I wasn’t kidding when I described the gameplay above. That’s the bulk of the experience. You get missions to do from job boards in towns and settlements, or from talking to certain people scattered across the expansive game world. When you finish a mission, you return to wherever you earned it and pick up a reward, in the form of items, experience and money. You can take on as many quests as you want at a time, and can complete as many as you want before you ever return to claim your prize, so you don’t need to run back and forth constantly. These missions do fall into a somewhat small set of categories though–kill this thug, kill this beast, collect these items, kill this guy and collect these items, etc. You don’t really mind though, because each kill means experience, and experience means leveling, and that is the metaphorical crack pipe upon which addiction to this game relies.

Even within the first area of the game, there are certain sections you are not going to want to visit until you have sufficiently leveled. You may find some of these places in your random travels though, and when you do, you could very well be killed, and fast. You want to be very close to your enemy’s levels when you engage them, so the missions become important so you can always stay ahead of the curve, or at least with it.

Plus, you get more stuff. There’s a never ending supply of stuff for you to pick up. Some of it is better than your current stuff, much of it is worse, but it can all be sold so you can buy even better stuff. Certain characters use certain gun types better than others, meaning that when you play multiplayer, stuff should be shared for more reasons than just fairness.

The single and multiplayer experiences are similar in many ways. You still run around completing missions, leveling up and collecting loot, but now you get to do it with a buddy (or a stranger, but that’s not as much fun, especially in a game where picking up items is so pivotal). If you play with someone over Xbox Live, whoever hosts the game is going to be the one whose story is played, meaning you can replay missions you may have already completed in order to boost your character’s levels further. You can also keep multiple characters saved to your hard drive at once, meaning you can play online with a friend using one of the four character classes while playing alone on your own time with another. All of the items, experience and money you acquire in multiplayer carries over to your single-player experience, so even if you have to replay certain sections later, at least you will be well armed.

Each class is, at the simplest level, different thanks to their special skill. The Soldier drops a shielded turret, the Hunter has a war hawk that can attack far off enemies or those behind cover, the Siren can turn invisible and invincible for short periods of time, letting out a wave of energy when the shift occurs, and the Berserker, which, as you may have guessed, excels at being a damage absorbing tank that can punish enemies with melee.

There is more to the class differences than that though, as you earn skill points that can be used to differentiate them further. There are three separate paths to take, and you don’t need to stay within a single one–you can also cash in all of your skill points and re-align yourself however you wish, for a small cash fee. Let’s use the Hunter as an example. One path has him becoming more of a pistol wielding gunslinger, while another has him becoming more of a sniper. If you take the Sniper path, you will earn bonuses through skill points for things like experience bonuses on critical kills, faster reload times on rifles, or shield penetrating bullets. If you take the gunslinger route, you can get some similar bonuses, but also some very revolver/pistol exclusive ones, like chance to fire two rounds with one press of the trigger on pistols. You can customize them into all three groups and get an all-purpose blend, or you can focus heavily on one section–each time you upgrade a skill five times, it opens up the next level of skills for that designation. Shield penetrating bullets don’t come for the Sniper until you’ve used at least 15 skill points on Sniper related skill, which means 15 levels (20, really, as you don’t earn any skill points your first few levels) in a game with 50 tops. As I said though, you can get them back for a cost, so don’t fret if you change your mind 15 hours in.

“We are very proud of the phenomenal launch of Dragon Age: Origins and we’re pleased to announce the next installment of downloadable content that will be available to fans of the game,” said Ray Muzyka, Group General Manager, RPG/MMO Group of EA, and Co-Founder, BioWare. “The Return to Ostagar DLC pack is a prime example of BioWare’s commitment to give fans a game that continuously offers new experiences and further enriches a storyline that has already received critical acclaim and positive feedback from the players.”

The first two packs of DLC were solid additions to Dragon Age–you picked up some exclusive items and abilities, and also got a chance to earn some more experience for your party, something that’s definitely useful on harder difficulties. I won’t turn my nose up at more of DLC, especially at a $4.99 price point. It gives me an excuse to go in with both of my characters too, especially since they play and act so differently. There’s no set date yet, but it’s releasing this holiday–somewhat vague, but at least we know it’s soon.

This is very clearly a tribute to Zelda by From Software, the company that brought us what is potentially 2009’s best RPG in Demon’s Souls. Sure, there are other titles that this game is pulling from, but even the imagery in this trailer reeks of Zelda–I’m not complaining though, because if you’re going to find your inspiration in gaming’s past, you may as aim as high as you can.

The first thing you will notice after popping A Crack in Time into your PS3 is the graphics–this is highly polished, very colorful, very creative stuff. During cutscenes, it looks and sounds like a cartoon, maybe even something Pixar would have made. During the actual gameplay, the physics, explosions, guns and the worlds you play on will also impress, as the game is loaded with graphical effects (heat coming off of lava, snow and rain falling from the sky, etc.) that really pop thanks to the PS3. Enemies animate wonderfully, while living and while dying, everything just flat out works. It’s one of the better looking titles on the system thanks to strong art direction and wonderful animation.

Gameplay wise, there’s plenty to love. With Ratchet, you have multiple modes with which to play. The first of these is somewhat standard to the series, as you have different levels on different planets, each with its own distinct look and feel. These planets have a fair share of shooting along with platforming–while the platforming in these areas never gets to be too difficult, the number of enemies (and the difficulty of said enemies) increases as you go through the game enough that you don’t get bored. If you’re playing this game on Hard, you will need to be on top of your game in the later levels, or you will die fast.

The second Ratchet mode reminds me of two different Mario experiences–Super Mario Sunshine and Super Mario Galaxy. When you land on the moons that are scattered throughout each solar system, you have the opportunity to collect more mods for your weapons, rare items and Zoni–all of which will be explained in detail later. These moons is where you will find the platforming challenge, as they are designed to be more skill-based than the planets themselves. The Sunshine reminder comes from their increased difficulty and variation from the standard gameplay–remember the hidden stages in Super Mario Sunshine, where you no longer had the water pack and had to do things the old fashioned way? The Galaxy portion comes from the spherical levels–yes, I know Ratchet & Clank have had spherical levels before, but the design reminds me of Galaxy in many ways. While optional, these are worth your time, and not just for the rewards that they hold. Completing them is a reward on its own, given the increased challenge and lengthening of the gameplay experience.

Last, and very much least, you have space. You fly around in your ship from planet to planet (with pit stops at moons along the way), but there are side missions for you to complete that are sometimes worth it, like towing a downed ship in order to get a few thousand bolts (the game’s currency). Most of the time though, you can’t be bothered. There is very boring fighting in space, as you just hold R1 and L1 to fire beams and missiles in the hopes of hitting something and getting back to the good stuff. The enemy ships don’t do much to fight back either, and they don’t do a very good job of getting out of the way of your shots; it just wasn’t necessary. Maybe space will evolve into a worthwhile frontier in another Ratchet & Clank game, but A Crack in Time is not the one where this happens. Thankfully this is the portion of the game you will spend the least amount of time on, especially if you just quick jump from place to place.

Besides Ratchet’s ever-present Omniwrench, which is both weapon and tool, you have a massive arsenal of guns at your disposal. You’ve got your basic laser gun, grenades, a rocket launcher, a shotgun, and then you’ve got the guns that let Insomniac show off their imagination. How about the equivalent of a space pig with a trigger that burps enemies to death? Or a chargeable ball of electricity that you can roll around effectively using Six Axis controls while you run from danger? Maybe a sniper rifle with a bioscope that marks enemy weak points for you–shooting stuff in the head isn’t always the answer, you know. There are tons of guns to choose from, and also plenty of ways to improve them. You can pick up Constructo Mods, which alter the way your weapon fires, whether it explodes on impact or not, the type of damage it will cause, etc. You can also level up your weapons by using them–this increases damage, rate of fire, area of effect, ammo capacity and the like. Once a weapon reaches level five, it morphs into an even more powerful version of the previous weapon. Your grenades get schrapnel, for instance, while your rocket launcher fires three rockets per round rather than one.

The strange thing is that I would find myself moving on to another gun despite creating a super powered one, because I wanted to see what else it had to offer me through use. There’s nothing that can be pointed at as useless in Ratchet’s arsenal–you will find a place for everything, even in the weapons that may seem odd at the point of sale.

Clank’s levels may be the best portion of the game though, as they are time-bending puzzles that will require you to take off that Lombax battle armor and instead use that robotic intellect. It’s somewhat tough to visualize, but here is Clank’s gameplay in a nutshell: you have puzzles where Clank needs to be in multiple places at once in order to open the door out of the room. There could be anywhere from one to three door opening switches in the room, plus additional switches that open up pathways to reach those door switches. Each of these switches works only when Clank is standing on them though, which is why he needs to be in multiple places at once.

In order to do this, you need to use the Timepads to record Clank stepping on the switch–after recording, you can play it back, and a copy of Clank will perform the action you just recorded while Clank goes off to a different time pad to record yet another instance of platforming. Early puzzles are simple–there’s one switch and two Timepads, so make a copy to get on the switch while you run through the door. The later ones though require a lot of trial and error in order to progress, as you will need to make copies that open up pathways that lead to switches that lead to new pathways for previous copies so that they can step on a switch that clears a path, and so on. These are very satisfying to complete, and are just the right level of difficulty where you want to keep trying at it without wanting to throw your controller elsewhere. My biggest issue with them is that there were just not enough of them–Ratchet is still the star, despite Clank’s superior gameplay. That’s not a knock on Ratchet either, but it goes to show you how fun Clank’s sections are.

When you combine the multiple Ratchet elements with Clank’s puzzling, you end up with a fine Ratchet & Clank game that makes you want to play often. The game features multiple difficulties as well as a challenge mode, and with loads to collect in the form of Contructo Mods, gold bolts and the Zoni that upgrade your ship’s weaponry and abilities, there’s plenty to do outside of the standard levels. The Argonian tournaments may be my favorite part though, as they throw you into some ridiculous gladiator challenges that will require a full knowledge of your weaponry and enemy weaknesses if you want to win. The rewards–bolts, weapons and upgrades–are worth the price of admission, but you’ll find yourself here just for the challenge too. Plus, the game is just funny, no matter which character you use, so it’s worth it to you to extend the game to find all of the humor in it.

Blast Factor: While there are still some things to iron out in the form of space, and Clank could have stood to get a little more spotlight, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time holds up as the definitive Ratchet & Clank experience, one that should delight fans of the series while also converting holdouts and making them believers. It’s a quality title that should not be overlooked in this busy holiday season, and despite its cartoon appearance, it’s a game that people of all ages can enjoy.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time is available exclusively on the Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

This is our first year with one of these, and it’s pretty comprehensive. We’ve broken the guide into multiple categories: Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Playstation 3, Playstation Portable, Xbox 360, and then multiplatform titles. There’s a solid number of titles on each list, though the PS3 and 360 lists are somewhat shorter due to the long multiplatform page–don’t miss that page, since there’s a lot to it. Exclusives are the only thing you will find on the system pages. There’s also a Kids and Family guide, with a few of the games we reviewed for the younger crowd that we actually enjoyed.

As of right now, games we have reviewed (or games that in the review pipeline) are on the list–a few more holiday titles may be added assuming they stand up to our scrutiny. There may also be a few that we have not reviewed, but one of our writers at one point or another played through it and vouched for its awesomeness, so we decided to pass their opinion on to you through this guide.

Nintendo Wii Gift Guide

Nintendo DS Gift Guide

Playstation 3 Gift Guide

Playstation Portable Gift Guide

Xbox 360 Gift Guide

Multiplatform Gift Guide

Kids & Family Gift Guide

I won’t ask why the evil enemy’s robots are capable of being shot down by foam darts and soft balls, but we’ll just use video game logic here to say that it works and you best not question why. Regardless of what they are using for ammo, the four friends team up to take down this evil-doer, and they pick up loads of blasters along the way, blasters that they can customize to their liking. You purchase upgrades with items you find scattered around levels and hiding inside your enemies, just waiting to burst out when you blow them up. This adds to the replay value significantly–light gun games like House of the Dead and Time Crisis suffer on occasion from not having enough incentive to replay them, but when you’re given a reason (like this spring’s House of the Dead: Overkill, with its achievement and upgrade systems) then you’ve got yourself a keeper, as playing through it again isn’t painful.

To add to that, you can also play with another person, even if they don’t have their own Nerf blaster. They can just use the Wii Remote (or another peripheral like the Wii Zapper or Nyko Perfect Shot) in order to play along–some areas are only available to you if you are playing co-op, so there’s good reason for Little Timmy to invite Little Billy over to blast some robots.

Outside of blasting everything in sight, the big hook for N-Strike Elite is the Red Reveal–there’s an attachment for the Nerf blaster that you look through at certain parts of the game, in order to reveal secret codes that you can use in various places. The places where you need Red Reveal could not be anymore obvious if they had signs with fingers pointing surrounding them, but it’s hard to read the text without the Red Reveal, and it is the sort of thing that your little pre-teen adventurer will eat up due to it’s undercover, secret agent mystique.

The one knock the game has is that it’s very non-violent, but that may also be a selling point to many parents who want their kids to be able to enjoy video games, but don’t exactly want them sawing off aliens heads with a chainsaw bayonet just yet. The kids don’t die; the game just sort of stops and you get the chance to restart from your last checkpoint. Foam darts and balls will also not be mistaken for bullets anytime soon; it’s not like they go inside the robots, they just sort of bounce off, but then again, that would happen if you turned and blasted your co-op buddy with the fully functional Nerf blaster you’re playing with anyways, so it makes sense.

The Nerf blaster is a better product than the Wii Zapper, though I would put it a step below the Nyko Perfect Shot; the grip on the handle is not long enough for comfort if you’ve got big hands, but otherwise it’s well-made and works perfectly for its intended Wii related purposes. Considering you’re getting it with a game without too much of a price hike, it’s not a bad accessory to have around for other games.

