Publisher: OGPlanet
Developer: FIX Korea
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), Radeon X800/GeForce 7600 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, 6 GB hard-drive space
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: April 2013

Back in the ancient days of 1999, when Pentiums still roamed the Earth, a guy named Minh Le, along with some other talented guys, created a small mod for Half-Life called Counter Strike. The little mod caught on, and it and Minh were soon snapped up by Valve. Soon, he was hard at work on Counter Strike 2. The project eventually faded, and Minh left to develop his next game on his own. After slow-boiling for more than a decade, that game is ready to be served. Recently, an open beta launched, sundering the seals and letting the masses in (and testing server loads). With the official launch right around the corner, Tactical Intervention should be about finished. So, how does it look?

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Publisher: Perfect World
Developer: Cryptic Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP2/Win 7/Win 8, 2.8 GHz Core2Duo or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB GeForce 8800/Radeon HD 2900GT or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device
Genre: MMO
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Early 2013

If you’ve been keeping up with D&D news, you’ve no doubt heard some stuff about the upcoming Neverwinter MMO. This week, I was given a chance to muck around in the city of Neverwinter in the first of several beta weekends. I spent a lot of time killing enemies, setting off traps, forming groups with other players, and screwing up my group runs because I suck at healing. In other words, another day in the life of an MMO player.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Paradox Development Studio
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV/AMD 3500+ or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB GeForce 8800/Radeon X1900 or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0, 2 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: February 18, 2013

Last year, I got a chance to see March of the Eagles up close during the Paradox Strategy Tour. The game depicts the Napoleonic Wars, with the help of developer Paradox’s Clausewitz engine. I recently received a preview copy, and I’ve been marching my armies across Europe for the past couple of weeks. It’s shaping up to be a fine strategy title, offering you a very realpolitik experience on top of its emphasis on warfare and military campaigns.

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Publisher: Soldak Entertainment
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
System requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/Win 7/Mac OSX 10.4, 1.5 GHz Pentium IV CPU (2.0 GHz for Mac), 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 or better graphics card (GeForce 3 for Mac), 200 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: 2012

Drox Operative is an action RPG set in space. Wait, wait, come back! Did I mention it’s made by Soldak, the guys behind the amazing Depths of Peril and Din’s Curse? Well, it is! This means a large, randomly generated, dynamic universe and combat that does something new. Don’t dare call it a Diablo clone.

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Publisher: Hi-Rez Studios
Developer: Hi-Rez Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Core2Duo/2.7 GHz Athlon X2 or better CPU, 2 GB RAM (XP)/3 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), 512 MB graphics card with Shader Model 3.0 support, DirectX-compatible sound device, 10 GB hard-drive space
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: 2012

My my, what an exciting time to be a gamer. The Internet has created a host of independently developed games, digital distribution and F2P are chipping away at the $60 price point, and Kickstarter is busting up the traditional publishing model. Now, developer Hi-Rez Studios has rescued the Tribes license. Tribes 2, featuring class-based team play and pinpoint-accurate weapons, was a game before its time. Even now, years after officially being shut down, you can still find players skiing around base defenses on community servers. As unique as it is, Tribes has never truly been emulated. Soon it will come to the masses in the form of a free-to-play online shooter. Thankfully, this release is looking to be more second coming than blasphemy.

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Publisher: Mumbo Jumbo
Developer: Mumbo Jumbo
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1 GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card with Shader Model 2.0 support, 150 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: May 1, 2012

There are many genres of games that seem to be content to never change. Match-threes, hidden-objects and time-management games seem to cater to a market that likes their games predictable and easy. Luxor Evolved, however doesn’t want to fall into that pit. As its name suggests, it wants to take that same universal game and turn it into something even core gamers can appreciate. Hold onto your moonstones; Luxor’s evolving!

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Illfonic
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz Core2Duo or better CPU, 2 GB RAM (3 GB for Vista), 512 MB GeForce 8800 GT/Radeon 3850 HD or better graphics card, DirectX-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c, 3 GB hard-drive space.
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: May 10, 2012

The other day I was standing in the shower when suddenly I was stung with an awareness of my mortality. I wondered that, if I died today, would I have left anything of worth behind? My life’s achievements, the friends, the debt, that nice thing I did once, what did they mean? But one stood out: that one time I dominated so much at a UT2K4 LAN party that I wasn’t invited back. I smiled, basking in the glow of my former glory, until I realized that I was about to be late for my retail job. I might withhold these deep personal truths from my counselor, but that’s only because he doesn’t understand. Developer Illfonic, however, has an uncanny understanding of my pains and desires. Their latest game, the oddly-titled Nexuiz, seems tailor-made to let you relive your better times, assuming those times involve classic FPS action.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Turbo Tape Games
System requirements: Windows Vista/Win 7, dual-core CPU, 2 GB RAM, 512 MB GeForce GT 240 or better graphics card, 4 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9-compatible sound device, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Simulation
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: April 10, 2012

Not since Jane’s Fleet Command more than a decade ago have we had a good naval warfare simulator. Turbo Tape games felt that it was high time that someone fix this, and Paradox agreed. Set in the frigid expanses of the North Atlantic, Naval War: Arctic Circle aims to bring all the complexity of modern aquatic killing to your desktop with an almost slavish attention to detail. Schedule those sonar buoy drops and warm up the Thales MMR 3D — it’s time to hunt down some red outlines!

