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Good Lord, a giant hand!

One of the many things you’ll find in the new demo for Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix’s return to Cocoon, continuing the story of Final Fantasy XIII. Serah and Noel find themselves in quite a predicament in this, as a giant “Paradox” known as Atlas is attacking.

You’ll see here that the battle system is not all that different from Final Fantasy XIII. You have one party leader, who in my case is Noel. You have Paradigm Shifts, where I can change between healers and direct attacks and stuff like that, and Serah will follow. You’ll have the big , over-scaled boss fight like this one here. You’ll notice here that Atlas isn’t quite in the world yet; later on you’ll see him in his full form, but this is the first time you’ll see him.

The demo also introduces a new side feature called temporal rifts. These are essentially Dissidia without the fighting: you’ll go through a path, gather crystals, get to the goal. You’ll see here that I have to follow not quite the direct way in order to solve the puzzle, and the next one as well.  These are cool, but I’d like to know a little more of what they do. All they did in this demo was weaken Atlas so I could face him for real, but I’d like to know if there’s going to be more to this little feature than what I’ve seen here, because I can go play Dissidia if I want grids and crystals.

The demo also introduces Chocolina, who is the shopkeeper this time, not to mention a cosplayer’s dream. Look at those bird hand…wings…things…I don’t even know what’s going on there. She’s strange.

I love the demo, I think it’s really cool. It’s over a gig and a half, so there’s plenty to do. If you’re looking forward to the game, definitely give the demo a shot to strengthen your opinion.

Regardless of this and other glaring differences, fans the world over chomp at the bit to gain the opportunity to assume the cowl, mostly in the fantasy aspect of having a fortune and a wealth of burgeoning technology at their disposal. The folks at Monolith Productions and WB Interactive have cooked up a solution for us Bat-brains: Gotham City Impostors.

You’re not the real Batman, as one arch-nemesis would quickly point out, but you certainly dress like him. You are a poor man’s version who has to utilize weapons simply because you don’t have the training and the technology to pursue the course of honor of the crew’s inspiration, This is made even more apparent in the only single-player portion of the game, Initiate, a brief tutorial that acclimates the newcomer to what makes this online game unique.

Things like roller skates, well placed trampolines, and meager grappling weapons allow you to move like the Dark Knight. You don’t use fists – you break one of Batman’s two rules, because this is a shooter. This may cause some to cringe, but not so fast, my friend. The Bat Universe is a prime target for weapon customization as the Impostors emulate their hero by creating their own homebrewed weaponry. The gameplay is reminiscent of Xbox 360′s Shadowrun, and the translation to Gotham is a lot smoother than you may expect. Controls in the beta are tight and this bodes well for its full release.

The customization options in Gotham City Impostors (weapon load out, character outfits, etc.) are contingent upon the level you reach while playing through the various game modes, with a proverbial smorgasbord further along. Each round, you sign up to fight alongside the Bats, the Batman homage vigilante squad, or the Jokerz, a crew of folks dressed up like the Clown Prince. The two game modes available in the beta, Psych Warfare and Fumigation, have roots in various Bat villain ploys to attempt to take over Gotham and submerge it in mayhem.

Psych Warfare is a form of capture the flag where teams race to grab a battery and return it to their respective base in an effort to discombobulate their opponent, allowing for some easy kills as the disoriented run around with their arms flailing.

Fumigation is a bit like Halo‘s Domination multiplayer mode, where there are three sections to take control of for a set amount of time. The game concludes when either time runs out or, depending on the team, a swarm of bats or Joker’s toxin overtakes the map.

The level of camp and slight lightheartedness is a definite change of pace for Batman titles in general, making this particular entry somewhat more approachable.

Gotham City Impostors will be available for download on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in February 2012.

For those who yearn for the bright lights and skyline of New York, they need not worry. The game will open on the five boroughs as one of Max’s friends comes to the troubled former law enforcement officer’s apartment to propose that he move on. It won’t just be story cutscenes in the city though, as Max and his buddy are then set upon by organized criminals that want the duo dead. In typical Max Payne fashion, a bullet-time-filled shootout ensues.