Blast Factor: Nerf N-Strike Elite made a great design change from the original, going for more of a light-gun adventure than an arena-based series of challenges. It makes for gameplay that immerses the player into the experience more, and with the loads of customization options and many blasters to collect (and don’t forget co-op) there are plenty of reasons to come back to this title. It’s $60, but it comes packaged with a peripheral that works better than most similar products on the market alongside a quality game.

Nerf N-Strike Elite is available exclusively on the Wii for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The trailer doesn’t show gameplay in motion, but instead is a series of frozen moments from multiplayer, with voice overs and music playing in the background. While you don’t see it as it happens, it’s cool to see what is essentially an animated screenshot of multiplayer–the game also gives you a good sense of some of the destruction and squad elements, despite the lack of footage. It’s worth a look.

In the near future, a mysterious, growing, black void appears at the Earth’s southern pole.�Unable to determine its cause and powerless to stop its deadly encroachment, humanity sends an elite team of explorers into the heart of the phenomenon, just as Strange Journey’s look and feel represent a return to the heart of Shin Megami Tensei, bringing to mind the all-time classic Nocturne�.�With over 300 demons to bribe, coerce, and negotiate with to gain assistance in battle, Strange Journey is every bit the deep, rewarding RPG experience fans have come to expect from the SMT franchise, yet delivered with a fresh new sci-fi story that taps into mature themes of morality and introspection.

The game received a 36/40 from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu upon release overseas, the highest rating any Shin Megami Tensei title has ever earned from the mag. Considering how much we loved Atlus’ previous SMT effort on the DS, we’ll be keeping an eye on this one as more information releases until its March 10 release. For now you have a bunch of screens and art work to gaze upon, so gaze away.

“With Battlefield: Bad Company 2 we�re looking to raise the bar across all aspects of our multiplayer experience, setting a new standard for online play,� says Patrick Bach, Senior Producer on Battlefield: Bad Company 2. �From the graphics to the vehicles, weapons and destruction, we are delivering the best online multiplayer game next year, and we want gamers to experience it themselves by playing the beta and demo.”

If you were thinking about getting the game anyways, I suggest you plop the $5 down for the reserve in order to secure the code, as I haven’t been able to pull myself away from the demo whenever I see it at a convention or press event. DICE looks like they may have a winning multiplayer component on their hands–dare I say–one that is more intriguing than Modern Warfare 2. See for yourself in a few weeks when the demo hits–you’ll be able to compare apples to apples for free.

For those of you sans PS3, don’t worry, as demos will hit the PC and Xbox 360 in the future. This is just a timed-exclusive demo for PS3 owners.

There are a few new gameplay improvements that bear mentioning. For one, the animations have improved, so things look a bit more realistic now than they used to. Wrestlers react to being struck in specific areas more, and you can use things like the ropes to great effect in order to take your opponent out. Strong grapple transitions are now manually performed, which means you can switch from one grapple position to another without having to let go of the grapple first–considering that THQ wrestling games from 10 years ago made you do this, it’s about time this change came about. There are also new positions to attack from and grapple from, which gives you even more options per Superstar when it comes to your move set.

Reversals have received a makeover too–now you have to press the right trigger to reverse everything, but it is timing based, so you can’t just spam the button and hope you reverse it. The window for reversals is pretty small, but with some practice it works effectively. Of course, if you aren’t able to reverse, you’ll take a beating; the good news is that now you will be able to see that beating’s effects on you and your opponent’s body. Give someone a hard chop to the chest? You’ll see their chest redden, which is a cool damage effect that mirrors real life. There’s also a lot of blood in this year’s edition–while the cuts start out small, the blood keeps on coming if you beat them down, so things will get messy.

The bulk of the Smackdown vs. Raw experience is the same as previous editions, but there have been some cool additions that make this much more than a roster update with a fresh coat of paint. The Road to Wrestlemania mode features multiple storylines that have been developed with the mindset of replicating a WWE experience. Copyright logos show up at the same time they would during the actual Raw or Smackdown shows, you go to the backrooms to talk to other wrestlers and view cutscenes, and there’s much more going on than just fight, fight, fight. They also do a very good job of harnessing these Superstar’s personalities–Edge is the kind of guy you’re going to love or hate, just like in real life, as he tries to take over Smackdown in his scenario. He’s presented as a twisted, sick-minded (but talented) wrestler who should not be given the reins to Smackdown, and even the announcers get in on that kind of information as they call his matches. These scenarios are well done and feel very much like a WWE experience.

The Royal Rumble has had some work done to it, as there are now different minigames for eliminating opponents. These change depending on where you try to throw an opponent out (or where you’re being tossed out). These are simple, like tap X repeatedly then tap Y repeatedly until you get back in, or sometimes they are more quick-time event oriented, but they are easy to grasp and make the Royal Rumble a more frantic and fun experience.

Maybe more interesting is the Championship Scramble though, a new match type that has five wrestlers going at it at the same time. You can put the different WWE championship belts on the line in these matches, which have an intriguing concept: two wrestlers start, and the three others enter the ring at set times. Each time someone is pinned or falls via submission hold, the wrestler responsible becomes the new champion; the twist is that there is a time limit, and the last one standing holding the belt is the champion. This becomes very difficult though, as there are five of you in there at once, meaning there are three people ready to stomp on your face every time you go for the cover. The matches are loads of fun though, especially given their difficulty–you aren’t just going to throw a few strong grapple moves around here and come away victorious if there are four others in the ring that all want to hurt you.

The create-a-wrestler mode has also seen improvements, with options for creating entrance movies using highlights that you have saved; you take these highlights, splice them together, and add sound and screen effects in order to come in to a badass theme. Taking a cue from the 2009 edition of the game, custom finishers are back, but you can now also create your own aerial finishers–those of you that love the high flying Superstars are sure to be pleased by this development. The obvious thing to do is to make everyone perform a hurricanrana, but you can string together your own preferences before the final blow. There is also a paint tool that you can use to create custom tattoos and the like for your Frankenwrestler, so you aren’t limited by what comes with the game any longer.

If you don’t want to create a new wrestler, then you still get to toy around with create-a-wrestler features, as you can now customize the Superstars that come with the game more, changing their colors. For me, that meant that John Cena had to wear girly colors, but you can mock or improve whichever wrestler you choose in the way you want to (P.S., make Cena like girly things). You also have the option of downloading other player’s created wrestlers, which means that you don’t need to struggle to create the legends of the WWE hiding in the costume designs if you don’t want to, because someone else already did.

While these modes are all well and good, with either improvements or totally new features that enhance the Smackdown vs. Raw experience, the meat of the game for many is going to be the WWE Story Designer. You don’t need to even make one yourself in order to enjoy this, which is probably its greatest strength–you can simply download other people’s scenarios over Xbox Live, which means you have a limitless supply of brand new stories to play through. While the chances that all of them are memorable experiences is slim, the fact that you will have some serious hardcore fans writing their own stories–this is basically a fan fiction generator–is great news for those who love their WWE.

You may be shocked at the breadth of options you have at your disposal in this mode. You’re basically scripting a 10-year show instead of just playing General Manager of either Smackdown or Raw, so you not only set the matches, but you get to create backstage scenes, start rivalries, create alliances, or, if you’re feeling frisky, create some Diva/Superstar relationships. You write the scripts, and you use the over 100 animations you have at your disposal to emote the lines.

You not only have the entire WWE roster at your beck and call here, but you can also use your created wrestlers, meaning there’s no shortage of talent for you. This also allows you to give your created Superstars some personality that can be played out somewhere besides your noggin. This gives you a lot to do after you’ve finished the story modes included in the game, and as stated, if creativity isn’t your thing, there is always other people’s work to play through. That shared content isn’t restricted to just created-wrestlers and the Story Designer though, as you can download pretty much everything from other people that you can create yourself.

Blast Factor: There is no shortage of things to do in Smackdown vs. Raw 2010. The game that comes packaged has loads of game modes, from the traditional career stuff to a more story-oriented Road to Wrestlemania, and let’s not forget about the enhanced Royal Rumble and the brand new Championship Scramble. Outside of that though, creation is the name of the game, from characters to entrances to your own WWE storylines–and of course, if you aren’t creative or don’t have the time, you can always download other people’s work to extended your Smackdown vs. Raw experience.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 is available on the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Wii and Nintendo DS. A copy of the Xbox 360 game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Dragon Age: Origins takes place in Ferelden, a land that is suffering at the hands of the Darkspawn. The Darkspawn were created by mages that sought to step foot in the Golden City of heaven; they became twisted, hideous creatures that stole men and women from their homes, killing and burning everywhere they went in their attempt to rid the world of all races. They were held back by the dwarves, since they made their home in the underground, but eventually the Grey Wardens, a force of knights, mages, rogues and anyone else that can wield a weapon that was made up of all races, helped push the Darkspawn back, ending the Blight. They failed to kill the Archdemon though, and now the Darkspawn and a potential Blight loom once again on Ferelden–this is where you find yourself at the start of the game.

Well, once you go through your origin story anyways. While many games, especially in the genre that Dragon Age is in, allow you to create your character, make them male or female and whatever race you would like, be it elf, dwarf, or human, none allows you the kind of backstory and full-on immersion of Dragon Age. There is a backstory for each character class–the human noble, the city elf, the forest elf, the mage, the two types of dwarf, one casteless, the other not. For the magi, you can pick either human or elf as well, and any of these characters can be male or female. The origin story gives your character a true backstory, making them a part of Ferelden and the Dragon Age universe, rather than just giving you some character you created with a stock history that never changes.

Each of these origin quests is a few hours long, and the game will treat you differently depending on what you pick. I won’t spoil anything for you, but here are some generalizations: as a human noble, you will have a score to settle later in the game that originated early on, but if you happened to pick an Elven mage, you can face the same scenario later without that emotional, personal element to it. On the other hand, you will have your own prejudices to deal with as not just a mage, but as an elf, as they are looked down upon in a racist manner in Ferelden, so it’s not like you miss out by picking one over the other. It just means that to experience all that Dragon Age has to offer, you will have to test out these different angles. Hell, if you don’t want to play through the entire game again, at worst you picked up another 12-15 hours of gameplay just so you can learn all of the different backgrounds playing through the origins, expanding on the world that BioWare has created.

It’s quite the world, too. It’s deep beyond belief, especially for an original property and the first in what may turn out to be a franchise. The characters–good, bad, and everything in between–are believable. There are no mustache twirling villains in Ferelden, tying innocent girls to railroad tracks–these are people with legitimate beliefs and ideas, and you may agree with them, you may not. Also, even those you think are pure and pious may have a hidden history that you can uncover, should you choose to do so–it’s certainly not a world focusing just on the black and white. You will pick up many documents, books and notes along the way, each of which will be added to your Codex. The Codex is a collection of those aforementioned items, plus information on enemies, friends, foes, towns, kings, history, the Wardens, the magi–you name it, it is in the codex. You could, no exaggeration, spend hours reading everything that the Codex holds. You get the impression that Dragon Age wanted to create this believable world with a full history, much like Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings novels and expanded works. They very much succeed, and in many ways that I don’t want to spoil here. Just know that if you’ve got a love for fantasy, you will adore the world created by BioWare.

I don’t know much about Darkstalkers, as I have not played this version, but Morrigan is in it, which means it’s probably worth at least looking at for many.

As for Mega Man Maverick Hunter X, I’ve been meaning to get a copy, as the original version is one of my favorite games from the Super Nintendo; just by reading the announcement the level theme for Storm Eagle popped into my head, and it’s back again as I tell you about it. Remixed music, 3-D backgrounds and enhanced effects? You can be sure I’m heading to the PSN to snag a copy as soon as I hit submit on this.

We’ll have a full review of the new packaged title, Episodes from Liberty City, in the near future. Personally, I’m looking forward to it for the same reason I love Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars: it looks completely over the top and like Rockstar pulled out all of the stops on both a humor and action level.

“We’re thrilled to share the final chapter of this epic Liberty City tale,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. “The team at Rockstar North has exceeded every expectation with The Ballad of Gay Tony, creating an explosive conclusion to the Grand Theft Auto IV saga.”

See, explosive. Explosive is good.

You can pick up Episodes from Liberty City for $39.99 at retail, or The Ballad of Gay Tony for 1600 MS points.

You play as Eddie Brown, the son of world-famous adventurer Gilbert Brown. You’re in search of your father, who has gone missing–the opening to the game finds you in control of Gilbert, so while Eddie isn’t aware of what has occurred, you, the gamer, are. You decide, using the same character traits that make Gilbert who he is, that you will go out on your own to find out what’s happened to dear old dad, and make a name for yourself as an advennturer while you’re at it. Your first task as an adventures involves clearing rats out of London’s sewers–the game uses real-life locales in the 19th century (with a steampunk twist)–and you meet your second party member there, Pad. From there you get your airship, find out a little more info about what happened to your father, and then spend the rest of the game exploring caves, dungeons, towers, ruins, jungles and the skies in search of your father and eventually, as the force capable of defeating an evil organization bent on world domination.

The characters are generally likable, though there are some issues. While there’s no groan-worthy character in your main party, none of them are particularly endearing either–this may have more to do with the dialogue than the characters themselves, as there isn’t that much talking in Nostalgia, or a least, not that much exposition to expand on the character’s personalities. This causes the story to have less of an impact on you, since you don’t have as much of a connection to the characters.

One thing I do enjoy is the fact that a fifth member of the party often joins, and it rotates among many of the game’s important NPCs. While you can’t control them, it’s just one more layer of strategy for your battles, as they either heal you (freeing up your healer for attacking) or are very powerful attackers, which helps you finish battles more quickly. There are stretches in the game where you will always have a fifth person, even if it’s a bunch of different people filling that role.

The story, while predictable at times given its obvious hat-tips to the genre, stands on its own two legs and succeeds, in spite of the lack of particularly interesting characters. Whether you like the characters or not, the game does push you to what to find out more about what is going on in the main story. You also get the chance to flesh out the main characters through side stories: Fiona has memories of a past life, Pad doesn’t know who his mother is, and Melody was an orphan in a village full of wizards–it’s up to you to learn more about them. These side stories open up brand new locations not available to you in the main story, and they also give you chances to take on some difficult bosses and earn loads of experience and money. What’s also nice is that you don’t have to do any of that before beating the last boss–the endgame allows you to continue with your save so you can complete Nostalgia at 100%, regardless of whether you’ve saved the world or not yet.

