Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY REVIEW Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception > With its breathtaking visual storytelling, astonishing action set pieces and cast of lovable rogues, Drake’s Deception excels in all the areas you would expect it to. Sadly, the shooting system still isn’t up to scratch and co-op is an afterthought at best. While the game certainly has its share of lows, its highs are almost unmatched. For that reason, this blockbuster PS3 exclusive shouldn’t be missed. READ MORE

TUESDAY REVIEW El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron > This is the story of a scribe name Enoch, who is sent down to Earth to open God’s house of whip-ass on a handful of fallen angels and their flunkies. This is achieved by bashing them with three types of mystical weapons and jumping around a lot. The visuals in El Shaddai will impress, but the shallow combat and frustrating platforming most definitely will not. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Command & Conquer: Generals 2 > When rumours started floating around that EA were working on a Command and Conquer: Generals sequel, I got a little excited. Generals was my pick of all the C&C games. The factions were perfectly balanced, the strategy was sublime and the setting was much more realistic than the other games in the series. Well, Generals 2 has finally been announced and with it some info that took my level of anticipation to new heights. READ MORE

THURSDAY JUST ANNOUNCED Fortnite > Developer Epic Games (of Gears of War fame) recently revealed new IP Fortnite, a title that seemingly rides on something that is in danger of becoming an overused theme, zombies. Self-dubbed as boasting “the latest Unreal Engine technology”, the game promises an expansive and original world that sees players constructing defensive fortresses by day to defend it by night. READ MORE

FRIDAY JUST ANNOUNCED The Last of Us > With Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception now out in the wild, Sony first party Naughty Dog is free to concentrate on its next project, the newly announced The Last of Us. According to the developer, the game will take place in a near future “decimated by a modern plague” in which once proud cities have been “reclaimed by nature”. This ‘greener’ interpretation of the (now ubiquitous) post apocalypse recalls Ninja theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. As noted by CVG, Enslaved lead designer Mark Richard Davies now works with Naughty Dog. READ MORE

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With Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception now out in the wild, Sony first party Naughty Dog is free to concentrate on its next project, the newly announced The Last of Us.

According to the developer, the game will take place in a near future “decimated by a modern plague” in which once proud cities have been “reclaimed by nature”. This ‘greener’ interpretation of the (now ubiquitous) post apocalypse recalls Ninja theory’s Enslaved: Odyssey to the West. As noted by CVG, Enslaved lead designer Mark Richard Davies now works with Naughty Dog.

While details about the game are currently scarce, it appears the story will follow the fortunes of hard bitten survivor Joel and his resourceful teenaged offsider Ellie. They’ll face what look to be disease ridden mutants as they battle their way across America. In terms of gameplay, The Last of Us will apparently blend “survival and action elements”.

Sony is yet to announce a release date for this promising PS3 exclusive.

Developer Epic Games (of Gears of War fame) recently revealed new IP Fortnite, a title that seemingly rides on something that is in danger of becoming an overused theme, zombies. Self-dubbed as boasting “the latest Unreal Engine technology”, the game promises an expansive and original world that sees players constructing defensive fortresses by day to defend it by night.

The cinematic trailer is an odd one as the dark undertones of the title contrast sharply with its quirky art style. Footage shows several characters blowing up and salvaging parts of buildings to put together their own construction before night falls in a dramatic crescendo.

However, the enemies shown don’t depict zombies in a traditional sense and suggest that perhaps the game is less focused on horror then it is on creativity. The opportunity to construct fortresses may be enough to capture the interest of the odd minecraft fan like myself.

At the time of writing Fortnite has no confirmed release date.

When rumours started floating around that EA were working on a Command and Conquer: Generals sequel, I got a little excited. Generals was my pick of all the C&C games. The factions were perfectly balanced, the strategy was sublime and the setting was much more realistic than the other games in the series. Well, Generals 2 has finally been announced and with it some info that took my level of anticipation to new heights.

The first little tidbit is that the game is running on the Frostbite 2 engine (the same tech that powered the incredibly sexy Battlefield 3) and as you can see from the trailer things are looking good. The second piece of info is that a new studio under the BioWare name will be handling development duties. BioWare is one of my favourite developers and has a well earned reputation for quality (I’m purposely forgetting Dragon Age 2 – it didn’t happen) so I feel confident that the classic strategy franchise is in safe hands.

The trailer doesn’t show much, just a teaser of gameplay with what seems to be the classic factions of the USA and GLA in action. What it does show is that the game will keep the general aesthetic of the original Generals and not adopt the futuristic/crazy style of the other branches in the C&C multiverse. I for one am glad. If I want killer bears and walking boats I can go back to Red Alert 3. Hopefully the traditional C&C cheesy FMV cut scenes make a return though.

Command & Conquer: Generals 2 is coming to the PC in 2012.