Here’s something you don’t see everyday. SOE is giving fans a chance to animate their favorite heroes and villains for the upcoming DC Universe Online MMO. All you have to do is head over to the DCUO fan page on Facebook starting December 7, 2009. All the tools needed to make your own animations can be found there as well a way to view and vote on the entries submitted by others.

“The DCUO/Mass Animation contest takes a part of the game out of the development studio and puts it in the hands of fans, an empowering opportunity for our community,” said John Smedley, president of SOE. “Players will have a chance through qualified contest submissions to be involved with the game’s development at a deeper level than ever before by animating actions for in-game heroes and villains.”

All the tools that animators will need to collaborate on this project, including a special edition of Autodesk Maya 3D Animation software, storyboards, designs and fully-rigged 3-D models will be provided to contest entrants and accessed through the Mass Animation application on the DCUO Facebook fan page. Participating animators will upload their contest submissions back to the application for viewing, voting and sharing with their friends. New to the contest this year will be the Mass Animation iPhone app, which gives people a new way to view and vote on submissions. Qualified contest winners will receive cash or other prizes. Each week, voters and a panel of judges will help determine what shots qualify as the “best” and will be eligible for voter prizes.

With Sam Fisher’s return fastly approaching, Ubisoft has released the second behind the scenes trailer for Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction. In “Behind Closed Doors Part 2″ the developers of Splinter Cell Conviction give you an inside look at how the Israeli martial art Krav Maga and real-life firearm techniques inspired Conviction’s new gameplay. You’ll also learn about Sam’s newest toys such as EMP grenades and improvised gadgets and get a look at how the storyline will be taken in surprising new directions following the tragic events of Double Agent.

Though the announcement comes a little later than expected, Bioware and EA shocked no one by confirming a limited Collector’s Edition for Mass Effect 2. The Collectors’ Edition of Mass Effect 2 comes in a premium, tin case and includes the full version of the game, a 48-page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2” book, Issue 1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes and making-of videos. In addition, the Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition will include unique in-game weapons and armor that can only be obtained by purchasing this version.

Releasing alongside the standard edition of the game on both PC and Xbox 360, gamers can expect to play Mass Effect 2 on January 26, 2010 in North America. With the Mass Effect Collector’s Edition being hard to come by and the recently released Dragon Age: Origins Collector’s Edition being only briefly available for pre-order through traditional retail shops; gamers interested in this special may want to jump on their local stores quickly.

In a time when military first-person shooters have gone the route of stylish arcade action, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising looks to offer something to military sim purists.  Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis was a PC game developed by Bohemia Interactive Studio and  published by Codemasters in the early 2000’s on PC and later on for the original XBOX.  Back then it was easily one of the better realism based first-person shooters on the market.  Now all of these years later, and after a falling out between developer and publisher, Codemasters themselves developed and release Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising utilizing a different game engine and promising more immersion.  Does this new Operation Flashpoint game rise to the occasion or will it sink to the depths of obscurity?

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising’s story is a mixture of fact and fiction much like most other military shooters today.  The game is set on an island called Skira, which is based on an actual island called Kiska, but more on that later.  In-game, Skira is  set off of the coast of Japan and is a Russian territory.  Once a previously unknown vastness of gas and oil resources are discovered it becomes a point of contention between Russia and China.  Fighting breaks out over these resources and of rightful ownership of the territory causing Russia to request assistance from America.  The Chinese take over the island and it is the American allies job to retake Skira while Russia forces are busy defending their own borders from Chinese forces.

