The quick pitch: *Gran Turismo *with guns instead of cars. The game takes players across famous battlefields from the past 90 years, but the main attraction is the WarStudio, which contains 200 authentic weapons, including the Vietnam-era M14 rifle, the Nazi MG42 machine gun, and the rare 1929 Czech semiautomatic ZH-29. The game also offers suggested handicaps for matching up fighters from different eras; for instance, a patrol of Batista's Cuban regulars can square off against a squad of six to eight of Nasser's Egyptian guards.
The guns aren't the only thing that makes Alliance distinctive. Unlike most videogames, in which bullets fly straight at targets, this one obeys the laws of physics, so projectiles follow a realistic trajectory. The size of each round affects how an enemy is injured. And in advanced mode, players must rely on intuition, not an onscreen display, to tell when it's time to reload.
