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Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is a third person tactical shooter, focusing on advanced arsenal to accomplish objectives. Giving players the advantage in relatively realistic missions (levels) carried out in reality. Unmanned aerial vehicles (AKA UAV) are especially important in a team of 4 soldiers, as they scan the environment and highlight enemies. Using augmented reality players can also mark enemies, for both you and your teammates to see.

Teamwork is essential to either suppress an alerted enemy or execute multiple kills in sync. Stealth is an important aspect in combat and with a cloaking device you'll turn invisible. However you can still be heard and enemies will be alerted, if your target is killed in sight of his comrade.

Future Soldier takes full of advantage of Microsoft's Kinect, with weapon customization mode; Gunsmith. Making a wide armed hand gesture you can break apart a whole gun. Through voice commands you can sift through  menus, randomize a weapon or construct a weapon for long or short range. 20 million variations are possible with Gunsmith and will become advantageous, to the many locations in the game.

The campaign is set to last at least 12 hours and can be played with 4 friends cooperatively. Guerrilla mode features 4 player co-op and entails a team to secure a location and fight hordes of enemies. Competitive multiplayer is also available and supports up to 12 players. Read More  »

If you ever needed an incentive to pre-order a game, Square Enix has got an offer you can't refuse. As opposed to giving you a exclusive weapon or outfit, players are offered a standalone game (Hitman: Sniper Challenge) that unlocks items for Hitman: Absolution.

In Hitman: Sniper Challenge Agent 47 is overlooking a rooftop party, where his target will arrive. Under a time limit you must kill the target and his bodyguards (with a sniper rifle) in a creative and timely fashion.

This may involve shooting enemies near ledges or ponds for example. Alternatively you could shoot objects in place, such as mines or a structure holding barrels. Every kill is rewarded with points and added to a scoreboard at the end of every round. 

Be sure to pre-order Hitman: Absolution to play Hitman: Sniper Challenge from 15th May on Xbox 360 and PS3. It will be released on Steam (PC) from 1st August.

Hitman: Absolution is due for release on 20th November 2012.

In this launch trailer of Max Payne 3 Rockstar Games has presented the atmosphere and immersion, in an elegant manner. Especially when the soundtrack kicks in from LA-based band; Health. Once again trouble finds Max, when a girl (Fabiana Branco) he's protecting is kidnapped.

Max will be leaving a trail of blood and destruction to rescue Fabiana. He will be showing no remorse as he drives a bullet through every corrupt cop and gangbanger, in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Development of the game is lead by Rockstar Vancouver utilizing their proprietary game engine; RAGE. Combined with Natural Motions physics engine (Euphoria), Max Payne 3 features realistic reactions from gunfire and fluid movement.

This blockbuster of a title will be available at a store near you on 15th May in America and 18th May in Europe and Australia, for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The PC release is set for 1st June in Europe and 3 days earlier (29th May) in America.

Check out our preview of Max Payne 3 right here.

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Who wouldn't want to shape shift into a pensioner, while gliding around the city or running up walls? Not sold yet? I'm sure the trailer above will change your mind. James Heller (the protagonist) has been infected with blacklight by Alex Mercer; the very man he holds responsible for the death of his family. With revenge and salvation in mind, players can expect to be on the hunt for Mercer and stop Gentek's virus.

The virus is progressively obliterating NYZ and has now been split into three zones. Each zone is distinctive and worse than the last, starting in the order of green, yellow and red. A new hunting mechanic sends out a sonar pulse, to identify key people revolving Blackwatch and Gentek conspiracies. Anyone dim enough to stand in your path, will feel the wrath of your claws and boot into the distance (amongst other things).

The limb dismembering sequel will be at a store near you, come 24th April 2012 for PS3 & Xbox 360. PC owners will have to wait until 27th July 2012 unfortunately.

Deep Silver has been getting publicity over the latest project; Risen 2: Dark Waters, even more so now with the release of the ‘Hope Emerges’ trailer. The game looks to have taken the hugely desired pirate style RPG and mixed it with the world featured in the previous title. I’m trying so hard to keep an open mind and objective personality towards this sequel, but the first game was just so bad it’s very difficult. From the trailer you can see that the graphics have been improved drastically, and there is now some form of variation in the voice acting and one or two of them actually have emotion too! That’s always a good start for an RPG. The main focus seems to be that there is a Kraken plaguing the ocean ways and you are tasked with finding a way of putting an end to it. The game is moving away from the standard knight/archer/mage combo and giving the player the chance of being a pirate. Travelling from island to island, base to base, you will be attempting to convince or destroy other pirate bands and settlements in a quest to find the answer to slaying the Kraken. The trailer certainly shows a decent game in the making, but unfortunately I fell for that with the first one, it received pretty decent customer reviews upon release and I wasted £20 on an
on-sale item. Hopefully this game will prove me wrong and turn the Risen name in the right direction with a new story and approach to the physics of the game.

The GAME company has been reported to be in trouble for the past few months, but with the release of Mass Effect 3 last Friday, even more people have become aware of the issue the UK’s number one video game retail company is facing. GAME began cancelling the pre-orders of Mass Effect only a month before its official release, offering a full refund in the process but little in the explanation as to why the nations’ number one distributor was unable to supply one of the most wanted video games on the market. According to trade paper MCV, the credit insurance that GAME shares with its supplying agencies was slightly changed at the beginning of this year. What this means, is that the money that the company would normally have to order and license the new stock, isn’t there anymore. GAME is having to make new deals with each publisher individually.

