Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

The apparent focus of the Dawn of War II team's efforts so far is the single-player campaign, which will put you in control of a small number of Space Marine squads, each captained by a "sergeant" character--essentially, exceptionally powerful "hero" units, whose names, personalities, and abilities will become second nature to you as you carefully follow their progress throughout the campaign. This is because these squads will basically be your entire army throughout the campaign--there won't be any harvesting of resources to build another barracks to churn out more grunts like in a traditional real-time strategy game. You also won't be led around by the nose from preset mission to preset mission as in other, more-linear strategy campaigns. Instead, you'll travel throughout the universe in your battle cruiser with your squads, rescuing the various worlds that have been invaded by aliens by accepting various missions that appear on each planet. Your primary objectives will be either to defend a specific area from an incoming invading force, or to assassinate the commander of a hostile army that has already captured the zone.

Boy, that sure is a nice church back there. Oh, wait. Those dudes look pissed...
Interestingly, the campaign will have an open-ended structure that won't require you to successfully finish every single mission before you get a chance to watch the closing credits. Instead, you'll be able to head to any distressed planet at any time and take any outstanding rescue missions--each will have a briefing with the details of your objectives, as well as a list of the experience and item rewards you'll receive at the end, which will probably influence some players' decisions on which missions to go on next. According to lead designer Jonny Ebbert, it will be possible to fail to complete the majority of missions in the campaign and still complete the campaign--like in a real war, you can't always win every battle. Nor will you need to complete every objective--most missions will have various side quests that you can choose to complete or skip. Often, these side quests will yield extremely powerful rewards, such as capturing control of a territory marker or aquiring exceptionally powerful weapons or armor that you can use to equip your units. Unlike in the original game, where control points were small flags planted in the ground, in Dawn of War II, they'll appear in the gameworld as huge imperial shrines or communications towers that, when captured, grant persistent morale bonuses to your units and may provide other benefits in-game as well. For instance, a captured imperial shrine can be used to restore the health of injured troops or as a site to commission reinforcements--replacements for any of the fallen foot soldiers that follow your sergeants.
Your sergeants themselves may also fall in battle, but they can be revived by surviving units as long as you have someone left who can walk. They'll also gain improved strength and survivability as you pick up dozens of different items and weapons that they can equip, including miscellaneous items in an "accessories" slot that can contain anything from combat bonuses that make your assault marine hero Avitus an exceptionally deadly sniper, to frag grenades that can blast away cover (and any enemies cowering behind said cover), to an orbital strike item that calls in fire from the sky when you need heavy-duty artillery. Your sergeants will start the game with standard-issue equipment and very few slots to carry it in, though over time they'll recover better items and unlock more slots to carry them in.
In addition, your sergeants will gain experience levels--this lets you develop them further, since you'll gain a single point at each level to invest in one of four key statistics: health, ranged attacks, melee attacks, and "energy," which is used to trigger each unit's special powers. Each of these four attributes has several higher-level powers embedded along the advancement path that can be unlocked with enough invested points. The melee powerhouse force commander Thaddeus, for instance, may eventually unlock a "taunt" power that draws the ire of nearby enemy units if you spend enough points in his health attribute. In addition, each sergeant will have a unique set of these special powers that will unlock with different investments of level points. Though you'll gain a substantial number of experience points throughout the campaign, you won't be able to gain enough levels to max out all four attributes or unlock all powers for all sergeants. So you'll need to choose wisely, though the development team at Relic hopes that this character development system, along with the open-ended campaign structure, will encourage you to replay the game once or twice.
During our time with the game, we watched a demonstration level in motion in actual play (as opposed to the tightly scripted demonstration version we saw some months ago). The demo level took place in a densely wooded jungle environment, which is new to the Dawn of War series, and showed the sequel's new weather system in the form of a continuous downpour. Our squads of Space Marines headed into battle against an entrenched army of orks who were spread out through the jungle, in many cases behind cover or garrisoned in the occasional guard tower.
Throughout the demonstration we saw several instances where judicious use of cover and careful squad management made all the difference in battle. For instance, at the outset, the squads entered the ork installation from the south, where an ork "shoota" unit with a powerful minigun defended the perimeter from a tower building that afforded it excellent defense. Because a frontal assault would have meant certain death, we used the scout marine squad's high-powered sniper shot ability to pick him off, then scrambled in our other troops to sweep up the rest of the perimeter guards. At another point, we hid ourselves behind a high wall that the orks could not see past, setting up an ambush by using our flying squad's "squad jump" ability to leap over the wall in a single bound, knocking most orks off their feet while our gunners hurried into a nearby tower to entrench themselves and rain down fire from above.
Pulling off daring feats like these won't always be easy, since Relic is taking special care to try to make enemies smart enough to seek cover themselves and since all cover in the game can be destroyed by explosive blasts, such as from grenades. In addition, to keep players on their toes and give them a different, challenging experience, the assassination missions will often end in spectacular boss fights against exceptionally powerful units with abilities that attack and damage all units in a specific area, such as the ork warboss we saw in motion today (which had the ability to set explosive charges in a row along the ground and to create a localized shock wave around itself to send our soldiers flying).