Daring to be different in a marketplace of arcade-like action games is a bold step for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.  Make no mistakes, there will be no successful running and gunning tactics to be had in this game.  At it’s core operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a simulation of war.  Tactics, dishing out the proper squad commands, recon, and lots of sneaking from point A to B are the keys to success here.  Or maybe the better way to put it is the key to not dying multiple times.  Unlike other military based games out now all it takes is one good shot to kill you.  You are not a Super Soldier or some action hero here.  Get shot in the head, you’re restarting at the last checkpoint.  Get shot in the leg, forget about sprinting.  And there’s even a dynamic in which players must dress wounds to save themselves from bleeding to death.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising puts a decent amount of  features on the plate for gamers, some executed well and some not so well.  Squad tactics are accessed via a branching command ring.  Proper use of the command ring takes a little time getting used to for those not up on military lingo.  There’s the usual Rules of Engagement, Defend, Assault, and other useful commands.    They work good and fine most of the time, but there are a few A.I. flubs that occur from time to time.  But once players get the hanf of it all they will be flanking enemies and taking objectives with ease.  Objectives come in the form of primary and secondary objectives, the latter not necessary to be completed to pass a mission.  With the massive landscape of Skira to traverse during missions players will be tempted to wander about the island trying to see if they can find invisible walls.  Unfortunately, such exploration brings forth no fruit as enemies only seen to appear in areas specific to the current mission being played.  This takes away from the idea that Skira is a persistent game world that’s alive without the player’s interaction.  Weapons come in a good variety and all have a different and realistic feel to them.  Unfortunately, players cannot tweak or modify their weapon loadouts prior to a mission.  Instead the player is left to their default loadout unless they can find the other weapons on dead bodies of weapon’s caches found on the island terrain.  The lack of options like these are somewhat of a no-no in today’s gaming and hopefully Codemasters’ recently announced patch will fix this among other issues.  Vehicles are plentiful in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising and come in 50 varieties of land, water, and air.  Jump in a vehicle and squadmates will all pile in as well for the ride.  Vehicles are fun to use, but tend to have awkward control physics.  This may be part due to the fact that the game run on the Ego engine, an enhanced version of the Neon engine which ran Colin Mcrae: DiRT.  Not a bad transition for a racing game engine to a military sim.

As before mentioned, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising was developed on the Ego engine.  Graphically, the game looks good and runs pretty smoothly.  Character models are well made, but textures could use some work in places.  Vehicles out of everything could stand some visual polish.  Soldiers look authentic and animate well, but when seen up close it’s very noticeable that most models look exactly alike.  A truckload of Marines will have twins sitting beside one another.  The same goes for NPCs in the villages on the island.  There’s really no good reason for this type of thing by today’s gaming standards.  Guns and the reloading animations are authentic as they are not quick and will make the player wary of reloading with half a clip in the middle of a firefight.  Explosions and fire effects do look good in-game.  But the real star of the Ego engine is the island of Skira itself.  Codemasters took the actual island of Kirska and recreated its topology in-game for Skira.  So this fictional island share the exact same landscape as it’s real-life counterpart.  Lighting effects are really good and random weather effects also come into play.  Sound effects for the soldiers, guns, and environments are all topnotch.  Firing off the weapons or the sound of a bullet entering and exiting a skull never sounded so good.  At the end of the day Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising’s audio and visual presentation is a mixed bag that’s way more good than bad.

Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising is a bold effort in a market of military games based solely on bang-for-the-buck action.  It’s a good game that will have it’s dedicated fanbase at the end of the day, but with more popular military shooters out it will have to put up a strong fight.  The random bugs that do occur from time to time are not game breakers as much as they are minor annoyances.  Multiplayer could stand some revamping as it does not feature any form of matchmaking at all.  Also, there is only 4-on-4 deathmatch, assault, or co-op in multiplayer.  With such a large terrain one would expect no less than a 16 player cap in this game.  Even with the gripes previously stated about the game, players will not find another tactical military shooter, at least on consoles, that offer the amount of realism offered in Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising.  Obviously, this game isn’t for everyone as casual gamers may turn their noses up to it for a more explosion action-fest of a game.  But for those who love realism, tactics, careful planning to complete objectives, and have the patience to play the game the way intended Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising might just be the military sim they’ve long waited for.

Let’s just be honest, the Need for Speed franchise has gotten a bit stale as of late. The series was beginning to feel like Madden, it seemed like you were getting one of the previous games from the series with a few new features and content. Typically that came in the form of new models of sports cars and some shiny new graphical techniques. Need for Speed: Shift has broken that mold and created a new foundation that EA will most likely build upon until there is no room to build anymore. The huge change in gameplay? Realism.