Just like its predecessors, Max Payne 3 prides itself upon the slowing down of time in order to deliver a more Matrix/John Woo style of action so that the player can revel in their precise kills. Using the super slow motion will once again drain a bullet time meter, set in the bottom right corner of the screen and settled next to the outline of a body. The outline itself serves as Max’s health meter while the number contained within informs the player how much of the series’ painkillers that he or she has on hand.

The action itself will take place in several open areas typical of shooter or action games, with exception to the opening hallway altercation in New York City. Players will need to take cover in order to stay alive, but would be wise not to linger. The AI in Max Payne 3 is smart enough to find out where Payne is hiding and how to use that to their advantage, so quickly moving from cover to cover and intelligently managing your bullet time will be crucial.

When the last enemy in an area is laid to waste, another staple of the series will present itself: slow-motion kill cam. Players will be able to see the final rounds fly through their foe in bullet time as the camera then speeds back up to watch him ragdoll to the ground. There’s one other occasion where slow motion occurs, and that’s during the game’s action set pieces. An example I was shown during my demo session had Payne sliding down a suspended crane inside a warehouse as he unleashed automatic rounds into his surprised targets below.

Rockstar is doing its best to show its attention to detail with the game’s physics. The developer has given Max Payne 3 the life-size motion capture treatment in order to give movement and body transitioning a sense of weight and momentum. If Max tries to strafe from one side to another, he’ll have to plant and stop himself in order to send his body in the other direction. It’s something that few developers bother to regard, and it helps give the game a more realistic feel.

Max will also be limited to the use of just a pistol and one other weapon at all times; and when that other weapon runs out of ammo, Payne will reasonably ditch it as it no longer has any use. Additionally, whatever weapon he is carrying when entering a cutscene will appear in his hands during the entire cinematic, keeping the player immersed in what he or she is doing.

Fans of the series will remember that both Max Payne and Max Payne 2 used comic strips in order to convey the graphic novel theme that Remedy and Rockstar were going for. Though cinematic scenes do make their way into Max Payne 3 for a more compelling narrative, it still respects its roots. Mixed in with the full cutscenes will be panel sections that aim to further Max’s latest tale in the form of a motion comic.

Players shouldn’t look for much exploration within Payne’s trials of blood in New York and São Paulo, as the game consists of mostly straight-up action and cinematics. Come out of a cutscene, enter a firefight. Finish a firefight, enter the next cutscene that will take you straight to the next firefight. This lack of gameplay downtime may let down some gamers, but others may find it to be a nice way of trimming the fat, keeping to what made the first two Max Payne games successful.

And for those who wonder: No, the game will not have any endlessly crying babies in drug-fueled hallucinations. It’s another improvement of what appears to be a solid revival of a game protagonist whose last heyday was during the age of the PlayStation 2 and Xbox. Gamers will be able to find out for themselves when Max Payne 3 releases March 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

When I got my chance to explore the origin content at the New York Comic Con, I fulfilled a desire that I had since first laying eyes on “A New Hope” by taking the role of a Jedi Knight. My character’s story began as a promising padawan, sent to the Jedi home world of Tython by my masters to undergo the final trials and training before becoming a full-fledged Jedi. After arriving at the Jedi Temple by way of space shuttle, I’m greeted by my new master. Our first discussion is cut short as a communication comes in reporting that Flesh Raiders, a vicious species native to the planet, have attacked the padawan training grounds. What’s worse, the dangerous beings have been armed with and taught to use weapons. As a highly regarded, well-trained, and combat-ready padawan, my new master dispatches me to the locale to test my abilities and help those in trouble.

It’s here where the game transitions from dialogue to action. I run to a nearby shuttle that is able to speed me the short distance to the besieged area. Upon my arrival, I find Flesh Raiders both attacking NPC Jedi as well as sitting camped out nearby. My task turns into a typical “kill X number of Y” quest, requiring that I eliminate 10 of the attackers before reporting in to my master via personal hologram communicator of the success against the first wave. Though the context may have been more heroic, it still felt like a bit of a disappointing return to MMO clichés.

