RISK: Factions includes a campaign mode, featuring five separate missions in which you play as each of the various factions in the game – the Humans, the Cats, the Robots, the Zombies, and the Yeti – each faction with a typically humourous leader intended to portray the faction. The differences between the factions is purely cosmetic, however this makes the battle screen more entertaining, with each side having different types of units shown, with different attacks, and even different styles of dice to add the the humour.

However, the campaign is very short, with only five missions. Also, each mission is just a vanilla game of Risk, as there is no real abnormal objective to accomplish. Thus, you will be forced into custom games or Xbox Live matches fairly quickly.

Custom games, much to the word, can be played in whatever way you want – you pick the map, number of players, and style of gameplay including the new 2008 style rules with objectives, cities, and capitals; or a good old-fashioned take over the entire world game that we all loved to play but hated losing as a child. Classic Risk is also included to play if you can’t bear to embrace the recent changes in the game.

The one major downside to the game is also the main gameplay element behind it – the luck of the dice rolls. When the dice are working against you, the game can get very annoying very quickly, be it losing seven armies to a single army on defense with the AI, to rolling four 1′s when on attack. The AI can also be quite annoying, almost always taking the tactic of dumping their entire draft into a single territory, and steamrolling right through you – but also at times simply engaging in a single attack to take a single territory, then backing off despite having the large unit advantage.

In general, RISK: Factions is a good game to pick up on the Xbox Live Arcade if you are a traditional gaming fan. It brings the game into a more accessible way with the ability to play with others around the world easily, plus the visuals really help offset the fact you don’t have a big giant game board and tons of tiny little plastic pieces in front of you.

Welcoming today’s announcement, Taoiseach Brian Cowen TD said, “EA is the global leader in interactive entertainment and a very important addition to the thriving games industry in Ireland.”

“The new Irish location for BioWare will help us get closer to our fans in Europe,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President, EA and Group General Manager, BioWare. “Galway gives us the right mix of solid technology infrastructure and international recruitment opportunities as we continue to focus on bringing the highest quality gaming experiences to market.”

Barry O’Leary, CEO of IDA Ireland said, “EA joins a vibrant digital media sector and is a key endorsement of the skills and expertise available in Ireland for this sector.”

Not only is this a huge boost to the local and national economy, it signals Ireland as a good location for other game companies. Currently we have Activision, Havok, Intel, Vivendi and a few others. This is a good stepping stone, as we’ve now got education resources (Trinity and DIT both offer Masters’ degree’s in game development) to churn out relevant graduates to tackle games.

No plastic peripherals, absurd pricetag or has-been gameplay is to be found here. No, simple, clever and well-rounded is the best way to describe the relatively new EA franchise. And here is the box you’ll be staring at when you choose this over the Activision stable-mate:

360 and PS3 art. I'm not sure why they're both here, given it's the same.

An inferno of Dante's

In a day when news has been so slow it’s like Dublin rush-hour traffic, I can only find one piece of information worthy of posting. And it has nothing to do with us European dirtbag sex addict junkies.

In Americaw, they have this huge game once a year called the “Superbowl”, which allegedly is the most watched sporting event in the country. Making it even bigger then Wrestlemania. Well, one thing we Europeans do enjoy are the insanely expensive ad spots that go on during the Superbowl, and often become more famous then the winners of the game itself.

Never before has an ad spot in this segment of television been taken by a gaming company, despite rumours last year that Sony would use a spot to advertise Killzone 2. This year, though, EA have decided to splash out $3 million in their budget to promo a 30 second clip of Dante’s Inferno, with the aim of garnishing interest from people far and wide that will recognise the games name, but may otherwise not bother to go out and buy the title.

EA president Frank Gibeau said; “Even within the spectrum of live sports events, the Super Bowl stands apart, almost as a national holiday. The Super Bowl is a bull’s-eye in terms of cross-over to our core demographic and the reach is outstanding. Not only does it draw 100 million viewers, but most people watch the Super Bowl live, a rarity in the world of DVRs. While digital outreach to Facebook, Twitter, and online bloggers is a core part of our marketing strategy, we felt that advertising during the Super Bowl is an excellent way to introduce this new IP to a massive cross-section of people who are likely already familiar with the dark and twisted ‘Divine Comedy.’”