Setting is a strong point of Nostalgia. The use of real-world locations gives the developers more freedom than you would expect, as they can give their own steampunk version of London, St. Petersburg, or New York. While the cities themselves are not affected much by the steampunk elements, the locations near them–high-tech, secret bases, airships, magic and the like–make the surrounding areas that much cooler to explore. The developers also did a wonderful job with the music in this title. The soundtrack is great, from each city’s respective music that fits the setting–eastern-influenced tracks for Japan and India, fitting jungle tunes and desert songs for South America and Africa–to the battle, boss and dungeon music. It’s one of the highlights of the game, and one of the better RPG soundtracks I’ve heard in awhile.

Graphically, Nostalgia looks much like of Matrix Software’s other DS efforts (Final Fantasy III and Final Fantasy IV) though sometimes it looks better or worse depending on your location. The 3D models are nice to look at though, and the art direction for the game–including enemy, dungeon and town design–works well. Some areas can be a little more boring or graphically behind than other parts of the game, but they don’t detract from the experience too much overall.

For instance, the tutorial in the PSP games takes hours. I’m not exaggerating. Every time I thought I was finished with the tutorial, it turned out that I was still learning how to do things by going out on much easier missions than I maybe wanted to. Basically, the game kept you out of the hardcore action and the monsters you want to slay for far too long, which kind of kept people from getting into it if they were impatient. It doesn’t help when it looks like you have hours upon hours of learning to do before you can even kill a monster that wants to hurt you as bad as you want to hurt it.

In tri, the hand-holding is less evident, and you will be out there in the fields fighting impossibly huge creatures before you know it. The tutorial is much more in the vein of, “Hey there, let me tell you about that sword you’re holding” then it is “Now before you can wield a sword, I need to send you out on this overly simplistic sword-based mission”. This lets you learn as you play, and also allows you to dive in to the meat of the game much earlier–I’ll admit I’m a bit of a Monster Hunter rookie, but I’ve played Freedom Unite on the PSP, and I can tell you this is a welcome change.

There are also a lot of little changes that are worth noting–you can now change your gear inside the meeting hall where your online compatriots can see it, rather than going outside to change your equipment and then coming back in. This is nice for showing off some gear you’ve picked up, or if you just need to make a last minute change to your equipment and don’t want to hold your buddies up. Harvesting plants and digging are also much easier now, as a context sensitive button will appear next to these items and let you perform the action–no more stopping and going through your inventory to equip your pick axe before you start mining. This all makes for a smoother experience, and keeps you from having to muck around in your inventory every time you see something you want to dig.

The biggest change is the fact that you now have split-screen co-op and online multiplayer, rather than the more limited online of the PSP titles. In Japan, this service requires monthly payments, but as of now, the American side of Capcom has not made a decision. One reason they can do this in Japan is due to the popularity of the series–people would probably pay way more than Capcom charges to get their hands on it–but that may not fly over here, considering it’s just not as popular. Regardless, the game will be on Capcom’s own servers, and will not require Friend Codes. It’s much more like playing an online game on the Playstation Network or over Xbox Live, which works for me.

I played two levels during my time with Capcom–the first of these had us fighting a brand new monster that would call for help from other monsters if we stopped attacking it for too long. The obvious solution was to beat the thing into submission, but the monster didn’t just stand there and take it, so it’s easier said than done. With four of us working on it though, the fight did not last too long–it showed off how important teamwork can be in a Monster Hunter mission though. I got to mess around with a brand new weapon during this mission, the switch axe. It’s either a huge axe or a massive sword, depending on which mode you choose to use, and you can switch back and forth using the right bumper on the classic controller. Both have their positives and negatives, as axes are obviously swung slower than swords but do massive damage, and vice versa.

One other thing I noticed during this session–you get up from being knocked down significantly faster in the Wii version than in the PSP one, which is great. Monsters won’t be able to get as much of a head start on you if they run, you can get back into the fight faster–nothing bad can come from speeding that up a bit, especially since it took so long to get back up in the older versions.

The other level I demoed was meant for the hardcore Japanese audience that is used to playing Monster Hunter, meaning I had little to no chance of completing it. It did show off the new underwater combat though, which means I needed to give it a go. Water combat is a lot like combat on the ground in some ways–get near your enemy, use your weapon, rinse and repeat–but also very different. Since you need to angle yourself in the water, the combat is more 3D, since the monsters can come from behind, in front of you, on top of you or underneath you. There’s also a layer of strategy here–if you can harass the monster until it gets out of the water, sometimes you help your chances. Not everything that swims fast is as adept on land, and you may be able to turn a once difficult foe into a sluggish, easier target on dry ground. That’s not always true though, as some enemies that you find in the water excel on land, so you will learn when this is a good tactic to employ and when you’re better off fighting aquatically.

Don’t worry about running out of breath, either–you can dive for around 20 minutes without any problems, and there’s an item you can take just like a potion that will allow you to breathe underwater indefinitely.

Lastly, the graphics in this game are fantastic. Despite the gargantuan beasts, Monster Hunter utilizes a realistic graphical style, and it looks like the Wii finally got their graphical showcase for that style of game. Everything is brightly lit, with light and shadows playing an important part in the landscapes (especially underwater) and everything also looks very, very smooth. You can see for yourself in the screens, but the game looks better in motion.

Monster Hunter is one of those series that always intrigues me, and I want to love it, but there’s always something that gets in the way of me either picking it up or diving in as much as I want to. With tri, Capcom seems to have done away with many of these barriers to entry, and may have set themselves up to release their best effort yet on the Wii. We’ll have more info on this game as it nears release, but for now, just know the series seems to be headed in a positive direction.

The latter was a Code Veronica level, with Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside doing the zombie killing on Rockfort Island, as Claire searches for her brother Chris in his pre-boulder punching days. The gameplay was similar to the Resident Evil 2 level demoed earlier this summer, though there was a lot less running from zombies given you were in a more secluded area than a city’s streets.

Here are the basics–the game is on rails, but this has a more cinematic feel to it than Umbrella Chronicles did. There’s a lot more looking around at your environment, a lot more going on in the way of dialogue–it feels much more like a standard first-person game at these times than an on-rails shooter. The shaky cam adds to this feeling, especially since the game doesn’t wait around for you to kill every bad guy in your path. If Umbrella Chronicles was like House of the Dead, then Darkside Chronicles is more like the recent Dead Space: Extraction.

Except for when it isn’t, and after exposure to EA’s latest “guided first-person experience”, Darkside Chronicles may have some catching up to do, at least on the gameplay side of things–the Resident Evil mythology and universe may carry the day as far as story goes, given how much deeper and longer the history is for this franchise. There isn’t much dialogue during the actual gameplay; for the most part, it comes during cutscenes, which affects the games flow. Whereas in Extraction it felt like you could be attacked at any time, from anywhere, because the game did not make distinctions between cutscenes and gameplay moments, the line seems to be drawn pretty thick in Darkside Chronicles–you have a good idea of when you will be attacked, even if you don’t know from where. That being said, what gameplay is here does work, though it’s to be seen if it will stand up to Extraction when we get a full copy of the game for review.

The Code Veronica level was enjoyable, but the highlight was the brand new locale, meant to fill in spaces in Resident Evil history. Those of you that played Resident Evil 4 are aware of the rivalry between Leon Kennedy and Jack Krauser–the history isn’t exactly clear or revealed during that game, but Darkside Chronicles looks to fill in some of those gaps. Krauser and Leon work together in South America in broad daylight, in an area that looks more than a little bit like the African lands that Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar traversed in Resident Evil 5. A Capcom representative even mentioned that developers from Resident Evil 5 were impressed with the way the Wii handled these scenes, and that they felt it meant the system could have handled Resident Evil 5. Mind you, that’s not a confirmation that it’s coming or anything, just an observation from an impressed developer.

This was visually impressive in a few ways–it was well-lit, and despite being essentially a ghost town, had that same feeling that it used to be vibrant, much like the African setting in RE5. On the other hand, without the shadows and darkness to conceal some graphical shortcomings, the stage’s rough edges showed up a bit more–of course, there’s still a few weeks left of development for this game, and this demo was originally from the Tokyo Game Show, meaning it could already be cleaned up.

One thing I could not get direct confirmation on was whether Darkside Chronicles would feature some of the level types that Umbrella Chronicles did, where you were able to play as series’ villain Albert Wesker. It would make sense to have them again, and a “no comment” is more of a positive than a “no”, so keep your fingers crossed.

As a fan of Resident Evil, I’m excited for The Darkside Chronicles. From the looks of things, I may not be as enamored with the gameplay as I was that of Dead Space: Extraction, but the Resident Evil backstory–including new sections created for this game that are meant to fill in the gaps–should do wonders to make this game a quality holiday title on the Wii regardless.

You play as Huang Lee, a member of the Triads whose father has just been killed in Hong Kong. He’s in Liberty City to deliver a sword–Yu Jian–to his Uncle Kenny, who is vying to become the new leader of the Triads. Huang is ambushed by unknown assailants along the way, and is thought to be dead. You are tasked with finding out where the sword has gone and who killed your father, and like in any Grand Theft Auto game, you will meet a cast of characters with missions for you to carry out on your way to reaching these goals.

While the story is good enough, it’s certainly one of the weaker parts of the title, especially when compared to other recent GTA games. “Weaker” is a relative term though, as almost everything else works incredibly, and there is so much to do outside of the story that you would be forgiven for ignoring your Uncle Kenny’s wishes for hours at a time. The characters you meet are also entertaining, so it’s not like this is a blight on the game or anything–there have just been better GTA yarns to spin in the past.

Despite what screens have led you to believe, this game is fully 3D, and seen from an aerial perspective. The camera rotates at 360 degrees, showing off the 3D models and interactive environment. The little things, like mail boxes, street signs and lamp posts all use realistic physics to react to your crashing and bumping into them. You will crash into a car, and that car will flip through the air just like it would on a home console–this is the moment where you realize just how powerful Chinatown Wars is graphically. It was impressive on the DS, but on the PSP, with a wider screen and higher resolution, the game’s graphics and physics stand out even more. Rockstar Leeds also went back and added some lighting effects, which are especially noticeable at night or when you’re driving around the city.

Chinatown Wars uses a semi cel-shaded style that works very well on the system, and cutscenes, though told through text and character portraits, have that trademark GTA art style down, and they work effectively. The PSP version cut down on the thick black lines that some of the DS characters had around them, and also presents the cutscenes in a much higher resolution that makes the images much, much cleaner. My one issue on the graphical side of things is that occasionally it feels like the game can’t load the road in front of you fast enough when you’re speeding–the entire road just sort of appears in front of you out of a mass of black nothingness. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen, and it resulted in a few crashes into cop cars I couldn’t see until I was literally on top of them. This wasn’t an issue with the DS version, so this may just be a UMD issue.

Though characters and cars may appear small at first, you shouldn’t lost track of what’s going on, and you can tell what is happening on screen. Driving, for example, is easier than you think it would be given you are using a single analog stick; your car can auto-align to center itself, and you can use the shoulder buttons as brakes to make turns more effectively. You can also set your GPS routes to appear on the city roads themselves, which is useful while learning your way around the city–I know I’m always overwhelmed the first few times I boot up a GTA game and have to find my way around.

Rockstar promised this would be the most action-intensive GTA we have seen, and they were not lying. Everything happens very fast, with more arcade influence than some of the game’s console cousins; there are tons of explosions, bullets, police officers, gang members, fires–if it’s dangerous, there’s a lot of it around Liberty City. Ridiculous weapons like the flamethrower and chainsaws are back, and they are a blast to use, especially when you start to get cornered by gang members jumping out of speedy cars. Missions will see you accomplishing a variety of tasks, but there is an emphasis on taking down entire groups of gang members before they can get you, as well as high speed car chases where guns are fired and Molotov Cocktails are tossed out windows to slow your pursuers. If it’s action you are looking for, I’m happy to report that Chinatown Wars delivers in spades. Even better, you can now replay any mission you have completed by checking out the white board in your apartment; you are able to improve your times and scores on these missions from here, which can then be uploaded, along with the rest of your stats, to the Rockstar Social Club, where Rockstar will hold contests for prizes. Those who participate in the Rockstar Social Club will also have access to some exclusive missions down the line, a nice bonus and incentive to keep playing.

What really ups the action in Chinatown Wars though is the new police evasion system. Rather than simply outrun the cops when you cause trouble, you must now actively engage them to impede their chase. When you get a single star (or are back down to one star) you can utilize the old system of laying low, but you will find yourself in far more trouble than that given the level of action in this game. In those cases, you will need to “disable” the cop cars by ramming into them, causing them to crash into buildings, walls, other cars, or just smashing them around with your vehicle while at high speeds. This kind of turns things around, making you more of the hunter than you are used to. Remember, the goal is not to blow up or destroy the cars, so don’t think you will be off the hook by tossing hand grenades out the window at oncoming cruisers. Instead, you just need to get rid of those who are chasing you by taking out their vehicles–they can’t very well catch up with you if they are on foot and you are in a sports car.

The game is a bit light on story, but here’s the short of it: the Blob lands on Earth, and he needs help to save his planet of Blobolonia. The titular boy finds him, and they set out on a journey full of danger, puzzles, jellybeans and hugs. Yes, there’s a button specifically used to hug Blob, and it’s as adorable as it sounds. Don’t laugh, you’ll catch yourself using it.

The game is presented via beautiful handrawn artwork in a 2D style. It’s 2D, but it isn’t simple–think of Wario Land: Shake It! as this game’s closest kin, presentation wise. The game animates very well, and the real star of the show is Blob, as he morphs into loads of different shapes throughout the game, fluidly and impressively. This morphing process occurs when you feed him jellybeans–different beans give you different abilities, like the jack, for lifting objects and enemies, a trampoline, a bowling ball, a rocket–the list goes on and on.

