The Wargamer

Introduction

Welcome to The Wargamer's feature article series, "The Raw Recruit." This weekly feature offers release dates for upcoming computer and board games. The list doesn't include every computer or board game being released, however it does include almost all of the games we believe The Wargamer's audience will enjoy. The release dates presented in this article are for North American releases only and indicate "shipping" dates, not necessarily guaranteed in-store dates. Most major PC titles are released on Tuesday or Wednesday and are widely available across the country by Friday. These release dates are provided in association with The Wargamer's affiliate merchant partner, GoGamer.  Please send any new game release announcements to news@wargamer.com.

The Raw Recruits for the Weeks of March 19th March 26th

I'm playing a bit of catch-up this week, as I was caught napping by a sudden wave of releases while I was stuck catching on some leftover gaming.  So we'll be combining two weeks this time: March 19th (Godfather, Oblivion) and March 26th (Ubersoldier, Divided Nation, and Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers).

Last week produced closely watched games in the mainstream gaming press.  The first was The Godfather: The Video Game, not be confused with The Godfather: The Movie.  Based largely on the famed film by Coppola, Electronic Arts created a mafia game similar in many respects to Take-Two's popular Grand Theft Auto series or the largely forgotten Mafia.  This new video game adaptation of the popular movie series has many of the film's most prominent characters interwoven into the storyline of the game.  The player takes part in key movie scenes by performing critical tasks on his way up the family chain of command.  The game has received mix reviews, in part because it really doesn't do anything new, but it is a solid adaptation of the license, so that should draw in millions of fans.  The Godfather is available for most major gaming platforms, priced at $40.

The reviews are in on our second game of the week of March 19th, and Bethseda's new Oblivion is perhaps the most important role-playing game in several years.  The game has been receiving out-of-this-world review scores and fan praise unlike any game since at least Half-Life 2.  While RPGs is a less popular genre with our core audience, Oblivion has the potential to draw in gamers who've never played an RPG.  So what is it?  It's a free-form RPG universe presented from the first-person.  The game allows players to take their character through a scripted storyline, or to deviate off the storyline and venture into any part of the open game world.  NPC AI is programmed to "remember" past player interactions, have daily schedules, and otherwise behave as normal humans. This is just one of the remarkable features included in the game, priced now at $49.99 for the PC.

For the week of March 26th, we've got one first-person shooter, one strategy game, and one tactical/squad hybrid.  CDV will release this week Ubersoldier, a FPS set in the dark days of World War II, as the Nazis experimented with humanity, creating the Ubersoldier.  The player is a genetically modified super-soldier who needs some work done, but for the time being, he simply goes on rampages killing Nazi from within the heart of Germany.  It's a fairly straightforward shooter, priced at $29.99 and available this week in stores across the country.

American Conquest: Divided Nation is CDV's second release of the week, a more interesting 19th century strategy game based on the long-running American Conquest series.  It covers the American Civil War and the Texas War of Independence, including such battles as Gettysburg and the Alamo, along with dozens of scenarios in between.  The game can support large battles of up to 16,000 soldiers on period-appropriate maps, led across those battlefields by the most famous historical figures of the era.  The Wargamer launched our microsite devoted to the game, so watch for additional materials on the game through it.  Divided Nation is available now for $29.99.

Finally this week, THQ is releasing Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers, a tactical squad-based title set in fictionalized version of Iraq.  The original game began life as a military training tool for squad leaders, but THQ has since found commercial success with the game, too.  While the game's tactics are fairly straightforward, their application in the urban environments of a Middle Eastern city become a lot more complex than initially imagined.  Ten Hammers isn't a significant departure from the original, so we expect much of the same storyline and house-to-house fighting.  To find out if we're right, be sure to check out the demo linked below before put down $40 on the game at retail stores. 

The Volunteer Recruits

Here's the current crop of game demos released in the past few weeks (some links may expire over time):

• Act of War: High Treason [750 MB] - Last year's "action RTS" is back, this time with a new campaign.
• Birth of America [143 MB] - One of the most unique wargames in years covers America's 18th century of war.
• Full Spectrum Warrior: Ten Hammers [416 MB] - Tactical, squad-based combat is back in this military title.
• Star Wars: Empire at War [742 MB] - Hoth, Tatooine, and Dagobah!  Star Wars is back, this time as a 3D RTS.
• Take Command: Second Manassas [178 MB] - MadMinute's second title almost here, but a demo is now.
• X3: Reunion [907 MB] - Adventures in a very expansive space game.

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