Civilization 5 Announced! GeeWiz A Great Year For PC Strategy Games!

 

Hallelujah! Civilization 5 was announced and that’s made 2010 a really good year for PC strategy games. While many will no doubt be eagerly awaiting Blizzard’s Starcraft 2, I on the other hand will be looking forward to this more. Civilization IV is still one of the best made and polished strategy game to date.

 

In the announcement, combat seems to have got a major overhaul with the game sporting a hex based grid now. Units will be full armies now and I suspect there will be directional attack and group bonuses.

 

The press statement is pretty vague about other things, but it seems like there will be more diplomatic options and more multiplayer online game modes. It also looks very pretty. Release date is said to be fall 2010! Yeah it’s that soon.

 

 

 

Gratuitous Space Battles Review

 

Gratuitous Space Battles plays out like an interstellar fireworks display. You see big space ships duking it out with lasers, missiles and all sorts of sci fi instruments of death. You don’t get to control them however, because Gratuitous Space Battles is a strategy game centered around the planning stage of a space battle.

 

The planning stage is the entire focus of the game. There are mainly three classes of ships, the cruiser, frigate, and fighter. The cruisers are the big bulky heavy ships. Frigates are the lighter ships and fighters are the tiny ships that buzz around bigger ships like flies. Each different class of ships have different type of hull design that has a host of stats related to them.

 

 

Cost, weight, hard and soft points are all important considerations to a budding space ship designer. The hard and soft points are the points on the ship you can attach modules to. You need to balance out the need to attach weapons, defences like armour or shields, power generators, crew living quarters for the battles you will face.

 

Because the battles you will face will be on the difficult side. To make the most of the situation, you’ll need to read the stats at the end of the battle to discover the weaknesses of your fleet. Do you need more armour? More longer range weapons? Are enemy missiles destroying your fleet?

 

 

Of course since these hard and soft points are limited on a hull design, you’ll often have to resort to specialised ships to counter the enemy fleets strength in some cases. Design a missile defence ship designed to deal with incoming missiles, or maybe a frigate with an EMP cannon that disables enemy ships?

 

Apart from fixing modules, you can also give orders to your ship. These orders range from fly in formation, protect, cautious and many more. These orders allow you to tweak the behaviour of various ships in your fleet. You might find your frigates moving too far forward racing to their oblivion or your cruisers wasting their time trying to swat those pesky fighters. You can use orders and targeting instructions to rectify this.

 

 

Once you’ve set up your fleet the way you want it, the battle plays out. This part of Gratuitous Space Battles has been described by other sites and reviews as being frustrating simply for the fact that users that are used to RTS games might not like having no control of your units. I beg to differ since Gratuitous Space Battles isn’t an RTS.

 

Gratuitous Space Battles gives me that feeling I got when I played the earlier Championship Manager games. The thrill of watching your plan working out well or watch helplessly as your plan crumbles. There is a certain satisfaction to working out a perfect plan that wins you the battle. Or that eureka moment you get when you got the perfect combination.

 

 

Multiplayer basically revolves around playing other player made battles called challenges. You could view all challenges in a lobby, play it and rate it like you would on any other media. There isn’t any two player death match. Which isn’t too bad really as Gratuitous Space Battles is a great strategy game that you can pick up to play for a short while.

 

Gratuitous Space Battles is a fun little game that while being short of missions, makes for a fun diversion. There is a a DLC content called the Tribe DLC pack which adds a new alien race with all new hull design, weapons etc and two new missions which add a little more content when you’re done with the base game. Try out the demo, buy it if you like it.

 

Pros:

• Pretty graphics and particles effects
• Require plenty rethinking of strategy for each battle
• Easy to pick up and play

 

Cons:

• Only a few scenarios shipped with the vanilla version
• Certain weapons might be a tad too powerful at the moment

 

Verdict: Gratuitously Fun

 

Rating: 8/10

 

Price USD $19.99

 

Steam Product Page

Official Website

AI War: Fleet Command Review

AI War: Fleet Command was a game that surprised me in many ways. A game developed by a one man studio,(he later got help from 2 other people for art and music)Arcen Games. A game that was never really featured much in the mainstream press. A game that despite all this, is to my mind, the best strategy game experience of 2009(and will continue with many DLC’s and an expansion in 2010).


AI War takes its inspiration from Supreme Commander. Huge fleets, big armies, macro control. It has some similar features to Sins of A Solar Empire, with it’s own take of the empire tree user interface(A list of buildings and ships in a system/sector that is instantly accessible) and a galactic map(which to be fair is something most space based game will have to do anyway).
 

