Well, I got the preview copy and really enjoyed it, so I was more then fired up to get the full version.  American Mcgee, the visionary game designer who brought us the nasty, nasty Alice (and I mean that in a good way) is back with his second effort, Scrapland.

Scrapland takes place in a very distant future, where robots have taken over the burnt out shell that was once Earth.  Humans in fact are feared and reviled as they are constantly blamed for all that was wrong with the world.  As a self made robot named D-Tritus, you arrive on the outer rim of Scrapland and are summarily sterilized and given the job of ace reporter in order to make your way in Chimera (Scrapland's biggest city).  Since this is your only option of employment you are sent down to the surface and put smack dab in the middle of the most insidious crime the city has seen in a long time, the murder of a robot.  You see, on Scrapland, everyone is loaded into the Great Data Base (GDB for short) so that if anything happens to your body, you can be reloaded into a new one, thus eliminating death.  But in this case, someone or many someone's have deleted a robot's file from the GDB and therefore terminated it's existence.

As a relatively unique robot, D-tritus has the ability to transform into other robots in order to complete the various tasks that come your way.  The game borrows heavily from a Grand Theft Auto type perspective, as you are given open ended mini quests and missions that have multiple solutions.  Not to mention the fact that the game encourages you to lie, cheat, steal and kill in order to get what you need.  Lawlessness runs rampant in Chimera, as you will find it all too easy to kill and rob for money, and money talks in this town too.  The Police will shoot first, shoot some more, reload, shoot you again and then blow you up for as much as acting suspicious.  This is where D-Tritus' transforming skills come into play.  If you find yourself on the run, quickly hide and transform and the cops will pass you by.  But be careful, certain villains will have the ability to see through your disguise and you will need to become proficient in piloting gunships.

Gunships will provide you with the easiest transportation around the world of Scrapland.  Forget walking, this game is huge and considering the locations you will need to go, it's simply unavoidable.  Early in the game you will befriend a mechanic and former mercenary named Rusty who helps install weapons that you find onto your gunships while storing them in his garage.  You will constantly be on the lookout for better ships, and have the ability to "acquire" them if you cannot afford them otherwise and will eventually have several.  

The game is littered with inventive characters each with their own unique look and voice.  I must applaud the visuals the game has, initially I thought D-Tritus looked somewhat wimpy, but learned to appreciate his talents for transformation.  Other characters may appear child friendly or simply stupid while even more look menacing and evil, not all is as it appears in Chimera and I found out fast that it's better to have friends that are unscrupulous then have enemies that are seemingly benevolent.  Otherwise, I can't say enough about how good the graphics look.  The structures that you see, the texturing of the locations, the great sense of depth that the game has.  Crisp clean graphics that really "pop" off the screen.

Like I said before, the game has a definite "Grand theft" feel to it, and yes, you do some things that aren't very nice, but the game is not bathed in violence either, and even when there is violence, it doesn't seem so bad, since they are after all, robots.  And with this simple fact, I can see why it's recommended to players 13 and up.  Parents may want to take a look at this title as a viable option if their 14 year old really wants the new San Andreas title and they just can't bring themselves to buy it.  There is plenty of side quests and other forms of entertainment that make the fairly linear plot seem that much wider.  The tasks initially are not that difficult, but I can attest that they do start to get down right tough as the game gets it's legs.

Unfortunately, this title is not getting allot of publicity amidst the tidal wave of the other Christmas game releases, and that's too bad.  I really feel that it has allot to offer the gamer with a Sci-Fi twist and friendly controls.  The story is certainly above board with it's almost 30's noir throwback feel to it.  American Mcgee has done himself well in this his sophomore effort.  I just wish more people would know it exists.

Gameplay: 8.5

Solid gameplay, nary a glitch, and the chase cam from the 3rd person perspective even seems to work correctly.  Customizable controls that work well for the adventure at hand.  Smooth gunship piloting and an even handedness throughout.

Graphics: 8.8

Sweet looking graphics make this title a knockout.  With a dandy dynamic camera, you get to see Scrapland in all it's beauty and misery (the scrap yard) with nifty looking locations and no lag, this made my computer hum with excitement.

Sound: 7.8

D-Tritus has an interesting sounding voice as does some of the other unique characters you meet up with.  And while all are done with great Bravado, I question some not fitting their respective character correctly.  Strong sound effects.

Difficulty: Med/Hard

It isn't terribly difficult in the beginning, like lots of games, this one allows you to get a good feel for what the game it up to, but it sure does start heaping on the toughness as the game nears it's dramatic conclusion.

Concept: 8.7

Yes it is like a Grand theft game, but the whole robot spin and the clever things that this future world unfolds make this title a surprising trip.  Anytime you have a game involving robots that can hire bodyguards, get entangled in a love interest and arm gunships to the teeth in order to hunt down cops to further a news story sounds like a good time to me.

Multiplayer:  7.0

Oh yeah, you can play multiplayer games with people on the web.  I personally didn't see a need for a game like this to incorporate online games, but hey, they did and they aren't half bad either.  It's the standard list of online options, death match, team death match, a variation of capture the flag called flag hunt and so on.  These online games are played from the gunship perspective and may have opened up a bit more variance if they included players on the ground as well.

Overall: 8.4

I liked it, it has a more cartoonish feel to it that I enjoy in some games, this one in particular.  The bright, solid graphics pushed me to keep playing just to see new locations and by then I was immersed in the game's conspiracy.  You couldn't do much better amidst this season's adventure PC games.