Features

Tactical Soldier: Undead Rising is a slick little top-down, turn-based strategy game pitting the military against a swarm of zombies. Though we’d love the option to play it in the reverse, you control the army dudes navigating and defending their base in the midst of the undead invasion.

Despite bearing a surely less-than-coincidental titular resemblance to another zombie game (Capcom’s Dead Rising), Undead Rising is a game unto its own. You’ll begin the game as a singular soldier and go through normal army training at your base camp before the invasion begins. And even though every single military game in history begins with basic training – usually with a super jerk commanding officer like this one – the characters and dialogue are interesting enough to hold your attention even after undead hell breaks loose...

100. In previous years and previous features, that number was daunting. While we wanted you to know about – and get excited about – as many upcoming games as possible, reaching three digits was always a challenge that required a monumental, brain-scouring effort from every last GamesRadar editor.

Not this time… this time was easy. In fact, 2011 is shaping up to be such a fantastic, and fantastically full, year for videogames that the only real difficulty was limiting our list of most anticipated titles. 100 simply wasn't enough...

Once again, we begin our yearly celebration of all things great in gaming, the Platinum Chalices. For our sixth annual awards event, though, we’re doing things a little differently, posting the Chalices in three parts. So while you can still expect to see our “normal” Chalices later in the day, as well as our Game of the Year, we’re starting today off with our special and console-exclusive awards. If a game deserved a nod for doing something unique this year, or stood out as the best title to only be available on one platform, you’ll find it here.

Be sure to check back later this afternoon, as our Platinum Chalices continue!

Do you own a PSP but have no idea what games you should play? It can be tough choosing from the huge library of games available, but we’ve got you covered with a list of our 10 most highly acclaimed, must-play games on Sony’s portable…

The idiot box has had its time. These games do its job better.

 If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, fan games are the ultimate love letter. Unofficial sequels or remakes of existing game franchises created by ordinary gamers, they range from casual ROM hacks to full-out new games created from scratch.

You know the type: spiky hair, sad eyes, too many belt buckles in his ensemble to count. You might meet one or two of these guys in fighting games, or starring in a Prince of Persia sequel; more often than not, you’ll see them wangsting their hearts out in a sprawling Japanese RPG epic.

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World is the sequal/spin-off to the insanely popular Tales of Symphonia, slated for release sometime in 2008 (maybe September). This far out, publisher Namco Bandai is keeping things close to the vest, but after pleading and begging, Dawn producer Tsutomo Gouda gave up a few goods in our exclusive interview. 

GamesRadar: Symphonia didn’t have any of the Pokemon vibe and