Since the original Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar Games has gone from strength to strength, with the GTA series exploding. This partly due to the game's fantastic sandbox approach, giving players an incredible feeling of space and control. The game takes place in three different cities: Liberty City, San Andreas and Vice City and you earn points by causing damage, car sales and cashing in your criminal activities. Anyone who knows their cultural references is also going to enjoy Grand Theft Auto's subtle references to Miami Vice and Scarface.

At first Grand Theft Auto seems a bit superficial. After a while playing, you notice that the game is addictive, with bunches of clever little touches that make it really fun. If you listen to the radio while driving, for example, you'll find 7 radio stations with really professional-sounding - but invented - hits.

Although it looks dated now, Grand Theft Auto is a classic game that you absolutely can not miss.

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From the main program's page you can select among 7 games listed in the game menu. The titles sound exciting: Sonic 3D Snowboarding, Sonic Character Designer, Sonic Lost in Mario World, Sonic Pacman, Sonic Tetris, Sonica and Ultimate Sonic.

Sonic Games lacks basic functions, like pause, but at least the game's frame is resizable. The idea of a collection of Sonic Games is really nice, but it's a pity that the playability is as good in the original MegaDrive version and that the graphics are so scarce.
They would probably be still enjoyable on mobile devices, but on Windows, the Sonic Games experience ends up being pretty boring.

If you are a fan of Sonic, you might want to have this set of Sonic Games for Windows, but mainly for collection purposes rather than to play with them as both graphics and playability are pretty poor.

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Before the seminal GTA 3 brought the series into glorious 3D, Grand Theft Auto was a pseudo 3D, top down arcade game. The first two entries were cult games for a reason - filled with puerile humor and extreme violence, they were 18 rated affairs, and GTA 2 still warrants that.

GTA 2 sticks to the basic formula of the first game. You are free to roam the city, stealing cars, mowing down pedestrians and picking fights with the cops. The story of the game revolves around you going to pay phones, and doing jobs for the various gangs around the city. You need to earn their respect before you work for them, and can do this by killing their rivals.

GTA 2's controls are pretty simple, although connecting a game pad is probably the best way to play. Gameplay is fast and arcade-like, with scores popping up as you kill people and damage vehicles. It is still fun to play today, though mainly due to the freedom the 2D sandbox gives you. There are plenty of problems with the game, though. The graphics have not aged well at all, considering it was released in 1999, and the lack of an in-game map in GTA 2 makes orientation a pain.

GTA 2 is a fun arcade game, but more of a curiosity than a classic, as it features none of the depth or subtlety that the series went on to achieve.

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It's slightly more advanced than Pong but not much! Basically, you have a paddle and a bouncing ball that require you to destroy a bunch of bricks. However, the twist is that inside the bricks are what are called "nairns". Nairns are basically little critters that are there to make your life hell. They throw things at your paddle and basically attempt to stop you from cracking open any of the remaining bricks. Your aim is to strike the nairns with your ball and knock them out of action. However, the fun doesn't stop there - you can bounce the little critters off your padel to destroy even more bricks so it's quite satisfying in a sadistic way. Using their bodies, you can clear a screen much faster although it's quite an ordeal trying to keep a ball and several critters flying up in the air for several minutes at a time. This demo version is only limited to a few levels and you are prompted to buy the game when you close it down. Whether you decide to buy or not depends on whether you can see much worth in bouncing critters against bricks for long. Personally, I got bored after a few minutes although if you've had a bad day at the office, it's a good way to get some agression out. Oh, and don't expect wonders in the graphics or sound deapartment - this is proudly an old skool style game.

An interesting take on the Pong genre although they needed to make it a bit more interesting to hold my attention.

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The best thing about this new version is that it fully respects the design, graphics, sound effects and gameplay of the original title. Bombermaaan sees you as a small character trapped inside a labyrinth, setting off bombs to open up his way out and kill his opponents. As you progress through the level, you’ll find all sorts of power-ups to help you in your mission: extra bombs, more power, higher speed, remote control for bombs, and so on.

Bombermaaan can be played by up to 5 people at the same time, using either keyboard or joysticks. The keys can be defined in the game’s options menu. There are only 8 levels in Bombermaaan, but you can download a pack with 150 extra levels from the developer’s website.

If you’re used to modern games, you’ll obviously find Bombermaaan quite limited. But for all of us who were kids in the 80s and played video games back then, it’s a sweet, fun way to remember those good old times.

Bombermaaan brings the classic Bomberman game back to life with a very faithful version that can be upgraded to 150 levels.

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This game is awesome, if not a little difficult to figure out. There's a chance you've played similar games before, and that will give you a definite advantage when playing The Powder Toy. If you're still no wiser, it's basically a blank canvas where you have access to different scientific elements and substances. You can then combine them whatever way you like, and watch the results!

If you know the type of game, then you're definitely going to think of explosions. It's true - The Powder Toy lets you blow stuff up, and it's awesome! It also lets you do other cool things, like create growing, organic structures or building electronic circuits. The Powder Toy is really only limited by your own imagination.

One area where you might have a problem is finding The Powder Toy instructions. The website is good and full of user-generated content, and once you've grasped the ropes, it will be really useful. It still doesn't make up for the lack of a getting started guide though, so you're just going to have to mess around or do research of your own at the start.

Hard to get started in, but awesome to play, The Powder Toy is a cool nerd-tastic game!

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This is essentially a demo version, and only features one table - the Sorcerer's Lair. It's still a great introduction to one of the best pinball titles ever made. The table is really well designed and animated, with great sound effects.

Developer's ZEN studios have created a game where the pinball table almost feels tactile. While some of the animations would be impossible on a real table, the basic design feels realistic. This makes Pinball FX2 feel like enhanced pinball, rather than fictional pinball!

With one table, this version of Pinball FX2 won't keep you occupied for too long, but it's a good example of what should be to come now Xbox Live is properly integrated with Windows 8.

Great graphics and sound, plus excellent in game physics make Pinball FX2 a must for Windows 8 gamers.

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Of the 100 levels available in the game, 75 are at least identical to those you'll find in Galaga. Otherwise the game offers updated graphics, more bonuses and special effects. Your goal is like in any typical space shoot'em up, to shoot down enemy ships and beat the end of level bosses. The game can get quite challenging with enemy fire all over the screen and alien ships racing at you.

To make Warblade work properly you'll have to ensure that your graphics card is good enough. Don't worry though, if your computer can take games with higher end graphics then it will have no trouble with Warblade.

If you like shoot'em ups and you're a big fan of arcade games you'll enjoy playing Warblade. However you'll probably find the game gets a bit repetitive after a while.

Warblade is an updated and improved version of Galaga, a classic Amiga futuristic shoot'em up.

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