http://www.1up.com/do/feature?cId=3158897
Cover Story
EndWar
Previews
God of War PSP
Manhunt 2
Fracture
PS2 Reviews
Dawn of Mana - 4.5/5.0/4.0
Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm - 4.0/4.5/6.0
.Hack//G.U Vol.2: Remininisce - 6.0/4.0/5.0
DS Reviews
Etrian Odyssey - 8.0/4.0/6.0
Time Ace - 3.0/4.0/3.5
PSP Reviews
Brooktown High - 4.0/5.5/5.0
Coded Arms: Contagion - 7.0/4.0/5.0
Xbox 360 Reviews
C&C 3 - 7.0/8.0/7.0 (GOTM)
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia - 4.5/4.0/4.0
PS3 Reviews
F.E.A.R - 6.0/5.0/5.0
In order of Score:
C&C 3 - 7.0/8.0/7.0 (GOTM)
Etrian Odyssey - 8.0/4.0/6.0
Coded Arms: Contagion - 7.0/4.0/5.0
F.E.A.R - 6.0/5.0/5.0
.Hack//G.U Vol.2: Remininisce - 6.0/4.0/5.0
Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm - 4.0/4.5/6.0
Brooktown High - 4.0/5.5/5.0
Dawn of Mana - 4.5/5.0/4.0
Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia - 4.5/4.0/4.0
Time Ace - 3.0/4.0/3.5
Review Wrap-Ups
Forza Motorsport 2
Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
Aedis Eclipse: Generation of Chaos
Cube
Touch The Dead
Death JR and The Science Fair of Doom
Rumors
Team Ninja working on PS3 exclusive DoA game
Hudson working on a Bonk game for DS/Wii
Capcom remaking the original Megaman for PSN
Next Kingdom Hearts game will be a spin-off that will appear on a "hearty console"
Q-Tip Rumors
Professor Layton is coming to the US
Disgaea series coming to PS3
Harmonix working on getting a big band for Rock Band music
Sakaguchi interview
-More praise for Gears of War
-His dream project is a surfing sim
-On FF12: "I just played the beginning. You really can't expect much from the game when Yasumi Matsuno, a crucial member of the team, leaves in the middle of development."
-Thinks Square Enix puts too much focus on FF/DQ
-Wii is intriguing but not working on any Wii games
-Goal with Cry On is to make the player cry every 15 minutes
-Microsoft's marketing sucks
-"When creating Blue Dragon, Dragon Quest wasn't on my mind. I was actually thinking about Chrono Trigger and Blue Dragon is an extension of that game."
-"I'm not interested in the PlayStation 3. The machine's architecture is tricky, and I don't like Kutaragi"
EndWar
-Directed by Michael de Plater (formerly of Creative Assembly, where he worked on Total War)
-Inspired by... Madden
-No explicit multiplayer or single-player modes. 1 global campaign map for both game types
-Three factions: U.S. Joint Strike Force, European Enforcers, and Russian Spetsnaz
-Persistent Risk-like online campaign map. Everyone plays in this single, global campaign. The war ends when one faction conquers the majority of territories and then a new campaign starts.
-Each campaign can be different. They give the example that if America is conquered in one campaign, they can start the next campaign "to liberate U.S. soil with a massive new 'D-Day' landing on the East coast."
-"[The Battle for Middle-earth II] was a test case for exactly what we didn't want to do" (Referring to them taking a traditional PC RTS and re-mapping the controls"
-"The first thing we did was ban any reference to the PC. We were determined to design it from the ground up for console."
-Camera is always attached to a unit. The idea is to remove the god-like vision found in RTS games by having a more realistic line of sight.
-You can, however, toggle a full battlefield map where you can give your orders.
-Voice-command system that can control every aspect of the game
-7 unit types: Riflemen, Engineers, Tanks, Transports, Helicopters, Artillery, and Command Vehicles
-Limit of 12 units/squads in battle
-Unit costs are all equal
-No "magic", meaning for something to get to the battlefield it needs to be delivered, etc.
-"Everything is destructible"
-On units: "It's a battalion that you own. You can personalize it. You can customize it. You can choose its motto and its heraldry. You can change its compositions and abilities.
-If your soldiers die, they are gone for good along with their upgrades. If they live they gain experience & medals.
-"Nothing in EndWar seems more detailed and obsessed over than the surprisingly varied way soldiers act (and react) on the battlefield."
-For example: "Squadrons of heavily armed soldiers, when ordered to a cluster of firebombed cars, will automatically take cover in different ways, periodically taking potshots at the enemy through windows and over hoods. If a soldier gets shot, one of his squad mates will drag him back to safety"