Your odds of surviving this little altercation are much better with friends at your side.
Though the dynamic of destructible cover adds a whole new dimension to the game, Relic's fans have apparently been most vocal about the game's multiplayer, which, though not discussed in great detail at E3, will incorporate support for Games for Windows Live, as we revealed in our recent exclusive interview. Relic representatives explained that Microsoft's service offers the features that the team was looking for in terms of reliability, ease of use, and quick-matching to join up with and stay online with friends. That Games for Windows Live also supports achievements doesn't hurt either--the game will definitely feature those as well.
Dawn of War II clearly has a lot to offer, including a fresh, new approach to an open-ended, role-playing-like campaign and its destructible cover dynamic. Stay tuned to GameSpot for more coverage of this promising strategy sequel.

Far Cry 2

This can't be Far Cry 2, can it? Deep in the African wilderness, we slowly creep though the darkness, the stars our only source of light. Using tall grass and bushes for cover, we silently approach a well-guarded compound, an enemy refilling station. The guards who aren't asleep huddle near a fire, idly chatting while we sneak to high ground. From this vantage point we can spy on the entire area, including each guard's position and the location of several fuel tanks. But something's wrong. It's quiet. Too quiet. Where are the booming explosions, the deadly firefights, and the dune-buggy drive-bys we've seen in all of the past demos of Far Cry 2, all of which led us to believe this would be one of the most explosive shooters of the year?
Don't worry, we're purposely choosing to sneak around this camp Sam Fisher-style to highlight the differences between night and day combat, differences that are like night and, um, day. Sure, we could fire laser-guided rockets into the camp or ghost-ride an explosive-laden jeep into our enemies, but then you wouldn't get to see some of the unique gameplay opportunities available only at night. First, as it usually happens at night, it's dark. Guards will have a more difficult time seeing you; they'll gather around sources of light such as campfires, and many will retire to their bunks for a good night's sleep. On this night, we avoided the patrols, sneaked from shadow to shadow, and placed improvised explosive devices on the station's fuel tanks. We retreated back to our hilltop vista, pressed a red button, and witnessed a breathtaking sight: a gas station exploding in a giant ball of flame that lit up the night sky like the Fourth of July. Now that's the Far Cry 2 we know and love.