Though part of the fun of my previous favorite NFS game, Need For Speed: Most Wanted was the ridiculously over the top driving action, Need for Speed: Shift contains at least as much action if not, more. True, the action may not be the same as in that previous title, but in more of a SPEED TV’s GT kind of way. Gone are the driving off of platforms only to fall 50 feet and land your car full speed to evade police and make shortcuts. Cars don’t fly in Need for Speed: Shift, though you most likely will see a few wrecks that would make someone who gets shot out of a canon for a living cringe.

Also, gone are the ridiculous power slides and full 360 turns while maintaining top speed. Apparently in the new NFS universe the laws of physics apply somewhat. Need for Speed: Shift is the first game I have played that conveys the feeling of weight transfer in a vehicle. This is achieved by the camera movements in the cockpit view and the blurred screen that shortly follows to simulate disorientation. These subtle camera movements are impressive as they simulate the driver moving in the seat from side to side or the lunge forward as the weight transfers from the rear suspension to the front during a head on collision. No other game does this on the level Need for Speed: Shift does right now. Just having that cockpit immersion, while seemingly ridiculous or distracting at times, is note worthy.

Though the game can be played from tradition hood views and behind the car views, you really are missing out if you don’t experience the cockpit view. While race games have modeled the outside of vehicles for many years now the individual interiors of cars is something that began with current gen systems. Need for Speed: Shift models every car interior from the drivers seat to the dash board, and passenger seat all the way down to stereo and gauges, all of which work by the way. In some vehicles you may even find yourself using these dashboard gauges instead Heads Up Display. For the racing vets you’ll probably just rely on the sound of the motor but it’s still cool to see.

The motors sound incredible, with the sound being great, period. Well maybe not the music but who really expects that anyway. From the tires squealing to the suspension bottoming out, this game is aurally immersive. More impressive than the individual sounds are the way the whole cacophony of them come together to create a sense of violence and struggle between maintaining speed and control. All this sucks you that much deeper into the experience and exhilaration of being a race car driver.

Need for Speed: Shift is a bit loose as far as handling goes and does allow a somewhat arcade driving style to work with all the assists on, but its understandable that the developer had a desire to make the game more accessible. If anything this allows a player to grow with Need for Speed: Shift and perhaps begin cutting the assists back as they progress through the game. There’s plenty of time to improve as well.

Need for Speed: Shift throws you right into a race to gauge your skill and then even recommends driving assists. From there you start out as usual in a mildly spirited machine and race in the first of several tiers of racing events to lead you to the big leagues so to speak, the NFS World Tour. Races have a nice bit of variety too from ‘run what ya brung’ to drifting events, car rivalries, nemesis challenges, and closed class races. The difficulty of opponents does seem to ramp up as things go along but the AI has a remarkably human feel to it. Opponents make mistakes, crash into each other, and even drive off the track at random moments. It’s nice to actually play a racer where the AI isn’t perfect, where that guy you been chasing and can’t catch may actually mess up.

Need for Speed: Shift is easily the most fun I’ve had playing a racing game in a couple of years. The upgrades and tuning provides that aspect that the tinkerers and car fanatics always enjoy. The races are both unpredictable and frenetic, while feeling more rewarding and skillful than any NFS title has been to date. Whether you’re a fan of the NFS series or Gran Turismo you will be able to appreciate what Need for Speed: Shift does. Big props to Slightly Mad Studios for taking over the game and breathing some new life into the dated franchise.

Bioware and Electronic Arts have announced the ship date for Mass Effect 2. Previously expected to be an early 2010 release, fans may not have known exactly HOW early in 2010 the game was going to hit retail. Today’s announcement points the ship date at January 26, 2010 on both Xbox 360 and PC.

The announcement also carried news that there will be exclusive in-game items made available to those who pre-order the title. Gamestop customers will recieve an armor set with increased run speed and personal shields as well as a weapon, while other retailers will give an armor set that helps with negotiations in dialogue trees.

More info as it breaks.

With that, the launch trailer for Dragon Age: Origins was released today. Dragon Age: Origins releases in North America on November 3 for PC and Xbox 360 with a November 17 release on PS3.

The Collector’s Edition is a premium package available in limited quantities featuring exclusive Dragon Age: Origins collectibles including a unique steel case, a cloth map of the world of Dragon Age, a Making-of documentary DVD, a digital version of the Dragon Age: Origins soundtrack, game trailers, wallpapers, strategy tips and a concept art video, plus three exclusive downloadable items that will provide special advantages to the player.

