World War II
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Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad announced
We're as tired as anyone of our seemingly never-ending tour of duty in the Great War, Part Deux. Still, given the unconventional road Red Orchestra has traveled we're just a teensy bit curious what developer Tripwire Interactive has tucked inside its pit helmet. The Georgia-based studio has officially made known Red Orchestra: Heroes of Stalingrad, the sequel to 2006's Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45, itself based on the company's celebrated Unreal Tournament 2004 mod, Red Orchestra: Combined Arms. And, breathe.Heroes of Stalingrad will again find players seeking shelter in gun-pits as bullets fly between German and Soviet forces, this time during the historic and bloody Battle of Stalingrad. Setting expectations, Tripwire promises "gritty, vicious combat" and "unrivaled accuracy and attention to detail." While there will of course be multiplayer, the dev also notes players will lace up in the boots of a German soldier as part of a solo campaign told from the Axis point-of-view, something Tripwire claims as a "first" for the FPS genre. No release date has been announced, though armchair soldiers can find out more in the pages of May's PC Gamer.
Joystiq impressions: Ubisoft's RUSE
Randal Graves: I don't appreciate your ruse, ma'am. Indecisive Video Customer: I beg your pardon? Randal Graves: Your ruse. Your cunning attempt to trick me.Clerks (1994)Ubisoft is betting against Kevin Smith and hoping that you will appreciate its cunning attempts to trick you with this real-time strategy game that feels like a board game on steroids. Ubi announced the game at GDC earlier this year, but besides the strange Euro-trailer and a few screenshots, there wasn't much to go on. Thankfully, the publisher has released the above gameplay video that shows off the new IRISZOOM engine that powers the game -- now you can see what the game's all about. RUSE has a very robust tabletop feel, and opens up to an impressive scale. Read on after the break to see just how the "ruses" work. %Gallery-48492%
Square Enix delivers one Order of War
For its first effort publishing a Western game outside of Japan, Square Enix has picked something as stereotypically Western as it possibly could have: a PC strategy game ... about World War II ... with the generic title Order of War. This isn't coming from the publisher's new LA studio, or from Eidos -- but rather from developer Wargaming.net, who is beating Supreme Commander 2 to the punch.Order of War recreates two WWII campaigns: "American versus German forces on the western front and German versus Russian on the eastern front." It allows players to control forces both on the ground and in the air and will release simultaneously this fall across "all territories."This may be Square Enix's first Western release of a Western-developed game, but it isn't the first for the two companies that became Square Enix. Square's first was Secret of Evermore in 1995, and Enix's seems to be a SNES game based on King Arthur & The Knights of Justice.%Gallery-50286%
New Velvet Assassin trailer misappropriates Churchill's famous speech
Velvet Assassin has been tasked with performing something rarely possible in games centered on WWII-era events: Basing the story on a real person and keeping things classy. Take, for example, the new trailer the game's publisher, SouthPeak, dropped on us today. Employing one of the most powerful and moving speeches ever given by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, we don't exactly consider the modern rock ending on this trailer keeping anything classy.Though our time spent with the game at the New York Comic Con last month left us feeling a bit less than ecstatic for the game's impending "April release window," we remain intrigued by Velvet Assassin -- even if the trailer misappropriates one of the most famous speeches in all of history.
Call of Duty: World at War includes Nazi Zombie Mode
Looks like Treyarch has taken a cue from Valve's upcoming Left 4 Dead and the world's love of zombie action. Developer Treyarch has revealed that Call of Duty: World at War will include a Nazi Zombie Mode, in the latest edition of GameTrailers TV. Once the single player campaign has been completed players will gain access to the mode which sends waves of Nazi Zombie adversaries in the players direction.The mode sports an economy system which allows players to purchase new weapons and rebuild barricades to slow down the zombie rush. How crazy does it get? According to Treyarch the team got to the 23rd wave before becoming overwhelmed by the zombie horde. Now that is a cool little extra. Gallery: Call of Duty: World At War Nazi Zombie Mode
Just how violent is Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway?
Want to know a secret? Videogame adaptations of war can be pretty violent. Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway is the recently released first-person shooter from UbiSoft that proves our point. Setting itself apart in gameplay style, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway features a light tactical overlay within its squad based system that allows players to control nearly all aspect of the soldiers under their command. According to Metacritic, if that's your thing, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway has been given generally favorable reviews; currently sitting with a score of 76. The trailer, found after the jump, showcases some of the more violent action in the game. Looking to see how insane war can be or just want to watch sheep react to physics through a grenade blast? Jump in.