Day or night, a machete hurts.
With 50 square kilometers of African desert, jungle, and savannah as your playground, developer Ubisoft Montreal wants to ensure that you play Far Cry 2 however you want to play it. Whether in close or from afar, silent or guns blazing, at two in the morning or two in the afternoon, this virtual world is your oyster. The few remaining guards who survived our explosive ambush were too busy losing their minds as their world went up in flames to notice a solitary figure in the dark, stealing a jeep from under their noses. With our new wheels, we headed to the final mission objective: a water-supply pipeline diverting water from a local lake and village to pay off arms dealers.
If this sounds familiar, it is; the pipeline mission is the same demo we've played twice before, only set in the daytime. This time, at least, we get to play at night and have at our disposal the weapons of a silent assassin that showcase stealthy gameplay: an MP-5 SD silenced submachine gun, several IEDs, and a scoped dart rifle that fires rhino tranquilizers, good for one shot, one coma. The dart rifle is especially powerful at night because it doesn't give off any muzzle flash that would act as a flashing white bull's-eye on your chest. We climbed a nearby hill and used the handy monocular to zoom in on enemy sniper positions, machine-gun nests, and ammunition dumps. These were immediately tagged and added to the area map, which we used to devise a quick plan of entry. From the hill, we put a sniper to sleep with a dart to the neck, and began picking off foes one by one.
Silent or not, it takes only a few dead bodies for guards to zero in on your position, a threat that is also indicated by the intensifying musical score. The subtle tones of "infiltration music" are replaced by a tense African tribal beat to let you know that guards are looking for you. As the action escalates further, so too does the score, although in the middle of a pitched firefight everything is hard to hear over a cacophony of explosions and gunfire. We didn't let anything escalate further as we picked off two guards, circled around to the other side of the camp, and picked off two more. As you can imagine, watching your friends die in front of you from the effects of a tranquilizer overdose is frightening indeed, and the guards freaked out accordingly. When only one remained, this triggered what Ubi Montreal referred to as the last-man-standing syndrome. The last man alive in a given area will pump himself up by cursing, high on adrenaline and fear, sort of like "that guy" in every horror movie who screams, "You want me? Come and get me!" So, with an MP-5 bullet to the face, we got him.
Far Cry 2
Decieve thy enemies.Watch Download
If you prefer nighttime gameplay, you can head to any of the many safe houses in the game and take a nap, setting your alarm for the wee hours of the morning. Whereas the day and night cycle in Grand Theft Auto IV runs at about 24 minutes of actual gameplay for every in-game day, Far Cry 2 gives you six hours of gameplay for every in-game day. This ensures that your stealthy missions aren't ruined by sunrise after six minutes of action. Then again, you never have to sleep in your hunt for the Jackal, the infamous arms dealer who is enabling two rival factions, the United Front for Liberation and Labour, and the Alliance for Popular Resistance, to tear the region apart.
Before ending the demo, we just couldn't resist whipping out the flamethrower and lighting an entire village aflame. The fire effects are even more dramatic at night as flames quickly spread across the area in the direction of the wind. One of our NPC buddies, Frank, had joined us by now, so we decided to put to the test Ubi Montreal's claim that any NPC can be killed at any time. Ubi Montreal was right. With a quick blast from the flamethrower, Frank went down. Had we continued playing, he would not have been available to help us out of a jam, initiate extra side quests, or engage in witty Irish banter.

That's the Far Cry 2 we know and love.
However, had we continued playing, we do know that we could have cashed in conflict diamonds to purchase weapon upgrades. Each firearm will degrade over time, which is denoted visually with tarnish and rust stains. As you use them, weapons will increasingly jam and misfire, although some, such as AK assault rifles, are more reliable than others, such as M16s. If your rocket misfires, it will spin at your feet like a defective bottle rocket before exploding in your face. Hint: run. Conflict diamonds will net you bigger and better guns (M-79 grenade launchers and AS-50 .50 caliber sniper rifles, to name a few), and even crates that provide unlimited refills of new guns. See a spot of rust on your MAC-10 machine pistol? Head to a safe house and grab a new one. The last thing you want in the middle of a fight is a jam.
For more on Far Cry 2, be sure to check out our exclusive interview with Ubisoft creative director Clint Hocking, as well as a new trailer, both packed with fresh gameplay footage. Far Cry 2 is set to explode on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 this fall, and we can't wait.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Death Knight

PARIS--We've seen a fair bit of what's to come in Wrath of the Lich King, the second expansion to Blizzard's mammoth MMO World of Warcraft; we've slain foes in Northrend in a recent visit to Blizzard's Southern California offices, run through the Howling Fjord at last year's BlizzCon, and heard all about the changes to the raiding system. We'd also heard a lot about the game's new class, the Death Knight, but hadn't been able to actually play with one--until now.
Before we get into the heart of the matter, let's recap. When you get into the expansion, you will be able to create a Death Knight if you have a character of level 55 or higher, but you will only be able to have one per account per server, according to the latest information from Blizzard. Unlike other classes, this character can be any race you wish--which is likely to annoy those who take their lore seriously.
After creating a Death Knight you're dumped into in the middle of the Plaguelands, the scourge-ravaged area home of the ruined city of Stratholme, to the east of Tirisfal Glades, home of WOW's undead.
Your Death Knight starts life at level 55--that's five levels below the pre-Burning Crusade level cap--with a selection of mostly uncommon gear (greens), with a rare (blue) weapon. The selection of spells is limited; you have one "presence" available, blood, which boosts damage by 15 percent and heals you to the tune of 4 percent of the damage you do. The most obvious difference as you enter the world is your character portrait; surrounding your portrait and health bar is the blade of a vicious-looking sword, with six glowing, coloured runes embossed on the blade beneath your health bar.

