Fight with style

After gunning your way through the Warframe tutorial, it's time to choose your character. There are 3 available in this beta version - Excalibur, Loki and Volt, but the final version will have 12 characters to choose from!

The character you choose will change the way you look and your fighting style. All characters have access to guns and assault rifles, but each class of fighter also has its own arsenal. Excalibur, for example, is a balanced fighter that can take advantage of throwing weapons, while Loki deceives and confuses enemies.

Players select their missions on a map. As you gain experience, you'll unlock new areas and missions. One of Warframe's main features is a system that automatically selects 3 partners to help you while you complete these missions. If Warframe can't find suitable partners, you can go it alone or invite your friends to play.

In Warframe, you play against enemy AI, and missions are pretty similar: rescue the characters, destroy the reactors, and shoot as many aliens as you can on the way. When you complete a mission, you'll get points to spend on weapons and skills. If they're not racking up as fast as you'd like, you can always get your credit card out to purchase items and currency.

Responsive handling, vicious enemies

As in Mass Effect, the camera naturally rests behind your character's shoulder, but you can change that with the mouse. In general, Warframe's controls are smooth and effective, allowing you to shoot and aim without problem.

Warframe's AI enemies are pretty convincing and fight viciously. That said, they don't attempt to get the better of you, which means their behavior soon becomes pretty predictable.

When you're under fire, you can take cover behind walls and pillars. Each character has a shield that can take light damage, but if you take too much damage, you'll collapse and your teammates will have to rescue you. If they don't make it in time, you can choose to revive yourself, but this option is limited, so use it carefully!

Slick, fliud graphics

Even when we played Warframe in high resolution, we didn't notice any slip in graphics or redering. Characters look good, and movement is generally fluid, although we did notice a little jerkiness while running.

Warframe environments are a little boring. Even when players move though areas, they all look more or less the same with the exception of some slight color changes. Characters stick out though, and their styling made us think of Tron. We also thought the music was a great fit for the game.

Solid gameplay, but a lack of variety

Warframe is a good game and a solid action offering. Battles are fast and furious and the graphics are good. Plus,the cooperative gameplay should keep you entertained for hours, as long as you can find allies and aren't put off by the repetitiveness.

Warframe's developers are good about adding content and updating the game, and the final version should be very good indeed. Currently, it's still very fun and should appeal to action fans everywhere.

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It's fast and furious with various modes and levels plus a "Skirmish mode" which allows you to play against either the computer or another human opponent. This means you can play a human v human tower defense game in real time. However, there are no static towers like in a normal tower defense game - it's all about invading the opponents area with your little men.

You can move your Cubemen around the board at any time or click on an enemy to target them. There are a bewildering array of levels to choose from including 35 Defense Levels, 25 Skimish Levels, 6 Mayhem Levels and 6 Defense Gameplay modes. You can also play a Cubemen Multiplayer game across platforms, so you can play iPad v Steam etc.

Cubemen is a fun and challenging game that takes an original slant on the tower defense genre.

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AssaultCube is a fast and furious first person shoot-em up that sees you take on the role as hero in a world of villains and thugs gone mad.

AssaultCube (formerly known as ActionCube which sounded like some kind of Rubiks Cube on steroids) is a free first-person-shooter based on the game Cube. We're not talking Grand Theft Auto graphics but the developers have done a reasonable job for a free game. The limited graphics have been designed in such a way that you could even play multiplayer AssaultCube on a 56K modem so on a broadband connection, you won't experience any lags at all.

Also, because it uses the SDL library, it can be used on multiple platforms so it's suitable for users on both Mac and PC to blow each other's brains out. There no 'mission' as such - simply join one of the public servers and team up with a bunch of other players when you're prompted to and just go around destroying your opposition. For those that want to get more serious, there are leagues and cups available where the winners are those that have simply killed the most.

For a free role playing shoot-em-up, AssaultCube isn't a bad offering but the limited range of graphics and level scenarios (although there is a level editor) soon become quite boring.

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Whilst racing through the dangerous streets of LA, switch between your three cars racing and issuing commands to your team-mates to gain both a tactical and positional advantage.

Block, draft and challenge your opponents as you get behind the wheel of any of the 18 officially licensed high performance Ford vehicles - from the classic 1970 Mk 1 Capri RS2600 to the recently announced 2007 Ford Shelby GT500.

Ford Racing never looked or felt this good

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Do you love racing cars on your computer? Then get ready for Need For Speed Underground!

Need For Speed Underground is a fast-paced street racing game. Speed around Olympic City with a variety of different tuner cars. This game features three new play modes - Drag, Drift and Sprint. It also has a bit of a back story for gamers who want more than just a frenzied race around a virtual landscape.

