Publisher: Strategy First
Developer: Parallax Art Studio
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/Vista; P4 1.8 ghz CPU or similar; 512 MB RAM; 7 gb available HD space; 128 mb graphics card; 16-bit sound card; Direct X 9 or better
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

Rock n’ roll is a lot like first-person shooters. There are big name acts like AC/DC, which wrote the book on the genre, and ID Software’s Doom; these set the stage for everything to come after them. There are also acts that used a special talent such as Freddie Mercury’s voice, which took rock to a whole new level, much like Half Life 2’s gravity gun. And then there’s Exodus from the Earth: the FPS cover band.

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Can websites have “sex changes”? I go away for 5 days to fabulous Las Vegas; only to return to find the place I call home sporting a different outfit and calling me “Sugar” instead of the usual nicety! It’s a shock, but I’m glad to say that I kind of like it. All the major hub-bub is laid out on the hood, making my precious browsing time a little sleeker, plus I don’t have to zoom in on my iPhone to click teeny tiny links anymore! We even get a little bit bigger text, so when I do click the follow-up I don’t have to use my special dialing wand! All in all, I’d say the right decision was made, for both me and our readers.

So to answer my own question: Yes Virginia, websites can have sex changes. Hell, if the Sci Fi channel can be called “SyFy” out of the friggin blue, then why can’t Avault adjust their format a bit? We’ve been around almost as long anyways!

Welcome to the new house, everyone! Pull up a beanbag and enjoy the evolution!

Publisher: Meridian4
Developer: Hermitworks Entertainment
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows Vista/XP; 1.0 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; DirectX 9.0c; 200 MB hard drive space
Genre: Action/Strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

It should come as no surprise to find out that commerce is just as important on a galactic scale as it is here on Earth. Goods and services run the show on terra firma, so why should the expanse of the cosmos be any different? Space Trader: Merchant Marine provides a genre blending answer, taking players to the far reaches of our galaxy and beyond on a quest for economic superiority.

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Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
System: Xbox 360
Genre: FPS
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

Gamers these days have plenty of options when it comes to World War II shooters, and between all of them, most of the major battles have been digitally re-created in some fashion or another. That’s why when Call of Duty: World at War landed on my desk, I was apprehensive to go back to the front. I’ve played some pretty decent WWII games in my day, and struggled through some real stinkers, too. How could another one possibly be any good?

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Publisher: Legacy Interactive
Developer: Legacy Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows XP/Vista; CD ROM drive or Internet connection
Genre: Sim
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

Did you know that Peter Ostrum, known better to all as Charlie Bucket from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, is a veterinarian? That’s right; the luckiest kid on Earth left acting immediately after filming was done and turned his attentions to animal husbandry and medicine. I guess some people have such an undeniable attraction to animals that they give up promising acting careers for them. Me, I like video games, so rather than dropping the controller and devoting myself to the animal kingdom, I can pick up Legacy Games’ Pet Pals: New Leash on Life, and simulate the Doctor Doolittle experience at home.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Volition Inc.
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Action
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

The open-world genre has become the next-generation standard, perhaps because giving gamers the freedom to go anywhere and do anything can be seen as indicative of a console’s power. We witnessed humble beginnings on the PS2, shuffling our “hero” through the muddily textured streets of Liberty City, the neon glow of Vice City and the expanse of San Andreas, but when the Xbox 360 hit there was no standard option, no Rockstar-like haven where the chaotically minded could enact their brand of free-form bedlam. So when the original Saint’s Row finally popped a cap in 2006, the Microsoft adopters finally got their chance. Now, developer Volition continues the free-form Saint’s Row experience with the much-anticipated sequel, Saint’s Row 2.

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Publisher: Genius Products
Developer: inXile Entertainment
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows XP; 2.0 GHz CPU; 2.0 GB hard drive space; Nvidia GeForce MX 4400 w/64 MB RAM; DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Puzzle
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

As many of us come to realize early in our childhood, sledding can go from a fun wintertime outing to a six-week stint in a cast in two seconds flat. A hill’s steepness can be misjudged halfway down, or in some cases our passenger sees fit to rock the boat and capsize the sled, turning it into an uncontrollable projectile that scatters bodies in its wake. Whether for fun or for injury, Line Rider 2: Unbound seeks to capture that feeling of a York Peppermint Patty and give us the sensation, over and over again.