It will certainly be interesting to see if this heralds a new era where big game adverts and campaigns become as widely known and populous as cinema release campaigns. It does feel like a little step towards game publishers “growing up” and stepping into the big leagues, if you will pardon the pun.

Glorious

Anyone who’s my friend on PSN will be aware that, of late, I’ve been playing a fair amount of FIFA 2010. I spend a lot of time in Manager Mode, managing Bayern Munich to various league glories. 5 seasons in and I’m a 5-star rated manager with an unstoppable team, only losing two games last season, where for the second time in a row, we did the treble (domestic league & cup as well as ECC glory). I signed a few players. Park and O’Shea from United, Fucile from Porto, Taiwo from Marseille, as well as one or two others here and there.

Last season I invested in a new striker to go alongside Gomez because Olic was due to retire the next season. So, having won loads of trophies and kept costs down I went mad and bought Ibrahimovic from Barca. Sure, people don’t like him and think he’s over-rated, but in the game of FIFA, his stats do the talking. Fact is I can run him up and down the pitch and score from miles away.

He’s expensive, but I could afford him. No issues with wages or club budget. I had plenty left over to possibly buy Xavi next season to cement the midfield as well as get Neuer from Schalke for the goal. Ultimate team! But no, something’s wrong. All last season my manager mode said I was sitting on a massive deficit of about 2 billion in the club and minus 300 grand in the weekly wages, despite consistent wins and bonuses from sponsors. I ignored it, hoping this would be resolved when we won some trophies. Which happened. We did the treble.

This man has wrecked my team!

The club deficit stayed and the wages deficit jumped to minus 800,000! Normally, if you were in such dire straights, you’d sell players. So I decided to do just that before the board sacked me. I couldn’t. The minus figure meant the game thought I couldn’t afford to re-negotiate with players’ contracts. On top of that, the board was telling me to buy players and improve the club grounds with the money I had. Something was awry…

A quick google search returned some amazing stats. On the official forums, EA have been given a list of about 68 bugs in the manager mode. 4 have been fixed since release late last year. No new patches and EA have even suggested that they won’t fix it.

This is a shocking glitch which entirely breaks manager mode. It’s unplayable. Sure I can play matches, but half of the point of manager mode is to be able to trade players and deal with the business-side of football. All of this is now impossible. I’m nowhere near alone either as various threads on EA’s own forums as well as FIFA fan forums have racked up huge numbers of complaints. Last year prior to patches EA staff were on the system boasting the fixes. Since the patch in October, the staff haven’t said a word. Customer service, eh?

Well, to help you through this ridiculous time of year, why not buy Battlefield 1943, one of the best shooters of 2009. The game is going for a mere 600 xbox live points, so there’s no excuses anymore.

Boot up, soldier!

Well, it is next week. Before Thursday. Which means that this is the big blow out end of year Christmas present thing for PSNers.

Special Offers

(Until the 7th of January)

• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue (was – £19.99/€29.99 now – £14.99/€19.99)
• Burn Zombie Burn! (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
• Bomberman Ultra (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
• Battlefield 1943 (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £6.29/€7.99)
• Red Alert 3: Commander’s Challenge (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £5.19/€6.49)
• High Velocity Bowling (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
• Lemmings (was – £3.99/€7.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
• 3 on 3 NHL Arcade (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
• Burnout Paradise (was – £24.99/€29.99 now – £13.99/€17.99)
• Burnout Paradise – Big Surf Bundle (was – £27.99/€34.99 now – £19.99/€24.99)
• Fight Night Round 4 – Champions Pack (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Skate 2 – Maloof Money Cup Pack (was – £1.59/€1.99 now – £1.19/€1.49)
• Skate 2 – Time is Money Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Skate 2 – Filmer Pack (was – £4.79/€5.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
• Skate 2 – Dyrdek’s Fantasy Plaza Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Skate 2 – San Van Classic Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Space – Scorpion Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Space – Obsidian Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Space – Military Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Space – Tank Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• The Godfather 2 – The Corleone Bundle (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)
• Burnout Dominator (PSP) (was – £17.99/€24.99 now – £11.99/€19.99)
• Burnout Legends (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
• Def Jam Fight for New York: The Takeover (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• EA Replay (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Crash Team Racing (PSone Classic) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Kula World (PSone Classic) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)

