The problem with reporting videogames in Australia is we often get a little left behind in the coverage of bigger games. Being that we're a smaller country and so far away from the rest of the world, we're forced to deal with the bigger, more corporate sites and magazines releasing information in the way of news, previews, reviews and exclusives, well and truly before we do. Sometimes we get lucky, but for the most part where AAA titles are concerned, by the time we come to the table the industry at large has already had their say. However, the silver lining to this is the concept of opinion, and this has never seemed more relevant than with the industry dividing Assassin's Creed, where one side loves the game and the other hates it. It's been a while since the industry has been this split over a game's review score. And while, for the most part review scores are usually not as important as a reviewer's opinion, perception and conclusion of a game (in my opinion), with Assassin's Creed the gap between good and bad is so vast, it's difficult for punters to really know the score, so to speak. Having spent more than a few hours with the game though, my perception is there is more than meets the eye with the title, which after a few minutes of looking at could conjure scores of 9s and 10s easily. Only a few minutes with the controller in hand though, could drastically reverse this, dishing out scores of 5s and 6s. The point, however, is Assassin's Creed is a game unlike any other. It certainly has a pedigree in the form of other Ubi outings such as Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell, but it is an entity unto itself, and a vision not fully realised to its absolute potential. That said though, Assassin's Creed must be played in the way it was intended, and I feel a lot of the industry has missed out on this, perhaps rushing through to be the first out with their review. Here at AusGamers, however, this is never our intention, so rest assured, our time with Assassin's Creed - nay, every game we ever review - is to the absolute fullest extent with no other intention than to give you the best possible coverage from every viewpoint regardless of industry weight. That self-promotion out of the way, it's time for us to get down and dirty with arguably one of the best videogame concepts ever created - Assassin's Creed. While Ubisoft were initially very tight-lipped about the secret element of this Crusades-based gaming concept, the truth is, as soon as you fire it up, a huge slice of their secret is unravelled. You're not actually 12th century master assassin Altair Ibn La-Ahad, your name is actually Desmond Miles and you live in the present day (2012 by the game's concept of present day). You've been taken to a laboratory in a large pharmaceutical company called Abstergo Industries, drugged and run through an experimental machine called the Animus. Dr Warren Vidic and his assistant, Lucy Stillman, are trying to sync you up with your genetic memory, but it's simply not working. They pull you out of the animus and you, as Desmond Miles, demand answers. Why are you here? You're just a simple barmen, what could they possibly want from you? But Vidic knows of your past; as a former assassin who escaped the life he knows you have something they need, they just have to access it through this machine - according to Vidic, we all have a genetic memory of our ancestors and the animus renders these memories in 3D, allowing you to fully relive them. Keeping It Real Assassin's Creed does much to instill a sense of immersion and realism to its game-world. While lying on the Animus Moreover, almost all of the Altair in-game HUD items reflect normal gaming devices such as health, actions and hints and tips, however, it has all been done as though the Animus is helping you out. Nice work Ubi.Just as animals know how to hunt, migrate and feed; humans too, according to Vidic, have a genetic code embedded in them that shares life with our ancestry. He has also discovered we can unravel actual memories from our distant relatives and relive them through the animus. It also appears there's something in the code logged deep within Desmond Vidic and his cohorts are after, and no matter what old Dessy has to say about it, they're going to get it. So after some not-so-gentle vocal persuasion, Desmond is forced to cooperate, and ‘living' the life of Altair in the 12th century begins. Initially the game runs you through a conveniently scripted tutorial that fits very easily into the overall game concept. This happens a lot throughout and actually adds to the immersive nature of Assassin's Creed; the fact you're essentially playing the past life of someone from your family lineage has given Ubisoft more than enough recourse to allow all kinds of real-life videogame parallels to actually sit comfortably in the game's narrative. It's really very clever and adds to the overall concept effortlessly. As Altair, you are a member of an assassin's guild in the Holy Land during the third crusade (lead by King Richard The Lionheart). Your guild has a war raging against the Knights Templar, and as a result of your bold actions early on in the game, the war escalates into