What gamers need these days is games able to successfully blend more genres that were clearly separated until now, and a first-person adventure game sounds exactly like that. To be more specific, we're talking about Mirror's Edge, and today I'll give you a few details about it.

First of all, it seems the Mirror's Edge release date is going to be some day of January, 2009, but I have no idea about it. Basically, Mirror's Edge release date is still a mystery, so let's check the minimum system requirements, <-125x125 Button - right->shall we?

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP SP2/Vista
Processor: Intel Pentium 4 3.0GHz or 100% compatible equivalent
Memory: 1GB RAM
Video Card: 256MB memory with Shader Model 3.0*
HDD Space: 8GB
DVD Drive: 1x DVD Drive
Soundcard: Soundcard with DirectX 9.0c compatibility
DirectX: DirectX 9.0c
Network: An online connection is required for access to Leaderboards

Even more, it seems this game would optionally support Nvidia's PhysX graphics technology, but we'll see how does that impact on its performance next month. Until then, I guess we should be happy without Mirror's Edge release date, and - if needed - upgrade our computers so we can face this challenge the right way!

"The whole art of war consists in a well-reasoned and extremely circumspect defensive, followed by rapid and audacious attack." If you don't know who said that, there's still a chance for you to fully get to the meaning of those words by taking the place of that man - Napoleon Bonaparte. Of course, I am talking about Commander - Napoleon at War, the second game in the Commander series, a game that just got updated...

Warning: if you hate turn-based strategy games, then this one is not for you, while if you're into military history and TBS battles, this is "a must," but before moving on to the details, let's go through this game's features, shall we?

- 8 campaigns starting from Napoleons assault on Austria in 1805 up to the 100 days campaign ending at Waterloo in 1815.<-180x150 Small Rectangle - right->
- Take control of Napoleon's forces or the Allied Coalition who opposed him, including Britain, Prussia, Austria and Russia.
- Huge map covering all of Europe in amazing detail
- Research many new technologies and control the focus of your nations research.
- Dynamic weather system including mud, snow, storms and more
- Trade routes and privateers
- Fortresses and siege warfare
- 12 different units types including Militia, Line Infantry, Light & Heavy Cavalry, Foot & Horse Artillery, Frigates, Ships of the Line and Pirate raiders.
- Recruit historic commanders such as Ney, Blucher, Wellington & many more.
- Multiplayer via LAN, hot seat, PBEM and Internet

According to the official press release, this update "brings the game to version 1.06 and comes with a variety of changes including some balance tweaks on unit pricing, and the economic strength of some countries. In addition, the update comes with several significant AI enhancements like an increase in AI British naval prowess, greater Russian AI effectiveness in battling France, and more."

To find out more about Commander - Napoleon at War, feel free to jump to Matrixgames' product page and read more - the 1.06 update is also available on that page.

Looking for young boobs can be something very close to an illegal activity, in fact this is something illegal in a lot of countries, as long as we're not talking about a virtual hunt for young boobs. Of course, there are a lot of rules you should obey in the virtual world, too, but don't even dare to think about something that could be labeled as "adult content," because that's something out of reach for now - we're only going to talk about an innocent(more or less, depends on how seriously you take such things) game...

...a game that has a very funny collection of bonus pictures - without having to unlock them, you get 115 pictures of characters like the one above. What can be done with them? Well, I guess you can print them, send them by email and do all those things you'd usually do with pictures, and the even more funny part is that you can zoom in on them right inside the game.

The game in question is the Xbox 360 port of Konami's arcade shooter <-250x250 Square - right->Otomedius Gorgeous! has been released in Japan, after some delays caused by the need to "eradicate bugs and improve the quality even more."

So, what is this game all about? "Otomedius Gorgeous is a shooter that allows you the exhilaration of wielding hi-tech weaponry as a pretty pilot. The game places much emphasis on network game play and comes in several modes that makes use of the Xbox360's facilities. There are two major modes, the original mode and the gorgeous mode," and I must warn you about one thing - the young boobs in this side-scrolling shooter are well dressed, so - once again - don't even dare to dream about them, because you won't get any closer than those 115 bonus pictures!

By the way, I don't think this game is worth almost $70...but who am I to judge, after all? Young boobs or not, shoot'em up!

I always complain about not having enough time for gaming, so I won't say that once again, because today I will tell you something new. When I finally find time to play a game I've been trying to reach for at least a few months, in most cases, I save screenshots from that game in a folder. It's not for any specific purpose, just to check them in a few years and say to myself "oh, my, look how was that game looking "x" years ago, on that old video card of mine." This would surely lead me into talking about those glorious Voodoo days, but I will stop here and move to the topic I have in mind: Mass Effect, Bioware's new masterpiece.

Before I tell you anything else about this game, let me give you an idea about it: I got the game, I installed it, and I started playing. Obviously, I wasn't able to finish it in a day or two, but that's not the point. I played for a few weeks, half an hour now, and hour then... if you have something better to do than gaming, you surely know how that is.

The interesting part is that I didn't manage to save any screenshot from the game, and this is something unique, because I don't save any screenshots from those games that are so bad, that the only way for them to end up is in the garbage bin, without any second thoughts about selling them to somebody else.

