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.

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.

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.

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.

Double Fine Productions, led by creative director Tim Schafer (Psychonauts), hoped to capture the root essence of metal in their latest body of work, Brutal Legend. Did they succeed? The short answer is yes, the team struck a resounding power-chord and shook the world.

Brutal Legend tells the tale of Eddie Riggs, a proud roadie who, when we meet him, works for Kabbage Boy, a rap/pop/metal band who don’t see metal the way Eddie does. Nevertheless, according to Riggs, “a good roadie stays out of the spotlight,” and so does his job without interruption.

Brutal Legend is an M-rated game, but in this first scene you’re given the option to hear swears or have them bleeped out as well as see all the blood, or skip it entirely. I, of course, went for all swears and blood possible, and to truly experience the metal world, you should probably too. Just be wary of children/parents/gnomes, in the next room who might not enjoy the cursing and flowing insides.

After a lengthy, detailed, and eventful opening cutscene, events finally come to fruition and Eddie is knocked unconscious and sent to a fantasy world embedded with metal at every corner and plagued by death by the domineering evil ruler Doviculous.

Brutal Legend is a third-person action adventure game with enough of a real-time-strategy element and open-worldliness to be noteworthy. Sound like too many genres at once? It’s not, and it works very well.

Where some games try to incorporate multiple genres and fail, Brutal Legend succeeds.

The game has three core game-play elements; open-world, mission-based, and large scale real-time-strategy battles.

At times you’ll be tasked with traveling from one end of the land to the next, traversing its hilly, sometimes barren, but always metal environments to get from mission to mission, and can easily do so in The Deuce, your upgradable and badass vehicle.

The mission-structure of Brutal Legend plays out in a “talk to this guy…start that level” kind of way. And the variance in mission tasks is phenomenal. In one level you’ll recruit literal head-bangers in a fiery mine to join your cause, and in the next you’ll be tasked with fending off Razorfires as they attack your precious tour bus. In the world of Brutal Legend anything goes and everything works.

The third facet of game-play in Brutal Legend is its real-time-strategy element. Admittedly, my knowledge and skill at RTS games is rudimentary at best, but this didn’t matter. Throughout the game you’ll recruit different allies into your rebel group and in the large-scale battles will need to employ them effectively to succeed.

In these RTS-moments called “Stage Battles,” your goal is to destroy the opposing “stage” while protecting your own. You do so by building merch-booths, which in turn grant you more and more fans with every booth built. These fans are “spent” on bringing more allies into the world to fight for you. And once spawned, a quick and simple manipulation of the D-Pad commands your troops to go there, kill that, stay here, protect this, destroy that, etc. Having spent very little time with RTS games, going into the game I thought I’d suffer and die often, but a great tutorial level and easy controls made me feel powerful and most importantly in control. Eddie can either control the troops on foot from the ground, or in the air via magical wings he somehow has. Control from the air was my method of choice. You can see the entire battlefield, how many and where enemies are coming from, where your troops are, and what artillery you have in use at any particular moment.

Eddie can also set foot into any battle he chooses and has two primary weapons available to him; The Separator and Clementine. The Separator is a two-sided axe used to slice and dice enemies with brutal force, and Clementine is Eddie’s guitar that yields paralyzing magic. If used too much though it’ll overheat and you’ll have to wait for a short but still noticeable cool-down period.

Eddie can also perform “double team” attacks. These are more powerful assaults that involve combining Eddie’s skills with those of allies for a true knockout punch. These range from climbing the back of a fire-breathing beast to scorch enemies to calling a group of head-bangers to circle around you and mosh enemies to death. These attacks are very important for “Stage Battles,” and you’ll always want to be “double-teaming.”

Additionally, Eddie can play a number of “Solos” as a buff to Clementine’s normal abilities. These range from “Face-melter,” which does to enemies exactly what it sounds like, to “Battle Cry,” which simply increases the damage dealt by Eddie and company. These solos are performed by successfully completing a mini-game where, like Rock Band or Guitar Hero, you’ll have to press the A, X, B, or Y buttons when the strike line passes over them. Now, when in battle you’ll have to choose wisely when, where, and how often to perform these solos, as the battle rages on, whether you’re busting out nasty fretwork or not. To learn and add more solos to your repertoire you’ll have to seek out the numerous “Tab Slabs” scattered throughout the world, and you’ll want to do this because at later stages, the battles really get tough and you’ll want all the power you can have.

Graphically, Brutal Legend doesn’t push any boundaries, but it doesn’t look bad either. Double Fine created a massive world of metal and the large scale imaginative environments and for the most part these locales look great.

Sound in Brutal Legend is better than phenomenal. When EA Denmark leaked a full song-list for the game months ago, my excitement for the title shot through the roof and after playing the game and experiencing the songs in action, I love the choices that much more.

Unlike most games where a publisher will seek out some award winning composer for a game’s score, Double Fine decided to use the melodies of “Black Sabbath,” “Dethklok,” “Dark Tranquility,” “Enslaved,” and so many more to set the tone of the world.

No other genre can heighten tension the way metal can. There’s something about listening to “Cathode Ray Sunshine” by Dark Tranquility that instills power within me to set out and slay enemies forces at a breakneck clip.

If you love mainstream radio and sing along to whatever the “flavor of the week” is, this game is not for you, at least thematically. In fact, I don’t think Schafer would even want you play and subsequently taint his game and its message.

That said, if you do love the metal music scene, as I very much do, this game is almost a necessary addition to your catalogue. Activision dropped the title after their merger with Vivendi, possibly fearing negative reaction to bands like “Rotting Christ” on the list, and while EA might have felt a twinge of that grief, they went through with it, and metal-heads will love it for sure.

The characters in Brutal Legend are some of the most memorable and interesting ones I’ve ever come across. The two main characters Eddie and Ophelia, voiced by Jack Black and Jennifer Hale respectively are executed wonderfully. Black provides hilarious spots of dialogue like “Please tell me I haven’t been killing hot girls this whole time” and Hale, who’s lent her voice to numerous projects including BioWare’s MMO “The Old Republic” and “Metroid Prime Corruption” as Samus Aran, performs remarkably in the game. There’s also a love connection between the two and their in-game chemistry is extraordinary.

Double Fine unleashed a total metal assault in Brutal Legend and recruited Ozzy Osbourne, Rob Halford (Judas Priest), Lemmy Kilmister (Motörhead) and Lita Ford (The Runaways) to lend their voices to the game. And from Ozzy’s abuse of the F-word to Kilmister’s sedated British tone, Double Fine did a damn fine job. Additionally, Tim Curry (the man who will forever haunt my dreams from his role as Pennywise the Clown in Stephen King’s IT) provides the voice work for the game’s villain, emperor Deviculous.

Once you’ve exhausted the game’s core missions you’ve “completed” the game, earned the “beat the game” trophy/achievement, and can gloat all you’d like, but I wouldn’t. Upon “completion” of the game, you’re actually only 48% done, leaving a whopping discrepancy. That void is made up in secondary missions. These range from hunting quests to racing challenges to even more huge-scale battles.

Playing these secondary missions and just exploring the vast world is something you’ll definitely want to do. You can unlock everything from more guitar solos to new parts for The Deuce and lots more. There’s an entire world of Metal out there. Why not explore it?

There’s also a significantly large multiplayer mode in Brutal Legend. It’s of the “Stage-Battle” flavor, and all your skills learned in the campaign tie directly into the multiplayer. There’s matchmaking, custom match, and AI Practice to play around with as well as new factions Drowning Doom, Tainted Coil all with solos and units unique to them. If you loved the Stage-Battles of the campaign, you’ll assuredly be logging hours and hours in the multiplayer, it’s a lot of fun.

Brutal Legend is just as much a statement as it is a game. It’s a tale of the power of music motivating those previously uninspired to conquer the evils both out there and embedded within. It tells the account of an unlikely band of rebels who, through their alliances, are able to attain the lofty goals they sought out in the beginning. Without getting too philosophical, I feel the message “Brutal Legend” conveys is one we should heed, or at least strive for, because without a unifying power (metal, or anything else), what do we have?

Blast Factor: With its abundance of metal, fantasy, and action, Brutal Legend is a truly phenomenal game. Born out of Schafer’s love of metal and executed damn near perfectly, the game is one every metal-head-gamer needs to play.

Brutal Legend is available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

Let me first address the graphics. Shift has great graphics and the driving is very smooth. The arenas are very realistic and the colors and ads placed on the side of the track are very well designed. Overall, the graphics are first rate and definitely enhance the experience. The graphics themselves are on par with Gran Turismo, and I’m very pleased by the amount of visual detail that went into making this game.

As I mentioned before, Shift is VERY different from previous Need for Speed titles, since there is no real story. You’re just a racer going around racing. The simplicity of abandoning the premise actually elevates the game. There are still cut scenes, but they are usually before the round begins and show other racers driving around. As you play, you earn money to buy more upgrades and new cars so that you can continue racing. There are 72 cars to unlock, which means hours of repeated game play–though that is far fewer than its competitor, something to note. As you race around the track arrows mark the path you need to travel to earn precision points. As you earn precision points, you can also brutalize the other drivers by ramming into them and knocking them off the road, earning yourself some aggression points in the process. The game’s Driver Profile tracks the player’s evolution as a driver from one event to another through Career and Online Play. As you improve and unlock more and more cars and upgrades, you start to experience the Total Customization system. Shift allows you to totally customize almost every aspect of the car so that you are in full control. Choose your car and bring it to the track to see how it does against your opponents.

There are numerous modes to play in when you start the game: Driver Duel, Manufacture Races, Series, Endurance, Race, Drift, Time Attack, Hot Lap and Lap/Time Eliminator. These various modes are similar but change the game play enough so that the game doesn’t get boring. As you win more and more rounds, you collect some badges which help with your stats and highlight your achievement levels. This makes adds an arcade like aspect to the game which is one of the few places where the original Need for Speed Series shines through.

When you race, you can play from a third person perspective or play from the first person. The first person view from the car’s cockpit is one of the highlights of the game. The developers put a lot of detail into the cockpit experience and it definitely pays off. Crashing into a barrier causes the screen to go grey and blur as you, and the in game driver, breathe in sharply. The stress on remaining realistic is noticeable, especially when crashing into another car. When you crash into your opponent you leave scraps and paint on the other car, and the frame becomes proportionally more damaged as you progress. When you drive at high speeds, the car speeds up to an extremely realistic manner which, at times, can be quite the shock. Even though you’re using a controller and not a wheel, you’ll certainly think you’re really driving the car. Another strong point is the soundtrack. We’ve known the track list for a month or so, but they way it is used in the game are very effective. The soundtrack is going to keep players entertained throughout their replays.

While the game itself is almost a love letter to simulation racing, there are certain areas which stood out as somewhat underdeveloped. I was disappointed to find that there was solely an online multiplayer mode and that I would not be able to go head-to-head with my friends on the same console. While this removes split screen problems, it also means that the only way you’re going head-to-head with a friend is if you’re online. When you are speeding down the track at high speeds, the controls can become a bit insensitive, especially when used in conjunction with the direction arrows on the track. When speeding, it becomes hard to judge turns, so you need to be aware that the controller won’t respond as quickly. That, in conjunction with the Auto correct feature, can be a hassle when you’re trying to win a level but the controls lock up and you’re not going as fast as you want to because the directional arrows indicate you should slow down. That will leave you fairly frustrated when you miss first place by a hair because of it. When you’re happy, this game can be the greatest game in the world, but it can definitely sour if the controls get in your way. And after a while, the announcer gets a bit annoying since his monotonous British accent is the equivalent of Michael Sheen saying the same thing over and over again until it gets ridiculous. The emphasis on drifting can also get annoying, but overall the game is solid.

This game is easily one of the best racing games I’ve ever played but it also calls into question the future of Need for Speed. Will they continue to make arcade based Need for Speed after Nitro comes out on Wii this month? Or will they continue making simulation racers along the lines of Shift? It’s a very interesting question which will probably be answered over the next few months.

Blast Factor: This is a great racing game. There are a few flaws, but the attention to detail and the racing experience all negate the few problems you’ll have with it. As a complete about-face from previous entries, this game stands up to Gran Turismo and Forza and definitely holds its own. It doesn’t have as many cars and tracks but the gaming experience will keep you coming back for more.

This version of Need for Speed: Shift appears on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for review purposes.

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.

Shiny, expansive, and fun, these aren’t tactical or intellectual games. They cut right to the core of what most people think about super hero comics–Crash! Bam! Bang! If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, here’s the skinny. Four super-heroes run through a variety of levels beating the crap out of anyone and anything in their way, eventually encountering a much tougher boss battle, before moving on to the next level to do it all over again. Repeat this for about ten or so hours and you have Marvel Ultimate Alliance… one and two.

These games are essentially Gauntlet for the next generation of hardware, but with a focus on up close and personal melee combat. You can eventually choose around 30 heroes and villains of the Marvel comics universe to play as, and thanks to the clever use of the Civil War storyline from last year, heroes will be fighting each other as well. Which side of the conflict you choose affects who you’ll have access to–at least to some extent–though the opening and the final levels has everyone a bit closer together to deal with a greater threat.

The storyline is generally fine, if not exceptional, but the real draw is simply the ability to use so many familiar and obscure comic book characters. For the single player, you can switch between team member at any time, heal others in your group, and even revive them with health power ups. Also, you can switch team members in and out entirely at will. Certain team combinations have bonuses as well, so if you want to play as the Fantastic Four, they get special team enhancements for instance.

Another improvement over the first game is the use of fusions. Essentially a fancy name for team-up super moves, every character can perform a specific combo super attack with any other member of their team. Some of these attacks are a wide radius explosive blast, while others must be targeted, and still more have characters rushing through hordes of enemies cutting down everything in their path. Although some of these moves are truly spectacular, most feel like cookie cutter retread after a while, since most fusions are re-used through most of the characters.

Still, given how many enemies clog the screen, any room destroying move is welcome. The action is often so chaotic that it becomes confusing and you’ll simply be left wildly mashing the buttons because you can’t even see your character through the clutter of endless enemy drones. Another problem is that the characters often don’t feel unique enough. While stronger characters can lift heavier objects, there isn’t enough difference between the impact of Daredevil hitting a thug and the Thing. Characters who should be immune to gunfire seem to take as much damage as anyone else, and unlike Batman: Arkham Asylum, the gameplay doesn’t convey enough sense of power to these characters as it should.

Thankfully, multiplayer action is what a game like this was really made for, and the game is much more fun when playing with others either in the same room or across the internet. You can run through the main story line as a group or take on the extra challenge levels, and playing Marvel Team-up with a real team adds a lot of value to the gameplay.

Finally, the overall presentation is excellent. The graphics are sharp and detailed, the character models look great for the most part, and while some of the voice acting and dialogue is really awful, the rest of the audio is good overall. Oddly, a lot of MUA2 is incredibly dark, which tends to make the already hectic action harder to follow.