In the original game, you had a limited number of jellybeans, and the game was a bit more open-ended. In this update, you have unlimited jellybeans, and the game is broken into levels–there are 40 of them, plus 40 bonus levels. You are given a few specific jellybeans for each level, which is basically simple platforming combined with puzzles that grow in difficulty the further you proceed in the game. There are also three treasure chests in each level–they are easy to spot and pick up at first, but this grows more difficult as time goes on as well. You will not find all of the treasures on your first playthrough unless you scour the game world for each and every one, but you can return to a level at any time to replay it as well. Picking up all three treasures in a level unlocks a challenge level for you to visit (more on that later).

These puzzles are very satisfying to complete, especially as you progress through the game. Eventually you will need quick reflexes and to do more than just toss a jellybean anywhere in order to proceed. You can throw jellybeans by holding the B button and checking the angle at which it will land and bounce, and Blob will give chase. You can call Blob back if you miss too, using the C button. This also works if Blob is stuck off screen; the Blob’s AI works most of the time, but for the odd time when he (she?) doesn’t follow you when they are supposed to, you can press the C button a few times to start an automatic return process.

Just because you have a specific set of jellybeans for each level does not mean there is just one way through many of the game’s puzzles or enemies, either. Lots of enemies charge at you from a distance–you could try to peg them with the bowling ball if it’s available, drop an anvil on their head if there’s a ledge above them, drop a hole in the ground, or jump over them as they charge with the trampoline. Oftentimes your jellybean inventory will be full or close to it, so these options are close at hand assuming the environment cooperates.

Even boss fights are puzzles, kind of like in Braid. Once you figure out what to do, it’s very simple, but until you do you may have a bit of a problem. It’s nice to combine action with the puzzle every now and then, so these are satisfying moments in the gameplay.

This slow-paced, puzzle-based gameplay is something you need to be aware of before you throw money down on this game. If you’re looking for a fast-paced platformer where you can run and jump around, then this isn’t the game you’re looking for. The boy is basically helpless without the Blob–he doesn’t run very fast, doesn’t jump very high, and needs the Blob to get around even some of the most basic looking levels. That’s not to say it isn’t a great experience, because it is, you just need to be aware that this is, first and foremost, a puzzle game with platforming elements, not the other way around. My one complaint with this setup is that the hint system–signs with painted Blob objects on them–detracts from some of the satisfaction of solving the puzzles. There are fewer of them as you play, but an option to turn off hints would have been nice.

Then again, Wayforward may have just been saving the bigger challenge for the post-game play. When you complete the initial 40 levels, which takes more time than you think it will–levels extend in length as the game goes on, and as they rise in difficulty the amount of time you spend completing them will also rise–you can play 40 challenge levels, assuming you’ve been discovering the treasures in each level along the way. If you’re unfamiliar with Wayforward games, let me tell you that they don’t kid around when they say “challenge”. These levels will require your reflexes and quick thinking in order to complete them, but once you do, you can unlock concept art and storyboards–this is a great looking game, and you get what you put into the story, so those are two fun additions outside of bragging rights. I played through some of the challenge levels for this review, and they are aptly named–I’ll be happy to pick up the rest of the treasures and complete as many challenge levels as my brain and thumbs can handle now that this review is done.

Blast Factor: Wayforward and Majesco’s A Boy and His Blob is what a remake or re-imagining should be–it keeps the core concept of the original, but improves on enough that the game feels fresh and new. The artwork is gorgeous, and shows off just what the Wii can do with inspired art direction and capable artists, and the gameplay is worthy of the excellent concept of shape-shifting puzzle solving, something the original game has a harder time claiming.

A Boy and His Blob is available exclusively on the Wii, and retails for $39.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Let’s start with the shiny and fun stuff: Uncharted 2 has the most impressive graphics I’ve ever seen on a console game. If that sounds like hyperbole, then you haven’t seen Uncharted 2 in action, so quit your whining and go find out for yourself before you contradict me. Animations are fluid and realistic. The environments, which were part of what drew people to the original game in the first place, are brighter, colorful, and just feel alive. There are parts of this game that approach photo realistic, and the cutscenes use the in-game engine (Naughty Dog Engine 2.0, an upgraded version) to tell the game’s story–the seamless transitions between cutscenes and in-game events is impressive, to say the least.

The music in the game is wonderful in its ambient nature, rising and falling at all of the right times to increase tension and keep you focused on the game world. Sound effects are satisfying to hear–explosions, gun fire, the chatter of Nathan Drake as he rolls away from grenades or pops a guy in the head with a shot. Most wonderful is the voice acting though–the writing and acting are of such high quality that the game is almost as entertaining to watch as it is to play. Nathan is a lovable lead, but the supporting cast is just as entertaining–old favorites in Sully and Elena return, along with newbies like Harry Flynn and Chloe, two characters who have a history with Nate that are with you through various means throughout the adventure.

The story is well done (just like in the first game) so even if you begin to tire of shooting from behind cover at your enemies, you will want to keep playing to hear that next line or see the tale unfold. I won’t spoil a thing for you, but the game begins in the midst of the action, with Drake falling out of a train car that’s suspending from a snowy mountain. Flashbacks bring you into the past, and you play your way right back to the scene after a significant number of hours. It’s a neat mechanic that is not seen very often in games, and it worked to great effect here as you re-lived the events of Drake’s life leading up to his being half-dead in the snow.

Uncharted 2’s gameplay is split into three distinct sections: platforming, puzzles, and shooting. The puzzles in this sequel are improved from the first–they aren’t as painfully obvious, and you now get to flip through a few pages of your journal at a time in order to figure out just where Nate has seen this puzzle before. They are still simple though, but enjoyable to solve. The platforming is the more significant part of the gameplay, as you will spend a huge chunk of your time in Uncharted 2 climbing, jumping, and trying your best not to look down. Climbing isn’t as easy as it was in say, inFAMOUS, where you automatically latch on to everything, but that’s because there are more specific paths for Drake and company in this game than in that one starring a super powered protagonist. Climbing is satisfying, and sometimes finding the right path is a puzzle unto itself–a more challenging one than the actual puzzles at times. There’s a hint system in place if you take too long, and you can press up on the D-pad when notified one is available to see it. It’s helpful, especially your first time through the game, as it just points you in the right direction without actively telling you what needs to be done.

You’ll spend more time shooting than anything in Uncharted 2, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. Luckily, the controls are tighter, and for this reason you’ll have much more fun blasting away mercenaries than you did in the original. For one, grenades are now thrown by holding L2 to create a throwing arc, and then releasing it to toss your grenade. Need a quick explosion? Naughty Dog’s got you covered there too, as you can now blind fire a grenade using your reticule as a quick and dirty guide; hold L1 and press L2 to fire your grenades this way. I use this more often than the more accurate system, just because there isn’t always time to setup a grenade lob. Plus, it’s a hand grenade, and almost counts here; you don’t need to be spot on with each one to do damage.

Okay, so maybe Frank West and his freakish fivehead are not part of Dead Rising 2, but Blue Castle Games and Capcom are doing their best to make us forget that. Chuck Greene, a former national motocross champion, is stuck in Fortune City, which is basically Las Vegas with zombies. This means a brand new environment, brand new weapons, and, thanks to advances in technology, loads and loads of zombies. Part of what made the original Dead Rising impressive was the number of shambling, muttering undead on screen at once; this time around, Blue Castle has cranked the knob up to 11 and is telling people that 10,000 zombies can be on screen, at the same time. The zombies are also a lot more animated than they were in the original Dead Rising, so this massive number is even more impressive. Exponentially more zombies with additional animations and more life-like movements? Yes please. Let’s not forget to mention that the camera has been improved so that you don’t lose Chuck as easily as you may have lost Frank in a crowd–zombies now appear see-through when the camera pans in close enough, so you can see what you have to do and where you need to go as you fight with the brain-craving masses.

What stuck out to me about my time with the single-player mode in Dead Rising 2 were the weapons. You had some old favorites–the katana, chairs, trash barrels–but there were plenty of new weapons that demanded attention too. The katana has been overhauled a bit, with improved physics–whereas in the original, if you sliced away, the animations just had zombies fall away from you sliced open with a katana, you now see the exact spot where the zombie was hit slice open and fall away. I just managed to scrape against a zombie’s head with a glancing blow at one point, and part of his scalp came flying off before the blade separated his shoulder from his body.

As for the new weapons, I tried out a few things like the roulette wheel, which acted much like any other large, blunt object from the first. Smash first, ask questions later. More interesting was the chainsaw paddle. This was two chainsaws, duct taped to a pole. You started both chainsaws up and went after the undead like you were Darth Maul and they were mindless, bleeding Jedi. The duct tape is something important to note; it quietly confirmed that you can create brand new weapons by combining other weapons, which, even if there was not a single new item in the game to start, would give this sequel a better weapon selection than the original.

This particular portion of the demo was a mission–I was supposed to kill 300 zombies in 10 minutes in order to unlock a bonus round, which the Capcom reps told me I did not want to miss out on. Heeding their advice, I surpassed that total before time was up, which allowed me to partake in the bonus round. The bonus round gave me a wheelchair. With assault rifles duct taped to it. Did I mention it was a wheelchair that drives itself? Because it was a wheelchair that drives itself with assault rifles attached to it.

You can guess how much fun that was to use–one of the Capcom reps even pointed out that you could see how happy the wheelchair made me as I used it (my poker face was nonexistent, apparently). Like I said, wiping out crowds of zombies never gets old, especially when you do things like equip a motorized wheelchair with high-powered weaponry and tell me to go crazy.

I’m very impressed by the progress of Dead Rising 2’s single-player mode, as this feels like it could be a very different game from the first while still retaining the over-the-top zombie thrashing that drew so many people to the series in the first place. Multiplayer was also a good time, which took me by surprise.

Four games (the only four that have been announced, and Capcom was silent on details of future info on the subject) were available for multiplayer–Ramsterball, Headache, Pounds of Flesh and Slicecycles. Ramsterball may have been my favorite–you were placed inside of a rolling ball and told to run over as many zombies as you could, along with three other players. The twist was that just one player–the one whose ball was lit up–could score points with their kills, and the other players had to smash into them at a certain speed or higher in order to take that advantage away. The player with the points could bank their points by going to one of a few pedestals littered around the playing field, but it appeared as if your points multiplied the longer you held them and killed more zombies, adding a layer of strategy to the game.

Headache was entertaining as well–you slammed colored blenders onto zombie’s heads, with the intention of starting them up and making zombie juice with the press of a button. You also had a stick of dynamite, which you could plant in a zombie near an opponent’s blenders; blow that up when you press the button to nullify their progress and enhance your own.

Pound of Flesh was the only one of the four that left me without a big smile. You have antlers on your helmet, and you charge at a row of zombies by holding X, then press X quickly to flick those zombies onto a scale. There are fat zombies and skinny zombies, so with some practice and finesse you can put the heftier drones on the scale and improve your chances. This was the only one of the four mini-games that didn’t have you interacting with the other players, which may be why I didn’t like it as much.

Slicecycles was my second favorite of these games–you drive around a motorcycle that has two blades attached to it on the sides. Whoever was leading from the previous three games got a few seconds to themselves to start the match as well, which is nice incentive. Drive through the zombie horde, slicing up as many of them as you can by accelerating with the RT and using the LT as a brake–if you tapped the LT correctly, it worked as a handbrake, which allowed you to skate through the crowds at an angle and let the bike turn itself around, saving you valuable seconds and giving you more chances to wipe out zombies. This game also came with a bonus round, where certain zombies had pink balloons on their heads–they were worth bonus points, so you want to nail them.

As our scores were tallied up, a dollar amount also showed up. There wasn’t any word on what that money was for, but it’s obvious it’s going to be used for something–otherwise the game would just use points as a guide for success.

Both the single and multiplayer experiences are shaping up to be good fun, which is good news for those of you waiting for your next go-round of zombie mashing mayhem in an out-of-control controlled environment. We’ll have more info on this game as it nears release, but for now, enjoy the screens–apologies for the lack of zombie slaying gun chair pics.

If you missed our initial hands-on, you can read it here; just know that a lot has changed since I wrote that, as the camera has zoomed back a bit for a better view of the field and the action, the game runs smoother (the framerate was locked in for most of my time playing, whereas it skipped around often in the alpha), and the pacing feels a bit better, as the clock has been tweaked and fixed so that it doesn’t run at random anymore. These are normal things to clean up as a game approaches launch, but it’s nice that you can feel the game getting closer and closer to completion, improving along the way.

The legendary coaches are for single-player matches; you can earn points in these bouts (and a future update will ensure that you keep the points even if you quit early, since it’s just the computer and not a fellow person). It’s a good way to help yourself along to the next level, as well as a place to check out some different plays so you can what they do–and what your team is capable of doing effectively. Legendary players come into play a bit more often, as you get two on your created team when you start it. These players will be more experienced than your other, made-up players, and are selected based on the style of play you choose; for example, if you want to be pass heavy, you’ll probably end up with a legendary quarterback or wide receiver, and if you want to run, you will probably get a running back.

The game feels more and more like a coaching simulation as time goes on, and since it’s more accessible than EA’s foray into that field with their Head Coach series, it also feels like it will stick. You don’t need to be a football genius in order to succeed at Quick Hit–if anything, the game might teach you a bit about play-calling and the like, which can only make you better at it, but it isn’t required.

The fantasy points are the thing I want to focus on, as stated. You earn points for successfully completing plays–such as passes, runs, touchdowns, field goals, etc.–but also for little things. Your linemen can earn points for successfully blocking the opposition or running through them if they are on defense. You pick up points for sacks, picks, extra points, even successful punts. Every action builds towards you earning points and leveling up, and once you have leveled up, the game switches to its more RPG/MMO aspects. You earn coaching points for every level you gain–these coaching points are then distributed among your players as you see fit. You can organize them by worst players, best players, position–you have a lot of options for filtering, and it’s all easy to use. Every few levels, your players unlock new skills which are automatically used in games. Say you have a lineman with a skill that helps the linemen around him block a bit better–that’s valuable, especially when you need to use coaching points on other parts of your roster in order to stay balanced.