If the car designs look familiar, that might just be because Need For Speed Underground features aspects of the import tuner culture made popular in movies and subsequent games like The Fast & the Furious. There's also a huge variety of tuning options in Need For Speed Underground, sure to satisfy any true race car fan. Some of these include widebody kits, spoilers, rims, window tints and decals. You can also upgrade your car's performance when it comes to the engine to make street racing through Olympic City even more nail-biting.

The only real criticism fans of this game might have is that there are no cops features in Need For Speed Underground. Slower computers might also have difficulties running the game without a few hiccups in gameplay.

With great graphics and lots of action though, there's a lot to love about Need For Speed Underground.

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Halo: Combat Evolved is a sci-fi first person shooter, featuring an epic solo campaign and fast and furious online multiplayer. While it dates from 2001, Halo: Combat Evolved looks surprisingly good. It won't trouble the high definition games of today, but the art style suited the technology available a decade ago.

The single player demo gives you a good feel for the dynamic combat in the main campaign, but its the free Halo: Combat Evolved online multiplayer demo that probably keeps players coming back after so many years. Controls will be familiar to anyone who has played an FPS, so it's easy to pick up, and the game modes are easy to understand.

There is just one map to play on multiplayer in this demo, but it's fun to play in, and you can always find rooms with players to join. With the varied weapons and vehicles, that Halo will run smoothly on almost any of today's PCs is just the icing on the cake!

Halo: Combat Evolved is a classic shooter, and this demo is an excellent source of free online multiplayer fun.

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Originally a Quake 3 Mod, Urban Terror now works as a standalone online multiplayer first person shooter. Forget boring realism, this is all about fun (and large scale killing).

It's best to start with the tutorial, a short video that takes you through the controls. They are fairly standard, but there are nice abilities like wall jumps, strafe-jumping and crouching power-slides. The graphics are obviously a bit dated, but the advantage of that is the game will run perfectly smoothly on all but the oldest systems.

Finding a game is still pretty easy, you just choose from the list of hosted games and join one. Most seem to play either team deathmatch, which is popular as it's just a timed free for all, with unlimited lives, or team survival, where each player only has one life and the objective is to take out the opposing team. They are good examples of how rules change the game - deathmatch is fast and furious, while survival is a bit more tense. The exaggerated physics make for amusing games, and even as a rookie you'll soon be gleefully taking out other players with ease.

There's a good choice of arms, allowing you to play in the style you want, from up close and personal with automatic rifles to sneaky sniping or grenade launching brute force. If there's a negative in all of this it's that there are always times when you'll feel you've been unfairly killed - usually by a skilled sniper - but you'll be back in the action before you feel any major resentment.

Despite its aging engine, Urban Terror is still a great multiplayer shooter and you'll be hard pressed to find more online over the top fun for free.

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If you find your gaming experience limited by your hardware or prefer your action to be more fast and furious with every new release, then you might find SpeederXP useful.

SpeederXP accelerates various aspects of your PC that in theory, should improve your gaming experience. This includes mainly your graphics card for games that demand a lot from it, your CPU for those that hog your processing power and your internet connection for those that are played over a LAN. In reality, if you're a serious gamer, you'll have a pretty decent setup and won't require SpeederXP to help you. However, if you are working on a slightly older system, then you will undoubtedly notice an improvement in the speed of your system.

How much SpeederXP improves your gaming though depends on the game. Some users have complained that the program can lock up their system (probably due to overclocking) but in general, it does seem to provide at least a 20% boost to gaming speeds whilst it works. The slower your system, the more you will notice the benefits of SpeederXP, of course. On a fast system, you will barely notice or need any of this. SpeederXP operates via a throttle which the developers recommend cranking up to maximum although if your experience instability problems, you're best to leave it at a happy medium point. The program is updated regularly automatically with improvements although you need to pay to upgrade and receive the unlimited version.

SpeederXP is a handy little utility for gamers on slow systems although serious gamers with decent equipment need not apply.

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Your goals in Super Crate Box are to not get killed, and to collect as many weapon crates as you can before that inevitably happens. The more crates you collect the more weapons, levels and playable characters you will unlock. Weapons can't be chosen - you get whatever the crate gives you. Super Crate Box gets really frantic, and it's tough to survive when the game serves you one of the weaker weapons.

You die the instant you touch an enemy, so games can be quite short. However, it's really moreish. The weapons you unlock, for instance, are brilliant. Super Crate Box's mini-gun is one of the most over-the-top guns you'll see in a video game, and is great (noisy) fun.

Super Crate Box achieves its aim of making a compelling game that's fast paced, exciting and cool. The great chip-tune soundtrack is the icing on this retro cake.