an attack from the Templars on your home. Once they've been pushed back with a daring display of your Assassin's Creed (ie your fearlessness), and your cunning, Altair is made face his misdeeds from earlier and is not only stripped of his rank and items (a clever way to downgrade your abilities and weapons), but is also no longer respected by other members of the guild. However, as he is one of the most gifted assassins, he is given another chance to redeem himself. It seems there are nine targets spread throughout the cities of Jerusalem, Damascus and Acre, and it's his job to learn as much information about each one before being given the okay to proceed with taking them from this life and into the next. The premise of the game then stems from this concept of investigation and permission to proceed. Initially you'll visit each of the cities and only have access to the poor districts. These areas are still pretty big, and within each there are six counts of information you can gather, but you only need three to ask for permission to go ahead with the assassination. Once you arrive at each city you'll need to make your way in. However, each entrance is heavily guarded, but lucky for you, there is always a citizen outside being harassed. Help him by killing the harassing guards and you'll be able to mix in with a chanting group of scholars who apparently have access to anything wherever they go. Once inside the city you need to find the Assassin's Bureau, this is where you meet agents for the guild who approve or disapprove of intended targets. They'll give you an area to start investigating and usually a bit of lip (on a count of you being shunned). Once you know where to start it's off to play Sherlock. Out in each city, you can scale practically anything that looks scaleable. This is good news because one of the key investigatory things you need to do is reach specific heights within each district to both flesh out your map and see where your next area of interest lies. Each target's information points come in the form of letters, maps or notes that can be pickpocketed, conversations you can eavesdrop in on, guild informants who give you tasks to perform before any information is handed over or people you can interrogate. You only need three to gain permission to proceed, but it's always good to gather as much information as possible given there are always a few different ways in which you can approach your target. That said, you can also pretty much just go blazing in through the front door to face them head-on, it's just you'll end up having to tackle them and their guard entourage, which can prove a little menacing depending on the situation (and is also far less fun). All that said though, and cool as the concept is, it's also where Assassin's Creed starts to fall apart. On the one hand, the idea of having to gather information about each target is great as it fleshes out the game's story and theoretically offers you a different style of gameplay, on the other though, it serves only as a means to an end and actually becomes quite tedious. The downfall for Assassin's Creed is it kicks off wonderfully then immediately falls into a routine that is very easy to perform and not in the slightest bit engaging. As soon as you flesh out a particular portion of your map from one of the city's Viewpoints, your GPS is updated with not only the information's position, but also the type of information it is; essentially making the seemingly robust and alive world of the 12th century Holy Land nothing more than a background or an aesthetic tool. This idea is furthered as a result of poor AI dynamics and repetitive patterns for each city's denizens - after a while they're nothing more than background noise. In each city you can save citizens who're being harassed by guards. Once they've been saved the district's vigilantes will block the paths of any pursuing guards if you've been caught or spotted. This is one of the more exciting areas of Assassin's Creed; having the guards' alertness level raised as a result of your actions means you can either fight or run. The latter usually proving the better (and more fun) choice. As mentioned earlier, you can pretty much climb anything in the game, and the context sensitive run controls means Altair will interact with whatever surface he comes into contact with. However, just like before, this can also prove somewhat detrimental to the experience. The camera is dynamic but often can't keep up with any sudden turns - as a result, it's incredibly easy to attempt to turn a corner only to clip the side of a building where Altair will stop running and actually begin to climb. The same again can be said of jumping across rooftops - the slightest odd angle when leaping from a beam or roof ledge can be the end of your perfect line; sending you plummeting to a halt below, or worse still, your death. This can also really mess with your assassination attempt of your main target. To lock onto enemies you simply tap a button, however, more often than not they're surrounded by guards and in many instances as a result of having my attack run interrupted by the context sensitive controls, I've target the wrong person, giving