Blast Factor: Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 definitely takes a familiar path. There are no innovations here, and very few enhancements over the first game. It’s a straight-forward, meaty four-player beat ‘em up with plenty of great characters to choose from. Without a doubt, it won’t change anyone’s mind about the genre, and if you thought the first one was mindless and dull, there’s nothing to change your mind here. For fans of these games, however, it’s an impressive and expansive journey into mass destruction.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 is available across all platforms; this review deals with the Playstation 3/Xbox 360 versions, and is available for $59.99

Beyond the navigational issues, the first “level,” of Wet is fun, and it really brings you into the game, leaving you wanting more–then it all stops. Instead of continuing the action, getting bloodied up, and listening to Eliza Dushku, the voice of Rubi,  tell some Asian cowboy to suck his own [this is a coarse and vulgar game, mom] we’re thrust head first into … an hour-long tutorial, in Rubi’s “boneyard hideaway,” made up of “challenges” like an obstacle course. There are some serious ADHD issues going on here. The game spends the first 10 minutes teaching you how to perform Rubi Malone’s acrobatic moves. Then you get 15-20 solid minutes of action. Then an hour of boredom. Then the game starts up again, and it really seems to get good again when Rubi makes a cargo plane blow up midair and is falling to the ground. But you’ll spend another hour, or about 50 of your unlimited “lives” trying to navigate through a maze of plane parts, boxes, and miscellany, because if anything hits you, you die. Considering this is kind of a short game with a sliver of story as is, that seems like time wasted.

The game is about a gun-for-hire who agrees to find a wealthy man’s son, but when he finds the son and brings him back, he kills the son and sends a sword-swinging goon to kill you.

The game has diversity. The acrobatic moves are edgy, and there’s a good mix of swordplay and shooting. There’s a great mix of gameplay styles — walking/fighting, jumping, acrobatics, vehicles and even the aforementioned free fall from the sky. The pace picks up with “rage mode” where everything goes red and Rubi starts killing everything in sight. The problem with “rage mode,” however, is that it’s much harder to navigate through the already puzzling levels with the screen all red. And you don’t get any additional health. You die just the same as you would normally. The “rage mode” we played at E3 put Rubi in a more enclosed space where she just went nuts and started swinging the sword, killing dozens of baddies like they were nothing. It felt more like a bonus level at E3, but it’s actually a much more difficult gameplay style in the actual game.

The cinematic elements are good. The game’s post-modern feel is matched perfectly with cutscenes featuring 50s drive-in “let’s go to the refreshment stand” montages.

But essence isn’t the problem. Neither are the graphics or the voice acting, also featuring actors Malcolm McDowell and Alan Cumming. It’s straight gameplay that hurts Wet, nothing more.

The game should be more intuitive. The acrobatic moves are fun, and it’s awesome to slide down a ladder shooting baddies in slow motion. It’s even more awesome to jump from moving car to moving car on a freeway while shooting baddies in slow motion. It’s wicked awesome to slide under a pipe and catch a baddie with an uppercut of your sword. But the acrobatic nature of the game means you’re going to fall a lot, but rather than die and wait for the load screen to start the checkpoint over, the developer should shoot you right back to where you fell from and let you keep playing. Nothing kills momentum and fun like bad platforming, and Wet has its share of that.

The game gets lost in bursts of fun, followed by waiting, followed by more bursts.

The Blast Factor: The frustrations don’t always outpace the fun. Wet is a good game that’s fun to play in moderation, but the sum of the its parts just isn’t enough to make you want to keep playing for long.

WET is available on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for a retail price of $59.99

Since “Inglourious Basterds” came out, there’s been a renewed interest in killing Nazis. But let’s face it: there are numerous games about killing Nazis. So luckily we have Wolfenstein to add a burst of creativity to the mix. Straight forward first person shooters can get a bit boring after a while, so the addition of the medallion helps with the game play. Initially, the game seems like a typical “stop the Nazis” shooter, with normal weapons and normal adversaries. As the game progresses, you gain more interesting science fiction based weapons (such as the particle cannon) while fighting more supernatural enemies, such as skeletal Nazis which shoot green flames.

The game play is pretty straight forward. The town of Isenstadt serves as a hub in between the main missions. You can purchase upgrades, ammo and weapons from the Black market with the gold found through the missions. While the main storyline only takes a few hours to complete, if you snoop around Isenstadt you can meet numerous characters who provide interesting side missions for B.J. as he continues his quest. Now, while fighting through the main campaign B.J. utilizes the medallion to use Veil powers. The Veil powers are incredibly useful, but aside from the times when the game requires you to use them you can make it through the game using only your weapons (on normal). The difficulty levels directly affect how often the Veil powers must be utilized. On the hardest level, the Veil powers must be used a lot if there is to be any chance of making through the levels alive. This prevents the Veil from being a gimmick on the hardest setting and helps it retain its necessity.

The overall visual appearance isn’t amazing, but it definitely fits well with the mood and plot. Compared to the original Wolfenstein and its sequels, this game has blown them all away graphics wise. While there are numerous games with better graphics and more fluid transitions between cinematic cut scenes, game play and Veil use, Wolfenstein’s graphics suit its content. The dark atmosphere is accentuated by the dark hues which are used in most levels and the soundtrack is decent. It leaves a bit to be desired, but is enough to get you in the mood to fight Nazis.

Once you complete the game, multiplayer expands the game play by allowing you to fight up to 12 players online. However, game play drastically changes once you enter multiplayer. Players can play as the Resistance or the Axis in one of three modes. Team Death match allows players to battle to the death and the team with the highest score at the end of the time period wins. Objectives mode requires Axis and Resistance to defend or destroy Nazis experiments respectively. Stopwatch mode forces players to complete objectives within a specific time limit. Throughout the multiplayer experience you can choose from three classes: Soldier, Medic and Engineer. With eight maps in the multiplayer mode, it allows for a varied experience. However, the quality of the graphics and experience itself suffer from a poorly strung together multiplayer. The Veil powers which make the campaign mode fun are severely toned down in multiplayer which takes away from the overall experience. After a couple of hours of online play, most people will probably stop playing since it’s just not that rewarding an experience.

When it comes down to it, Wolfenstein is a good game, but it doesn’t quite hit the level of epic-ness you want when killing Nazis. Don’t get me wrong, this game is an excellent sequel but as a standalone game it doesn’t quite stand up to other games. When I looked at Wolfenstein’s box art, my first impression was that it would be an epic realization of the Call of Duty: World at War zombie level. Unfortunately, my standards were not met in that department. The supernatural enemies are definitely a plus, but when faced with plain old Nazi troops, the game gets boring.

The biggest drawback of the experience was the fact that it takes a little while to grow on you. Instead of instantly being drawn in, the game play needs to be broken in like a pair of good jeans. However, this is pretty much resolved once you’re familiar with the controls and find the medallion to use the Veil powers. One drawback, which could also serve as an ingenious means of discouraging continued use, is the greenish hue of the Veil. Whenever I used it to excess, a part of my vision (and possibly soul) would crumble away into nothingness. Extended exposure would force me to rest my eyes with occasional breaks, which were a pain when fighting difficult enemies.  These and the barely adequate online multiplayer bring the game down a bit.

Blast Factor: The verdict is this: while the game is good, and a worthy current-gen sequel, some parts shine better than others. If you are a fan of the original series, this game is definitely one you should pick up, even if the multiplayer kind of hurts the replay value a bit relative to other first-person shooters.

Wolfenstein is available for on the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99. It is also available for PC.

Admittedly, my knowledge and skill for that matter, concerning tower-defense type games begins and ends with “Tower Defense” the Flash game for PC, where I have logged away what feels like hundreds of hours of my life. So I came into “Defenders” with an invigorated excitement for the genre.

The download-only title, built by Square Enix, and available for $10 on both Xbox 360 and PS3, felt eerily familiar, given the “never-forget” style of gameplay the genre so ingrains in the minds of its followers.

In “Crystal Defenders” the goal is simple; prevent the baddies from trouncing through your camp and never let them escape unharmed. You want to kill every last one.

The game contains a total of 12 environments spanning from the beginner’s field, to the expert’s ice-frozen hell-hole. Specifically speaking, level W1 teaches you the basics; enemy types, currency management, and classes, while W2 introduces Power Crystals (placed near troops to up their skill) and finally the arduous W3, where heinously difficult bosses and environments await.

Your first task in every instance is to survey the battlefield and strategically determine where to place your troops based on your idea of perceived success. The beginning levels offer simple, welcoming environments perfectly suited to learn the ropes, but as you progress, maps with multiple entrances and obstructions become a finicky task.

Next you’ll select your fighters. Square Enix did a damn fine job migrating characters from “Final Fantasy: Tactics” to “Defenders” and, as an MMO fan myself, am pleased to learn every class is covered here. You’ve got your fighters, ranged attackers, magik users, and two all-powerful and costly summoning agents.  An interesting character, the “Thief” is a sneaky little bastard. He doesn’t deal damage, but when a creature is slain beside him, you earn 2X the loot. Nice!

The enemies you square off against range from the mundane to the extreme. One creature, “Ahriman,” is a sky-traveling bat-like creature resistant to magik attacks. So when considering attack options for this particular beast you’ll have to rule out the Soldier, who can only attack ground targets, and your magik wielders.

“Crystal Defenders” is, as you probably guessed, all about defending your crystals. You start each game with 20 shiny blue crystals and when that tally wanes to zero..game over. There are two ways to lose Crystals in “Defenders.” One is the result of a successful run-through by a creature, and the second is the result of calling upon one of two mighty summoning agents.  These guys are costly, (5 Crystals each) but can save your ass in a jam.

Use these guys sparingly

Additionally, Gil, or gold, is the game’s currency, and can be spent either on leveling up your troops (to grant more health and deal more damage) or to simply acquire more troops. Each creature you kill and successful stage-completion earns you Gil to apply during the next round.

“Crystal Defenders” will test not only your mind, but also your endurance and perseverance, as some of the puzzles, at higher difficulties are damn hard.

You don’t win per se in “Defenders,” rather you prohibit the aggressors from advancing and attempt to advance through as many levels as possible before your Crystals run out.

Visually, “Crystal Defenders” certainly doesn’t push any aesthetic boundaries. In fact, the game mirrors GameBoy games from the 90’s, with its simple 2-D animation and basic character models, “Defenders” actually looks pretty pathetic, especially when considering your playing on a PS3. For that reason, if cutting-edge graphics make or break a gaming experience for you, “Defenders” might upset you, but if you can look past that facet and focus on the core-gameplay, you’ll be just fine.

Blast Factor:

At $9.99, “Crystal Defenders” is a very solid and affordable tower defense title for the PS3 and Xbox 360. The game is approachable enough for beginners to enjoy, and also deep enough for hardened defense fans to spend time in. The end-game challenges are hair-ripping, controller-throwing, curse-yielding puzzles, but are also alluring in that right. The bottom line is, if you truly enjoy tower defense games, “Defenders” is $10 well spent.

Crystal Defenders is available today on the PlayStation Network for $9.99.

The developer’s goal was to make Madden NFL 10 look and feel like Sunday. We’re used to watching football on television, and we have an idea about what we should be seeing when a game is on–EA took those ideas and put them into the game’s “telecast”, so playing has a much more authentic, NFL feel to it than it ever has. In past Madden titles this generation, you had the realistic visuals, but there were plenty of areas that the game could be improved upon graphically so that while in motion it could be mistaken for a real-life NFL game and not just a video game. For starters, they added in half-time reports with highlight reels and scores from around the NFL, just like during an actual half-time. As long as you’re playing well, this should be fun, as you get to revisit some of your great plays from earlier in the game from different angles, just like you would if a television station was replaying events.

There’s much more than just that though, as the focus was to make the players and coaches also act the part of “real” NFL players in a real game. You’ll notice a lot more attention to detail with coaches on the sidelines, as they do more than just stand around now, and players will react to plays, either vocally or with some mini celebrations–for instance, after a huge gain with a running back that saw him shed a few pursuers and pick up a few first down, he screamed out, “That’s what I’m talking about, baby!” as he ran back to the huddle. EA also cut down the size of the playbook on screen so that these animations–players, coaches, fans, etc.–could be enjoyed while you make your next move.

Graphically, Madden has changed a bit as well–as I said before, in stills, Madden during the HD generation has always looked realistic, but now the game looks better in motion than ever before. The camera work is very fluid, and switches between various camera during play much like during a telecast of a game. Players react to hits by cringing, they look totally bushed when they are fatigued, and they do a much better job of being aware of their surroundings not just in their movements and routes, but visually–you’ll see player’s heads follow the ball and ball carrier, and because of things like this even something like blocking looks more realistic in action.

This realistic look stretches to some of the gameplay changes as well, such as the new Pro-Tak animation system. Pro-Tak allows for gang tackles, with anywhere from three to nine players. You can create a pile that moves with the ball–defense and offense can both push the pile–and depending on the player holding the ball, the pile can stand up for quite some time. If the gang tackle pile stands up too long, the refs will call the ball dead, just like in real life, which is just one of those little changes that serves to make Madden feel that much more realistic. This, along with the ability to fight for fumbles in a button mashing mini-game make the gameplay more interactive and realistic in 2010. The enhancements to gameplay go on and on–your controller will rumble when a defender gets near your QB in the pocket, which has already helped me curb my bad habit of getting sacked as I wait for an opening in the defense, the ratings have been given a makeover so that players are more true to their real life counterparts, you can now assign your best defenders to the best offensive players on the field to help “Lockdown” the offense, you can now choose to play injured players, just like in NCAA, or even just use the accelerated clock so that those of you that pick a play in two seconds can still feel like the clock is moving along at an acceptable pace. The accelerated clock knocks 15, 20 or 25 seconds off of the play clock, making long drives and killing time a breeze, and again, making a game of Madden more realistic than before. Best of all though, are the changes made to the AI–the game is designed to keep you from just running the same plays over and over, as the defense will adjust to your successes. The key then becomes to react to them, so for the first time, when the announcers talk about how running success early leads to later passing success, you can see this happen in real time as the linebackers start to close off the running lanes and leave your tight ends and wide receivers open over the middle.

EA didn’t just stick with the core game when it came to revamps, as the online modes also had some work done to them. For the first time ever, there is now two-player online co-op. There is also a “Madden Elite Status” purchasable add-on for Madden ($4.99), which will allow you to access VIP lobbies, leaderboards and a new mode, Elite Gametype. It’s setup in All-Madden difficulty and is meant to appeal exclusively to the most hardcore, die hard Madden fan out there. Best of all though is the Online Franchise mode. You can draft live with friends, there are message boards set up for your league, and you can manage it from either a web browser or through a brand new iPhone and iPod Touch application that went live earlier this month. This is basically like a fantasy version of fantasy football, except you get to play the games. This is honestly the biggest single addition to Madden in quite some time, and it’s very promising; it’s the kind of thing that should make people stick with the game longer. Each new copy of Madden NFL 10 comes with an activation code for online franchise mode, but those who buy the game used can also purchase an activation code from the Madden Shop.

Blast Factor: Madden NFL 10 is the most realistic and in-depth version of Madden yet. The game no longer just looks realistic, it plays and sounds that way too, which makes all of the difference in the world. It’s the best version of Madden that has been produced because of this, and with additions made to online modes like two-player co-op and online franchise, you will be playing it plenty.