This time, Mass Effect managed to make me involved so much in the story, that saving screenshots was exactly the last thing in my mind. But, what is this all about, after all?

The answer is pretty simple - take Neverwinter Nights, another amazing game from Bioware, and place that kind of story in the Star Trek era. What you get is a Sci-Fi RPG with a very well written story, and so many paths to take, that if you won't finish the game at least 3-4 times, then I am sure you didn't manage to finish it at least once.

In year 2183, you will assume Commander Shepard's role, and I find it rather funny that, despite the fact you can choose your surname and gender, everyone will simply call you "Shepard," but I am sure this was a compromise to keep voice acting as detailed as possible - and I must confess once again that the story and voice acting are way above average, especially the story.

What kind of story? Well, since I mentioned Neverwinter Nights a bit earlier, it's enough to say it's "that kind of story," but if you never played that game, let me put it this way - you have a "very simple" task - save the entire known Universe, and nothing more.

To do that, you will end up being above the law, and sometimes having to disobey your superiors' orders, but as long as everything ends well... you should enjoy the story, exploring planets in your Mako vehicle and shoot bad guys. Sometimes, intimidating people(and other species) you get to talk with can be even more fun than blowing their heads off, but that's for you to discover.

As most recent games, Mass Effect requires at least 1 GB of memory on Windows XP, and 2 GB on Vista, but who says "the more, the better," is absolutely right. Disk space occupied goes a bit above 12 GB, and if you have at least a NVIDIA GeForce 6 series or an ATI 1300XT video card, everything should work well, but...once again, "the higher, the better" goes into effect. Enough to say the game ran excellent on my AMD dual core CPU with 2 GB of memory and my "oldie but goldie" ATI X1950 Pro video card.

I guess I didn't say much about the game, after all, don't you think? Well, you already know why - Mass Effect is more than just a game, it's an adventure that will draw you inside each time you click the icon on your desktop(well, that happens if you're a PC gamer, since Xbox 360 ones can also get Mass Effect, although the PC version is a bit more advanced from some points of view), and all the world around you will fade away, but if you really want to know more, here's something...

For further reading:

- Testfreaks
- cnet
- Amazon
- Gamespot

My heart is broken, but I have to do this. The world needs to know the truth about Need for Speed: Undercover, and that's what I am going to give you - the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, but first of all, let's take a look into my Need for Speed-related past, shall we?

When I saw the original Need for Speed, around 1995-1996, if I recall it well, I was simply stunned. It was love at first sight, and despite the fact Need for Speed II got away from the impressive realism of the first game in the series, I spent countless hours playing split screen matches with a friend of mine.

Although Need for Speed III and IV, subtitled Hot Pursuit and High Stakes, came with various new things, the big step - and the apex reached by the Need for Speed franchise was Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, released almost a decade ago, in 2000. Since this is not today's topic, I will only say this: I loved it from first second, I love it, and I will always love that game!

Next, came along the beginning of the end - Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2, saved by the presence of a BMW in the car list(I loved that car). After that, the tuning madness started with Need for Speed: Underground, and old fans started to wait. The wait for a real Need for Speed game, and we're still waiting now, in 2008, after 12 games in the series, including Need for Speed: Undercover...

..but let's leave the past where it belongs now, and move on to what you've been waiting for, the one and only PlayerzBlog...

Need for Speed: Undercover PC Review

Just look at this - Need for Speed: Undercover is available for an amazing range of platforms, probably more than the cars available in the first Need for Speed game: PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, Wii, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation Portable, iPod Touch, iPhone, N-Gage 2.0! Anyway, that doesn't necessarily make it better, it only gives it better chances to be purchased and played by more people, and that's all. These being said, let's check the plot, graphics, gameplay, and the amazing things I discovered in the time I spent with this game...

Need for Speed: Undercover - The Plot

Some people enjoyed ProStreet simply because that game didn't have any silly plot, but this time things have changed - you're UNDERCOVER! Yeah, right, just think about this - you're a cop, and you have to infiltrate the street racing gangs in Tri-City, but once you're inside the first gang...you have to "take out" your team mates, because "you don't have to raise suspicions." I don't know exactly where did they see this, but I missed that movie where the cop infiltrates a gang and starts killing all members, just to avoid being uncovered!

Anyway, if you think the above sucks, think once again - did you see "The Transporter?" Watch it if you have the chance, it's a great action movie, and I am sure those into Need for Speed: Undercover also saw it, since you will end up facing some missions from a mysterious customer, asking you to deliver some packages here and there.

OK, "The Transporter" is one thing, but what about "Gone in Sixty Seconds?" Yeah, I know, the blonde Angelina Jolie is totally smokin' in there, but think about the plot of that movie, and the part of the game here where you have to steal "six cars within 48 hours." Expensive exotics, of course. Nothing in common, right? Suuuuure...

The people involved in those useless movie scenes intended to keep you connected to the "story" include international movie star Maggie Q, as detective Chase Linh, your hot high heels contact, American television actor David Rees Snell(the big, bad wolf) and Christina Milian, as Carmen Mendez, a hot chick that you get to race a few times and even save her from the bad guys.

