RDR is two games for the price of one: 1) a lightweight economic simulator set in the Wild West and 2) a linear, story-based whackamole shooter.

Unfortunately, the economic sim is a bit too lightweight and there is no endgame, and the shooter is the typical Rockstar gibberish with incomprehensible characters, a story-driving macguffin that doesn't show up until 60% through the game, and a love affair with the chest-high wall. The shooting isn't great, either.

Sure is purty, though!

I'm going to blatantly steal this from a forum poster on Qt3, because it's just so apt.

"At some level I view the whole game as a virtual set of matchbox cars, where you get to collect various different tank types and keep them in your garage. Of course there's a very big added bonus that you get to take them out and destroy other people's tanks with them. "

This is exactly what World of Tanks is.

A surprisingly solid open world shooter, sneaker and driver with enough unlocks, collectibles and missions to satisfy any sandbox maniac. The AI is notable for being quite reactive but also very stupid in a "let's make this game fun" way. A+, would liberate Paris again!

An admiring rant that is; more of a rant on "why hasn't anyone done this before" sort of thing.

Except they have, of course. The best examples are Planetside and Tribes, both born from some innate desire that I can certainly identify with - big battles, big guns, superpowers (might as well be) and jetpacks. Seems as if you can't go wrong with a combo like that, but it took this relatively small developer from Atlanta, Georgia (what huh?) to bring these elements together, throw in some basic leveling unlockables a la Call of Duty (except you know, not boring) and call it a game.

And the amazing thing is, it works. At first I was dubious because, unlike Planetside, it did not have a persistent world so that you couldn't have spontaneous combat zones developing from a random patch of land. Then I realized how rare that occurrence was - and admittedly when it DID happen it was glorious - and that it was equally good to have a reason to fight every single time. And certainly, the levels do repeat - but after you fought once in the swampy trees, the tower in the forest, the base (after base after base after base) and the snowy mountains you just about saw it all - but them being instanced means that they can be carefully crafted for maximum tactical entertainment.

Then, I was dubious because of the subscription fee - and well, apparently so was Hi-Rez because they have dropped this fee by now. It was a bit of a barrier to entry for me since there are quite a few persistent shooters out there that are free to play - now that I have tens of hours of GA under my belt (and a couple of hours of horrible matchmaking in a "persistent unlockables" game, Transformers: War for Cybertron) I have to admit there's a bit more to it than that, and GA does it very well.

So that's that for where my impressions are coming from - a blend of Planetside and Tribes, plus some clever leveling hooks. Here's what else works:

- great matchmaking. Every game I played (and by now I've played 30 or more) is nicely balanced and always has a full complement of people on either side. It helps that the game doesn't really have levels, so that a level 8 (when you can get into the vs. humans matches) can fight alongside a level 30 and not really suffer.

- good weapon feel. It's some combination of good ping and good clientside rendering - like WoW has, actually - that makes combat feel rock solid. You always hit what you think you're aiming at, projectiles that hit you feel like they deserve to hit you ... it's amazing how important that is in online shooters these days.

- transparent teamplay. There are only 4 classes and they are highly specialized, so that each one really depends on others to do their stuff. However - this is what I mean by transparent - the classes are designed in such a way that their given tasks *are* the most fun thing to do. Assault class gets in the middle of things and grinds the enemy down, recon gets behind the foe and wrecks their systems, medics provide direct healing and support and robotics sets up defenses and team support - and when everyone is doing this properly, the game just flows. I am a little worried that this excellent balance can't go on forever, but for now it works great.

I'll still miss the combined arms assaults of Planetside - but until Planetside II is here, GA does a great job simulating the infantry assault and multiple aspects of their roles (the engineers, the medics, the scouts and the heavies) of that hallowed game.

No, we didn't go but we sure did follow the crap out of the conferences! You can get some great synopses at Fidgit, with my 2 line review-style summations:

Nintendo - confidence in gimmickry

Ubisoft - we put on a play about a conference; there may have been games (?)

EA - shooter shooter shooter Arts

Microsoft - we don't really know what we're doing this year, but we think it's Wii HD. Please buy it (no price or release date)!

Still waiting for the Sony round up, but it didn't fare much better. 3D and motion controls in various incarnations were the it thing this year, neither of which is something anyone's been asking for.

Here's my wish list for next year.

• Dedicated AI cards (like PhysX, except AIx).


• Some MMOFPSes that behave more like MMOs. Planetside, I miss you - although I do wish you had more of a persistent point rather than endless CTFs.


• Death to the "shooter with unlockables". In fact, death to any modern/slightly futuristic/beefy marine shooter. Good god, do we really need 5 franchises going on at the same time? At least that Brink thing and the um, next homoerotic Epic shooter look a "little" different from the rest.


• A sleeker form factor for the Nintendo DS - oh wait, we're getting one. Hooray Nintendo!


• A reduction in price on those ridiculous MS hard drives so I can buy more games.


• Games games games. I really don't care about hardware much. Unless it's a price cut. I suspect a lot of people feel the same.

Read it here.

I'm in - free to play, occasional payment-driven PvP battles where you can stockpile a garage of tanks of your choosing? So very much in.

A GTA 4 compendium of drama, bloopers and stunts. If only the game was this much fun to play.

Deus Ex 3 CGI trailer. It's pretty.

Transformers: War for Cybertron trailer. Wow. This is looking better and better each time I see it. It may be a Transformers game I finally play.

Crackdown 2 mini preview. Yep, that's my Crackdown allright. Can't wait!

Well, the trailer says Red Faction, but it appears to be either Dead Space 2, a Doom III mod, or an Aliens game, so I'm a bit perplexed. Where's the Faction?