With The Stone Prisoner download pack, players will have access to Shale, the mighty stone golem who can become one of the most powerful party members in the game, and comes with its own personal back-story and unique quests for the player to discover. The Stone Prisoner will also include new environments, items and hours of additional gameplay, further deepening the epic Dragon Age experience. The Stone Prisoner is available to original purchasers of new copies of Dragon Age: Origins at no additional cost. The Stone Prisoner can also be purchased separately for $15.

In addition, players who purchase a new copy of Dragon Age: Origins (original or Collector’s Edition) will receive a code to download the Blood Dragon Armor, an exclusive set of themed armor that will give the player additional protection in combat. This armor will be available for use in both Dragon Age: Origins and Mass Effect 2 (Xbox 360 and PC).

All gamers who pre-order Dragon Age: Origins will receive the Memory Band, an in-game item that can be equipped to add +1% to all gained Experience Points and which adds one bonus point that players can use to boost their character’s skill set.

Dragon Age: Origins will be released on November 3rd in North America and November 6th in Europe on the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and PC. The PLAYSTATION®3 version will follow later in November. The Collector’s Edition carries an MSRP of $74.99 (console) and $64.99 (PC) in North America.

Activision has announced the unlockable content that will come packaged with the title. Some of the unlockables include six full episodes of the original Transformers animated series, Generation 1 skins of Ironhide, Longhaul and Starscream, a stand-alone CG movie and more.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen will contain this unlockable content on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC versions and sees release on June 23, 2009.

“We’re going to surpass the extraordinary gaming experience we brought our fans in Mass Effect by delivering intensified combat and expanded weapon options as well as increased depth of planet exploration, all while delivering a powerful, emotionally engaging story,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, General Manager and CEO, BioWare and General Manager and Vice President, EA. “Mass Effect 2 is shaping up to be an unforgettable RPG-shooter experience, taking players on a non-stop roller-coaster ride filled with stunning plot twists and no-holds-barred action.”

The title has been announced for an early 2010 release. Interestingly enough, the sequel still hasn’t been announced for PlayStation 3; with only the PC and Xbox 360 being confirmed so far. We’ll have more details as they break.

Godfather II will be available on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on April 7. Stay tuned to PopCultureShock for more.

Gamers will be able to play through all tutorial levels of the game as well as two stages of the airplane level.

Picking up the action where the film left off, players continue the story of hero Wesley Gibson to create an entirely new chapter of the Wanted mythology in which they will explore both Wesley?s journey to becoming an unmatched ?berassassin and the epic fiction of ?The Fraternity.”

Wanted: Weapons of Fate ships March 24 on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

In the videogame industry, we have many genres and themes that have gone far beyond being overdone. One of those themes is that of shooting zombies. As hard as it may be to believe, Valve and EA have put out a zombie title that is innovative and fresh both in delivery and gameplay.

Left 4 Dead is a first person shooter that places gamers in the role of one of four ’survivors’ of the zombie apocalypse. Simply put, your only objective is to survive long enough to get to a rescue location. The setting takes place across four scenarios that are setup as self contained ‘movies.’ Where things take a slight turn off the beaten path is the fact that instead of fighting alone, Left 4 Dead is completely co-op based.

Whether you’re fighting alongside three good friends on Xbox Live or with the formidable A.I. at your side, in Left 4 Dead you’re never alone. Just having a co-op function isn’t anything special in a game, but what Valve has done is to place the co-op dynamic at the heart of the gameplay experience. There are many situations that happen in game that will require someone else to lend a hand to get you out of a jam. While other co-op games will build this in by creating different classes that have weaknesses that depend on other classes’ strengths, Left 4 Dead takes a different route.

In Left 4 Dead, you can and will be easily surprised by zombie ambushes placing your life in danger and you at the mercy of your teammates. You could be walking out of a building that you just cleared as you make your way to the next safe-house, when all of a sudden you’re pulled off your feet, being hurled backwards at an alarming rate. As soon as you notice the elongated tongue of a ‘Smoker’ zombie pulling you up the side of the building, you realize that you’re completely immobile and helpless. Your only recourse is to shout through the mic to your teammates and let them know where you are so that someone can shoot him before you become an ex survivor.