LR2, like its Flash predecessor, is a physics-based puzzle game in which you must draw a series of lines with different properties for the sled-bound character, Bosh, to use as a track. While the original title was considered more of a “toy” and had no actual goals or conclusion, LR2’s story mode has both; tasking the player with designing a track that’s not only safe for Bosh, but also allows him to achieve a series of goals and collect coins on his way to the finish line. There’s a catch, though: each track can only be edited in certain spots called draw regions. This restriction forces you to combine different line types, tweak angles and play the track over and over again until a suitable solution can be found. It might sound tedious, but the thrill of success and the unlockables that accompany it are enough to keep you playing. I felt such accomplishment after my sledder finally hit an angle I drew just how I imagined he would when I drew it. Conversely, it was just as frustrating when I had worked my way through a level only to be stumped, forcing me into an intense trial-and-error session. I’ll give it to inXile, though; they did a fine job of incorporating the puzzle elements, and track designer TechDawg should be commended for the wonderfully devious designs.

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Publisher: City Interactive
Developer: City Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista; DirectX 9.0c; 2.0 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; GeForce 5700 or Radeon 9700 with 128 MB; 3 GB hard disk space; internet or LAN connection
Genre: FPS
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

If I close my eyes and imagine a remote island paradise, the smell of salty sea air grips my nostrils, sending me into a brief imaginary vacation with lapping waves, sand between my toes and humidity so intense that each breath is like drinking a glass of water. Since the most tropical place I’ve ever visited is Florida, I can’t really expand much more on this sensory hallucination before I start chasing an actor in a Mickey Mouse costume down a beachfront whilst hurling oranges and muttering obscenities. So, since I’m not well traveled, I have to leave it up to video games such as Crysis, Far Cry and now Code of Honor 2: Conspiracy Island to provide the rest of the trip for me.

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Publisher: 2K Sports
Developer: Konami
System: Wii
Genre: Sports
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

When I think of the great game of baseball, my mind always wanders back to the 1989 film “Major League,” the profanity-laden sports comedy about a baseball team that was built to fail. Charlie Sheen and Tom “the Substitute” Berenger were in the cast, but the Cleveland Indians were the real stars of the show; players struggling to make a catch, begging for a run and hoping that the owner didn’t succeed in her devious plot to sabotage the team and relocate it to Florida, sans players. There are laughable plays, wild pitches and a general feeling of hopelessness throughout the movie, yet after time and persuasion the Indians manage to overcome their faults and pull it together to win their division title. A happy ending, it seems, until you watch any of the sequels…

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Publisher: City Interactive
Developer: City Interactive
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/Me/XP(sp2); Pentium 3 or AMD Athlon 1Ghz; DirectX 8.1 compatible video card; 256 MB RAM; 1 GB hard drive space
Genre: Adventure
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

The golden age of the point-and-click adventure game as we knew it is behind us, replaced with dynamics and immersion unknown in the cursor-driven hits of yesterday. Aside from a few recent palpitations in the form of the Sam & Max and Dreamfall series, nothing overtly unique has come out of the gates and floored us the way the old LucasArts and Sierra gems could. Is this because back then we could see ourselves dragging our mice across the screen in search of that final clue, since it was the height of what PCs could do at the time? Or is it because modern gamers have become jaded and expect full, vibrant 3-D worlds to explore? Perhaps mouse-driven adventure is dead in the streets, still waiting for some upstart developer to come along and put a defibrillator to the cold heart of the genre.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Valusoft
System: PC
Minimum Requirements: Pentium 4 2.0 GHz or equivalent; 1024 MB RAM; 256 MB video memory; 5 GB hard drive space; Windows XP/Vista
Genre: Action RPG
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

The Diablo series left a massive footprint in the mud when it stepped onto PCs all those years ago, effectively setting the standard for all like games to come. The Blizzard chasm stood as a warning that said “Trespass carefully; you are in our territory now.” That didn’t deter the likes of Sacred, Divine Divinity or Dungeon Siege, who bravely dove into the pit, helping to fill the depths closer to the surface. Master Creating, a German developer, thinks it’s also time to do a cannonball into Blizzard’s pre-made game trap. Maybe after all of this imitation it has become easier to make a successful hack and slash loot fest? That is, until the all-consuming Diablo III hits the shelves, right?

