Call of Duty 3

It’s official, the Call of Duty franchise is now the console king of WWII shooters. An argument could have been made for the Medal of Honor series until the highly-anticipated Call of Duty 2 hit the 360 like a storm at launch. So now for the time being, the CoD titles are gamers’ main fix for the realism of historic World War II. Epic set pieces, frighteningly realistic sounds and visuals, and intense situations are what makes them work. Developer Treyarch is attempting to take these elements to the next level with Call of Duty 3 for the PS3, PS2, PSP, Xbox 360, and Wii.

The Call of Duty team is using painstaking detail to add new material for the third installment. Core gameplay elements, like the control scheme, are to remain the same. The key improvements in CoD3 are things that add more realism to the overall feel of battle and can potentially add whole new aspects to the game. With a well-aimed grenade you can destroy an enemies’ cover and vice versa.This could change gameplay dramatically, because like in real war, you can’t hide behind a crate for a too long. Smoke is now highly detailed and reacts according to environment. Throw a smoke bomb under a tank and the smoke will rise up the sides instead of through the vehicle. These are the type of things that you probably didn’t notice were missing from CoD2, but you’ll be grateful for in CoD3.

The biggest addition to the series are the new “Battle Actions”. The term can apply to the new one-on-one tussles with enemy soldiers, or the new actions you make in order to get past a scenario. For instance, rowing a boat takes the use of both analog sticks to get a steady flow going. Instead of just pressing X to set a mine, you actually have to go through the motions. Battle Actions and the other changes are meant to add a new dynamic to the game and add even more realism to the WWII setting.

Call of Duty 3 is set during the Normandy Breakout of WWII, which takes place after the momentous D-Day. The Normandy Breakout lead the Allies into the dash across France and became one of the Axis’ greatest losses. All four of the Allied Armies played a big part in the breakout, and you will be playing as each throughout the game . In CoD3 you take the role of English, US, Polish, and the rarely seen in gaming Canadian soldiers. As you play each campaign you’ll notice some characters effecting and even appearing in other campaigns. The acts of the Canadian army may directly effect the US army, for instance, and you may see the soldier you just played as helping your new character. The CoD3 team is also attempting to make the games more dynamic by giving the player different means of taking out an enemy. Before, if you were told to snipe, you had to snipe. Now, you can instead choose to ambush your opponent if you feel it’s the better way.

Treyarch is really pushing multiplayer in this one with 24-player single and split-screen internet modes. In teams-based battles or on your lonesome, you be able to play all the classic modes and the additional War mode with new vehicles like jeeps and motorcycles. In team battles, some of these vehicles support multiple riders, so expect some fun moments to spawn from side-car drive-bys. The new War mode pits the Allies and Axis against each other as they try and hold certain positions in order to win the match. Everyone plays as a specific class like Riflemen or Medics who each have their own special abilities. These abilities improve throughout the match if you use them, so people who do their job are rewarded. The CoD3 team wants the battles to be as in-depth as PC shooter and top previous expectations of the franchise’s multiplayer.

Call of Duty 2 was the 360’s best-selling launch title, and developer Treyarch is trying to live up to expectations with the third sequel. With success like that, they could have chose to just add new missions and let the game be as it is. Instead, they are trying to add new elements to make this the most realistic WWII game ever made. With a deep single-player mode and ambitious online multiplayer, our trigger fingers are itching already. For now, feast on our videos and screens for the Wii version and the 360/PS3 version. We’ll review at launch.

Madden 07

When you say football in the U.S. of A, this is what you’re talking about. Men knock the daylight out of each other and pull off amazing feats with the pigskin. All complete with fifty different camera shots, slow motion replay, halftime shows, and commercials. The perfect sport for a man of short attention span. Which is why the sport is so popular in America versus the rest of the world’s football, which we know as soccer. We Americans you see, are the pinnacle of laziness, and therefore we want our entertainment on-demand. Which could help explain the popularity of the National Football League’s official game franchise: Madden. You can knock the daylight out of other men and pull off amazing feats without ever getting of your lazy behind. EA’s Madden NFL 07 hopes to improve upon past installments so gamers can truly feel like athletes.

The seventeenth installment of the best-selling American football franchise of all-time, Madden NFL 07 has a bunch of new features this time around. The running game has improved greatly, with twenty new runningback animations. Instead of generic animations with adjusted speeds for each player, runningbacks run like they would in real life. So, Jerome Bettis will look different running then LaDamian Tomlinson. The biggest edition to to the ground game is lead blocking. Before the snap, you can take control of any player on the offensive and use him to block on a run play. The A.I. controls the runner for a split-second as you position the blocker so you can create a hole in the defense. If you tap the right analog stick as soon as you block someone you’ll pull off a bone rattling shoulder block. The control shifts to the runningback as soon as the blocker you’re controlling makes contact with your opponent. The main frustration with Madden since the beginning of the franchise was that the A.I. would not always block where you wanted it to, so your controller would be thrown farther then the ball in some cases. In Madden NFL 2004, you could control a blocker during a play with the right analog stick’s playmaker on PS2. This felt unnatural and was too much of a distraction though, so many never used it. The lead blocking feature could potentially be the biggest improvement to Madden since the leap from 2002 to 2003.

