Dragon Commander is set in the same world as the Divinity series, in actual fact it’s a prequel set in a time when Dragon Knights were more common. But instead of being an RPG. Dragon Commander is more of an RTS and RPG hybrid with a bigger emphasis on aerial combat.

In many ways it works closer to a turn based board game. You have the map of the world with the different territories, which display who rules them and their armies power. In each turn you can do a variety of things. You have your main base which acts as a hub where you can interact with NPC’s, buy and train units and create strategies. In this case we talked to the princess we married and have on board. Though it turns out she is undead and is one of many possible princesses you can pick as your story progresses. She had a task she wanted completed, a land she can call her own. But she wants a specific city, a gnome city. This is where you can choose to help her or not. Each outcome will have a different effect in terms of story and in gameplay. If you side with the princess she will give you an undead army you can use in battle, or if you leave the gnome city alone it can open up new potential upgrades. Each choice is represented as combat cards. These can be picked before a battle starts to help give you the upper hand. The more quests you do with the princess the better and rarer cards you will receive but you will have to make hard decisions such as the one above. There is even an option to throw that princess overboard and find another one.

Once a territory has been picked a battle will occur. The game then turns into real time combat where you control a dragon (Yep, you guessed it with a jetpack) You are able to hone in on enemies using a supersonic dash and you also have the ability to slow down time to evade attacks. There are also fireballs and nuke like fireballs which can take out whole ships and a dragons roar to take out small ships within a certain radius. Also during combat you can control your generals to attack targets. This is where the strategy side comes in, tell them to attack so you can flank or other strategies to help make the battle easier. The enemies can be small infantry planes, big battle cruisers which require more firepower to take out and contain turrets as a defensive measure, there may even be other dragon knights. Once the battle is over the turns and therefore the day will end.

There will also be multiplayer for up to 4 players, where each person will control a faction and battle it out like they will in single player, only on a much larger scale.

Despite the game being in a very early stage of development and with the developer having the luxury to experiment with new mechanics and ideas, I’m sure the game will be constantly changing. Though this doesn’t stop the fact Dragon Commander is looking like a very promising game. It’s combination of genres in an non-linear fashion is an intriguing one and I’m looking forward to seeing how it will progress. Also it’s dragon’s with jetpacks, what’s not to like?

At last year’s E3, I was left impressed but I had doubts if it’s action RPG nature will be enough to break the mould and stand out. Now things have expanded upon, adding some very interesting aspects which MMO fans will want to check out.

This time we ditched the lush grassy mountains for a gritty dungeon. Our mission was to make our way to the and I quote “Big-ass monster” Kaidun in the Necromancy Cell. I played as a slayer, the damage dealer wielding a two-handed sword. The other 4 players on my party included a Berserker who wield a giant axe and also deal high damage only they have more finesse to them. A Warrior who are fast and nimble, sorcerer with magic and the most important class a Priest, who is the healer. This level was quite a high level dungeon, so enemies took a lot of damage to take down, even with 5 people in a party. I would dread to think how it will be on your own. It’s obvious TERA is best to be played in a party, and just like any RPG you will need a healer.

One thing I noticed this time around is how frantic and chaotic combat is. TERA’s main hook in combat is completely in real time, you can attack, dodge or block at will, add in more players and you have yourself a high octane battle. It was no surprise that the healer had to be controlled by one of the developers. I see the healer being one of the harder classes to master, but if you have a competent healer then your party will feel invincible. One new feature in combat I noticed was the combo-ing of skills. After using an attack skill you are given the option to press space bar to add another attack to deal even more damage. It’s only a little addition but it was something I abused.

However, there are 2 other main hooks to TERA that may get MMO fans interested. The first is the political system. The world is split into provinces and players themselves will govern them. Guilds will need to fight their way to the top and the leader of that guild will govern that area. They will be able to spend guild policy points that will change the area, whenever it’s financial changes or even how NPC’s will change. This will theoretically means the world of TERA will be constantly changing and always moving. I can see many great stories coming out of it when a certain guild overrules the other. The other hook under TERA’s sleeve is Server v Server battles. At the moment they are being low of details but later down the road more will be revealed and how this will work out. But at this time that idea has me rather excited. The games frantic enough in a 5 player party, just imagine how things will turn out when servers are facing each other.

TERA has bumped up my list of MMO’s to look out for. In an age where MMO’s are as common as Starbucks in a city I believe TERA is doing enough to stand itself out from the ground, if it’s ambitious ideas deliver. It may not be the first Action MMO RPG but it is definitely the most robust and is a title to look out for if you are getting bored of WoW or the countless Free to Play MMO’s. TERA is set for release in Spring 2012 for PC.

