of its prequel, Quake II. On this day in gaming, on December 9, 1997, Quake II was released.

The first time I played this game was when I got the demo off of a CD from a friend in 1998, and I later got the full version in 1999, nearly two years after its initial release. It was the one Quake game I’ve likely played the most over the years. I would go to the computer academy at school and instead of working, we would fire up a LAN game of Quake II. This was a trend that continued in high school. It’s funny how schools always seemed to have Quake II on hand, and rarely Quake III Arena.

I still have the CD and I’ve got it on my PC right now, playing it with Quake2Max, a source port, although I’m thinking of switching to another one, and downloading the HRP some time.

Quake II is an FPS title developed by id Software, originally published by Activision, and released on many different platforms over the years. The game used the id Tech 2 engine, which used to be known popularly as the Quake II engine. This engine has been used for many other titles and mods over the years.

Quake II, although a sequel in name to Quake, did not continue the story of the original. Quake II was meant to be the first game in a new series, but due to id not being able to secure a new name for the title, they went back to using their working title: Quake II.  .

The story of Quake II sees you take the role of a space marine who starts off in Texas, USA, on earth (in the manual), and makes his way onto a massive starship codenamed “Mother Goose” (in the opening cutscene) which is accompanied by “The Adrianator”, some sort of scout ship. The mission is to fire drop pods from the main ship and land troops on the surface of Stroggos, home of the Strogg, an alien enemy who has committed atrocities against the human race in the past. This is the invasion of their planet, Operation Alien Overlord.

Once the player, known as Bitterman (who later appears in Quake III Arena), is launched in his pod, he is clipped by another marine, and his control over the pod is lost. He misses the LZ, and ends up crashing. Most if not all of the other pods, although supposedly invisible to detection by Strogg defences, were shot down by EMP blasts, and therefore, most of the other marines you encounter in the game are either dead, captured and tortured, or processed to make more Strogg soldiers at the factories.

The gameplay was similar to most FPSs, although slower than Quake, and introduced some new weapons, like the Railgun, Hyperblaster, and a bigger, badder version of the BFG, the BFG 10k. The enemies you’ll use the weapons against are remorseless, relentless killing machines; cyborgs made of human parts and metal and machine.

Quake II’s soundtrack was mainly composed by Sonic Mayhem, but with tracks also contributed by Bill Brown. This soundtrack was praised by some and hated by others. One thing is for sure, they don’t make video game soundtracks like this anymore.

Quake II has received a number of expansions, both official and unofficial, over the years, was succeeded by Quake III Arena in which Bitterman, the main protagonist from Q2, was a playable character (he was horribly mutated from undergoing Strogg experiments), the story of Quake II was continued in Quake 4, and a prequel took place in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, which told the story of how the Strogg initially invaded Earth.

There have been rumours of a some more Quake games coming in the future, and this is certain to take place seeing as it is one of id’s greatest franchises next to Doom. One thing seems certain: that it may well continue the story started by Quake II, and perhaps not Quake.

You can pick up Quake II here if you want to play a classic.

Apocalypse Then: Quake II

Apocalypse Then: Quake III Arena

10 Years of Quake III Arena

On this day, 2 December, 1999, Quake III Arena was released for Microsoft Windows on the PC. Developed by id Software and published originally by Activision, Quake III rose to become one of the biggest multiplayer FPS games of all time, alongside its competitor, Unreal Tournament and its sequels. It was later released on multiple other platforms, like Linux, IRIX, Mac OS, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, as well as Xbox Live Arcade and Steam.

The game is still alive and well today, and was once a favourite competitive play mainstay.

Unlike previous Quake games, and more like UT, this game’s singleplayer only really had one purpose: To introduce you to the gameplay, familiarize you with the maps, and to prepare you for the multiplayer, as you battled against bots. Bots can be scaled on five different levels of difficulty, and in the SP campaign you go through 7 tiers or levels, each with four maps except the last one where you face off against Xaero, the top bot.

There is a basic story behind the game, and that is that gods known as the Vadrigar had assembled all the greatest warriors in the universe to compete for their entertainment. There was a little continuity from previous titles with characters and weapons from previous games making an appearance. Notable characters included Doomguy (Doom series), Ranger (Quake), Bitterman (Quake II) and Grunt (multiplayer skin and NPC from Quake II). The only games in id’s back catalogue that seemed to get left out were the Commander Keen series, and Wolfenstein 3D.