Permanent Price Reductions

• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords ROTPL (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Puzzle Quest Galactix (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Texas Cheat’em Poker (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• The Cube (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Head Fred (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Practical IQ (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)
• Super Pocket Tennis (PSP) (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)

Downloadable Games

• Blue Toad Murder Files™ Episode 1 (£6.29/€7.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: Not available in Australia and New Zealand

• Blue Toad Murder Files™ Bundle (Episodes 1 & 2) (£9.99/€12.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: Not available in Australia and New Zealand

• Braid (£7.99/€9.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Belgium, Netherlands and Russia

Trial and Unlock Games

• Star Trek D-A-C (£6.29/€7.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: Not available in Belgium, Netherlands, Portugal and Russian Federation

Demos (free)

• Army Of Two: The 40th Day Demo Rating: PEGI 16

Availability: Not available in Germany, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates

• Gran Turismo® 5 Time Trial Challenge Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Only available in Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Russian federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates.

• GT Academy 2010 Time Trial Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Only available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom.

minis (emulated for PS3/PSP)

• Pachisi (£2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Not available in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain and Switzerland.

• Route 66 (£3.49/€3.95) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Not available in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain and Switzerland.

The following previously released minis are now compatible with PS3:

• Alien Havoc
• Beam ‘Em Up
• Blast Off
• Bloons
• Brainpipe
• Breakquest
• Bubble Trubble
• Circles, Circles, Circles
• D-Cube Planet
• Dracula – Undead Awakening
• Dynogems
• Echoes
• Fieldrunners
• Fortix
• Funky Punch
• Heracles Chariot Racing
• Hero Of Sparta
• Kahoots
• Let’s Golf
• Mahjongg Artifacts: Chapter 2
• Pinball Dreams
• Pinball Fantasies
• Puzzle Scape Mini
• Red Bull X-Fighters
• Spot The Differences!
• Stand O’ Food
• Sudoku
• Telegraph Crosswords
• Vempire
• Yetisports Pengu Throw
• Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam
• Zombie Tycoon

Add-On Game Content

• Blue Toad Murder Files™ Episode 2 (£6.29/€7.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: Not available in Australia and New Zealand

• Brutal Legend – Hammer of Infinite Fate Pack (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: All locales

• NBA Live 10 – Holiday Shoe Update (Free) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

• PAIN – Kato-San Character (Free)
• Red Jimmy Character (£0.79/€0.99)

Rating: PEGI 16
Availability: All locales

• Buzz! – US Sports Quiz (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Only available in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and United Kingdom

• EyePet – Lucky Dip Styling Pack 9 (free) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

• Rock Band
  • Christian’s Inferno by Green Day(£0.99/€1.49)
  • Last Of The American Girls by Green Day (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Viva La Gloria by Green Day (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Green Day Pack 02 (includes the three tracks above) (£2.49/€3.99)
  • Gives You Hell by All-American Rejects (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Kings And Queens by 30 Seconds To Mars (£0.99/€1.49)
  • This Is War by 30 Seconds To Mars (£0.99/€1.49)

Rating: PEGI 12
Availability: Not available in Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and UAE

• Rock Band: The Beatles
  • Girl (£0.99/€1.49)
  • In My Life (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Michelle (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Nowhere Man (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Run For Your Life (£0.99/€1.49)
  • The Word (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Think For Yourself (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Wait (£0.99/€1.49)
  • What Goes On (£0.99/€1.49)
  • You Won’t See Me (£0.99/€1.49)
  • Rubber Soul (Album) (£9.19/€11.25)

Rating: PEGI 12
Availability: Not available in Czech Republic, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and UAE

