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Buka Rolls Out More Games
Product: Buka's 2006 Lineup
Company: Buka Entertainment
Date: 05/17/2006
Avaliable On:

Russian publisher Buka Entertainment had five titles to show off at this year's E3, three of which are sequels or expansions of previous games while the other two consisted of new games.

Last year, Buka released the vehicular combat game Hard Truck Apocalypse, and now the company is coming out with an expansion pack called Rise of Clans. Along with new vehicles, locations and weapons, this package also adds multiplayer functionality to the game. Now players can take on up to 15 friends (either on a local LAN or on the Internet) in order to see who has the best skills and technology. With each kill, you earn money and that money can go towards buying new armor, weapons, engine parts and even trucks. The Rise of Clans stand-alone expansion supports both Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch battles. The story of the main game continues, only now clans have formed, forcing the player to either take sides or create his or her own clan. Look for this new installment to Hard Truck Apocalypse to come out at the end of 2006.

Pacific Storm: Allies is another expansion pack for the RTS game Pacific Storm. The previous game allowed you to control the battles on many levels. You could design the overall conflict on the top most tier, zoom in a bit and maneuver individual ships and plans and then jump into the cockpit of a fighter and take the enemy head-on. Allies allows you to do all of that and team up with other nations. In this expansion, Japan and Germany join forces, while England and Australia band together. Now players will not only be able to call upon their own troops, but also the troops of their allies. The game will also offer a new array of historically correct weapons and technologies. Pacific Storm: Allies also offers several new multiplayer experiences including acting out pre-made scenarios, all-out combat experiences and games for tactician-hounds that give you all the resources you need -- all you have to do is plan out your attack and go with it.

The Stalin Subway: Red Veil is a sequel to last year's FPS title that had you taking on an assassin trying to take out Stalin himself. In Red Veil, you play as Lena, that character's wife. Her husband has been kidnapped and possible murdered, so now she must sift through Moscow looking for clues about her husband's disappearance. Meanwhile, with Stalin's death, the nation is in turmoil as various super powers all make their play for power. Red Veil takes place in the 50's and the game provides several stunning landmarks, including an exact replica of Red Square. Red Veil will also support multiplayer Deathmatch modes over both LAN and the Internet, so players will be able to use period-specific weapons in the streets and subways of Moscow in online matches. Look for this new version of Buka's first person shooter to come out late 2006.

One of Buka's new games is the RTS game Aggression: Europe 1914. Aggression uses a graphics engine that will allow the game to push out hundreds of detailed units in action at the same time with tons of buildings and nice looking special effects. This strategy game will allow you to choose between Germany, France, Russia or England as your nation and use diplomacy, weaponry or infantry to change the outcome of the war. Using your diplomatic skills, it is possible to go through the entire game without actually engaging in a conflict, or you can advance your technology and come up with nuclear technology earlier in the war. The battlefields in Europe 1914 are highly destructable and whether you are tearing up the landscape with tanks or dropping an A-bomb on a city, the effects are very noticeable. With this game, you can rewrite the world's history starting at 1914 all the way up to 1950. Expect to see this title late in 2007.

Like Stalin Subway, DUSK-12 is a FPS that involves a government conspiracy to create super solders. But when the experiment gets out of control and becomes a super virus, the secret ops team DUSK-12 is called in to stop the infection from spreading. Throughout the first half of the game, players will have a wide variety of armaments at their disposal, but when your character gets infected and starts mutating himself -- the only thing you will be able to use to defend yourself are your growing super-human powers, and to top it off, after you get infected, both the humans and mutants will be coming after you. DUSK-12 will support multiplayer Team Deathmatch between the humans and the mutants. Up to 16 players will be allowed to participate in these fights.

We'll bring you full reviews as we get our hands on them.

J.R. Nip aka Chris Meyer

GameVortex PSIllustrated TeamPS2