年度八大视频游戏

When we here at Bilingual Time aren't writing for you, we like to play games. Lots and lots of games. I personally have wasted enough time on the Civilization series and other PC games to write a couple of epic novels. The great thing about computer and console games is that, as a young form of media and with rapid increases in the power of the hardware that drives them, they're literally getting better every year. Most of the power on new PCs – well, let's face it, it mostly gets used to play games, and rightly so! This month we bring you eight of the best games of this year, all guaranteed to destroy your free time.

《双语时代》不为您撰文时，我们喜欢玩游戏。许许多多游戏。我个人浪费在《文明》系列和其他电脑游戏上的时间足够写两三部长篇小说。电脑游戏和游戏机游戏的魅力在于，作为一种新型媒体，加上硬件性能的快速提升，它们一年好似一年。大多数新电脑的配置——说实话，都适合玩游戏，这很好！本月我们为您呈现今年最棒的八款游戏，保证能消灭你的空闲时间。

Dawn of War 2

《战争黎明2》

A new incarnation of a series so popular that it spawned no less than three separate expansions, Dawn of War is part of the massive Warhammer 40K franchise. This futuristic world, originally created as a miniatures wargame, bears the splendid tagline IN THE GRIM DARKNESS OF THE FAR FUTURE THERE IS ONLY WAR! and is full of giant battling robots covered with skulls, super warriors, evil elves, horrible mutants, and other fun things. The computer game delivers on all this, throwing your weird armies against each other in beautiful and dramatic clashes. Remarkably, though, it's also an excellent strategic experience, with the various weapons and units requiring real thought and tactical depth to use well.

《战争黎明》属于庞大的《战锤4K》系列，是其最新版本，该系列游戏备受欢迎，衍生了至少三种独立游戏。在游戏里，未来的世界被设定为微缩的战争，带着“在遥远未来严酷的黑暗世界只有战争！”的宣传语，到处是头戴骷髅的庞大机器人、超级战士、恶人、恐怖的突变体和其它有趣的东西。这款游戏把这些都呈现给你，你的军团跟其他军队展开壮观而激动人心的厮杀。不过，它给人很棒的战略体验，要想玩转各式各样的武器和装备需要真正的思考和高超的技巧。

Empire: Total War

《帝国：全面战争》

Another long-running series, this one started way back when with Shogun: Total War, a game of epic battles set in old Japan. This new instalment takes the series to the Napoleonic Wars, allowing armies of hundreds of musket-wielding soldiers and valiant horse to battle on screen for your amusement. Pretty much a replay of earlier versions of the game, though the emphasis on finding cover for your armies adds interesting variety to the battles, as does the introduction of spectacular, but hard to control, ship-to-ship fights. It's fun to play with gunpowder armies for the first time, too, rather than the hand-to-hand combat of earlier, though you can still make your little men draw bare steel and head for the enemy's throats.

又一款漫长的系列，这款游戏要追溯到《幕府：全面战争》，一款场景设在古代日本的史诗性战争游戏。新游戏把时间推到了拿破仑战争时期，数百名拿着步枪的士兵和骁勇的战马展开厮杀，娱你耳目。它基本上是该游戏早期版本的翻版，不过你为军队挑选战袍，壮观但难以控制的海战的登场，这些都给战争增添了别样的趣味。首次操作枪炮军队，而不是之前的徒手搏击，这也很有意思，不过你仍可以让你的小人拔出剑戟，刺向敌人的咽喉。

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

《侠盗车手：唐人街之战》

The GTA series comes to the Nintendo DS for the first time in this new game, which delivers all the violence, car chases, and casual sociopathy gamers have come to expect from previous entries. The restrictions of the system mean that it doesn't have the depth or complicated plot of the other games, but in stripping gameplay down to its basics, the developers have created a fun, easy going experience. It also makes great use of the touch-screen in a variety of mini-games, such as breaking the glass of your car after you accidentally drive into the river, or pinpointing a target with your sniper rifle.

在这款新游戏中，侠盗车手系列首次走入任天堂双屏游戏机，呈现玩家在之前系列中所期望的暴力、汽车追逐和社会病态等。由于系统的限制，它没有其他游戏的深度和复杂的情节，但通过尽量简化游戏，开发人员创造了有趣而易玩的体验。你尽可以使用触摸屏来玩其中的各种小游戏，比如你开车意外掉到河里后车玻璃被打破，或者拿狙击枪瞄准目标。

Mirror's Edge

《暗镜迷踪》

Although the gorgeous visuals of this game are enough to enrapture any viewer, the gameplay itself doesnt live up to the promise of the premise. You play Faith, a 'Runner' in a dystopian – but pretty – future world controlled by the usual evil corporations, who uses her athletics and grace to deliver secret information, running and jumping across rooftops using parkour. The game is disappointingly railroaded, however, with only a small number of set paths to take you across any route; it only really comes into its own when you face the more freeform problem of beating up a group of enemies.

