Frame rates and gorgeous visuals aside, we learned plenty of hard facts, as well as heard some juicy new hints from Devil May Cry 4's developers at the company's recent London Gamers Day event. It was confirmed that Dante, the star of the three previous games, will be playable from halfway through the game right through to the end. It was also dropped in that the PlayStation 3 version of the game will have "a little something" for Sixaxis controllers and that the team is definitely hoping to release a demo for the game at some point in future.
Our session started at the beginning of the game, with the PlayStation 3 version running in 720p on a flat-screen TV. The game will open with a tutorial level where new playable character Nero is squaring off against Dante. During the intro, Nero is seen covering his arms to hide the obvious signs of his "devil bringer" powers. After throwing Dante a few times, Dante strikes back at Nero with his trademark sword, revealing Nero's arms. The battle continues with the two characters engaging in a sword fight and some stylish close-ups of the two crossing weapons.
he new character of Nero introduces devil bringer powers to the series.
In the final game, there will then be a tutorial to introduce players to the game and allow them to grasp the intricate combat system. In our demo, the developers jumped a few levels to mission three, where Nero was exploring an underground labyrinth. The main combat engine will be familiar to anyone who's played the previous games, although there is a new emphasis on charge shots, airborne battles, and Nero's devil bringer moves.
The sword attacks now have three levels of strength, with the level determined by the length of time the attack button is held down. In addition to ground-based swordplay, Nero has an airborne dash move that allows him to plunge his sword into enemies in midair. We saw the devil bringer powers at this stage too, and they are not only used to pick up enemies and slam them on the ground, but they also allow Nero to scale great heights by grabbing onto mysterious blue orbs around the level. The powers allow Nero to conjure up ghostlike allies to help double his attacking power as well. When Nero swings his sword, a spirit appears behind him to perform a follow-up attack, while gun attacks are complemented by blue stars that take the same path.
Jumping through the air upside down while firing at enemies below--this is Devil May Crlright.
After seeing all these moves in action in the underground setting, the level opened up above ground and onto a snow-topped mountain. The snow-storm setting reminded us visually of Capcom's other recent action game, Lost Planet, but we unfortunately didn't get to see too much of it before another cutscene began. As Nero approaches a bridge leading up to a castle, the new character Gloria is revealed, launching herself down from the top of the castle above. She then proceeds to use a number of athletic moves to slay the enemies you didn't get a chance to slay while dodging their attacks, which gives Capcom an opportunity to show off what can only be described as the character's breast physics.
The final Nero level that we saw during our time in London was a jungle boss battle. The level starts with Nero riding a huge snakelike creature that's controlled by a female humanoid hiding within the head. Nero holds on as the creature weaves through the branches, but eventually he's forced to fight on foot against the huge monster. Occasionally, the woman at the head of the creature is exposed for you to fire bullets at, but the idea is to attack the creature's exposed underbelly when it goes into a spiderlike form. Once the underbelly is visible, Nero can go in and unleash his devil bringer to perform multiple attacks, as well as really inflict some damage to the creature.
The snow-capped mountain that leads up to the castle is spectacularly atmospheric.
As we previously mentioned, Dante will be playable halfway through the game, and we got to see one level featuring the series' stalwart. Series veterans will be pleased to hear that Dante remains pretty much unchanged in terms of control from previous games and lacks the new devil bringer powers that Nero uses. The character still uses four different attack styles: trickster, royal guard, gunslinger, and sword master. Also, he's still just as athletic as before. However, he will also have a couple of new tricks up his sleeve, including an uppercut that was described by the developers as a "shoryuken" or dragon punch move.
In addition to the conventional combat options, Dante has access to the coolest weapon in the game: Pandora's Box. Featuring a number of different attack modes, the weapon sums up the game's over-the-top style in seconds. Housed in a suitcase, Pandora's Box can transform into a huge airborne tank that rains down rockets on your enemies and open up into a superpowerful chaingun that will tear through anyone stupid enough to be in the vicinity. Finally, you can lay the suitcase on the ground and enemies will be consumed by its immense power.
