Fallout fans had to wait almost 10 years for the next true entry in the series – but that wait has paid off with Fallout 3. The classic open-world RPG series is brought to new life with fully 3D next-generation graphics and fresh new gameplay.

Fallout 3, like its predecessors, takes place in a post-apocalyptic world that has been all but annihilated by nuclear warfare. It’s been over two hundred years since the event, but society is still struggling to reestablish itself. Those people that are still living on the surface have huddled together in small communities for mutual protection against violent gangs, irradiated animals, and deadly super mutants. However, many others found their ways into safeguarded vaults prior to the nuclear destruction – and they’ve remained there ever since in small, insular communities.

FallOut 3

The player takes on the role of one such Vault Dweller. The player controls the character’s growth through his or her formative years, starting as a baby and then taking part in vignettes of the character’s adolescence and teenage years. When the character turns 18, the plot takes off in earnest. The character’s father, a noted scientist, breaks the cardinal rule of life in a vault – he leaves it. The overseer of the vault deems the character a threat that must be eliminated, forcing the player to escape into the unwelcoming wasteland of what was once Washington D.C. From there, the player searches for his father and unravels a greater mystery.

How exactly to go about finding the main character’s father is a left up to the player. As soon as the player leaves the vault, they are free to go anywhere in the Capital Wasteland. Of course, the area is far from friendly, and is crawling with all kinds of threats. Throughout the adventure, the player will visit a variety of locations. These include: Megaton, a makeshift city built around an undetonated atomic bomb, Little Lamplight, a town full of children that kick out anyone who reaches the age of majority, and Rivet City, a beached aircraft carrier now serving as a home for hundreds – and that’s just to name a few.

How the player interacts with characters around the game world is also totally open. The player can aid people and make friends, or they can simply walk into town and start shooting everyone and rob them blind. Even most key characters don’t have “plot immunity” and can be killed – although it’s probably not a good idea, as you will need allies in this quest.
As in most traditional RPGs, the player will gain levels by killing enemies, completing quests and exploring the world. Those who have played previous Fallout games will be happy to see the series’ trademark “S.P.E.C.I.A.L.” advancement system. In addition to increasing base attributes, players can choose from a variety of “perks” that have a wide range of different gameplay effects.

On the surface, Fallout 3 plays like first person shooter. However, the player won’t reach maximum combat effectiveness without using the Vault-Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. This ability allows the player to target specific body parts of his enemies, allowing them to pinpoint weak spots, disarm (literally) or disable enemies. V.A.T.S. takes time to recharge after use, giving the game’s combat a light turn-based feel.

Key Features:

• Fallout goes next gen – last seen in an isometric 2D game, the world of Fallout is brought to life in all its grimness in full 3D with advanced graphics

• Go anywhere, do anything – from the moment you leave the vault, you’re free to go anywhere in the Capital Wasteland and interact with its inhabitants however you see fit

• No easy decisions – the world of Fallout is a dark one, and sometimes the only choice is between two horrific evils

• The S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system and perks both make a return, allowing you to customize your character and gameplay experience to your liking

• First-person shooter meets strategic turn-based combat through with the help of the pinpoint-targeting V.A.T.S. system

• The series trademark kitschy post-WWII paranoia humor and style remains intact for this newest entry

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Bioware is a development studio that is well known for its sprawling single player role-playing games, including many set in the Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons universes. Now, Bioware has made a bold move and released Dragon Age: Origins, an epic dark fantasy RPG set in a freshly created world known as Thedas.

Dragon Age Origins

Dragon Age: Origins is described by Bioware as being a “spiritual successor” to Baldur’s Gate II, one of the most revered fantasy RPGs ever created. It features a fully realized world with a complete detailed history, an expansive and immersive storyline, and a multitude of colorful characters. While Dragon Age has many typical fantasy elements, such as magic, elves and dwarves, it is also described as “dark fantasy” – it is not a story about goody-two-shoes heroes overcoming all evil. It is story full of treachery, political machinations, and immoral characters. On more than one occasion, the player has little to do but choose the least of two evils.

The reason that the game is subtitled “Origins” is because player characters have access to 6 unique origin stories, determined by their race and class. The origin stories serve as an introduction to the game world and the background of the character and his or her community. Some characters that appear in the origin stories can reappear throughout the game, either as friend or foe. Some characters are exclusive to specific origins, and can have major effects on the plotline. The origin stories include Human Noble, Dalish Elf, City Elf, Dwarf Noble, Dwarf Commoner, and Mage.