While those two games(Supreme Commander & Sins of A Solar Empire) were about a galactic war against three unique sides, AI War makes no qualms about revealing that you are indeed playing against an AI. AI War can be played single player or cooperatively, but always against two AI’s. While this might seem like a throwback(no death match), it is in fact refreshingly original as the AI you face are actually way more powerful than you.

This is the core of AI War, you are always going against an AI that is technological, numerically, monetarily superior than you. What’s even more interesting is the concept of AI progression and aggression. As you colonise faster, you are seen as a bigger threat by the AI and they behave a lot more aggressively. At every 30 minutes intervals(the timing of this can be set before the start of a campaign)and certain actions you take, the AI progression number increases. That basically means the AI gets better technology and more advanced.
 

This leads to a constant push pull effect, turtle and the AI just gets too powerful, attack too fast and the AI gets aggressive. Finding the right balance of taking systems when it is needed(for resources) can get pretty hard especially if you play with the more higher difficulty AI.

Piss the AI off a lot and the AI gets a free attacking fleet that will attack one of your planets when the timer runs out. This is akin to a tower defense game where you have to face a wave of enemies. At this point, AI War borrows some tower defense elements. To secure your planet, you need to build defenses around wormholes that enemy ships jump into.



Research points are limited per planet(2000 per planet). Which means you can only research 1 or 2 new technology wholed up in a single planet. To keep up with the AI, you’ll be forced to colonise new planets or use a sneaky tactic of research point raiding(send in research ships to enemy planets to steal research points). You could build a mobile constructor to build buildings in planets not in your control. This should allow you to set up a base of operations in planets that are not completely secure yet.

There are plenty of intricate strategies such as these in the game. Use of transport ships, repair vehicles, mobile shield generator, mobile constructors, you could think of many new strategies or tactics to counter a particular challenge. AI War brings out the creative side of any strategy gamer.



I just love the fact that I had to think of new strategies to overcome some of the AI planets. Not many RTS games can do this since half the time, you just need to find a single magic formula that wins it for you. Not so in AI War. It just so exquisitely designed, clearly the work of a lengthy beta test and a dedicated developer behind it.

Make no mistakes, AI War is an incredibly polished game with a great RTS mechanic, well balanced, and an original entry in today’s age of sequels, constant retreads, and lack of innovation. AI War: Fleet Command is a fresh new take on the RTS genre and a reminder of possibly where innovation truly lies with these days; the indie developers. Bravo Arcen Games, if you love RTS and strategy games, you have to play AI War: Fleet Command.

Pros:

• Originality
• Very challenging
• Diversity of units and strategies
• Immense scale and scope
• Addictive gameplay
• Very impressive AI(you’ll have to play to see for yourself)

Cons:

• Not the sharpest looking game

Rating: 8.8/10

Verdict: Gordon Freeman of RTS’s!


AI War: Fleet Command Demo
Official Site
Steam Product Page

Torchlight Review

 

The names Max and Erich Shaefer may bring nostalgic memories to PC gamers. They of course were co creators to the seminal Diablo and Diablo II from Blizzard(previously Blizzard North) which was a landmark moment in action RPG games(in fact it invented it). Runic Games is the name of the new start up and Torchlight is their first offering. A Diablo clone which gets the formula right.

 

 

It’s got the same addictive quality of Diablo which is either a good or bad thing depending on how you see it. Prepare to find time fly by as you rush through a dungeon to get every single gold and loot drop. As it is from the guys that did Diablo, I suppose they know the right formula to mix combat with loot drops. The perfect reward to action ratio which will suck your soul.

 

 

What’s there to say about the gameplay that you have probably known by know. It plays like Diablo. You can take control of any three different class type, the Alchemist(Wizard), Destroyer(Warrior) and blabla(the ranger/ranged weapon expert). You then go into Torchlight, a town gripped with a growing evil. You find that the source of this comes from deep within the mines and venture into it to fight whatever monster you face.

 

 

Really, the story’s nice, but irrelevant. You’ll be too busy just killing stiff and picking stuff up. What’s brilliant about Torchlight is that its got some truly smart things in it that improves on the Diablo formula. Ever had your inventory full in between a dungeon raid and ever wished you could somehow sell some of the stuff away(instead of just dropping them)? Now you can using your pets to quickly run back to town to sell it for you.