It’s a system that I can see getting addicting–people complain about having to level grind in MMOs or more traditional RPGs, but there’s one important point here that you need to remember: level grinding is playing football. I can’t stress that fact enough. If you want your team to be better, you play a game. You don’t have to do anything special, just play, and you will earn points. You don’t have to win–as long as you play, you’ll earn points for what you have done right. Facing harder teams is actually good for you too, as there is an experience multiplier for tougher opponents. You don’t even have to focus on a particular player, like you would if you were playing the franchise mode of Madden. If your running back is awesome, abuse your running game, rack up fantasy points, and use your coaching points on other positions. That kind of freedom isnt’ found in any other football title I can think of, and is a huge positive for the system in place in Quick Hit Football.

Brandon Justice, the Director of Design for Quick Hit Football, let me know that they are working on an update to make rage-quitting a non-issue, for those of you who are wondering if you are going to be screwed out of earning points by other people. The plan is to setup the game so that whoever quits loses their points, but you, the non-quitter, get to continue to play against the computer in order to pick up a victory for your record (assuming you can continue to win) as well as continue to earn fantasy points. There has even been talk of making it so that those who quit, once the computer has taken over, will still earn the loss if the AI is unable to beat their human opponent. Since rage-quitting and whiny opponents are the main reason I get away from online football (and online sports games in general) after a time, this is news I can welcome with open arms.

Quick Hit is looking better each time I play it, which is good news considering the team is still hard at work improving the experience and listening to their fans for feedback. If you haven’t checked it out yet, I suggest you get going and join the open beta, especially since you can start to earn fantasy points now for your team.

Ignition, in conjunction with Marvelous Entertainment, aim to change that, as they are bringing Arc Rise Fantasia, a very promising looking turn-based RPG that I’ve been keeping an eye on for ages now, to North America in summer of 2010. The title, developed by Image Epoch (Luminous Arc and its sequel) is turn-based, but has some new twists to it that should keep battles fun and engaging. You are not required to use all of your party members like in most turn-based RPGs, but can instead pick and choose until you use up your Ability Points–there are lots of bonuses for using certain members for certain things too, so there’s a deeper level of strategy than in your traditional turn-based title.

“In Arc Rise Fantasia, we’ve implemented a fun and quick paced battle system to give gamers an enjoyable RPG experience,” said Hiroyuki Kanemaru of Image Epoch. “Ignition Entertainment has a great track record with bringing established Japanese experiences to new western audiences and we’re delighted to be able to team up with them to publish Arc Rise Fantasia.”

Check out the first screens for the North American version below, most of which show off characters or some of the bright and colorful effects of the game.

Here are the basics: there are various colored orbs hanging from the ceiling, and you shoot them down by blasting more of these colored balls from below. Chances are good you have played Bust-A-Move or one of its variants in the past (Snood, perhaps?) so most people should be familiar with the concept. Three of the same color orbs touching means you’ve cleared those from the puzzle–continue to do this to clear the entire puzzle in single-player, or do this as much as you can to stave off losing and outlast your opponent in multiplayer.

There are different orbs with different powers as well–the flame burns away whatever pieces it touches, while the rainbow turns into the color of the object it was touching when they are cleared–and they are simple to use, as you just shoot them like any other orb. The most useful may be the crystal, which when shot eliminates every ball of that color along with it–this is also a great piece for multiplayer, since your cleared pieces make their way over to your opponent’s screen.

There’s plenty of single-player fun to be had here. Start with one of a few puzzles (named A, B, C, and so on) which then branch off into different options, and continues that way until you reach the end of the alphabet. You can replay this mode a few times without repeating puzzles, but even repeating them is worthwhile as you can improve upon your scores and times–the game tracks this information for you, and as any puzzle addict can tell you, things like that add a lot of replay value.

Multiplayer is also great, as you can play locally with a friend or over Xbox Live. There are various game modes here–different object sets, different ways of attacking your opponent with cleared pieces (traditionally from the top, more annoyingly from the bottom)–and matches are not one off events either, so don’t be discouraged if you get wrecked online or have a bad match the first time around, as there’s another chance for you right around the corner.

The music can at times become a little annoying, though there are parts of the song that plays again and again I enjoy–these parts sound like they belong in Chrono Trigger rather than Bust-A-Move, but it’s appreciated just the same. Like the music, the graphics can be hit-or-miss; they are bright and colorful as they should be, but the menus are bland with giant, ugly font, and the inclusion of avatars in multiplayer is just a bad decision–their fat, exaggerated heads get in the way when you’re trying to make shots down in the corners. You know, in some of the most important areas for accuracy in an entire Bust-A-Move match.

Blast Factor: It’s hard not to like this game, as it is Bust-A-Move. The next-gen additions don’t add a ton to the title–as stated, avatar inclusion is more annoying than fun, and the bland presentation takes away from some of the graphical high points–but you’ve got a time-tested puzzler available for you with online and local play, and chances are good that some people out there have not experienced the addiction that is Bust-A-Move as of yet. Now’s your chance to fix that issue.

Bust-A-Move Live! is available exclusively on the Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade service for 800 Microsoft Points. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

This is a fantasy RPG, but you are not some kind of powered-up super soldier that swings a sword larger than they are to cleave through any foe. Nor are you some kind of dexterous, agile creature that can run and jump without tiring, avoiding the blows of the enemies around you. You’re a regular person with regular weapons and you can (and will) bleed. And you will die. You think that giant axe looks awesome? You’re probably only strong enough to swing it if you use two hands, which means you can’t use a shield. No problem, right? You’re sure to cut through anything in your path with it. Well, assuming you can swing it often anyways—which you can’t, given its heft and the energy required to swing it once. You power up as you play (more on that later) but you can’t just start off as a force to be reckoned with. You have to earn that through the lessons the game attempts to impart on you, but this learning process is part of what should draw you into the world of Demon’s Souls to begin with.

Here’s the story in non-spoiler form: you’ve come to Boletaria to either save the world from the demons or use their power for your own ends, but either way some demons are going to pay. You can pick from a variety of classes, all with their own strengths, weaknesses and strategies for playing. Want to overpower your foes? Become a knight, fully decked out in an armor suit. Maybe you want a bit more movement—become a soldier with lighter plate armor, but less strength and protection. Maybe you want to attack from a distance with a bow (Hunter) or spells—that last category has multiple options all its own. You have to approach each situation differently depending on your class, but there’s no wrong answer. You just have to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each class—they will become apparent to you soon enough—as you progress through the game, or else there will be no progression for you.

You attack with your primary weapon using R1, and utilize strong attacks with R2. You can equip a secondary weapon on the same hand if you want a sword/spear combination or something like that, and in your other hand you can carry a shield or another weapon, like a crossbow, bow or wand for magic. You run by holding down the Circle button, and you can also roll and take a quick step back using the Circle and a direction on the left stick. Items are used with the Square button, and your on-hand items are rotated using down on the directional pad. The controls are easy to use once you get used to where everything is.

Just like many of today’s RPGs, you have to deal with inventory and equip weight; too much on hand means you won’t be able to show off your agile rolling and running effectively, so be mindful of this. Unlike many of today’s RPGs, there is no pause button, so you can’t just hit pause and equip a more powerful weapon or heal yourself while a bad guy tries to lop your head off. Always be prepared is right up there with any other personal rule you can come up with for surviving Demon’s Souls.

Wii Fit Plus is an extension of Wii Fit, meant as an upgrade to replace the original. The question here is whether those who have already purchased Wii Fit can find anything worthwhile in this version, or if there is now enough included to bring in some of the skeptics from the past.

The short answer: Wii Fit Plus is a better exercise tool than the original, and a better game. There’s more emphasis on the game portion this time around, with 15 new activities–many of which are mini-games exclusive to Wii Fit Plus–and more attention paid to multiplayer and competition. Sure, they aren’t the most strenuous exercises around, but the key thing with them is that you have fun while you’re exercising–anything that keeps you from noticing you’re doing something healthy is good by me. Think of Wii Fit Plus as a Fitness Ninja that gets the job done without you ever noticing while it’s happening.

The new games are meant as a fun diversion though, and not as a replacement for strength training and aerobics–don’t expect to lose weight by replaying Rhythm Kung Fu or golf over and over again, even if they are fun and working modes. There are plenty of other enhancements to Wii Fit Plus that make it a better workout tool. It’s more family oriented now–you can weigh your pets and babies if you want, which is fun in its own way even if it isn’t necessary. There’s a calorie counter, which tracks how many calories you have burned during your workout. This is done by using METS (metabolic equivalent of task) which basically measures the amount of time you work out by the METS number for said workout to give you an idea of what you’ve accomplished. To give the calories some context, you can also compare the total to different food items within Wii Fit Plus, or pick a food item equivalent worth of calories you plan to burn each day. Have a need for a soft serve ice cream every day, but don’t want to put on extra weight? Make that your workout goal and burn those roughly 200 calories. This also serves as a wonderful reminder of how awful fast food can be for you–see how willing you are to shove two cheeseburgers from your favorite drive thru into you after you see that it will take you half a day of exercise to work it all off.

Have a certain area you want to work on? Maybe you have a schedule of workouts you want to rotate if you use Wii Fit Plus all the time? Thankfully, you can now create custom routines or use ones that the game has in mind for you, rather than just mindlessly choosing exercises and programs like in the original. This is something I enjoyed, as I don’t mind doing the aerobic exercises daily, but like to switch up yoga and strength training so I don’t overdo it. This is also good for those of us who may not want to use the mini-games very often, but prefer using this for a legitimate workout tool.

I’m not a fan of the Wii Fit Age setup. It worked well for Brain Age, but when you just do a few of these per day and at random–and I, like many others, probably do this early in the morning when their body is awake but their brain is still napping–the results are going to be negatively skewed. I already have tools to measure my brain’s age, so let’s stick with how my body is doing in the future instead of linking them up. Thankfully, you can always skip these and just get your updated weight and progress.

For those of you who do not work out everyday, you can install the Wii Fit Channel on to your Wii Menu, and check your daily weight from there. This is also nice since you don’t have to switch discs a bunch of times if you want to play a game right after your workout. With SD card support, you also have no excuse to not have room for the channel.

Another issue with Wii Fit Plus is that it uses BMI still. The weights it estimates for many users, including myself, are not always as healthy as the game thinks they are thanks to BMI. I’ve been at the weight the game suggests before, and it’s a good 5-7 pounds below my own personal comfort level. That being said, you can make the mental adjustment–like I just said, I know I should be about 5-7 pounds above what Wii Fit told me–and still appreciate the software for what it does right rather than focusing on what it doesn’t do.

If you already own Wii Fit and have a Balance Board, Nintendo has not forgotten about you. Wii Fit Plus is available in standalone form for $20, which is a great deal considering that it is the superior software and has loads more to do than the original.If you are sans Balance Board, you can pick this up for $100, $10 more than the original. I’m not pleased with that price increase, but it’s also much less expensive than workout equipment or a gym membership, as previously stated, and worth the money.

Blast Factor: Wii Fit has shown itself to be much more than a passing fad, and it now has an updated version that fixes many of the original’s issues. The calorie counter, the food comparisons, the customizable workouts, and the emphasis on making this more of a game help the Plus version of Wii Fit stay true to its name. If you already own Wii Fit, you should pick this updated version up, and if you haven’t jumped in yet but need an excuse to get off the couch, then Wii Fit Plus is the answer for you as well.

Wii Fit Plus is available exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $19.99 by itself and for $99.99 with a Balance Board peripheral. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Able Planet, as they have always looked to do, is looking out for your ears and your future hearing, and developed the PS500MM headphones for PC gamers. As you can see in the image, these are a small pair of headphones–you don’t have to carry around or store a big, bulky pair like you find in many noise-canceling headphones–and may be a necessary expense for those of you that game on PC’s often.

The noise-canceling effects built into the headphones means that you don’t need to turn up the volume in order to hear over your environment. They work well too–I’ve tested them on my PC playing some old-school games where sound is important to the experience, I’ve used them in my Nintendo DSi, and I’ve even checked them out on a plane, flying back and forth from Seattle to the Penny Arcade Expo. In each instance, I found that you never needed to put the volume all the way up, as you could hear the sounds and music with great clarity. This is nice for someone like me that has bludgeoned their ears with years of playing guitar with their amp turned up to 11, as I can still hear things without damaging my ears any further.

If you plan on traveling with them as I did, they come with a soft-carrying pouch to stick them in. The microphone that comes with the headset is very flexible, so the headphones fold up nice without any parts sticking out when you need to put them in the bag. Additionally, if you don’t need the microphone, it easily bends out of your way.

The headphones are comfortable as well, thanks to their being very light. The adjustment band on top is thin as well, so unlike some massive headsets, you won’t feel these on your head that much when you wear them. The headphones weigh in at 2.64 ounces, and to make things even nicer, the ear cups are leather and made to fit on your ears, not completely around them. I wore them most of the way from Boston to Seattle and back, and unlike when I use ear buds, I didn’t mind keeping them on for that length of time thanks to the way the cups fit.

A pair of PS500MM ships with a USB adapter in addition to your standard headphone and microphone jacks. You can pick up a pair of PS500MM headphones from Able Planet for $99. You can find them through Able Planet’s website, along with their other audio products.

Blast Factor: Headphones can be pricey, but $100 isn’t too much to ask for when it comes to saving your hearing. If you’re an avid gamer for PC titles–or even someone like me who spends a lot of time with a DS or PSP in their hands–then the PS500MM headphones are a comfortable and worthwhile addition to your gaming accessories.

Extraction is, as EA puts it, a “guided first-person experience.” While many people scoffed at the notion, and claimed that EA was just dressing up the term on-rails shooter so that the opinion of this Wii prequel would be higher, those who have now played through Extraction will have to admit that EA was not full of it, and the game is much, much more than your standard on-rails shooter. The first-person perspective, the focus on action and atmosphere and the constant dialogue from your characters makes this game much more Aliens than Alien, but it’s still Dead Space in every way.