All of the origin stories culminate in the main character joining an order of warriors known as the Grey Wardens. The Wardens are tasked with battling the Darkspawn, a malevolent group of monstrous humanoids who, every few centuries, swell into a “Blight” that threatens to overrun the world. A Blight is brewing as the player joins the Wardens – but it’s not long before a power play by a noble lord threatens the order and plunges the country into civil war. In the aftermath of a crippling betrayal, the player must unite the peoples of Thedas against the Blight and depose the upstart tyrant.

It’s no small order, but you don’t have to go it alone. Along the way, the player will meet a number of deep and compelling characters. There’s Alistair, the wise-cracking warrior with an important secret. Then there’s Morrigan, a sardonic and amoral sorceress who seems to value power above all else. You’ll also meet Leliana, a disciple of the religion known as the Chantry who has a somewhat suspect past. These are just a few examples. You can even recruit a faithful wardog companion.

The player will be faced with a lot of difficult decisions in the course of this quest – and those decisions can all affect how the other party members feel about the main character. If you clash too many times with one of your party members, they may even leave for good. However, if you warm up to one of your party enough, you can enter a romantic relationship with them.

As with most RPGs, combat plays a key role in Dragon Age: Origins. The combat is real-time, but players can pause the action with a button press in order to issue new orders to party members. You can have up to four members in your party at a time, and you’ll have to use each members’ abilities to the fullest to survive some of the game’s deadliest encounters. Preparation also plays an important role, and characters can learn to craft poisons, traps and herbal remedies to help them gain an edge in combat.

Key Features:

• Create your character from among 3 races and 3 classes, then choose from one of six unique origin stories to start your grand adventure
• Advance into 4 unique class specializations per class to further hone your party’s combat abilities
• Battle a variety of enemies in a deep real-time combat featuring hundreds of unique powers, then pause the action for pinpoint strategic control
• Become a part of an epic dark fantasy that will determine the fate of Thedas
• Make meaningful choices that have no easy answers and watch as the consequences play out before your eyes
• Forge relationships with your party members and potentially enter into intimate relationships with one – or more – of them
• Play through well over 60 hours of content with dozens of unique locations and hundreds of fully voice-acted characters

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Brütal Legend is equal parts action game, real-time strategy game and unabashed love letter to heavy metal music. With the comedic touch of creative director Tim Schaefer, the mind behind such critically acclaimed titles as Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, Brütal Legend marries next generation graphics and gameplay with expert storytelling.

The game follows the exploits of Eddie Riggs (who is voiced by, and whose character design is based on actor/musician Jack Black), regarded as the best roadie for the worst metal band ever. While rescuing one of the band members from a stupid stunt, Eddie is injured and some blood splashes onto the demonic-looking emblem on his belt. It turns out that this emblem is actually a gateway to an alternate dimension that is straight off the cover art of a heavy metal album – and blood was the key. When Eddie comes to, he finds himself thrust into a conflict between a human resistance movement and the forces of the Emperor of the Tainted Coil (voiced by Tim Curry), who is subjugating them.

Brütal Legend

The player, as Eddie Riggs, will pick up a trio of upgradeable weapons. There’s Clementine, Eddie’s guitar from the real world, which is supercharged ax with magical power in the heavy metal world. Eddie can use Clementine to wreak havoc on his enemies and can also use it to play rockin’ solos that will have massive effects on the world environment. Then there’s a literal battleaxe, the Separator, which Eddie can use to hack his way through enemies. Finally, there’s the Deuce, a custom hot rod that can be used to navigate the wide open world.

Before long, Eddie links up with Lars and Lita, the leaders of the resistance, and starts to recruit an army of metal-inspired units, including headbangers, beast-riding amazon chicks, and leather clad motorcycle gangs. Then, the battle begins in earnest.

Key Features:

• Explore an open world inspired by the music and art of the heavy metal genre

• Play through a multitude of primary and side quests

• Rocking sound track featuring over 100 tracks from heavy metal artists from the 70s to present

• Superb comedic writing under the renowned creative direction of Tim Schaefer

• Featuring memorable voice work from Jack Black as Eddie Riggs, as well as a number of metal legends who also lend their voices, including: Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Lita Ford (The Runaways), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead), and more

• A unique fusion of action gameplay and real-time strategy gameplay – destroy enemies on the front lines as Eddie while leading your army of metal minions

• Play face-melting solos on Eddie’s guitar, Clementine, to warp the terrain around you, enhance your allies and crush your enemies

• 3 upgradeable weapons with a variety of different powers and abilities to enhance the mayhem

• Engage in 4 v 4 multiplayer battles, taking control of one of the game’s factions (including the Metalheads, the Goths, and the Glam Rockers) in a strategic battles

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Bioshock is a first person shooter game by 2K Games – formerly Irrational Games – the minds behind the critically acclaimed System Shock series. As a spiritual successor to that series, Bioshock takes the winning formula of a haunting atmosphere, deep storyline, and great action gameplay and updates it for a new generation.

