StateShift

StateShift, the next game from developers Roll7, is fast, stylish and challenging. It takes the track with a more mature take on the racing genre, complete with a robust car customization system that lets players tweak their rides with various wheels, paint jobs, and even add real-world bonuses. The game includes more than 100 cars and 10 different tracks to race on.

So far, the preview build we played was a pre-alpha build that is pretty much complete. The biggest change to the game is the camera, which was shown at last year's E3. A major difference is that StateShift now allows players to take more control of the car. Players will be able to hit the X button and adjust the camera perspective. You will be able to get a better view of the road through your car's paint, and it will also let you shift the camera. And you will be able to do everything from flip the camera over and out to turn the camera around and adjust your view of the entire track. As you get better at your car, the camera will become a new focal point on the track, so you'll have to become familiar with it to get the most out of it. The main mode of play is multiplayer. In a mode where there is no traditional online mode, the match we played was actually a tutorial for the game. It allowed us to check out the maps, the objectives, and how to use the various vehicles in the game. One level had us racing over a bridge that we had to pass through, while another had us driving through a sewer and passing through the streets while trying to get from point A to point B.

After a few laps, we eventually discovered that we needed to jack a car and then steal it. Thankfully, the cops won't help much when we're doing this, but in keeping with the theme of cops and robbers, it's up to you to go in guns blazing and nail them with your dual machine guns. Our campaign mission, called Enterprise, started off with us protecting the VIP cars, who are a group of scattered VIPs that are known for being among the first to drive into the designated location and wreck. The mission was completed by performing well in a police car and avoiding being seen, while dealing with the other VIPs and picking off anyone who stands in our way.

Once inside the VIP cars, we hopped in for a race and tried to blow each car out before we realized we were being called to the racetrack in order to blow them up. To do so, we hopped into a machine gun and fired a couple of grenades at each of the enemies that were next to our car. Eventually, the mission ended.

Once we got into the VIP cars, we tried our hand at driving the car with an alternate method, by using the "passing" button to quickly move through the race. This made turning in our car in the middle of the race a challenge because the higher the gas level, the quicker the car would turn. In the meantime, we would race our vehicle through a highway in an attempt to blow up enemies who were in our way. The car was more than capable of handling itself, and we also found ourselves chucking grenades at enemies. These secondary strategies combined with the fact that you can't perform any of them at a stretch, but we found that they did make for some satisfying accidents.

Because we were now surrounded by enemy vehicles, we were able to take the time to gather intel from enemy forces to gather new information on what's going on. The doors we were using to open the doors were closed, so we were able to tear open them and take out a few more enemies before moving on to the next map. We tried out the four-player split-screen multiplayer mode on the PS2 and Xbox, but we were told that the game will have some online modes for up to four people. We also had the opportunity to play with two new weapons. The first was a "3x4" grenade launcher, which we were told will be useful for both clearing large groups of enemies. The second was a short-range rifle, which was good for taking out a couple of enemies in one quick burst. The fourth weapon was a carbine, which was great for firing off headshots that didn't hit a single foe as they fell. The final weapon we got to try out was a sniper rifle, which was a long-range rifle that we had to test out in the multiplayer mode.

One of the cooler new features in Call of Duty 2 was its environmental destruction effects. We got to see some real-time cuts in the game, and it's very much a demonstration of how well the engine can work with the physics engine. You'll see grass, water, and cars crumple over when trees and other buildings are destroyed, for example.

The environments in Call of Duty 2 are just as impressive as the original.