• Guitar Hero 5
  • Cut Your Hair By Pavement (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Hi-Speed Soul By Nada Surf (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Sister Jack by Spoon (£1.59/€1.99)
  • Indie Rock Track Pack (includes the three tracks above) (£4.39/€5.49)

Rating: PEGI 12
Availability: Not available in Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and United Arab Emirates

Applications

• SingStar – Media Viewer (Free) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

Videos (free)

• Aliens vs Predator Alien Reveal Trailer
• Aliens vs Predator Marine Reveal Trailer
• Assassin’s Creed 2 Short Movie 02
• Assassin’s Creed 2 Short Movie 03
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Limited Edition Trailer
• Blue Toad Murder Files Launch Trailer
• Blue Toad Murder Files Teaser Trailer 2
• Dante’s Inferno Heresy Trailer
• Inferno Pool Endurance Trailer
• Inferno Pool Nominations Trailer
• Inferno Pool Skill Shots Trailer
• Inferno Pool Swerve Tutorial
• Polar Panic Features Trailer
• Polar Panic Gameplay Trailer
• Hustle Kings Trailer
• PixelJunk Shooter Trailer
• Ratchet & Clank: A Crack in Time Time Trailer
• Just Cause 2 No Ordinary Mission Trailer
• Just Cause 2 The Grapple Mini Documentary
• R.U.S.E. Pump Fake Strategy Trailer

Themes (free)

• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Theme
• Digger Theme

Wallpapers (free)

• Dante’s Inferno Heresy Wallpaper

PlayStation Store via PSP and Media Go

Special Offers (also available via the PS3 store)

(Until the 7th of January)

• Burnout Dominator (PSP) (was – £17.99/€24.99 now – £11.99/€19.99)
• Burnout Legends (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
• Def Jam Fight for New York: The Takeover (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• EA Replay (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
• Crash Team Racing (PSone Classic) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Kula World (PSone Classic) (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)

Permanent Price Reductions (also available on the PS3 store)

• The Cube (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Dead Head Fred (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Practical IQ (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
• Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)
• Super Pocket Tennis (PSP) (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)

Downloadable Games (also available via the PS3 store)

• Buzz! Quiz World (£16.99/€26.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

• The Sims 2 (£15.99/€19.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All locales

• Warriors Orochi 2 (£23.99/€29.99)Rating: PEGI 16

Availability: All locales

• MAWASKES (£15.99/€19.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All locales

Demo (also available via the PS3 store)

• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker Rating: PEGI 16

Availability: Not available in Germany

minis (also available via the PS3 store)

• Pachisi (£2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Not available in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain and Switzerland.

• Route 66 (£3.49/€3.95) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: Not available in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Russian Federation, Spain and Switzerland.

EA are also having a sale with the following titles:

Battlefield 1943 (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £6.29/€7.99)
Red Alert 3: Commander’s Challenge (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £5.19/€6.49)
3 on 3 NHL Arcade (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
Burnout Paradise (was – £24.99/€29.99 now – £13.99/€17.99)
Burnout Paradise – Big Surf Bundle (was – £27.99/€34.99 now – £19.99/€24.99)
Fight Night Round 4 – Champions Pack (was – £3.99/€4.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Skate 2 – Maloof Money Cup Pack (was – £1.59/€1.99 now – £1.19/€1.49)
Skate 2 – Time is Money Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Skate 2 – Filmer Pack (was – £4.79/€5.99 now – £3.19/€3.99)
Skate 2 – Dyrdek’s Fantasy Plaza Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Skate 2 – San Van Classic Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Dead Space – Scorpion Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Dead Space – Obsidian Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Dead Space – Military Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Dead Space – Tank Pack (was – £3.19/€3.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
The Godfather 2 – The Corleone Bundle (was – £7.99/€9.99 now – £4.79/€5.99)
Burnout Dominator (PSP) (was – £17.99/€24.99 now – £11.99/€19.99)
Burnout Legends (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
Def Jam Fight for New York: The Takeover (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
EA Replay (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)

Enjoy

Slick graphics on PC were not replicated on PS1

Published by EA for PC and later PlayStation (and now available on PS3 & PSP via PSN Store) this was a brilliant management sim game that had a dark sense of humour, poking fun at diseased and dying patients of various sized hospitals as you progressed through.