Madden NFL 10 is available for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 consoles, and retails for $59.99

The main missions are a good time, and just like with the full game, you need to clear a certain number of side missions or drop the Earth Defense Force’s control of Mariner Valley enough so that the next mission becomes available. You can do this by either completing side missions or blowing everything EDF-owned on Mars to hell using rocket launchers, mines, remote charges, and of course, your trusty sledgehammer. Each time you complete a mission, be it main or side, you unlock new abilities, like carrying extra charges, holding more rockets, etc, so by the end Samanya is a walking force of destructive nature, much like Alex Mason became.

This is not a quick batch of DLC either–if you want to spend time blowing up each and every important EDF target (there’s even an achievement for doing so) and completing every side mission (ditto on that) then you will put a good 4-5 hours into Demons of the Badlands. If you want to beat the Pro times on the transporter missions, it will probably take you a bit longer than that, and there are also 75 power cells hidden throughout the world that need to be collected–considering I picked up just 25 or so during my first playthrough, you could say they are hidden well and will take time to acquire. There are 250 achievement points in all, and since the other DLC packs will focus on multiplayer and wrecking crew, this is your best shot at adding to the single-player Red Faction Guerilla experience.

There’s very little to complain about with Demons of the Badlands–even on the normal difficulty, there are loads and loads of EDF for you to take out, and they actively hunt you down just like in the full game. My one issue is that there isn’t much variety in the side missions, as most of them are Demolition ones. I will say though that these will require a lot of thought put into them, as they are set up like puzzles rather than as the kind where you just throw a bunch of explosives down and hit go.

There are a few new vehicles to try out, including a walker with flails on its hands–there’s an accompanying mission to use that in, so you will get to blow up plenty of EDF with this fancy mix of old-school and new-school weaponry. The game does load you up with tons of remote charges and a rocket launcher early on as well, meaning once you get to an area, you can stay there until you’ve blown everything in sight up or get shot down. This cuts down on the backtracking, and since you don’t need to collect scrap, also lets you do a bit more hit-and-run style guerilla warfare. You could complain that this makes things too easy, but you could also just ramp up the difficulty and see how that works for you.

Blast Factor: If you’re a fan of the full game, then you will also like Demons of the Badlands. You’re paying $10 for a condensed Red Faction Guerilla experience that takes place in an all-new area, using a character that was formerly an NPC, and you get 4-5 hours of gameplay, making this almost like a mini-expansion rather than just a new map with a few new vehicles and missions. It’s worth your time and money, so if you’ve still got the itch to blow the EDF away, get downloading.

Demons of the Badlands is available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 for 800 Microsoft Points and $10, respectively.

The princesses are not fat on their own–you have to make them that way. Since this is capture the flag style play, with the princess being the flag, you want your opponents to struggle to bring her back to their castle dungeon. To do so, you load your princess up with cake until she’s bursting at the seams. The whole concept is kind of out there, but it fits very well with the style of game that Titan Studios has come up with. That’s the gist of it–there’s also a deathmatch mode which works very well, though it requires less teamwork–but even with such a simple concept, there’s some deep and rewarding gameplay here.

For starters, there are 10 maps and five different classes to choose from. The worker, mage, priest, ranger and the warrior all have their own strengths and weaknesses, and you will need all of them in order to succeed in capturing the princess. Each class is also capable of being upgraded, which is where the workers come in. They cut down the trees and mine for the precious stones that allow you to upgrade your castle, build trampolines, scale the enemy’s walls, and enhance your other classes. Mage’s are capable of fire and ice attacks, the priest is able to heal you and leech life from others, the ranger is a long-ranged fighter, equipped with a bow and later a gun, and the warrior is equipped with first a sword and then a lance that he can charge across the battlefield with. Each class plays very well, and each is integral to a successful match. You can pick a class (and easily switch it as well) by picking up one of the hats generated by the machines in your base. All you need to be a warrior is to wear a warrior hat; no leveling or RPG-elements necessary.

Stylistically, the game excels. The graphics are very clean and cel-shaded, and have a cartoony look to them. It’s also a very violent game though, with loads of blood splatters all over the place, so don’t be fooled by your initial looks at the title. The charm of the graphical style also appears in the voice acting and narration, which has its own cute, quirky vibe going on.

The controls work well; attack with the square button, lock on with L1, hold square to charge your attack, and pick up items such as cake or resources with the circle. It’s easy to pick up and play, and even inexperienced players can pick off the talented ones by locking on and mashing the attack button. Killing the opposition isn’t the point though, especially with the quick respawn times (unless you’re in deathmatch of course, then it’s the only point).

Single-player is a mixed bag; it’s a good way to get your feet wet, but the AI is atrocious, so you will end up doing most of the work yourself; this causes the matches to go on much longer than they would online, where people can use voice chat to get their team into a plan of action. I recommend playing it first to get used to the game modes and some of the maps, as well as familiarizing yourself with the five classes, but that’s probably the last time you’ll play it once you check out the online play.

While online was impossible to get into at first–there’s a reason I’m doing this review now instead of a week ago–Titan Studios has since patched the game to fix some of the balance issues with scoring as well as make joining servers faster and more efficient. This has allowed more people to check out what Fat Princess has to offer, which if you’ve been following along with what I’m saying, is a great thing. Some matches don’t work so well, though with time this should subside–some people just refuse to work as a team, and they don’t help you upgrade or stage attacks appropriately. If you get into a match with people who are on the same page though, then Fat Princess just flat out rules.

Blast Factor: It’s got charm, it’s got violence, it’s got humor, and best of all, it’s got cake. Fat Princess is one of the top games available on the PSN, and with 32-player multiplayer, multiple game modes and a $15 price tag, there’s no reason not to pick this up. Unless you hate fun, of course.

Fat Princess is available exclusively on the Playstation Network, and costs $15

SNK, and especially their Neo Geo console system’s fighters, have always had a special place in the hearts of fighting games fans. Since the early 90’s, SNK’s fighters for their super-priced super system were the main competition to Capcom’s Street Fighter II reign as coin-op and home fighting champ. When SNK decided to create a game that combined a huge portion of their roster (and throw in new characters as well), the King of Fighters was born. It was and remains a team-based combat game, with three fighters on each side.

That legacy continues in KoFXII, but the game has finally made the jump to next gen, HD glory. This was no easy task for the developers, as it meant carefully re-drawing every single character and frame of animation to compensate for the new, much higher resolution. The results are, overall, good, but certainly not as exceptional as fans might have hoped. In direct comparison to BlazBlue and Super Street Fighter II HD Remix, the graphics are noticeably more jagged and less detailed. The animation is excellent though–better than the SF2 Remix–and the action itself is amazingly smooth.

The action is also incredibly retro. If you’ve played a 2D fighter in the last 15 years, you know how to play KoFXII. It’s the same half- and quarter circles, and a few other familiar motions, that have been making rounds in every fighter since the original Street Fighter 2. While most of the Grade-A competition have found ways to evolve, there’s very little here that feels at all different than any other KoF.

Indeed, there’s actually a lot less here than in past KoF games. Though previous iterations often had over 30 combatants, KoFXII offers a paltry 22, and several key favorites are completely absent (notably Fatal Fury 2 hottie ninja, Mai Shiranui), and the two new characters–two female brawlers named Mature and Elizabeth–just aren’t that interesting. It doesn’t help that there’s no story mode whatsoever to help flesh out who these characters are.

In fact, there’s really only one main single player mode–the arcade mode, which is simply a series of five timed bouts and no boss characters. Other than that, you have a training mode and on- and offline versus modes, which makes the game an incredibly hard sell for people who enjoy fighters alone. Online gameplay has its share of issues as well. Though Ignition and SNK have released a patch to smooth out the online play, it’s still not as smooth as other fighters, which is a serious problem for a game where timing and precision are important.

It’s true that KoFXII adds a few new wrinkles to its combat system. There’s a stronger focus on juggling your opponent in the air by stringing combos together. There’s also the new critical counter system that lets you stun an opponent with a perfectly-timed counterattack. A lot of the characters have been retooled for the game as well, and diehard fans might not like the results since some old favorites have actually been toned down.

Blast Factor: The biggest problem with the King of Fighters XII is that there simply isn’t enough of it. There’s a pitiful lack of meaty game modes, the arcade mode is poorly done, the character roster is light for this series, and the presentation isn’t great. For the price, it’s impossible to recommend a game that should and could have just as easily been a $15 download. KoFXII essentially feels like a half-done fighter, where the developers focused purely on the HD graphics and decided to leave the rest of the work for the inevitable sequel.

King of Fighters XII is available for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99

Where BlazBlue excels, much like Guilty Gear XX before it, is diversity. There are only 12 characters, which might seem small compared to Street Fighter IV or the newest King of Fighters, but unlike most fighters, this cast covers the gamut of styles with no character copying another. Mastering one or two shouldn’t be a problem for most players, but all 12 will require countless hours of playtime.

As expected, all the characters are of decidedly Japanese design—weird, anime-styled, with the occasional effeminate male thrown in. Combatants range from an uber-sexy, pole-staff-wielding lady doctor, a gun-toting military girl, a boastful ninja, and a huge tank of a man, to a slender samurai, giant-sword-wielding vigilante, a monstrous creation made of insects, a boy and his creepy mannequin, and even a vampire girl. Each character is completely different from the others and go far beyond normal fighting game stereotypes.

Some characters work with special moves that are essentially traps, where timing and strategy are key. Others are familiar brawlers that are easy to jump right into. All have specific super moves called drive attacks that further differentiate them from each other, and the result is one of the most entertainingly eclectic band of fighters ever.

Beyond the great cast, the game modes offer an incredibly in-depth and satisfying amount of play value. For single players, the main modes are the arcade and story modes. Both modes actually carry some semblance of a story line, though following the overarching and individual character threads will prove challenging for anyone. The polite thing to say about the writing in BlazBlue is that something was lost in the translation from Japan to the US. More realistically, the plot is just a muddled mess.

That’s not to say that none of the storytelling works. Some of the plot lines are interesting and reasonably easy to follow, though it would have been nice had Arksys put more emphasis on all the writing in the game. On the plus side, the whole game is structured for replayability. To unlock all the extra moves and character variations, you’ll need to play through both modes multiple times with each character. Even getting the complete story for each character will require multiple passes through their story mode. It’s a great system that continually rewards the players for just playing.

Of course, fighting games aren’t usually about playing with yourself, and BlazBlue delivers a solid multiplayer component as well. Like most multiplayer games, you can compete against the internet in ranked and unranked matches, congregate with like-minded players in six-player lobbies, and even watch matches being played. As you fight, you’ll earn experience points (called rebel points) that accumulate to increase your overall level. This lets you see how experienced opponents are and select matches with other players your level.

Rounding out the game modes is a training mode for practicing and the score attack mode that tasks players with surviving an onslaught of AI opponents purely for high score purposes. Beyond game modes and characters, the actual gameplay of BlazBlue is a great mix of old and new. Hardcore players will welcome the inclusion of new moves like counter assaults, instant blocks, barrier bursts and blocks, rapid cancels and other intricate maneuvers. Newbies, on the other hand, and more casual gamers will appreciate the easy playability of basic moves and the option to use the right analog stick to effortlessly perform special moves.

Finally, the presentation of the game is topnotch. The 2D, anime style of the characters is gorgeous and colorful, if not quite as sharp as the recent Super Street Fighter HD remix, and the 3D rendered backdrops are amazing active and attractive. The audio work is very good as well, with zippy, dramatic music and great fighting sound effects.

Blast Factor: There’s very little to find fault with in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. Sure, the story is nearly incomprehensible, but beyond that this is simply a great fighting game. There’s tons of replayability, amazingly diverse characters, smooth and refined controls, and gorgeous graphics. If you like fighting games at all, BlazBlue is a must buy.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger is available for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and retails for $59.99

The basic football works well, and due to its being designed after the college rather than pro game, allows for some differentiation in gameplay elements from its NFL cousin. There are more opportunities for trick plays, and they also seem to have a higher rate of success–it’s easier to pull some of this stuff off when a 350 pound lineman who can inexplicably run at high speeds isn’t cutting you off on a reverse. My favorite feature from the games themselves though has to be the “setup”, which tells you what percentage of “setup” the opposing team’s defense is for a particular offensive play. If you’ve run a few running plays in a row for instance, using say, the basic I-formation, then you want to run a playaction in the I, the game will tell you that the opposition is 35% setup for being fooled on the play, or 60% fooled, or whatever the number is based on just how ready to be tricked they are. It’s also easier to fool your friends and the computer now that the strategic elements of gameplay have been enhanced, like being more aggressive on defense but at the expense of possibly giving up a big play.

NCAA is all about the game modes though, especially since by now EA certainly has the core football game experience down. Besides your standard Dynasty mode, there is also an Online Dynasty, which allows for 60 years of continuous play, and the best part is that it can be done with friends or for everyone to see, rather than just at home by your lonesome. New to this year’s game is the Road to Glory mode, which has Erin Andrews and Kirk Herbstreit following your college football career. In addition to listening to those two talk about how amazing you are, you can also check out your career accomplishments in a virtual dorm room full of trophies, the latest NCAA news and photographs of your favorite plays and accomplishments, all of which can be taken from the highlight reel following the completion of a game.

While you can just jump into Dynasty or Play Now, you can also take some time to fully customize a team online beforehand. Use EA’s Teambuilder to edit the school of your choice; you are not just limited to tweaking the roster to your content, but you can also fiddle with logos, stadium design, and all of the different parts of the uniforms. If you don’t want to mess with a current school, you can also create your own from scratch and then use it in Dynasty mode or in exhibition games. That’s very appealing to someone like me, who doesn’t have a school they instantly gravitate to in these towards of titles.If you’re lazy or just want to populate your game with various created teams, you can also download other people’s creations. Have a bunch of creative friends and want to mooch, or just want to make sure that their stuff is on your console for when they come over? You can do that, which is a neat feature.

One thing that I could not test, given it does not start up until the real season begins, is the Season Showdown. It’s an NCAA Football competition of sorts, where fans play NCAA to prove that their school is the best. You earn credits for your college of choice by playing games online or even against the computer, and these credits go towards your school’s total, added up with everyone else who picked that college as their team. You don’t have to choose the team you plan on using, so if you want to pick Boston College but then use Ohio State in order to wipe the floor with people, then go for it. You can earn credits by playing the computer, playing online, taking on your weekly Showdown opponent (who is a real person), by utilizing the Allies & Rivals online poll, or by answering some trivia questions online.

You also earn credits for your in-game performance. NCAA keeps track of your user tackles, picks, forced fumbles, etc., and you can earn credits from those. Running successfully setup plays (remember the above feature, and use it to your advantage) also nets you credits, as does not beating your opponent’s face into the ground–sportsmanship counts folks, so don’t run up the score just to show off. You also get more credits if you do play with your selected Showdown team, so let’s hope your taste in schools isn’t questionable. If you’re considered the underdog, you will also get some credits for taking on that game.

My favorite way to earn credits though would have to to be the ESPN Instant Classic. That’s mostly because I love the idea of designating games as ESPN Instant Classics; play a few rivalry or conference games and have them turn out to be great games, and you will see your game designated as an ESPN Instant Classic. You can upload highlights from the game to the NCAA Football 10 servers as well, so everyone else can view your accomplishments if they desire.