 

 

Yes you have a pet, which is very fashionable I suppose(hey WoW has them). It’s really your personal slave to be frank. Go sell this crap boy! You could also equip your dog(or cat) rings and necklace to improve its stats and even teach it to use spells. You have merchants, quest givers, gambling orcs, robot bards and a whole host of characters that sever to give you quests, sell and buy your stuff, and allow you to make more money.

 

 

There is even a shared treasure chest that allow you to share items between your different characters or saves. Absolute genius move. It’s the minor improvements like this from the Diablo formula that makes Torchlight a polished, refinement of the classic. While the lack of a multiplayer may turn off some people(purely single player), Torchlight manages to hold on to your attention with its loot collection.

 

 

As a roughly 1 year development time from a relatively small and new studio, it’s evident that Runic is a studio that is lead by very experienced and talented people that I have no doubt has a lot more to offer to the games industry and gamers. Torchlight at USD$19.99 is a definitely buy if you’re an action RPG fan.

 

Pros:

• Addictive loot mechanic
• Many refinements and improvements over Diablo
• Great game for jumping in for a while

 

Cons:

• Addictive
• Light on cutscenes and story

 

Verdict:  Loot Fest!

 

Rating: 8/10

 

Price: USD$19.99

 

Steam Product Page

Razer Imperator Review

 

The Razer Abyssus was a solid gaming mouse but now, I’ve tried the Razer Imperator, and I can say this mouse is a very nice mouse. In fact it  remedies many of the minor niggles I had with the Abyssus. Please bear in mind that the Imperator is a USD$80 mouse(about RM260ish) and is off a different class from the Abyssus.

 

The first thing I noticed when I opened the box was that the imperator was a much larger mouse. Carrying it on my hand, it felt a lot more heavier(has a bit of weight) than the Abyssus, which is how I like my mice. The design looks sleek and attractive. Good first impression.

 

 

I personally don’t like ergonomic design(ergonomic design of any mouse for that matter). It looks good, but it forced me to hold the mouse the way it wants to be held(it’s not as bad as some other mice). But after 2 weeks, I can say that I’ve got used to it. The top half of the mouse is ruberised giving you excellent grip. Perfectly fine and comfortable once you get used to it.

 

The Imperator doesn’t have a wonky mouse wheel unlike cheaper mice. The mouse wheel on the Imperator is well built and lasts. No squeaky noise on this mice. In fact the entire mouse is quite well built except for the side mouse button 4 and 5. It’s a thin button that doesn’t quite feel sturdy like other mice buttons(as well as their older Razer mice).

 

 

However the thinness of the button has its advantages as well. The positioning of these buttons, just above your thumb makes it impossible to accidently click these button. Pretty smart. On top of that, these button can be adjusted to be more to the front or back(the mouse has an adjustable button below it).

 

Adjusting DPI on the Imperator is a lot more on the fly. The DPI adjustment button are located on top(I’ve been using it for a long time and you can’t accidently press these buttons), just behind the mouse wheel. Two buttons, one to increase the DPI and another to decrease it. The Razer Imperator has what Razer calls Synapse(on board memory) that allows users to customise their sensitivy settings. The Imperator allows you to customise five different sensitivy settings(using the DPI adjustment buttons you can change) using the drivers available on their website.

 

 

I liked the way DPI settings can be changed on the Imperator as it was very convenient when I needed to make smaller mouse movement for 3D design work, I could change it with ease. The technical aspect of the Razer Imperator is highly impressive. Specifications below(click on image to view bigger image):

 

 

What’s not listed in the specification is the lift off height of the Imperator. For the uninitiated, that's the height the mouse can be lifted up before the sensors stop accepting mouse inputs. This allows users to use the mouse by lifting it(so you don’t need to make big sweeping movements).

 

 

The shorter the height the better. The  Imperator’s lift off height is very good. You could lift the mouse like a regular mouse without worrying about the cursor moving due to the sensor picking up movement when the mouse if lifted. I was very impressed by this. 

 

 

The Razer Imperator does its highly impressive technical spec justice. The level of customisation and quality offered in this package is amazing. The only down side to the offering is the thin side buttons does not quite feel like it’s up to the level of build the rest of the mouse is.