The only real new weapon was the gauntlet which one could use for humiliation kills. Apart from that, most of the weapons made a return from Quake and Doom games before it, although most had some new design and functionality, like the BFG. Powerups like Quad damage along with its traditional sound effects from previous Quake titles also made an appearance.

There were several different modes of play like deathmatch, team deathmatch, tournament, and CTF, a few modes less than UT.

Quake 3 also introduced the id Tech 3 engine (otherwise known as the Quake 3 engine), which has been used by many other games, including some of those developed by studios who have worked on id games like Return to Castle Wolfenstein. Other notable games that used the engine are Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, and Call of Duty. All of these were FPS titles set in WW II. RTCW was the least different from Quake 3. It still had a very Q3 feel to it. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix also used the engine.

Quake 3 featured music from Sonic Mayhem, a one-man team who also worked on Quake II’s soundtrack, . Front Line Assembly also featured on the soundtrack. Unlike Quake II, I found that the music in Q3 was less loud foreground, and more background, sometimes even more atmospheric type stuff.

I remember getting Quake 3 back in 2000, and my friends and I would usually just play against bots or LAN against each other occasionally. I haven’t played the game in a while now seeing as years ago it was such an effort to install all the map packs and point release patches, and usually after all that I didn’t even feel like playing. I also didn’t like the fact that there is no real singleplayer campaign like other games. Some friends of mine preferred Quake or Quake II to Quake III seeing as it was too colourful, although the game was meant to be a bridge between the two games in other areas like weapon balance and player speed.

And of course there was the argument over which game was better: Quake 3 or Unreal Tournament.

Quake III Arena received an expansion pack in Team Arena, and the two of these were eventually bundled together in the Quake III: Gold pack. The source code to the game was released a few years ago, and since then the free OpenArena was released. Also numerous mods and TCs have been made for the game, and even a few movies made with it. I remember seeing one years ago, I think called Escape from the Bastille.

Quake 4 came out in 2005, and was more in line with Quake II as far as storyline, but never succeeded Quake III Arena in popularity, especially in multiplayer.

Quake Zero which became known as Quake Live is essentially an updated version of Quake III Arena, and is free to download and browser-based. Recently, IS (Internet Solutions) launched a local server for South African Quake Live players, who felt that there was too much lag playing internationally.

You can pick up Quake III Arena here if you want to play a classic

Quake III Arena at Amazon

Apocalypse Then: Quake III Arena

Apocalypse Then: Unreal Tournament

10 Years of Unreal Tournament

On this day in gaming, on November 30, 1999, Unreal Tournament, a title developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes, was released. It was published by GT Interactive (now Atari) and appeared on numerous platforms like Windows, Mac, Mac OS X, PS2, Linux, and the Dreamcast.

Unreal Tournament, Despite being an FPS, was one of the first games geared more towards multiplayer, with a tacked-on singleplayer on the side, much like its chief competitor, Quake III Arena by id Software. Instead of a true sequel to Unreal, the Unreal Tournament franchise took off and there have been several sequels which pretty much all look the same to me.

Unreal II: The Awakening, although not a true sequel to Unreal, also featured a part early on in the game which pitted you against another guy in a fight. This is supposedly how the Unreal Tournament was formed, story wise.

Unreal Tournament received mainly positive reviews, especially on the PC. Console, particularly PS2, reviews were average to good. It was also featured twice as a deathmatch title at the World Cyber Games. Aspects of the game praised were the graphics (the water always looked inviting), AI, map or level design, and good weapon balance.

I remember back in school, a bunch of us would always argue over which one was better: Q3A or UT? I got the Game of the Year Edition back in 2001 or 2002, although I had played the game before this period, although probably just the demo though.

God knows why I stuck with the game for as long as I did though. I remember playing it on an old Windows 98, while friends were round, and we would take turns battling bots, or else battling each other, while listening to Linkin Park.

The singleplayer in UT featured a series of levels with different play-modes which put you against bots – AI controlled opponents.

These bots could also be used in multiplayer, while competing in different game types like Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, CTF, Domination, Last Man Standing, and Assault. One of my favourite levels, although pretty basic, was the one called Overlord, basically the game’s version of a D-Day map.

