Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV or AMD 3500+ or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon X1900 or better graphics card, DirectX-compatible sound card, DirectX 9, 2 GB hard-drive space; Magicka base game must be installed
Genre: RPG
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Riding the success of their game Magicka, Arrowhead Game Studios has released DLC for it that takes the plucky wizards of the original game and drops them into the jungles of Southeast Asia to fight the Vietnam War. Magicka: Vietnam gives you a new complete mission to play, a new arena fight to survive, a new soundtrack that sounds like it borrows from every rock-and-roll band from the Rolling Stones to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, new weapons (including a wizard-staff version of the American flag), and a new appearance for your wizard that alludes to half a dozen movies set in the war. It’s an absurd premise for a spell-casting game; since its Arrowhead, it’s not surprising that they make it work.

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Publisher: Masthead Studios
Developer: Masthead Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista SP1/Win 7, 2.4 GHz or faster dual-core CPU, 4 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9800/ATI X3950 Pro or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0, 20 GB hard-drive space, broadband Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

I’m told that, many years ago, there was a saying in the army: Never volunteer for anything. As a member of the Avault Army, this is an adage that I should’ve taken to heart when I put up my hand and said, “I want to review Earthrise.” Bulgarian developer Masthead Studios has taken my favorite sci-fi genre as the setting for this post-apocalyptic MMO and buried it in a sea of drudgery and boredom.

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Publisher: Lunar Workshop
Developer: Lunar Workshop
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.5 GHz or faster CPU, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB graphics card
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

In my book, there are two kinds of night owls in the world: those who stay up playing games, and the others who are wide awake, dreaming about the games we enjoy. Lunar Workshop is the latter of these two, always crafting and constantly trying to improve their product, Digitanks. I didn’t get much time to play it after my review was published, maybe here and there at best to pass the time or to procrastinate from looking at MMOs. The first big addition, dubbed The Artillery Update, was recently released, and I was ready to blow some enemy tanks to digital hell.

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Publisher: Perfect World
Developer: Perfect World
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win 7, 1 GHz Pentium IV or faster CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for XP, 3 GB for Vista/Win 7), 8 GB hard-drive space, 256 MB GeForce 6200/Radeon 9550 or better graphics card with Shader Model 2.0 support, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: TBA

True story: I lost a friend to a Perfect World game about two years ago. I still have no idea where he is. Last I heard, a mutual friend of ours found him while playing the latest addition to the PWE lineup, Forsaken World. In a last-ditch effort to locate them again, I downloaded the game and entered the world before me. My goals were pretty clear: I had to find them and figure out what aspects of the game kept them sucked in. Fear not, my friends, I will find you. Maybe.

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Publisher: Soldak Entertainment
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
System requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/Win 7/Mac OS 10.4, 1.5 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 series or better graphics card, 200 MB hard-drive space, DSL or better Internet connection for online multiplayer
Genre: RPG
Release date: Available now

When I look at MMOs, I often forget that there are in fact other genres that exist in the world; sometimes it’s a little tough for me to believe. Everything to me nowadays is either massively-this or shoot your best friend for a laugh-that. When I take a break from those sorts of games, I like to sprawl out on my office chair, grab my favorite pre-packaged snack cake and go back to my roots: dungeon crawlers. I admit it’s been a long time since this pastry-induced gaming euphoria has taken hold. Its previous appearance was during my time competing on the ladder while playing another dungeon-style game. I’m glad to have briefly encountered this feeling once more while checking out the Din’s Curse expansion, Demon War, brought to you by Soldak Entertainment.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: Vigil Games
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Win 7, 2.4 GHz AMD Athlon 64 3800+/3.0 GHz Pentium IV 530 or better CPU, 256 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 3 support, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), DirectX 9.0c-compliant sound card, 12 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Action-Adventure
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

I have to say, while there are certainly a few post-apocalyptic games out there, Darksiders is the first one in which the apocalypse was not our own fault. You get to take control of War, the First Horseman of the Apocalypse. The forces of evil deceived him into prematurely inciting a war between Heaven and Hell without waiting for the Seventh Seal to be broken. The war destroyed the human race, the demonic forces defeated the heavenly host and laid claim to the Earth. War is indicted by the Charred Council (whose self-proclaimed duty is to preserve balance), stripped of his powers and sentenced to death. He gets a last-minute reprieve and is allowed to return to Earth to search for the truth and punish those responsible.

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Publisher: Viva Media
Developer: FAKT Software
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.0 GHz or better CPU, 128 MB DirectX 9-compatible graphics card with Pixel Shader 2 support, 512 MB RAM, 800 MB hard-drive space
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

So you think you’re good at puzzle solving? That’s great, but when’s the last time you built a Rube Goldberg machine? Well, I’d bet most of the people reading this review already know what one is (including anyone who’s already played The Incredible Machine), but for those who don’t, a Rube Goldberg machine is a mechanical device that takes a simple task and makes it incredibly difficult by adding pulleys, rolling balls, dominoes, and all sorts of other things that are completely unnecessary for the task. And that’s basically what Crazy Machines 2 Complete is all about.

