Games
Battlefield 2
Yet another war game, you’d grumble, but hold on to your horses for a bit! Battlefield is truly a game that’s in a class of its own. This, of course, does not mean that its predecessor was a shoddy offering.
In Battlefield 2, players pick a side. It could be one of three military superpowers: the United States, China, or the newly formed Middle East Coalition. Of course, if you’re fighting for a superpower, you have the latest modern weaponry. That means you can control over 30 different types of vehicles in combat and, here’s the best part: you can engage over 64 players in major battles. All of this over the Internet.
Is that one major war in cyberspace, or what?
A very interesting feature of the game is the persistent character growth possibility. This allows a player to literally rise through the ranks and eventually attain the rank of General. Talk about fair and equitable promotion and acknowledgment for your achievements. Guess real life could draw inspiration from the gaming world.
Battlefield 2 has a new game engine as well as an new, improved physics system that makes all the graphics seem realistic. Not that you’d care about a new or old engine as long as the game looks and plays good. The game also brings about a lot of realism, detailed environment and realistic maps. The situations faced by a soldier in a battlefield are also reproduced very well.
We could just keep on and on about the game, but it’s for you to play and experience. Do we recommend a buy? By Jove, we do-and at Rs 1,299, it’s quite a bargain.
EA Sports Cricket 2005 
This is India, so whatever we do will be influenced by the local flavours. “If it’s sport, it has to be cricket” sounds like a cliché, but that’s the truth. So if any games producer is looking for a bestseller in India, they have to come out with a cricket game.
EA has been doing that over the years with their Cricket series and even though it has been way below par as far as serious gamers were concerned, they managed to reach the bestseller charts.
This time round, though, EA has decided to give a fair deal to the Indian gaming community. So the latest cricket offering has a TV-style presentation including a full action replay mode, a third umpire, animated ducks, TV-style overlays, and a field position editor, among other things. In addition to the international teams and bonus squads, you can also compete in the domestic seasons in England, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.
Of course, you have a large number of stadiums, pitch types and playing conditions to choose from. What is really new is the gameplay with completely reworked graphics. Though the gameplay is realistic, the character modelling leaves a lot to be desired.
And yeah, mastering the game is as difficult as the real thing. So you can check out this Rs 999 offering from EA while we work on our timing!
GTA San Andreas – VICE CITY 
No, we are not trying to be naughty by recommending this game. Don’t use the Hot Coffee mod and the game still rocks!
The latest offering from Rockstar carries on the GTA tradition of climbing up the gangland hierarchy. You start off as a small-time guy who has to work his way up the, ahem, gang he’s part of. Hot Coffee lets you work your way up a lot of other areas! But let’s not go that way, shall we?
So what’s the story this time round? You play Carl Johnson, a small-time crook who has his mother murdered and is framed for another murder by a group of corrupt cops. So you have to be on the run and come up fast to save your skin as well your broken-up family.
The gameplay and action are a treat to watch; the violence and sound effects are very realistic. Though the game has come under severe criticism from a lot of authorities in the US and a number of big stores have yanked it off the shelf, we can still buy a legit version in India.
Available for Rs 2,999, this is the game for you if violence and experimenting with the underworld is your cup of tea!