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With 12 fastest race cars to choose from, a number of bonuses to help you win and various difficulty levels to help you improve, participate in over 50 tournaments and win the grand prix.

Compete on a variety of race tracks in different weather conditions and climates and prove that you are really fast and furious! If you encounter any technical problems we'll help you or give you a full refund.

Download Race Cars: the Extreme Rally in Softonic

You can only remove blocks of the same type if there are two or more next to each other and the more blocks of the same type that you remove the higher they score.

With skillful play you can really crank up your score. There are three great game modes with lots of themed levels (including outer space which has space related blocks, backgrounds and layouts) which also feature blocks with special powers.

Pit your wits against the Standard game and see if you can progress to the higher levels of play. If you don't remove all of the blocks you can still continue to the next level if you reach the target score for that level.

Remove all the blocks of one type for a +50 point bonus. Raise your game and play in Countdown mode where you have limited time to make every move.

If you take too long to move it's game over - but on the plus side the target score is lower per level to give you a fighting chance! When you're ready try Survival mode which gets fast and furious as you try and stop the blocks building up to the top of the screen.

This game will keep you playing for hours as you try and master the different modes and all of the levels - not to mention trying to beat your hiscores!

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And what a great remake this is too. Pumping sound effects, fast and furious action, and lots of bonuses, weapon enhancements and money to play for that make it incredibly addictive from the start.

The principle of Titan Attacks! is the same as any Space Invaders-style game - blast the aliens out of the sky before they get you. As you progress through the levels and clear each screen, you earn cash, which you can use to improve your gun or buy more shield (to begin with that's all you'll be able to afford). At periodic intervals, you have the chance to blow up saucers and collect falling bonuses that give you a super-shield, extra cash and other bonuses.

Each level takes no more than a minute or so to complete (if you're a sharp shooter) and by reaching level nine, I thought I'd make it onto the high score table. Well I did, but well outside of the top 100 other players who had submitted their scores online.

My only criticism of Titan Attacks! is maybe the odds are balanced too strongly in your favor. It is a little bit too easy to clear the screen (especially with a big gun) and maybe it would have been a bit harder if ammunition was limited.

Overall though, Titan Attacks! is a brilliantly addictive game that does the space invaders genre proud.

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Once registered and signed in, you have to give yourself a street name, choose a car, and then you're off. The Fast & The Furious is essentially a statistics based role playing game, with street racing stuck on top. You race to win points, so you can tune up your car, and beat better opponents.

The focus is on tuning, not racing, as this isn't an action game. Drag races are animated, but you can choose to click past them and just get the result. It's a bit like Need For Speed, but without the driving.

As you win The Fast & The Furious races you increase your skill and so on, but you also increase Police attention. Once that's over 50%, you are likely to be thrown in to jail unless you wait for the heat to cool off. What this means is that you cannot play The Fast & The Furious constantly, clicking through races to increase your XP and stats, as the game forces you to wait. There are premium options that allow you to spend your way out of the waiting game, however.

If you enjoy this type of numbers game, there appears to be a reasonably large community to interact with, but nothing really stands out in The Fast & The Furious to make it extra special. The lack of real action makes it pretty dull, unless you get addicted to the mindless RPG grinding.

The Fast & The Furious is a relatively simple online RPG, based around the exiting sport of street racing, but without any of the adrenaline rushes.

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Good graphics, an excellent help file and guidance from the computer as you play. Play as many games as you wish for each of 5 playing sessions.

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If you like your games fast and furious but not too complicated with a touch of strategy at the same time, then you might like Turret Wars Retro.

Turret Wars Retro is a simple fast paced 3D arcade game, where as the name suggest, it's all about blowing-up other turret guns before they get you. When you start the game, you can select a wide variety of screen resolution settings and a graphics quality from "Fastest" to "Fantastic" which is a rather confusing grading system. You can also select to keep the game windowed from the start so it doesn't consume your whole screen. Clicking on "Input" reveals the controls (mainly the cursor keys) and allows you to configure them too by clicking on each one.

There are 6 playing environments in Turret Wars Retro each with their own difficulties and strategies or you can select RANDOM and let the game choose for you. You can also choose from four different gun turret types, each with slightly different weapon and armor or projectile features. Finally, you can choose to fight against between one and seven other computer controlled gun turrets in three different difficulty levels. Each difficulty level also introduces differing wind conditions.

When you start, a small map in the bottom right hand corner shows you where the turrets you have to destroy are. To see more closely however, the trick is to fire missiles in their general direction so that you can gauge at what angle you need to point your turret. The principles are very simple and its quite absorbing trying to aim your turret precisely at the right angle to take out your enemies. Your armor can take around 10 to 15 shell hits but after that, its game over and on your first try, you won't get very far.