This was also my first crack at the game’s combat in the demo, which also feels like standard MMO fair. While the moves are much more pleasing to the eye, it’s still the basic “stand still and press buttons or click for skills” gameplay that we’re used to seeing since the first modern MMOs came on the scene. It isn’t necessarily bad as I still enjoyed taking out the Flesh Raiders in this system, but once again it’s a tiny letdown for anyone expecting something grander.

My character had a limited set of skills as I was at the very beginning of the game. I had a standard attack with my vibroblade that built up combo points, which could then be spent for my second slashing attack skill that dealt extra damage. There were also two self-buffing skills, like the Shii-Cho lightsaber form stance. Finally there was a skill to fast-travel to your previously committed location and the meditation self-heal skill that could only be used when enemies were not nearby.

Before sending the communication to my master, I see that another Jedi at the grounds is looking for my help. I enter into a dialogue session where the Jedi informs me that a group of non-combat ready padawans went out on a mission into the wilderness of Tython before the siege and are now missing. I’m given the option to search for them and bring them back to the training grounds, which I accept. After bringing up the map, which turns to a helpful translucence while walking, I set out to find the padawans.

Upon finding them a short distance from the grounds, I discover that they were indeed attacked by a group of Flesh Raiders but were able to fight them off. One of the three young force users is injured and in need of medical attention. Meanwhile, the other two argue over what course of action to take next. One wishes to take their injured friend back so he can heal, while the other wishes to leave their friend behind in order to seek revenge on the Flesh Raiders for ruining their quest.

I reach my first light side vs. dark side decision in the game. I can either order the brash and wavering padawan to return to the grounds with her friends and learn that the Jedi Code does not condone vengeance and anger, or I can encourage those feelings and help the two quench their thirst for blood. Being a true Jedi, I choose to outright deny the irritated padawan her revenge, remembering the words of Yoda in “The Phantom Menace”: “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”

With the trio rescued and taken care of, I return my attention to contacting my new master and continuing my initial quest. The hologram version of my mentor tells me that the Flesh Raiders attack came from a nearby cave, and that I;m to investigate said cave and find the true reason behind the creatures’ assault.

Upon finding and entering the cave, I’m given a bonus for the quest, a nice feature despite the fact that it is once again another “Kill 10 Flesh Raiders” objective. The bonus isn’t difficult to achieve, as the Flesh Raiders are plentiful in the cavern. After hacking my way through the beasts, I come upon an unconscious and wounded padawan by the rear of the underground base. Once awoken, the padawan instantly warns me of who is really in charge of the Flesh Raiders. Another Jedi, this one fully trained and equipped with a lightsaber, approaches.

This Jedi is no longer a true follower of the light; he claims to be the one commanding the Flesh Raiders. He ordered the attack on the training grounds in order to “cleanse” the “weakness” from the Jedi Order. He intended to use slaughter as a means to “improve” his people and bring about a stronger generation of Jedi in his own sick, twisted way. He offers me to join him, but the game doesn’t give me an option to this early in the game. Instead, my light vs. dark choice is to either try to convince the Jedi that his methods are all wrong and he should surrender peacefully, or merely threaten to kill him and his Flesh Raiders without mercy.

I once again take the path of the light, but the Jedi won’t have it. He attacks me for not accepting his offer, and the battle is on. Before long, I’m the one standing above his corpse, an unfortunate end to the situation. It is then that another Jedi, a true Jedi and not an associate of the one I had just defeated, comes to back me up. After  hearing the other padawans’ accounts of what had happened with the other Jedi, the friendly wielder of the force decides what to do next. With a closing of his fist, my ally causes the back section of the cave to collapse, locking the Flesh Raiders inside and putting an end to the overall battle.

While The Old Republic‘s combat doesn’t seem to be offering anything major in the way of revolutionizing our ideas of what an MMO can be, its dialogue system certainly does. With every line fully voiced, it’s much easier to immerse yourself in the world. Plus, giving the player options in dialogue add a level of choice and personalization not yet seen in a modern MMO. Players will certainly feel like a padawan well on their way to forging their own lightsaber and heading off into the galaxy for grand adventures. Add in the lush and beautiful art design of Tython, and the game truly feels like the beginning of a Star Wars legend.