In Bioshock, the player takes on the role of a man named Jack. The story begins with Jack aboard a plane which promptly crashes somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean. As the only survivor, Jack makes his way to a nearby lighthouse, which is actually the entrance to an underwater city known as Rapture. Built by a visionary named Andew Ryan, Rapture was meant to be a city of science and progress, where great minds could pursue their research without sanction. This leads to great advances in biotechnology and the introduction of ADAM, a material that can rewrite the human genome, granting miraculous powers and superhuman capabilities.

However, something has gone horribly wrong. When Jack arrives in Rapture, he finds himself under attack by splicers – violently mad ADAM addicts – and the city’s defenses controlled by a seemingly paranoid and insane Andew Ryan. To survive, Jack must arm himself and enhance his own body with ADAM, gaining new powers as he progresses through the now derelict city.

Throughout the game, the player comes across audio diaries that chronicle the alternately inspiring and horrific history and downfall of Rapture. There’s also an important ethical decision to be made. Little Sisters, genetically altered adolescent girls who can collect ADAM, can either be rescued or sacrificed to gain more power. Harvesting the Sisters grants the player more ADAM to upgrade abilities – but at what cost? Of course, to make the choice at all, Jack must first defeat the Big Daddies, the hulking guardians of the Little Sisters. The core gameplay of  Bioshock is that of a first person shooter. Jack employs both standard firearms and ADAM-powered plasmids to do things such as project fire, use telekinesis, and control the minds of enemies.

Key Features:

• Atmospheric presentation draws you into beautiful and horrifying world of Rapture

• Learn the disturbing history of Rapture through audio diaries found around the city

• Explore an open and fully realized underwater city

• Experiment with different combinations of firearms and superpower-granting plasmids to defeat your enemies

• Collect items and money from the environment and use them to upgrade weapons, ammunition and plasmids, and even build new weapons and ammo

• Choose to either save or harvest the Little Sisters – do you choose power, or mercy?

• Battle insane splicers and the massive Big Daddies, and use hacking skills to work your way past security turrets and cameras

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Batman: Arkham Asylum lets players take on the role of one of the most popular superheroes ever known: the Dark Knight himself. Pitted against his arch-nemesis, the Joker, Batman will have to use all of his skills in combat, stealth, and technology to diffuse the Joker’s insane plot and regain control of Arkham.

Batman Arkham Asylum

Batman: Arkham Asylum opens with Batman escorting a recently captured Joker back into Arkham Asylum, prison for the criminally insane. Curiously, the Clown Prince of Crime has made things all too easy and Batman is suspicious. Despite his vigilance, however, the Joker manages to break free and it quickly becomes apparent that he’s been pulling the strings all along. The Joker controls Arkham Asylum now and Batman is trapped inside with a veritable army of deranged lunatics and super villains.

Arkham Asylum brings the world of Batman to life in a way that has never been seen before. With jaw-dropping graphics and sprawling, open-ended environments, players get to experience Arkham Asylum first hand, through the eyes of Batman. This game is true feast for any fan of Batman, with numerous cameos from famous characters, battles against some of Batman’s most memorable villains, and tons of hidden extras including character bios and trophies.

While the odds are heavily stacked against the Caped Crusader, Batman has all the tools that he needs to unravel the Joker’s plan. A master martial artist, players control Batman as he seamlessly smashes his way through armies of the Joker’s thugs in a unique free-flowing combat system that combines acrobatic melee attacks, counters, and even Batarangs.

Many of the Joker’s minions are heavily armed, so the direct approach is not an option. In these scenarios, players control Batman as a silent predator, skulking through the rafters, descending to take out a hapless thug, and then disappearing just as quickly. You can hear the panic in the voices of the remaining thugs as they search about futilely and are dispatched, one by one.

