Every fantasy you've ever had to reroute power to the shields exists in FTL. I know because I just pulled power from the sick-bay to boost my shields while I attempted to flee a hostile enemy scout. If you don't have those fantasies yet, then soon it'll be all you can think about.

I feel like I'm cheating a little here, because I'm going to tell you that Arcane Worlds aims to be a modern take on Magic Carpet but then I'm going to admit that nothing of the sort yet exists.

Valve have created themselves an interesting situation. Presenting themselves as bastions of consumers, remarkably accessible to gamers, regularly inviting in groups of modders — often to give them jobs — and always being present to offer a quote on how customers deserve to be treated with more dignity, they establish themselves as being our friend.

Republished from Rock, Paper Shotgun

Republished from Rock, Paper Shotgun.

Republished from Rock, Paper Shotgun

Republished from Rock, Paper Shotgun.

I've just this minute finished the singleplayer campaign for Modern Warfare 3. It leaves a very bitter taste at its climax. But perhaps not the same bitter taste that flavours it throughout. It is an enormously high-achieving action FPS, on a scale like nothing before it, turned to 11. And it's a bloodthirsty, bombastic and clumsy un-game, with a core of nastiness.

I was only young when I played Ultima VII but I had already ventured to the depths of dungeons that dripped with dread, partaken in interstellar war and defended my home planet from invaders. Like Roy Batty and all people who grew up with games, I had seen and done so much. Between adventures in space, I'd rezone my commercial districts or build a new bus route, leaving room in the schedules for occasional postal service functions. Yes, I had lived a full life already, but I had never watched a man clad in the finest clothes in Britain eat an egg and then belch in the face of a barmaid, so who can say I had experienced anything worthwhile at all?

Oh, those pretty little dears. Are you a lady? Then finally there's a game for you! While too many games are pretending that ladies enjoy the same things as men, like shooting, building cities or exploring alien worlds, Lady Popular properly recognises what it is that makes a true, strong, independent lady: shopping, hairstyles and having a boyfriend.

Just two months ahead of release, Battlefield 3's singleplayer mode remains something of a mystery — oddly so, given this game is DICE's attempt to make their biggest franchise as appealing to lone gunners as team gunners. So getting eyes-on with a never-before-seen singleplayer level yesterday went some way to explaining BF3's approach. That approach: MEGA-GRAPHICS, MEGA-EXPLOSIONS, MEGA-WAR. And yet, somehow, it's also far more subtle and convincing than COD and its recent raft of wannabe crown-stealers.

I'm not denying this is territory I've covered before. There's no disguising that I'm a fan of single-playing gaming over multiplayer. Finally it's time to just say it.

Dear Volition/THQ, I'm really looking forward to Saints Row: The Third. While I didn't much enjoy the original Saints Row, Saints Row 2 was one of the most entertaining open city games I've played, and by the looks of the trailers for the third game, it's heading even further in the direction of anarchic fun that so delighted me. So I really want to ask you to reconsider your current marketing strategies.

For the past few weeks I have found myself returning to my favourite multiplayer game of last year, Battlefield: Bad Company 2. It's a punchy rascal of a game, but it also hints at plenty of things that could be better in the future, and reminds us of lots of things that have been better in the past. Things that might be better in Battlefield 3. Or 4. Anyway, what follows is a consideration of what Battlefield games have done right and wrong, and what Battlefield 3 needs to think about.

Discovering that this game existed was a moment of perverse joy for me. I knew that it would be deeply boring - it really is - and that I would have to play it extensively for no reason other than to take joy in being quite deliberately boring. It's the kind of non-challenge I relish, and I gleefully set about compiling a diary of the events–-or lack thereof - in the life of a simulatory street-cleaner.

What's a fan of strategy games supposed to do when all around him or her there's news of delayed tactics/strategy games, metamorphosed strategy games and, well, not a whole lot to be cheerful about? Pin your hopes on the upcoming real-time and PC and Mac turn-based strategy game Fray.

Last week I had a chance to talk to the Bohemia Interactive bossman, Marek Spanel. As one of the brains behind the original Operation Flashpoint, and then the three Arma games that followed, he is one PC gaming's most ambitious developers.