The game’s controls handle just like you remember them from Mass Effect 2, adopting the idiom “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s a good stance to take since the crew at BioWare did such an great job with the game’s predecessor. One addition is the Omni Blade, which can be called upon for a one-hit killing thrust by holding down the B button (Circle for PS3). The blade does make Shepard look and the player feel even more like a badass galactic savior, but there isn’t much variety in animation when it comes to the new addition to the arsenal. Special impalement animations showing the blade going through an enemy, lifting the enemy up, or even stabbing the blade to the floor at a downed foe are missing. There is just the one standard animation for every single use, which is a bit disappointing. Hopefully BioWare realizes this and puts some more work into the blade animations before release.

The leveling system has been tweaked once again for the final installment of the trilogy. Each character’s leveling bars are there as they appear in Mass Effect 2, except now when you select a bar you’re brought to a mini menu. This other screen shows the effects that each leveling of that ability will have either on itself or the player. Examples depend upon whether or not the ability is active or passive and include damage increase, extra health, persuasion boosts, squad stat upgrades, and more. If the upgrade does impact stats, that impact will be shown below the list of levels to give the player a better sense of how effective that improvement will be.

The first three levels of each ability are predetermined and will give a specific boost to that power. For levels four through six, players will have a choice between two different upgrades. Once the choice is made, the other option will be locked away and no longer obtainable. As with the former titles in the series, each level for a power will increase the amount of points required from leveling to learn.

Having a new system that shows you just what each upgrade for an ability will do is certainly an improvement for both the game and the series. The Omni Blade addition to the already solid and easy-to-pick up controls adds another viable option for players to take down the Reapers and their indoctrinated slaves, though the animations may need some polishing before the title ships. Regardless, Mass Effect 3 still looks and plays so far like a true winner. Be sure to keep your eyes out for it when the game releases on March 6, 2012 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Upon going through the curtain as his music blares through the arena, the camera stays behind Cena as he gets the crowd riled up. He returns to the center of the ramp, raises his hand to his forehead to deliver his signature salute, and is suddenly jumped from behind by the Celtic Warrior known as Sheamus. This is the moment where the player learns that he or she has been swerved. There will be no playable John Cena in WWE ’12‘s Road to WrestleMania mode. Instead, players start off by taking the role of the man to who will put him through a spotlight. It’s a great little twist that Cena haters will be sure to get a kick out of.

This isn’t the Road to WrestleMania that you’re used to. THQ has streamlined the entire mode. You will watch a segment, go straight into whatever match or out-of-ring shenanigans the story puts you in, and then straight to the scene that ends the show before being brought right into the start of the next one. There is no exploration, no menus, no walking around aimlessly in the backstage area looking for trouble, and quite frankly the mode is much better for it. There’s no tedious mucking about, the game brings you straight into the action.

The storylines used in RTWM is also a very interesting and innovative take for the mode that hasn’t been done before in any WWE game. Players will take the role of three different wrestlers over the course of 18 months, spanning two WrestleManias. You start out as the villainous Sheamus, who takes out John Cena as a message that he wants the World Heavyweight Championship. As soon as his story is complete, the next bleeds perfectly into it, as the player will then assume the role of Triple H as he embarks on a quest to beat Ric Flair’s record for most world championship reigns.

Once Triple H’s part is over, in comes NXT rookie Jason Cass, who will be a custom create-a-superstar. (Get it? Cass = CAS + s) Cass is voiced by former Ring of Honor great/FCW prospect and current Total Nonstop Action Wrestling talent, Austin Aeres, which is a great treat for any wrestling fan familiar with grapplers from outside the WWE. The player’s goal as Cass will then be to make an impact in WWE, prove he belongs, and maybe snag the WWE or World Heavyweight Championship while he’s at it.

As for the actual core gameplay of RTWM, it also features something brand new to the mode. While the player will take part in full matches that will require a pinfall or submission to continue the story, a fair portion of the actual wrestling segments will have objectives that the player must complete in order to move the storyline forward. This is done by doing things such as weakening opponents to a certain state or bringing them to a certain location inside or outside of the ring. Once that is done, the player is given a prompt to press the Y button. Doing so will initiate a cutscene and progress the story.

