Topics up for discussion were:

Battlefield: Bad Company 2
Alien vs Predator
Bioshock 2
Heavy Rain

And more…

I got my hands on a preview build, thankfully in a high rise tower in central London, and not underground in a bomb shelter.

Adapted from the book of the same name – penned by Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky – metro 2033 is a blast for survival in the remains of Moscow’s Metro network – the world’s largest series of bomb shelters (which also doubles as a public transport system.)

In the case of Metro 2033, it was nukes that destroyed the world, and like every other post-apocalyptic game, who shot who and when doesn’t matter all that much – it’s all about survival.

The fighting takes place both underground and on the blasted, irradiated surface, which has now become a nightmarish maze of mutants, starving humans, radioactive water and giant rats – hell on earth.

Into this world steps the lead character, Artyom, who is tasked with reaching the heart of the network to warn the populace of a new threat – one that has the potential to wipe out the last vestiges of humanity.

So far so Fallout 3, but what really set this game apart for me was the design, gameplay and sheer detail the developers, Ukrainian newcomers 4A Games, have crammed in.

The sewer system itself is a work of art, each zone offering a new look at what’s become of humanity.

Pigs live alongside humans, everyone’s armed and fearful and threats are always around the corner. Of course, the fact that your bullets are also your currency makes a heavy firefight even more galling – every wasted shot makes you that little bit poorer.

The action is brutal – mutated horrors come screaming at you, and your puny home-made rifle, the ‘bastard’, is hard pressed to hold them off.

Psychic attacks cause you to have nightmares, and if you’re in an irradiated zone you have to don a gas mask and keep a wary eye on your in-game watch – stray into the red, and you’re dead.

It all adds to a terrific feeling of immersion, and the story being set on the other side of the Iron Curtain really makes it feel fresh – this game has sleeper hit written all over it.

Though the preview code was a little patchy at times, with some of the animation a little rough and the lack of a melee button being particularly prominent (try switching to your knife when being mauled by mutated horrors – not fun 4A, not fun at all) the game seemed pretty solid, and the sound was a particular selling point – all moans and atmospheric music, which really heightens the experience.

The author, Dmitry, was also at the press gig and was quick to talk the assembled acolytes through his inspiration for the game: As a small boy he rode the Metro every day for ten years, and knew it backwards.

When hearing of the system’s hermetic seals and thick armour he was inspired to start his book, which he described as “my own personal journey”.

In it he created a world full of fear, where different underground stations have splintered and become feral: Nazis, Stalinists, traders and normal people all thrown into a mixing pot – a scene rife for movie adaptation, or in this case, a game.

He said: “Of course this is just fiction. But with the world entering a new cold war of sorts, with Iran and Israel and Palestine at each other’s throats, with rising global temperatures and global warming. Who knows? Maybe I’m closer to the truth.”

For all our sakes, let’s hope not.

Metro 2033 is scheduled for release on March 19.

Expected for release towards the end of the year, Fable 3 will be set 50 years after it’s predecessor and will see the gamer becoming the ruler of Albion.

MAG - Playstation 3

Following on from the SOCOM series, Zipper have come up with something a little different this time round.

MAG (or Massive Action Game as it was originally known), was promised to feature epic battles of up to 256 players, blowing the hell out of each other all at one go. So the big question was, does it deliver on its ambitious promises?

It has got to be said that Zipper Interactive have done quite an impressive job with getting MAG to work well, especially when you consider that the servers are coping with up to 256 players at a time. Unlike other battle games out there there’s no lag or delay, and everything runs rather smoothly which begs the question what are other games doing wrong?

Well, with this case it could be a possibility of the corners cut to enable MAG to run so smoothly.

Graphically, the game is not particularly breathtaking. That’s not to say it’s bad, but it’s just not that great either.

There is a nice amount of detail within the vast environments, but corners have obviously been cut on some of the more demanding aspects of its visual presentation.

Animation can be a little stiff at times and the some of the texturing can look a little clumsy – this is quite apparent when witnessing explosions through a sniper scope. Clipping appears quite regularly and can at times be a little distracting.

As far as the plot goes, it’s all a little vague.

The game is set in the year 2025, in a globalized world where a nation’s individual military services are no longer permitted to leave their own borders.

An attempt to provide world peace is reached through an agreement called the “Millennium Accord”. As a result, this leads to the rise of independent private military companies offering their services. From here, the 3 remaining factions try to undercut each and off each other in a conflict known as “The Shadow War”

The 3 factions consist of S.V.E.R, Raven Industries and Valor Company.