the target, and the guards, more than a heads up that I'm there, thus killing my stealth style. You can nail it, which comes down to the idea Ubisoft have a specific idea in mind about how the game should be played, but it can be really frustrating if things screw up because of this. All that said, however, the further you get into the game, the more the story and characters will suck you in. The cities may actually lack a real sense of AI dynamic, but it doesn't stop the game from coming to life. Each target you take out will share a moment with you before they pass into the next life and this will gradually flesh out the game's story - which crescendos wonderfully after all the time you'll put in (and all the repetitiveness you'll deal with). Obviously it would be a stupid idea to spoil it, but I can say it's more than worth the investment on your part. Also, interjected between Altair sequences, you'll be given breaks from the animus machine as Desmond. These are information gathering sessions unto themselves and you can engage in conversations with Lucy Stillman to flesh out the modern surroundings of Abstergo Industries, Dr Vidic and yourself. In fact, if you manage to finish off every conversation you can have with Lucy, you'll unlock an Achievement. Gameplay and story aside, Assassin's Creed is a wonderment to modern technology. Visually, there are few games that can top this and the engine Ubi have created here is simply a marvel. Climbing the highest point of each city to look around is something I highly recommend, and equally something you should do when friends are over - just to show it off. Altair's animations are amazing, and he almost never looks awkward or clumsy, in fact his demeanour is bold and brash - a perfect reflection of his storied character within the game's narrative. The cities themselves are massive, but so is the land that links them all together. Initially you'll ride your horse to each, but once you've visited all three you're given the option to jump straight to each one (a good thing too, as each one can take you close to 10 minutes to ride to). The architecture between each city is stunning and varies enough you never feel your always just in the same place. All that being said, it's still not perfect though. There are a few standout tech issues I couldn't help but notice. Clipping happens regularly, as does poor collision detection (or more that it doesn't happen). The refresh rate on the 360 version is a little out and I noticed a lot of environmental pop-up in the way of trees, buildings and even people. Other issues come in the form of no volumetric fogging, it's all sprite-based which, given the power and grandeur of the game's engine, just seems lazy to me. Overall, a few more months polishing this stuff would have gone a long way to really mailing home the vision Ubisoft Montreal had for this title. Still, it really is a thing of beauty, I can't state that enough. On the sound landscape, Assassin's Creed is near flawless with amazing voice-acting (thanks largely to an incredible script) and a soundtrack to die for (there's a reason they pulled Jesper Kyd on board). The idea, concept and story are sound, stunning and wanting of more attention, but unfortunately, Assassin's Creed is marred by some repetitive structural issues in the way of AI and specific gameplay elements. The game-world is far less dynamic than it should have been and as a result, the product is let down. However, it is one of the more enjoyable outings, and prospects for the franchise living on (and hopefully learning from its own early pitfalls) are high and most likely in demand. Don't feel let down if you expected this to be the greatest experience of your life, instead feel sated Ubisoft had the cajones to try and bring their concept to life - it's by no means a slouch of a game or gaming experience, it just might not be what you expected of it. Desmond [you] will see a HUD with interactive icons based on your head movement. Even the controller face buttons have been visually implemented as part of the Animus' overall controls. Beyond this, have a look at the game's actual manual - the whole thing has been designed as a seminal "Animus User's Guide". Very, very cool.

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The fourth installment of the popular series by Rockstar featuresimproved graphics, new features, and new gameplay. Players take on the role of Niko Bellic, a rough-around-the-edge chap from Eastern Europe. Niko has arrived in America, in Liberty City -- a land full of promise and opportunity. His cousin convinced him to emigrate, to join him in his mansion and life of luxury, but as soon as he steps off the boat, Niko discovers the truth about the American way. Still, the wealth, the comfort, the bliss of the good life, it all really is here ... And it's all for the taking.

GTA IV reinvents the series with a renewed version of Liberty City detailed to the last pothole and rooftop vent. There are now four boroughs to explore plus extra area outside of Liberty City proper. With the ability to climb obstacles, drive cars, steer boats and pilot helicopters, the world of GTA is more accessible than ever before.