Though it may feel like a bit of a cop out or robbing of the player’s freedom to win a match, it actually makes a ton of sense and fixes one of the issues that RTWM used to have: lack of continuity. If you aren’t supposed to win the match, or be interfered with during it, how much sense does it make then for you to actually win? Not much. Now with the objectives and prompts, players will be right where they’re supposed to be and in the exact moment of a match when the scenes to follow actually make logical sense.

Some may think that this new approach to RTWM is a bit of a cheapening and limiting of player choice. However I would argue that this actually allows the mode to fully realize its storytelling potential; and not to spoil any of the details on what will take place in the narrative, but players should not be disappointed with what THQ has cooked up. Besides, anyone looking for freedom, choice and creativity will have it in Spades in the new WWE Universe mode, which has received quite the facelift thanks to a new momentum meter, create-a-show that can have an entire CAS roster, and create-an-arena. Unfortunately I only had time to play around for a bit in the updated mode’s menu, but what I saw and got to tinker with looks to be a huge amount of fun and a great way to inject more thought, choice, and creativity to the game.

Breaking down the gameplay itself brings first an analysis of WWE ’12‘s new controls. Though the system felt quite confusing and startling at first given my years of attempting to master the more complicated controls of the SmackDown vs. RAW series, once I got a hang of it I found them to be far simpler and superior than its predecessor. Now with a single, simple button each for attack and grapple and more fluid animations, moves can be pulled off much quicker and look more authentic than ever before.

The new damage factor in the game is also improved from previous iterations. At one point I was playing as Sheamus and he had taken a beating to his left leg. Not only did he hold it in pain, but hobbled as he walked and couldn’t run at full speed because of his hampered muscles. That extra bit of attention to detail helps to bridge the gap over to realism and make the player give even more thought towards targeting a specific area of the body during a match.

Gone in WWE ’12 is essentially any sign of a heads-up display in order to give each competition that feel of actually being on TV. The only prompts that will present themselves during a match will be for signatures and finishers, which will be shown under a superstar’s feet, reversals that appear above the head, and the mini-games for lock-ups, pinfall kickouts, and Breaking Point submissions. Though it is a nice way to remove clutter from the screen and enjoy what’s going on, it can be tricky trying to figure out how close you are to unleashing a signature or finishing maneuver.

Although the majority of my experience was quite positive, I did happen to experience two issues with what is apparently the release build of the game. One featured me as Sheamus kicking the air while on the top turnbuckle because my opponent, who was out cold on the canvas, was too close to the corner I was in. The other happened when I tried to pick up Cody Rhodes, once again as Sheamus, near the barricade outside of the ring. Both models started twitching as if running into an invisible wall by their heads, which were against the barricade, and then completed the animation in a choppy manner. Neither one really broke the experience, caused a loss, nor forced me to restart the match, but they are something of note. Hopefully THQ will be able to identify the source of the problem with at least the latter of these two and be able to fix it in a post-release update.

When it came time to put down the control and end my session, I walked away feeling very satisfied and actually excited about THQ’s upcoming series reboot. With a ton of new additions to the WWE Universe, a much more streamlined and story-centered Road to WrestleMania, and improved controls, it certainly looks to be a great start for the new direction of the main WWE videogame franchise. You’ll be able to judge for yourself by stepping in the ring with WWE ’12 when it hits stores this November for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

The game’s visual beats are decidedly modern warfare: current generation military technology used in a number of landscapes ranging from vast open deserts to dense city environments, recently fallen victim to the chaos of war. Even in these more closed-off scenarios the areas still feel absolutely gigantic: hectares of battle embroiled urbana with the illusion that you might go anywhere and see anything.

To a large extent, the game executes upon this promise, as witnessed in the multiplayer portion of my time with the title. A huge park in the middle of a built-up area is the staging ground of the conflict, forces setting up long-range sniping positions to eliminate any soldiers foolish enough to step into their crosshairs. Fracas are pitched at distances, cunning players taking flanking routes in an attempt to pincer-trap the attackers. With defeat of the defending forces came a push back into an underground train station with, naturally, totally different architecture and tactics to adapt to. Suddenly long-range kills were no longer viable and restrained use of assault rifles became a must.