Each one has their own backstory, depending on where in the world they are from and how they came together, with Zipper Interactive going even further into the world by publishing 3 viral websites (sver-services.com/, www.raven-gmbh.de/ and www.valor-co.com/)

It’s just a shame the game itself doesn’t do a great job in telling you what on earth is going on. As far as you’re concerned there’s a war on – grab a gun and go fight.

If you are an addict of the Call of Duty series, you will probably find the controls a little complicated at first as everything is a bit back to front.

Whoever decided that the crouch action should be assigned to the triangle button obviously has a sense of humour, and the fact that you have to sift through you weaponry with both L2 and R2 further exacerbates the handling of the game.

When you want to throw a grenade it can take up to 3 clicks to get to the desired inventory menu, by which point you could be dead.

MAG is essentially a team game and when everyone in your squad is working towards the same objective that’s when it works best.

Unfortunately it can be quite hard to find another 100-odd individual players who all want to play on your side of the court.

Many will wander off to explore the maps, and who can blame them? they are massive after all – but as a result the game suffers, and when your team refuse play as a team they begin to lose and it gets boring, quite fast.

Putting aside the training mode, there are four different online game modes in total.

Suppression is a basic deathmatch consisting of 64 players, with 32 per team. Set out as a training exercise, all players are from the same faction.

Sabotage is a 64-player match that involves two factions, with one team attacking outposts A and B, while the team defends them. Once the attacking side acquired both points they must plant a bomb at a third.

Acquisition consists of 128 players, with one team attempting to steal two prototype enemy vehicles, along with attempting to destroy an enemy bunker.

Domination is the most ambitious of the four modes, consisting of 256 players, when there are 8 command points that must be taken.

One unique feature of the game is the ability to command your squad. This is enabled once you reach Level 15. However, it is only given to you if you’re the highest level player and you display an interest in undertaking it.

Unfortunately the points system can feel a bit lacklustre at times. Where other multiplayer first person shooters reward you with an endless amount of choice when it comes to weaponry, MAG can sometimes feel a bit stingy.

Also it isn’t until you reach level 8 that domination is unlocked.

Another drawback is the fact that you can only have one character, so if you were to join S.V.E.R and your mate was to buy the game and join Valor Company, one of you would have to re-customise their character. Wouldn’t it just be easier if you could have multiple character files?

On the audio side of things the game is quite impressive when presented in 5.1 surround sound. While it is nothing spectacular, it does do it the job well.

The voiceovers do get a bit repetitive, however, especially when you find yourself dying quite a bit – there’s only so many times you can hear someone shout out “I can’t go on anymore” without rolling your eyes.

Ultimately MAG is a very bold step for Zipper, but I can’t help but feel the gaming experience suffers a little bit from its ambitions. Considering how much MAG prides itself on having up to 256 players online, at times it just doesn’t feel that epic, and you could be forgiven for thinking that you are playing just another online first person shooter.

Verdict: 7 out of 10

The Good
Massive maps
Immense battles
Good emphasis on team work

The Bad
Maps are automatically selected and hardly vary
Not much fun when on the losing side

• Darksiders
• Army of Two: The 40th Day
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (again)
• Bayonetta (and how much she looks like Sarah Palin)
• Jet Set Radio
• Farenheit
• Dante’s Inferno
• The upcoming DLC for Resident Evil 5
• Mass Effect 2
• Final Fantasy XIII
• God of War 3

Enjoy

Among the other topics, were:

• Assassins Creed II
• Modern Warfare 2 (and “that level”)
• Avatar
• Super Mario Brothers Wii
• Lego Rock Band
• The Saboteur
• Doom
• Bayonetta
• MAG
• Mass Effect 2
• Medal of Honour (AKA - ”Modern Warfare 3″)
• Andy and Colin’s top 10 of 2009

Among the games tried and tested were:

• God of War III
• Lost Planet 2
• MAG
• Alien vs Predator
• Assassins Creed 2
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Left 4 Dead 2
• Heavy Rain
• (new) Super Mario Brothers Wii

Full written report coming soon.

• Halo ODST (xbox 360)
• The Beatles Rock Band (Playstation 3)
• Guitar Hero 5 (Playstation 3)
• Wet (xbox 360)
• Colins Retro Rant!
  - Resident Evil: Code Veronica (Playstation 2)
• Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising (xbox 360)
• GTA: IV DLC (Xbox 360)
• Borderlands (Xbox 360)
• Uncharted 2 (Playstation 3)
• MAG (Playstation 3)
• Andy’s closing joke….