48 MAXIMUMPC | MAR 08 | http://www.maximumpc.com
Within four short hours of gameplay,
Portal reminded us of a time when game
developers could afford to take chances.
By eschewing the run-’n’-gun mechanic
that’s integral to fi rst-person shooters
and replacing it with a series of increas-
ingly diffi cult physics-based puzzles,
Valve created the fi rst new game genre in
years: the fi rst-person puzzler. This new
gameplay mechanic, combined with a sub-
versive and irreverent sense of humor, not
to mention the best baddie since Bowser,
makes for an experience that appeals to
newbs and hardcore gamers alike. And
by selling Portal as an itsy-bitsy part of
The Orange Box, Valve proved that taking
a chance on something new doesn’t have
to be risky.
http://orange.half-life2.com, ESRB: TThe premise: brilliant. Mutants sur-
round the nuked-out husk of the defunct
Chernobyl power plant, where you must
travel to do stuff that saves people,
and... OK, we weren’t paying attention
to the story, but we loved the setting.
Unfortunately, no combination of qual-ity settings could get this game to run at
launch, especially if you were cursed with
Vista. Luckily, six months later, the game
has fi nally been patched to the point
where it will run on most rigs, making it
worthy of reconsideration.
http://www.stalker-game.com, ESRB: MIf Unreal Tournament 3’s
gameplay feels strikingly
similar to that of its previ-
ous iteration, it’s because
UT3 is pretty much the
same game wrapped in
a fancy new graphics
engine. Not that we’re
complaining, since Epic
arguably achieved death-
match perfection with its
2004 classic. We’re more
peeved that we waitedPortal
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl
Unreal
Tournament 3
THE BEST OF THE BARGAIN BINso long for UT3, only to fi nd several of
our favorite multiplayer modes missing,
including Assault and Onslaught.
http://www.unrealtournament3.com, ESRB: MSPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT FOR OPENING NEW DOORS IN GAMEPLAYTHE BEEN THERE, DONE THAT AWARDLike the famed Japanese soldier who
did not surrender his post until 1974,
Medal of Honor: Airborne desperately
holds to the notion that gamers still
want to play WWII-era shooters. Armed
with a new parachuting gameplay
mechanic and sheer force of will, MOH:
Airborne defi es its anachronistic short-
comings and delivers a fairly gripping
shooter experience. We salute its zeal
and conviction, even if less honorable
gamers haven’t given it the recognition
it deserves.
http://www.ea.com/moh/airborne/index.jsp,
ESRB: TMedal of Honor:
Airborne
THE HIROO ONODA “KEEPIN’
THE FIGHT ALIVE” AWARDGAMING AWARDS 2007