Special Feature: "A Night in Moscow" 1C Game Day at the Russian Consulate

Article by Angie Quidim
Photos by Tim Wong
June 5, 2008

Being a journalist that has never truly traveled out of the country, Moscow’s premier game company 1C allows US game junkies to step on foreign soil with no effort. My photographer and I were greeted at the front door and buzzed into the Russian consulate in the historic Victorian house, under heavy surveillance. We were greeted by hostesses dressed in the familiar yellow 1C t-shirts and given passports. This definitely was a celebration of 1C’s accomplishments as the stairs below led to a loud bustling of people below.

The buzzing press was treated to a slide show of the company’s accomplishments from the storage facilities to their retail outlets which coincidentally are similar to the battlefield names in many of their games. Anatoly Subbotin, the marketing rep for 1 C, spoke proudly and thankfully of the sales influence and success they have had across their country. They even showed a slide of their president Boris Nuraliev and the country’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sitting together. They hope that their success translates to sales in the US. Lots of Vodka shots and a couple of drinks created for the occasion flowed freely from the open bar. Russian appetizers were served by catering staff as well as more beverages. Several game representatives were around to ask questions about games and entertain. There was even a spy (Mr. Gray) that you had to find in order to get a clue to take part in the giveaways. Although the presentation was neat, I’d have to say that the room was not meant for previewing large number of titles. There were impressive high tech systems scattered around the room but the other distractions and poorly placed stations made it difficult to get a true idea of the game play. Here is a few of the games I got to see up-close and personal.

Captain Blood is a hack and slash thriller where the pirate in you comes alive. Its sea and land combat with swords and swashbuckling. The best is when you decapitate your enemies and their blood ends up splattering on camera.

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason was the hyped title of the night. Visually the first person shooter reminded me of survival horror games such as “The Thing” and Bioshock. Alexander Nesterov, the main character, was sent to investigate the abandonment of an icebreaker in the Artic Circle. As Alexander you investigate the ship and the frozen corpses for clues of this tragic event. You use all available resources as well as your ability to relive the events of all the dead corpses you touch hopefully to solve a puzzle or two.

IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is a game where flying is more involved than the standard arcade flight sim. This game fulfills the need for the advanced flyer. This PS3/Xbox 360 game would probably have USB flight stick support and will make this game a real dog fighting

There were a couple more titles that were not mentioned here that I was not able to play but you can catch those previews and trailers on the 1 C website as well as our youtube channel TMEVLOG. All in all this was a fun filled event with a friendly culture and promising products.

(click on any of the images below to see a larger version)