Weapons in the game continued with the alt-fire feature that was seen in Unreal, and you could use a pistol (Enforcer), two pistols (guns Akimbo), the ASMD, minigun (my favourite), Pulse gun, and the Sniper Rifle. Some weapons also made a return from Unreal except they were renamed, like the Razorjack (renamed the Ripper), the Flak Cannon, and the Bio Rifle. Another weapon was the Impact hammer, which replaced the Dispersion pistol, and with it you could literally blow someone’s head off. You could also use it to do the equivalent of rocket jumps.

The game is known for having inspired many, many mods over the years, ranging from mutators to TCs. Also, other games have used the engine such as one incarnation of Duke Nukem Forever a long time ago. Soldier of Fortune II: Double Helix also considered using the engine, but went with Q3A’s. Another game which used this engine was Rune, a game forgotten by time.

You can pick up Unreal Tournament here, if you want to play a classic.

Unreal Tournament at Amazon

Apocalypse Then: Unreal Tournament

Infinity Ward Still Uses Id Tech with Modern Warfare 2, System Requirements, Steamworks

I was just reading this earlier on Big Download, and I was surprised, but I remember back years ago now. BD says that on the box of Modern Warfare 2, it says that the "game uses software" from id Software. Now, if you think back to the original Call of Duty, which was released back in 2003, the game used the id Tech 3, or Quake III, engine. So, it's interesting to see that this is still going on.

The system specs have also been revealed:

Windows Vista/XP
AMD 64 3200+ or Intel Pentium 4 3.0Ghz or better
16 GB free hard drive space / 512 MB RAM (XP) / 1 GB RAM (Vista)
Shader 3.0 or better 256 MB nVidia Geforce 6600GT / ATI Radeon 1600XT or better

Wow, 16 GB for an install. The biggest game I have at the moment on my system is probably The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena, although technically that is two games.

And if you think that's bad, then Star Wars: The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition is going to blow you away. It's 24 GB!

Time to start freeing up space on my HD, I think.

And the last bit of news going around about Modern Warfare 2 is this: It will be a Steamworks title. Steamworks works with Steam. If you remember Half-Life 2, then you know what Steamworks is.

As thatvideogameblog states, and I quote:

"a Steamworks game means that to play the game, you have to have Steam on your computer, and your copy of the game will be tied to your Steam account. The game will auto update through Steam, will have Steam achievements, and use Steam’s anti cheat infrastructure. The game will also support the newly introduced Steam Cloud, which lets gamers store their save files and game configurations to Steam’s database, and will allow gamers easy access to them if needed."

This will probably mean more piracy of Modern Warfare 2, at least for the PC version. What I didn't like about this was that almost every journo/blogger that covered this was a pro-console one, and it's funny how even though they don't really care that much about the whole situation, the only reason they wrote about it was because they wanted to rub it in the faces of PC gamers. I could tell. Those dudes need a smack upside the head.

Not that I care that much...

Infinity Ward Still Uses Id Tech with Modern Warfare 2, System Requirements, Steamworks

Where has all the music gone?

I originally sent this as an e-mail to NAG magazine recently.

I’ve been playing through all the Doom games lately along with the Doomsday sourceport that makes playing them on XP a cinch. 

While I was doing this, even though some are catchy, I laughed at the MIDI songs blasting out of my speakers, but after a while I realized something.

Games sure have become quieter, haven’t they?

Most developers go for atmospheric sound and music, maybe with the occasional flare up of dramatic music when the mood strikes, but beyond that they are a lot quieter. Gone are the days of the 1990s when you had a soundtrack playing all throughout the level. True, it did get irritating after a while, but look at how Sonic Clang pulled it off with their songs that accompanied the Classic Doom mod for Doom 3.

Doom 3 itself didn’t even have a soundtrack apart from the main menu music, and probably the last games that did were Quake 2 and Quake 3. Quake 2 still has one of the best OSTs ever, IMO.

Some people have even taken to remaking the old songs from Blood, Doom and Duke Nukem 3D, because they like to relive the good old days.

Wouldn’t it be great if more games had a proper dark, broody soundtrack with guitars and drums, and not this dramatic techno or classical stuff playing? Think of how it would sound nowadays compared to the original Doom games.

Here are a couple of sites where you can find more modern mp3 versions of old game OSTs.

http://www.neuro-lab.net/music/main.html

http://www.markmcwane.com/

Where has all the music gone?