Toca Race Driver (PC)

Motor sport video games begin with the thrill of the new and unknown, the excitement of the potential and the possibilities that may lead to victory. But what of a racing game that begins with a death, one that takes betrayal, murder and revenge onto the world’s racing circuits and wraps it in a gruelling driving challenge?

Whether anyone will experience the smell of victory against this tide of emotion, hatred and sheer adrenaline rushing determination is down to the player in a game of speed, control, aggression and bloody-minded staying power.

This is TOCA Race Driver; it takes driving to the limits that the fanatics demand and puts players through an experience they’ll never forget.

The world’s greatest touring car drivers, a family's battle with the past, the ultimate driving prize – in TOCA Race Driver the finishing line is only the beginning.

TOCA Race Driver lets players race like never before as Codemasters delivers a game packed with 42 real touring cars, 13 championships and an incredible 38 real-life, internationally renowned, race circuits

Set to be the only race game to feature high-impact collision damage on the most expensive touring cars, TOCA Race Driver takes players the world over from Europe, to Australasia, to North and South America and the Pacific.

Moving the whole motor sport genre forward, TOCA Race Driver uniquely blends a cast of game characters with the sport’s real-life drivers, locations and championship events. The game gives players one central character to connect with and wraps the high-speed action with cinematic presentation.

It is the latest in the near 4 million-selling TOCA series, one of the most acclaimed racing game franchises, and marks a true convergence of racing gaming and movie production values. It is the first licence-based racer to introduce a character and plot-driven narrative with both on and off-circuit developments.

The player takes the lead role of Ryan McKane - an aspiring Touring Car driver as he prepares to enter his first season. As McKane, the player enters the real world of Touring Car racing, cast alongside the sport’s real world stars. It’s Ryan’s ambition that’s got him here, but it’s the player’s race game expertise that will see Ryan passing the chequered flag in pole position.

Players have full control of McKane from the outset, as team managers approach him to drive for them. As the player wins races and championships with McKane, he’s soon attracting attention. New managers attempt to poach him, other teams offer him an elevated place, and different people offer him advice.

Aside from McKane and his narrative that evolves through meticulously crafted and directed sequences, the heart of TOCA Race Driver is the aggressive pack-racing gameplay that the series is renowned for, complete with potential for spectacular damage-inflicting crashes on the car’s detailed bodies.

The 14-car races are powered with a progressive physics engine, modelled from scratch. Combine this with the new Finite Element Modelling damage system and witness the high impact collisions that form an enthralling part of the whole TOCA experience.

The damage system uses the technology that models real-life crash tests, with correct movement and crumpling of car body parts on impact. The collisions and resulting car damage promises to be incredibly impressive – the car models are highly detailed with working parts, right down to the door hinges. The damage system also authentically recreates the effect of damage on metal, plastic, alloy, glass, rubber and other car body materials.

Detail continues in the real-life race locations and championships. The game features more licenses than any previous game in the series, enabling players to race in championships such as Germany’s DTM, Australia’s AVESCO V8 Supercars and the UK’s TOCA Tour.

TOCA Race Driver is currently in development at Codemasters with a team of 58 working on it and is set to launch on August 23rd for PlayStation 2 with the PC edition shortly after.

Toca Race Driver (PS2)

Prisoner Of War (XBOX)

Capturing the intrigue, danger and heroism of Allied escape attempts from POW camps during World War II, Prisoner of War is a new kind of escape adventure. Its gameplay delivers a tense third-person gaming experience where the only weapons are the player’s bravery, stealth and cunning.

This unique adventure begins when Captain Lewis Stone, the game’s lead character, is imprisoned in the German POW camp system after his surveillance aircraft was shot down over enemy territory.

In World War II, the Geneva Convention bound these Luftwaffe-run camps. In general, POW’s were relatively well treated; rations were available and a degree of respect was shown. Stay within the rules and you’d just make it through the war. Step out of line and you risk a German bullet.

However, this is just what Stone has to do in Prisoner of War. Making contact with a cadre of long-term prisoners, Stone becomes involved in the discovery that a mysterious new weapon is being developed in the camp by German scientists to use against the Allies.

Knowing that Prisoner of War camps are the only sites guaranteed safe from Allied attack, the scientists are using the camp as a cover to develop a piece of highly advanced weapons technology.

As Captain Lewis Stone, players use quick wits, information and stealth to uncover further details of the weapon’s development and ultimately change the course of the entire war.

Stone uses all his ingenuity to reach restricted areas, steal objects and undertake an audacious plan to uncover information. Daringly avoiding guards both at night and in broad daylight, Stone has to find a way to report his findings to Churchill’s Special Operations Executive in London.

His tactics can’t rely on huge explosions, or blowing the enemy away, or racing around at breakneck speed. Instead the player has to think their way out of their situation, hiding in the shadows, using items they have found or stolen and turning the camp’s routine against itself.

Stone’s adventure sees him making use of disguises, posing as a German guard, sabotaging equipment, escaping Stalag Luft, being ensconced in Colditz Castle, and even calling in Allied air strikes. Fellow prisoners can assist Stone in different ways – possibly for a price – as he works against the fearsome array of German guards, lieutenants, kommandants and the evil General Stahl.

Prisoner of War’s developer, Wide Games, has created models of both camps in accurate detail. The camps’ guards, lieutenants, and commanders run their patrol with realistic military precision thanks to Artificial Life programming and advanced artificial character intelligence.

Complete with a blockbuster conclusion to the adventure, Prisoner of War is being developed for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC by Wide Games and will be published by Codemasters this summer.

Prisoner Of War (XBOX)