STG's

Shadow of the Giant,  by Orson Scott Card , is the fourth book in the Ender's Shadow series - a parallel series to the Ender Series. I do realize it is pretty old, but after I started buying most of my books as e-books (mostly to read on my  new Palm IIIe), I started stalling purchases when books came only in physical form. Soon enough I had enough to read as e-books that I almost never bought physical books anymore. That is why I have all other books in the series in hardcover, and yet am only reading this now, when I realized it was available in Kindle format. As the book starts, Bean is bigger than ever and starting to feel the effects that will kill him eventually, and he and Petra are looking for their babies and for the doctor who stole them. Peter is trying to join all Earth in peace, while China, India, the Muslim and many other countries are at war - mostly because of the ambition driven by having battle school graduates. Eventually, everything is resolved ver...

Imagine Earth is a sim with an ecological tendency. Graphics are nice (and the music unbearably repetitive), but the biggest gameplay problem is the interface. The 3D view looks nice, agreed, but it is much, much harder to see than a regular 2D sim. The interface is also weak, and the constant collection of taxes from the cities is not only annoying (and I imagine is taken from time management games), but clicks also fail frequently if you are not at the right angle. It is also really hard to see at a glance what upgrades are enabled where. Overall, I'd rate the game as 6/10, almost exclusively for interface problems and annoyances.

Zombie Driver is a top-down shooter, where you drive various vehicles, that can be upgraded with guns, armor, etc. In the story mode, you get missions to complete - in the demo, almost identical. Just go to a specified place (running zombies or shooting them in the way), and then kill all zombies in the area to rescue survivors. You can pick up various bonuses on the way, such as cash for upgrades, ammo or nitro. Graphics are a bit on the weak side, as is sound. Gameplay is acceptable, but not so great for me. I recommend you try the demo before buying.

Zero Point , by Neal Asher , is the middle book in the Owner Trilogy. I've recently reviewed The Departure  , the first book, and I really liked it. Zero Point  begins just after the first book. A large part of the Committee delegates, enforcers and structures has been destroyed - by falling satellites, planes, and automated defenses. A delegate with a mildly comic name and serious mental problems - Serene Galahad - is going to take over, and do even more damage (some people complained about Asher's right-wing anti-socialism slant on the first book. Their heads probably exploded with his portrayal of an all powerful radical ecologist). Argus is moving to Mars, but Saul gets in major trouble. Props for not doing a quick fix for Saul here, although I can't help but feel that the middle part of the book got slower because of it. It still probably made the whole book more interesting. Argus and the Mars base are now in major trouble because of the spaceship referred to in...

Human Division  , by John Scalzi is in an unusual category. It is a SF novel that takes place in the same universe as Old Man's War  but has a format that is similar to a TV series episode in length. And it is also to be released weekly every tuesday till april. Also, it is very cheap (US$0.99). The overall feeling is of a TV series episode. That does mean it doesn't have much depth to it, but (just like a SF series) it can still be a fun hour. In the first episode, a major problem makes a low tier Ambassador and their staff pick on a big negotiation. Trouble ensues, but their techie, Wesley, oops, I mean Lieutenant Harry Wilson (from Old Man's War) comes to the rescue to save the day (in a nicely thought out, somewhat gimmicky way that feels like a Star Trek episode, except that didn't make up any particle names). Light hearted SF fun, recommended. 7.5/10.

The Departure , by Neal Asher , is the first on The Owner trilogy, and not part of the Polity series (I don't think so anyway, although it does share some tech elements). The book takes place a few decades from now, when the whole world has been consumed by The Committee (not in a literal sense, which could very well be the case on a Neal Asher book). Surveillance is absolute, and you can be killed for any display of discontentment and thought crimes.  Population is over 18 billion, and both large numbers and mismanagement from the Committee means that most of these people go hungry all the time. It is in this world that Alan Saul is awaken in a crate by an AI. Neither remember who they are, and the crate is about to be incinerated. Saul escapes, of course, and now is going to take on the Committee to find out who he is and exact revenge for what they done to him... The Departure has some very bad reviews. Some think that is because of the right-wing lean of the boo...

Extremis , by Steve White and Charles E. Gannon, is another SF book in the Starfire series. Personally I haven't read any of the other books in the series yet - Extremis just came with one of Baen's bundles. Extremis starts after a race of telepathic beings traveling in massive slower-than-light ships invaded one of mankind's planets and took it. Humans are not capable of using the warp points required for FTL flight because of the heavy defenses. But they are about to find another way in... The book takes place both in the human resistence on the planet and on battles in the systems around it. The battles are adequate, and in the tradition of space battle SF, both sides keep pushing new advances to the field, with the consequent changes to tactics. I found the beginning of the book a little dry, but it improved and was pretty good in the end, which clearly intends to expand the story further on later volumes. Recommended.

Retrovirus is a 6 degree of freedom, first person shooter.  The immediate comparison, for any old PC gamer at least, is with Descent. I've played all 3 and really, really liked it, so when I saw this game and that it had good reviews I instantly bought it. However, my experience with it isn't great. Somehow, the shooting experience isn't fun, and the enemies seem a bit silly. And the music, oh the music is spectacularly annoying after a few minutes. The story revolves about a worm that invaded the computer and is corrupting it. You, the anti-virus, go around destroying the virus, as well as disinfecting citizen code. You also get access to upgrades and extra weapons later in the game. The graphics are a bit garish, but are nice for the setting. It is the gameplay and the music that are the problem. Overall, I really didn't like it. Not recommended at all.