Yes, again. Much to my shame I didn’t get round to trying it when I downloaded it before. Well, the new beta is rock solid and a classic in the making. You see, it’s the first multiplayer game absolutely loaded with scary movie moments. You think you’ve spotted the invisibile killer, unleash some gunfire, briefly feel relief when you see a corpse before realising it’s a beheaded squad mate and you’re next. Sometimes you’ll fire at what you thought was the Hidden only for your panicked friends to join in while the hunter sneaks round and stabs one of you in the back.

It’s one near-invisible killer with a knife and three grenades against a fully armed SWAT team, and it ain’t a fair fight. Actually, as it currently stands it can be a little too hard to win as The Hidden though that’s probably down to practice. It’s a stonking mod regardless and there are plenty of servers around. Try it, I insist - very few mods seem worth the effort these days but this one absolutely is.

Rogue Trooper is an interesting beast, and I don’t just mean because he’s blue. It generally feels really well adapted from the comic, both when it comes to the gritty setting and the unique abilities of his equipment (complete with talking personality chips from fallen comrades). Gunnar can be deployed as a sentry gun, Helm can hack terminals and project a holo decoy and you take scrap metal from dead enemies so Bagman can manufacture ammo, upgrades and health at your request. All fairly unique then, except on normal mode most of these extras prove largely pointless since you can waltz around soaking up bullets and endlessly taking easy head shots. Even so it’s still an enjoyable romp with some quality cut scenes.

Notch it up to Massacre though (unlocked after completion) and it’s a whole new game. Snipers must be fooled with the holo decoy or you’re toast and the use of suppressing fire from cover, Gunnar-as-sentry, stealth kills, laying traps using micro mines and carefully rationed ammo means suddenly the game feels wonderfully challenging. All those toys you mostly ignored the first time round become invaluable and a joy to use successfully. I rarely bother completing a game twice but something compelled me to do so here and I’m not regretting it.

Certainly pick this one up if you like a bit of third person action mixed with stealth, strategy and a good story straight from the pages of 2000 AD. In fact it’s almost good enough to make up for the dreadful (ahem) Dredd vs. Death, though sadly it barely charted. Do play it on Hard to fully enjoy it, especially if you grab the PC version which is a mere 18 quid on Play. In the mean time, I might just track down a few Rogue Trooper compilation books.

Yes, that’s really the final name for the Revolution, your local games forum is guaranteed to be slamming it right now. You’ve got to wonder if they even ran this by anyone outside of Nintendo Japan Marketing. It can mean “diminutive” in Scotland, “urine” in England and “Yes” in France. Brilliant!

Update: Oh my, it gets better. Who will be distributing Wii all over the UK? Kock.

After sleeping on it I’m still convinced they could not have picked a more ridiculous name to instantly neutralise the massively unique appeal of the console itself, Tycho seems to agree.

Even at this early stage Too Human looks exciting. Any sci-fi game borrowing from Norse mythology has my interest however they’re backing it up with some fantastic art work for starters. The screenshots show a next gen game that relies on stunning artwork, such as intricately patterned armour detail, rather than lazily applying shine and HDR to everything to hide artwork shotcomings.

Games like Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Blade 2 failed mainly because of the right stick attack system however 1up seem convinced Silicon Knights have nailed it this time. Xbox.com has a David Dyack interview that’s worth reading for more info too. Between this and Mass Effect the sci-fi geek in me is very excited about the future of the 360.

Yup, it’s another one of those “serious games”, games made to promote or investigate real world issues. It sounds like your actions in PeaceMaker have realistic knock-on consequences though which could make for a very interesting play experience.

A Palestinian suicide bomber blows up a bus, leaving the newly elected Israeli prime minister to puzzle over a response. A missile strike could ease security fears, or prompt more violence. A diplomatic approach might anger Israelis, leading to an assassination plot.

There are probably better ways to discipline your kid for skipping chores.

I love the unique concept behind this - it’s kind of a multiplayer murder mystery on a 1920’s cruise ship where you must attend to your character’s needs (e.g. food) while hunting your quarry. It’s getting a full retail release, being moved from Half Life to the Source engine, and appearing on Steam too. Here’s hoping it does well enough to support further titles from these guys. They’re in Edinburgh too, about time another creative UK studio popped up!

Finally a games company has announced that they’re using this very cool technology. The demo IGN describes involves characters falling down a sort of pit with planks sticking out while trying to grab on and stop their fall. In real time. There are presumably other applications here - models flinching naturally from being shot anywhere on their body, models flailing while being blown back by an explosion and so on.

Now this is a Collectors Edition bonus I can get behind! The miniatures are by Reaper too, home to some of the best miniature sculptors outside of Games Workshop. I’ll invariably pass on a crappy making-of DVD or extra in-game character, however cool pewter figures or other such collectible items? Easily worth shelling out extra for. (via ShackNews)

I’m sure most of these are fake, but even so, if just one of those is genuine I feel very, very sorry for that person.

It almost sounds like a sort of heroic saga of the games industryy. The cunning party defeat challenge after challenge, culminating in the legendary Earthworm Jim and almost-as-good sequel. Sadly, they parted ways, but not before making a pact to one day reunite to forge further glories. In other words, Tommy Tallarico, the wonderfully funny chaps at Planet Moon and Dave Perry (plus doubtless others) have decided to give another Earthworm Jim game a shot together. Of course, there are road blocks like buying the license off Atari, but they seem determined.

I was worried when I started reading the article but the Planet Moon guys joining in sealed the deal for me - they are one of the few teams in the industry to do consistently hilarious games, exactly what a new EWJ needs to be after the previous atrocity.

This most recent posting lull is brought to you  courtesy of i27. You’ll be pleased to hear I survived the boat race and should get back to posting after easter.