 

 

Pros:

• Has a bit more weight
• Ergonomic design(for right hander)
• Conveniently placed 4th and 5th mouse button
• 4th and 5th button can be readjusted
• High sensitivity(up to 5600dpi)
• On the fly dpi adjustments much easier.
• You can customize different levels of dpi to move up or down
• Very low lift off height = great for those that want to move their mouse by lifting it

Cons:

• Mouse button 4 and 5 doesn’t feel very solid. It’s a little thin.
• If you are used to non ergonomic designed mouse, may take a while to get used to this. Designed for right hander's.
• If you like the Razer symbol to be illuminated all the time, the new breathing effect may not tickle your fancy much

 

Rating: 8/10

 

MSRP: USD$79.99

 

Left 4 Dead 2 Review

 

Surprise, surprise! A new Left 4 Dead sequel developed in a year. Valve surprised many by announcing Left 4 Dead 2 at E3 this year(including myself). Sceptics questioned Valve’s move to make a sequel, but they(Valve) were adamant that the changes in Left 4 Dead 2 are big, significant changes and that are too big to be an update for Left 4 Dead. So are they?

 

In short, they are, but the changes are a subtle. But put them altogether and what you get is a more refined Left 4 Dead experience then the first ever was. In terms of content, Left 4 Dead 2 has 5 campaigns(all five playable in versus), the survival mode from the first game, versus, a more realistic realism mode(no revivals and no outlines over objects) and a much needed new competitive multiplayer mode called scavenge.

 

 

The new campaigns take you through five, unique levels that also introduce new infected types(from the mudmen in the swamps to zombie clowns in dark carnival) and a new gameplay twist in each of them. The campaigns have a  story continuation to them but really you’ll only take notice the first time you play them through.

 

These campaigns have some very interesting situation that are very creative and unforgettable. From Dark Carnivals concert stage finale to the Sugar Cane factory on Hard rain that somehow attracts witches(you need to tread carefully in there). The design of the levels are a major improvement from the very solid Left 4 Dead(although some levels are rather easy to get lost in, you need to keep a closer eye on the lighting of the map).

 

 

The introduction of new special infected types are game changers as their main goal is to defeat the often use tactic of survivor teams holding up in tightly enclosed rooms. The spitter spits a corrosive blob of acid that exponentially damages anyone that stands(or is incapacitated) on it. The fastest way to get a camped survivor team jumping out of their camped spot is using the spitter.

 

The charger is a big special infected with a giant hand that is used to pummel survivors. On top of that, the charger can charge at a survivors. Whoever becomes the victim of the chargers charge will be continuously pummeled to the ground until someone kills it. The charger is  unaffected by being meleed(melee weapons work though).

 

 

The jockey is a more stealthy little fella. Always stalking the survivors and jumping on a straggler, he is often used to spread one survivor from the group. The jockey will also often ride a survivor into danger such as into a witch or falling of a ledge. This new trio will require survivors to adapt to the game and be more quick on their feet. Without a doubt, Left 4 Dead 2 is a more challenging game due to this.

 

You’ll have to develop new strategies(and skills) to tame many of its challenges. You however get new help in the form of melee weapons. These make a huge difference in this game as often times you just need to cut your way past zombies as that's the most efficient way of getting through a gauntlet event(a new event where you need to hit a switch to stop the zombies from constantly spawning).

 

 

There’s also new items such as the boomer bile jar(a bottle full of the boomer puke) and adrenaline shots. Boomer bile jars allow you to make the zombies focus on the target you threw it to(you can make zombies fight each other this way). Adrenaline shots are very important in gauntlet events as they make you run faster and not slow down as much when hit by a zombie.

 

Apart from the campaign, versus(for all 5 campaigns), realism mode and survival mode, scavenge is an extremely fun and frantic gameplay mode that is perhaps the secret weapon in Left 4 Dead 2. One of the major problems with the first Left 4 Dead  was that the extremely fun(and infuriating at times) versus mode was too long(double the time of a coop campaign). It could take anywhere between 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours.

 

 

Scavenge mode removes the level to level campaigns, for a single small level(like survival mode) and pits the survivors against the infected. The objective is to pick gas cans littered around the level to fill up a generator. For each gas can you fill up, you add another 30 seconds(there is a timers that counts down). When the timer reaches zero, or you’ve filled up all gas cans, it’s game over and the other team becomes survivors and try to beat your score. This leads to a fast paced game that doesn’t trudge around like a regular versus match.

 

A best of 3 scavenge match can last about 30 minutes which is the perfect magical number for competitive games. I personally think scavenge will give Left 4 Dead 2 the legs that many people feel Left 4 Dead didn’t have. The replay value is much greater because of this.

