Shooter

Coming Soon on 26/03/2013

Crytek is a studio known for pushing the technological envelope in game development. The Crysis series in particular has become infamous for its incredibly demanding system requirements, alongside its staggering visual realism. With the third and possibly final numbered entry in the series, Crytek is looking to give the story a fitting conclusion, while proving to the world that they are the undisputed kings of gaming graphics.

I cautiously approach the gently glowing corpse, casting around for Splicers or other threats. The Little Sister on my shoulder squeals delightedly: “Look Daddy, it’s an angel!” Before we can gather any ADAM, I set up a perimeter of trap rivets and mini turrets, and make sure my speargun and drill are both fully loaded, as well as making sure I have the right plasmid equipped. When everything is set up, I carefully set the Little Sister down and prepare for the onslaught.

Starting a trilogy is the fun part – and if this generation of console franchises have proved anything, completing it is the hardest. Over the past two years, we've seen series like Mass Effect and Gears of War struggle with storytelling in their third chapters. Mastering well-known techniques and designs is the easy part – completing an epic narrative in satisfying fashion has proven to be difficult: the bigger the success of the series, the more troublesome the conclusions have proven to be. Given this recent history, Crysis 3 faced an uphill battle from ...

Developer Epic Games takes badass gaming to a new level with an excellent conclusion to one of the Xbox 360 greatest trilogies. Gears of War 3, like its predecessors, is a cover based 3rd person shooter that delivers high paced action at every corner. The game play doesn’t change from the previous two games but that isn’t a bad thing and with the addition of some new toys and a new multiplayer mode Gears of War 3 will be played addictively for some time to come.

Shootmania Storm was announced at E3 last year and then was instantly forgotten. Lost amongst talk of Assassin’s Creed 3 and Watch_Dogs, Shootmania didn't seem to offer an awful lot. A short match between two teams of pro-gamers did little to glue it into the minds of gamers, especially those not interested in yet another shooter. The beta shortly after displayed a game that was utterly unique but without enough depth to keep your mind from wondering back to your comfort title.

Battlefield 3 is a first person shooter from the development company Dice, and was the showcase game for their new graphics engine, the fabled Frostbite 2. The game features a compelling campaign based on a United States marine who is arrested on suspicion of murder and for ‘apparently’ assisting Iranian ultra-nationalists in nuclear terrorism. We follow Sergeant Blackburn as he tries to save the world from re-entering the Cold War. Battlefield 3 is most revered however for its expansive multiplayer, which, like all previous Battlefield games, has redefined ...

Aliens: Colonial Marines has been in development for over half a decade. Despite the track record of developer Gearbox, and the popularity of the sci-fi franchise, the much anticipated game has been delayed more times than I can count. Considering that, it's something of a miracle that this game was released at all. Unfortunately, it's a little less of a miracle considering how surprisingly bad this game turned out to be.

Despite a generally luke-warm reception from critics, 2010’s Medal of Honor reboot from developer Danger Close was not all bad. The title focused on the elite branch of the military known as Tier 1, of which there are a mere handful of operatives currently deployed. Granted, the missions were a little sloppy and the characters not very interesting, but at its core was a mostly decent modern warfare sim with some interesting ideas that just didn’t quite come to fruition.

Battlefield is a franchise known for its more serious take on war and for its emphasis on teamwork and strategy. It got a following – and rightly so – for its large maps, it’s vehicles and its excellent community. Battlefield 3 is the first main entry in the series since Battlefield 2 was released in 2005 and is the first specifically for HD consoles. With top notch graphics and impressive animation, have DICE squeezed as much as they’re going to get out of the PlayStation 3?