You may be asking yourself how the zombie ambushes can be a surprise after you’ve played through a movie. This brings up perhaps the biggest part of Left 4 Dead, the Director A.I. Essentially, what Valve has done is to create a set of A.I. routines that examine how each of the four survivors are playing, their level of skill, positioning and other conditions. It uses this information to change all aspects of the game from the enemy placements, ambush spots, pacing, music, item and weapon placements and more. It may not sound like much reading it, but when you’re playing the same levels for the tenth time, yet you’re still on edge and shouting to your teammates to keep your tactics tight and help you out, it’ll all sink in of just what they’ve achieved here.

When you get used to being a survivor, you could flip the script and take the role of one of the special zombies as you try to ambush and kill the survivors making their way through the level. I did find this mode, Versus, to be less rewarding. Essentially, you’re playing in a multiplayer group where one side plays as zombies while the other side plays as survivors. The problem here is the balancing. The player zombies die with only two or three shots. That wouldn’t be so bad on its own, but combine this with the long ‘cooldown’ timers on the special abilities of the zombies and the problem starts to take shape. The special abilities inherent to each of the four special zombie classes are what seperate them from the standard horde fodder. Take away a Smoker’s ability to grab enemies and disable them with his tongue or Boomers being able to vomit on players, attracting hordes of zombies to bumrush your location and you’re pretty much defenseless. This is what happens when you miss with one of the special attacks and have to wait on average of 45 seconds to be able to do the ability again. First problem with this is that your location is exposed and you’ll get killed by just two or three shots from even a standard pistol. If this is the way the A.I. played the character, that would be alright as well, but they don’t have those limitations. It was probably a decision made for balancing issues, but it just doesn’t seem to be refined enough. Its a nice diversion, but I found myself disinterested with this mode very quickly.

Both the co-dependance built in from the co-op along with the suspenseful pacing and atmosphere inherent from a well done zombie flick combine to make quite the online experience. Anyone dismissing Left 4 Dead as just another zombie game would be doing themselves a serious disservice. Left 4 Dead is a title that close friends will be playing together often for quite sometime to come. Valve’s experiment was a success and we can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Santa Monica, CA – November 11, 2008 – Check your gear and get ready to move out to your nearest retailer on Veterans Day, as Activision Publishing, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and developer Treyarch, have shipped Call of Duty: World at War to retail stores nationwide. Available now, Call of Duty: World at War takes players to a grittier WWII than ever before – from facing down Imperial Japanese Banzai charges and guerilla tactics in the Pacific – to exacting ruthless revenge as you beat back the enemy all the way to the steps of Berlin one bloody inch at a time. In addition to introducing franchise-first four-person cooperative gameplay, Call of Duty: World at War serves up a host of new enemies/tactics and a cache of weapons, like the flamethrower. The highly-anticipated title also delivers deep multiplayer action that features squad and vehicular combat, as well as a lush audio landscape set in 5.1 surround sound, accompanying cinematically-intense, high-definition graphics.

“Our goal from Day 1 has been to make sure that Call of Duty: World at War re-defines players’ expectations of World War II first-person action,” said Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia. “From cooperative gameplay to a multiplayer that combines vehicle and squad combat, along with a host of new weapons, settings and enemies, we’ve left no stone unturned to make this the best experience possible.”

For the first time in the franchise, Call of Duty: World at War introduces co-op, bringing fresh meaning to the “No One Fights Alone” mantra. Call of Duty: World at War co-op features up to four-players online, or two-player local split-screen, allowing gamers to experience harrowing single-player missions together for greater camaraderie and tactical execution. The title also incorporates traditional multiplayer components such as challenges, rankings and online stats into the co-op campaign for deeper re-playability and advanced gameplay.

Following the U.S. Marines in the Pacific campaign, Call of Duty: World at War shows a side of World War II never seen previously in the series. Players will experience swamps, beach invasions and tropical undergrowth as they go head to head with one of the most brutal enemies of the war. The European campaign will feature uncompromising and vicious battles as the Red Army pushes into the heart of Berlin.

