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Return of the Temple of Elemental Evil Review

There are few modules out there for Dungeons & Dragons that are truly this epic in terms of consequences for failure. Should the players fail, the dark god Tharizdun is freed and the world is probably destroyed. The module starts out simply with the players arriving in in Hommlet where they quickly learn the cult of the Elder Elemental Eye is uncovering an ancient shrine. From there it picks up to the players going to the Temple of All-Consumption to the finale of battling a Prince of Elemental Evil. The pacing all builds up much like a movie from the introduction to the dramatic conclusion. That's the good. However there was one thing that were not as polished. For one there was not as much factions within factions story play with the NPCs as there was in Temple of Elemental Evil. Clever players could use the different factions against one another as well as it simply made the NPCs more realistic. Regardless, Return is a worthy successor to one of the most beloved modules in D&D, and provides a truly epic scale campaign with the fate of the multiverse at stake. I would highly recommend it for anyone wanting to play a "dungeon crawl".

Troll and Toad's StarCraft II Multiplayer Review

When StarCraft was originally released in 1998, it was heralded as a benchmark for RTS for its depth, balanced races, and intense gameplay. After the expansion, Brood War, and several patches however the world eagerly awaited a sequel. So in 2007 the phrase "Hell, it's about time." became the tagline for the long awaited return of the Protoss, Zerg, and Terran. While the single player game is still several weeks away, the multiplayer game is already shaping up to not only live up to the bar set by the original, but surpass it. For the most part, the basic formula translate from StarCraft to StarCraft II. You use workers(SCVs,Drones, and Probes) to harvest minerals and vespene gas so you can construct buildings and units. There are now two different types of minerals. The normal "blue" kind as well as a rich "yellow" mineral field. Workers harvest from these locations at a faster rate and also get more minerals per "trip"(7 instead of the normal 5, mind these numbers can change due to a patch). Buildings are quite similar to before, though with enough changes to make it fresh and exciting. Most of the Terran buildings can still lift off and fly, however they also have new add-ons than before. You can attach a tech lab to your Barracks to produce the more advanced infantry, or add a Reactor so you can build two Marines at the same time. They also sport the new Sensor Tower which detects movement in a large radius of the map. While it doesn't detect cloaked or burrowed units, you'll know ahead of time if someone is trying to sneak units behind you. The Protoss, just like the Terran, are a mix of the old and the new. The Nexus can now give a temporary power to buildings called Chrono Boost. This ability makes that that building product units/upgrade 50% faster. Gateways can turn into Warp Gates, which can teleport units anywhere there is a psi crystal. Last we have the Zerg, which is the least changed of all the races in terms of both buildings and units. The largest difference is the new Roach Nest, Baneling Nest, and the improved Nydus Canal. Instead of having a new Nydus Canal each time you want to add an additional point, you can simply build an exit tunnel anywhere you have vision on the map. Units, not surprising, are the most changed however. While some popular units didn't make the transition(Corsairs, Lurkers, Dark Archons, and others), several new units add a whole new layer of strategy to the game. With several units able to simply move over different levels of terrain such as Reapers(Terran Guerrilla fighters)and Colossi(A War of Worlds-ish Protoss unit), you have to constantly look out for people sneaking in your base and destroying your workers. While Zerg lack a unit that can move across terrain, they do have Roaches which can move while burrowed. However each races staples return such as Zerglings, Hydralisks, Battlecruisers, Carriers, Zealots, and much more. StarCraft II is just that, a sequel that holds true to the original game and doesn't try to fix something that isn't broken while still having enough changes to make it new. With several new mechanics, units, a graphic overhaul that looks good even on the lowest settings, and a better user interface it's hard to say anything bad about StarCraft II. I highly recommend it for any RTS fan, as it does to the genre exactly what it's predecessor did 12 years ago.

Troll and Toad's Turok Review

Turok is, to be brutally honest, a slightly below average, run of the mill, cliche driven FPS. When compared to its predecessor such as the original Turok, it seemed the developer decided to not incorporate what made the earlier games great and instead injected it with what made games such as Halo and Gears of War good. As soon as you start the game you find yourself as "space marine" Joseph Turok on a jungle planet with dinosaurs. Perhaps the best feature of the game is in fact the dinosaurs. They act as a third, neutral faction in the game between you and the other space marines trying to kill you. If done properly you can even use them against your enemies and just watch the chaos ensue. Sadly however the stealth mechanic that you need to utilize for this is quite buggy, so you can only get into position for this about half the time. Then we have the bad features. Several glitches on release, dialogue taken directly from Gears of War but somehow instead of just being camp came out unintelligent, and terrible aim assist just bogs down the game. The ideas presented were not executed as promised, which only made the game's flaws stand out all the more. In short, if you're looking for a trip down memory lane for nostalgic feelings toward the first two games of the series, don't play this. While the graphics are quite nice, this jungle feels lackluster and has much to be desired.