Arkham Asylum isn’t all about bashing skulls, though. Batman is known as the World’s Greatest Detective, and players will have to put on their thinking caps from time to time and follow clues and solve puzzles to progress. By activating detective mode, players can get a sense of the environment and the threats around them, and assess how best to proceed. Batman can also engage the Riddler in a battle of wits, solving his riddles and searching out hidden items to unlock bonus content.

In addition to his prowess in stealth and combat, Batman has access to his trademark gadgets, including the grapple gun, the Batclaw, Batarangs, and many more. Many of these gadgets are multifunctional, playing roles both in combat and exploration.

Key Features:

• Take on the role of Batman as you face off against the Joker’s and one of his most elaborate and insane plots.

• Explore the lengths and depths of a fully realized and wide-open Arkham Asylum.

• Battle against hundreds of thugs as well as unique boss battles against some of Batman’s most powerful enemies, including Scarecrow, Bane and Killer Croc.

• The immersing story is brought to life with impressive cut-scenes, a well-written script and expert voice acting, featuring much of the voice talent that worked on Batman: The Animated Series, including Mark Hamill as the Joker.

• Engage in free-form combat against gangs of thugs, seamlessly stringing together combos and counterattacks.

• Stalk armed thugs by swinging from gargoyles, performing glide-kick takedowns and other stealth maneuvers.

• Get insight into Batman’s world by solving the Riddler’s challenges and unlocking character bios, interviews and other extras.

• Employ numerous gadgets to navigate the Asylum’s sprawling rooms and courtyards, or use them in combat to disarm, stun, and set traps for enemies.

• Gain experience and upgrade Batman’s fighting skills and gadgets.

• Use Batman’s impressive detective skills to locate clues and structural anomalies, gather information about enemies, and follow trails.

• Compete to put your name on top of the leader boards in arcade-like combat, stealth and speed challenges.

Batman Arkham Asylum: PS3, Xbox 360, PC.

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Players will once again find themselves in the role of a well-trained and disciplined assassin stalking through back alleys and across rooftops in Assassin’s Creed II.

While the core experience of navigating environments through parkour or “freerunning” movement and brutal stealth assassinations is unchanged, Assassin’s Creed II has a wealth of new futures that raise it up above its predecessor. As in the first game, players will take on dual roles: in 2012, they play as Desmond Miles, the descendent of an ancient line of Assassins, who explores his forebears’ history through a device called the Animus. This time, instead of focusing on the Assassin Altair in the late 12th century, Desmond relives the memories of Ezio Auditore de Firenze during the renaissance era in Italy.

Assassin's Creed II

Due to a dark conspiracy, Ezio’s father and brothers were killed – and now he seeks vengeance. Taking up the white garments of the assassin, Ezio is trained in the art by his uncle before setting off to unravel the conspiracy.

Just like Altair in the first game, Ezio is a remarkable athlete, who can sprint, jump, hurdle climb, balance, shimmy, swing, and wallrun to get just about anywhere in the game world. He’s also an excellent assassin who can take out an enemy in a single, fatal blow should he get the drop on them. However, Ezio is no slouch in direct combat either, and can disarm his enemies and use any of their weapons against them. Should the fight turn against Ezio, he has some new ways to escape his pursuers. The ability to dive into the water and blend in with any crowd (instead of solely the white-robed monks in the first game) give the player new avenues of escape.

Assassin’s Creed II takes players to a number of notable locations in Italy, including Venice, Florence and Tuscany, all presented in stunning detail. In his journeys, Ezio runs across some notable figures from history – including a young Leonardo Da Vinci who can create new weapons and gadgets to help Ezio succeed at his task. Players even get to use a flying machine based on true-to-life Da Vinci designs.

One of the criticisms of the original game was the lack of variety in missions. Assassin’s Creed II fixes that problem with a much wider variety of objectives and other side-missions to keep the player busy and entertained.

Key Features:

• Open world gameplay across beautifully rendered and faithfully recreated regions of renaissance Italy, including Venice and Rome.

• Improved version of the freerunning system from the first game.

• More complex combat system than the first game, with the ability to disarm. enemies and wield new types of weapons.

• Meet famous historical figures like Leonardo Da Vinci and Niccolo Machiavelli.

• Simultaneously unravel two separate storylines – bringing down the conspiracy in Ezio’s time, and uncovering the truth about Abstergo in Desmond’s.

• New health and notoriety systems force players to stay on their toes and react.

• Enhance Ezio’s family estate to bring in income that can be invested in new weapons, upgrades and other helpful items.

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