Devil May Cry 4 is looking fantastic. There are some minor disappointments, particularly the fact that developers have completely ruled out a co-op two-player mode, but otherwise the game is shaping up to take the series to a whole new level of action. The game isn't slated for release until next year, so keep an eye out for more information on the game as we get it.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Devil May Cry 4
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Majesty 2 - The Fantasy Kingdom
Hero archers can fell enemies from a distance.
GameSpot: The original Majesty was an addictive blend of real-time strategy and fantasy role-playing. Eight years later, how are you expanding on the core concept in Majesty 2?
Alexey Kozyrev: The core concept is indirect control, and as such we are adding new "Incentive Flags" so that the indirect control of our heroes is smoother and better. Majesty fans will know what I mean by "Incentive Flags," but for those unfamiliar with the concept, players basically flag characters in the game in order to have certain actions like attacking, exploring, etc. performed.
In many other aspects we just want to keep the addictive gameplay of the first version while bringing it up to modern standards in terms of interface and gameplay. The past eight years have raised the RTS genre to the completely new level of usability. We want RTS gamers to feel comfortable in Majesty 2.
GS: It's always difficult as a new developer taking over an existing IP. What challenges have you run into so far?
AK: We were in touch with the original developers Cyberlore very early on and as soon as we had received all available material from Majesty 1 and the Northern Expansion--our vision for part two became very clear. We've all spent a good deal of time playing both games and the key challenge for us so far has been to ensure we design a multiplayer game with good balance. The first part was designed with a focus on the single-player campaign.
GS: Walk us through the city-building aspects of Majesty 2. The fantasy world is slightly different than settings in other empire-building games. What key structures will players need to construct to grow their budding kingdoms?
AK: The castle is located in the heart of the player kingdom and the number one goal is to defend the castle, because it houses his Royal Majesty. The heroes live in guilds, so players will require a great deal of guilds to quarter all heroes. The next step is to build a marketplace and smithy for these heroes, which will be used to buy new weapons, armor, and potions to serve his Majesty better and longer. If everything goes according to plan, the kingdom will attract new peasants and citizens. As a result the city will grow and prosper, and new buildings will appear to give the royal tax collectors much more gold.
GS: What really set Majesty apart from other top-down RTS games was the addition of heroes, like wizards, knights, and healers. What heroes will we see in Majesty 2?
AK: Players will be able to encounter all the classic fantasy hero types including but not limited to dwarves, wizards, paladins, and rogues. We will try to keep the culture and religion of Ardania, but will modify the heroes in comparison with Majesty 1. For example, players will find that the nomadic barbarians, Krolm adepts, have become mighty blade masters since centuries will have passed from events found in the first part.
GS: Of course, for every hero you need a villain. Tell us about some of the nefarious enemies in Majesty 2, other than the giant troll we saw rip apart a peaceful village with his club before taking a nap in the town square.
AK: I don't want to reveal too much about the villains at this stage, as this is one of the key elements of the game. The work is on track and we are busy balancing all villains to ensure they all have different behavior. I can reveal, however, that players will encounter many of the most memorable villains of Majesty 1, like Minotaur, Ratman, Shade, Vampire, and others.
GS: The Majesty 2 video trailer showed off a blindfolded archer in a baseball cap, a sort of Robin Hood/Daredevil hybrid. Seriously, who is this guy?
AK: That was just a high-level hero. The background story is that the hunters of Ardania can become such skilled archers, that it becomes impossible for them to miss and they need to blindfold themselves to keep challenged. As for the baseball cap--it's a fashion item that appeared in Ardania, when a mighty wizard summoned a powerful hero from another realm to slay a dragon. When the hero immediately fled back to his realm after receiving the business proposal, he lost the cap on the way.
GS: Heroes had a mind of their own in Majesty and often chose to mind their own business if not properly motivated to slay dragons and invade enemy empires. How have you updated the reward system to further motivate your heroes?
AK: As I mentioned above, we have added several new types of incentive flags, and while I can't go into the specifics about which options will be available to the players, I think the variety of choices will appeal to them.