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: Electronic Arts
System requirements: Windows XP SP 2/Vista SP 1/Win 7, 2 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU (2.4 GHz for Vista/Win 7), 1 GB RAM (1.5 GB Vista/Win 7), 128 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0 support, 5.3 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: Simulation
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

I’m not a fan of the “life simulation” genre. I was pleased to find out that the creator of Second Life is an alumnus of my alma mater, but I had no interest in that virtual world. I purchased Sims 2 for my wife, but it sat unplayed and now I can’t find the discs. So when I got a FedEx package containing The Sims: Medieval, I was excited to be receiving a new game, but nary a sound escaped my lips. My feelings about Medieval are as complicated as the in-game relationships I puppeteer. At one point I cursed the day the package arrived in the mailbox, but after hours of playing the game and crafting the heroes’ stories, I’ve grown to love it. Before you purchase, read this review and decide if you’d be as forgiving as I am.

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Publisher: Telltale Games
Developer: Telltale Games
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.8 GHz Pentium IV or equivalent CPU, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card, DirectX 9.0c, sound card
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

If there’s anyone who should know that messing around with past events is a bad thing, it should certainly be Marty McFly. The Hill Valley teenager has had his present upended multiple times because of his excursions to the past with his friend, eccentric scientist Emmett “Doc” Brown. But in Back to the Future: Citizen Brown, the third episode in developer Telltale’s series based on the classic Back to the Future feature film, Marty instead must escape from his new present to restore his old one.

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Publisher: Alaplaya
Developer: Burda:ic
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz quad core or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card, 3 GB hard-drive space, DirectX 9-compatible sound card, DirectX 9.0c
Genre: MMORTS
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Games with leaderboards and ranking systems fascinate me; I’m not sure what it is about them that keeps me coming back. Is it the thrill of passing the person ahead of me in kills, or is it just taking a leader down a notch? I’ll never really know, but it’s likely you could tell me there’s a leaderboard for a non-existent Curious George MMO and I would be the guy slugging it out with the PBS Kids age bracket for glory. Land of Chaos, developed by Alaplaya, helps curb my competitive cravings with third-person shooter, RPG and RTS genres impressively blended together to keep up with my ever-shortening attention span.

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Publisher: Electronic Arts
Developer: BioWare
System requirements: Windows XP SP3/Vista SP1/Win 7, 1.8 GHz multiple-core CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB Vista/Win 7), 256 MB graphics card with Pixel Shader 3.0 support, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
Genre: Shooter
ESRB rating: DLC content not rated; base game Mature
Release date: Available now

The teaser trailer for Mass Effect 3 shows a lone sniper picking off enemies from inside Big Ben in London. But how we get to this situation after Mass Effect 2 is a closely guarded secret. Developer BioWare has revealed a tiny bit of the mystery with Mass Effect 2: The Arrival, the final DLC pack for the second adventure in the trilogy.

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Publisher: Wadjet Eye Games
Developer: Joshua Nuernberger
System requirements: Not available
Genre: Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

Hello folks! Alaric here, with another report on my ongoing love affair with indie PC games. This year promises to be quite fruitful as high-profile releases go, and I must admit that I’m really eager to get my hands on some of the upcoming goodness. However, out of nowhere comes an amazing indie offering, which, come December, will be a very serious contender for my 2011 Game of the Year. I’m talking, of course, about the recently released Gemini Rue. Much like Auralux, Gemini Rue was developed by a student. One notable difference is that it was created using Adventure Game Studio, a free tool available to everyone. Despite being this developer’s first-ever commercial offering, it won the Student Showcase award during the Independent Game Festival 2010. When I first got my hands on it, I wondered whether it could live up to the honors it received. I didn’t wonder for long.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: Creative Assembly
System requirements: 2 GHz Intel dual-core/2.6 GHz Intel single-core or equivalent CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for Vista/Win 7), 256 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card with Shader Model 3.0 support, 20 GB hard-drive space
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Coming away from the successful release of Napoleon: Total War with good sales, The Creative Assembly has decided to go back to where it all began. Total War: Shogun 2 is a remake of their classic first release, and gamer expectations could not be higher. Competing not only against a market full of strategy games, but also against their own earlier success, the designers have undertaken a task that is almost as difficult as the historical politics covered by the game, which is set in the Warring States period of 16th-century Japan. Your goal is to become Shogun. And since every other clan is also trying to become Shogun, there’s a lot of fighting and diplomacy along the path to victory.

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Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Developer: Aliasworlds
System requirements: Windows XP, Vista or 7; 1 GHz processor; 512 MB RAM; 64 MB video card; DirectX 9.0 or later; 80 MB hard disk space
Genre: Simulation
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Admit it! We all have those guilty pleasure games. You know, the ones we engage in while we’re sitting in waiting rooms, commuting or supposed to be working. Casual games may take some serious heat from the hard core crowd, but the truth is that from time to time most of us in engage in them, so there’s no denying their popularity. My Farm Life is the most recent of these to come across my desk. It’s a lot like Farmville, so the hook is there, but will it remain on my desktop or end up in the recycle bin?

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Publisher: Alawar Entertainment
Developer: Alawar Entertainment
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.7 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, DirectX 9.0-compatible graphics card, DirectX 9.0-compatible sound
Genre: Horror Adventure
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: Available now

I’ve never been a huge fan of point-and-click adventures, preferring a more active style of game, but I know they’re extremely popular as mystery or horror games. Stray Souls: Dollhouse Story is a new horror puzzle adventure from Alawar, and I found myself a lot more engaged by it than I expected to be.

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