World At War takes place in the Pacific theater, where the Axis battles it out with the Allies. During a recent demo, we saw the Japanese-American campaign, where you start out the game as a prisoner of war being tormented by a vicious commander. He walks off and mutters something to his colleague, who proceeds to attack a fellow POW. He puts a cigarette out in his eye before shooting him in the head, splattering blood on a nearby wall. He then comes your way to kill you, but another soldier stops him and cuts you loose. A few seconds later, you acquire a machine gun and go on a rampage.

In this introductory level, Treyarch shows off the massive amount of work that went into the game. The water effects look amazing, with ripples standing out in the moonlight and shimmering with impact from your bullets. You’ll have no time to admire it, though, as enemies come at you from all sides, and Kamikaze soldiers charge you with everything they have. The animation is just as impressive as in Call of Duty 4, with enemies collapsing once they’re hit with bullets and environments that can be torn apart by gunfire and explosions. Fire a machine gun at the walls of a hut, for example, and chunks fall off.

One incredible new weapon that makes a monumental difference is the flamethrower. Being introduced for the first time in this series, it burns terrain and enemies. During an in-game tech demo, Treyarch showed off the power of the weapon, torching a field and letting the grass burn for several seconds before smoldering into ash. It’s particularly great to use on enemy soldiers. Anyone unfortunate enough to get in the path of this weapon will run around screaming in agony, only to eventually collapse and leave charred remains behind. It’s brutal, but no one said fighting in the Pacific would be easy.

Your team goes from one end of the village to the other; encountering enemy soldiers and watching flaming buildings crumble every step of the way while seeking out hiding spots. The action eventually shifts into a darkened jungle, where you watch for foes camping out in the trees. One incredible moment involves the lighting of a flare. The stage goes near pitch-black for a minute. Then the flare lights up, and Japanese soldiers begin popping out in droves. As the flare light comes back down (in real time), it’s up to you to pinpoint where the soldiers are so you can kill them before they kill you.

Gameplay looks to be on the same level as Call of Duty 4. You shoot with the right trigger, while aiming down the gun sights by holding down the left trigger. You can also throw grenades, run through levels via dashing, sidestep and perform other functions with ease. Although the demo wasn’t hands-on, Treyarch promised that the final game will perform just as smoothly as Modern Warfare does.

Along with the lengthy single-player campaign, World At War also features multiplayer. Treyarch confirmed that the Xbox 360 edition will feature a co-op campaign mode, with two people able to work together off-line and up to four going side-by-side via Xbox Live. It didn’t confirm these features yet for the PS3 and Wii, but both of these versions should have something along those lines. Multiplayer versus action will also appear, but the developer has yet to nail down how many players can be in a match at once. This mode was last tested for thirty-two, but the final game could support more.

Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game look great, but that doesn’t mean Wii owners were left out. Activision has a separate team modifying the in-game engine to work with the system, as well as its motion-sensitive control set-up. Unfortunately, the game wasn’t available for demo during the presentation, but it should be a better product than 2006’s port of Call of Duty 3.

Overall, Activision surprised us with its World At War presentation. We’ll have further coverage in the months ahead as the game marches towards its November release, including a hands-on report and additional movies and screenshots. Trust us when we say this war is worth enlisting for.

Handling the creation of the UFC game is Yukes, the same development house that handles THQ’s World Wrestling Entertainment games. However, it isn’t the same engine – UFC Undisputed is built from the ground up. The octagon clearly has several differences from a four-sided wrestling mat. A recent trailer for the game shows the amount of detail that Yukes put into the game thus far. Fighters look like actual representations of themselves, right down to their victory stances. Current UFC champion Quentin “Rampage” Jackson, for example, lets out a howling roar after winning a bout.

The UFC Undisputed roster will contain 85 fighters, although only two have been revealed at this point – Jackson and Forest Griffin, two fighters that are set to collide at an upcoming pay-per-view event. The trailer THQ revealed to us showed the fighters going back and forth, smacking each other around and switching off between submission holds. One minute, Griffin has Jackson locked up in an armbar. The next, Jackson kneels over a crumpled Griffin, pounding away at his face with his left and right fists.

During a demonstration of the game, we saw how deep this action gets, with a number of countermoves, defensive tactics and knockdown opportunities. Yes, you can take out your opponent with one punch during a match, but the timing on it has to be perfect – just like in a real UFC bout. While we weren’t able to get hands-on time with this early build, it looks like a smooth experience. The guys at Yukes had a blast showing off the game, even though they had the real-life fighters, Griffin and Jackson, trying to do backseat coaching on how to get the knockdown.