Those are the noteworthy features in this wonderful edition of NCAA Football, and they help keep the game interesting and give you plenty of reasons to hold on to your copy of the game even after Madden NFL 10 comes out. Given that has always been one reason that I never got into the series in the first place–just wait a month and you get Madden, after all–I have to give credit where it is due to EA Tiburon for designing a product that should stay on your shelf even after its pro rival is available.

Blast Factor: NCAA Football 10 provides a strategic football experience that is accessible to all levels thanks to its All-Play feature and the use of different play styles on both offense and defense. There are enough game modes to keep you in the game much longer than just the summer, especially with Season Showdown and an Online Dynasty mode. Even with Madden coming out in a few weeks, this one comes recommended.

NCAA Football 10 is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and Playstation Portable systems. This version, reviewed on the Xbox 360, retails for $59.99

For those who need more than my concise blessing to influence their purchases, Battlefield 1943 is a lot like its predecessor in that it captures the spirit of the original, but it’s also entirely its own experience. Sure, you play on three maps (four, now that Xbox 360 users have unlocked Coral Sea) that appeared in the original, but despite looking the same, they play differently. DICE used Iwo Jima, Guadalcanal and Wake Island, but made sure they looked the part of a south Pacific island this time. Lush jungles were added, which can be used as cover for scouts or as a shielded road for traveling infantry. All of the buildings, towers and fences that dotted the landscape in the original are there–at least, until you blow them up. Yes, that’s right, the environments are now destructible thanks to the Frostbite engine, used in Battlefield: Bad Company. This makes the last 10 minutes of a match very different from the first 10. Sure, you hid inside of a building to capture a spawn point when you first landed on Iwo Jima, but that building can be taken out by explosives, tank shells or bombs dropped from the sky, which means you can’t hide in it anymore. Bridges can be blown up, making moving across maps difficult for tanks and jeeps, but be warned: if you were to lose the spawn point that you were trying to defend, you won’t be able to drive tanks over the empty expanse to take it back. Once blown up, structures are gone for good, and it adds a layer of strategy to an already strategic shooter.

The reason Battlefield 1942, and by design, its sequel 1943, are so strategically based is because of the scoring system. You don’t win a match by having the most kills, you win by depleting your opponent’s progress bar. Think of it like a health bar–every time you kill an opposing soldier, blow up a tank or shoot a plane out of the sky, the bar gets a bit smaller. There’s a faster and more effective way to get that bar to disappear though, and that is by capturing more spawn points than your opponent. Stand near a flag long enough, and the current flag will go down in favor of your own; once it’s raised, your team can use that as a spawn point, and also as a forward base once your tanks, jeeps and planes appear. The team with fewer of these forward points is the one that is continually taking hits on their progress bar; capturing bases back will slow this to a crawl and cause the other team to begin their descent towards a loss. It’s a constant back and forth, especially with just 12 players per side. You may be ahead one moment, with five of the six spawn points under your control, but that also means the enemy can come at you from their one spawn point with most of their team working in concert against you. This makes each battle its own unique experience, even if you were to load up any of the maps multiple times in a row.

DICE cut down on the number of classes, making your options a Rifleman (anti-infantry, long-range) Infantry (anti-tank) and Scout (explosives, sniper). You don’t need a medic anymore, because health regenerates. I’m not talking bald space marine health regeneration here–you’ll still get killed if you run out and do something stupid and someone sees you doing it–but if you lay low behind a big rock or inside a building for a moment, you’ll regain your health. If you don’t feel like running on foot, the tanks, jeeps and planes are all fun and easy to use, even in the transition from keyboard and mouse to controller. Jeeps and tanks are especially entertaining, as one person can drive while another mans the machine gun, making you doubly effective at repelling your enemies.

You earn points for, among other things,  kills, kill assists, destroying vehicles, capturing flags, and defending flags. These points, rather than kills, are how you are ranked at the end of a match. You can join a squad when you start the match too, in order to compete for the best squad in the map. There have been matches where my team lost but I was on the best squad, and vice versa, so there’s a lot to play for besides just shooting everyone that moves. You move up in rank based on your actions and score, and also earn medals for certain things, like killing X number of enemies in a tank, or taking out X number of planes, in addition to the Achievements and Trophies. This also extends the replayability, as it gives you different ways to approach each map and game; anything that keeps a multiplayer-only game with just a handful of maps feeling fresh is good by me.

Blast Factor: Battlefield 1943 is a great experiment by EA, as it tries to blend classic features from one of their top series along with some of the newer innovations and advancements it has seen. For just $15, you get a first-person shooter with excellent controls, wonderful environments, and tons of variety and depth despite its bite-sized nature. DICE wanted to create a game you can go back to in between all of your larger game purchases, and with Battlefield 1943, it’s safe to say they succeeded with their goal.

Battlefield 1943 is available on the Xbox 360 for 1200 Microsoft Points and on the Playstation Network for $15

I say that it’s funny, because now that Final Fantasy VII has released on the Playstation Network store, available to play on either your PS3 or your PSP, a new generation of gamers that grew up in the 128-bit era and have already had a taste of HD gaming may wonder why it was such a big deal. Even with the cut scenes, it sports a much more cartoony, sprite-like look to it than the games that followed — the kind of thing that many jaded gamers would refer to as “kiddie.” If you don’t believe me, check out some of the thoughts around the Internet every time a 3D DS RPG comes out sporting a chibi look. The innovations it brought are not as apparent all these years later for those who are unfamiliar with the game, but have played the titles that were heavily influenced by it.

This is a long-winded way of saying that Final Fantasy VII, for all of its wonderful moments, shows its age when you play it today. That doesn’t make it a bad game though — it’s still one of the best Final Fantasy titles, even taken out of context, due to a few memorable characters, both good and bad, as well as a well-done, though occasionally convoluted, story. Don’t let its looks fool you, as it’s still one of the best RPG experiences money can buy, more than a decade later. It just may not have that same “wow” factor that it did when you first popped a CD into your PSX last decade, at least for new gamers.

The beautiful soundtrack is still there, as are all of those summons, Limit Breaks, and the Materia system that many fans love. Cloud, Tifa, and all the rest still have intriguing back stories, and unless you religiously play the game each year, going through the quest to experience everything again is worthwhile. There is plenty I have forgotten about in the game that returned to me along with loads of nostalgia, which is a good feeling to have. There’s certainly enough here that those new to the series can also enjoy the story, as long as they are willing to look past the cracks in the game’s once seemingly flawless armor.

But, just like 32-bit generation gamers should have given earlier Final Fantasy titles like IV and VI a chance (then titled II and III), those who never played FFVII should give this a spin, because there’s a fascinating piece of gaming history here for you to experience. No one is asking you to pay upwards of $80-100 on eBay for the game either, since you can now get it for just $10 on PSN.

I’m purposely avoiding a “proper” review for this gem, because I don’t think it needs it. Its history and legacy should sell the game on its own, and that’s coming from one of those crazy people that thinks Final Fantasy VI is the absolute pinnacle of the series. If you have played Final Fantasy VII before and loved it, download it for a nostalgic run through your past. If you have never played it, but enjoy RPGs, then download it, because it is certainly worth your time, especially for just $10. Go see what all the fuss is about, and take on Shinra and Sepiroth.

Cole is a courier sent to deliver a package that ends up exploding in his hands as he brings it to where it needs to go. The blast blows a crater into one of the three islands of Empire City and knocks out the power over the entirety of the metropolis. Cole discovers that because of the blast, and the object that exploded — something we later learn is called a Ray Sphere — he has gained dominion over electricity (and though it isn’t mentioned, electromagnetism as well, based on some of the powers he possesses). These new powers allow him to blast bolts of lightning out of his hands, throw electric grenades, shoot exploding electric rockets, grind rails and wires, and float, among many other electricity-based skills.

The FBI takes notice of Cole’s new-found abilities, and tasks him with recovering the Ray Sphere before it falls into the wrong hands — since he did cause the explosion, he doesn’t have much of a choice, especially since the alternative is for the entire city to be turned into the military’s personal playground. You are also sent to restore power to the city to make your life easier, as well as improve Empire City’s situation — each section restored earns you a new power for use in your battle to recover the Ray Sphere.

That’s the story in a nutshell, as I’m not about to divulge spoilers for you in this review, but you do get a say in how the story progresses, to a degree. That’s because you can play as Evil Cole or Heroic Cole, based on your actions. Important NPC’s will treat you differently, depending on which direction you take — Cole is trying to repair his relationship with his ex-girlfriend, Trish, and she is going to have a hard time respecting you if you’re killing innocent people because it makes you giggle. The citizenry will also act differently towards you, depending on your alignment; if you’re good and have helped them, they come to your aid in battle, punching, kicking and chucking rocks at enemies that are focused on you. But if you’ve been a naughty Cole, they’re just as likely to toss those rocks at your face.

The Karma system has its issues, but overall it works. You can’t be neutral in this game and still be powerful, as there are powers specific to good and evil — the good ones are easily controlled, so that you don’t cause needless destruction, while the bad ones are more likely to level everyone in a city block, regardless of who they are or if they needed to be wiped out. Of more concern to me is the fact that when you get to a certain level of good or evil, you can just make whatever choices you want, because you’ve got enough leeway in your Karma to allow for it. This is helpful in particularly difficult battles when you just want to rattle off a stream of explosive electrical rockets, but makes Cole look like a sellout if you choose an evil path after playing 80% of the story as a champion of the people — especially since your Karma level is still high enough that people will treat you as they did prior to your most recent decision. It’s not that the system is broken, it’s just that the penalties for going against your alignment should be much more severe, in order to make you work for the side you want to fight for. It doesn’t help either that the incentive to be bad just isn’t there — the game is more difficult if you play as a good Cole, and most of the moral choices are pretty cut and dry: should I help these people, or should I act like an old-school, stereotypical cartoon villain and do evil things just because? I mean, why else would I have grown this clearly evil facial hair? That’s not to say that all of the moral choices are like this, but as I said, the game does not usually provide you with choices that actually make you sit and think on the decision any longer than it takes you to read the options.

That is not to say that the new content found in Assault on Dark Athena is bad; it’s just that after replaying an improved version of one of the last generation’s gems, the issues stand out and take away from the experience. In the end, depending on your level of tolerance, you’re going to end up with a fantastic remake that has yet to really show its age coupled with either a decent sequel in Athena or one that ultimately disappoints.

As Richard B. Riddick, you help out some prisoners by doing them some favors — favors which often involve killing other prisoners — and they help you get on your way to escaping from Butcher Bay, a prison in the desert that no one has ever escaped from. You hide in the shadows, shoot out lights, snap necks, drop from the rafters — all of these stealth kills are highly satisfying, and if you limit your gun play to involve shadows, even that is fun as the AI struggles to find where you are versus where you were when you fired. The AI is not stupid in this game, as they will find you and come after you once they sense you are in the area. They will turn if they hear you coming as well, so you need to be sneaky and quiet, not just unseen. Luckily, Riddick has a stealth mode that allows him to walk quietly, and also lets you know if you’re in anyone’s line of sight; blue vision means you are unseen, while a return to regular vision means someone has the potential to catch you. You do have to be careful in making sure that guards are not hiding in the shadows like you were, as once you pop out they could converge on you. Like I said, the AI is not stupid.

Escape from Butcher Bay is a game that had tons of attention lavished on it in the past, so I’m not going to go into too much detail here given that there’s an entire other game to review; just know that if you loved the original, this remake is fantastic, and is worth revisiting just for the visual upgrades, given that it comes in a package with another game.

That game is not up to par with Butcher Bay though; Assault on Dark Athena tries to mix run-and-gun gameplay with stealth, and it doesn’t do a great job of either. Here are some issues you need to deal with: there are tons of weapons and ammunition available, and the level design is set up in a way where there are tons of open spaces — that means there isn’t anywhere to hide. Combine those two together, and you realize the game is telling you to shoot first and hide in the shadows later, which takes away from Riddick’s core gameplay. When you move from the confines of corridors into a more open world, this is magnified. Fewer places to hide, more shooting to be had, and as you will realize, that AI that is not so stupid is now also nearly impossible to kill with ease.

They could sense your presence in corridors when you weren’t visible if you made too much noise, but now you can’t even hide effectively. They have better accuracy and range than you do with Riddick’s limited (and imperfect) gun play, and they have far more health than you do as well; the imbalance between the number of shots you can take and the number you need to fire shows that this is meant to be a stealth game, but it’s tough to pull off when the level design screams run-and-gun. This is not a one-on-one thing either, as Athena often pits you against groups of enemies, or against a turret that can maul you in no time.

Again, this is a worthwhile package, even if you’re just buying the remake of Butcher Bay. You get two games for the price of one, and now Riddick gets to experience multiplayer as well, which is a neat addition to the series when you’re talking about the Pitch Black mode. If you have never experienced Escape from Butcher Bay before, you’re in for a wonderful game, while the remake is worth owning just to play through it again in it’s prettier form. The greatness of Escape from Butcher Bay is quite an experience (let’s say it’s a 9), while the disappointment that stems from playing  Assault on Dark Athena is unavoidable (let’s give this one a 7), but at least you purchased both for the grand total of $60.

Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena is available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC, and retails for $59.99.

Oh shit. Was that a spoiler? Oh well. Anyway…

There are two immediate schools of reaction that are possible here. First, the die hard Godfather fan in you can say “oh, COOL, something different.” Second, the die hard Godfather fan in you can say “oh, shit, it’s different. This sucks!”

I felt like the first half of the altered story, which begins in a Cuba scene that’s halfway through the Academy Award-winning film, was interesting. But I was left scratching my head. Godfather II is almost universally regarded as one of the best movies ever made. Why didn’t Electronic Arts take advantage of that?

You are Dominic, and you’re about to become the Don of the Corleone Family in New York. What follows is an endlessly repetitious repeat of the first Godfather game with about a third of the story elements that made the first game a hit.

This is a GTA-style sandbox game, meaning you get to steal cars and shoot things anywhere you want. But even though the game lets you explore three cities, there isn’t nearly enough room to maneuver in Godfather II.

Your mission is to take over and retain control a number of businesses and crime rackets, and that’s what you’ll spend nearly all of the day-or-so of gameplay doing. You attack a business. A rival family attacks you. You defend. You attack more businesses.

The early story elements show potential. We see Fredo’s character really develop in this game. We see Roth, the Floridian mastermind, in all his glory. You even get to take a shot at Fidel Castro. But the game just isn’t finished. The story elements just stop suddenly. You spend the first part of the game doing all these missions, viewing a ton of family dialogue, and then suddenly Michael Corleone orders you to basically hurry up and finish the game by giving you a mission to eliminate all your rivals. The dialog stops. The storyline stops. Suddenly you’ve degraded to a teenager who first discovered the Grand Theft Auto III PC cheat codes and starts blowing shit up with machine guns.

But that’s not the only problem. The gameplay is seriously flawed. You have to hold or tap X to run, but you also have to use the right thumbstick to control your direction. You only have one right thumb, though. Forget about driving. You’re going to crash and get stuck. Speaking of getting stuck, at least twice during my run-through, I became trapped between a wall and some sort of game element and had to blow myself up and die to get unstuck.

