Coming Attractions: Action Adventure

The Chronicles of Riddick: Dark Athena

The first Riddick game, released in 2004, was met with widespread critical acclaim. Not least from Tom, who declared there was a "moral obligation" to at least give it a go. "Riddick deserves to mark the pivotal moment when movie games changed forever," he concluded. That went well.

The sequel was supposed to be out by the end of last year, but Starbreeze decided to spend a bit more time on it following criticism from fans. The main complaint seemed to be that while it looked jolly nice, there wasn't enough new content - hopefully they've addressed that now.

You'll get to explore the Merc-ship of the title, and face off with Captain Revas and her enslaved combat drones. Multiplayer combat will feature, too. Dark Athena is now due out this year, and it'll be available for PS3 and Xbox 360.

One more time: Just in case you missed part one of our action adventure round-up, here's that Vin Diesel breakdancing video. It's worth watching again in any case.

Dead Space

Due out this "fall" on PS3 and Xbox 360 (there's definitely a pattern emerging here), Dead Space is a new sci-fi horror adventure from Electronic Arts. You play as Isaac Clarke, an ordinary engineer who finds himself in the midst of an alien infestation.

It's being developed at Redwood Shores, the studio behind The Sims, The Godfather and Lord of the Rings. By the sounds of things, the emphasis will be on psychological trickery and atmospheric thrills rather than constant gore.

"We're all such huge fans of the horror and sci-fi genres, we wanted to create the most terrifying game we could, and keep the player on the edge of his seat the entire time," explains executive producer Glen Schofield. Jolly good.

In Valen's name: WHY WON'T SOMEONE MAKE A BABYLON 5 GAME?. Happy days.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

It's not even out yet and Mercenaries 2 has already caused controversy. The storyline is "inspired by" the current political situation in Venezuela, which doesn't sit too well with the Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign. They've even called on Bono, an investor in the development studio, to take action.

Anyway, EA is billing World in Flames as an open-world action game "featuring the latest in civilian and military technology - everything from shiny new sports cars to the future-tech satellite-guided bunker-busting mini-nuke". Expect lots of skulduggery and explosions: "If you see it, you can buy it, steal it or blow the living crap out of it."

Speaking to us last year, lead designer Scott Warner said his favourite feature of the game is "definitely online co-operative play". He added, "Being able to play with my buddy in an open-world action game is a pretty new frontier in videogaming, and I'm glad that we're trailblazing in this regard." Aren't we all. Except for the Venezuelan Solidarity Campaign.

Kristan enjoyed the first Mercenaries, describing it as "a brilliantly enjoyable all-action extravaganza of blockbuster proportions". Let's hope the sequel will turn out even better when it's released for PC, PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Shady business: As someone once wrote on the Viz letters page, we'd just like Bono to stop telling us to give money to the starving while wearing pink sunglasses that cost £500.

Alan Wake

As reader Daymare put it the other day, "Wake the f*** up, Alan, it's 2008 already." Indeed, Alan's shown little sign of stirring since his game was first announced at E3 2005, and there's still no definitive word on when he's planning to get up.

For those who've forgotten, Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller for PC and Xbox 360. It's being developed by Remedy, the studio behind the Max Payne games. The titular hero is a best-selling suspense author who moves to a small town to recover after his fiancee mysteriously disappears. Complications ensue.

Light plays an important role in the game. Enemies get their strength from shadows, so Alan must learn to use light along with conventional weapons to deck them. Driving is also integral to the gameplay.

According to lead designer Petri Järvilehto, "Intense cinematic action is something that we love to do, and Alan Wake features tense combat gameplay as well." But overall, "The game has a lot more emphasis on adventure and exploration than Max Payne did."

I'd rather Jackson: Eurogamer's favourite Alan is multi-million selling country and western singer Alan Jackson. His best song is 9/11 tribute Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning). Highlight: 'I'm just a singer of simple songs, I'm not a real political man / I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you / The difference in Iraq and Iran'.

Mafia 2

The first Mafia game sold more than two million copies around the globe, so it didn't come as much of a surprise when 2K announced a sequel was on the way. Once again driving and on-foot action is promised, and the game will be set in the mob underworld of the late '40s - early '50s.

In a press release that also includes the phrase "high octane" and the word "leveraging", 2K president Christoph Hartmann says Mafia 2 will offer "the benchmark-setting visual quality and action that you only expect to see in Hollywood movies". Judge for yourself - the trailer is now showing on Eurogamer TV.

Mafia 2 is a PC exclusive. (No it isn't - it's for 360 and PS3 as well. I apologise and have resigned.) A release date has yet to be announced.

Mob rule: The first Mafia may have sold two million copies, but Eurogamer didn't think much of it at the time.

Viking: Battle for Asgard

We're very excited about this one, mainly because it's already given us reason to write some of the worst straplines of all time (2000 brake Norse power! Don't myth out! Inspect a Norse! Total War creator developing!).

Viking: Battle for Asgard is a hack-and-slasher which sees you playing as young warrior Skarin. He's been sent by Odin to defend Midgard from the goddess Hel and her army of undead Vikings. Also there's a wolf-god in it.

"In essence, gameplay is split between preparing the ground for war and then making sure the war goes to plan," explains Tom. "A bit like Dynasty Warriors with funny hats. And dragon air-strikes." According to Quintin, "Battle For Asgard could well end up being the game a lot of people wanted out of Fable." Perhaps including Peter Molyneux.

Developer Creative Assembly certainly has an impressive pedigree, what with the Total War series under its belt. Find out how Viking: Battle for Asgard matches up when the game hits PS3 and Xbox 360 on 28th March.

Drugs and Vikings don't mix: Evidence.