playboy.com / digital culture / software / f.a.k.k. 2

Julie's enemies are equally unnerving. Gith's most notable minions are a patchwork of the flesh of conquered alien races grafted with heavy weaponry. Native creatures of Eden include gooey man-eating plants and a monstrous dung beetle nested in a hill of shit.

While F.A.K.K. 2 features a third-person view of Julie throughout, the controls function similarly to those of a first-person shooter. You use the keyboard to move Julie around and the mouse to direct which way she looks and aims her weapons. The result is that you can effortlessly engage Julie in two-handed combat with each weapon or shield working independently. This sort of versatility hasn't been seen before in a third-person game, and it's a lot of fun to experiment with.

I wouldn't be surprised if Julie Strain becomes as synonymous with this gaming genre as Lara Croft is to hers. Geek question: Which of these two videogame vixens would come out on top in a no-holds-barred catfight? The answer is obvious when you play F.A.K.K. 2.

Howard Wen is a frequent contributor to Playboy.com.