Shooting is also kind of worthless. You hold one button to automatically target an enemy — not the nearest enemy, just one enemy — and another button to shoot them. Repeat as necessary.

This game clearly didn’t have the budget it needed to live up to the movie. The game should have gone back and forth, just like the movie, between Michael’s and Vito’s storylines. I’d have also been really happy to see the game set only in Vito’s world as you grow and develop his crime empire.

The best part about the game is probably developing your own family and equipping, clothing, upgrading, and going to war with them. Each character of the dozens available has its own personality and skill set, and it provides some entertainment. But even this presents its own set of problems. You basically have to bring a bunch of guys with different skills on every mission. Some doors have to be blown up, some can be knocked down, and some can be lock-picked. That’s pretty stupid — I’m sorry. Now we’re just grasping at straws, trying to find some use for these guys specific skills.

The game just isn’t cerebral enough. It’s got guns, tits, swearing and explosions, but nothing about this game leaves me feeling as if I’ve accomplished something afterward.

This is a fuck up, EA. You turned Godfather II into Godfather III.

And you broke my heart. Now Al Neri is going to kill you on a rowboat.

It’s still a fun game to play.  Whether you’re playing through the game by yourself or with a friend, it’s still fun.  A few things have changed however.  Firstly, the fact that you have a partner apparently revolutionizes the way you play Resident Evil.  If you remember Resident Evil 0, where you play through the game as the medic from the original Resident Evil, Rebecca, and her ex convict friend Billy, who fight their way through a train, then you’ve played computer co-operative Resident Evil.

As if Capcom thought their first attempt at co-op was a failure, or wasn’t as fun as they would have liked, they brought it back (Leon Kennedy RE4, solo).  Now, considering this is a next-gen video game, the A.I. of Sheva throughout the game is better, and I emphasize better, than any computer controlled character to ever be featured in a Resident Evil game.  It’s not perfect.  She still has a tendency to stand in the wrong place at the wrong time, or just expel all of her ammo without even taking into consideration that she might need to save it.  She may have a knack for finding herself trapped in situations that you are not in, and that you, being the human player, must then turn around and fight your way through hordes of enemies just to progress further in the game.  I guess that’s the game trying to imitate the experience of playing with another player but if you’ve even got one friend who’s played Resident Evil before, it will be easier.

By lacking the ability to replicate A.I. that you can feel safe with, the combat becomes more of a, “HELP ME!” tap B to save, affair.  It’s much harder to manage two inventories, to delegate who opens what, due to the fact that the combat is so intense, opening the inventory mid battle can become more of a hindrance than a benefit.  The inventory system is accessed through tapping Y, but it doesn’t pause the game. If your partner runs out of ammo in a town where your mission is to outlast a horde of the infected, good luck getting out alive.

The weapons are well polished and easy to use.  Weapons like the proximity mine add some variety to the combat.  Upgrading is a must but with the ability to continually purchase newer handguns even though I’ve been upgrading another one teases me.

Besides having to baby-sit when you’re playing by yourself, RE5 does have some redeeming qualities.  The graphics are polished, everything from Chris’ uncomfortably muscular body to the facial expressions of the boss as he talks his plan (Wesker from Resident Evil), all look pretty fluid and realistic.  The game play itself, the aiming and shooting, the melee combat, the knife, is all fun.  In RE5, the melee combat system gets an overhaul.  Now each character has options for how they wish to pummel their enemy.

However, Chris and Sheva can’t just pummel any enemy.  New monsters like the Executioner, a monster wielding a bladed sledgehammer spice up the combat.  The return of the Licker was a nice inclusion.  The Licker seems like a close relative to another new monster, the Reaper, who has an irritating way of one hit killing both Chris and Sheva whenever they’re near.  It’s best to just run past them, and get away.  Otherwise, get used to having about seven total bullets for most of the game.  But, you should already know that you can’t kill all of them.

Quick-time events are strewn throughout the cut scenes to keep the player involved.  It’s a good way to maintain attention.  But wait, shouldn’t my attention always be towards the game because it’s completely entertaining and interesting?  Shouldn’t I be able to play through the game and understand the story completely, understand why there are mutated Africans attacking my character and his friends?

You’d think they might have taken that into consideration, you know, the story and the dialogue.  However, from the first mission it is clear that the developers didn’t want to distract gamers with a story.  Forget empathy, forget even sympathy, here is some formulaic dialogue.  A character I used to think was a pretty good protagonist, Chris, becomes a variable to an equation.  Instead of having him do what any rational person would do and assess the situation he’s throwing himself into (mutations, rival, love, safety, just to name a few), he blindly runs through hordes of mutated things for another Resident Evil character, Jill.  You see, they were partners.  And partners never ditch each other, right?  Yeah.  Totally.  Real people never do that.  So he instead runs through the game spitting phrases like, “Let’s do this together,” and “we’re partners, together until the end.”  The entire time I was playing, I expected that at the end Chris and Jill would fall in love or something, or Chris and Sheva.  Instead, he says almost absolutely nothing after he saves her and just stares at her.  I don’t know how that comes across to you, but to me that is creepy and cheap, they could have developed their story more.  Not only is that formulaic but by the end, Chris hasn’t changed at all.

The approach to the story is boring and I had to wake up a friend of mine who dozed off listening to Chris make his way through the game twice.  The only character worth anything is Wesker, the villain.  The actor playing his voice put a little effort into it.  The dialogue I can’t fault him for, considering it’s just a rehash of every other game about fighting super powerful bad guys who mutate into monsters.  When is the archetypal villain who is out for global domination going to lose its appeal?

While the primary story involves a friend in search of a friend (yay!), the setting is created by the development of a new virus.  This virus infects people and mutates them.  Instead of zombies, because that’s apparently not scary enough, Chris and Sheva have to fight aggressive Africans whose faces mutate when they try and eat you but otherwise are mostly black and have weapons like flaming crossbows.  Some of the scenes were over-the-top, like the motorcycle battle.  Yeah, that’s cool.  But, I’ve played Gears of War before; I’ve fought that battle before.  I want some horror, some survival.

The boss fights range from aim and shoot to an endurance contest.  Turret battles with various monsters are too easy.  And, the fact that they are extremely mutated does two things.  Firstly, it makes the battle more epic.  The size and the grotesqueness of the creatures attempt to intimidate the player.  Secondly, it changes the genre of the game.  If you wanted survival horror you’re looking in the wrong place.

Previous Resident Evil games used zombies and the psychological connection that the characters themselves could turn if bitten as an important part of the game.  Not only did numerous protagonists throughout the franchise have to pump bullets into zombies, but those zombies could be and/or are their friends.  Instead, by the absurd amount of tentacles and blood and teeth, RE5 has the opposite affect.  The gamer is detached from the idea that they are to be afraid of the monsters and instead are reimbursed with confidence (weapons and ammo and combat).  You can look at this as the shift from Survival Horror to Action Adventure.

Aside from that, the Mercenaries mini game is still fresh.  With the ability to play it with a friend and a larger selection of characters I had more fun playing it than anything else.  The online aspect is good, and I’m hopeful that they allow downloadable characters (Barry Burton please), as well as stages.  But, if you’re a fan of Resident Evil, especially Resident Evil 4, you won’t find much of it in this package; just the game play and the universe.

The things you loved about The Show are back, like the ability to guess the pitch your opponent is throwing, the sliding game options, the very deep player creator (that can also be used to create your player in Road to the Show) and one of the best booths in any sports title, made up of Matt Vasgersian, Dave Campbell and Rex Hudler. These three are actually improved this year, as there is a “Progressive Commentary System” that changes the announcer’s dialogue based on what is going on in the game, meaning that because of the new animations and situations that have been put into the graphics and gameplay, there is a larger variety of things for you to hear, and far less looping of the announcer soundtrack. Given the amount of time you could spend with this game going through all of the various gameplay modes, that’s a big plus.

The pitchers are as smart as ever with the Adaptive Pitching Intelligence system that changes strategy based on the batter, thanks to pitchers that the catcher is calling. These pitches are not just randomly pulled out of the game, but are instead picked based on the context, and are based off of actual MLB statistics. As a stat junkie, this is huge, and something I love about the series. To make things even more realistic, The Show utilizes a pitcher confidence meter, which is used to affect the ability of a pitcher to hit release points, while consistent mistake pitches will bring down the confidence of a pitcher, which makes commanding your repertoire that much more difficult. If that isn’t enough realism for you, the umpires have their own personalities, and may make mistakes (though you can shut this feature off if you want things to be a bit more black and white strike zone wise). Pitchers also need to use all of their offerings if they want to be able to control them properly, just like in real life. If you skip out on a pitcher’s fourth pitch, say, a curveball, for awhile, and then want to use it in a high pressure situation, your chances of success with it will be much lower than if you had used it all the time as a go-to pitch.

Hitting is not nearly as complex as pitching, but it’s still a very realistic interpretation of what being at the plate is like. You can guess what the pitcher is going to throw, as well as the location. If you guess location right, your hitter will focus on that area without the need to move the analog stick, but you will still have to get the timing right to make the most of this advantage. If you guess wrong, you need to manually move over, which may take just a bit too long for you to do anything constructive with the pitch. If you guess the pitch type wrong, your contact meter goes down a bit, and you will need to identify what the pitcher is throwing and whether you should swing at it even, which can cause you to make some foolish split-second decisions. It takes some getting used to, but is an incredibly satisfying system that asks you to do much more than just swing at the right time. I’m a big fan of a more arcade style of baseball game, but even someone like me is enamored with this hitting system of The Show.

Franchise mode returns for the second year of its existence, with some key improvements. There is now a 40-man roster, which means you have a deeper pool of talent to pull from and more decisions to make in the offseason. There are also many things you need to do that can turn franchise mode into what is essentially a baseball simulation game, were you to avoid playing the actual games, as you need to worry about arbitration (including super-two players, which is a term that the more casual baseballs fans would not be aware of) the waiver-wire and September call-ups (which are based off of the minor leaguers on your 40-man roster). If you aren’t sure of what any of these terms mean, and don’t want to get caught off guard, SCEA has included a glossary for your to peruse at your leisure, so that you can figure out just what these ideas mean. It’s nice to not have to get up from your couch to Google the information, and can instead just continue on with what you are doing.

If you don’t want to play a franchise by yourself, you now have the option of playing a league online. You can even set drafts and adjust the schedule around so that you don’t have to spend 162 days of your year playing through the season, but can instead play the games when you want them to be played. This is much better than simply offering head-to-head exhibition matches, and has the potential to become something huge once SCEA has spent as much time with it as they have with the more established game modes.

We may have learned to overlook the inherent absurdity of these over-the-top troopers, but developer Vicious Cycle still views their adventures as fertile territory for satire. Enter Matt Hazard, an 8-bit 80s relic who’s fallen on hard times since his brand became diluted with kart racers and non-violent  water-gun shooters in the 21^st century. Hazard signed a lifetime contract with “Marathon Software” at the height of his popularity, but now that the has-been hero no longer stars in popular titles, he represents something of a liability for the company.

The only way to void the contract is to kill Hazard in-game, and evil CEO Wallace “Wally” Wellesley (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris), who remains scarred from his childhood inability to beat Hazard’s 2D side-scrollers, sets out to do just that. He lures Hazard with the prospect of a next-gen outing, only to attempt to kill him at the end of the first level and install a dim-witted narcissist named “Sting Sniperscope” in his place. Hazard’s having none of it, and with the help of a renegade programmer, he’ll fight his way through an array of environments from his previous games, seeking to make Wellesley pay for his treachery.

I’ve devoted this much time to the game’s backstory because it deserves to be commended. Vicious Cycle formulated a fantastic premise for a game, and developed the idea to the fullest extent possible. This is no flimsy scenario fabricated merely as an excuse to shoot bad guys; it’s a fleshed-out alternate reality. By the time the credits roll, you’ll come close to believing that you’ve been aware of Matt Hazard’s exploits not only for the 6-8 hours it takes to complete Eat Lead, but throughout your entire experience as a gamer. This curious effect stems from the fact that the game’s levels and cutscenes are peppered with references, both verbal and visual, to Hazard’s earlier outings, most of them inspired by easily identifiable games you know and love.

Eat Lead seizes every possible opportunity for humor; a litany of memorable moments, coupled with an impressive attention to detail, combine to form a complete comedic package. An intentionally bland rock soundtrack evokes memories of the game’s generic forebears, transitioning to themed motifs at suitable junctures. The jokes can come from anywhere: they’re buried within the menu screen (one message actually defines the word “tip,” rather than providing one), the “objectives” text that scrolls across the screen at the beginning of levels, and the text on the bulletin boards within the levels themselves. The game lampoons long elevator rides designed to hide loading points, exploding barrels, text-heavy RPG’s, and a number of other gaming staples. One sequence forces you to stand at a sniper rifle emplacement reminiscent of the Silent Scope arcade game, rather than toting around the portable version

Throughout the game, you’ll encounter a dizzying array of characters, ostensibly drawn from the extensive Matt Hazard archives. The levels themselves are fairly unexceptional carbon copies of the warehouses, factories, restaurants, and ships you’ve fought through a hundred times before, albeit with some nods to particular games and subject matter. Populate those levels with hooded Russian troopers, cowboys, zombies, space marines, and pixellated, paper-thin pseudo-Nazis straight out of Wolfenstein 3D, however, and you have something special. Fighting zombies and Russians simultaneously (on a tennis court, no less) is an experience you’ll remember for some time. Each enemy model spawns in a unique manner; for example, the cowboys push their way through saloon doors which materialize in mid-air. Each class of adversaries wields its own type of weaponry, from the standard to the futuristic and exotic. You can pick up and use anything they drop, which makes for a fair fight under any circumstances; ammunition can be scarce, so you’ll find yourself switching weapons often. You’ll also encounter several memorable leading characters from Hazard’s past, including a wizard with Shatner-esque diction, a Mario look-alike, and best of all, the “Master Chef,” who bears a striking resemblance to a certain cybernetically enhanced supersoldier.

I expected the jokes to dry up as the game wore on, but Matt Hazard’s brand of humor proves surprisingly sustainable, most likely thanks to the award-winning writing of in-house scribe Dave Ellis. Publisher D3’s promotional materials trumpet Ellis’ influence over the finished product, eliciting a warm glow deep within my English major’s heart. In addition to Harris, D3 enlisted Will Arnett (who voices Hazard) to deliver his lines, exhibiting a laudable commitment to storytelling, an art often neglected in the “shooter” genre.

You’ve probably sensed that there’s a “but” on its way; it’ll be pulling into this station presently. Ellis is quoted in D3’s reviewer packet as saying the following:

“We set out to make a solid shooter first and foremost. If you don’t make the game fun and competitive in a gameplay sense, nobody will play long enough to experience the story.”

I don’t know, and frankly, I don’t care.