All Death Knights look set to start with the same set of gear, and it looks mean.
The runes represent the three new types of spell castable by the Death Knight, as we'd previously been told. These are essentially global cooldowns for those classes of spell, with two bites at the cherry--in the initial setup, at least. Some hybrid skills use runes from different schools, and ensuring you're using all your runes as much as possible looks likely to be the key to maximising damage with your Death Knight.
Of the skills we got to try during our play session, Death Grip was probably the most novel and useful. While it dealt no damage, it acts as a lasso--cast it on enemies within 30 yards and they are instantly teleported next to you and taunted into attacking you for the next three seconds.
When you first enter the world with your Death Knight you have no talent points to spend and a very limited array of skills, but thankfully this is rather rapidly corrected as you reach Light's Hope Chapel and meet the Death Knight trainer--the aptly named Siouxsie the Banshee--along with a few other associated NPCs. You won't have to walk all the way, though; as a Death Knight you start life with a summonable epic mount. Tooled up with 45 talent points to spend you can take advantage of the three skill trees, though there aren't many additional skills available until you clock up a few more levels.
At level 55 the play mechanic for all three trees is fundamentally the same; you will still do most of your damage at melee range, with a small number new skills available from each talent tree. We found the Frost route to be the most effective at level 55, with talents to increase your critical strike chance and attack speed in abundance letting you tear through enemies at and just above your level with relative ease. Frost Strike will become your weapon of choice, as it converts your next melee swing into a powerful frost blow. The area-of-effect Howling Blast is useful when you're in a tight spot, as it deals treble damage to frozen targets, and deals frost damage to all hostile targets in a large radius.
The Frost tree also lets you give your weapon a temporary icy enchantment, which adds frost damage to your attacks and gives your melee blows a chance to lower your enemies' frost resistance, as well as imbuing your weapon with a nifty blue glow. This, combined with the red glow imbued from one of the speed-boosting talents, makes the Death Knight a rather impressive-looking foe as he slashes those before him.
The Blood tree is more useful in parties, with abilities to improve your Blood Presence, boosting your total health and those of your party, as well as granting the useful Mark of Blood. This spell will have particular use in instances and party running, as it grants your entire party 10 percent of their maximum health when a marked creature dies, as well as transferring 5 percent of the healing done to the marked creature to all your party members.
Health is a particular focus of talents in the Blood tree; Blood Gorged boosts your damage by up to 10 percent when you have over 75 percent of your maximum hit points. There are also talents that boost your attack power based on your total armour, and ones that increase the health and strength of you and your party when your Blood Presence is activated.
The top of the Blood tree also provides some fun bonuses. Heart Strike reduces your target's health by 20 percent for 30 seconds, and Dancing Rune Weapon can double your melee damage for a certain amount of time by creating a replica of your main weapon that mimics your attacks for up to a minute without the need for any additional runes or action on your part.
The final tree we got to play with was Unholy. This is reminiscent of the skills attributed to the Necromancer in Diablo II, and looks likely to come into its own at higher levels when you can summon minions to fight by your side. It brings back the old favourite spell Corpse Explosion, as well as boosting the strength of you and your summoned minions and increasing the damage and effects of your disease-related spells.
Runic Power is the one new mechanic with the Death Knight we are yet to cover. It is essentially a hybrid between energy and combo points and is required for a range of impressive moves. It is displayed via a small arc-shaped meter to the right of your character portrait. When the meter is full the entire blade that backs your portrait and rune bar glows blue to let you know it's time to unleash all hell on whatever poor beastie you're beating.
Runic Power decays with time and is generated as you burn up runes when casting spells--with talents available in all trees that boost power gain from certain skills--and is used up as you call in certain skills. These either consume all Runic Power available in one hit--Death Coil converts it all into a powerful shadow blast--or drain it slowly to maintain a spell's effect. One such slow-draining skill allows you to summon a gargoyle from the heavens that exists for as long as you have Runic Power available (or up to a minute). Combined with skills that boost your speed and critical strike chance as you fight, these skills look likely to make the Death Knight a fearsome force once he or she gets going.
We look forward to sitting down with the game for an extended period and reporting back on the next 25 levels' worth of skills and talents, and how the gameplay changes for the Death Knight as you become more powerful. Stay tuned for more information.