GS: Last time you talked to us you mentioned hero parties were in the works. Can you create a fellowship of Super Friends to embark on epic quests? We're thinking a wizard, dwarf, ranger, elf, paladin...
AK: The player will be able to select which type of hero he would like in the party; however, high-level heroes will not want to make fellowships with new ones. In such cases they will be more likely to wait until the appropriate teammates come along and create parties with them.
GS: The original Majesty opted for single-player scenarios instead of a full-fledged campaign mode. What is the single-player structure of Majesty 2?
AK: We want to keep the scenario-based style of the single-player campaign; however, we will reward the player for accomplishing different levels with heroes and spells that can be used in coming battles.
A hero's home is his castle.
GS: We love the idea of grooming heroes to invade our buddies' kingdoms in multiplayer matches. How many kingdoms are you hoping to support in multiplayer?
AK: Our aim is to support to four players in the multiplayer mode. Even a modest number like four players will be able to create utter chaos on the map; adding as little as one additional player could make the situation uncontrollable. Here we feel we've managed to strike the right balance.
GS: Finally, what kind of player do you think will enjoy Majesty 2 the most?
AK: We are aiming to appeal to all RTS and Majesty fans, as well as gamers who just love the idea of a game that combines puzzle-solving and hero-leveling with a good portion of humor.
Friday, June 13, 2008
King's Bounty: The Legend
Combat in King's Bounty is turn-based and fraught with dragons.
We played through several hours of a demo version of King's Bounty and are pleased to report that fans of the old-school turn-based role-playing game should enjoy the familiar gameplay mechanics as well as a few new surprises. First we chose a mage from the three preset classes. There are no immediate player-customization options, but you will equip a number of items as well as pick and choose your way through skill trees moving forward. The mage specializes in magic, the warrior in combat, and the paladin dabbles in both. We went with the mage, simply because he had the coolest costume of the bunch.
Immediately you are thrust into the service of the king and told to undergo training with Iron Tooth Richard, a grizzled veteran soldier charged with teaching raw recruits. After enjoying a humorous text conversation with Richard, we started our first training test: to rescue the princess from the dragon. Movement throughout the gameworld is all in real time--simply point and click with your mouse to explore, pick up items, and converse with fellow citizens. Combat, on the other hand, brings you into a turn-based mode. Our mage didn't actually take to the battlefield himself. Instead, he had an army at his command with a number of unit types that fill five unit slots. In combat you may see a single peasant move across the honeycomb-shaped squares of the battlefield, but the number 27, for example, indicates there are really 27 peasants on the prowl for evil monsters.
We had a flaming-arrow magic attack available from the outset. It is only available once per turn and depletes the magic meter, but the powerful missile from the sky deals a lot of damage, and we couldn't resist using it over and over again against the wily dragons. The turns passed and the dragon blew fire at us, but the brave knight and his swordsmen proved victorious. The combat is slower paced, of course, but it's a nice throwback to the turn-based RPGs of old.
After passing Richard's tests, we entered the kingdom proper and met the king and his young daughter. We were enlisted as the king's treasure hunter for our ability to rustle up gold and told to go forth and collect the king's bounties. But first, we used the contents of our purse to replenish our unit slots with swordsmen and archers. As mentioned, Darion is a dangerous place.
On the adventure map, red dots indicate enemies. You can simply ride your horse around them and try to pick up crystals and gold littering the roadsides, or you can engage the enemies in battle. Then again, they may choose to engage you. Either way, the top-down adventure map reverts to the turn-based battle screen and you'll be forced to slay the enemies or perish. If you lose, you'll be returned to the castle, where you can purchase more units and replenish your ranks.