Multiplayer delivers squad-based interaction while expanding on the Party System feature with party privacy and match-making preferences. Combined infantry and vehicle missions add a new dimension to the online warfare. Players unlock a dozen new Perks while participating in epic battles ranging from massive wide open fields in the European theatre to the intimate courtyards of a Japanese castle.

Call of Duty: World at War is rated “M” (Mature) by the ESRB for Intense Violence, Strong Language, Blood and Gore and is available now on Xbox 360™ and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system for a suggested retail price of $59.99 and the Windows® PC and the Nintendo® Wii™ for a suggested retail price of $49.99. Call of Duty: World at War is also available for the Nintendo DS™, developed by n-Space, the title is rated “T” (Teen) for Blood and Violence, with a suggested retail price of $29.99.

Since Spiderman hit the big screen a few years ago, the franchise has been a very lucrative one in all entertainment industries. So much so, that even during years when there was no Spiderman film release, Activision still tried its best to release a game that year anyway to capitalize on the franchise. While writing off those titles that weren’t attached to films as rubbish (i.e. Spiderman: Friend or Foe) was understandable and even advisable, doing the same to Spider-Man: Web of Shadows would be a mistake.

The plot of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows starts off simply enough, with our Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman chasing his good buddy Venom. Where things start to go awry is when the symbiote in Venom’s suit starts to react and behave strangely once it’s in the presence of Peter Parker again. This encounter sets off a chain of events that include Spiderman being consumed by the symbiote again, other Superheroes and Supervillains merging and combining with symbiotes and even citizens of New York City being overcome and infected by the symbiote. With the Avengers and Iron Man nowhere to be found, it’s up to Spiderman and a motley cast of Heroes and Villains alike to save New York City and the rest of the world from the absolute mayhem that ensues.

What caught many people (myself included) by surprise about Spider-Man: Web of Shadows was the footage I saw of it back at E3. The slow motion effect when using your web-strike attacks, the combos and aerial attacks were unlike anything I’d seen in a Spiderman title. What at first looked to be tantalizing concept footage did indeed make it to the final version of the game and it sets Spider-Man: Web of Shadows miles apart from the Spiderman titles that came before it.

One of the aspects of Spiderman that hasn’t quite been captured correctly in a videogame is his movement style, especially combat. While there have been many advances in how he controls and animates while swinging with his webbing, especially since the Spiderman 3 videogame, it all goes down the toilet when the combat comes into play. That was until now.

In Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, the combat is broken down into three distinct types. Ground combat, aerial combat and wall combat are all accounted for here. What’s even better is that players can seamlessly blend together the three different types and put together combos that flow from one type to the other. Just having those various types of combat operating so fluidly is a large step in the right direction for the franchise.

One of the coolest additions to the combat system I think is the web-strike mechanic. Essentially, this is a simple button press that makes Spidey shoot a couple streams of webbing at his enemy that he then uses to pull himself towards them at high speed as a setup to a string of attack and combo opportunities. As the webbing shoots out and as Spidey propels towards his enemy, a slow motion effect begins. Not simply a gimmick for adding dramatic effect, it gives you time to react to the situation and decide in what manner you want to deal with your foe once you reach them. You start off with only being able to pounce on them once you make contact, but once you level up the maneuver, you’ll be able to all sorts of techniques to it such as wrapping them completely in webbing, slamming them into buildings, and all sorts of other attacks.

All of these attacks and combos are handled by pressing different buttons at the correct time during the web-strike. They’re not canned combos and can be strung together however you like. What’s even better is that after doing a full combo and tossing your enemy aside, if you have enough skill, you can bring them in for another web-strike and continue to do it until you’ve defeated them.

Another thing the web-strike mechanic allows you to do is to dispose of one foe however you wish, and after tossing them aside, initiate a web-strike on another nearby foe before even hitting the ground. This will let you take out multiple enemies in rapid succession and can even be used as a sort of platforming mechanic to help you reach enemies or areas much easier than you would have been able to otherwise in a sort of leap-frog type fashion.

Performing these different variations of the web-strike technique on enemies high above the skyscrapers of New York City adds a dynamic to the aerial combat that hasn’t been seen in a Spiderman game yet, while also feeling uniquely at home with the character.

