I admit it, I’m not a PC gamer. In fact, the very first PC game I ever played was EPIC’s Unreal Tournament III. And that was only in this past December. I wanted to get the Unreal Engine 3 so I could use it for my 3D Environment portfolio. As most of you might know, Unreal Tournament III comes with the Unreal Game Engine along with 20+ hours of tutorials on how to use it. So that’s the main reason why I bought the game engine but I figured I should actually check out the game and see what PC games are all about. I’ve been a console gamer my whole life. For PC Game fans out there, should I have started PC Gaming with a different game?
My first impression with my first PC game? Not impressed at all. I don’t get the whole concept of using the mouse and keyboard instead of a controller, or joystick. I just don’t see how it’s fun for PC gamers. I’m working on the computer all the time, a lot of the time surfing the internet learning about new things. The last thing I want to do when game time comes is sit in the exact same spot I’ve been sitting in all day and and use the mouse and keyboard to play a video game. My hands feel like they’re getting carpel tunnel already so logging a few more hours on the PC to get my game fix is not the ideal gaming experience for me. I need to be in a different environment, new surroundings to get focused on the game I’m about to play.
Then I tried playing a different PC game. A game called Iron Grip: Warlord by indie developers ISOTX. (ISOTX became well known around the community for their amazing Half Life 2 Mods.) Now, I don’t know what it is about this game, it’s really nothing special from what I have seen before. Maybe it was the simplicity of starting this demo and immediately being able to understand what to do, where to go and who to kill. I really don’t know what it is about a PC or a console game that gets me interested enough to keep on playing. For me, either the game feels right, or it doesn’t. It’s black and white with me. I can honestly say that I enjoyed this game demo… obviously or I wouldn’t be writing about it.
Iron Grip: Warlord is interesting because they have intertwined two genres of video games. My absolute favorite, FPS, and the oh so typically boring (to me) RTS. How did they do it? Well PC GAMER explained it best(PDF File) so check out this quick read on how they smashed these two genres together to make what I expected to be a typical game, not so typical. What’s crazy about this game for me is, technically it’s a WWII shooter but they give it a steampunk/alternate reality twist which helps make it a very playable and enjoyable game for me. Check out what I’m talking about in the Iron Grip: Warlord Trailer below.
I don’t know what to make of this game yet as a noob PC Gamer but consider me impressed with what I have seen and played so far. It might not look as polished as some next gen games you might see on your console, but that’s not to say this game isn’t fun. It’s a blast and I hope to get more game time in on some real multipler matches instead of just playing the demo. But if you’ve been visiting my site and you’ve read some of my other posts, mainly my demo impressions, you know how important demos are for me when considering whether to purchase a full retail version or not. For the demo by ISOTX and Iron Grip: Warlord, I think they’re heading in the right direction. In fact, you may see this on STEAM in the very near future. I think this developer is going to do big things in the game industry. They think big from what I’ve seen so far and I hope they keep improving upon those big ideas. So for now, I’ll be keeping my eye on them, you should as well. Good luck to ISOTX!
Read what other people are saying about ISOTX and Iron Grip…
Also be sure to check out their other games including “Mideast Crisis”…
One last thing I have to mention is the ISOTX blog called “Write the game”. “A blog for game developers and gamers featuring news, advice, tutorials and discussions about game development and design.” What more do you need to know? 
The Gamer Report 