The demo version had plenty of invisible walls that kept us within a stone's throw of the castle, but there was one main quest available to dive into. Man-eating plants have invaded the area, making life miserable for a small village just outside the castle walls. The village leader told us to find the leader of the plants, a giant red plant, on the banks of nearby lake. Eventually we found the giant red plant and had a conversation with it. It seems that the soil of their native land was no longer "tasty," and the plants were forced to survive off "two-leggers..." or humans. In the branching dialogue tree we had the option to attack the monster at any time, but we chose instead to hear out its problems and return to the village leader and let him know the plants' predicament. He suggested we give the plant a cow to fertilize the plants' land, so we bought a cow, returned to the monster plant with the gift, and the monster promised not to eat the villagers anymore. Problem solved, quest log updated.
Choose your own path on skill trees based on your preferred play style. We like trying to kill everything that moves.Our action was limited to this small area, but we did see several other kingdoms on the map, including the Freedom Islands, Ellinia, Kordar, and Murok. The typical races are in play: humans, dwarfs, elves, orcs, undeads, and demons. Thankfully you'll be able to outfit yourself in a number of interesting ways to better fend off your enemies. There are item slots for weapons, helmets, armor, shields, boots, and belts, with an endless number of options. The first helmet we found was actually a clay flowerpot; our first shield a wheel from a cart. We found it's best to head to the castle shop for more powerful--and expensive--items.
So far, we've enjoyed the smooth battle animations and sense of humor in the numerous text conversations. King's Bounty: The Legend has already won several awards in its native Russia, and is slated for release in North America later this year. Until then, fans of old-school RPGs certainly have something to look forward to.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Captain Blood
ater this year, there will be Blood.
In the upcoming game by developer SeaWolf, Captain Blood is a pirate who repeatedly hacks and slashes British soldiers, Spanish soldiers, and other pirates in a traditional, 3D button masher. We briefly got our hands on the hand-to-hand combat in Captain Blood at publisher 1C's press event this week. The controls are simple: There are two attack buttons, a block button, a grapple button, and even a one-shot-one-kill pistol attack. By combining the attack buttons, you'll unleash a variety of deadly combos. Our favorite was when we knocked over an enemy, jumped on his chest, repeatedly punched him in the face, and then stabbed him in the heart with a sword--ouch. You'll also earn experience points and be able to unlock longer, more complicated and more powerful combos to use later.
The pistol proved a little unwieldy. There is no auto-targeting system, so you'll have to hope that your gun is facing an enemy when you decide to pull the trigger. You have unlimited ammo, but it takes about 20 seconds for your one-shot pistol to reload. Grappling can only be performed when a grappling icon appears on screen, so combat isn't nearly as dynamic as in such action games as Ninja Gaiden 2. Still, you can unleash an additional set of devastating combos and finishers when the icon actually does appear.
In our time with Captain Blood, we ran through a harbor front and swashbuckled our way through crowds of enemy soldiers armed with sabers longer than their own bodies. Our computer-controlled trusty sidekick Pitt accompanied us on the battlefield, which was impressively packed with a large number of enemies onscreen at one time.
nd your enemies to the deep with well-timed cannon fire.
We don't yet know how much, if any, exploration is included in Captain Blood, but there will be plenty of ship battles on the high seas to keep your attention. Wind and maneuvering skill will be significant factors as you attempt to send your enemies into the abyss for eternity. Speaking of eternity, Captain Blood has been in development for several years now, but 1C tells us you can expect to walk the plank on both the Xbox 360 and PC later this year.
Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason
I see dead people.
It's 1968 and the North Wind is trapped in the ice near the Soviet arctic station Pole 21. Meteorologist Alexander Nesterov is stranded on the ship--how he got there, we have no idea. Along with his standard talent as a meteorologist for predicting the weather in the Arctic (100 percent chance of cold), Nesterov is also able to sense the memories of the dead. And of the dead, there are plenty--12 crew members have died on board the North Wind, and Nesterov is in a unique position to enter their memories to set things right.
When Nesterov approaches one of the dead crew, he triggers a mental echo--a flashback of the final moments of the crewman's life. We saw one crewman who had an unfortunate fight with a shipping crane and, well, the crane won. During the mental echo, Nesterov sprinted to the crane control to move the deadly hook away from the crewman. You don't actually go back to save his life, but the spirit is sufficiently moved by your actions in the mental echo to help you solve the mystery onboard the North Wind and, then, go on to rest in peace.