虽然这款游戏绝佳的视觉效果足以令任何观众陶醉，但玩起来却其实难副。在一个美丽得像是“乌托邦”，但实际上被一个罪恶集团控制的世界，你操纵费斯（游戏的主角），她通过华丽的动作传递秘密信息，运用“酷跑”跳跃穿过屋顶。很遗憾，该游戏套路有些单一，只有少数设定好的通道让你顺利通过；只有当你面临击败一群敌人这样形式更自由的问题时，这款游戏才算名副其实。

Dragon Age: Origins

《龙腾世纪：起源》

This epic fantasy role-playing game isn't out yet, but is already being hotly anticipated by fans.Designed by Bioware, who have been delighting RPG fans for over a decade, it features their usual combination of strong characters, a fascinating world, and no doubt a nasty twist in the plot. The graphics look beautiful too, and the combat system is a clever mixture of tactical planning and furious action. With any luck this will be a worthy successor to classic Bioware titles of the past – I still drag out Baldurs Gate 2 on occasion, despite it being a decade old.

这款史诗般的角色扮演游戏尚未问世，但已经受到粉丝的热烈期待。《龙腾世纪：起源》由Bioware设计，该公司十多年来给角色扮演游戏迷带去了无尽的欢乐，而该游戏延续了一贯的强硬角色、魔幻世界和蹩脚情节。但画面优美，搏斗系统将战术规划和凶狠的动作巧妙融合在一起。运气好的话，它将继承Bioware名下的经典游戏——我偶尔还玩玩《博德之门2》，虽然它已经有十年之久。

Street Fighter 4

《街头霸王4》

My god, the 'Street Fighter' games are twenty years old by now – I can remember playing Street Fighter 2 when I was 13, the first truly great 2D fighter. This new version is far prettier than the old, of course, but sticks to the basics of combo moves, rock-scissors-paper strategy against your opponent, and a highly entertaining range of characters and moves. It's still great fun to unhesitatingly whip your friends' asses with an unexpected slide kick or super fireball, and robust online support makes it easier than ever to find people to play against.

我的天，“街头霸王”游戏已经有20年了——我记得我13岁时玩《街头霸王2》，当时它是第一款真正的2D游戏。新版本当然比老款漂亮的多，但还紧扣基本的动作组合、跟对手玩石头——剪子——布的游戏，角色和动作也极富趣味。果断地飞脚或用大火球攻击你朋友的屁股依然很过瘾，而强大的网络支持也使你更容易找到玩伴。

Dead Space

《死亡空间》

Everybody loves zombies. They're the perfect opponent in shooting games; you can't ever feel bad about blowing up as many of them as you like. Space is pretty cool too, with astronauts and spaceships and rayguns and so forth. This marvellously clever game combines the two, casting you as one of the few survivors of an alien zombie infestation on a future ship. You have to use all manner of improvised weapons to defeat the enemy, but the main thrill of the game is in its deeply creepy visuals and audio, creating a horrific atmosphere which will have even hardened players jumping at the horrors round every corner.

人人都喜欢僵尸。它们是射击游戏里完美的击杀对象；你想干掉多少僵尸就干掉多少，从不会感觉糟糕。太空非常美，航天员、太空船和射线枪，等等，也很酷。这款聪明的游戏将二者融合起来，你是未来太空船里在外星球僵尸入侵后的少数幸存者之一。你必须使用各种简易武器击败敌人，但这款游戏主要的刺激之处在于画面和音效非常恐怖，营造一种骇人的氛围，置身其中，你必须胆子大起来，欣然应对四周的恐怖。

Flock

《放牧幽浮》

This hilarious little game takes the apparent obsession of aliens with livestock, and puts players in control a small UFO tasked with herding sheep, cows, and pigs onto the Motherflocker. Buzzing terrified farm animals, you form them into groups and guide them around a multitude of boards littered with obstacles. The environment is highly interactive, and highly destructible, and you can wreck merry havoc across cutesy landscapes. If you accidentally kill your sheep, dont worry – little angel-sheep rise up, playing harps. A cunning mix of fun gameplay and complicated puzzles, with each new level requiring different tricks or approaches to complete.

这款有趣的小游戏基于外星人对牲畜的迷恋，让玩家控制一艘小型UFO，将绵羊、母牛和猪赶到母飞船里。你赶着惊吓的牲畜，把它们分成组并带领它们穿越障碍密布的地带。环境的干扰很厉害，破坏力极大，你在对可爱而漂亮的风景大搞破坏时感到快活。如果你不慎杀了自己的绵羊，不用担心——一只小天使绵羊就会起来，弹奏竖琴。巧妙地使解决难题的过程充满乐趣，每一个新等级都得变换玩法才能完成。