Today i've visited a few official and leading inofficial websites to get the latest news about The Sims 3 (Release: February 20, 2009). There has been the rumor that we could not build our own houses in The Sims 3 due to the new open neighborhood. This point is not totally clear so i wanted to find more info about that. Another important question is about the customizable breast-size of female Sims. I often read about it the search requests - and i understand that need ;) Read here what i have found out about Sims 3 breast-sizes and more... Is there a building mode in Sims 3? Okay, i didn't see a screenshot of the Sims 3 house-building mode yet. To be honest, i don't know for sure if you can create your own houses. But i simply cannot imagine that Maxis would steal this most-beloved and important feature from the gamers. Creating a mansion stone by stone always has been one of the most important parts of the whole Sims-series. Luckily, in the latest "Making of..." video, a guy says something like: "...some players want to build houses, some want to do other things, The Sims 3 has it all..." Additional neighborhood tool! On the other hand there won't be another neighborhood than the standard one in the basic game. That's a sad fact. But Maxis want to release an additional tool to create own neighborhoods. In The Sims 2 you always had to go the long and rocky road to create a landscape with streets and lots by using SimCity 4. Since ages i'm waiting for more in-game neighborhood tools but they never appeared. So a stand-alone "Body Shop for neighborhoods" is better than nothing. The Create a Sim Menus! In the same "Making of..." video you can see a number of menus of the new "Create a Sim" editor. It really seems to work a million times better than the old Sims 2 Family Creator. I deeply hope that there will be all the import/export/actualize functions inside the game's CAS and we never need Body Shop anymore to create own outfits. I've made a few screenshots of the menus, look carefully, they tell us something about customizable breast-sizes: On the first page of CAS you give the Sims a name, gender, zodiac and age. The "Create a Sim" (CAS) Editor looks cool and contains some innovations. But what about the possible body shapes? Let's see: Only 2 rulers for the body shape of this guy. And only the belly seems to be affected. Maxis knows why they show us this most interesting menu only with a male sim :) But anyway, i don't think that the female version will have more rulers for the breast sizes. It will be pretty much the same thin/heavy/muscle ruler like in the male window. Hair can have up to 4 different color zones (Roots, Base, Tips, Highlights)... In the screenshot above you can see a detail preview screen at the down left corner of CAS. There's also a navigation button (zoom and turn). And well, this picture also shows clearly how flat standard Sims 3 women are :( This photo shows the "Facial Details" Designer. Closely looking at a Sims 3 face gives us an idea of the enlarged number of polygons. The mesh is much smoother than in Sims 2. "Shape Presets" only shows default thumbnails yet. Sims 3 women remain to be unnatural! Though these pictures are no absolute proof i do not think that we can change the breast-sizes of Sims 3 females. Every real woman has a different breast size and shape but not in the Sims 3. I also was looking very carefully to many in-game screenshots but each and every female character was appearing exactly the same to me - at that most attractive body zone. I don't understand Maxis' reasons which may be mostly political. But the game will be marked as "inappropriate for children" anyway, due to some "nudity" and "violence", so why don't they add a button and make numerous fans happy?