At this point during the session, my teammates and I had realized that going alone would only get us so far, and we naturally began to pair up, some supplying ammo and reviving fallen comrades, others laying down steady fire while a few good men bolted forward, grabbing cover where possible for more aggressive play. Taking a couple of bullets to the arm and torso — Battlefield 3 doesn’t give you many shots before you’re dead — I respawned away from the attacking unit and back with a small group repelling an attempted attack upon a set of escalators. With the advantage of position and as we concentrated fire down this killing field, I finally understood what makes BF3 multiplayer great. The game encourages interaction and solidarity with your fellow men and women, the satisfaction of orchestrating maneuvers immensely rewarding. In addition, the stories that organically unfurl through play are what keep the title fresh in one’s mind.

It’s certainly not the single-player narrative, from what was shown. From the single level on offer, again in the outskirts of a city as players invade, it felt like training for the main thrust of Battlefield’s traditional appeal: the multiplayer. It’s not bad by any means, AI is strong, challenge is high, weapons behave the same as in multiplayer, which is to say they have real heft and grunt as you pull the trigger. The feeling of embodying a space is also profound, lots of snapshots of your own hands as you clamber over walls, the arc of your feet swinging in front of you as you’re knocked to the floor after an attempted breach of an entrance. It’s very much like a Tom Clancy novel: all militaristic terms and hints of intrigue, interspersed with high action.

The fun of succeeding with your friends is also removed in the single-player mode, and try as it might, the realism — that is to say that one isre part of a large squad of uniformed men — is limited, meaning that when Private Red Shirt gets a purple heart, it’s very difficult to be emotionally invested. Unlike Call Of Duty’s set pieces that you experience, Battlefield 3 almost gives players set scenarios that they must outwit, bordering on puzzles that must be solved with bullets and blood and sweat. It’s reaching the solution of these that aids improvement in multiplayer, teaching the basics of tactics that human opponents may use.

The more that’s seen of Battlefield 3, the more Call Of Duty is looking like Quake. While CoOD is faster, and more concerned with kill streaks, deathmatches, and head shots, EA’s shooter is more thoughtful, more encouraging of long-standing communities. Both seem to have their place in the market and needn’t cannibalize each other’s sales, and to someone with an interest in first-person shooters diversifying further than they have done, Battlefield 3 will consequently be a very welcome addition to the shooting space when it arrives later this month.

Where the title excels is in its careful selection of what made the first so well loved among fans, while removing the now archaic elements of the 16-year-old classic. Praised for its chunky and bright sprite work, Origins looks to live up to the legacy with some of the smoothest 2D animation seen to date, a Bluth-esque exaggeration to every movement, from the eponymous protagonist and his sidekick Globox, to the sickly and lanky fodder and screen-filling one-off enemies scattered across the Glade Of Dreams.

Even when not in motion, Rayman Origins looks superb. Each of the areas of this vertical slice representation featured thick and inky enemies upon multi-layered, globby oil paint backdrops, and no matter the environment shown, including jungle, desert, and dark cave, the style never seemed out of place. Put all this together with some snazzy particle effects, smart light sources, and the ability to show hundreds of moving sprites at one time, and the result is an interactive cartoon, a platformer whose visuals are somewhere between a high-quality Saturday morning kids show and the Disney features of yore. That may sound hyperbolic, but five minutes with the game and you’ll be a believer, too.

So it looks great, but how does it play? My biggest frustration with the first title — its nearest comparison — was unfair deaths through leap-of-faith moments combined with brutal difficulty that failed to adequately teach players how to overcome situations. The camera now has more freedom to move into a position to better show the play area, giving more than enough advanced warning of impending doom. Success doesn’t feel cheaply snatched away; the onus is now on the player to become better at the game. But without a doubt, Rayman Origins is still hard, hard, hard.