Resources are scarce on the North Wind. We found a rifle and a few rounds of ammunition, but mostly, we had to rely on an ice axe or our mitts to fend off the creatures that inhabit the ship. Somehow, the North Wind has become infested with monsters--monsters that don't like you. One giant mummy creature tried to off us with an axe of his own, and later, another ice monster hurled blocks of ice at us.
In order to survive, you'll have to stay warm. There are pockets of heat scattered throughout the North Wind, from steam pipes to smoldering fires, which can be used to stabilize your body heat, displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. If you lose enough body heat, you won't even be able to perform the simplest of tasks. We futilely tried to open a door for five minutes before a developer kindly walked over and explained the body heat system.
Set in such a creepy atmosphere--a blend of The Thing, The Sixth Sense, and BioShock-- Cryostasis is poised to offer plenty of scares when it's released in 2009. We suggest you bundle up.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Street Fighter IV
While the arcade game on hand at the event had all characters playable in single and versus mode, there were some limits to how far we could go in the single-player mode. This was apparently done to preserve some surprises in the form of story elements and boss encounters. As a result, the single-player game booted us after a few matches and our first fight with one of the new characters. These new characters also appear to be minibosses which you'll face on the way to the classic Street Fighter II bosses of Balrog, Vega, Sagat and M. Bison.
When hopping into the game we noticed a few other modes selectable besides arcade, the most intriguing of which was a beginner mode which will apparently serve as some kind of tutorial for new players. This should be a handy feature for newcomers or vets looking to become reacquainted with their staple players. We didn't get a chance to try the mode, instead spending our time getting up to speed on the fighters the old fashioned way: getting knocked around until we got their moves and timing down.
Street Fighter IV's fighting system has been in a fairly perpetual state of tweaking since we last saw it at GDC. Feedback from US players and the test units that have made the rounds in Japan have led the team to refine IV's battle system quite a bit since we first tried it. Besides the expected timing tweaks, the team has actually changed subtle elements such as character collision detection. The game has eschewed the more modern approach of handling collision between polygons for old school collision boxes on the characters, which is more in line with the game's 2D roots. Throws are now performed by pressing light punch and kick at the same time. The new focus attack is tied to pressing medium punch and kick together. A quick tap gets off a quick focus attack that seemed to almost work like a parry. Holding down the buttons lets you charge up and unleash unblockable attacks. Taunting was tied to the hitting hard punch and kick buttons.
While some of the tweaking may sound odd it actually worked well as we played. We tried a little of everyone to get a feel for their handling. Timing had definitely changed but, after a bit of practice, we started to get the hang of things. The old characters handle pretty close to how they used to in previous Street Fighter games. Vets will notice a variety of changes to specific damage and range on the light, medium, and hard attacks that will require some getting used to. We also noticed some speed changes on some fighters, with the most notable during our play time being Vega. While the masked, prancing Spaniard was still fast, he didn't seem to be his old self. Rolling attacks weren't quite as fast as we would have hoped, which forced us to play him differently. As far as the new fighters go, they felt a bit odd, with some even having a bit of a hybrid feel. Crimson Viper still feels a bit like an SNK character. Newcomer Rufus, a roly poly ball of fury, has some interesting attacks that require a unique play style that emphasizes speed. Abel feels a bit like a faster Zangief, but lacks some of the Russian's power (with some Cody from Street Fighter Alpha 3 thrown in). Latin chef and wrestler El Fuerte reminded us of Alpha 3's R. Mika was noticeable for his crazy throws and run attacks.