In order to make this feel like it belonged in the Dead Space universe, Visceral needed to accomplish a few goals. First, they needed to nail the atmosphere. The original took its cues from games like Resident Evil 4, Doom 3 and the Metroid Prime series to create a sci-fi world where you would feel isolated, helpless, and very, very scared, and these feelings permeated the entire experience. With ammunition at a premium, every battle with the Necromorphs was a struggle as you tried to dismember their limbs and push on through the halls of the Ishimura. Visually, the game was stunning, with attention to detail in things like shadows and lighting that helped you scare yourself when the game wasn’t busy doing it for you. The audio was also fantastic, and helped to keep the mood thick with tension that you couldn’t get over even when the coast appeared clear.

While Extraction is not as much of a horror game as Dead Space, it still managed to meet the expectations for atmosphere–enemies attack you in large numbers from all directions,  you need to keep an eye on your ammunition, and, despite the stop and go nature of an on-rails title, there are plenty of surprises thrown your way thanks to the developer’s control over the action. The sound is also excellent, with text logs and reloading effects coming through the Wii Remote speaker and plenty of bumps and thuds in the dark to keep you on edge. I’m also happy to report that this game is a visual stunner–there was not a single moment in my entire playtime of Extraction where I wished the game was on more powerful hardware, because Visceral Games did a fantastic job recreating the visuals. Remember–this is a game that places place in the same exact areas as the original Dead Space, so the fact that Visceral was able recreate those areas and environments without forcing the player to think negatively about them in a negative sense is a huge achievement. Seeing the same rooms also helps shed some light on how certain areas ended up covered completely in the bodies of the dead, or destroyed by blasts and so forth. For those who have played the original, it’s a very nice, subtle bit of fan service and story expansion.

Besides that, Visceral also would need a compelling narrative; while the characters themselves fall into horror movie stereotypes–the calm, collected leader figure, the veteran soldier, the helpless girl, the shady, self-important guy that won’t reveal his past–the story itself is right up there with the action as far as being compelling goes. You’ll keep playing Extraction to learn what happened to the Ishimura and its crew, as well as those people from the colony you’re in control of,  not just because blowing the limbs off of mindless creatures is exhilarating. (though that has its merits as well!)

The game is broken up into 10 chapters, and you’ll control a slew of different characters throughout depending on what needs to be done and who has been separated from who. To keep you on your toes, many characters you travel with or are controlling are killed off without warning as part of the story–you’re never quite sure what’s going to happen next, which helps build the tension. You’ve got loads of Dead Space standbys at your disposal, like the Plasma Cutter, the Flame Thrower, the Ripper–which by the way, works much more effectively in Extraction than in the original thanks to pushing and pulling on the Wii Remote to aim the spinning blades–as well as a few new weapons, like the Rivet Gun. The Rivet Gun is used for its tool purposes–you’ll seal off barricades by riveting them into place–but also as your basic “pistol” type weapon that does not run out of ammo but is clearly weaker than your other options. Secondary fire modes are enabled by twisting the Wii Remote, and the only motion you’ll deal with is intuitive: to enable the flashlight-esque Glow Worm, you’ll shake the Wii Remote–this will often need to be done while in dark hallways in the middle of battles, so keep an eye on it and feel that tension build–and in order to throw a Necromorph off of you as it tries to devour your face.

You have recharging stasis shots that come in handy for environmental puzzles as well as slowing down faster enemies or dangerous ones in your peripheral vision. You’re able to grab ammunition, weapons, health, audio and text logs from afar using Kinesis; you can also grab projectiles from enemies and explosive canisters that can be fired off with the B button. You can do all of this in single-player, or pair up with a buddy anytime with drop-in co-op–on the harder difficulty levels, some people may find co-op a necessity just so you can fire twice as often and at different targets. Even on Normal, the second half of the game is challenging. You’ll most likely live through it, probably without dying even, but it will get hairy on occasion. Given the game has four difficulty levels, you’ll be able to test for yourself just how good you are at Extraction. It’s a good thing too, because the game may run a little short. It’s long for an on-rails title, clocking in at 7-8 hours, but still short as far as a shooter goes.

Besides the difficulty modes, there are a few more extras that will help you get your money’s worth out of the title though. You’re graded on each level you complete, and you unlock additional health and weapon upgrades by achieving higher scores. Challenge modes unlock as you complete the story; the title is not misleading, as you face wave after wave of Necromorphs as they try to tear you limb from limb in order to make you like them. You can also check out some Dead Space comics in motion comic form, which is a neat extra, especially for those that are very much into the Dead Space universe and all of the non-game content.

Blast Factor: Dead Space: Extraction had a lot to live up to in order to be a worthy entry in the Dead Space series, but it succeeded in many huge ways while only failing in minor, negligible forms. It has more depth than any on-rails title you’ve ever played, a great and engaging story, and many reasons to come back; namely, more difficulties, the Challenge modes, and the motion comics. I hope this is the start of a companion series for the Wii used to flesh out details of the Dead Space universe, but even if it is not, this game stands up on its own as a great Wii title and one of the system’s better releases in 2009.

Dead Space: Extraction is available exclusively on the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $49.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Star Fox

Star Fox was an impressive achievement when it first released for the Super Nintendo back in 1993. It utilized the Super FX chip, designed by Argonaut Games, in order to achieve Star Fox’s 3D style gameplay, and helped pave the way for future 3D titles thanks to its success. This chip was a microprocessor that could do things with 3D that the Super Nintendo could not–remember, the SNES was known for its ability to fake 3D with its Mode 7 capabilities, but true 3D was out of its initial abilities. Argonaut and Nintendo simply installed the chip in the Star Fox cartridge so that the SNES could handle the 3D held inside.

Even in caption form, Slippy is annoying.

In addition to its technical pioneer status, Star Fox also established yet another Nintendo franchise that would see sequels, spinoffs and appearances in games like Super Smash Bros. Though it is not utilized as often as Mario or Zelda, or as critically acclaimed as Metroid, it’s still one of the big boys from the Big N. Star Fox 64 is available on the Virtual Console, which may be why the original is not available; it’s still a fun game to play, but its sequel enhanced every facet of the game, and is the more famous one for a few reasons (Do a barrel roll!)

As for the gameplay, it’s an on-rails space shooter, though you can control your speed with thrusters and fly around to avoid objects and collect items. It has a very arcade feel to it, which makes it different than most Nintendo franchises. I also find it kind of funny that they have more 3D space shooters than old-school 2D shoot-em-ups, especially given how far back the company’s history and game development goes. Most of the games in the series have been this way–the exception is Rare’s entry in the series, the GameCube’s Star Fox Adventures. That’s a game people love or hate (or love to hate) thanks to its departures from the series norms, which you can’t blame people for given how strong those roots are. (Then again, a lot of the people that complained about Star Fox Adventures are probably the same people that complained that Namco’s GameCube entry was too similar to the Nintendo 64 game).

Pilotwings

Mode 7 was very impressive for its time, and helped show off the power of the SNES

This is a series that is screaming for a Wii sequel, especially given how neat the flying mechanic in Wii Sports Resort (Motion Plus!) is. The original was a launch title–you had this, Super Mario World and Sim City, three titles that still hold up today and are considered classics by many. Pilotwings did not utilize 3D like Star Fox did for its flying–this was a few years before the advent of the Super FX chip–but it was capable of rendering what appeared to be 3D thanks to Mode 7–when flying, objects on the ground appeared to be popping out of it naturally in three dimensions, but when you would land or come very close to the ground you could see that they were flat and on top of the ground–if you’ve ever watched the camera pan closer to the landscape in an SNES title utilizing Mode 7, you can picture what I’m talking about.

There’s a lot more to do in Pilotwings than just fly planes, as you can also use a hang glider, a rocket belt, or a helicopter, and you can also go skydiving (again, Wii Sports Resort makes me feel like Pilotwings Wii is necessary). Though the Nintendo 64 entry (also a launch title) may be the better game, the original is a lot of fun, and neither of them are on the VC. It’s been over 18 years since the original released and 13 since its sequel hit–it’s time to put them back on a Nintendo console, first Virtually, then maybe with a proper sequel.

The original has been kicking around for well over a year, so you may know the basics, but for the uninitiated, here goes. Sonia, a CIA agent dressed like a dominatrix and stacked like a porn star, is looking for Rya Hayabusa, and she’s kidnapped in front of him by the Dragon Clan’s nemesis, the Black Spider Ninja Clan. You eventually catch up to Sonia and get her to spill the beans about the crisis facing the world, but not fast enough to stop them from putting the plan into motion. Because of this, you have to take down the Greater Fiends and all of the ninjas, demons and giant puppet statues they employ along the way as you attempt to stop the awakening of the Arch Fiend.

As Ryu, you are trained in the use of a variety of weapons, most of which, while different in their use, find the same result: enemy dismemberment. Dismembered enemies (excepting those missing their heads, of course) will attempt to commit explosive suicide on top of Ryu, so you need to be mindful of them. Battles, no matter which weapon you wield, are fast-paced and frantic, and you need to be on your toes and blocking in order to survive the larger onslaughts. Thankfully, the camera, which was such a massive drawback in Ninja Gaiden II, has been fixed most of the way thanks to a camera reset that puts the view in the direction Ryu is looking. It can still be trouble on occasion if you are cornered, but it’s not something you’ll notice every step of the way.

If you like difficult action games with loads of enemies, then Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is for you. The story is completely over the top at times, and it seems like it takes itself very seriously, but at the same time you know deep down that everything is very tongue-in-cheek. How else do you come to a scenario where a man with a sword is able to destroy gigantic and iconic statues that have come to life like they are made out of Play Doh? The story is actually more enjoyable because of its nonsensical nature, because you’re sitting around waiting to see what ridiculous idea the developers have come up with for your next epic battle.

There’s some new stuff for those considering diving in a second time, like new bosses, weapons and playable characters, as well as an online co-op mission mode. If you’re by your lonesome, the second character will be controlled by the computer, so you can still experience this even if you have no one to play with. The missions are also great for replay value, given you can go through them again and again with your buddies, using different characters and strategies to get by. Sigma 2 also did a great job of cutting out a lot of the excess fat from the Xbox 360 version–because of this, the pacing is better, cheap deaths are lessened and the game is an overall more satisfying experience because of it. Oh, and you can jiggle the ladies assets with motion control, but that’s not exactly a bullet-point addition, now is it?

At the same time, if you’re a Ninja Gaiden II die hard, you may be put off by some of the changes. The game is far less bloody–there are no more fountains of blood shooting out of the necks and bodies of your dismembered opponents. On the plus side, the game’s frame rate is very good, and things run smoothly the whole time. On the downside, your blood fountains are gone, and the pro-blood fountain demographic is sure to make noise about this blatant disregard for their needs. The higher difficulty levels are also different, as your enemies have more hit points and do more damage, but don’t seem to be that much more intelligent in their approach. Some of the additions also don’t make much sense–that Buddha statue that comes after you in the first level just sort of appears out of nowhere when you’re still fighting basic goons (the Fiends have not been awakened yet). There are also some annoying presentation issues–a few levels are very, very bland in their look (hello New York city) and the game does not account for your weapon of choice in cutscenes–Ryu apparently has time to sheath the weapon he was using to pull out the Dragon Sword he didn’t fight with after each and every boss encounter.

Blast Factor: Those who did not play the original because they do not own both consoles will most likely not notice or care about the omissions, because Sigma 2 is a smoother gameplay experience, just like Sigma was. Fans of the original are sure to be split down the middle–those who played it on all of the difficulties until their fingers cramped probably won’t mind giving this new version a go, but whether they enjoy it or not has a lot to do with their level of blood lust (or their love for polygonal breasts that jiggle on command). If you can deal without the blood, then you’ll be happy you picked up this more recent edition.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is available exclusively on the Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Pogo.com wasn’t always known for its casual offerings—before it was even Pogo, it was Total Entertainment Network (TEN), and that outlet focused more on the hardcore in this pre-online console world. “The site focused on connecting hardcore gamers to each other online. We had games like Quake and Command & Conquer. Then companies started to include online functionality in their games and we were in a situation where we knew we’d be obsolete eventually” says Mike Riccio, the current VP and chief technology officer of Pogo.com. Riccio has been there since the beginning, so he’s seen all of the changes and why they were necessary.

Pogo's homepage has come a long way in 10 years

Before they were knocked out of the picture by the online improvements to home consoles, Riccio and co. switched TEN to Pogo.com, and became an outlet for casual gaming. “Web portals were driving revenue through advertising, and online games were one way for them to engage consumers. We built a new team to develop casual online games, partnered with portals to provide them with gaming content, changed our name to Pogo.com, and launched our own destination site. ” There was no other site on the Internet that gave itself over completely to casual online gaming at this point, so Pogo was taking a chance with the switch, but as Riccio stated, it was a necessary one to ensure the company lived on as the rest of the gaming world improved.

As stated, the industry today is much different than it was 10 years ago. Whereas today you cannot avoid seeing the call to the casuals everywhere—from free-to-play games to other websites that have followed in Pogo’s footsteps to home consoles that have made both hardware and software killings this generation due to their ever-increasing casual user base—when Pogo began, they were filling a hole in the market. “Yahoo and MSN had some basic online games” says Riccio, but thanks to Pogo and its ilk “Today millions of people are playing games on sites that have hundreds of games that you can play online or download.” It’s gotten to the point where the terms “core” and “casual” are thrown around constantly by gamers and journalists alike, many times in a derogatory fashion. Regardless of the complaints, you have to admit that casual games have helped keep the industry afloat in the same way that established, “core” franchises have. Riccio tells us that “casual games are being taken seriously and are seen as a viable business.” While this has been true online for a bit, it’s a more recent development with the home console market; Nintendo’s “blue ocean” strategy fits in with Riccio’s point snugly.