I’ve adopted consoles of all shapes and sizes as my own, and like any proud parent, I wish all my charges nothing but success (even when they start wearing faceplates and embracing alternative high-definition formats). When I look at them, I don’t see colors or corporate logos; I see beautiful hunks of plastic and circuitry, all of which I cherish to an equal degree (or maybe, like some parents, I merely pretend to in public, on the rare occasions when I find myself there). When one console goes through an awkward phase, I lavish my attentions on another. I realize that this isn’t an option for everyone, especially in an economy where consoles may soon become more valuable as doorstops (after all, doorstops work for free), but if you can raise the cash, you’ll recoup the initial investment during the time you won’t be spending defending your purchase on message boards.

I won’t venture an opinion on whether Killzone 2 is a “Halo-killer”-the gaming landscape is big enough for both franchises to coexist peacefully. However, I won’t hesitate to report that it’s worth every penny of the hard-earned $60 you’ll be asked to exchange for the privilege of playing it. If you harbor a fondness for well-designed games featuring disembodied arms clasping high-powered weaponry, you’ll enjoy this one immensely.

If you haven’t played the original Killzone, be prepared not to follow its sequel’s plot (I’m speaking from experience here). Shortly after selecting “New Campaign,” you’ll find yourself invading the planet of Helghan, the homeworld of the (presumably) alien Helghast race, as part of a massive Interplanetary Strategic Alliance taskforce. Your motivations for doing so are only vaguely alluded to, but all indications are that the Helghast had it coming. Any qualms you might feel about attempting to, uh…finish the fight in this manner are quickly quelled by their standard issue, villain-class British accents, fascist ideology, striking resemblance to RotJ-era Anakin Skywalker, and frequent attempts to kill you and the rest of your squad. Think The Forever War, without the moral ambiguity (or, if you’d rather spend less time imagining, and more time playing, just think “Starship Troopers”).

It’s a shame that developer Guerrilla Games didn’t demonstrate the same ingenuity in crafting a narrative that it did in honing its product’s gameplay and technical underpinnings, but the cookie-cutter sci-fi plot doesn’t detract from the action, and you won’t have much time to dwell on the lost opportunity once the bullets start flying. Just don’t expect to get to know your enemy before you mow him down.

You’ll spend most of the game fighting to occupy the decimated Helghast capital, Pyrrhus (based on the name, take a wild guess at what sort of victory the successful completion of your mission would represent), an urban center composed of labyrinthine shanty towns, interspersed with imposing, monumental edifices that only a Speer could love. Killzone 2’s level design might be its crowning achievement. Throughout the first half of the game, you’ll be escorting a sluggish convoy through the winding streets of Pyrrhus, which might sound like the antithesis of an action-packed assignment. But the vulnerable column’s reliance on your efforts provides a coherent rationale for all your objectives, and ensures a focus on the collaborative aspects of combat. Though Killzone 2 presents only a moderate challenge on the “Trooper” difficulty level, its inspired level design imparts a genuine sense of accomplishment to be savored after gaining each piece of ground, as well as a palpable sense of fighting on unfamiliar territory against an entrenched foe. On multiple occasions, you’ll spend an entire level taking a roundabout route to a fiercely defended position that was visible from your starting point; often, these extended sequences are followed by exhilarating breakthroughs, when the terrain grows more open and the firefights increase in intensity.

1. Being able to control a beautiful woman for the entire game is always a good thing.
2. Killing massive amounts of enemies is always a good thing.

However, combining the two does not always mean success, as proven by Gaijin Entertainment’s X-Blades.

X-Blades (available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC) is a third-person hack and slash adventure where you control the (barely clothed) Ayumi in her quest to search for treasure, killing everything you see in the process.  This game is essentially Tomb Raider on steroids; it stars a more scantily clad heroine fighting larger amounts of enemies with unlimited ammo. However, as fun as this sounds (and it is pretty fun, at times), X-Blades is spoiled due to an almost invisible plot, repetitive levels and an annoying main character.

The game begins with a short monologue by Ayumi explaining that she is searching for an ancient artifact which she believes will grant her limitless powers, fame and fortune.  You can tell she is very cocky and confident.  Though initially I found it cute, Ayumi’s dialogues with the bosses and other characters became quite annoying.  I quickly learned to skip past cut scenes as quickly as possible.

From the tutorial, you start the first level, which is appropriately named ‘Entrance into the Ruins”.  This stages serves as sort of a tutorial, allowing players to get a good grasp of the controls.  The controls are pretty easy to get a handle of.

Here’s a quick rundown of those controls: You press X to slash with your blades.  You can also press X multiple times to do long combination of hacks and slashes.  To use the guns, just press the trigger.  For a steady stream of shots, hold down the trigger.  Toggling the A button serves as the jump function, allowing you to leap in the air and slash at airborne enemies.  X-Blades is equipped with an auto-aim feature that isn’t great.  Basically, you turn Ayumi towards an enemy and it aims for you.  However, due to the massive amounts of enemies, the auto-aim system is somewhat pointless to pay attention to until you’re facing a boss.  The tutorial also explains how you can slot your special moves into certain buttons in the controller.  As you add more and more special moves (by purchasing them with the souls you collect from the enemies you kill), you can slot them in the Y, B, RB and LB buttons, giving you easy access when you need that extra oomph in battle.  You can also change where your specials are slotted by going to the game menu.

Though the tutorial did a good job explaining the battle system, it did not go over the interface at all.  I wasn’t sure which bar on the screen represented my health, my rage (a mana-like meter for special moves) and my progress in the level. I eventually figured it out, but it would have been nice to know from the get-go.

The actual game gives you very little background and history of Ayumi, which will leave many players wondering why she seems so motivated to find the treasure at seemingly any cost.  People who purchase the game will be able to read the manual booklet for the brief history behind the protagonist.  For renters?  Well, they may be SOL as many game renting services lose the booklets within the first week of availability, if they even provide them at all (for example, Gamefly does not).

Without a background and without a good sense of the plot, you continue to explore through different stages whilst fighting waves of different enemies and bosses.  You eventually cross paths with a young male character named Jay who serves as a source of dialogue and aids Ayumi on her quest to… wait… what was the main quest again?

Along with the poor plot development, X-Blades takes you through many levels that pretty much look and feel the same.  Though the enemies change in shape in size, they all attack you in similar formations and styles.  The wall textures seemed fairly uncreative, as well.

The positives of this game, though hard to identify at some points, were present during the campaign.  First of all, being equipped with “Gunblades” (which are exactly what they sound like – Guns with Blades) is always a good thing.  When I first heard about these weapons, I thought to myself, “I don’t know what those are, but I like them already.”  The hacks and slashes of the blades, though boring from an animation standpoint, are able to supply unlimited combination potential.

Speaking of animations, some of X-Blade’s most entertaining graphics come from Ayumi’s special moves, which tend to be quite effective against large hordes of enemies.  Some of the foes in the game can work together for a special move of their own.  They do substantial damage to Ayumi, but are also fun to watch.

The fact that this game had two different endings was a worthy addition to the game and added some replay value as well.  The endings are brought about depending on whether you align yourself with light or dark magic, which means that your play style will be different the second time around. Also adding replay value were the collectible artifacts, which are hidden throughout stages, but when the game is this repetitive and lacking in plot, you may not want to go through all of it a second time just for some treasure or a different ending.

Overall, X-Blades just isn’t that good.  The flaws in this game are much too visible and annoying not to damage the entire experience.  There is very little reason to actually purchase this game for the $59.99 sticker price.  If you’re going to be supremely bored for an evening, sure, drop a few bucks to rent it.  Beyond that, it’s not a great value.

Let me put it this way, X-Blades, like Ayumi herself, might be worth taking home for a night.  However, if you spend too much time with her, you’re going to regret it… no matter how hot she looks.

So the famed creator of Katamari Damacy along with Namco Bandai, released his latest creation for the Playstation Network, known as Noby Noby Boy. Not to be confused with actually being a game, Noby Noby Boy is best described as an original interactive experience, which may be why it holds that $4.99 price tag; it’s low enough to take a risk on, which should be good enough for many intrigued PS3 owners.

So what is Noby Noby Boy exactly? To put it simply, you play a four-legged creature, Boy, that will stretch, eat things and, well, poop them back out in the same manner they were originally consumed. You can combine different objects together as well, like eating a fruit and a creature and eventually ejecting a creature with a fruit head; this experimentation is meant to give you something to do as you attempt to build up your growth. As simple as the premise may be, there is more to Noby Noby Boy from my hours of meddling around the past few days with this “interactive experience.”

You control Boy who eats and will comically poop out what he eats. Control of Boy takes place through a randomly generated flat environment where people, creatures and objects exist solely to interact with. Boy’s house is placed somewhere in the environment and will be the only consistent thing you will ever see throughout the game. Boy’s house allows you to change to a new map giving you a new random assortment of people, creatures and objects to interact with.

You control the front two legs with the left analog stick and the hind two legs with the right analog stick. Jumping and flying are both controlled by L2 and R2, while shrinking is controlled with L3 and R3.You can move both parts in opposite directions with the analog sticks to cause Boy to stretch. The longer Boy is means more space in his worm-like body for consumed objects to stay. Otherwise, if no space is available, Boy will automatically (insert favorite euphemism for bodily functions here) out the objects.

Boy will stretch and report his lengths to Girl, who is like Boy but on a much larger scale. Girl will consume your length data and grow longer. As she grows she is actually moving away from the planet Earth to reach other heavenly bodies. In the days since Noby Noby Boy’s release, the combined length of all the PS3 players in our real world was able to help Girl reach the moon! This opened up, literally, a whole new world to play around in. This brought about exciting times for all who have been delving into the Noby Noby Boy experience, as they now had new environments and objects to interact with and experiment upon.

We, meaning the Noby Noby Boy community, now had a brand new set of people, creatures and objects at our disposal. This time all the humans and dogs were now in space suits. You would see people driving around in satellites. There were yellow moon crescents with legs walking about–I assume this was a bad joke showing what moon people would look like. Flying fish would now be floating about, and mushroom tops floating around like flying saucers.

This was whole lot of weird but also a whole lot of new. The physics on the moon appeared to have less gravity but with more experimentation I was able to create some awkward situations for Boy.

The level of Noby Noby Boy’s fun will be determined by the player. You will find endless supply of creatures like dogs, cats, camels, flying fish and even people ranging from all kinds of professions. You can choose to eat them, or at times they will jump on Boy’s body for a free ride throughout the town, and as mentioned you can also experiment to create new objects through digesting multiple objects.

From my experimentation, I was able to make Boy stretch so far that his body snapped into two. This created two separate bodies no longer restricted by Boy’s elasticity. I enjoyed eating animals and sadistically hearing the animal’s last echoing cry as entering Boy’s body. Also there were the numerous failed attempts to tie Boy in a knot or entangling him in a cloud, but it’s certainly possible to get tangled up, as you are harder to control the larger you get.

As expected by the type of gameplay, the overall music is very soothing and calming. It has yet to get irritating as more time was invested.

The most important question: Is Noby Noby Boy worth your time and money? For $4.99, you bet it is! This is one of those casual time waster games, similar to that of Wii Sports or Nintendogs. You would end up jumping back into it every time and again to see if there is anything new, and with the community pushing Girl ever forward, chances are good that there will be. Noby Noby Boy is charming, silly and will give you a smile, and for $4.99 that’s all you can ask for.

Like countless other entries in almost every conceivable video game genre, Flower charges its players with the daunting task of righting a world gone wrong. In its literal interpretation of that enterprise, however, Flower resembles a more exclusive group of games, including Okami, de Blob, and the most recent Prince of Persia. The world of Flower’s ills are reflected in the diminished beauty of its natural landscapes; transform a patch of scorched earth back into fertile ground, and you’ve fixed whatever ails that particular portion of the map.

However, Flower takes a unique approach to this familiar undertaking, allowing players to unleash their inner Linka by harnessing the power of the wind. Though a casual glance at the screen (or the title) might yield the impression that the flowers themselves are under the player’s control, it’s really the zephyr that does your bidding-the flowers simply go along for the ride.

Each of the game’s six levels (technically seven, but I’ll get to that later) begins with the blossoming of a single flower, which releases one lone petal to be buffeted by the breeze. Gameplay consists largely of directing that petal towards other flowers (I’m no horticulturist, but they appear to resemble tulips), which release petals of their own when touched. These petals combine to form a sinuous, Katamari-like cloud (or, perhaps more accurately, a more benign version of the smoke monster from Lost) which usually trails out of view behind the camera, though it can be glimpsed on occasion after sharp turns. Since the flowers hail from several points along the color spectrum, the petal potpourri which results from their union constitutes quite a feast for the eyes.

Most flowers are arranged in discrete clusters within the larger level; once you pseudo-pollinate a certain number of them within a cluster, vivid color will be restored to that segment of the map, and the camera will gently nudge you toward another area in need of your attention, which may have been inaccessible earlier. The brief cutscenes depicting the return of color (which usually emanates outwards from the newly opened flowers in concentric waves) are suitably uplifting, and accompanied by a powerful, sustained rumbling, for those of you equipped with DualShock 3’s.

Flower adds a few wrinkles to this entrancing formula as you progress. The first level is little more than an open field, with a few stones scattered over its gently undulating hills. In succeeding levels, signs of human occupation appear, generally to the detriment of the landscape’s natural beauty. At first, only windmills and lampposts mar the idyllic scenery, but before long, electrical towers and unsightly steel girders blight the countryside.

These cosmetic additions bring corresponding alterations in gameplay. With the arrival of electricity comes the appearance of a luminous orb, which can be guided in the same manner as the petals. The passage of this ball of light causes nearby swathes of foliage to glow, illuminating vast tracts of land and unlocking adjacent areas. In later levels, you’ll be taking the fight directly to electrical towers and other man-made objects, breaking them apart with the force of your gusts (thereby robbing the unfortunate occupants of Flower’s universe of the ability to play Flower). Each level features a different stage of the day-night cycle, which helps to keep things fresh from a visual standpoint. More variety in the terrain might have improved matters further, but could just as easily have fallen under the heading of-if you’ll pardon the expression-gilding the lily.

The simple elegance of the control scheme matches that of the gameplay and level design. Tilting the controller determines the wind’s direction, and pressing any button causes it to blow-and I do mean any button, other than Start and Select. Even the joysticks can be used to perform this function, though they can’t be used to control the wind’s trajectory. Occasionally, portions of a level funnel your flowers through a pre-existing wind current, allowing you to release whatever button you’ve chosen and focus entirely on steering. At theses times, Flower is closer to a rail shooter than-well, whatever it is during the rest of the game, though the “enemies” are picturesque plants that don’t return fire. At no point did I become frustrated with the responsiveness of the motion controls. Of course, the game rarely requires extremely precise movements, and perhaps I subconsciously expected some degree of imprecision from a force as nebulous as the wind. Still, the fact remains that tilting the controller produces a corresponding on-screen movement in the direction of the tilt. That shouldn’t be cause for celebration, but in light of other games’ failures to achieve that modest goal, it is.

But what isn’t obvious about this compilation is that an inherit aging problem hurts some of these games. While they are all presented in top-notch form, with perfect emulation, customizable controls, and a wide variety of unlockables, some of these games are simply not worth playing anymore. Those looking for nostalgia will no doubt find their fix here but newcomers will uncover both classics and absolute duds.