Call of Duty: World at War ships off this November
For those of you looking to get your hands (or your Zapper) dirty in the Pacific theater, know that the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty: World at War will be hitting shelves this November, according to OnlytheGames. They're claiming an Activision PR rep divulged this info to them and we're inclined to believe it. November seems to be a good month to release games.Joystiq managed to pry a statement from Activision: "we haven't made any announcement about date other than fall of 2008." Oddly enough, November falls right into that timeframe.[Via Joystiq]
See Call of Duty: World at War's co-op gameplay
Activision and Treyarch told us about their co-op multiplayer plans for Call of Duty: World at War following the game's unveiling back in June. Now they've put their promises into video form – although the roughly five minutes of footage is entirely focused on two-player action (the final game is pegged to support four-player teams through the entire campaign).So far it looks to be ... pretty standard fare. Still, with the historically high intensity of COD's firefights, it will be a huge plus to have as many as three buddies backing you up in battle. Also, as nice as co-op is, we're extremely eager to see what Treyarch is working on to (hopefully) out-do COD4's stellar competitive mutliplayer modes.
Wolfenstein trailer and images are occult-tastic
Straight from QuakeCon 2008 come some piping hot Wolfenstein goodies from the upcoming game, namely the trailer and a gallery of images. It might look like The Ghostbusters Meet Hitler, or the opening scene of the first Hellboy movie, but we're excited about the supernatural side of World War II. Thank you for that, Raiders of the Lost Ark.This is a lot more footage than what we saw at Activision's "Not An E3 Event" event earlier this month, and it looks like it has some potential. The paranormal parts look decent, but why does some of it make us think of Call of Duty... 1? Hopefully we'll get some better looks in the coming months ahead, culminating in some Halloweenalicious spooky soldiers.%Gallery-28821%
Battleground Europe patch adds new towns and brigade types
If you're making an MMO, you can go one of two routes. You can go mainstream -- try to please everyone at once -- or you can carve a niche to be occupied by a small but loyal player base. Playnet has always aimed for the second option with World War II Online: Battleground Europe (or, The Game Formerly More Prominently Known as Just World War II Online, if you prefer) -- a hardcore combat simulation that emulates a huge chunk of the European theater of World War II on land, sea, and air.Playnet just released a new patch for the game that adds 26 new towns and 3 new brigade types. It also makes "a change to scoring against naval vessels." Players will get a chance to interrogate the game's senior producer about the changes in a live chat this Wednesday at 4:00 PM EDT.Full patch notes are available on the official Battleground Europe forums. Beware, though: a certain Massively blogger has a soft spot for this game, and is looking forward to blowing you to smithereens in a bombing run. You have been warned. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall ... you get the idea.
Birds of Prey hunt the DS
European PC publisher 1C is trying its hand at the current-gen consoles and handhelds, including everything except the Wii in its latest venture, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey. Browsing through 1C's resume, we didn't find anything of note, but the again we're not really in-the-know when it comes to PC gaming. If former endeavors are any indication of future performance, the fact that the company's previous IL-2 Sturmovik games rated well on Metacritic is a bit soothing. We'll be interested to see if 1C can translate its PC success onto the DS, although newbie DS developer DiP Interactive isn't the most confidence-inspiring of choices. As for the game's premise, IL-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey is a World War II flight simulator that lets the player engage in five airborne battles: The Battle of Britain, Stalingrad, Berlin, Sicily and Korsun.Since 1C is a European publisher, we're going to assume that this game is only for Europe until we hear differently.
2D screenshots aren't good enough for Call of Duty 4
Nay, the traditional adherence to a mere two dimensions simply isn't modern enough to convey the frenetic excitement and danger found in Call of Duty 4: Modern Combat Warfare. Frequent publisher of mass destruction, Activision, has blasted out this 3D screenshot depicting the upcoming shooter in all its gritty glory. If the above video leaves you unsatisfied, you'll also find a series of stills and the original 50MB Quicktime file at Xboxyde.Perhaps this dimensional expansion should be interpreted as a statement of sorts, further highlighting Infinity Ward's movement away from thematically flat World War II shooters. Check back with us when we hit the point where modern war games are considered passé as well. Oh, hello. That was quick.[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Pandemic unveils Saboteur, a 'different' WWII shooter
The April issue of Game Informer is bringing word of the latest project from Pandemic Studios (Destroy All Humans, Mercenaries). It turns out it will be a World War II shooter entitled Saboteur.Another World War II shooter, eh? Before you join us in a collective sigh, Pandemic asserts that this is different than other shooters out there. How so? There will be action, stealth, an open-ended world, and -- here's the differentiator -- a black-and-white color scheme to indicate which areas are controlled by Nazis.It certainly is artistic, but we can't stop thinking about the film Pleasantville. We like the concept, but we'll reserve judgment until we see, in video, how well they pull off the effect. No word on which "secret project" -- B, Q, X, Y or Z -- this was, but they are all good choices in Scrabble. There's a 2008 release date mentioned but no console specified. Given the developer's history, they might end up playing coy for a good while.