UFC Undisputed 2009 will also give you the option to create your own fighter. You can set up their attributes and put them in whatever class you feel is necessary for their skills, ranging from lightweight to heavyweight. From there, you’ll follow certain techniques as you become a contender in the UFC ranks, with a number of fighting disciplines available to choose from. Do you feel more comfortable trying your luck with Brazilian Ju-Jitsu? Or perhaps you want to try your luck with old-school Judo? It seems like part of the fun involves going through the trial-and-error system with each style, seeing which one suits you best. No word yet if the Career Mode for your newly created superstar will follow the same guidelines as Spike’s UFC-themed reality show The Ultimate Fighter, but that would be cool.

There really isn’t that much to the presentation yet, what with only two boxers and one arena revealed thus far. However, what’s here is still noteworthy. The UFC fighters look very realistic, with wobbly facial expressions after taking a punch to the face and real-time injuries developing on their bodies. They get a little too sweaty over time, making them shinier than in previous games, but that’s easy to overlook. The animation is spot-on, and we were actually surprised that the game doesn’t run into any clipping problems, an issue that affects Yukes’ WWE games. UFC commentators Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg also keep up on the action, showing genuine surprise after a quick strike and proclaiming their love for the sport. THQ reps mentioned that the duo spent dozens of hours in the studio recording dialogue, nailing down the timing of each in-game event. Seeing as how the WWE games have problems with this, it’ll be good to see THQ get the tempo right for UFC.

Along with a career mode that will let you establish your own UFC legacy (including a stop at the UFC Hall of Fame) and exhibition fights where you can show your local friends a thing or two, UFC Undisputed 2009 will also support online play through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. Although THQ stayed mum on how these fights would work (or if you could form your own virtual posse), it reassured us that online functionality is a must. Tournaments are a possibility as well, but nothing’s been confirmed as of yet.

UFC Undisputed 2009 looks to make the lackluster fighting games featuring the brand a thing of the past, focusing instead on a hard-hitting future with lots of action and excitement. Once more fighters enter the virtual ring, we’ll get a better idea of the diversity. For now, though, it looks like a solid brawler. And any game that pays strict attention to the UFC ring girls, with all their virtual hotness, can’t be bad. Be sure to check for more coverage soon, including an interview with the project manager and a hands-on report. Get ready for a beatdown.

This combo first- and third-person action game puts you in the (expensive) shoes of Bond in an adventure that includes events from the Royale film and the new Quantum of Solace movie. We recently caught a look at the game and left shaken and stirred by what’s to come.

Quantum of Solace’s story picks up after Royale’s, with Bond pursuing the villians responsible for the death of his lady friend Vespa. There will be some variations that fit with the level design, however. At one point in the game, Le Chiffre, the chief villain Bond faces off against in Casino Royale, finds himself endangered by rogue mercenaries. Bond has to keep him alive in order to keep him in the game, so he’ll have to fight these enemies without Le Chiffre figuring out who he really is.

This introduces another excellent component to the game – multiple paths. There’s more than one way to get things done on each level, depending on what type of gameplay you’re comfortable with. For instance, in the Le Chiffre rescue stage, we were presented with a choice. We could either run through the level shooting at guards with very little disregard for our health meter, or we could play the “sneaky” route, throwing some poor sap over a balcony and sneaking around ledges until arriving at Le Chiffre’s suite. The run-and-gun method is riskier, but you have several tools in your arsenal, including familiar Bond gadgets and, of course, the traditional PK pistol. Over the course of each level, you can also acquire cell phones, which can be used to unlock yet-undisclosed bonus content in the game. Our guess is behind-the-scenes footage and perhaps even clips from the two movies.

The game doesn’t have any shortage of shootouts. Quantum of Solace has several intense scenarios where you’ll have to find cover and shoot back at enemies, with little regard for your surroundings. One memorable firefight took place in the casino itself, with guards coming at Bond from all directions while he moves around the upper terrace and makes his way the casino floor below. Tables, glasses and pillars shatter as bullets whiz past (and into) them, adding to the intensity – and making cover harder to find than you might expect. Another great battle takes place in a water-filled atrium, with bullets flying everywhere and real-time damage to the surroundings.