The commendable amount of attention paid to this collection is recognizable from the very start. The main menu resembles the classic Genesis system with a large black panel on the left, L-shaped with a round center, listing all games immediately playable. On the right, video previews of selected games play within the shape of the standard Genesis cartridge, even exposing the motherboard slightly on the bottom.

Each game on the main list, one that can be sorted multiple ways (Alphabetically, chronologically, or by genre and preference), is given perfect presentations with multiple display options. As a default each game will start in their original format of 4:3. Those with widescreen TVs will see a game-specific background and a border adorning the edges of the reduced gameplay screen. However, in the collection’s pop-up menu, accessed by hitting Select, the game can be stretched to fill a 16:9 format.

Under that same “Video Setup” menu, a “Smooting” option can be activated, which gives each game a waxy veneer, apparently hoping to make them look more presentable on bigger TVs. While it does help to wrinkle out some otherwise noticeable imperfections, it also hinders the original look and style which will definitely drive some away. Also, games with heavy uses of text, like the Phantasy Star saga, don’t utilize the feature that well as some of the words become harder to read. Luckily, though, it can turned off, which is highly recommended.

Also in the pop-up menu are options to change the control scheme. The compilation automatically uses an altered layout to help fit the 360 controller, assigning actions where they feel more comfortable. But an “ABC Mode” is also available, which gives the A button of the original Genesis to the X button on 360, the B button to A and the C button to B. This won’t effect most games but others, like Vectorman, will definitely feel different.

Using the ABC mode, Vectorman jumps with B and fires with with X and A on the 360 pad, but with the default controls he jumps with A and shoots with X and B which seems to fit with most platformers available on the more modern system. On the original Genesis controller, all three main buttons were aligned horizontally, making it easier to assign a jump button to C, since most gamers could place the lower half of the thumb on that button and easily reach A and B with the top. The 360 controller, however, aligns its buttons in a square, so having a platformer use the jump button on anything other than A just feels awkward.

Regardless of the choice, 360 owners using the standard controller will not be able to escape the dreaded D-pad. Unlike the PS3, which uses four distinct buttons for all four directions, Microsoft’s pad is one large concave piece that feels mushy and unresponsive. Developers have dealt with this issue in the past but it particularly hurts Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection since these retro games were designed to be played with the D-pad. The only other option is the analog stick, which works in some instances, like Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Streets of Rage, but not so well in other cases, like Fatal Labyrinth and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine. The latter games require precise movement to play effectively and the analog stick just doesn’t match what a good D-pad can offer.

While it seems like it should be difficult to mess up a formula like that-especially one from an established series that plenty of people already adore-Namco Bandai did just that while developing the video game version of Afro Samurai. Now, that’s not to say that no one should go out and buy this game, because it has some excellent moments, ones that oftentimes more than make up for the problems, but the issues are also too much to just overlook outright.

Let’s start with the positives. The gameplay is more than solid, with a simple yet deep battle system in place. You have light hits, heavy hits and another button that kicks; string those moves together to form long combos to take out your foes. You will know you have a combo working when blood splatters on your screen; the more blood, the more effective your combo has been. You can also perform these same attacks whilst in the air, which makes for some nifty looking moves.

You need something besides combos and a few different ways to whack the bad guys though in order to make a brawler worthwhile, and Afro Samurai delivers with its focusing system.  You essentially slow down time in order to charge up a powerful vertical or horizontal slash (or a leg sweep to set up one of those two), and the effect is very satisfying. You can aim with the left stick in order to take out bellies, hands, limbs, heads, and even go for fingers or toes. That kind of control over what you do with your sword keeps things fresh and entertaining throughout. The game keeps track of those kinds of things for your Achievements as well, so those who follow their gamer score’s will want to start aiming.

Another neat addition to the battle system is the ability to mount your foes after performing a successful parry. Just hold down the A button after you parry, and Afro will hop on the shoulders of his adversary; follow that up with a finisher, performed by pressing the left stick along with one of the attack buttons, and you’ve got yourself some entertaining ways to clear your path of foes.

The battle system is a success, which is good news, because it’s the thing you will be doing the most of. There’s some platforming, but for the most part it isn’t anything difficult. The occasional wall run, wall jump or basic hop from platform to platform makes up most of the platforming experience, though there are occasions where these will be strung together for a more difficult experience. They can be more frustrating while trying to fend off enemies, but this is a rarity as well.

The presentation for the game is another strong point. The art style is gorgeous, as it’s a mix between a comic book and an anime, with the hefty horsepower of this generation’s consoles behind it. You will not tire of looking at the backgrounds or the fluid animations of Afro as he slices through everyone in his path. There are two minor downfalls graphically, though: enemy animations when not in battle are stiff,  and there is also slowdown when the screen fills up with enemies and action. The latter isn’t a huge deal, given you do have the ability to slow down time after all, but it does detract from the fast-paced action on occasion, and is a major pain when someone is shooting at you while you’re surrounded by swordsmen.

In addition to the looks, the sound is superb. Samuel L. Jackson provides the voice of Afro’s traveling buddy Ninja Ninja-he’s basically the polar opposite of Afro, who himself gives off the air of a quiet, deep thinking samurai-and Ron Perlman is the antagonist, Justice, the man responsible for the death of Afro’s father many years prior. Both do an excellent job of voicing the characters, so you won’t be too upset that you can’t skip the cut scenes. The music was inspired by the work of The RZA, as he put together the soundtrack for the Afro Samurai series. Howard Drossin composed the tracks this time around while RZA worked as musical director and contributed vocals on two tracks; just like in the series, this portion of the project shines. There aren’t a ton of tracks though, and they do loop quickly, but what you hear is done very well, and given the fast-paced nature of the fighting, you will feel like you’re swinging your sword and kicking to the beat of the music behind you.

The only problem is that the developers at Codemasters failed to retain any bit of what made these games enjoyable, and instead gave us a miss-mash of tired clichés that misses even the fundamental elements of the genres it tries so hard to combine.

Set in ancient Greece, Rise of the Argonauts takes much of its storyline directly from those mythology stories you thought you forgot after you graduated. Players will assume the familiar role of Jason the Greek King, whose wife has been murdered.Like any true mythological king, Jason sets forth for vengeance and kills the assassin and searches for the golden Fleece, believed to harness the power of resurrection and thus the only way to bring his Queen back.

On your quest you’ll recruit your Argonauts and do battle with everything from mortals to mythical creatures and even the gods of Olympus themselves.

When you’re basing a game on a widely known series of stories that have been around for centuries; you better be damn sure you’ve got them right. I understand the developers taking a few liberties for the sake of storytelling and pace, but Argonauts seem to get lost in its own story from time to time – taking part of one tale, and adapting it so it fits into Jason’s quest. It may be something that only those truly familiar with the source material may notice, but if you’re going to base your title on something – shouldn’t it be accurate?

Much of your time in Argonauts will be spent conversing with the towns folk and mythical figures you encounter, which is a shame as there isn’t one character you’ll actually enjoy talking to–every line of dialogue reeks of cheese and over the top voice acting. You’ll be able to influence each conversation via a Mass Effect like tree of responses, but more often than not you’ll find yourself painstakingly just hitting the first response to get to the end of the segment. Games heavy with dialogue work well when done right–this is a textbook example of how things can go wrong.

When not listening to mythical figures go on and on about such and such island or whatever they’re blabbing about (I found myself tuning out quite early into most conversations), you’ll be taking part in the combat system–one of the game’s few redeeming qualities. At all times, Jason wields a sword, spear, mace and a heavy duty shield. Each one of these weapons controls the same, and while that may seem dull, it’s a welcome gameplay mechanic as you’re going to need to switch between them very frequently to deal with multiple enemy types.

You’ll need to have a strategy, as the combat is fast paced and responsive (not to mention bloody), but if you get into a rhythm and get too comfortable with the controls, you’ll have visions of Dynasty Warrior like repetitiveness as much of the combat can boil down to simple button mashing combos – a shame when combat is otherwise enjoyable.

Undercover offers players the freedom to cruise around the game’s world–the fictional city of Palm Harbor freely. In theory, the sandbox style gameplay should be a welcome change from the tried and true, point A to point B track race formula, but the developers seem to have missed the point entirely.

Other than driving from mission to mission, there doesn’t seem to be much of incentive to explore the city. There are no hidden missions, no way to hunt down opponents–everything happens in a linear fashion in Undercover. A number of the missions almost scrap the open gameplay by sectioning off an area of the map you’re allowed to go. The true allure of these open world games is to explore, and it seems like Undercover is more interested in a leisurely drive. Palm harbor is an immersive setting, it’s just a shame that the developers at Blackbox didn’t go the extra mile and take advantage of the setting — especially when Burnout Paradise did just that in amazing fashion earlier this year.

That’s not to say that Palm Harbor is void of all life. Yes, the cops are back in Undercover — and yes they’re pissed. While the AI starts off easy going and fun, that quickly changes, and it becomes aggressive and frustrating. In fact, about halfway through, the AI becomes so obnoxiously aggressive that players, especially those new to the series may be tempted to put down the controller.

It’s not like the game is hard either. Apart from the enemy AI, it’s a safe bet to assume that this Need For Speedtitle was aimed at the casual market. It’s not unusual to beat a slew of high performance cars, with a much lower rated car. It’s understandable that with the success of movies like the Fast and The Furious and the incredibly hot street racing scene, the developers would want to open their game up to a wider audience, but the uneven difficulty levels distract from the overall experience.

It would be nice to say that using the game’s new RPG like leveling system helps deal with the horrid AI and uneven gameplay, but in reality, it manages to do the exact opposite.  This new system, which borrows heavily from games like World of Warcraft, rewards players for completing missions and races with stat points which can in turn be used to better your driving skills. These stats are also used almost as a rep system; the higher your stats, the more cars and missions are available to you.

While upgrading your “driver level” seems like a logical way to get on an even field with your opponents, the game’s AI seems to ramp as your stats do the same. This tactic of games adapting to the level of players has been done successfully in games like Zelda: The WindWaker, Resident Evil 4 and even this year’s Madden; Undercover’s system comes off as unfair and frustrating.

Though set in World War II, World at War brings you to different arenas than we are used to seeing from most titles in that genre. You play as Private Miller, a United States soldier fighting in the Pacific theater, and as Private Petrenkov, a Soviet who shoves the Eastern Front back to Berlin along with the rest of the Red Army. Though some locales from Petrenkov’s missions look familiar, the island hopping is utilized far less in WWII shooters, giving the game a freshness that it needed to justify the return to this era.

This game also serves as Treyarch’s tribute to the veterans of the war, and they share this with you in a few ways. The cutscenes are made up of actual historical footage from different portions of the war, meant to showcase the atrocities and horror of the events that took place. Some may feel like they are having this shoved down their throats, but personally I feel like it’s a nice touch, and a good change from the classic historical map with troop movement often utilized in WWII shooters.

The cutscenes work as both a history lesson of sorts as well as a way to humanize the missions you are undertaking. Running around burning everything in sight with a flamethrower is somewhat sobering when it hits you that this act, as disturbing as it is with the level of realism Treyarch has employed, was something that happened constantly during the real war. It adds to the emotional impact of your missions, and helps to immerse you further into the game. This is easily the darkest and most realistic WWII shooter on the market, something we should be thanking Treyarch for.

Since the story is a bit shallow-mostly in Miller’s case, as he’s sort of a generic soldier, and the continuity is hurt by jumps in months between battles-this immersion is necessary in order to make the gamer care about the mission’s goals. Gary Oldman’s voice work as Sergeant Reznov adds significantly to the game-you are either repelled by his barbaric stance on mauling the Germans (wounded and well, alike) or you are drawn into the essence of the Soviet fight against the Nazi demons that haunted them back in Stalingrad. Either way, you are pulled further into a game that thrives on realism and history.

The game uses the Call of Duty 4 engine, but with some added tweaks to the physics-limbs and body parts fly at appropriate times-and with a grittier look that works well with the WWII motif. It’s a gorgeous and realistic game, even when covered in blood and mud.

As for the actual gameplay, the controls are very tight, and with the use of the sights on the weapons a skilled gamer can rack up the headshots even from a distance. The addition of Japanese weapons helps, as you get some options to toy around with that you are not used to seeing, though in the Russian campaign, there are plenty of familiar German weapons lying about.

The cover system works well, as you can crouch or prone behind any object or out in the open, but don’t think you are safe just because you are hard to see. The enemy will chase you down, and in the Japanese’s case, will banzai attack you, or they will throw a grenade in order to flush you out.

The frequency at which grenades are thrown in this game is disarming, as even with the grenade indicator on screen you will find yourself with too little time to move or nowhere to go too often for your own liking. It’s a minor complaint though, and you can always throw the grenade back if you are close enough.

Naturally, the success of Sands of Time paved the way for two sequels; Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. Sadly, the sequels were similar in name alone, and seemed to focus more on blood, gore and button mashing combat than any of the elements that made Sands of Time so special.

When Ubisoft Montreal decided to revamp the series completely, it took on an immense challenge — create a new Prince of Persia title that went back to the series’ roots, yet was good enough to make players forget about The Sands of Time.

They succeeded — for the most part.

The newest chapter in the Prince of Persia series is a fun, innovative and rewarding experience that nods back to the franchises early days, yet takes a big step towards rewriting the rules of the entire platformer genre. Sadly though, a few slight hiccups in the design of the Prince’s world will hinder its chances of joining the ranks of The Sands of Time.

More often than not when developers use cell shading for their titles, the ends result comes off as little more than a hokey gimmick, but in the case of PoP, it works, and it works well. From the start, the developers wanted to make players feel like they were in a storybook throughout the entire PoP experience, which the cell shading achieves tremendously. The incredibly detailed characters stand out well against the vibrant backgrounds. Incredibly, as you progress, the game’s visuals only get more stunning — playing through each completed area brings new life, and new color to an already vibrant landscape. Prince of Persia has every right to be considered along with Fallout 3 and Metal Gear Solid 4 as one of the year’s best looking games.

Unlike the two most recent sequels, PoP is less about combat, and more about platforming, though it’s unlike any platformer you’ve ever played. Though you’ll be doing plenty of running and jumping, thanks to a few minor gameplay tweaks, it feels so different than anything you’ve played before. PoP is not about jumping to one ledge, slowing down and looking for your next platform, like Mirror’s Edge earlier this year, you’ll have a much more rewarding experience if you’re able to keep the Prince in a constant state of motion. Each world is setup so players are able to string together lengthy combinations of acrobatic maneuvers (it doesn’t hurt that most of the animations are simply phenomenal) to advance through them. There is a definite rhythm to PoP’s gameplay, and when you actually take a step back, and allow yourself to move along with it, the feeling is incredibly rewarding.

Resistance: Fall of Man was the top launch title for the Playstation 3, and one of the most worthwhile on the system to date. Resistance 2, the highly-anticipated sequel, had a lot to live up to as it attempted to push the series forward while retaining the elements that made the first game such a success, but it is safe to say that developer Insomniac was able to deliver as promised.