- Jörg on August 22, 2008 - 10:37. Last updated on August 27, 2008 - 09:45.Germany - .At GC in Leipzig, we had an hour with Empire Total War. While the E3 presentation was about the Sea Battles (which are a nice addon in our opinion, but not what the Total War experience is. about), Land Battles were the focus at GC -- and we also learned a lot about the campaign mode. First of all, the release date is now set for February 6, 2009. And, in case you're wondering, this is PC only. Land Battles: We were shown how a battle between a Prussian attacker and a British defender (for a town labeled "Leipzig"...) evolved. As always with such presentations, we can't be sure what was scripted and what was not, but Creative Assembly's Kieran Bridgen assured us that what we saw was real AI. The battle started out with the British coming at us from the town, with a cavalry squadron riding right into a Fougasse. We've never heard the term before, but apparently even in the 18/19th century, there has been the equivalent of a minefield, with cannon balls and black powder forming a defensive field in front of one of our Prussian regiments (it is a special capability which comes late in the technology tree). We can see the field, of course, the enemy cannot. Let's keep this short by saying that after the initial explosions in that minefield arc and the following secondary explosion, the proud British cavalry changed their flag color to white and routed. After some firefights between regiments huddled behind trees or walls (Empire's tracing each single bullet, so that cover has a real, simulated effect instead of just providing a general defense bonus), the British forces retreated into the town. By the way, we didn't like how the cannon balls looked, because they have a white "tail" so that you can see their flying arc even when zoomed out -- but we were reminded of proton torpedoes or something. Kieran Bridgen said that perhaps they'll make the tails optional. Town fights: With the British retreating to the settlement, we learned that fighting for towns is different from earlier games of the series. In Empire Total War, the holding of the "town square" for 3 minutes only works when attacking forts. In towns and cities, you need to drive the opponent out completely. That can be difficult because troops can now enter buildings for better firing positions and defense (the excess troops forming a stockade around the building, if necessary). As the attacker, you are faced by not only a moral dilemma: Yes, we can (TM) level the whole town, taking away all cover from the defenders. But then this town will be near worthless for us in the campaign, and also the inhabitants will hate us. So if we retake a town or plan to slowly extend our empire, it's a better idea to get into house-to-house fighting with your infantry (cavalry will be not very effective in city battles). Finally, the British withdrew from the battlefield -- demonstrating, Creative Assembly claimed, the new, improved AI. Battle AI linked to Campaign AI: Kieran Bridgen told us that the withdrawing of the British Forces may be what the AI had planned from the beginning: The new strategic AI is linked to the battle AI, and it could be that the battle we've witnessed was not about holding the town (for the AI general), but about inflicting losses on our troops. Think about "losing a battle, but winning the war". If this really works out in the game, it might be the single most important improvement for all dedicated fans of the Total War series: How often have we given battle in a "bridge region", only to withdraw once the ammo of our ranged units was depleted? If the AI finally understands and uses such tactics, too, the overall gaming experience will profit. Battle AI: The Battle AI will be improved in another way: So far, the Total War AI was "stage based": There were certain steps the AI general would follow, for example, to take a city: First stage, approach the gate and destroy it. Second stage, enter the town, and so on. If one of those stage goals was interrupted by the human player, the enemy AI would stall, which lead to heavy losses (e.g. in Medieval 2, when cavalry would remain in range of defenders' ranged weapons). Now, we learned, the AI will be goal oriented (for example: "inflict losses on the enemy", or "get into the city somehow"), which should make it act more flexibly. Nation AI and Generals' AI: Creative Assembly will not use "Special Abilities" like in the Crusader part of theMedieval 2 Kingdoms addon: "They felt like magic spells", Bridgen told us. Instead, there will be personality traits to nations and generals, but they will be more about what kinds of troops they muster. A general named Napoleon Bonaparte, for example, might be expected to be very keen on using artillery. Battle tactics could vary, too, some generals preferring flanking attacks, other choosing frontal assaults more often. As an introductory