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Publisher: Perfect World Entertainment
Developer: Zombie Studios
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, dual-core CPU, 256 MB DirectX 9-compatible graphics card, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, 2 GB RAM, 8 GB hard-drive space, broadband Internet connection
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: 2012

The future might be a hellish, war-torn landscape, but it can still be a fun, if violent, romp. Having corporate-sponsored high-tech toys can make even the bleakest outlooks feel like a McDonald’s birthday party if done right. That’s what Blacklight Retribution is all about. The sequel to Blacklight: Tango Down, Retribution is a free-to-play FPS that’s all about insane customization options and x-ray vision. That’s right; the main gimmick in Tango Down returns, and it’s just as awesome as before. For a short time, you can activate your super peepers and locate enemies through walls. It worked really well in the first Blacklight, and it works just as well here. It keeps the game flowing very fast and prevents any sort of camping and cheap kills. It’s a good mechanic around which to build a game, but there’s a lot more in Retribution.

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Publisher: To be announced
Developer: Kot-in-Action Creative Artel
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/Linux, 2.0 GHz dual-core CPU, 512 MB GeForce 8600/Radeon HD 2600 graphics card, 2 GB RAM
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: To be announced

Tomes of Mephistopheles has the body of a first-person dungeon crawler and the blood of a rogue-like. To find the titular Tomes, players have to descend into the dark, atmospheric depths of randomly generated dungeons, finding magical artifacts, ancient weapons of lore, and true love along the way. OK, maybe not that last one. But it does feature a wicked melee system, which is as close to true love as you’re going to find in a dungeon with rotting corpse monsters.

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Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
Developer: Pendulo Studios
System requirements: TBA
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Q2 2012

Developed by Runaway veterans Pendulo Studios, Yesterday is an adventure game that removes the studio’s previous humor and implants a dark murder mystery in its place. Homeless people are found burned alive with mysterious Y-shaped scars on their palms. While investigating, our heroes get caught up in a world-wide conspiracy and a tangle of mind-bending puzzles. As you can see by the large, bloody pentagram in the trailer, Yesterday doesn’t hold back on the disturbing.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Ino-co Plus
System requirements: TBA
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Q2 2012

In 1994, Simtex released a 4X game entitled Master of Magic. Like every similar RTS at the time, it initially looked like a Civilization clone. Despite initial bugs, it was far more then just Civ with spells, and it quickly became a strategy classic. A few games have tried to capture its spark since, most infamously 2010’s Elemental, but none of them have quite made it. Unwilling to let such a great spirit languor in DOS emulators, Paradox Interactive is giving MoM a modern body in the form of Warlock: Master of the Arcane. The details are so enticing it might cause your carpal tunnel to flair up in anticipation.

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Publisher: Valve
Developer: Hidden Path Entertainment
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 3.0 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 128 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0 support, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound device, 3 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Shooter
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Q1 2012
Preview by: Ian Davis

Certain gaming communities are more resistant to change then others. Some, like certain players who seem to always answer certain calls of certain obligations, pile onto the latest annual release as if it were the last doughnut in the precinct. Counterstrike gamers are of a heartier breed. CS has seen two releases since its commercial debut in 2000, each with its own slow-and-steady patch schedule along the way. The changes have been minor, but not always accepted. For reference, CS has a player base so hardcore that they not only know what a tick-rate is, but they also have strong opinions about them. With Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) 2 on the way, Valve seems to be willing to tackle all the tricky classics. Thus, this one is being recast into Counterstrike: Global Offensive. So how can Valve update this FPS pillar without being an iconoclast?

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Publisher: ChangYou
Developer: Zeonix
Genre: CCG (collectible card game)
Requirements: Any Flash enabled web browser
Release Date: 2012 (projected mid first quarter)
Written by: Mindy Hartman

Korean game developer Zeonix will be releasing a new online collectible card game, Sword Girls, which will go into closed beta 2 on December 7, 2011 and be released sometime in 2012. This CCG is anime-based, featuring over 500 hundred cards (at release, with more to come) of original art, though it is not tied to any real card game or television show. Players will have the ability to earn/trade/create countless cards and build unique decks so they can battle dungeons or other players in pvp matches.

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Publisher: Nicolas Games
Developer: Intoxicate Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista/Win 7, 2 GHz Intel Core2Duo/AMD Athlon 64 X2 or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card with Shader 3.0 support, 2 GB RAM (Windows XP)/3 GB RAM (Vista/Win 7), DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Third-person shooter
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: November 2011

All psychiatrist Dr. Albert Tokaj wanted was an energy drink. He had just fallen asleep during his last session with a patient (his eighth of the day, thanks to the edict of the Shelter’s commanding officer), and he desperately needed a sugar injection. But he ended up in the bar instead when he found the nearest vending machine was empty. Soon after sitting down for a drink with a friend, Albert’s life took a distressing turn…and so begins Afterfall: InSanity, the debut shooter for indie developer Intoxicate Studios.

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