For those who are not familiar with the series, you play as Nathan Hale, a U.S. soldier who had been sent to Britain to fight against the Chimeran threat. After successfully repelling their attacks overseas in the first Resistance, you find yourself back in the United States, against a larger and much more coordinated Chimeran attack force. Hale, the lone U.S. soldier still alive from the British campaign, was infected with the Chimeran virus in the first game, and the second game centers around Hale’s need to finish the mission he started before the virus is able to overtake his entire body and transform him completely. He will attempt this mission alongside the Sentinels, a unit of soldiers that, like Hale, are also infected with the Chimeran virus.

As excellent as the original Resistance was, there were issues that needed to be ironed out and improved upon in a sequel, and Insomniac did a solid job of identifying these problems and making them disappear. First of all, the health/medpack system was scrapped in favor of a cover system, with 100 percent health regeneration rather than up to 50 percent. This worked to speed up the pace of the firefights and allow you to do more than just hide behind walls and occasionally shoot, as you would not need to worry about running out of medpacks to boost your health back to full.

Second, the lower-level Chimera are no longer sinkholes for your bullets that took an inordinate amount of time and shots to kill. Instead, the game keeps the difficulty up by casually throwing enemies at you-sometimes in large numbers-that you would have faced in rare or special situations in the original. They back those enemies up with groups of Chimeran grunts, which are as stated easier to kill, but in larger numbers than before.

There are also new foes for you to face, the most memorable of which are the Chameleon Chimera. These are invisible and fast Chimera that you have to listen for as they come at you-you will hear their rumbling, and maybe a growl as they launch themselves at you, and a shotgun blast from an attentive player will be all that is necessary to dispatch them. For those who do not listen close enough though, expect to be torn asunder.

Thankfully, the AI for soldiers on your team has improved from the first game, and there will be times where they save you, and you them. Unlike the first game, where it often felt like large-scale battles were essentially you with the other soldiers there for show, they assist you in taking down enemies, including the aforementioned Chameleons. Of course, the Chimeran AI is also noteworthy, and there will be times where they flank you or sneak up behind you for the kill.

The weapons have been revamped, with some of the weaponry from the first game improved-the Bullseye, for instance, lives up to its name more here than it did previously, and the Auger now shows you the shape of the enemy units behind walls rather than simply reddening your reticule. Insomniac has also included new firepower, such as the Marksman, an accurate rifle with a scope and a short, three-round burst of fire. Think of it like a low-powered sniper rifle that you can take on a run-and-gun mission.

When learning the game, Call of Duty: World at War, was being developed by Treyarch (who previously produced the laughably stale, unbelievable mediocre Call of Duty 3), I thought it had to be more of the same. With the Call of Duty series being co-developed by Infinity Ward (the brilliant minds behind games like Medal of Honor: Allied Assault), and Treyarch, switching off every other game in theory sounded like a breath of fresh air, but in reality, it meant every other Call of Duty game would be good from this point on. In short — Infinity War made good games, Treyarch made bad ones.

Until devoting a good half week to plowing through CoD: WaW, I was sure that this would be the case. It would be more of the, “I take myself way too serious. Games are an art form and this is art,” type of nonsense, where the dialogue is far too cheesy and far too serious for me to do anything but scoff at the interactions between the blatantly unoriginal protagonist and his stock crew of rag tag warriors. But after busting through the single player and enjoying the fact that Nazi Zombies, a game mode involving four players in a two story building who must fend off wave after wave of progressively stronger zombies, as well as logging plenty of hours into the solid multiplayer mode, I was proven wrong.

CoD: WaW does take itself too seriously. That hasn’t changed; the single player campaign involves two different perspectives during World War II, one from the perspective of a Russian soldier who unbelievably survives multiple near death experiences, and the other perspective is from one of the most generic American soldiers in his trek through Japan. Both characters are surrounded by stock dialogue and characters. The only exception to the monotony that is dialogue in most war games, and especially any war game created by Treyarch, is the inclusion of Kiefer Sutherland as a voice actor for a sergeant in the American campaigns platoon. He offers a little bit of variety in terms of expectations but that is all, his lines are still boring

The campaign only lasts a few hours, ending with the Russian soldier planting a flag, and hardly does anything in terms of changing the structure of a Call of Duty game. That doesn’t mean it’s all bad necessarily, the levels are varied and the environments are fleshed out, but that isn’t a good thing either. Playing it safe behind the Call of Duty games that came before it, WaW’s campaign is as satisfying as a McDonald’s happy meal. Everything looks great, but it doesn’t fill you up, and it sure as hell doesn’t do anything new.

The ending is not very exciting and once the credits started to roll, I felt empty. After the last of the credits though, a new game mode was introduced. Nazi Zombies. I couldn’t have thought of a better idea, a better twist, on the World War II shooter than the inclusion of a four player, co-operative game that involves a variety of ways to destroy zombies. Getting a bunch of friends together to play this game mode is a well spent use of your time. Not only is it fun to shoot zombies with rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and flame throwers from the 1930s & 40s, but the difficulty gets progressively harder. While the first wave of zombies is a synch, by wave ten, if you haven’t devised a strategy, you’ll most assuredly be overrun. Able to play online, as well as offline, this game mode gives CoD: WaW a much needed boost in terms of separating it from the plethora of other first person shooters to date. And with Valve’s, Left 4 Dead, right on its heels, Treyarch did a miraculous job of stealing some of that games thunder before its release with this game mode.

The multiplayer modes don’t very much in terms of what Call of Duty 4 did, by revolutionizing the way multiplayer first person shooters should be, and instead incorporates every facet of that, juxtaposing World War II guns for Modern guns. They’ve also replaced the helicopter, the boost you get from a seven kill streak in CoD4, with dogs. While this is annoying, more annoying than the helicopter, it is a valid inclusion to the game. The dogs are difficult to shoot at and prove nearly as effective as the helicopter. One major plus, and the only reason I continue to go back to WaW’s multiplayer instead of CoD4’s is the map design. Almost every map is very huge and very detailed, with numerous buildings and angles to shoot at enemies.

This offers a wide variety of confrontations due to the fact that nearly every time there is gunfire it is in a different location. The one thing I would remove completely is the inclusion of vehicles in the online modes. CoD is about intimate, skillful, combat where players actually have to excel at one thing or another to succeed in any aspect the game, not about unbelievably ridiculous carnage brought about by amateurs in a tank.

While Call of Duty: World at War is a solid game, it still lacks in its ability to innovate. It instead acts more like a modification of Call of Duty 4, and at $60, you’d have to be a dedicated fan of the series, or of first person shooters in general to fork that over. Or you just have a lot of money.

Even before it was released, “LittleBigPlanet” was featured by Sony as the new flagship franchise, the one that will finally bring them the mascot they always seem to be missing.

This was a risky move of sorts, as the company relied on month after month of hype in order to build up what is essentially a platformer with creative options available to the players. Boiling the game down to that kind of concept is not fair though, as there is a lot more going on in “LittleBigPlanet” than the advertising campaign has put forth. The question is, is there enough in it for you this fall and winter though, when there is no shortage of quality games to be found?

There is plenty to love about “LittleBigPlanet,” starting with the fact that it’s disarmingly adorable. The graphics themselves are easy on the eyes, with detailed backgrounds and foregrounds for your Sackboy to run and jump around, but the real winner here is just how cute everything looks. The graphics and Sackboy’s traverse the line between cartoony and realistic, but developer Media Molecule struck a balance with this decision that ended up helping the game’s presentation.

The music is high-quality, addictive stuff. The kind of music you catch yourself hearing in your head or whistling at various times of day, which is always a plus in a game. It’s not of the same caliber as the fantastic soundtracks to some other recent platformers, say, “Super Mario Galaxy”, but it’s still a diverse, well-rounded and catchy soundtrack that you will be hard-pressed to find complaint with. This adds to the presentation as well, which is phenomenal and one of the key draws to the experience.

You can customize your Sackboy and make him or her look however you see fit, though at first your options are somewhat limited. Before you even finish off the first of the worlds though, you will have collected enough unlockable costumes and accessories to jazz up your Sackboy’s appearance. Your character is not the only thing you can customize with user created content, the backbone of this game, is on a scale that arguably no console title has ever reached before.

You can create your own levels and find more parts to use in these levels by collecting and unlocking more of the game’s hidden stickers, level parts, etc. The system itself is easier than one would suspect, given the nature of what you can do. My creative juices do not flow enough for me to have completed anything worthwhile, but the system itself is easy to handle, and as many have already proven, you can make some quality levels that rival those packaged with the game. This also gives the game near infinite replay value, for those who enjoy their platforming.

One issue that has cropped up since the game’s release has to do with the user created levels. Many levels have been taken down for being “tributes” to intellectual properties that Sony does not own-for example, good luck making a level that is based off of “Super Mario Bros.” and having it survive for any considerable length of time. Many players know exactly why their level was taken down, as their tribute breaks the rules in the user agreement everyone (had the opportunity to) read before ever playing with their Sackboy.

The issue for some has been that Media Molecule, who is essentially policing the Internet, has not been giving out reasons for why levels are being deleted. This can be a problem, especially for those who tediously work on their levels and create legitimate fun arenas for play.

As for the gameplay itself, there are pros and cons. The platforming is fun and simple, and even those who are not “core” gamers can pick up and play, and play well, relatively quickly. The first world is essentially an extended tutorial-it’s not overbearing, and the narrator both explains himself well and is witty. This works to ease those who are not used to playing into the experience, and helps more experienced gamers get their bearings early on.

You run, you jump, you pick up objects and move them to help you climb, and you use a jetpack to fly around, either for moving up in a level, crossing a gap, or to assist in moving objects to where they need to be. It’s simple, but it’s addicting, thanks to smart level design and the adorable nature of the title. If you play cooperatively, they also rank the players in order of points, and then compare your total score versus other teams who have played the levels. It gives the pre-packaged levels additional replay value along with the multiple runs to unlock all of the level’s items.

cause Im baaaaaaaaaack
Yes, Im baaaaaaaaaaack
Well, Im back
Yes, Im back
Well, Im back, back
(well) Im back in black
Yes, Im back in black

Hell yes. Even though it’s been relegated to Walmart and online retailers, the AC/DC Live Track Pack for Rock Band is just awesome.

You don’t need the original Rock Band disc for any of the PlayStation 2/3 or Xbox 360 versions of this standalone title, which lets you relive the 1991 live performance at Donington with Brian Johnson, Angus Young, Malcolm Young, Cliff Williams, and Chris Slade.

The pack includes 99 minutes of music and 18 songs including “Thunderstruck,” “Jailbreak,” “Dirty Deeds,” “Hells Bells,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “Highway to Hell,” “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” and, of course, “Back in Black.”

We like that this is a standalone game that you can jump into right away.

Not much else to say. You have Rock Band. You need this.

Are you one of those people who are convinced that the Madden football series has not changed significantly since the beginning of the decade? Are you tired of shelling out full price for a slightly glossier look, non-essential game mechanic add-ons and updated rosters, year after year? Would you like football any better if it involved power bombs and nut shots, rather than penalties straight from the “No Fun League?” These are the questions that Midway asks with the latest installment in their Blitz football series, Blitz: The League II.

Though the questions are certainly worthy of an eyebrow raise and interest from those who are disenchanted with EA Sports long running (and best-selling) franchise, there are some issues with the game. Midway manages to deliver on some of their promises, but the failure to deliver a worthwhile football experience holds the game back from being better than it is, and may keep many from trading in their freshest copies of Madden or canceling plans to reserve next year’s edition.

There is plenty that works here though, if you are in the market for some football. First of all, the ability to pull out all the stops — late hits, cheap shots, brutal tackles that look more like wrestling moves than football ones, the blatant cheating on field — is fun, because it is not real. I would not want to see any more pronounced cheating than what we are used to seeing every Sunday in the NFL on television, but when it’s in the realm of video games, it’s entertaining and a quality game hook.

The “Franchise” mode also has its merits, though you will easily beat it in a day or two if you stick with it. You create a player — one who is not nearly as fun as the mode he is a part of, but more on that later—and then attempt to become the biggest star in the league, one who will enable the Blitz universe to live on thanks in part to it’s larger than life icon. There are ways to become famous without necessarily dominating the league: want some extra cash? Bet on the games, and keep within the spread in order to rake in money you can use to buy steroids for your team in order to improve their in-game performance.

Earn promotions and sponsorships by turning your “Franchise” player into a household name, and follow the advice of your agent, voiced excellently by Jay Mohr — in order to succeed. The gameplay is more intriguing here than it is in a random game, since there is more on the line — specifically, beating your opponent but upholding the spread, making sure your franchise player (who works on both sides of the ball) gets enough touches, and following the story, which has its moments.

As far as the gameplay goes, outside of the killer tackling and hits, you can slow down the action and maneuver around your opponents in order to gain a few extra yards or break free for a touchdown. “Unleashed” plays, which you earn by pulling off moves in your slowed down state, are momentum changes, but be warned, the AI will utilize these as often as you do, so you will need to get the hang of them quick to stay in the game.

Jay Mohr is not the only voice actor that adds to the game, as Frank Caliendo takes his Madden impression into Blitz and does a wonderful job. He’s an even more ridiculous version of Madden as usual, and his commentary adds to the in-game experience significantly; that is, until you have heard everything he has to say (which is not much at all) over and over again.

If those positives are enough to sell you on the title, consider the negatives. The graphics, while obviously an upgrade over the original version of the game on last-gen consoles, are not up to par with Madden’s offering, and the player models look odd in a glossy way, especially in the rain. Some of the gimmicks that are supposed to make the game seem more “hardcore” lose their appeal quickly.

For instance, the game zooms in on a breaking bone or torn muscle as they happen, which is effective the first few times, but when you play a team that has late hits and cheap shots on every play, you get tired of seeing the same thing repeatedly, not to mention the fact that you lose many of these players for quarters, games or weeks at a time.

Playing against the AI is another drawback. They seem to be more interested in snapping your players in half than winning, which has its positives and negatives. First off, there’s no real challenge once you pick up the basics of the game, as you can dart and weave amongst their defense at will when you start to master slow down and the Unleashed maneuvers. It’s nice to win, but it’s better to feel accomplished for doing so, and the AI does not allow that in Blitz; it’s tough to lose any game where you can easily throw a 60 yard pass at any time and succeed because they want your quarterback to be broken into pieces, and therefore keep coverage light.

Thankfully, there is an online mode that works effectively, so there is never a shortage of human opponents to play, and though they may be interested in crushing you under their cleats as much as the AI wants to, at least you know you are playing to win in this mode.

This is the downside to playing a Franchise, as the games come off as less entertaining than the other portions of the mode. It does not help things that your created player goes beyond campy and cheesy and straight into annoying when he speaks; his dialogue is awful (but thankfully offset by Mohr’s solid work much of the time) and more choices for personality would have been a positive, rather than being stuck with the one type.

Overall, Blitz: The League II is not a bad game, as there is plenty to keep you interested if you want a change of pace on the football scene. The late, cheap hits and mature setting to the story are a serious turnaround from what you are used to playing other football games, but the football itself is at times lacking in structure and effectiveness. It’s worth a purchase if you need to play football, but if you are just looking for something to play and are short on cash, this holiday season is loaded with better places to spend your money.