campaign, you can conquer the New World, finally fighting against your British motherland. Beginner's Campaign: Besides the main, free for all, grab the world campaign, there will be a smaller war for beginners: You start out as the British founding Jamestown, and begin the conquest of the New World. In this mini campaign, you'll be guided by goals, for example "befriend those natives" or "take that town", but how and when you do that is still up to you. If we got it right, you'll be later turn into the "rebels", with the game ending with the Americans throwing out their former mother country and found the United States. There will be missions in the main campaign, too -- as usual, your king or Parliament will reward you for fulfilling their wishes. But there will not be a major "neutral" power like the Papal States or the Roman Senate, Religion playing a much smaller role than before. (it's basically influencing how much a city likes you after being conquered by you). Less micro management: One of the hassles of the Total War series since Rome (which introduced the concept of tile-by-tile moving units on the campaign map instead of the province-to-province, Risc style of Shogun andMedieval 1) was the many single-unit armies you were commanding: In order to get reinforcements to the front, you had to send them there. And although you could just tell them their target spot and wait until they reached it, they still cluttered the map. Empire Total War will have a different approach: Here, generals are calling for reinforcements, and they will be sent to them automatically from their home cities. You'll be able to see that reinforcements on the map, but in a way which makes clear that they are no active units, yet. In order to get reinforcements to your field armies, they need to be "land linked" to at least one of your cities. So after a naval landing, without securing a town on the same isle or continent, you won't get those reinforcements. By this new system, Creative Assembly wants to ensure that there are less playing pieces (Armies) on the campaign map, but each being meaningful. It will be still possible to split your armies, though. The new Campaign map system: Movement on the Campaign map will work differently than before. Instead of tile-by-tile, it will be pixel-by-pixel (but still turn based), with each army, town and fort having a zone of influence around it. When two zones meet, a battle occurs. This also help with hindering movement. Because you will be able to place forts anywhere you want, it should now be possible to actually have a "Limes" or a "Great Wall" along your border, with the enemy having to fight at least once in order to enter your country. Also, there won't be any merchant running around, you will now have merchant fleets. These are vital for securing trade lines, because a large portion of your nation's income will be generated by them. So expect heavy fighting for tobacco or other resources of worth. Also, important buildings will be now outside of the cities. "Our goal is to move the battles away from the cities", Bridgen told us. So a viable strategy can be to move around a strong defender in his stronghold, destroying mines and so on, weakening his ability to improve his army. Diplomacy 201: If you played Rome or Medieval 2 at the highest campaign difficulty mode (and if you're not a real Napoleon), you probably will have used the same trick we did: Sending around diplomats for the sole purpose of getting more money, mostly by selling your map information. Depending on the wealth of your AI partners, you could outrageously high sums by that -- which you needed, on the other hand, because money was so hard to come by in the early stages. No more of this, Creative Assembly says. First because of the new trade system, see above, second because there will be no more diplomats running around! Diplomacy in Empire Total War will be much more detailed and "authentic", Creative Assembly promises. For example, there will be more kind of treaties and requests, and there will be different ways to "ask for" or "demand" something. You can also protest against foreign actions, instead of just be able to declare war. The decline in a relationship will be slow and noticeable, for example, there might be more and more duels between the other nation's gentlemen and your own, hinting at their home nation getting belligerent. Diplomatic notes and requests will show where a nation is headed in a relationship, so there will be advance warnings, and an escalation of conflicts instead of having a former ally turn into enemy within just one turn. Also, it will be much less likely for long time allies to turn on you. You will be able to see the relationships between other nations, at well, and to act on them. For example, if Russia is hostile towards our Prussia, and France and Russia hate each other, too: Why not ask Russia if she would like to go to war with