I played RAGE for an hour on the PC. As I’ve mentioned in the past, PC gaming isn’t my strong point. I’ve only really had a computer/laptop capable of running for the past 6 months so my experience with using a mouse and keyboard is limited. Thankfully what I go to play seemed to be almost a full build and I started straight from the beginning so I had the chance to get the grips of the controls and as the hour went on I got more and more competent. Then again this is a shooter so the controls aren’t as complicated as your typical PC RPG. However, starting from the beginning brings in another problem. Since RAGE is an open world game, you can’t get a great impression of what to expect. Especially if the bulk of my time were tutorial missions. Within an hour I got up to the part were I gain the main buggy and a sniper rifle. I was told after the sniper mission I can leave that starter area ,and then the game will really open up to me and can pick my main profession. What I really needed was another hour or 2 to really get a feel, and apparently I’m not alone in that assumption. As I was told that other journalists expressed similar remarks.

Still, I was able to get a good feel for what to expect and some of the quirks of the game. You start coming out of a cryogenic pod with little to no knowledge of why you are there only that you came from a place called ‘The Ark’ an underground shelter. As soon as you leave you encounter bandits, you are saved by a man named Dan Hagar who sends you back to his safehouse. He helps you get started, but of course for a price. Run a few errants for him, clear bandits from this, collect that. Your usual mission types. I did a lot of backtracking, as there were only a handful of areas on this part of the map. So mission variety wasn’t at it’s best, but I hope this is something that improves as the game goes on. You get to areas/safehouses via vehicles and this is where a good bulk of the game will take place. But during this part of the game it’s mainly exploring areas by foot. Vehicle controls feels fine, if a bit floaty. If you hit an object at high speed or simply roll it over, your character will come flying out rag doll style. I must say that first time it came off was rather humorous slapstick but at the same time felt a bit off.

The weapons on offer were pretty basic, but since this was the beginning, I can forgive it at this stage. I got a pistol, shotgun and a sniper rifle. Along with a weapon called Wingsticks which work similar to boomerangs. I personally didn’t see many uses for them at this stage, but it’s still nice to see something different at this early point in the game. You also have a crafting system in which you can make bandages, a machine that unlocks doors, among other things. So far I only encountered 2 enemy types, mutant bandits who charge you with melee weapons and your typical bandit who bombard you with gunfire. From what I could tell AI seemed pretty decent and each time I reloaded the enemy acted differently depending on what I did. Speaking of reloading, if you die you can use a defibrillator to revive yourself and shocks enemies within a certain radius of you. However, this needs to be recharged, so you can see this more like a second chance perk. There is one small thing that annoyed me during combat. When using a pistol a headshot didn’t always instantly kill an enemy. Not a big deal but something that is a little game breaking.

I’m glad I played this on PC, because the game looks stunning. Backgrounds and places in the distant just like amazing. The art direction is great giving a very less cartoony Borderlands feel. For such a good looking open world game you are going to get some technical issues. I didn’t find any bugs or glitches but there was the occasional frame rate drop. Despite this, RAGE is easily one of the best looking games I’ve played so far.

RAGE took me a little bit to get into, at first I wasn’t really feeling it. The opening mainly consists of backtracking and generic fetch quests. But as the hour went on I was having more and more fun. I was sad when I was told to stop, I could have easily carried on playing for a few more hours. Like I mentioned before, it’s hard to get a real gauge on how the game will progress from only an hour and in this case the opening hour of an open world game. What I was shown can only be the more boring linear part that slowly helps you get the grips of the world of RAGE. But I still had fun with what I got with RAGE. If you are a fan of open world shooters, you should give RAGE a chance.

RAGE is coming out October 4th for PC, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

You play as a supernatural assassin, in a retro/futuristic industrial style setting, who has recently got of prison after being framed for killing the Empress he was a bodyguard for and is now seeking vengeance. The mission shown was one where you have to assassinate a corrupt lawyer who is profiting from the recent plague hitting the area. One big perk to the game is that you can play in a style that bests suits you. Whenever it’s moving through buildings, being stealthy or trying your hands on an full on attack Dishonored has you covered. Another big hook is the combination of power to create new and interesting moves. Apparently during testing, combinations were made and used in ways that the developers haven’t even expected. At one point in the demo they combined the super jump with teleport to be able to teleport further for example. Oh, lets not forget the feature that is dynamic rats. While at first the name sounds ridiculous and seems almost pointless, the demo actually made good use of them and how they can be at your advantage or disadvantage. They will eat nearby dead bodies and will attack if you get near the body. They don’t like sunlight so they can be used to find dark places to hide and may even attack guards. You also have the ability to take control of rats which can be used to scout out the area, but if any nearby person discovers they rat they will try and stomp it.