It’s not just the games that have brought Pogo success, though titles like Poppit, Word Whomp (Riccio’s personal favorite) and First-Class Solitaire have been and remain some of the most popular online games around, helping keep Pogo.com in its place as the stickiest website around.  It’s the community aspect of Pogo that makes people come back to play again. Riccio says that Pogo has a saying, “People come for the games and stay for the community. We make games that can be fun in five minutes if you need a quick break or five hours if you’re meeting up with your friends to chat and play.” While the community is mainly a great way for friends to catch up, there have been other benefits found. For instance, there have been over 250 marriages that came about due to a couple meeting at Pogo.com. While maybe that’s not enough to start working it in to Pogo’s company slogan, it’s an indication of just how addicting some of these games can be, and how Pogo makes it easy for people to keep in touch and play together.

Pogo was purchased by EA back in 2001, and has since then filled much more than just an online niche. Besides being the stickiest destination on the web, Pogo has expanded into downloadable titles and the mobile sector. Pogo To Go allows users to play these previously online only titles offline, and the mobile versions of games are self-explanatory. The site continues to grow as well—whereas in 2001, at the time of the EA acquisition, Pogo had 17 millions different users, it now claims to have 15 million active users. There’s a big difference between total users and active ones, and 15 million active is a big deal, especially with all of the other choices that are available to the consumer today compared to 2001 or when the site launched.

Advertising still powers the Pogo.com machine, but like many other in the industry, micro transactions are the future. They have existed on Pogo since 2006, and as many free-to-play games across the industry have proven, they are a great way to pull in revenue and keep your most casual and more “core” casual gamer interested and coming back for more. EA has even utilized some of what has been learned through the casual space in their more hardcore offerings, with games like BattleForge moving to free-to-play but with downloadable, paid for in-game items.

Riccio and Pogo are still looking for new ways to bring gamers to the games, or, as Riccio puts it when asked about the future of Pogo, “the games will come to the players be it online, on their cell phone or any other way that hasn’t been discovered yet.” With 10 years behind them, based on how Pogo.com has adjusted to the market and continued to grow during that time, it should be no surprise that they are thinking about how to position themselves for success for the next 10 years.

Nintendo Wii

Muramasa: The Demon Blade: There has not been a better looking game on the Wii this year, and it’s also one of the better playing titles on the system in 2009. Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a must-have for any gamer, as the game’s easier settings allow even those not accustomed to action games to enjoy the story, gameplay and gorgeous graphics, while those looking for a challenge are sure to find it on the two more difficult modes. Highly recommended.

Playstation 3

The Beatles: Rock Band: In the end, the love you’ll take is equal to your affection for the music you’ll fake, so you might be wise to steer clear of Beatles Rock Band if you’ve already proven resistant to the band’s charms. However, the multiple generations of would-be Apple scruffs who have come to cherish the music of those four lads from Liverpool should greet the game with nothing less than the love with which Harmonix clearly labored. Best played with a bandmate or five, Beatles Rock Band is perfect for parties, but it’s also an ideal solution when you’re craving a more interactive alternative to yet another listen. Now, just wake me when I can mangle the medley.

Xbox 360

Halo 3: ODST: Halo 3: ODST is more than an expansion to Halo 3. Updated graphics, innovative storytelling, a fresh multiplayer experience in FireFight, all 24 Halo 3 multiplayer maps and a stellar soundtrack make ODST a serious contender in the FPS genre heading into the fall and holiday season. The campaign is short; only about 6-7 hours, but the combination of FireFight and the now definitive and complete Halo 3 multiplayer component, sends the game’s replay value through the roof.

Nintendo DS

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story: If you liked either the original GBA title or the last DS entry, Partners in Time, you are going to love Bowser’s Inside Story. It’s the class of the series, and there’s one giant, spiked and shelled reason for that. AlphaDream finally made a DS RPG that feels like it belongs on the DS, and with the writing as witty and sharp as it is, it not only plays better than the others, but is also funnier to play, too. This is one of the better games in the DS’ entire library, and you are missing out if you don’t pick it up.

Playstation Portable

Dissidia: Final Fantasy: This game helps unite all the Final Fantasy games in one spectacular game.  The pinnacle is definitely the head to head fighting between each game’s hero and villain. Those battles alone are the realization of the final battles from each and every Final Fantasy game and beautifully remind diehards why they fell in love with the games in the first place (and continuously email Square Enix to remake certain chapters for the new consoles – *cough* Final Fantasy VII *cough*). This is a fantastic game and definitely one PSP owners should have. For a compelling story and an excellent fighting experience, check out Final Fantasy Dissidia. You’ll spend hours exploring this game fully and won’t want it to end. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go play some more.

Downloadable

You, Me and the Cubes: You, Me and the Cubes is a fascinating puzzler, given its physics-based gameplay and its very human puzzle “pieces”, the Fallos. The single-player alone would have made this a fun title, but the addition of multiplayer that forces you to work in concert in order to advance makes this one of the better WiiWare releases from 2009. If you’re into puzzle titles and quirkiness, then You, Me and the Cubes is a great place to invest your $10.

Dragon Quest Wars is half tactical RPG, half board game. Think of your characters as pieces with their own distinctive moves, weaknesses and strengths, much like chess pieces. You’re on a grid, and you get four characters to choose out of the six available. In a nutshell, you have attacks, offensive and defensive boosts, and healing spells.You set your team’s moves, one member at a time, and then select their attack, spell or boost, or choose to do nothing. It’s entirely stylus-based, and though you may hit a snag early learning just how the game wants you to place characters and cancel attacks you’ve entered–you don’t ever have to cancel, just select the character again and choose again–overall the controls work well. A little more information on the how-to portion of things would have been nice, but you can figure it out easy enough.

Each character has their own set of these, and you have to mix and match them from the character select screen in order to create the time that’s perfect for your play style.

The Slime is a balanced character, with a basic attack and a spell, along with two hearts worth of health (health ranges from one to three hearts, depending on the character). A solid unit, but there’s nothing particularly special about them, except that they can get through defenses meant to impede physical attacks with their spells.

The Dracky has only one heart, but their attack is capable of knocking enemies backward. They can also use magic, but just to attack enemies on their diagonal sides. They’re faster characters since they are airborne and small, but again, low health means you need to be careful with them–you will want them though, because they can also increase the damage of your other characters, making them a great support piece.

The Golem is your tank, with his three hearts. He can do two hearts worth of damage per hit–enough to defeat everyone except for another Golem–but loses a heart by doing so. Hammerhoods can counter attacks and avoid damage, and can also swing at three enemies in a line. They have two hearts of health, and can use an spell to heal themselves before the beginning of the next round.

Chimera’s can cast their magic from a distance and attack two enemies at once, and have two hearts. This will prove more useful than you know until you get your hands on the game. Last, we have the Heal Slimes; you can probably figure out what their main feature is, but they can also setup magic and attack barriers to prevent casting or damage to an area or character. They have no attack of their own though.

Assembling the right team is important, because you are either going to be going up against another person, or you’ll be outnumbered by computer units. Besides the 10 level tutorial, which teaches you the basics and a few tricks to get you started, the game is essentially all multiplayer. You can play matches single player, choosing from six different maps of different grid sizes, but the meat of the experience is going to come from battling friends and strangers using the DSi’s wireless features and the Nintendo Wi-Fi connection. You can play against one other person or computer, or go all out in a four-on-four match for ultimate Dragon Quest Wars supremacy.

You can win by defeating all of the enemies or entering your opponent’s safe zone before they can invade yours. When more than two players are involved, scores matter a bit more, as they are used to rank you. You get points for defeating enemies, so don’t by shy in the corner in a four-way deathmatch. You’ll also be happy to know that you have a 60-second time limit to plan your moves online, which will keep matches from taking forever. The best part may be that online play is worldwide though–even if everyone else in North America is snoozing, you can rely on those DQ loving folks on the other side of the Pacific to match up with you.

Blast Factor: It may seem odd to get a tactical RPG from Intelligent Systems and Square Enix–two companies known for making strategy games–and end up with something that’s more like a board game, but that’s just what happened, and the result is a surprisingly deep and engaging experience. For $5, you can forgive the lack of a true single-player mode, and embrace the fact you can play online against anyone else in the world anytime you would like.

Dragon Quest Wars is available exclusively on the Nintendo DSi through its DSiWare service, and is priced at 500 Nintendo Points.

While the VC has been great and is loaded with more titles than most gamers know what to do with, it could always use more. When I heard that Zombies Ate My Neighbors was rated in Australia for potential release, I thought about what other titles I was looking forward to seeing on the service. Now, this is not a “Best games not on the Virtual Console” list. This is more of a “Marc wants to play these games, so put them on now, k thanks”. I’m going to focus on the Super Nintendo here, as it is easily my favorite classic system from my childhood. There’s a few obvious ones here, but maybe I have a few surprises for you as well. One thing: I’m not mentioning the Final Fantasy titles here, as Square Enix has already confirmed they are on the way. We have other things to bug Square about anyways, as you will see.

Today we’ll take a look at five of the 10, with the other portion coming tomorrow.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors

I know that tentacle from somewhere...

LucasArts developed a bunch of great SNES titles, and this was one of the non-Star Wars persuasion, and probably my favorite of the entire set. The Konami published title had you taking out zombies, monsters and ghouls with anything you could find, from squirt guns to alien weaponry, all in the name of saving your neighbors and other oblivious people from the hordes of the hungry. The game was hilarious for many reasons, like the giant babies that served as bosses on occasion, killing the powerful werewolves by throwing kitchen utensils at them (silverware! Ah ha!), the campy look and feel to everything–it had a very old-school sci-fi theme going on, with swirling red circles for hypnotic effect as well as cheesy, cliche enemy types–and the unintended consequences that arise from you and your pal playing co-op, fighting over the game’s limited resources, weapons and items that help you achieve the highest score.

The SNES has one drawback, if you’re one of those people that hates Mortal Kombat on the SNES anyways. There’s no blood, though everything has been replaced by goo. When you die, purple goo drips down the screen. It fits in with the 1950’s sci-fi, B-movie vibe, so it’s not a huge difference or anything. Don’t worry, we won’t say you aren’t hardcore if you admit you don’t mind the goo. As a bonus, you get a flamethrower in one of the levels that isn’t available in the Genesis version. Who doesn’t love flamethrowers?

While many of Virtual Console’s best titles have been single-player adventures, Zombies Ate My Neighbors was one of the best multiplayer experiences on the system, and it’s a shame it has not been released yet. LucasArts has been releasing a ton of their stuff on the service lately though, so maybe we’ll be able to open Pandora’s Box and hide from the chainsaw maniacs again soon.

BLAST: A Boy and His Blob is a property that has not seen the light of day in years–it hasn’t even been released on the Nintendo Wii’s Virtual Console. How did the idea of a re-imagining of the franchise come about, and what appealed to you about working with it?

Sean Velasco: It was actually quite random. A Boy and his Blob has been one of those games that I would play occasionally due to the bizarre factor. On top of that, it has always been a great concept for a game, but the original is just not that fun to play. I talked about it among my peers at WayForward and got the go-ahead to develop a pitch. We wanted to retain the transforming alien toolkit and weird world of the original game, and pair it with modern design and technology. Once our Art Director Marc Gomez created the soft look of the characters, we knew we had the beginnings of something special.

BLAST: For those who have never played the original NES title, let’s hear a bit about the premise and the how the game plays. What similarities and differences are there between the two, just from a gameplay perspective?

SV: Well, let’s start with the similarities. Both of the games have a similar premise; playing as the boy, you feed your alien blob friend jellybeans, which turns him into useful objects. Each jellybean flavor yields a different transformation; tangerine trampoline, root beer rocket, licorice ladder, etc. You use these transformations to navigate the world, solving environmental puzzles and collecting treasure.
As far as differences go, there are many. The new game is split up into levels, whereas the original was an open world. This helps us focus the experience and change the jellybean loadout for each stage. Our game is also much more user friendly than the original; the player has totally redesigned control, infinite beans, and infinite lives. However, this has opened up our level designers to be more fiendish than the original game. Many puzzles require fast reflexes, quick thinking, and multiple transformations in order to solve. Finally, there is a layer of sweet visual polish and a beautiful soundtrack.

BLAST: There are forty standard levels and forty challenge levels in Blob. How are these different from the main levels, and do they exhibit the same kind of difficulty we are used to seeing from Wayforward?

SV: The challenge levels are shorter and more focused on single transformations than the regular levels. And they get hard! The purpose was to let us use the transformations in ways that might be too weird or too hard in the regular levels. Also, the challenge levels must be done in one run without checkpoints. Kudos to whoever can finish every challenge level; it’s quite an accomplishment!

BLAST: The art style is eye-catching, and on its own has gained attention even without knowing how the game plays. What influenced the art direction, and how did you decide this was what a Blob reboot should look like?

SV: We wanted to make the game look like an animated film. Since WayForward is all about great characters and animation, it was an easy decision to take it in this direction. The character designs are all soft, friendly, and hand painted and animated. The background art is also lushly hand-drawn. On top of that, there are many programmatic effects like advanced lighting and moving trees. We wanted to echo the look of Miyazaki or Disney; to create a timeless aesthetic that is instantly appealing.

BLAST: The original A Boy and His Blob was difficult, but not in an intentional way–it came off as frustrating because of some of the game designs, like running out of jelly beans. What would you like to say to those without fond memories of the original, in regards to why they should give the series a second chance?

SV: This game aims to give you everything you remember fondly about the original without the sour bits. There is so much to love; it’s a very complete package. A Boy and his Blob for Wii is a totally new experience, so please check it out!

I can’t name many young children I’ve met in my life that would understand what setting up a fake branch of the government to requisition flowers means, or why it’s a funny scenario, but MySims Agents does that and more throughout the title, and even has nods to more mature EA titles like Dead Space–who wouldn’t want to wear an Isaac Clarke suit as they uncover clues for the next mystery?–as well as some subtle pop culture references to things like the X-Files. MySims Agents takes the series in a direction that, while feeling slightly less like a MySims title than previous efforts, feels more like a game that anyone can enjoy, despite being aimed more specifically at the younger gamer.