us against France? By the way, in the case of you being attacked, your allies most probably will help you. But in the case of you being the attacker, your allies will think twice of joining you in the aggression. Battlefields and Technology: Supporting the pixel-based Campaign movement, battlefields are now supposed to be an exact replica of the Campaign space the two hostile armies are standing in. Also, they will be bigger than before. The new space is needed because of the higher range of the units, also ranged combat is much more important than before. That's not saying that there's no melee fighting any more: Many cavalry types of that era fought mainly with sword or lance (because they were mainly used to follow routing infantry), and also, bayonet charges still are important. While early bayonets will be plugged into the musket, making it impossible to shoot with it, more modern ring bayonets will let your troops fire "at the whites in their eyes" and then make a devastating close-combat charge. Technology is also important for cannons: While your nice little Six pounders might be enough to bring down the wooden palisades in a New World town attack, there cannon balls will not make a dent into the heavy stone wall of a "modern" European fortress. So depending on where you plan to fight in the world, you should plan accordingly how to climb the technology tree. Weather: So far in the Total War series, weather was influencing line of sight and the effectiveness of ranged units. Now, it will do much more. First, there can be many more weather conditions (examples given were light rain, heavy rain, monsoon torrents, light and heavy snow, ice storms, dust and sand storms). Second, the weather condition will influence many aspects of a battle. For example, a 12 pounder cannon ball might simply dig itself into muddy terrain, inflicting much less damage and also not bouncing off to hit secondary targets -- while a 6 pound cannon ball might still do the bouncing, thereby being more effective in rainy weather. Cavalry might be slowed down in rain, muskets might not fire at all in icy conditions (that's why you would even think about using a plug-in bayonet, by the way). Even cannons can jam at very low temperatures, and don't expect the morale of your troops be high when they're just freezing. Interface: The basic interface, at GC, still looked very familiar, and all the things we like about the Total War series like "painting your troops across the landscape" is still in there. For example, if you approach an enemy battle line, column formation might be a good idea (you're not presenting as wide a target as in line formation). Kieran Bridgen mentioned that the way troops are placed within cities has been optimized (it could be a pain to "draw a troop into a certain formation, before). Also, there are two new buttons to manually increase or decrease the rank and file of a unit. In Sea Battles, the ship's crew and marines are simulated, although they are no unit on their own (which you could use in land battles). Sea Battles: In Sea Battles (which were only shown in a trailer at GC), the interface will show you not only where the wind is coming from, but where your ships are headed and at what speed. As with bullets, each cannon ball's flying path is simulated, so you can hit your own ships, or you (or rather: some of the balls being fired) can miss the ship you targeted and hit the ship behind it. Broadsides at close range are devastating, and ships can catch fire and burn down, or their ammunition depot can suddenly explode. When one of your ships is close to an enemy's, you can try to board it. Your marines (which you can see standing or running around on every ship during battle), will board the other vessel and try to capture it. The marines are "part of the ship": So you're not adding them as single units to a ship, they come in the package, so to speak. That means that your land troops will never participate in sea battles when they're transported by a fleet. Take care of your transport ships! Actually, it's not clear to us whether there will be transport ships, our if the land troops will be (internally) divided among the warships for transport purposes -- but Creative Assembly mentioned at E3 that you *can* attack merchant fleets, so maybe (but not: "probably") you'll be able to attack an invasion fleet with the sole purpose of getting to the troop transports. But this may very well be wishful thinking on our side. We're looking forward to Empire Total War, because a) we love the series since Shogun, despite its shortcomings, and because b) many of those shortcomings (AI, micromanagement, Diplomacy) seem to be taken care of in this newest installment.