The rest of the combat is your standard fare for action games. It’s all combo based, and you can upgrade the combos by spending experience points that you gain throughout the game. You’ll be able to spend the experience to level up combos and learn new moves for the ground based, aerial and wall based combat types.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows maintains somewhat the open world nature that was introduced to the franchise a few years ago. You’ll have main quests that you accept from different heroes (and villains), while also being able to do optional quests around New York City. All throughout, there will still be other crimes and capers being committed across the city that you’ll be able to participate in and foil at your leisure.

Unfortunately, these optional quests and crimes are all the exact same tasks as the missions you’re given for the main storyline, so it doesn’t do much in the form of giving you the type of variation and longevity that an open world environment typically lends to a game.

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is a little bit on the short side, even for an action game. Still, for its few shortcomings, the title did succeed as far as providing new gameplay mechanics for the Spiderman videogame franchise that can be built upon in the future to make some fantastic games. Knowing Activision’s track record, we think it’s pretty safe to assume that we will be playing more Spiderman games in the years to come. Spiderman fans and those that have enjoyed playing the videogames previously should definitely check Spider-Man: Web of Shadows out. Action game fans in general should at least give it a look. You could do much, much worse.

Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is a decent sized MMORPG with a lot of possibilities for fans in all categories. Whether it’s grinding solo quests, dungeon camping with friends, taking on opposing keeps in raids across four tiers, or just looking for some good old fashioned pvp, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has something to offer.

Like many MMORPGs of its ilk, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is comprised of two factions. The Realm of Order and The Realm of Destruction each have three distinct races to choose from, whether it be mighty Dwarves on the Order side or feminine Dark Elves on the Destruction side, the choice is yours. Other races include Empire (human) and High Elf on the side of Order, leaving Greenskins (orcs and goblins) and Chaos (human) on the Destruction side.

Once you’ve chosen your race, you’ll have the option to select a career type. The standard types of careers are present here ranging from tank, melee DPS, ranged DPS, or the healer type. Like any other MMORPG, each career has a wide array of skills that allow for customization of different play styles for each, with mastery skill trees to further enhance a different style of play. These mastery skill trees will differ for each individual career type respectively. You can either stick to one mastery, or you have the option to mix it up and pick and choose between the three trees. The amount of points to put in however is limited so some thought and revision will be necessary in specializing your own build.

The world of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning has three distinct campaigns of war, all active at the same time. Your selection of a race will place your starting point in the world on one of the three campaigns. Each campaign has its own wide area of exploration which is broken down into four tiers. You are not limited to participating in the campaign in which you start in, however. For example if you start as a Dwarf and currently play in the campaign against the Greenskins, you have the option to travel to other campaign areas as well. This gives your character more of a choice when debating where to do personal quests and raids. Certain quests do, however, require that you travel to different areas in different campaigns which isn’t all that bad.

Getting out and exploring in the Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning world isn’t without its advantages. Players will receive experience points just the same and will be able to obtain items and equipment unique to the quests available in those campaigns.

Player vs. player or realm vs. realm content on Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is above par with some room for improvement. It may seem a bit slow when you first start however it does pick up when you have some experience on the books. Each tier has a set number of instanced realm vs. realm battles called scenarios that players can participate in. These battles sometimes have objectives such as ‘capture the flag’ or ‘first to 500 points’ to keep it more than just mindless killing on both factions. As with area tiers, scenarios have a level range which limits and balances the battle. This feature eliminates higher level people from “noob bashing” or “noob farming,” which can be a pain when having to deal with a player thats 20 levels higher than you.

Area tiers 2 – 4 offer keeps and battlefield objectives, often called skirmishes, which give players another way for realm vs. realm combat. Keeps can be found in open realm vs. realm areas on the corresponding tiers. Players have the option to defend keeps they already own, or raid an the keep of an opposing faction. Players that reach tier 4 can participate in city raids. City raids, in a nut shell, are when your faction goes to claim total dominance in the corresponding campaign, by taking over the major city belonging to the other faction. Looting and plundering someone else’s city, what more can you ask for?

