Nexuiz

because of an unforgivingly busy schedule, i have not had time to play a new game this week.  So instead i will be giving my first impressions on a game that i'm quite excited about, Nexuiz.  Pronounced nexus, this game has a "tron meets metroid prime hunters" feel in a classic arena style shooter, all with its own unique twist. 
An arena shooter has a faster pace than the more realistic kind, generally the characters have more health, and you would never take cover.  it puts you in the middle of firefights where, if you want to not get shot, you have to out maneuver as well as out aim your opponent.  each of the several maps seem relatively small (though i don't know for sure) and just as vertical as horizontal.  with a variety of weapons scattered throughout the map, and the starting weapon a shotgun, you have to be quick when you spawn.

the key feature that this game has that make it unique is the dynamic mutator system.  basically by getting pick-ups or killstreakes you will get the choice between 3 random mutators.  these mutators come in 5 categories; yourself, your team, enemy team, everyone, and WTF. (I'm not joking)  they can range from infinite ammo until you die, to temporary reduced gravity, everyone goes to 3rd person view, even 10 seconds of inverted controls for the oponent team.  there are over a hundred diferent mutators, none of which seem likely to unbalance the play of the game as bad as the CoD kill streak system. 

Graphically the game is beautifull, so much more than ecpected from an indie-developer with a crew size in the single digits.  for the price of about $15, i would say its worth looking into and i cant wait to get it myself.