Saints Row 2 takes place a few years after the original. Several new upstart gangs have been able to sweep in and make their mark on Stilwater. At the same time, a multi-national conglomerate known as the Ultor Corporation has become a pivotal player in city politics, pumping millions of dollars into rebuilding the metropolis. As leader of the Saints, you'll have to do whatever it takes to protect the members of your gang from new enemies, including the Ultor Corporation and rival gangs. Iako se GTA serijal čvrsto drži na tronu sandbox akcionih igara, prvi deo Saints Row, koji je nažalost izašao samo za Xbox 360, pokazao je da postoje naslovi koji ovu poziciju mogu da ugroze svojim stilom i dobrim gameplay-om. Preko milion prodatih kopija bio je više nego dobar stimulans razvojnom timu Volition za rad na nastavku, ovoga puta za PC, XBox i PS3, pa ćemo Saints Row 2 moći da igramo već krajem avgusta. Radnja počinje desetak godina nakon dešavanja u originalu, povratkom vašeg lika u grad Stilwater i pokušajem da ponovo stavi na noge svoju bivšu bandu pod nazivom Saints Row. Ispostavlja se da je ovo težak zadatak, s obzirom na tri nove bande koje se već bore za prevlast u gradu, od kojih svaka ima svoj jedinstven stil borbe. Borba za uticaj u podzemlju Na početku ćete izabrati pol (stepen koliko je vaš lik muško ili žensko, tako da možete izabrati i "nešto između") i izgled (karakteristike lica, frizuru, odeću, građu), čak i stil hoda, glas i stil borbe, a zatim ćete morati da se upustite u sve moguće kriminalne aktivnosti za koje Stilwater pruža priliku da biste izgradili imidž i osvojili poštovanje drugih kriminalnih elemenata prema vama, što otključava nove misije koje su deo priče. Zanimljivo je da možete da potrošite novac na opremanje kuće (kreveti, fotelje, bilijarski sto, slike) pa će luksuz u kome živite takođe doneti bonus poene poštovanja (respect) od strane NPC-ova. Unapređenje sposobnosti vašeg lika kreće se od snage do preciznosti pri gađanju. Ovo je otvoreni svet zanimljiv za istraživanje u kome sami stvarate svoju avanturu birajući sporedne misije, iako postoji glavna priča čijim se misijama po želji možete vratiti kad vam sve drugo dosadi. Co-op i multiplayer pored singleplayer kampanje Igra će imati kooperativni gameplay tako da će vam se drugi igrači pridruživati s ciljem da zajedno lakše pređete određene misije, što je moguće čak iako niste stigli do istog dela priče. Naime, igra pamti ako ste učestvovali u misiji koja vama još nije otključana u singleplayer modu, tako da će vam, kada napredujete do nje, ostaviti mogućnost da izaberete da je ponovo igrate ili preskočite. U co-op modu igrači s kojima krenete u misiju mogu da vas ožive ako u misiji nastradate pa je, iako je moguće da samostalno lutate gradom, poželjno da se ne udaljavate mnogo jedni od drugih. Pored co-op moda, biće prisutan i standardni takmičarski multiplayer, baziran na timskoj igri i eksperimentisanju sa različitim taktikama u ostvarivanju određenih ciljeva. Ekstremna zabava Arsenal u igri uključuje standardno oružje, pištolje, puške, raketne bacače, ali i eksplozivna punjenja koja mogu da se zalepe na bilo koju metu i aktiviraju sa sigurne razdaljine. Bilo koga možete zgrabiti i koristiti ga kao ljudski štit, kada će policajci izbegavati da pucaju da ne bi povredili nedužne, dok će suparničke bande ipak pucati, ali će vam telo ispred pružiti bar kratku zaštitu od metaka. Za vreme pucnjave, kamera će biti iznad ramena vašeg lika (tzv. fine aim) i omogućiti preciznije nišanjenje. Razna prevozna sredstva su vam na raspolaganju: pored motora i automobila, tu su helikopteri i avioni, a većina njih će biti najefikasnije korišćena u co-op igranju, kada jedan igrač može da vozi, a drugi da se skoncentriše na pucanje. Vozila se takođe mogu unapređivati, dodavanjem nitroa, hidraulike, moćnijih motora i skrivenog naoružanja. Mini igre sadrže morbidne i ekstremne aktivnosti koje će sigurno privući pažnju kao i u prvom delu. Jedna od njih uključuje bacanje pod točkove automobila i autobusa da bi pokupili novac osiguranja, s tim da određene lokacije i dobra visina odbacivanja, kao i sukcesivni udari više automobila donose dodatne poene i više para. U drugoj mini igri jedan od partnera vozi auto i navlači članove suparničke bande da ga jure kolima, dok drugi nadgleda situaciju iz helikoptera i zasipa poteru raketama. Mini igra pod nazivom Fuzz jedna je od najatraktivnijih jer vašem liku omogućava da se pretvara da je policajac koji hapsi kriminalce, s tim da nije cilj samo obaviti misiju već naći kreativne načine da se kriminalaca rešite (pod kreativnim ovde podrazumevamo uvrnute i ekstremne). Nije ni čudo što igra nosi oznaku M, planirana je za odrasle - većina akcije je daleko od dobrog ukusa i društveno prihvaćenih pravila ponašanja. Međutim, THQ i Volition računaju na to da će poboljšani gameplay itekako privući pažnju igrača koji su već igrali prvi deo i osvojiti novu publiku. GTA IV za PC nije još dobilo zvaničan odgovor, Saints Row 2 deluje više nego primamljivo za ljubitelje ovog žanra. Kako će se pokazati u poređenju sa jakom konkurencijom videćemo krajem avgusta, kad bude puštena na evropsko tržište.