The visuals in the game are impressive--not so much because of some amazing displays of polygons and special effects, but more for their style. The characters all have sharp designs, with the classic crew featuring faithful updates to their original looks. The new blood has some slightly more contemporary touches, but otherwise fit in pretty well. All the fighters now sport very fluid animation that isn't showy or intrusive to gameplay, giving combat a good feel. The backgrounds take the same approach and include updates to the classic scenery while adding some new ones. A key element now is the wealth of ambient animation you'll see which keeps the backgrounds much busier than their 2D counterparts. The various special effects used for fireballs and the like have a much more stylish look to them, which still manage to hark back to the original. The super, ultra combos, and ex attacks all get a touch of flair to distinguish them from normal attacks which are one of many nice touches we noticed. Overall, the game has a nice sense of style that's got a much more cinematic flair than previous games which is giving Street Fighter IV a winning layer of polish that agrees with us.
The audio in the game is almost as tightly crafted as the visuals. The various fighters yell out the usual battle cries while fighting, as well as taunts. The action is framed by a mix of tunes that includes redone versions of classic tracks as well as all new music. We liked what we heard of the game's soundtrack thanks to the old and new tunes fitting in with each other well. The only weak spot right now is the game's announcer, which continues the unfortunate Capcom tradition (in recent years anyway) of using reedy-voiced actors. Yes, we still miss the bass inflected announcer from Street Fighter II or even Street Fighter III. While this announcer doesn't grate as much as say the incredibly peppy guy from Street Fighter Alpha 3 or even some of the later Marvel fighters, we can't say we're fans.
To further work us into frenzy for Street Fighter IV, Capcom offered up some intriguing bits of info on what's being planned for the home version of the game. Capcom is adding proper animated prologues and endings for each character, as well as the expected network multiplayer mode. To whet our appetites for what to expect, Capcom showed off a bit of anime done in the style of the animation being done for the home version of the game. The sequence focused on Ryu, and featured Akuma, Ken, and his sensei . The animated segments are meant to shed light on the fighters and bring players up to date on what everyone's been up, as the story is set between the events of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter III.
Classic characters look great in Street Fighter IV.
Based on what we played, Street Fighter IV is shaping up fantastically. The game looks and moves great. The detailed characters and smooth animations give combat a pleasing fluidity. The combat itself is an accessible and challenging experience that veteran players should enjoy digging into. The technical aspects of fighting may require vets to make some adjustments to their fighting styles with some characters, and the new characters don't quite fit in with the old school fighters. We're not totally sold on the action being that accessible to newcomers to the series, but if Capcom can find a way to ease new combatants into the action the game may have a widespread appeal. The only downside to all the news is that we're not officially getting the arcade release in the States, although we're willing to bet some machines will find their way over to a few spots, forcing most of us to wait for the home release which is still a way off. Street Fighter IV is set to release this summer in Japanese and Asian arcades, with the game due in other parts of the world some time after.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Far Cry 2 Hands-On
Things blow up real nice in Far Cry 2.
Far Cry 2's story has seemingly no ties to the original game, even if the protagonists in both games have the standard "square-jawed white guy" look about them. In the original, you fought it out in a tropical setting looking to rescue a mysterious woman from harm. In the sequel, you play as a mercenary whose goal is to take down an arms dealer known as The Jackal. Little is known about him, except that he's profiting greatly while perpetuating a conflict in the African savannah where the game takes place. As you hunt down The Jackal, you'll be caught in the middle of various and conflicting interests of multiple factions involved in the war. Which sides you work with and against will go a long way in determining your path through this multifaceted storyline.
The demo on hand at the Ubisoft event began overlooking a green, murky-looking swamp. Our first goal was to meet up with our point of contact, Frank, in a shack near the stating point. He was looking for our help in an operation he was planning, and our portion of it was to take down a nearby radio antenna that was broadcasting propaganda for one of the local factions.
After agreeing to the mission from Frank, we also met up with Warren, one of many non-player characters you'll run into in the game. Far Cry 2's open-ended nature is designed so that you can play the game any way you want--that extends to which characters you help in the game and which ones you ignore. If you decide to help out a character, he might be available to you later as a buddy. By chatting with Warren, he ensured his assistance should things get too hairy out in the field. It wouldn't be long before we needed to take him up on his offer.
