Left 4 Dead (PC), Previews & Features, Images, Poster and Trailer

We have a blast fleeing to the rooftops of a zombie-infected hospital.

It’s not often you can say you were lucky enough to be caught in a zombie apocalypse, but that’s just what happened to us earlier today when we paid a visit to Valve’s E3 2008 meeting room.

Tucked away from the show floor proper, Valve had four PCs running to give players a chance to test out their cooperative skills in this four-player shooter that uses the Counter-Strike: Source engine.

Although our team of four fell just shy of reaching salvation, we enjoyed every moment of it.

Left 4 Dead doesn’t use a traditional campaign structure. Instead, there are four “scenarios” players can choose from.

Our most recent look at the game from back in April had us trying to escape “the infected” (read: zombies of varying speeds and strength) through the woods. But this time around, we got to flee from them through an abandoned hospital.

Left 4 Dead - LGC Trailer

The ultimate goal is to make your way up, floor by floor, until you reach the roof, at which point a helicopter will come through and airlift your group to safety.

Read more …

F.E.A.R. Hands-On - Impressions of the Retail Version, Poster, Previews & Features, Images and Trailers

This highly anticipated shooter ships next week. We’ve got our hands on our copy, but we thought you’d appreciate some initial thoughts while we begin to work on our review.

Gameplay Footage

The firefights in F.E.A.R. are unlike any you’ve ever experienced in a shooter.

It has been 18 months since we got our first glimpse at F.E.A.R., and right from the beginning we knew that this game would be something special. F.E.A.R. promises to combine incredibly wild gunplay with atmospheric horror like no other game to date. With this highly anticipated shooter finally set to arrive in stores next week, we got our hands on the final game to begin work on the review. But before we weigh in with our final verdict, we thought you’d appreciate some impressions on the final game.

So what the heck is with that creepy little girl? We’ll find out soon.

In F.E.A.R., you are the newest member of the military’s elite First Encounter Assault Recon team, tasked with investigating, and dealing with, paranormal threats. You’re in for a heck of a first day on the job, too, because you and your team are sent in after Paxton Fettel, a rogue officer, who takes command of a battalion of elite, cloned soldiers and sets them loose in the confines of a city. Yet that’s but the tip of the iceberg in terms of the plot. What made Fettel go insane? What are they trying to accomplish? And what the heck is up with that freaky, ghostly little girl who keeps cropping up in the corner of your eye? The answers to all these questions are, hopefully, almost here. Read more …

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Updated Hands-On - Through the Howling Ford and Borean Tundra, Poster, Images, Trailers, Preordered, Interview and Private Server

We take a look at not one, but two new starting areas in the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.

Logging into The Wrath of the Lich King feels just like logging into normal World of Warcraft. Things don’t start to get a little bit different until you travel to a major city for, what else? A shave and a haircut. When you see the red and white barber’s pole, you’ll think “Why not? I’ve had this mullet for 70 levels. It’s time for a change!” So you’ll sit down in the barber’s chair to flip through hairstyles, hair colors, and facial-hair dos just like you would in the character-creation screen; except that this time, your new look will cost at least a dozen gold. Now, before we go any further, we must warn you that this preview may contain spoilers on the expansion’s new content. Also, please note that our impressions are based on an unfinished beta version of the game, so all information here, haircut-related and otherwise, is subject to change.

This do is all the rage in the frozen north, ho ho ho!

Once you settle on a new look (Good-bye, comb-over; hello, red Mohawk!), you’ll be ready to introduce your new self to the new zones. You’re free to travel to either the Borean Tundra or the Howling Fjord, but you should definitely check out the Howling Fjord first. The quests here tend to run a level lower than they do in the Borean Tundra. They’re also more concentrated around their respective horde and alliance strongholds. Once you’ve gained three to four levels in the Howling Fjord, you’ll easily breeze through everything in the Borean Tundra for another quick and easy level or two. That’s the beauty of having two starting zones; you’ll always be ahead of the level curve if you complete them both.

The Howling Fjord is a zone dominated by the Vrykul–huge Viking men with terrible manners. Though there are many factions, none of them are friendly. As you make your way through the Howling Fjord quest lines, so too will you make your way through each Vrykul village. In many cases, you’ll simply kill a set number of them, but in others, you’ll burn their towers, blast their structures, and kill their dogs. Some of the best quests, though, involve a pirate stronghold known as Scalawag Point. The first two characters you meet are a Blood Elf-worshiping artifact collector and a beefy Tauren bookie. The quests of these two characters intersect because the collector owes the beefy bookie money; so don’t be surprised if, when turning in a quest to the collector, another player comes in and kicks his butt. Read more …

Vampire Rain: Altered Species Reviews, News, Images, Videos (Trailer, Blood Donor Summer, Gameplay)

Vampire Rain: Altered Species Tech Info

Publisher: AQ Interactive
Developer: Artoon
Genre: Horror Action Adventure
Release Date: Sep 2, 2008 (more)
ESRB: MATURE
ESRB Descriptors: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence

Game Information

Resolution: 1080i, Widescreen, 1080p
Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1
Online Modes: Competitive, Team Oriented
Number of Players: 1 Player
Number of Online Players: 8 Online
Vampire Rain: Altered Species Review

A year after its disastrous debut on the Xbox 360, Vampire Rain is still a pain in the neck.
The Good

* Combining stealth gameplay with vampires remains a great concept

* A few minor tweaks to the difficulty and storytelling make the campaign marginally more playable than it was a year ago on the 360.

The Bad

* No significant changes from last year’s atrocious version of the game for the 360
* Truly insane difficulty with vampires that are almost impossible to kill
* Enemy vision cones give only a rough approximation of what the bad guys can see
* Dark and confusing–yet somehow still linear–level design.

Vampire games apparently can’t be staked. If they could be finished off a la Van Helsing, you can bet that Vampire Rain: Altered Species would never have made it to the PlayStation 3. Developer Artoon’s blend of Splinter Cell-style stealth gaming with toothy creatures of the night was so awful when it debuted for the Xbox 360 last summer that it deserved to be locked inside its coffin for good. Alas, the game has been resurrected for a new platform with a subtitle added to it in the hopes of fooling people into believing that this is a superior sequel. It isn’t. This is a mostly straight-up reissuing of last year’s debacle, loaded with the same crippling design screwups and absurd difficulty. Read more …