The main tactic used by the player was by being stealthy through buildings. While you’re not able to go into all buildings, most will be a viable option adding to a good list of potential routes to take on a mission. By going through the houses you are able to avoid barriers that kills you once you go through, and maybe even find the power supply and it reverses the effect and only allows you to pass and will kill everyone else. A bulk of the mission was making full use of the houses and even sewers, this means moving vertically is a just as good technique as moving forward. Once inside the targets house we got a chance to see how patrol routes change randomly. At one point a guard decided to look at a nearby painting. Whenever or not this changes are just small diversions or will be expanded upon, but it gives players more reasons to be cautious and not always able to predict what the enemy will do. Once the target was taken out aggressively, alarms were sounded and he had to make an escape. As we left the area, the map was noticeably more guarded, even housing guards on giant stilts.

At this early stage Dishonored is looking like an interesting title with it’s main hook being how different a players experience will be depending on how you play. Which in theory means each person will have a different experience. While at this moment we can’t get a full gripe of how the game will turn out. But for now, fans of open world FPS should keep an eye out.

Prey 2 is an open world FPS where you play as Killian Samuels a US Marshal who was on a passenger flight that crashed on The Sphere, as the actions of the first game took place. The presentation started from the aftermath of the crash where Killian is being chased by the aliens armed only with a pistol. But is quickly knocked out. The demonstration skipped to a few years later and you are on Exodus where the game will take place. Killian is now a Bounty Hunter. The aim is to catch wanted criminals dead or alive as well as finding out about the gaps in his memory since the crash. Enemies to catch will vary from normal thugs to guys who can teleport across the terrain. Some may requried to be taken dead or alive. All added different ways to tackle each mission.

We got to see some of the new mechanics and gadgets. One such mechanic is the Mirrors Edge style free running. If you can see and reach it, you can climb it. While hanging off walls you can look around, use as cover and shoot. You can just as easily get down as you get up thanks to the hoverboots which looks like a nice addition, as falling down in most games often equals death. Moving vertically with ease is what makes Killian a force to reckon with. There are also a variety of weapons and gadgets to help you doing combat and chase sequences. There are deployable shields, anti-gravity grenades that pull enemies up from cover and capture devices to get those targets wanted alive. They claim there will be over 30 different gadgets to use.

There is a big emphasis on player choice this time around both on and off missions. Out of missions you even push random innocents over the edge of a pathway. But be warned if you do too many evil actions the local law enforcement will be forced to take actions against you. You can also encounter random crimes when exploring the city. You can catch these before anything happens or if found too late you could find the aftermath of a mugging or murder. NPC’s will react differently depending on the situation. You can holster and un-holster your gun at will so NPC’s will feel uneasy when a weapon is holsters and may flee, beg or attack or invoke any other reaction if pointed at them. During missions if you don’t know where a target is you can ask an informant. Here you are given the choice to pay the information or kill his guard to threaten it out of him. However, he will ask you for a favour later on as repayment. Once the target has been caught, he attempts to bribe you. There is even the choice to interrogate him for information but you raise the risk of killing him during the process, therefore forfeiting the reward money. In the mission shown there is even a consequence to taking the target in as an accomplice to him appears with a giant robot. In a typical cliffhanger nature, the demo ends there.

Prey 2 is definitely one of my favourite games to look out for. It’s using a lot of neat ideas and the open nature of the game looks like a great diversion from the original. Expect Prey 2 in 2012.

The presentation was split up into parts. The first tackled with the enhancements to the PC version of the game, dubbed The Witcher 2 version 2.0. A new and more extensive tutorial mode has been added which will help new players to get the grips of The Witcher’s complex systems and overcome the brutal opening hours. Along with this they have added a new difficulty mode called “Dark mode” which is nearly as difficult as insane but will allow players to save their game. In this mode you also have access to 18 new items, a new dark armour, swords and other dark elements/themes which they haven’t gone into specifics yet. The biggest new enhancement to The Witcher Version 2 Part 2 is the Arena mode, a horde style game where you face waves of enemies which will get progressively harder, you earn awards which can be used to upgrade equipment and a shop offering gear and enhancements. This mode also has a new type of enemy, a werewolf and you can be accompanied by 3 new characters, a mage, knight and a dwarven fighter. Scores can be compared to friends and can be posted on Facebook and The Witcher forums. This upgrade will be free available on for new and existing users, it also come with all 9 previous DLC packs and patches. The Witcher 2 Version 2 Episode 2 will be coming out on the 29th September.