 

 

Left 4 Dead 2 is a great achievement for Valve. The fact that they built this game in a years time is a huge departure from the Valve we know. And the level of quality and content in this game is astonishing. All it took was one year. Sure it is building upon Left 4 Dead, but nevertheless, Left 4 Dead 2 is polished, exciting, fun, frantic and everything what a Left 4 Dead 2 sequel should be.

 

Pros:

• A bigger game than Left 4 Dead
• A refined improvement of gameplay
• Hard Rains AI Director is really impressive with its dynamic weather(controls storms).
• New physics and limb animation system = decapitation!
• Awesome finales

 

Cons:

• Definitely a more difficult game. Might frustrate those that want a casual experience.

 

Rating:  9/10

 

Price: RM138

The Software Boutique

Steam

Dragon Age: Origins Review

This was the game I’ve been anticipating this year and now that it’s out, I’ve been playing it for a couple of weeks now. They called it the spiritual successor to Baldur’s Gate and in anticipation for this game, I even played through Baldur’s Gate II and it’s expansion(yes I’m that hardcore :P). So how does it live up to the classic Baldur’s Gate?

Quite well I would say. To be completely fair, Dragon Age is it’s own beast. It does go back to the much more tactical combat that the Baldur’s Gate series was known for while improving a lot of little minor gripes about the old Bioware games.

Dragon Age: Origins takes place in the fantasy world of Ferelden(an original Bioware creation). There are the usual humans, elves, dwarves and yes Dragons. The land is besieged with conflict as the Dark Spawn(evil creatures that originate from the underground) have been growing its forces and spreading on land.

All these may sound typical fantasy fiction fare but Bioware has made Dragon Age more darker and there are a lot of unexpected turn of events that will shock and surprise you. Expect the unexpected in Dragon Age. This is a long, epic, old school RPG.

You start with a choice of selecting your main character, your origin as they say. Different races will get their own prologue story(an origin story that you play) and you will get many situations that may have new options opened to you that are different if you played a different race or class.

You have the born with a silver spoon human nobles, poverty stricken city elves, isolationist Dalish elves, impoverished Dwarven commoner and conflict ridden Dwarven noble origin stories. All completely different in how they play out and your entire game will differ based on this starting choice.

I cannot stress just how many different branching paths you can take with the story in Dragon Age. You’d probably find other players having taken completely different solutions to quests that you never knew you could do it that way. There are tonnes of dialogue in this game and the writing is very good. A lot of funny and quite disturbing plots in the game main story and side quests.

Aside from the story and dialogues, you will also spend a lot of your time in Dragon Age in combat. Bioware has moved away from the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons rules and crafted their own ruleset for Dragon Age. You may find that they might have dropped certain aspect you might have liked from their older fantasy games(like day night cycles, spell memorizations, resting and a couple more mechanics) but everything was done to make the game flow better and keep you focused on the core aspects of the game(combat and story).

One of the biggest pains in their older games were the inventory system. You’ll be glad to find that items do not have a weight to them any longer and there is a unified inventory space for all your characters. However you’d find the 70 slot quickly filled up as you progress in the game. Sadly, you can’t drop items(you need to destroy them to make space in the inventory). You will have the opportunity to upgrade your inventory space(by increments of 10) from certain traders. You could also download a helpful treasure chest mod that will give a chest to store items in your main party camp.

Combat is an absolute blast in Dragon Age . With the ability to zoom out and view the battle field in an isometric/top down view, you'd be able to pause the game and plan your attacks efficiently. In fact, you WILL have to do this if you want to get past some of the tougher battles(and there are plenty of tough battles).

Magic uses a mana based system now and they regenerate out of combat (removing the need to rest). Party members that fall in combat are not permanently dead. They resurrect automatically after combat is ended and get an injury status. These injuries give a negative effect on your stats until an injury kit is used or you go to your party encampment.

A major addition now to Dragon Age is the ability to gain bonus damage for flanks or rear attacks. At last, a staple of strategy games is brought to an RPG game. Of course rogues have better ability to do this and get an added damage bonus for backstabs. In lieu of this, you also need to keep an eye on your parties rear and flanks since you’ll be outnumbered most of the time.

You can start as a mage, warrior or rogue and specialise into sub classes when you hit level 7 and 14(giving you the option to make your favourite classic class like Ranger, Assassin, Arcane Warrior and many more). You have to keep in mind that you won’t be able to pick locks without a rogue with the lock picking skill. Dragon Age removes the lock bashing ability of fighters and mages lock removing spells. You will get a rogue in game not too far in so don’t worry if you’re not able to open locks in the beginning.