Hard? Hard! Kick-your-ass-if-you’re-not-paying-attention hard, though no challenge shown was completely insurmountable, with each attempt of a particularly tricky section, such as escaping the giant chomping jaws of some unspeakable horror, bringing Rayman closer to that photo finish. Literally: the finish is Rayman having his photograph taken in game, stood behind a humourous stand that one might find on a 1960s Blackpool beach.

Did I mention it was hard? Well as if to reinforce the issue there are also non-essential challenges to complete too, such as nabbing each collectable in the level, or special rooms like those seen at the bottom of Warp Pipes, each with a twist on the formula. A particular favorite I saw was one seemingly based on Angry Birds, using a spring board to launch Rayman at a series of structures with bad guys inside.

Alleviating the stress caused by the absolute precision required at times — such as hitting a platform no wider than the limbless one himself, or timing a run perfectly to escape certain death — is well pitched checkpointing. Screw up and it’s back a fair distance in the game, though never over such great distances as to seriously punish the player, instead making one work back through the last sixty seconds, improving and learning.

So color me surprised, whatever that color may be. Rayman Origins was my shock of the show, walking away from the lonely booth hidden at the back of the expo with a giant grin on my face and a mental note to put some cash to one side for its mid-November launch.

The fourth full-length installment in the Ghost Recon series, Future Soldier embraces its Clancy tradition and makes way for forward progress. The game follows the ghost squad on a globetrotting shadow war, like ninjas with guns. Levels follow traditional shooter form — go here, shoot them, get that, rinse, repeat. Blockbuster set pieces and on-rails story moments (think carrying a target while avoiding Hind missile fire) seat Future Soldier at the table with Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, a dinner with multi-million dollar stakes (See: Steaks!). It’s not, though, where Future Soldier‘s heart lies.

There’s something intuitively satisfying about plastering a game world with interactive instructions. Each High Value Target (HVT) is so demarcated, and the shootout setting oil yard beams its title as brightly from a digital map as on its steel beams. It’s all part of the permeating Augmented Reality system that provides useful information like Weapons Augmented Reality (WAR), enemy and location data, objective markers, and equipment and squad statuses. It’s a bit overwhelming, and play can turn into data management in the heat of firefights — that is, for the straight-up, shoot-em-up gamer.

The overabundance of info crams players into corners only navigable with tactical options. It’s limiting, but shoehorns the average gunner into a quick strategist. This is the “Why?” behind Future Soldier. Take, for instance, the midday infiltration of an African village:

From the cover of swamp reeds, you notice two guards ambling along a nearby pier, as videogame guards are wont to obliviously do. You mark both targets for your squad, then take one out with a headshot. The other falls swiftly after. You hear a commotion nearby, and an enemy is indicated in yellow behind a fence — now you know he’s unaware. A stealth kill dispatches him and saves a pleading villager. Then comes the breach of a stilted wood house humming with voices. You activate Superman vision, seeing three enemies and your target seated in the adjacent room through the wall. Squad member A kicks the door; you rush in and floor the target while your team takes out the riff-raff.

Jump to an industrial compound shootout. You’re outnumbered and unable to move save rapid switches between destructible cover (also a la Conviction). You need to mark some targets, so you send out a camera drone, surveying the battle scene and placing little blue arrows over the combatants. Without much progress being made, you see the opportunity for a flanking maneuver. You pop a smoke grenade, hustle to a crate on the right and cloak, a faint ghost of yourself (like the game’s name, guys!) shimmering opaquely. You mark the targets from your new vantage point, undetected, and rain sweet bullet hell onto the battlefield. Think before you shoot: it’s more satisfying than you know.

Future Soldier may have all the trappings of a modern military shooter but it plays, for the better, like a sci-fi tactical shooter. There’s some story or other it seems, but the point is strategic combat customization. With over fifty guns and forty-nine components, it’s a sandbox shooter in the tradition of Crysis and FarCry. It’s authentic, though. Tom Clancy would never lie.

The player will take the role of Killian Samuels, a U.S. Marshal whose space transport has crash landed. Samuels is the lone survivor, but is stunned and awakens stranded on this strange new world as, to his knowledge, the only human inhabiting it. Believing his old life is over, Samuels decides to make a living on the world of Exodus as a bounty hunter.