With that out of the way, let’s focus on the game. You play as a character that you create, the guy or gal trying to become a special agent. Very quickly you are handed your own agency thanks to solving your big break of a case, and you are able to hire new agents to help with side missions while you’re off saving the world from Morcubus, the MySim villain who loves nothing more than to cause needless issues for other residents of the MySims universe. Having a legitimate plot this time around keeps the game interesting and gives you a reason to come back, since you’ll want to continue to solve mysteries in order to see how everything is connected and what Morcubus is up to.

In the main missions, you have a set of tool that you use–you start with a crowbar, wrench and magnifying glass–and you have to find clues hidden in boxes, trash cans, dumpsters, rooftops, indoors, or on the ground by following tracks or footprints. There are mini games for putting together broken machinery that have you putting spare parts where they belong, as well as games for analyzing evidence and hacking into computers and the like. It’s a lot like a point-and-click adventure in many ways, and the IR and Nunchuk combination make all of your moving around simple and fast.

You’ll talk to people to collect clues and discover leads, and you’ll be able to check all of this information just by pressing the Plus button. One other nice touch is that the game can intentionally mislead you; all of the things you can learn are not necessarily pointing at the person in the wrong. Older gamers playing the game should be able to pick up on things easily, but there appears to be enough challenge there for the younger crowd.

Eventually you receive more advanced tools that any special agent would be envious of, and you’ve got your own lady in distress in a dress to attend to as well–James Bond would approve, for sure. You aren’t the only one solving cases though, as said before; you hire new agents after meeting up with them in the real world and solving cases. By using them in teams where their specific skills can work in concert, you can pass the 50 dispatch missions, earning yourself more rewards (costumes, items, etc.) and unlocking an additional ending. There’s a lot of game here for a younger player, especially with all of the traditional MySims player customization in place. Maybe you want to wear a trench coat and sunglasses around town, but a tux or a Yeti costume while you’re up in the mountains. It’s your call, as per usual, but it’s nice that you can create your own special agent and toy with him or her as you like throughout the game.

The game has the same kinds of sound effects that past MySims titles have, with the Sims speaking their own language, so if it bothered you in the past it’s still here. Like I said though, the dialogue is worth reading for the most part, so there’s always that to focus on. Graphically the  game looks decent enough as well. There aren’t much for special graphical effects or anything like that, but everything looks smooth, colorful and the title is bereft of technical issues. My one complaint may be that the camera occasionally gets in your way, but for the most part if you’re hanging out somewhere where it is difficult to see what you’re doing, you probably don’t even need to be there.

Blast Factor: MySims Agents might be the best of the traditional MySims titles, despite feeling the least like one. The customization options and MySims universe that has become so popular is still there, but this time there’s a legitimate plot and gameplay suited for those outside of EA’s normal demographic, instead of just the specific audience they historically shoot for with the series. Younger gamers will enjoy this game for the gameplay and the MySims features, while older gamers no longer have to be embarrassed about picking up the controller to play along with their little siblings thanks to the dialogue and nods to the more core crowd you’ll discover along the way.

MySims Agents is available on the Nintendo Wii, and retails for $49.95

In You, Me and the Cubes, you throw Fallos–men and women that you create in pairs by shaking the Wii Remote up and down once–onto cubes that are on the screen. It’s an easy process, too: simply point the IR at the two areas you want a Fallos to land on, press A to confirm, then flick the Wii Remote. You won’t fling them harder or softer based on your motion, so you don’t need to overdo it either, which is nice. Flinging Fallos onto a cube sounds easy though, and it is; the challenge comes from throwing them into places that will not upset the natural balance of the cube or cubes. If you succeed at this, the Fallos will stand there triumphantly for a time and the cubes will not move, but if you throw them into a place that upsets this balance, the cubes will shift accordingly, and your Fallos may fall.

There’s a little more personality and even humanity in these Fallos that make you want to do this right. First of all, they scream as they plunge to their death below if they fall off of a cube. Second, if there are two Fallos on a cube, and one begins to falter or is slipping off of the edge, the other Fallos will do their best to save them, lifting them back on to the cube. These Fallos have their own AI that you will see on display, but that AI makes them look like compassionate creatures that are trying to survive your flinging. It gives this puzzle game a bit more character and personality, and maybe even a little bit of a gamer conscience.

There are six stages, each with six levels, and each of those levels has six cubes that you must complete, one at a time. The first section will have one cube, the second two, and so on. You will need to place a certain number of Fallos on the structure for each section, and also at least one Fallos per cube, which gets tougher as you add cubes given the shapes created by the merging. There are also different types of cubes, such as the Freezing Cube, which freezes the entire structure when hit and keeps the balance of the cubes where it is, which is a big help to the next batch of Fallos if you can move quickly enough.

The game is also very difficult. While you may breeze through the first set of stages no problem, mastering them is another story, as the game keeps track of how many Fallos survived each round–if the Fallos is off-balance when you complete a round, they fall off as the next cube is added, deducting from your overall score despite your advancement. You will also start to have trouble when you create Pale Fallos in your Wii Remote; you’re basically throwing a playful imp onto the screen, one that likes to bully your other Fallos and push them off of ledges, though no worries, you can do away with Pale Fallos once they land as well by tossing another Fallos onto their head, which also adds 10 seconds to your timer.

That’s You, Me and the Cubes gameplay in a nutshell, but there is also a two-player mode that is markedly different. You have the same basic gameplay structure, except now instead of you tossing out two Fallos, you throw one while player two flings the other. You can synchronize your throws so that you both land your Fallos at the same time, which is a skill you will need to work on when playing multiplayer. If you pull off this synchronized toss, the two Fallos will not slip or fall for a short period of time, which will allow you to throw more Fallos before the cube’s balance becomes a problem.

That’s helpful, but it isn’t why you need the skill. You need it to repel the enemies found in the multiplayer mode. Shade Fallos appear when one of your Fallos falls off of the cubes, and they are very heavy, enough that they disrupt the balance of your cubes and start sending other Fallos falling to their doom. You can lock him in place with the A button just like the Pale Fallos–except this time as a team–then synchronize your flinging in order to take the Shade down. These additions make multiplayer the preferred mode, and gives this game loads of replayability.

Blast Factor: You, Me and the Cubes is a fascinating puzzler, given its physics-based gameplay and its very human puzzle “pieces”, the Fallos. The single-player alone would have made this a fun title, but the addition of multiplayer that forces you to work in concert in order to advance makes this one of the better WiiWare releases from 2009. If you’re into puzzle titles and quirkiness, then You, Me and the Cubes is a great place to invest your $10.

You, Me and the Cubes is exclusive to Nintendo Wii’s WiiWare services, and is available for 1000 Nintendo Points.

Sure, both Square Enix and Intelligent Systems utilized a playable Bowser at one point, but not to the extent that Bowser’s Inside Story does. You control Bowser for at least half of the adventure, if not more, and when you control the Bros., they are, more often than not, inside of Bowser, and performing tasks with the sole purpose of powering Bowser up so he can continue along his merry, destructive way. He’s the focus, and there are very few moments in the game where this is not the case. For all intents and purposes, this is the first time Bowser has been given the hero treatment, which is nice to see considering he’s been there since the beginning.

The inclusion of Bowser also means that the main problem plaguing AlphaDream’s last Mario & Luigi game, Partners in Time, is no longer a concern. While Partners in Time was a wonderful game, it felt like an extension of the Game Boy Advance original, except now with four characters to control instead of two. Many of the moves were the same and puzzles were solved in much the same manner. Bowser is a hulking Koopa though, and his placement in the game means this feels as fresh as the original: he shoots fire, he punches through rocks, he can roll around in a spiked ball, and he can body slam switches and cracked floors beneath him to open up new pathways.

Bowser’s also very different in battle,  as his moves are designed to overpower and out-muscle the opposition–remember, he’s as big or bigger than most of your enemies, unlike Mario & Luigi. There are certain baddies that Bowser doesn’t even have to fight, he can just stampede over on the world map, whereas the Bros. would have to fight them. His special moves are stylus based as well, something else lacking from Partners in Time. These are all involving his minions, which you will find scattered throughout the game world in cages. For the Goombas, you’ll have to tap them as they run across the screen so you can set them on fire and then can headbutt the opposition while en fuego. For the Koopas, it’s like a game of Bowser Pong, as you move your Bowser paddle (Bowser in a spinning shell form) up and down with the stylus to knock Koopa shells into the enemies repeatedly. They are all fun and use the stylus in smart ways, and you will use them often, to your advantage in battle, because of it.

The Bros. also have some new gameplay elements to talk about, inside and outside of battle. Traversing Bowser is done in 2D rather than the series’ traditional overhead view. You now no longer have to buy items to use special attacks, but you can instead learn them by finding Attack Pieces scattered through different sections of Bowser and the overworld. These attacks range from things you are used to, like the Green Shell attack, to brand new attacks like the Jump Helmet, the Snack Basket, and my personal favorite, an attack that lets you slam an item-filled meteor into enemies repeatedly. While these do not use the stylus, they are a huge improvement over the special attacks in Partners in Time, as they are more varied, more impressive visually, and more satisfying to use. The fact that they are now tied to skill points rather than your wallet also makes it so you don’t have to worry about whether you can afford to “waste” a use now, or if it would be better utilized later.

I haven’t mentioned the story yet, but that’s not because it’s lacking. This is probably the most entertaining of the three titles, with the humorous dialogue you know and love from AlphaDream’s series cranked up to maximum with the return of Fawful. Bowser shows he’s not as dumb as many other Mario titles have shown him to be, and is funny while he proves that fact to you, Luigi is as helpless and humorous as always, and Fawful steals the show every time he shows up on screen. The game is loaded with Nintendo references, and every time you spot one it puts a smile on your face–even the ones that point at Wii Fit were written with tongue planted firmly in cheek.

As always, Mario & Luigi eschews many traditional RPG conventions, and pokes fun at them to boot. It never takes itself too seriously, and in many ways, the battle systems are more advanced than what you are used to in traditional, turn-based JRPGs thanks to the timed hits and defensive play. Why just cast a fire spell when you can breathe fire more effectively based on your button press timing? Why shouldn’t you be rewarded for hitting a button at the exact right time as your opponent strikes? AlphaDream makes sure that there is no attack or defense you cannot improve with the press of a button, and it keeps the battles interesting and you, the gamer, on your toes throughout the 20-25 hour adventure.

My favorite part about this title though, are the battles where Bowser grows to Godzilla-like proportions so he can battle gigantic enemies and mechanized buildings that stand in his way. These battles have you turning the DS into book form and using the stylus to punch and repel attacks, and your breath to blow fire. There are a few of these scattered throughout the story, and each one requires you to approach the situation differently. They are very Japanese in their style–it is a lot like a Godzilla battle after all–but they are a wonderful addition–trust me, you’ll be upset when you realize you’ve fought your last of these. Thankfully, the game isn’t over when you beat the final boss, as you can return to game world to continue leveling and collect items in order to unlock some surprises.

Blast Factor: If you liked either the original GBA title or the last DS entry, Partners in Time, you are going to love Bowser’s Inside Story. It’s the class of the series, and there’s one giant, spiked and shelled reason for that. AlphaDream finally made a DS RPG that feels like it belongs on the DS, and with the writing as witty and sharp as it is, it not only plays better than the others, but is also funnier to play, too. This is one of the better games in the DS’ entire library, and you are missing out if you don’t pick it up.

Plus, the big guy finally got a starring role, and he nailed the part.

Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story is available exclusively on the Nintendo DS and DSi systems, and retails for $34.99. Played through the story mode and explored the world post-game.

While no one was able to play the game except for Rockstar’s representatives, Redemption was shown off on a massive screen made up of multiple monitors with the volume cranked, so it was hard to miss what the game was about. You play as John Marston, a former outlaw sent to clean up the outlaws he used to ride with in the early 20th century. You do this in the largest open-world that Rockstar has ever created–yes, larger than even San Andreas.

The thing that stuck out almost immediately was how everyone reacted to being shot or shot at–Rockstar informed us that there were “no canned animations”, so the NPC will react in his death the way you would expect them to, based on how you took them out. The animations and physics involved in this system are also deep–we got a chance to see Marston’s hat shot clean off of his head by an errant rifle blast, and we even saw the world react to the battle when it was over; vultures began to circle and land, ready to feed on the bodies left behind.

Animals like vultures play a large role in Redemption, as you can kill them and skin them so you can sell their pellets. Yes, you can also kill your horse–we saw this accidentally happen, when the Rockstar rep used the Dead Eye, bullet-time aiming system and targeted his horse by mistake–but why would you want to? That horse is going to carry you all around this massive environment, one that spans three themed regions. One is very much like Mexico, the Frontier is like Texas, and the North is like Colorado territory (sans the cannibalism, ninjas and snowmen named Beowulf). Of course, if you do blow your horse away, you can always find a wild horse, lasso it and break it so that it becomes your new steed.

There are other forms of transport, though these don’t work as well for exploration, and are more suited for travel. Coaches, boats, and trains will take you from place to place, depending on where you are in the game world. If you ride around on a horse though, you will get the chance to run from or confront thieves and bandits, which is one way to keep yourself busy as you traverse the southwest.Taking out the thieves may not be such a bad idea either, as the game recognizes whether you fancy yourself a good guy or a bad guy–they will be happy to see you ride into town if you’re the former, but everyone will be running for the hills like you’re Mongo if you’re the latter.

One other thing that impressed me was that there are no loading times between the exterior and interior–this means that, in the example given by Rockstar, you can run into a saloon, start a bar fight, and bring the tussle outside, all without the annoyance or interruption of a loading screen.

Red Dead Redemption isn’t due out until 2010 on both the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, but the game is impressive even at this stage. I will be glad to get my hands on the game to give it a whirl eventually, but even just from a hands-off perspective, this looks like one to watch. Check out the screens in the gallery, and let us know what you think about the open-world adventure.

While it’s certainly no Powerglove (check out Mario Minor and other songs on their Myspace, and browse their official website here) it does have a music video with 8-bit animation, so that’s something.