All in all, the plot and those cutscenes are nothing more but money and time diverted from things that really matter, like graphics and gameplay, as we're going to see right away...

Need for Speed: Undercover - The Graphics

"Look, mom, I discovered a new Pixel Shader function, it's called Blurrrrr!," said the little programmer, and its poor drawings, once animated, started to look better... that's exactly what happens in Need for Speed: Undercover.

The environment lacks detail, colors lack any trace of life, and cars are EXTREMELY UGLY, as you can see in the screenshots around here - those in ProStreet were done much better, and I am not the only one to say this. After enabling 6X AA, the cars still have jagged edges, which is absolutely incredible!

Since I ran the game using an older Radeon X1950 Pro video card, I could say that performance was decent, although I was amazed to find that, after enabling antialiasing and anisotropic filtering, my framerate increased. Well, that's not the only unbelievable part of Need for Speed: Undercover, but we'll talk about unbelievable stuff in the game a bit later...

For now, just let me conclude that the graphics are outdated and ugly. Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 looked better, honestly! I think "disaster" is best word to describe Undercover's graphics, but wait and see what's next...

Need for Speed: Undercover - The Gameplay

In Undercover, you start off with a highway chase, and once you evade the cops, a boring introductory cutscene tries to tell you more about what's going to happen. In fact, it tells nothing, because you'll basically play around a lot of races in the different game modes available, and sometimes receive "special missions," most of them without any introductory cutscene.

When talking about game modes, it's not my pleasure to tell you that the Drift and Drag races are gone, leaving us only with Circuit, Sprint, Highway Battle(similar to "Canyon Duel" from Need for Speed: Carbon, only that this time you're on a highway with heavy traffic), Cost to State and Evade, two modes where you should do some damage and evade cops, or simply evade.

Last part worth being mentioned when talking about gameplay is that your driver gains levels, these levels giving you various (random) skill bonuses, and unlocking new cars and parts. Basically, you get to play a lot of repetitive races, and it all gets boring pretty quick, if you're not into wasting time tuning your car and posting photos online... but let's get to the really amazing parts of the game - you'll love them, but fiiirst...

...here's what PC gamers who will dare to buy and play Need for Speed: Undercover are losing: Criminal Scramble (Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable only) and Chase Down (PlayStation Portable only) are two game modes not available
for PC users, allowing you to play as the cop, chase and bust criminals.

Need for Speed: Undercover - The Incredible Stories

I could have named this section "bugs," "lamest parts of a silly game," or something similar, but let's leave it this way. If I could rename this game, I would call it Need for Speed: Unreal, and here's why...

First story - I just stole a Bugatti Veyron - the fastest production car on Earth, as we know it. The cops are somewhere behind me, and I am cruising on the highway at 361km/h. Officially, this car could go faster, but in the game, it stops here. So far, so good, but hear this - suddenly, two police SUVs overtake me with over 400km/h, and since they were a few hundred meters behind only second ago...probably some F-16 plane was pushing them, I have no idea!

Second incredible story, although it happened more than once. I am cruisin', and suddenly I see a car being lifted a few meters in the air, and thrown away. Once, it happened with a bus! Poltergeist?!?

Needless to say, damage is as "realistic" as usual - after losing my wing, the car still remains in control at over 300 km/h, and once you see your Porsche taking 90 degrees turns at 250 km/h, there's only one thing remaining for you to do, but I'll keep that on hold for now.

One more, then I'll go... what about being busted? I know, it's not a pleasant situation, but take a closer look at the whole scene. Did you get it? OK, let me tell you about it...

I am being chased by the cops. It all happens on the highway. I manage to go through a few Pursuit Breakers and take down some of them, but they finally get me. On the highway, in the sun. Then, I get a CGI cutscene, with troopers jumping on me...in a parking lot! And when you think this happens in the 12th installment of a notorious racing game, all you want to do is draw...

Need for Speed: Undercover - The Conclusion

I guess someone will be glad to receive my copy of the game as a gift. Unfortunately, my hamster can't use a computer. Hmmm...and I think he would also find his wheel more interesting than EA's disaster... ehem, "game."

If I had to award some scores, here's what I would gladly award to Need for Speed: Undercover these -

Story: 0/10
Graphics: 2/10
Sound: 4/10
Gameplay: 2/10
Originality: 0/10
Tilt Factor: 5/10
Overall: 2/10

The soundtrack, pretty good, as usual, the wide range of cars and parts, as well as those BMWs I really enjoyed seeing included can't save Need for Speed: Undercover from being nothing more than an abysmal title. I am sure that its name will help it sell too many copies once again, when compared to the fun provided for your money, but let's hope this will happen for the last time.

Not even Jesus can save Need for Speed: Undercover, and the only thing remaining to be done I mentioned a bit earlier is this - go to Control Panel, enter Add/Remove Programs, and uninstall it. Take the DVD carefully, order some gift packaging, and send it to your worst enemy... but don't forget to drop a comment below and share with the rest of us your opinion about this so-called "game."