Pulling a move recently described to me as a "reverse Majesco", European publisher D3 are moving away from flighty game initiatives, and are refocussing themselves as a firm dedicated to original new IPs, internal talent alongside major investment in 'proper', big-name titles. With this in mind, big boss Adam Roberts is in town to show off his company's latest opus, Eat Lead, a tongue-in-cheek title being prepped for release in spring 2009.

Having talked-up his publisher's optimistic outlook, Roberts leaves the stage and Eat Lead's senior producer Brian Etheridge steps into the limelight to show off his LA-developed project.

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard is a new third-person that D3P will be delivering to our doors come the spring. The main selling point of the game, from what we can gather, seems to be its rather unique premise; Eat Lead perhaps best described as a meta-game: a game about a game (character, in this case). The titular Matt Hazard. Hazard was an 80s videogame hero - a cross between the marine from and Duke Nukem, and his involvement with fictional shareware heroes Marathon Software.

Marathon are a sort of parody of Apogee, id or Realms and as Etheridge explains Eat Lead's unusual plot we're shown mock-box art from classic Hazard games of yesteryear, including the game which nearly ruined him, a hideous-looking Hazard-themed take on Kart. Eat Lead is firmly a tongue-in-cheek experience, then, with Marathon acquired by an unseemly looking British businessman called Wallace, who lays an elaborate trap for Hazard in the form of a new game.

So, the premise of the game is, in a sense, that Hazard must beat Marathon's new game, and get to the bottom of the plot against him - and its relationship with Marathon's mysterious owner. Entertainingly, the virtual QA team will help Matt on his journey through the game - taking on missions awash with third-person combat reminiscent of - perhaps because of the cover system D3 have planned for us.

Apparently, Hazard is conscious of the fact that he is the star of an action videogame, and as such we're promised tickling wise-cracks, numerous references to other games and other fun-poking in the general direction of the videogame at large. Indeed, the nefarious programmers behind the game will cleverly shift the kind of game Hazard's experiencing, throwing theme after theme and genre after genre in our hero's path as he battles through hordes of enemies who, rather than dying, simply 'de-rez'.

In a Matrix-esque fashion, enemies shimmer with code, while the world around looks like it'll be morphing frequently as Hazard dispatches the virtual legions thrown in his path. Interactive scenery will play a key role, Hazard able to blow stuff up with a range of weaponry, while you'll also be able to move items around, creating cover and the like.

More parodies are promised of the game's innumerable enemies, Hazard facing-off against villains from his past games, brought back by Marathon Megasoft's evil overlord in a bid to finish off our hero. Baddies will shed 'code' as they're injured, apparently, while we're promised foes stretching from cowboys to aliens via zombies and more besides. The way rivals are killed will be a reflection of the genre they represent, so the only way to kill zombies, for example, will be via shots to the head. D3 hope this approach will add near endless variety to the gameplay, players facing a constantly evolving scene.

Accurate weapons will come from war-games, while more ridiculous offerings will arrive courtesy of sci-fi inspiration, and before our eyes a modern shoot out in a kitchen gives way to Wild West setting, the world twisting, code-swirling before our eyes before we find ourselves duel-wielding pistols in a Saloon shoot-out. This side of the game is perhaps the most promising, assuming the gameplay remains rock-solid amid all this diversity. "I love this cover-to-cover mechanic," jokes Hazzard as we dive for safety, and while this Duke-alike hero is interesting we do hope his jests don't grate too much.

Departing the Wild West we find ourselves in the upper levels of a night club, in which a series of strange-looking robot pole-dancers are gyrating, the author of Dead Head Fred (Dave Ellis) is on board, and promises an outlandish plot that will justify all this madness and imbue it with humour. This is a game that's all about homage, and parody, developer Viscous Cycle addressing their favourite game's of yesteryear. Apparently, as you progress through the plot the world will start changing ever more quickly, while bosses will recur throughout the landscape's Hazard encounters.

Advanced physics are also promised, beyond melee combat and D3's cover system, and Eat Lead certainly looks like it could be a breath of fresh air when it arrives on the and come the spring. Let's hope the comedy works, and that players warm to the game's intriguing protagonist, then.

By Luke Guttridge