As with the original game, vehicles look to play a big role in the missions of Far Cry 2. As soon as we left Frank's shack with the mission in mind, we hopped into a jeep (loaded with a convenient mounted machine gun on the rear) and began speeding toward our destination. Though you always have a map on hand to check for your mission locales, one cool touch is that the occasional street signs you run into in villages will illuminate in the direction of your goal. We made a few turns and, around the last bend, came to our first objective: a walled enemy encampment full of bad guys that were just begging to be filled full of bullets.
See? Told you.
The problem with helping those enemies fulfill their bullet-riddled destiny, of course, is Far Cry 2's clever AI--one that demands equal measures of stealth and brutality to overcome. We tried the first encampment several times during the course of our demo with Far Cry 2--everything from the sneaking in and trying to keep things quiet (which didn't hold for long) to blasting though the front gates in our jeep and trying to run down enemies like they were dogs in the streets. Neither approach we took was met with perfect success. Thanks to enemies who were keen to take cover and deadly shots, we ended up dying several times in the process.
It's lucky for us, then, that we had Warren on our side. Because we chatted with Warren before the mission began and he had pledged his support to us, Warren was on hand to revive us, get us moving again, and give us a gun to continue the fight when we managed to get ourselves shot up in the mission. While you can only use these "buddy save" moments once, you can always go back and talk to your friend again to reset it for the next time you run into trouble.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
at Ubidays.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway will plot out 10 vital days in the lives of a small group of American soldiers. The level that we saw was called Black Friday, taking place in Holland in September 1942. A vital road through the town of Veghal has been compromised by enemy forces, and while it's a doomed mission, your job is to take back the town so that supplies can make it through the country. The level was characterised by the torrential rain that was pouring throughout the town--something that actually happened on the day in question. With lines of trucks burning away and filling the air with soot, it's a gloomy and overbearing environment, making the Black Friday title all the more appropriate.
While Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway was a little rough around the edges when we previously saw it, this build looked incredibly polished. Now entering the final stages of development, the game is running at a solid frame rate and boasts some excellent graphical flourishes, particularly when it comes to rain. While the effect is a little overdone, it's the most impressive demonstration of rain in a game since Project Gotham Racing 4. You can really see the water pouring over every surface, washing over brickwork and vehicles while weapons actually feel soggy when you're using them. Street lighting looks particularly good, as the rain disperses the light in a highly convincing manner.
The cover mechanics are key to Brothers in Arms, and as long as you're hugging a surface, you're usually safe from harm. Enemies employ the exact same tactics, however, and you'll either have to flank around them or use explosives to break through the cover or flush them out. You can do this yourself, tossing a grenade over the top of a wall, for example, or you can order one of your men to blast through sandbags with a rocket launcher. Working with your team is the key to success in Hell's Highway, and it's very difficult to kill even a solitary soldier without it.
Gearbox has been very vocal about its commitment to historical accuracy, and you'll be able to unlock historical facts about the levels that you're playing as you progress. In addition to this, the developers revealed that they'll be releasing two books alongside the game. One is a story that will fill in two days from the 10-day campaign, and the other is a factual account of the events on which the game is based. The former will be out on July 29 and the latter in September, and they're both written by Colonel Antel, the military advisor who works alongside the developers at Gearbox.
We saw the Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game at Ubidays, and while both versions boasted the same visual effects, the PC version definitely had the edge when it came to the water. Nevertheless, the game is shaping up nicely, and we're looking forward to finally playing the finished game later this year. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is being released on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in August 2008.
Galactic Civilizations II
If you are a Gal Civ addict you'll be excited about the new tech trees provided for each of the game's 12 playable civilizations. Where the Terrans, Drengin, Yor, Thalans, and pals used to share a single tech tree that made all of the civs go about their galactic gallivanting in a similar style, each now has branching-off points that emphasize unique traits. This means that you're now able to play civilizations very differently, as well as make the good guys really good and the bad guys really bad. With the evil Drengin, for example, you're now free to indulge your inner De Sade by spending credits on such horrific goodies as Xeno slavery, slave canyons, and the always entertaining visions of agony philosophy. The murderous Drengin offshoot Korath clan is actually even nastier, with such techs as malicious bargaining, wretched cloning, and dark influence. Terrans, on the other hand, can be happier expansion-minded imperialists with such specialties as majesty, cultural domination, and stellar folding. Extra detail and history have been tossed into each tech as well, giving you insight into each civilization's identity and, in some cases, reinforcing their alien natures.
