REVIEW: Civilization V

Bottom Line: Still as Great as Ever

Score: 10/10

There's always a dual risk in making an innovative sequel for a well established franchise which has been going on for years which departs from the well-known established conventions of the franchise. If you innovate too much you will estrange your core fanbase- which is bad and will harm you, and if you keep creating the old games, you won't reach a new audience, and the repetition will make the games wearisome. When Civilization V was announced and the new features were introduced a lot of people were worried that this might signal a bad turning point in the series. Fortunately, these concerns were wrong. The franchise has managed to keep balance and reconcile innovation, the need for a new audience, and loyalty to the spirit of the series.

Top 10 List : The Top 10 Great Games That Didn't Make It To The Second Round Of Game Of The Decade

We all have enjoyed the Game of the Decade so far- an interesting competition with a lot of great games and excitement, challenges, betting, and hope. We're all wishing our favorite games to win, and we're all eager to see which game will achieve the great honor. But as Fallout series would tell you: "War. War never changes."

An unchangeable part of war are its casualties. There are many great games and of course, all but one have to go. Among them some are really great, and we regret the fact that they didn't make it to the second round, especially when we feel they could even deserve the greatest title.

Sometimes the reason is bad luck, they were paired with far superior and/or more popular games. Sometimes the democracy would fail and a greater game would lose the round. But we're not here to judge the reasons.

We're simply here to honor these games. They have lost the competition, but they haven't lost our heart, our respect.

This top 10 list is a final tribute to ten masterpieces which we won't see later in the game.

REVIEW: Call of Duty: Black Ops

Bottom Line: They Will Make It So Long They Can Milk It 

Score: 4/10

Now, now. For the first time in my life, I watched the report of a release of a game not on a game channel, but on BBC World. This is serious. This shows how big this series are now. And the report shows interesting scenes: people sleeping in the line, and that the game has broken every existing record upon its release. There were many celebrities in the line. The reporter asked them how much of a gamer they are. The answer? Not much. So let us ask ourselves: how many people in that long line are actually there for a video game? How many of them are serious gamers? Why are they there?

Because Call of Duty is no more a game series. It's a fad. It's a goldmine. And we should not look at it as a serious video game, if we do that, we will be disappointed. They will now only make it to earn money. And they will not bother with being creative. You cannot blame them; for Call of Duty is no more about integrity, but about business. When we can crap on two DVDs and millions are going to buy it, why should we worry about the quality of our crap? We won't eat vegetables and fruits to crap good quality crap. We eat everything and will get an explosive diarrhea, because it's our crap that they're paying for.

Top 10 List : The Top 10 Cool Religions In Video Games

Religion is, most definitely, an important part of our lives, whether we belong to one or not. Everyday one religious event finds its way to the news, and everywhere we go, we see the signs of religion. Jesus ans Mohammad are both called the most influential people in the history. Many of our holidays, great events, and customs are religious, whether they're rooted in present day religions or in the ancient ones we've mostly forgotten about. Even our names mostly come from religion, Celtic religions, the Bible, or the Qur'an.

So video games, certainly, will deal with religion too. In some games we know the faith of the hero, in some games a fictitious religion is dominant, and in some, we deal with religion at length. Some of these religions are good religions, some are evil cults that are practiced by the villains.

However, they all have one thing in common, they're cool. This Top 10 list talks about the coolest among them.

REVIEW: BioShock 2

Bottom Line: A game that should have come out in 2007.

Score: 7/10

Midway through the game, when you are learning to use your camera, which comes in handy in researching your enemies and upgrading your skills, your guide through the game, Augustus Sinclair, gives you this advice:

“Using that camera's a bit like telling a joke. Each time you tell it the same way it gets a little more stale, so you gotta change it up to keep it fresh.”

That's a very good advice. I believe game creators could use that advice as well, because making a game is like a joke as well, and if you tell it the same way for the second time, it won't feel as great as the first time, and you sure gotta change it to keep it fresh. Unfortunately, the developers of Bioshock 2 didn't heed their own advice. The gameplay is directly a copy of the first game. No, adding a multiplayer section doesn't justify using the single player gameplay of an older game. This is the fatal error of Bioshock 2. A game that could've easily been a masterpiece, but it's now only a very good game.