December 2007 Archives

Platform: PC
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: 2.13 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor or equivalent, PhysX 100 Series Processor, 2 GB RAM, nVidia 7900 or more recent video card, 1.8 GB HD space, internet connection

Warmonger is a free game that shows off the capabilities of the AGEIA physics card, so explosions abound. There's tons of stuff to blow up, obstacles and paths that can be shattered, volumetric smoke to be pushed around and banners that flutter in hails of bullets. The game is built on the Unreal Engine 3, so anyone who's ever spent time in a multiplayer online shooter will be immediately comfortable.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, PC and Mac
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Having your arm fall off shouldn't be this fun. The Guitar Hero franchise has always been about ripping out amazing guitar riffs, or all about strumming a plastic guitar controller while pressing fret buttons, occasionally tilting the controller for star power. Regardless of how you feel about wearing the controller, the game has always managed to make you feel like you can actually play a guitar, regardless of your real talent, and the latest entry doesn't disappoint. New developer Neversoft (of Tony Hawk fame) hasn't remixed Harmonix's tried and true formula too much, adding only a dash of graphics and a few new modes. While not every new addition works out, the core gameplay is exactly what you expect, and with more than 70 included songs, you'll be rocking far into the night.

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: Pentium 4 2.4 GHz or AMD Athlon 64 2800+, 512 MB RAM, nVidia GeForce 6600 or ATI Radeon 9800 Pro or better

Lay your fears aside concerning developer Infinity Ward's decision to go with a modern setting. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (COD4) is everything you'd expect from the acclaimed developer, and a few new things you may not expect but will definitely appreciate. While the single player campaign can be beaten in 6 to 8 hours, it's very replayable. The biggest addition, though, is persistent tracking of statistics and the enormous amount of challenges and unlockables in the multiplayer mode. Add to that a graphics engine that rivals anything out there today, fantastic sound, and "just one more round" addictiveness, and you've got a recipe for yet another Game of the Year award for this franchise.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC
Reviewed on Xbox 360

A lot of people need killing. As a mercenary for "The Shop," attempting to stop some flimsy terrorist plot, you have the opportunity to execute a seemingly endless supply of nearly identical enemies whose limbs fly off when grazed by a bullet. Hopefully that's enough to save the world.

Platform: Xbox 360
Reviewed on Xbox 360

Humanity is only a junior tenant of the galaxy. Among a few scattered ruins from an ancient, alien civilization, we discovered a new element that makes interstellar space travel possible. That led us to the ancient and spectacular network of mass relays that connect stars across the galaxy. And as we explored that network, we met other starfaring civilizations &nash; aliens also travelling and settling the galaxy. Some races were younger, but most were older... more sophisticated... and more than a little concerned with the brash and energetic primates crawling from the gravity well of the Sol system.

We have moved past our initial, violent, first alien contact to make peace with galactic society. We now have colonies, trade agreements and a presence on the citadel, an ancient alien relic and station that serves as the hub for galactic government and commerce. As we contribute to the galactic community and strive for a role in galactic governance, a human is participating for the first time in the Citadel's elite cadre of unsupervised peacekeepers: the Spectres.

Only a Spectre as brash as the human can stop the cycle of extinction that revisits the galaxy every 50,000 years, and save all of galactic civilization.

Blizzard is updating the Winter Veil festival in its online game World of Warcraft.

Russian publisher Buka Entertainment has launched the official site for its upcoming game Dusk-12.

JoWooD has shipped two games for the PC to stores in the UK and parts of Europe: Aquadelic GT and the Sports Game Pack - Wintersports Edition

Matrix Games confirmed that it plans to release a new expansion for War in the Pacific next year, called the Admiral's Edition expansion.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on the details of the upcoming merger between Activision and Vivendi Games, Activision revealed certain additional financial details concerning its officers.

Atari has released the Wii version of its game Godzilla Unleashed.

Platform: PlayStation 3
Reviewed on PlayStation 3

Fortune hunter Nathan Drake believes himself to be a direct descendant of Sir Francis Drake, and is hot on the heels of a treasure the famous Elizabethan knight may have hidden more than 400 years before. Does the treasure exist? Did Sir Francis Drake steal it from the Spanish to sell it or conceal it? How has a colonized Caribbean island remained concealed from everyone since Drake except the Nazis? Most of all, how many gunshots will it take Nathan Drake to uncover the secret of El Dorado?

Sega's game The Golden Compass is now in stores.

Platform: PlayStation 2
Reviewed on PlayStation 2

Frylock, the gigantic, floating helping of fast-food fries with a Van Dyck, a jewel in his back and the ability to destroy things with his eyes, has been admitted to Jersey Pines, South Jersey's most prestigious urban golf course. Frlyock, together with Master Shake and Meatwad, use that as the flimsiest of excuses to golf, race and battle their way across Jersey Pines.

Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS
Reviewed on Xbox 360

You know the story: "Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute...." What you may not know is that all of this is happening a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... made of Legos.

Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Reviewed on PC

Windows System Requirements: Pentium 4 2.8 GHz or Athlon XP 2800, 512 MB RAM, 128 MB nVidia GeForce 5700 or ATI Radeon 9700 or better video card, DVD-ROM, 5 GB HD space, internet connection, Windows XP or Vista

Humanity has finally encountered aliens, and the meeting – let's say it did not go well. In the year 2060, the cybernetic soldiers of the Makron, known as the Strogg, destroyed Earth's major cities, leaving the planet in ruin. Now they are harvesting humanity as raw material for their galactic conquest.

The Global Defense Force, the last hope of humanity, is struggling to combat the Strogg invasion, mustering all humanity's remaining strength to eliminate the unnatural alien constructs and preserve a future for the entire human race.