Ascend to a higher plane and win games with the help of the new Ascension crystals.
New visuals have been grafted onto the original game's star and planetary maps to give each civilization a distinct look. Each race now has differently styled ships and planetary buildings, lending further unique character to the civs, as well as boosting replay value. Planetary surfaces look different now depending on who's in charge. Drengin worlds come off like utter hellholes, complete with slave pits in place of factories and slaveling imagination labs in place of research facilities. Terran planets look a lot like Earth with standard factories, farms, and research facilities. Thalan worlds are bizarre and time-focused thanks to the temporal entertainment, as well as the incredibly powerful hyperion matrices. Ships have also been reworked with more polygons and texture detail, resulting in a much more varied range of vessels that appear more realistic. The cosmetic differences between the ships in last year's Dark Avatar and the ships in Twilight of the Arnor border on astounding, with most of the flat, featureless ship surfaces of the old game being replaced by the sort of detailed, industrial hardware that you would expect to find on a galaxy-spanning vessel. Yet even with these vast improvements, system requirements haven't been ramped up; the game runs just as fast and just as smoothly as before.
Other Twilight of the Arnor additions are low-key. The new campaign is an enjoyable wrap to the Dread Lords saga that tells the story of the Terrans finding the last survivor of the ancient Arnor. This ancient super-race put the Dread Lords in their place many thousands of years ago, which means that you're now relying on their tips to do so again, as well as free up the galaxy for unimpeded wars a-plenty between the Drengin and, well, everybody else. A new victory mode called Ascension has been introduced for sandbox play. Here, you can trigger the endgame by discovering five randomly placed crystal anomalies on the map and building star bases around them to retrieve their mystical goodness. If you hold them long enough to ascend to a higher plane of existence, you win the game. There are a couple of significant issues with this victory condition, however. First of all, Ascension crystals are often ignored by rival races, even if they're located right under their noses in key solar systems. So there rarely seems to be much competition for what is ostensibly the most important resource in the entire galaxy. Second, enemy empires don't seem to have an issue with you setting up star bases around crystals until you're about 150 weeks from victory, whereupon they suddenly notice what's going on and declare war on you, one after the other. This seems very artificial--like you're simply triggering a countdown instead of dealing with intelligent rivals. This lengthy delay also gives you lots of time to put together a massive fleet and create defenses powerful enough to fend off almost any sort of assault. textures makes each race's vessels seem like they really could boldly go where no man has gone before.
Military action has also been enhanced--at least in theory--with the addition of terror stars, which are rather familiar-looking planet busters that can blow up a world as quick as you can say "Alderaan." They're far too time-consuming and a little too easily destroyed to be a true galaxy-beater, though. Immense galaxies have been added to the list of map choices in sandbox games, providing the option of setting up epic matches that can last for weeks. This option is a bit treacherous for anyone accustomed to previous, saner, galaxy sizes because you have so much space to cover that you can easily overextend yourself early in the game and wind up in major financial difficulty. Editors now allow you to alter every aspect of the game. Numerous interface tweaks make it easier to track technologies, track finance, and even set up automatic ship building whenever new techs are revealed. About the only part of the original game design left untouched is multiplayer, which remains MIA and will probably continue to be absent until Galactic Civilizations III from the looks of things.
Adding this much new life to what should be a very familiar game is an amazing achievement. While no single addition here can be said to make this expansion, the scope of the subtle yet wide-ranging changes greatly improve the Galactic Civilizations II experience. Before Twilight of the Arnor, players could stick to the Terrans and encounter everything that the game had to offer. Now, you deal with something new each and every time you go galaxy conquering with a different alien race, which freshens up a game that was in need of exactly this kind of facelift.