Cheats-Area.com

Barely had they launched Turning Point: Fall of Liberty and not even half a year has passed since the debut of Clive Barker's Jericho, that Codemasters threatens us with another shooter, called Damnation.

From a studio that once crafted games for others, Codemasters now reached the prominent position where others craft games for them. Among the studios under contract with the British publisher and developer is now the Annapolis, USA-based company Blue Omega Entertainment, which a newcomer in the gaming business, but a veteran in the movie industry. The American studio first began working at a video-game back in 2003, but their ties with the Hollywood behemoths are much older. Blue Omega has previously worked for Universal Studios or Lionsgate, but has also partnered with Epic Games or Liquid Development.

As for their new IP, we can tell you that it's being dubbed "a shooter gone vertical". So yeah, it's a shooter alright...

According to the official announcement: "evolving the shooter genre with its unique and exhilarating combination of fluid action and combat, Damnation will feature huge, open environments, frenetic combat, daredevil acrobatics and high-octane vehicle-based stunts. Presenting players with an intense test of reflexes, quick thinking and rapid-fire conflict, Damnation will feature vast, breathtaking landscapes, each covering miles of distance and thousands of vertical feet."

The plot is set in a postindustrial landscape that puts the entire humanity against a ruthless, world-domination inclined arms dealer. "Players will be able to choose their own paths and navigate the world by performing daredevil feats on the edge of human ability. However players aren't the only ones with mind-blowing acrobatic skills; intelligent enemies will give chase and engage players in frantic gun fights and attacks that can come from any direction– in Damnation's world there's no safe place to hide."

We're also told that a single level of the game will take up to three hours to complete (which means that it could actually take far less... and we don't know yet how many levels like these are included in the final game) and that the main character's name will be Rourke. We'll also ride all sorts of vehicles, "from motorbikes capable of launching across seemingly infinite chasms, to huge, armour-piercing marvels that will induce mayhem with every huge shell."

The press release mentions an interesting aspect: at its origins, Blue Omega' third person shooter was actually a prototype technology, built for the "Make Something Unreal" contest sponsored by (who else?...) Epic Games and NVIDIA. Yeah, you guessed it, it's running on Unreal Engine 3...

Damnation is scheduled to debut this December ("winter 2008", but we're already out of February, so...), on all next-gen platforms (PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3). For the first in-game screenshots, soundly click here.

P.S. Kewl how you can ride motorcycles on walls...