Progression meant taking management of bigger hospitals, allowing you to build more wards, diagnosis and surgery rooms as well as specialist areas for newly discovered diseases. You could build a research room to discover methods of curing new diseases, allowing you to accept such patients, and earn more money.

Every level starts empty, allowing you to design your hallways, hire staff and build equipment. Your staff range from the usual doctors and nurses with varying levels of ability (surgeons, consultants, etc.) and personality traits (smelly, nice, generous) as well as handyman staff and receptionists. Of course, there abilities and personalities affected how much they had to be paid. Which was fine for the most part, but if you’re stuck and need a surgeon, sometimes you just have to settle for that smelly, inept & rude one!

Bloaty Head, Slack Tongue, Fractured Bones, Serious Radiation, Hairyitis, Baldnes, Heaped Piles, Uncommon Cold and The Squits were just a few of the diseases that would pass through your halls. Some requiring very simple diagnosis and some pharmacy treatment while others required a go on special diagnosis machinery, that your handyman would have to keep in tip-top shape.

Often the game threw out a curve-ball giving local emergencies that require a lot of patients to be seen quick, VIP inspections and natural disasters like earthquakes, just to keep your management skills challenged.

The last PC patch allowed multi-player options where two to four gamers could compete to create the best hospital, or two could pit themselves against two AI hospitals. Nothing as exciting as Quake or Unreal Tournament, but still about as good as sim management games are going to get online.

Queues could build up waiting for badly managed hospitals

This was one of my favourite games, recently revived by the PS3/PSP port via PSN as well as an amazing re-building of the game engine from the ground up by Corsix-TH this year. Given it’s a re-build with new code, it’s not necessarily an illegal download, unless of course EA somehow take issue with the project.

You’re committing a crime if you don’t enjoy this game after playing it. My poor, deluded girlfriend believes a resurgence is due to that abomination FarmVille on Facebook. But she clearly doesn’t understand the difference between genius management sim shrouded in dark, dark comedic values and a cheap flash game set up to shill money from kids.

Looks pretty good for an iPhone

…except that it’s an isometric game, rather then first person.

Either way, looks interesting, as the screenshots show.

Familiar scenes abound!

EA’s world war II shooter Medal of Honour has been a staple for years, a shite one, but a staple none the less. Never as good as Call of Duty, it did try it’s best but the last two offerings, Airborne and Allied Assault did nothing to establish the series as a AAA franchise with hardcore Call of Duty 2 gamers.

Beardie makes bikes on Discovery Channel whilst not out shooting Jihadists

Well, que a huge re-do as EA’s LA studios in conjunction with the mighty DICE (Battlefield, Mirrors Edge) handling online duties.

The game stars beardie (my given name to him), “a relatively unknown entity directly under the National Command Authority who takes on missions no one else can handle,” according to EA’s press release. “The new Medal of Honor will give gamers a chance to step into the boots of these warriors and apply their unique skill sets to a new enemy in the most unforgiving and hostile battlefield conditions of present day Afghanistan.”

Sounds just like Mario.

A trailer will land December 12th via Spike TV in America, and undoubtedly will plague many a YouTube account minutes later. The game will not see a release until late 2010, though, most likely competing with a Treyarch-developed iteration of Call of Duty.

Given EA’s recent reshuffle of game franchises and actual care put into r&d, I do rate this idea quite highly. Using the name “Medal of Honour” gives it a nasty badge, but it is a known quantity for the average gamer in their local stores, so it’s understandable why EA would choose the name (especially considering new franchises like Mirrors Edge didn’t fare nearly as well as they should have). The only disconcerting part is putting it in a real-world setting (today’s announcement from Obama to send 30K more troops there doesn’t help) rather then an over-the-top Michael Bay one as well as having its star look nothing like a traditional trooper, instead opting for the “super hero” army man approach – or so it seems.

Check back for more whenever we have it.