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Trade association UKIE has today unveiled the first ever UK videogame digital sales chart, covering PC downloads.

Though still in beta, the UKIE has been working on a digital chart since 2010, and the fruits of that labour are this chart which covers January 2012. The 25 members of UKIE represent about 80% of the boxed PC market, and although only 10 shared data for this first chart, it's believed that they represent 40% of the overall digital PC market.

UKIE CEO, Jo Twist, commented “We are delighted to reveal the UK’s first digital chart based on real sales data. This is a watershed moment for our industry, but it is only the first step in capturing the full digital market. There is still a lot of work to be done, and we need more data, but we felt that the market would benefit from seeing that this project is very much on course. Read More  »

The Reapers are coming on the 9^th of March. The end of the Mass Effect series is being released next Friday, the third and final instalment is bringing as much sadness as it is joy to all us long term fans of the franchise. Bioware have decided to include multiplayer in this release, whether you like it or not, people enjoy multiplayer. I’ve never been the biggest fan of online gaming, especially when the game requires online capability to play offline; but this multiplayer keeps the same flow of gameplay as the offline mode. The difference being that multiplayer requires you to play in a team of other players and fight off waves of enemies whilst completing objectives. The more experience you get and level up, the more maps and challenges are unlocked. The traditional offline game mode offers three types of gameplay: Action mode, Story mode and RPG mode. As you can imagine action mode consists of mainly combat, with automatic responses in conversation. The story mode focuses on conversation and dialogue with minimum difficulty in combat. RPG mode gives you the typical Mass Effect gameplay that we’ve all thoroughly enjoyed throughout the series; the perfect balance between combat and dialogue which creates the ultimate game.
With five days to go, I am one of the many people who can’t take the wait any longer now that it is so unbearably close. The game is set for release March 9^th here in the UK and three days earlier in the States.

Sony’s much anticipated response to Nintendo’s 3DS is here. After an incredibly disappointing launch in Japan (where sales dropped exponentially in the second week of release), the PS Vita hits shelves across Europe and North America today. At £229 for a Wi-Fi only version or £279 for a 3G version, it’s certainly easy to see why gamers are reluctant to get one. Times are tough for many and the 3DS gives a cheaper alternative, and whilst the launch lineup is better than the 3DS’, it’s still rather weak, so there is little incentive to get the system right now.

But for those that do, the rewards are great. The features of the system are plentiful and are integrated nicely enough so people feel at ease using them. There are two screens on the system, the front being a touchscreen (which has become industry standard nowadays alongside cameras), and one interestingly enough is located on the back. This is planned to be a useful integration with the games that will be released on the Vita as so far there is little use for it on the home screen. Read More  »

The Mass Effect 3 demo offers both a single and multiplayer section to its offered gameplay. The single player I covered last week and now after playing the multiplayer demo all week long, I am more than satisfied. Bioware have given the player the opportunity of customizing the appearance and abilities of your character, just like you can in the single player mode. As a big fan of third person shooters and RTS being able to customize appearance was a good instalment. The armour and weapons available to your character differ with the class that you select. You can choose Adept, Soldier, Engineer, Sentinel, Infiltrator and Vanguard classes. They range from close combat with use of the omni-blade to biotic based powers from range. The multiplayer also features a store which offers you a choice of three packs to purchase. The first pack you get for three and the other two cost some credits. But after just one game I was able to buy a veteran pack and improve the equipment I could take into a match with me. So it doesn’t take long until you can buy packs which come with medi-gel, weapon mods and instant addition thermal clips. At the start you are capable of carrying two weapons into the match with you. You can have two primary weapons or one primary and one secondary; secondary being sub-machine gun, shotgun or hand cannon. The heavier the weapons are however, the longer your powers take to recharge, which is a very clever addition to an already thorough multiplayer system. Read More  »

From Dust has been called a God game, with Populous the most frequent reference, but in play it bears closer relations to Bullfrogs other classic, Theme Hospital. More a management simulation than a true god game, it’s also an excellent sandbox. Your objective might be to reach the end of the level, but you’ll often find that the opportunity to play outside that is simply irresistible. Read More  »

 
The Mass Effect 3 demo is finally here and it comes with 1.8gb of Single and Multiplayer gameplay. This is a review of the single player mode. Just like anyone who has fallen in love with the previous two Mass Effect titles I was eager to get this underway and play it over and over again until my Xbox burns out.  I could not be more pleased with what Bioware has crammed into this demo. There is a good amount of customisation for your character for a demo and it shows the predicted features of final product. After deciding with the appearance of your Male or Female Sheppard you get to chose your preferred class and way of play as well as the psychological profile of the character. You get to choose from the following:

Soldier – Pure combat, focus on weapons and heavy armour

Infiltrator – Tech and combat balance, favours the sniper and is capable of cloaking.

Vanguard – Close quarter combat, use of powers such as pull and shockwave to move and stun enemies and allowing for the close fighting

Sentinel – Tech and biotics. Equips an advanced shield and can detonate armour when near enemies and explode for splash damage. Read More  »