Public quests are pretty cool. These are essentially quests that people can all participate in and contribute to even if they aren’t grouped together. Once you walk into the boundaries of one of these areas, you’ll be told what needs to be done to clear the current objective. The progress towards clearing this objective will take into account what everyone else is doing as well. These public quests are easy to get into, they all have phases that you wouldn’t be able to complete alone, yet you don’t need to wait to join a group just to jump in and start playing.

Speaking of groups, one of the main features that sets Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning apart from the competition is open groups. Open groups allow you to see all the groups in your area, see what they’re doing, see how far they are from you and join them. Regardless of if they’re doing PvE, public quests, RvR or raiding, you’ll be able to see where the action is and jump in with the click of a button.

With the first several weeks of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning up and active, it continues to hold a decent amount of audience attraction and enjoyment. While hardcore World of Warcraft players may or may not find enough different here to warrant abandoning all the years of work they’ve done there, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is definitely worth a look.

Proposing to offer a more expansive and open world experience than most other first-person shooters on the market, Far Cry 2 may be one of the most under hyped games of this Fall. Not content with simply picking up from the last Far Cry game, Ubisoft Montreal has crafted this sequel with a complete change of direction. Far Cry 2 passes up the lush tropical island environment and instead places the action on the harsh and dangerous plains of Africa. And no, Jack Carver isn’t here either folks. Instead players will be placed in the boots of a malaria stricken mercenary out for vengeance against a mysterious conflict causing figure known as “The Jackal.”

Far Cry 2 promises to offer the players an expanded amount of the freedom and fun than the original game contained. The first game was a somewhat linear sandbox experience. Far Cry 2 looks to be a much more complete sandbox though. There will be warring African militant factions in the game that the players will interact with, both good and bad. Players can either choose a side and fight against the other side or cause even more tension between both sides via setups and sabotage to escalate the conflict. You’ll have to learn the enemy and exploit their weaknesses in order to survive. While the first Far Cry had a large environment to traverse, it just pales in comparison to the map of Far Cry 2. And the fact that this game is more sandbox than linear means gamers should be ready for plenty of exploration.

A major upgrade in the technology seen in previous Crytek games like Crysis and Far Cry will be on display in Far Cry 2. Real-time weather changes, day and night cycles, tree re-growth, water effects, and – perhaps the most exciting – the fire effects are all set to raise the bar on how first person shooters should look…and play.

That’s because these effects and features aren’t just cosmetic. They actually affect the gameplay in many ways. AI behavior changes at various cycles in the day. Weather effects bring things into play such as how the wind may blow the scenery around. It also introduces elements such as lightning. And yes, lightning strikes may cause fires. How the weather effects and other environmental effects interact with each other is interesting as well. The fire spreads like a real fire would and even the weather can be a factor in how and where it spreads.

There are many other features in-game that the dedicated development staff at Ubisoft Montreal are hoping will redefine how players think of the genre. Weapons, vehicles, and artificial intelligence are the other part of this package. Weapons based on real-life counterparts are nothing new to first person shooters. One of the twists here is that like real life, weapons will degrade, malfunction, jam, etc after over time. So players should not expect to get too attached to that one gun they love for the whole game. Vehicles in Far Cry 2 are also not immune to malfunctioning as players will need to stop and pop the hood of jeeps and other vehicles to make repairs.

The enemy A.I. will be the thing that makes or breaks the game. So far enemy A.I. on display has shown that it cooperates with other A.I. Shoot a soldier in the foot from a sniping perch and watch him cry for help until another nearby soldier comes to try and carry him to safety. We can only hope that the A.I. reacts equally as realistic when it sees a spreading fire approaching.

Far Cry 2 seems set to be a must-have first-person shooter for fans of the genre. All of the previously mentioned features are a breath of fresh air for this genre. Add in online multiplayer and an extensive map editor (Far Cry’s map editor is still regarded as one of the best around) and Far Cry 2 is seemingly very worthy of the same hype and attention that games like Gears of War 2 and Fallout 3 are getting. It’s a jungle out there, and Ubisoft Montreal delivers that jungle on October 22nd.

Far Cry 2 ships on October 21 and will be available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC

Fallout 3 will release on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 28th. Stay tuned.

No real details of the title were released as of now. Shinji Mikami only revealed that the game will be dark, scary and full of action. We’ll be keeping our eyes peeled on this one folks