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.

《雙語時代》不為您撰文時，我們喜歡玩游戲。許許多多游戲。我個人浪費在《文明》系列和其他電腦游戲上的時間足夠寫兩三部長篇小說。電腦游戲和游戲機游戲的魅力在于，作為一種新型媒體，加上硬件性能的快速提升，它們一年好似一年。大多數(shù)新電腦的配置——說實話，都適合玩游戲，這很好！本月我們?yōu)槟尸F(xiàn)今年最棒的八款游戲，保證能消滅你的空閑時間。

Dawn of War 2

《戰(zhàn)爭黎明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.

《戰(zhàn)爭黎明》屬于龐大的《戰(zhàn)錘4K》系列，是其最新版本，該系列游戲備受歡迎，衍生了至少三種獨立游戲。在游戲里，未來的世界被設定為微縮的戰(zhàn)爭，帶著“在遙遠未來嚴酷的黑暗世界只有戰(zhàn)爭！”的宣傳語，到處是頭戴骷髏的龐大機器人、超級戰(zhàn)士、惡人、恐怖的突變體和其它有趣的東西。這款游戲把這些都呈現(xiàn)給你，你的軍團跟其他軍隊展開壯觀而激動人心的廝殺。不過，它給人很棒的戰(zhàn)略體驗，要想玩轉各式各樣的武器和裝備需要真正的思考和高超的技巧。

Empire: Total War

《帝國：全面戰(zhàn)爭》

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.

又一款漫長的系列，這款游戲要追溯到《幕府：全面戰(zhàn)爭》，一款場景設在古代日本的史詩性戰(zhàn)爭游戲。新游戲把時間推到了拿破侖戰(zhàn)爭時期，數(shù)百名拿著步槍的士兵和驍勇的戰(zhàn)馬展開廝殺，娛你耳目。它基本上是該游戲早期版本的翻版，不過你為軍隊挑選戰(zhàn)袍，壯觀但難以控制的海戰(zhàn)的登場，這些都給戰(zhàn)爭增添了別樣的趣味。首次操作槍炮軍隊，而不是之前的徒手搏擊，這也很有意思，不過你仍可以讓你的小人拔出劍戟，刺向敵人的咽喉。

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars

《俠盜車手：唐人街之戰(zhàn)》

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.

在這款新游戲中，俠盜車手系列首次走入任天堂雙屏游戲機，呈現(xiàn)玩家在之前系列中所期望的暴力、汽車追逐和社會病態(tài)等。由于系統(tǒng)的限制，它沒有其他游戲的深度和復雜的情節(jié)，但通過盡量簡化游戲，開發(fā)人員創(chuàng)造了有趣而易玩的體驗。你盡可以使用觸摸屏來玩其中的各種小游戲，比如你開車意外掉到河里后車玻璃被打破，或者拿狙擊槍瞄準目標。

Mirror's Edge

《暗鏡迷蹤》

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.

雖然這款游戲絕佳的視覺效果足以令任何觀眾陶醉，但玩起來卻其實難副。在一個美麗得像是“烏托邦”，但實際上被一個罪惡集團控制的世界，你操縱費斯（游戲的主角），她通過華麗的動作傳遞秘密信息，運用“酷跑”跳躍穿過屋頂。很遺憾，該游戲套路有些單一，只有少數(shù)設定好的通道讓你順利通過；只有當你面臨擊敗一群敵人這樣形式更自由的問題時，這款游戲才算名副其實。

Dragon Age: Origins

《龍騰世紀：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.

這款史詩般的角色扮演游戲尚未問世，但已經受到粉絲的熱烈期待?！洱堯v世紀：起源》由Bioware設計，該公司十多年來給角色扮演游戲迷帶去了無盡的歡樂，而該游戲延續(xù)了一貫的強硬角色、魔幻世界和蹩腳情節(jié)。但畫面優(yōu)美，搏斗系統(tǒng)將戰(zhàn)術規(guī)劃和兇狠的動作巧妙融合在一起。運氣好的話，它將繼承Bioware名下的經典游戲——我偶爾還玩玩《博德之門2》，雖然它已經有十年之久。

Street Fighter 4

《街頭霸王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，“街頭霸王”游戲已經有20年了——我記得我13歲時玩《街頭霸王2》，當時它是第一款真正的2D游戲。新版本當然比老款漂亮的多，但還緊扣基本的動作組合、跟對手玩石頭——剪子——布的游戲，角色和動作也極富趣味。果斷地飛腳或用大火球攻擊你朋友的屁股依然很過癮，而強大的網(wǎng)絡支持也使你更容易找到玩伴。

Dead Space

《死亡空間》

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.

人人都喜歡僵尸。它們是射擊游戲里完美的擊殺對象；你想干掉多少僵尸就干掉多少，從不會感覺糟糕。太空非常美，航天員、太空船和射線槍，等等，也很酷。這款聰明的游戲將二者融合起來，你是未來太空船里在外星球僵尸入侵后的少數(shù)幸存者之一。你必須使用各種簡易武器擊敗敵人，但這款游戲主要的刺激之處在于畫面和音效非?？植溃瑺I造一種駭人的氛圍，置身其中，你必須膽子大起來，欣然應對四周的恐怖。

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.

這款有趣的小游戲基于外星人對牲畜的迷戀，讓玩家控制一艘小型UFO，將綿羊、母牛和豬趕到母飛船里。你趕著驚嚇的牲畜，把它們分成組并帶領它們穿越障礙密布的地帶。環(huán)境的干擾很厲害，破壞力極大，你在對可愛而漂亮的風景大搞破壞時感到快活。如果你不慎殺了自己的綿羊，不用擔心——一只小天使綿羊就會起來，彈奏豎琴。巧妙地使解決難題的過程充滿樂趣，每一個新等級都得變換玩法才能完成。