The other part of the presentation sheds more light on the Xbox 360 version of the game. Along with a trailer we got to see live gameplay of the game running on the console. They were constantly mentioning how beautiful and stunning the game looks and I can’t help but agree. Sure you weren’t going to get the same textural detail as the PC but this still looks impressive with no noticeable frame rate issues and is still densely detailed. The engine being used is Projekt RED’s own RED engine which has been optimised for use on PC and 360. They claim that the 360 version will look just as good as the game does on medium settings on PC.

How the game plays wasn’t shown in great detail. The demonstration was mainly shown to show off how the game looks. But from what I would gather it’s similar to the way Dragon Age 2 works on consoles only without the squad style tactical combat. Magic spells can be changed by holding down a button and moving the analog stick to pick it. The userface has been redesigned to better suit consoles and the targeting system has been modified. The controls will also be different and improved from using an xbox pad on the PC version. As a nice bonus all features from Version 2.0 will be in this. As of now it is coming along nicely the game looking amazing easily currently one of the best looking titles on the 360 and is something to look out for if you want to experience The Witcher and don’t have a PC able to run it. Expect The Witcher 2 in 2012.

Ubisoft weren’t wrong when they described ‘From Dust’ as the spiritual successor to the classic Populous series. Both make use of the player being a god like entity to control the environment and help civilisations grow. While Populous was more of a Real Time Strategy From Dust works more like a Puzzle game.

You play as a Deity called ‘The Breath’ who has the power to pick up and drop certain environmental objects such as, soil, lava or water. Your main objective is to guide a nomadic tribe through hazardous environments and help them find a safe civilisation and help vegetate the world. The main campaign is split up into a series of missions where the main objective is to set up villages and find a gate which will allow you to enter the next mission. All missions follow the same structure but how you go about completing the mission vary drastically depending on what situations and hazards comes before you. There are many ways in which you can use your powers to manipulate the environment to help your tribe. For example Water can be taken away to protect villages from flooding or dropped on wildfires. Soil can be placed to form bridges and help vegitate the land quicker and Dropping lava will instantly cool down and form solid rock which can be used to block water or lava flows.

You don’t directly control the tribe but you do guide them to certain objects in order to find powers or new homes. The tribe can only set up camp at totem poles spread out all around the map. Once a camp is set up the land around it will blossom with wildlife and will continue to spread as long as there is soil and water nearby to help it grow. They can also grant you additional powers such as jellifying water, enhance the powers of your breath or infinite earth to name a few. All of which will help you complete the task at hand. Villages can also be protected from fire and/or water if a tribesman finds and collects power from the stones of musical knowledge and take it back to the village. Once told where to go a white line will tell you of their path with a red line marking an area they will get stuck or stranded at, meaning you will have to clear the path for them.

However the environment is doing all it can to prevent you from succeeding after mastering the basics of your powers you will have to fight off tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and often both together in order to help the tribe survive. Much of the challenge comes from finding the best course of action in any given situation and making use of all your powers on the fly. You will need to think carefully of where to divert water or lava because making a giant pool isn’t going to stop an ever flowing stream or you may need to transverse that area you divert the lava to later. The last third of the game will kick your arse as hazards get more frequent and dangerous even going as far as drastically changing the environment in an instant. Gameplay is only slightly dampened when you go to build a new village. The game has a habit of being picky when there is the smallest amount of water surrounding the totem which can be a pain if you’re running short of time before a tsunami or volcano hits. There is a bit of trial and error involved but there is no clear cut way to complete a mission. There is a certain sandbox element that allows you to do anything you see fit, this is very obvious very early on in the game as you are given much more time and space to do as you will. Though as the missions get tougher and more frantic it will become apparent that there are a few set ways to complete that mission. But the sheer variety and massive differences in the way the map evolves depending on the player more than makes up for this slight problem.

Outside of the main campaign you have a challenge mode which limit your powers and asks you to complete a task as fast as you can. These vary from protecting the village before a tsunami strikes to helping clear a path for the tribe to cross. These offer nice short distractions and make good and interesting uses of the games mechanics. There are also collectables in the form of memories of the tribe which are extra bits of information based on the games world. You collect these either by simply completing a mission, getting a certain percentage of the map full of vegetation or collecting special stones. These help add an extra layer of difficulty to missions and an excuse for completionists to go back. Though outside of this there is very little reason to go back unless you want to try and find different ways in which to complete a level. You can also if you wish go back to a previously explored level and continue to mess with it which almost acts as a sandbox mode.