What would a Bond game be without the requisite chase sequence? Solace’s big chase starts in an area like the opening scene from Casino Royale, where you pursue a suspect through a construction site. It begins with you steering a bulldozer into a dirt wall. Then you get out and begin climbing up walkways and cranes as you keep in chase with your target. Unfortunately, the scene ended before we could see if it led to some kind of big boss fight, but at this point it still looks very solid. The only thing that’s missing is a car chase sequence, and we were disappointed when the developers say we won’t get behind the wheel of an Astin Martin in this game, because blonde Bond likes to handle things on foot.

Even in its mid-development stage, Quantum of Solace screams Bond. Music from the films and great-looking levels ripped from the movies gives it that authentic Bond-ness that you dont’ get anywhere else. The construction site level, for instance, is comparable to the real thing, right down to the layering of wires across the intersecting cranes. Daniel Craig has been rendered down to the letter, although his eyes look mildly creepy when you get in close. The menu screens and health system also have the Bond look, complete with the classic gun-scope silhouette that appears onscreen that lets you know when you’re about to die.

Along with the multi-level single-player mode, Quantum of Solace will also include some sort of multiplayer, though details are scarce. Will we able to pit multiple Bond characters against each other? Maybe it’ll be an all-out war between Bond and the bad guys.

Based on what we’ve seen so far, it seems that Bond’s video game comeback will be worth the anticipation. Quantum of Solace should be hitting store shelves around the same time as the film in November.

In the simplest of terms, Spore is a sim title, except this one is a lot cooler than watching a naked person pee on him or herself. This game is all about evolution, an adventure that challenges you to take a cell, a basic building block of life and help it evolve into a creature that can conquer not only a world but space itself! You begin as a cell, a tiny little guy floating about in some goo and devouring green cells but avoiding all of the other colors (that can probably eat you). After you reach a certain stage your “thing” will lay an egg, and this brings up the game’s creature editor, an easy to use system that’s powered by complex technology. With this tool you’re basically able to give your creature its first shape. You can decide how many fins it has or bones in its body, and no matter how you design your animal the game will find a way to animate it, but it goes far beyond just making it wiggle. Let’s say, for example, you draw several fins on your animal. The game will not only make it move, but do so in such a way to simulate how an animal with several fins would behave!

After swimming around in the slime for a while the game transitions to 3D. Your creature has taken shape and is now able to eat all of the tinier critters it couldn’t consume before, but Spore truly sizzles when your creation emerges from the water and takes its first breath. It’s here where you can add legs or other limbs so it can walk, and again, how it moves is determined by your design, so if you put ten legs on this thing (if the game allows), the AI will come up with a pattern of how it would actually move.

From here Spore takes a dramatic turn. It transitions from being a life simulator where you’re trying to avoid getting eaten to caring for an entire race of animals. The creature editor becomes the means by which you design buildings and weapons. You’ll teach your race different technologies, introduce them to fire, and eventually economics, but what’s even more mind boggling is what happens after you construct a UFO. Not only are you able to leave your planet, but you’ll also explore an entire universe that’s chock full of other planets, all of which feature civilizations that have been created by other players! In a cool twist, almost nothing in this game will be designed by the developers. Every planet/city you come across will have been created by someone else, and how you decide to interact with that person (or persons) is entirely up to you (and vice versa). Will you roll up and attack (in RTS fashion), laying waste to another race of creatures and possibly obliterating their planet (and essentially ruining everything that player had created), or will you come in peace? Will you partner up with other civilizations to protect one another from other factions? That’s how insanely deep Spore truly is. It goes from being a simple mini game where you’re trying to eat green cells into this wild age of discovery experience, and the best part is because the tools that you’re provided with grant you so much artistic freedom, there’s a great chance that no two cities or creatures will look a like.

Each time you land on a planet or explore a city (even if it’s right next door to yours) you won’t know what you’ll find, and in the case of space travel that goes for species as well as atmospheric composition. If the planet features a hostile environment you’ll need to find a way to terra form it. Make the air breathable, and you may have happened upon a second home.

Aside from Doom 3 and Half-Life 2, Spore is the best thing to happen to PCs in a very long time because its very essence gives the platform some much-needed diversity since its library is so clogged with me-too first person shooters and RTS titles. I don’t want to blow things out of proportion because the game isn’t finished, but if it turns out to be as good as it sounds it may very well turn out to be a PC Game of the Year candidate. Hopefully, this year’s E3 will allow us all to smell more of the evolutionary soup Will Wright’s cookin’.

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