Metareview: Call of Duty [Update 1]
Just like the other WWII FPS game on the PSP, Call of Duty has been getting some spectacularly mixed reviews. Who to believe? Are the controls really that great? Are they really that terrible? Message boards across the internet have been producing quite a variety of responses. For once, the critics reviews may not actually inform anyone on the "correct" purchasing decision for this game. UGO (87/100) loves the incredibly generous auto-aim: "Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is one of the few must-own titles for the handheld. If you've ever gotten a kick out of picking up a gun and killing evil people in a video game, look no further." IGN (66/100) hated the controls and the gameplay: "The sluggish and somewhat delayed controls wouldn't be so bad if the gameplay accounted for it, but it doesn't." Gamespot (62/100) thinks the game feels more like a free mod than an actual game: "The poor AI, combined with frequent respawning of soldiers, makes it feel as if you're playing some sort of WWII-themed shooting gallery at times." Do any of our PSP Fanboy readers have this game? What do you think about this game?[Update 1: Added Gamespot's review.]
Hour of Victory screens and box art
Midway's upcoming World War II themed shooter Hour of Victory has the UK box art, first screenshots and some concept art and renders available for your viewing. The game will be an Xbox 360 exclusive and at the very least doesn't look ugly. We'll have to wait an see from a gameplay standpoint and how it looks when in motion if it's really worth your time. So far it seems to be taking steps in the right direction from a visual standpoint. Some of the commenters at the source were giving it the "meh" treatment since we have our Call of Duty and Brothers in Arms. We're going to wait and see before we pass judgement, though. That being said, do you think we're getting swamped with World War II titles, or is this right up your alley for the setting of a first person shooter?
Medal of Honor Vanguard announced for Wii, PS2
Just announced Medal of Honor Vanguard looks to replace Airborne in Wii and PlayStation 2's early 2007 lineups. Rest assured, Vanguard is not a poorly disguised rehash; that's not to say it will offer much beyond WWII shooter standards -- unless you're a sucker for motion controls (on Wii, not PS2).It appears that there will be some loose correlation between the Vanguard and Airborne plotlines, as both games focus on characters in the 82nd Airborne Division and share common mission locales, like Sicily. The "Vanguard" name implies players will be engaging in operations at the very front of the frontline (even behind enemy lines). It's unclear when EA decided to nix development of Airborne for Wii and PS2 and go for a wholly different tie-in -- perhaps it was the top-secret plan all along. In any event, it's for the best, as Wii and PS2 versions of Airborne wouldn't hold up against their Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC counterparts. Here's to hoping Vanguard gets the deserved attention it needs, earning its place as co-heir to the Medal of Honor franchise.
Brothers in Arms' uncompromising move to PSP
It looks like IGN's PSP team is on a roll. They had a chance to play the upcoming Brothers in Arms game on PSP. Just like Medal of Honor, this WWII franchise is attempting to make the jump to PSP without losing anything in the transition. According to IGN, the game features maps from previous entries in the series: Road to Hill 30 and Earned in Blood, plus four new levels exclusive for the PSP. There will, thankfully, be a lot more checkpoints in the handheld version, to make it easier for gamers-on-the-go. It's also nice to know that the PSP version won't skimp on any features: it'll still feature the series-defining overhead view, which allows players to see the battle from above, and make strategic decisions. The game also features suppression gauges, which will allow you to see places to get cover much more easily. And finally, the game will also have a co-op mode and many of the multiplayer features found in Medal of Honor. Overall, it seems like Brothers in Arms will be an impressive package. The real question is: will PSP gamers care?According to amazon.com, the game is coming out December 5th for a nice budget price of $30.
Californians can celebrate Veteran's Day with Medal of Honor
If you live near Alameda, CA, you may want to check out GamePro's Medal of Honor: Heroes tournament. You don't need to have a copy of this well-reviewed PSP-exclusive WWII FPS, but you do need to bring your system. All participants will get a free copy of the game and a t-shirt, making this event totally worth your time. If you're able to survive the 32-player multiplayer matches, and make it to the end of the tournament, you'll find yourself winning a subscription to GamePro (boo!), Shure E2-cn earphones (yay!), and more. If you're interested, head over to the registration page.
More Nazis to kill in Call of Duty
World War II shooters are like cockroaches. You see one, but there's another one (or two) lurking somewhere not too far behind it. Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is sure to satiate WWII afficiandos, once they're done with Medal of Honor Heroes. IGN has some new images from the game. Is it me, or does this game look worse than Medal of Honors graphically?Roads to Victory will also feature multiplayer of some sort, but will it be able to compete against EA's terrific offering? We'll find out more later; the game's not due until spring 2007 anyways.
Medal of Honor video overload
Gamespot has gone absolutely bonkers with video coverage of the upcoming PSP-exclusive Medal of Honor Heroes. There is impressive gameplay footage of multiplayer battles (which will support up to 32 players!), and a video interview. The Gamespot preview is absolutely glowing for the game, which gets me pretty excited: "Heroes is shaping up to be as fully featured a Medal of Honor game as you could want on the PSP, with visuals that come close to the PlayStation 2 installments in the series."
