What's coming up this week (9/11/08)

I've decided to change the way I cover South African releases in this section, and instead of taking a look at each title as it's released, I'm going to do a roundup of what the upcoming week holds in the way of new Xbox 360 titles. The big AAA titles for the holiday season continue this week with the massively anticipated Gears of War 2 and the innovative Tom Clancy's Endwar.

Gears of War 2
Buy it... seriosuly, if you haven't heard of the most anticipated game of 2008, where have you been?! It's expected to improve on all the elements of the original that made it one of the biggest hits on the Xbox 360. Guns, gore and the skorge. Nuff said!

MetaCritic Score: N/A *
Gears of War 2 is available from Take 2 - R630 *

Tom Clancy's EndWar
Calling all Real-time Strategy fans, this one's for you! Finally there's a RTS that actually works well on the Xbox 360. Ubisoft has taken RTS to the next level by providing a fast and efficient way of controlling your units without the need for complicated controls. How, you ask? By voice commands of cause. Nothing beats barking commands to your soliders just like a real General. After watching the presentation at Rage 2008, as well as getting some good in-game time with the demo, I can confidently say Ubisoft has hit the nail on the head with this one. The only problem I found was the lack of tutorials on using the voice commands, but I suspect the full version will fill this gap.

Set in a World War 3 enviroment, you take on one of 3 different factions and, well, try annihilate the others. Nothing new there, but did I mention there's a Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) element? Yup, not only is there the usual single-player missions and skirmishes, there's also a MMO mode where you and thousands of others will pick a side and try sway the war in your faction's favour. Not to be missed by any RTS fan!

MetaCritic Score: N/A *
Tom Clancy's EndWar is available from Take 2 - R632 *

Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant
The Crash Bandicoot franchise has been revived once again, but it doesn't look like for the better. Although many gamers have a soft spot for the little guy, the last entry in the platforming world, Crash of the Titans, came out with mixed reviews. No specific gameplay problems were sighted for the poor reviews, but rather the implementation which lead to a repetitive and bland experience as a whole. Once again, similair views have been expressed by those who have reviewed Mind over Mutant, with many sighting a lack of innovation and no real change from the previous installments. If you are buying this game for your kids (10yrs or younger), and they haven't played any of the previous titles, they should still get a kick out of it, especially considering there's local co-op available. Otherwise, you might want to give this one a miss.

MetaCritic Score: 62 *
Crash Bandicoot: Mind over Mutant is available from Take 2 - R632 *

Have a look in the Games section, where you can browse trailers, screenshots and more information on these games and others.

* Figures were correct when published, however, please bear in mind they may change at a later date.