You can only bring along four party members(all the NPC’s recruited will stay at your party camp but you can only bring 4 along) which is a pity since they are all well voiced and interesting. Just like in Baldur’s Gate, some of the best moments in game were playing through their specific quests and bonding with them(you learn their story).

Dragon Age is the best PC game this year(I’ll release my list later this month)! It’s epic, memorable, and has an insane amount of replayability. It just goes to show that an old school fantasy based RPG can still be successful and be a deep RPG game(without the need of oversimplifying things). Dragon Age is a great homage to traditional RPG gamers and we salute Bioware for a job well done! You’ll be playing this one for a long, long time.

PS : Bioware’s also released the development toolkit for Dragon Age. So you can expect a lot of user made content and modules(as well as Bioware made DLC’s) just like NeverWinter Nights did.

Pros:

• Great story
• Extremely long
• Very replayable
• A lot of strategic and tactical battles
• Memorable characters
• Very polished game with hardly any game ending bug
• It's hard to come by a game of such scale these days

Cons:

• Graphics aren't the sharpest when compared to other triple AAA games(but good considering the scope it offers)
• You still run out of inventory space for your party which is irritating

Rating : 9/10

Price : RM138

The Software Boutique

Pcgame.com.my

Steam

Command & Conquer 4 Mission Walkthrough Video

 

Gametrailers has posted up a new trailer that showcases a single player mission. It’s a good walkthrough that gives you a glimpse of new units and how the world has turned hostile. C&C 4 is planned for release on March 16th 2010. Video below:

 

Video Games | Command & Conquer 4: Tiberian Twilight | UK GDI Transport Down Walkthrough

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Left 4 Dead 2 DLC Announced!

Valve announced their very first DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 called ‘The Passing’. This DLC is said to include new multiplayer game modes and a new campaign(right after Dead Center) that sees the L4D2 crew meeting with the L4D crew(yes Francis, Zoey, Bill, and Louis is back). Set for release in early 2010, a price has not been announced yet. It is speculated that the XBOX360 version will have a price point and hopefully the PC DLC’s will remain free.

Press release:

"The Passing" Brings L4D1 Survivors Down South

December 14, 2009 - Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life, Portal, Team Fortress, and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the first game add-on for its co-operative zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D2), is in development and targeted for release in early 2010.

Dubbed "The Passing," the first game add-on for L4D2 brings the original Left 4 Dead (L4D1) Survivors down south for a meeting with the L4D2 cast, while delivering new single-player, multiplayer and co-operative gameplay for the PC and Xbox 360.

Targeted for release in early spring, "The Passing" takes place just after the Dead Center campaign of L4D2. Set in a small town in rural Georgia, players assume the role of the L4D2 Survivors as they meet with the L4D1 characters.

In addition to the new co-operative campaign and associated narrative, "The Passing" will include new arenas for Survival, Versus and Scavenge mode and introduce a new co-operative challenge mode of play. The Passing will also include a new "uncommon common" zombie class, melee weapon, and firearm.

"The Passing will become the most important campaign in the Left 4 Dead story, as all the Survivors are being called together in one campaign," said Doug Lombardi, VP of marketing at Valve. "It will also be a huge offering of new gameplay content, with something new for every game mode plus a new uncommon common and weaponry."

Exclusively available for the Xbox 360 and PC, L4D2 sets a new benchmark for co-operative action games. The title adds melee combat to enable deeper co-operative gameplay, with items such as a chainsaws, frying pans, axes, baseball bats, and more.

With the AI Director 2.0, L4D's dynamic gameplay is taken to the next level by giving the Director the ability to procedurally change weather effects, world objects, and pathways in addition to tailoring the enemy population, effects, and sounds to match the players' performance.

The result is a unique game session custom fitted to provide a satisfying and uniquely challenging experience each time the game is played.

Finally, with new Survivors, boss zombies, weapons, and items, Left 4 Dead 2 offers a much larger game than the original, featuring more co-operative campaigns, more Versus campaigns, new Survival maps, and the new competitive game mode, Scavenge.

Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing is targeted for release in early spring for the PC and Xbox 360. Pricing will be announced closer to launch.

PS : Yes, I’m still working on my Left 4 Dead 2 review.

Napoleon Total War Story Mode Trailer

First trailer for Creative Assembly’s next grand strategy game has been released. Looks like a good mix of more open total war experience and linear story telling. View the trailer after the jump.