Human Head Studios, the game’s developer, says that Prey 2 will have an “alien noire” style, fitting well when they first showed the world of Exodus. The massive city-planet doesn’t spin, thus leaving one half of it in perpetual darkness. This leaves the streets of Exodus, a city on the border between light and dark halves, flooded with neon lighting, giving it that noire vibe. Aliens of all different walks of life can be found going from place to place, begging for money, or looking to beat down an unsuspecting innocent. The hovering vehicles traversing the skies and multi-leveled streets gives the player a feeling of being on the Citadel in Mass Effect or Coruscant in Star Wars. Given the great level of detail and polish in Exodus’ visual appearance, it’s definitely a place you want to explore; and explore you will as Prey 2 will be an open world experience.

Gangs of aliens corner and beat on a civilian for money, for fun, or just because it looked at them funny. You can step in and take out the troublemakers, saving the civilian and getting its thanks. If this isn’t worth your time, you can also just watch the beating continue or go on your merry way. Say you’re walking along and someone gives you a dirty look, or you just feel like being a rebel, you can push that person over a ledge or murder the individual by other means. Doing so however will draw the ire of the city’s security force, so be sure not to get too carried away.

When you want to know who amongst the populous may have a desire to shoot you in the face or not, you have the option of seeing who’s hostile via a color scheme. Anyone who is highlighted in yellow is someone who could become hostile if you shoot first, green means that the person is friendly or non-hostile, red means you will be shot at, and blue means that target is your bounty. Once you identify your bounty and decide to move in, you will have the option for some of them to bring them in either dead or alive.

There are some features that help to make both immersion and traversal easier. For starters, in any civilization, you would be frowned upon and likely arrested if you walked with your gun drawn. Samuels will walk about with his gun holstered. Should he draw his gun, hostile enemies will quickly open fire while innocents and bounties flee like bats out of hell.  But not every gun draw can cause this reaction, given the right circumstances. If you have someone in a secluded part of the street or are up in their face, you can pull your gun to threaten the individual. This technique can get you valuable information regarding a bounty’s location or more. Just be sure to put the gun away before you turn around unless you want an instant firefight.

Getting by, over, across, and around the multiple levels of Exodus are made easy thanks to what Human Head called Prey 2‘s “agile combat.” If you need to get down to the lower levels of the city quickly, Samuels will have access to hover boots that allow him to descend in a gliding fashion, and parkour style ground-based movement streamlines vertical and horizontal exploration. Both look to eliminate a lot of the hassle that would have come with exploring a world this large with the standard means of traversal in first-person shooters.

However, the best use of Samuels’ parkour is chasing and shooting bounties and their cronies. Players will be able to vault over objects, shoot over ledges, and perform running slides either in the open or under low-hanging objects. It gives an entirely different, fresh take on FPS combat that feels very similar to what was done in Mirror’s Edge, but not as likely to induce nausea. It creates fast-paced and frantic shootouts and chase sequences that will get your adrenaline pumping.

If you find yourself in a confined space, surrounded, and with nowhere to really take cover, Prey 2 does give the player the ability take a hostage. With your meat shield in place, you’ll be able to fire a pistol from behind them, as is standard fare with games that allow the option. During my demo session, we were made aware of when a hostage was no longer of use when the aliens fighting Samuels popped the poor creature in its head, causing its cranium to explode.

When you feel that it will take more than your guns to take down a bounty, you will have over 20 gadgets at your disposal to fill the void. These include shoulder-mounted rockets, a deployable shield, and night vision. They all look to prove useful and vital in certain situations, helping you stay alive long enough to kill your bounty or trap it in a floating stasis sphere. The device will lock the bounty’s arms and legs, but won’t incapacitate it. This allows the player to interrogate the bounty for extra information, but doing so runs the risk of killing your new prisoner.

With all of this taken in, Prey 2 was most definitely one of the most pleasant surprises at E3 this year. The intriguing and open world of Exodus, agile combat, and intense shootouts and chase scenes make it a title that could very well be one of the best of next year. Keep an eye out for it when it lands sometime in 2012 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.