New PC gaming season brings pirates, mystics and Lara Croft

By Peter Muench Oct 10, 2010, 12:51 GMT

Berlin - The simplest games can sometimes make players the happiest, a point proven over and over again by The Sims.

The game let players enter into a separate, pretend universe where they can create their own characters, build a house, nurture friendships or get involved in truly petty dramas.

Until now, the Sims could only hang out in cities. But Barnacle Bay, an expansion from Electronic Arts, lets players jump into the world of pirates.

The newest Sims playground comes with the sharp graphics and cuteness players have come to expect. But now players are not limited to Sims-style relationships and friendship-building. Instead, they can go off to look for treasure and adventure.

And, should the pirating life become too stressful, there's always a chance to take a vacation on the island campsite of Barnacle Bay or just go shopping downtown. The expansion is only available on the Sims 3 online store.

It's just one of the new games of a season that will be dominated by simulations and real-time strategy games.

Fans of arcade adventures will have a hard time skipping an adventure with Lara Croft. Square Enix recently released Lara Croft and the Guardian of the Light, the latest in the series. It comes with much smarter graphics and tricky puzzles.

The downloadable title can be had for 15 euros (20.50 dollars) exclusively at the Stream shopping portal. Five expansions costing an average of 10 euros each are expected during the course of the year.

The developers of Two Worlds 2 are bringing a little magic to role-playing games this autumn. The developers have come up with a couple of new ideas to help it stand out from the pack. Those features include mini-games, impressive light and shadow effects and, most noticeably, a new item-crafting system that truly impresses.

Players have the option of making their weapons and armaments from 45 different raw materials, ranging from wood to metal to individually designed materials.

Next, unlike other games, the light and shadow effects don't muddy the game. Instead, they add to the exciting atmosphere. Multiple camera perspectives move the gameplay along.

Company of Heroes, from THQ, is also guaranteed to provide some excitement. As in the original, in Company of Heroes Online players command armies across a World War II battlefield. The most recent version of the online role-playing game is available as a free download and includes 15 free individual player levels.