From Dust looks great. The game has gone for a very minimalist approach despite the odd highlight and prompt, the game lets the environment do the talking. Map design varies from level to level, you go from such environments as a volcanic island, tropical island and a desert. All of which have a distinct look and feel different from one another and the fact you can change the appearance of any given level just adds to the appeal. One level for instance only consists of a few small islands and by the levels end you have a big and sprawling playground most of which was created by you. In short From Dust is a good looking game and not just for a downloadable title. The game has a certain charm and character to it.

The Final Word
From Dust is a great and pretty original little gem. The concept of changing the environment is an endearing one and works very well. You are given a lot of control of how to tackle each situation and even when the going gets tough the pay off is satisfying. It may not last you very long but it’s definitely worth checking out for those looking for something different. There aren’t many games quite like From Dust.

- MonsterVine Rating: 4.5 out of 5 – Great

“If the UK economy is to enjoy a strong recovery then we must continue to encourage FDI. The Government must engineer a low tax environment to encourage inward investment in the UK economy. As far as the video games industry is concerned, the Government should look again at the case for a sector specific tax break for games production. Three major global publishers – Activision Blizzard, THQ and Ubisoft – have each stated that they would be more likely to invest in the UK video games sector if we had a tax break for games production. TIGA will continue to refine the case for Games Tax Relief and encourage the Government to think again about the merits of this important measure.”

This can only be a good thing. A plan like this was originally planned but was dropped last year so a revival would be nice. It’s a shame with recent closures we need more companies setting up here. With many students taking programming and gaming based degrees, the talent is out there. Why not support them.

• Two analog sticks.
• Bulit in 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, GPS radio and even 3G.
• A multitouch touchpad on both the front and back of the machine.
• A Front and Rear facing camera.
• The three-axis accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope motion sensors which is used in the PlayStation Move.

A full list of features will be shown below.

Along with this, Sony showed us live demo’s of Uncharted, Hot Shots Golf, Dynasty Warriors and a port of Lost Planet 2. The PlayStation Blog also listed other titles in the works such as, Killzone, Call of Duty, Resistance, LittleBigPlanet and WipEout. There is also a mobile gaming support with such games as EPIC’s Dungeon Defender and PlayStation Suite which works as a cross-platform framework for Android, NGP and products certified by Sony, which means Sony are looking to also tackle the mobile market.

Games will not come on Disc and will be on flash memory cartridges that will hold not only the games but the saves and add on content. There has been no word on battery life or price and has been set to release this Winter. Whenever or not this also means outside of Japan is still to be announced.

CPU ARM® Cortex™-A9 core (4 core)
GPU SGX543MP4+
External Dimensions Approx. 182.0 x 18.6 x 83.5mm (width x height x depth) (tentative, excludes largest projection)
Screen
(Touch screen) 5 inches (16:9), 960 x 544, Approx. 16 million colors, OLED
Multi touch screen (capacitive type)
Rear touch pad Multi touch pad (capacitive type)
Cameras Front camera, Rear camera
Sound Built-in stereo speakers
Built-in microphone
Sensors Six-axis motion sensing system (three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer), Three-axis electronic compass
Location Built-in GPS
Wi-Fi location service support
Keys / Switches PS button
Power button
Directional buttons (Up/Down/Right/Left)
Action buttons (Triangle, Circle, Cross, Square)
Shoulder buttons (Right/Left)
Right stick, Left stick
START button, SELECT button
Volume buttons (+/-)
Wireless communications Mobile network connectivity (3G)
IEEE 802.11b/g/n (n = 1×1)(Wi-Fi) (Infrastructure mode/Ad-hoc mode)
Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR （A2DP/AVRCP/HSP）

“Fans flocked to Blacklight over the summer because the game offered the most extensive array of gameplay and features ever brought to the DLG venue —for just 15 bucks,” said Jared Gerritzen, Lead Designer at Zombie Studios. “Now with full updates, brand-new content and the ability to Join in Progress, PSN players will truly see the game at its best.”

Personally I believe they have picked the wrong time to release this. Reviews and impressions weren’t all that positive. But with the dry summer spell and everyone getting sick of Modern Warfare 2 made it for a decent alternative, which might help explain it’s good sales. But releasing only a week before one of the biggest launches of the year which also happens to be a very similar game isn’t smart. I’m afraid to say I think this game will flop on the PS3. Either way the option is there for those who can’t wait to play it and doesn’t have an Xbox 360.