In Legend: Hand of God, the hero, Targon is a recruit member of the Order of the Holy Flame, a society tasked with protecting, what else? The Holy Flame. This guarded blaze acts as a stopper for a portal to a demonic world, one which had invaded in the past with catastrophic consequences. If the fire goes out, the demons invade again. Coincidentally, did it just get darker in here?

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Backbone Entertainment
System: XBLA
Genre: Shooter
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

1942: Joint Strike stimulates my thoughts of the future. Will prevalent games such as Grand Theft Auto IV eventually be remade or reworked on some future platform? Should we expect that a game’s graphics will shadow its predecessor’s, as Joint Strike’s do its arcade grandfather’s? The possibility breaks some fifth-wall process in my mind and makes me wonder all kinds of magnificent things, not only in the visual department, but also in terms of gameplay extensions developers haven’t yet begun to imagine.

Joint Strike is a reconditioning of a 1984 arcade shooter in which you control a World War II-era fighter in a battle against squadrons of Japanese planes. This time, however, every aspect of gameplay and graphics has been expanded, polished and toned to accommodate both the modern gamer and fans of the original. Elements from all of the 194X games are combined, giving the player multiple planes to select, health bars (instead of 1942’s one-hit kills), a compliment of powerups to augment your firing pattern, charge shots, and the ability to eliminate every enemy on screen with a super bomb.

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Publisher: Codemasters
Developer: Codemasters
System: Xbox 360
Genre: Racing
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

My appetency to win transfers just the right amount of strength to my leg to push the accelerator through the floorboards, stabbing the already red engine with white hot spurs. Two particularly troublesome rivals are crowding my rear, with the rest of the pack choking on the atomized pavement behind us. By my figuring almost a half a million dollars of fiberglass, steel and Italian leather churn recklessly underneath me. One more successful turn and I stand the tallest on the podium, one wrong move and I become the only man with a flying car in the vicinity.

Codemasters know their racing games, as made evident by their successful TOCA and Colin McRae (R.I.P.) series. DiRT, another CM racer was released last year to solid reviews; praising its great visuals, damage modeling and amazingly useable cockpit view. Now the 23 year old developer is looking to take the same tenacity (and engine) from DiRT and apply it to some asphalt with their latest: Grid.

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Review by: Andrew Clark

Birds are trouble seekers, plain and simple. Tiki the kiwi from The New Zealand story, Kazooie from the Banjo games and many of the other fowl in the gaming kingdom often find themselves in situations where they either cause or relieve a problematic situation. Take Toki Tori, for example, a squat, yellow avian with enormous eyes and a stubby pair of legs. Our winged hero wakes one day to find himself in the unenviable position of rescuing his wayward kin, who have apparently flown the coop, shell and all. What’s an avian to do to prevent his relations from becoming a tasty selection on a KFC menu? Perhaps a little puzzle solving is in order? Maybe throw in some gadgets and special powers to make things interesting? Let the egg hunt begin!

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: BattleGoat Studios
System: PC
Minimum requirements: Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/Vista; Pentium III 800 MHz; 512 MB RAM; 3D graphics card with 16MB video RAM; DirectX 8.1; DirectX compatible sound card; CD-ROM drive
Genre: Strategy
Release date: Available now
Review by: Andrew Clark

I’m sure every neighborhood has one — the outspoken political junkie with a chip on his shoulder and an opinion as big as the national debt. “He’s running this country into the ground!” he says, then offers a billion solutions as to how he would handle things if the charge was his. He plants homemade plywood signs in the front yard which ask poignant and pointed questions of the government, as if the president takes his Sunday drives in Ashtabula, Ohio to gather his approval rating. And although some of his ideas are quite sensible, the man will never get to see any of them enacted. It’s kind of sad when you think about it, until BattleGoat studios shows up at the summer barbeque and drops Supreme Ruler 2020 into his lap, uttering a single word — control.

Well, more like “control part deux,” as this is BattleGoat’s second Supreme Ruler game. The first one, released in 2005, was met with favorable reviews and garnered a following tenacious enough to start their own wiki devoted to all things SR2010. For this incarnation, BattleGoat has listened closely to their fans, addressing old issues and improving/expanding/polishing the series with new mechanics, scenarios and attention to detail that throws others in the genre for a well researched loop.

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