If you want to prove how good you are at Turret Wars Retro, High scores are saved on the developer game server so you can compare your scores against other players around the world, based on difficulty level, environment and enemy turrets being fought.

The fact that you have unlimited ammunition could make Turret Wars Retro a little too easy once you get to grips with the game but its quite an absorbing game for those that like battle games that are very simple to play.

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Donuts in Danger (which despite the name, has nothing to do with big fat cops staking out criminals in police cars) is a frantic Space Invaders style game where you can upgrade weapons and blow enemies away over an impressive 45 levels - and there donuts involved at some stage.

The basic aim of Donuts in Danger is to help the Martians save their donuts from the "Cube-Clan scumbags" as the developer calls them. You have to blow them up and collect credit crystals which you can then spend them in the space shop to upgrade your gun.

The problem is that the power-ups don't seem particularly potent. For example, it's hard to see a difference between the various guns you upgrade especially in the early stages, although as time goes on you can get some pretty mean equipment. The graphics are also a bit lame although since it's a Space Invaders style emulator, and because the gameplay is pretty fast paced, this can be forgiven.

Donuts in Danger is fast, furious and a lot of fun although it would have been nice to have had some meatier weapons in there.

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There are many games inspired by Tetris and they vary in quality from plain awful and unoriginal, to sometimes even better than the original.

Chock-A-Block probably comes somewhere in between that range providing a decent challenge although lacking the fast and furious pace that made Tetris so compelling. The object of Chock-A-Block is to fit shapes into the game grid, creating solid horizontal or vertical lines. However, rather than falling from the sky like in Tetris, the shapes drop into a small box on the left hand side the game from where you use a virtual hand to drag them into the playing areas.

From here, you can rotate the block to fit in the best possible way but you have to be quick because the frequency of the blocks does not slow down. The key is to ensure that you can fill a line from end to end vertically or horizontally when it will magically disappear into thin air, so you win points. This isn't as easy as it sounds although the pace is quite slow compared to Tetris meaning that you have quite a bit of time to think out your moves.

A fun game that can be played during breaks and easy to play, Chock-A-Block will provide at least a few hours entertainment although it's certainly no Tetris.

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Need For Speed is widely acknowledged as one of the best racing series ever made and Need for Speed Carbon doesn't disappoint, with stunning style and realism.

Need for Speed Carbon is a fast and furious racing game that features both city and canyon racing environments. However, be warned that the download is huge and you'll need a good 5 minutes to let the installation take its course but after you do, you'll think it well worth it.

In this Need for Speed Carbon demo, you can adapt three main cars - a Chevy Camaro SS, Lamborghini Gallardo and a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX. Once you are strapped in, you race with three other team mates against 4 Scorpion cars. There is a huge amount of G-Force placed on the cars as they take the bend and you'll find yourself drifting an awful lot. However, this is exactly how you earn points in Need for Speed Carbon - the more drift, the more points. It is however, almost impossible to beat the lead Scorpion car - they're just too damn quick and one mistake sees you out of the game for good.

A great racing game that has definitely been improved although Need for Speed Carbon's gameplay can be so challenging, you may want to give up easily.

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Fans of "Finding Nemo" and even films like "The Little Mermaid" will likely be enthralled by Feeding Frenzy 2, which takes players to an underwater world and is a variant of other popular Feeding Frenzy games like Feeding Frenzy Deluxe.

Your objective in Feeding Frenzy 2 is to destroy the Shark King. To do this, you have to avoid getting eaten by a variety of sea monsters who're constantly getting thrown in your path. Your only weapon is your stomach, so eat as much as you can because it's eat or get eaten in Feeding Frenzy 2's murky environment.

Kids will love the cartoon-inspired graphics, as well as the fast and furious gameplay. You can collect power-ups to give yourself a bit of an energy boost as you move along. It'll also amuse some users to see their character's belly getting increasingly large as they make their way closer and closer to the Shark King and the ultimate showdown.

While the graphics in Feeding Frenzy 2 are cute, they might not impress seasoned gamers. The challenges might also be a bit of a bore for higher-level video game players. For most kids and even adults who don't like to encounter gore during their game playing experiences, Feeding Frenzy 2 is spot on though.

Feeding Frenzy 2 is a fun-filled game whose challenges will delight kids, but experienced gamers will lose interest quickly.

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Street Challenge is an authentic, free, online multiplayer drag racing simulator. Street Challenge appeals to fans of speed films like "The Fast and The Furious" and "Gone in 60 seconds", gearheads and casual fans of driving games who want to sharpen their skills before they attempt to crush the online competition.

Download Street Challenge 1.352 in Softonic