Steampunk fans will probably get a kick out of Damnation as much as I do. I am, after all, a geek over anything steampunk (aside from being a geek of so many other things).

Here we have a bunch of screens (which were actually released a few days ago, during the height of the E3 press conferences - hence the reason why we're a bit late; yeah, I know, we missed some blindspots, we're human too) and a fact sheet from Codemasters and Blue Omega's press release.

While I'm partial to calling it an "oh no, not another generic shooter for the PS3, 360, and PC" game, I still think Damnation is still worth checking out - if not only for the novel experience of getting to play another game set in a steampunk world. Though I know that a lot of games have a steampunk setting (most of which are RPGs*), it's rare to come by a shooter for the said genre.

The game is billed as a "shooter gone vertical" where shooting targets from different planes, heights, and levels will play a crucial role to the gameplay. Now before we hit you up with the screens, let me paraphrase to you what's on the fact sheet for Damnation (some of the details here have been revealed before, but recapping what we know so far can't hurt):

• A living, breathing wasteland (say what?): The game is set in a barren wasteland called Damnation - oh so that's where the game's name comes from. It's a perfect setting for a post-apocalyptic struggle between humans and some vile corporation bent on world domination. As the press release suggests, it's got some "truly organic 3D spaces that cover miles of horizontal distance and thousands of vertical feet."
  
• Plot your course, choose your own adventure: So how huge is the game? Well, consider this: "It could take up to three hours in real-time travel to get from one end to the other and another three hours to climb to the top." To keep you busy in-between all those paths to choose from, you get to do some stunts (over land and air!) too.
• Be the Steve-O you always wanted to be: Yes, traversing for three full hours from Point A to Point B may be dull for some, but here's what's cool in Damnation: "jump between ledges, swing on ropes and chains, and traverse vertical surfaces. Zip, slide, vault, shinny, swing and jump through the environment with intelligent AI attacking from all sides, above and below."
• I see dead people ...sort of: Well, not Haley Joel Osment style per se, but you get the picture. You control Captain Hamilton Rouke who's waltzing across the wasteland, and along the way, you can activate his "Spirit Vision". This allows you to "see through walls and anticipate the enemy’s movements."
• A tried and tested feature: And what kind of action-adventure shooter isn't complete with the different game modes that's pretty common nowadays: you get to play through the single-player campaign, whether co-op or multiplayer.
  

Teased much yet? Finally. On with the screens! Take a close look at them; some of the features described above can be seen in the shots:

  
  
  

* Steampunk RPGS: oh, where do I start. Steampunk can range from the traditional alternative Victorian-Industrial era to the futuristic cyberpunk sub-genre. Thus, steampunk RPGs could be classified with games from anywhere between Wild Arms to Final Fantasy 7, from Skies of Arcadia to Rogue Galaxy, and the like.

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