Another gameplay change is further proof of EA’s love affair with that analog stick: the highlight stick. The highlight stick replaces the truck stick this year, and it allows specific players to have specific moves. Tap up on the highlight stick during a play with beefy TE Bubba Franks and he might do a shoulder charge. On a smaller, more nimble player like Steve Smith or Terrell Owens, the highlight stick may be used for a juke or to tiptoe on a sideline catch. All the gameplay modes that were mysteriously missing from the 06 version have returned in 07. There is also a new Hall of Fame Mode, where you control one player’s journey from rookie to legend. The mini-camp is back with different, more enjoyable mini-games like bench pressing and 40-yard dashes. Playing these during a franchise can increase player attributes, so it’ll be interesting to see how much it effects the game.

This may seem small, but for the first time ever Madden NFL 07 will have 3D grass (which is not seen in these screenshots yet). Instead of just a flat plane like before, grass sways and moves in real-time. During a game or bad weather the grass will form ditches and puddles. Physics on the player jerseys have improved, and now you can also see the surrounding area around a stadium when the camera pans before a game.

Madden 07 could very well be the Madden we wanted 06 to be. EA is trying to take advantage of next-gen visuals and power to quench the thirst of all the American football fans. Club Skill will have a review when the game comes out in August.

Shadow the Hedgehog

“When Sega introduced the character Shadow the Hedgehog in the game Sonic Adventure 2 Battle, he became an instant fan favorite. A bad guy/darkish version of Sonic, Shadow was a cool anti-hero who supposedly died at the end of SA2 to the regret of fans. But now, Sega announces the Shadow will star in his own game soon, also adding that they were going to make his own game as soon as they saw the reaction from the fans in SA2.

Yet, Sega isn’t just making this a rehash of the old Sonic Adventure series or even the recently released Sonic Heroes. Shadow The Hedgehog will be aimed at an older audience and will introduce a weapon never seen in Sonic titles, guns.

According to Sega’s president, The Sonic Team is trying to expand their demographic with the new arsenal. Daunting at first, the guns combine with the fast paced action in Sonic to blend nicely. A large arsenal of weapons (rumored to be similar in size with Ratchet & Clank) will provide many opportunities and situations to deal with. Players in the past have complained that SA2 was too easy, and Sonic was slowly declining to a kiddy status with it’s lack of difficulty. The Sonic Team says it will not be the same way with Shadow the Hedgehog, which will have a higher degree of difficult then it’s counterparts.

Shadow will find himself fighting two groups at the same time. Dr.Robotnik (a.k.a. Eggman) and his group the G.U.N. Army, and intergalactic aliens. Throughout the game, Shadow will unlock the keys to his mysterious through the 50 missions featured. And again, depending on the players actions and critical decisions there are multiple endings. The user will eventually decide Shadow’s fate, villain or hero.

Shadow the Hedgehog is going to be a sure-fire hit if the combination of guns, fast paced action, higher difficulty, and the really cool character Shadow all mesh together. If Sega can pull this one off they may just expand the group who plays these games. Move over Sonic, Shadow the Hedgehog will be taking the limelight on the Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox at E3.”

The Godfather

“How many Mafia based games have we seen in the past six months? How many GTA clones have we seen in the past year? How many Mafia-themed GTA clones have we seen in the past year and six months?

Well, add another to the list because EA’s entering the fray with The Godfather on multiple consoles.So the question is, “Why should I care?” Well not only does this one take the best elements from all of its previous ancestors, but it also has one of the most recognizable movie licenses on Earth behind it, The Godfather. With this license comes the great story and voice talents of the movie, including the late legend Marlon Brando, James Caan, Robert Duvall, and seventeen others, (sorry, no Pachino or Dinero). You start the game creating your own character to work up the ranks of the Mafia anyway you choose. Even though creating the character is very detailed using the same technology seen in Tiger Woods PGA Tour, you have to keep him as an Italian male (Hey, it’s The Godfather ).

The game takes place in New York from 1945-1955 through and between the events in the film. You do jobs for the gang, escorting and whacking people to get what you need done. Your actions in the game change how people react to you, which is becoming a steady trend in today’s games. Try and pop some holes in somebody like a block of Swiss cheese and they’ll fear you in the future. Ask them nicely and they’ll smile at you when you walk by. Your character also ages in his career and may start getting wrinkles, graying, and gaining weight the longer you play. Like Grand Theft Auto and True Crime: Streets of LA, The Godfather is a free-roaming action game. Most of it takes place on foot, though some of the game is in old fifties style vehicles like Buicks and Fords. You also get all of the needed weapons like baseball bats and shotguns with a Mafia twist like the Tommy Guns

The plot has three story arches which branch off depending on how you play. The game is not entirely based on the movie, as your character goes into an adventure of his own. So can you change the ending? Sorry, but no. You can not change the inevitable ending seen in the movie and in the book (I won’t give it away), though EA says really hard-core players can effect it.

So we come back to the question, “Why should I care?”. The Godfather is not your average free-roaming game. With a guaranteed great story and characters, gameplay that’ll leave you wanting more, and action- changing environments, this one will separate itself from the pack. So if you’ve ever wanted to be the Big Boss, then bring out the Tommy Guns and cannoli. The Godfather comes out on the PS2, Xbox, PC, PSP, and maybe even the Xbox 2, in October.”