Aliens

Armageddon Empires has a story set in the future and gameplay set in the past. Imagine Magic: The Gathering crunched with Hex-based strategy and based in post-Heinlein sci-fi, with a dash of Fallout for garnish. Things are slow and deep, and that's how they're meant to be. Resources are balanced against dice rolls, moves are carefully allotted, armies are assembled based on complementary numbers and specials, saves are made frequently. Even down to the individual attack, you make judgments with the prudence of a wargamer while hedging with the reckless tact of a card gamer. Only the hardcore need apply.

Devastro is, at its core, a level-based top-down shooter in which you control a squad of soldiers destroying ETs and blowing up their UFOs. Your soldiers level-up during play (in RPG fashion, and you may find yourself replaying a level in order to avoid the death of a character you've worked to upgrade); main weapons are guns and grenades, though you get to control some cool vehicles in later levels.

The combat is rarely as intense as in frenetic overhead shooters like Crimsonland or RIP, but Devastro has something those games lack: actual humor. It seems the Army isn't too keen on acknowledging the existence of UFOs, though it understands the importance of wiping out the alien invaders. The story is carried through a series of comic-book-like cut scenes at various points in the game, and is amusing enough to keep you engaged and eager to wipe out those evil enemy saucers Sir! That don't exist. Yes Sir! Ready for deniable action Sir!

Stoked Rider is a snowboarding game with realistic physics (using Ageia's PhysX engine)--including fluid simulation and avalanches. You roam over a huge space--64 square kilometers of procedurally-created Alaskan moutains. No ski slopes, in other words--just you and the mountain.

Just a few years ago, you would not have been surprised to see a game like this getting cover treatment from the major PC game magazines. It's a nicely polished oblique-overhead third-person shooter set in a mining colony on Ganymede (one of Jupiter's moons) that is under attack by alien critters. The story line is nicely done too, with good voice acting and a real sense of tension and a colony under siege; naturally, weapons get more powerful over time, and NPCs work with you in later levels.