Sci-Fi fans have finally seen the release of the highly-anticapted MMO game Star Trek Online, and you can take a look at some trailers here, while the same site has a good preliminary review of what many have tipped to be 2010's answer to World of Warcraft.

The much-celebrated S.T.A.L.K.E.R saga reaches its third installment this week too. With a lot of improvements upon the disappointing sequel Clear Sky, it is easy to see how, maybe, they were just saving some of the best to last, as it were. Call of Pripyat is a post-apocalyptic game, set in Chernobyl's "zone of exclusion", which adds a "free play" element which allows gamers to find hidden parts of the game. Although it isn't much in the way of innovation, it is a solid first-person shooter and enjoyable to any of those who are fans of the genre.



Games to look forward to next week include the exciting prospects of Bioshock's sequel and the newest Medal of Honor, the multiplayer of which is brought to us by the makers of Battlefield: Bad Company, EA Dice! Check back soon for reviews...

One of the latest releases for the PC is Mass Effect II, an RPG we have been very excited about here at PC Gamers Blog. You can read one of the best online reviews of it here.

One of the best elements of this sequel is the fact that, if there is anything which got your goat in the last game, you can bet that it's been improved upon. Combat has been made a lot cleaner and smoother, with abilities that can be accessed without annoying pauses of the game. Overall it has become even more immersive than its prequel not only in combat but in story too. The plot continues along its bleak path, but with the hope of knowing that the sequel to end all sequels is already in mind.

Ourselves here believe, as do most online, that Mass Effect II is already game-of-the-year material. Not bad for January, roll on February, when we can expect reviews of the much-awaited Bioshock and Everquest sequels, as well as new Sins of a Solar Empire games and Making History II: The War of the World, the PC's next RTS.

The specs needed for the new Bioshock game have been revealed. Indeed, it is going to be as heavy on your processor as we all imagined, and you will need at least either an Intel Pentium 4 530 3.0GHz Processor or an AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3800+ 2.4GHz.

You can see a preview of the new Mass Effect game here, with a hands-on review of the first hour of gaming. Bear in mind, though, it is full of spoilers, and if you don't want to know what happens at the start of the game before you get your own hands on it then don't read it!



Apparently our fears that the developers were moving the Mass Effect franchise away from RPG with this sequel are unfounded, and, as all consoles have taken to doing, promotion and what seems to be their priorities have surrounded the celebration of online play. It has not, however, lost any of its RPG appeal, and will keep fans of the first game happy.

The award-winning, multi-platinum sci-fi role-playing game, Mass Effect II, is to return to the PC at the end of this month. You can read some previews here, but beware, this game is gonna need a lot of hard drive space and a memory of at least 2 GB. Another sci-fi game to watch out for before February arrives is Exodus from the Earth, a game set just before the destruction of the sun while the governments of earth plan the evacuation of the human race.

All those into both MMO games and sci-fi should look out for Star Trek online, coming to you at the start of February. You can explore the galaxy freely while defending your ships and bases, or you can just read a preview here...

The next major RTS game set for release is RUSE, a WWII strategy one apparently very in line with Command and Conquer, without the annoying "fog of war" obscuring enemy units. We will have more on this game when we get our hands on a copy.

Battlefield Bad Company II is set for release this March.

The best franchise in the genre of PC FPS war games returns to the platform after a spell on Xbox 360 and, for some reason, PS3. Having almost forgotten what it was all about, the developers have made the right decision, and it's coming back to the PC.

It will also be set for release on consoles, but we are being led to believe that the PC version will be as close to the ideals that made the old games great as possible. Realistic and immersive war simulation, where gamers are rewarded for team work and staying alive as opposed to failed James Bond-style, go-it-alone attempts (see Call of Duty), was the order of the day with Battlefield II, and we can't wait to have the open, non-linear online gameplay with the much-improved game engine. The first Bad Company had destructible environments to keep all from snipers to tanks guessing, and you can see some videos of what to expect with the sequel here.

We'll be talking a lot about this game, so let us know how excited you are about this, and whether or not you were a fan of the franchise before they defected to console...