A series that has become unanimous with pop culture, the Simpsons continues to be the longest running animated series on television. Back in 1991, anyone visiting arcades may remember a video game based on the timeless series. This Konami classic provided perfectly themed brawling for up to 4 players in a variety of stages. Flash forward two decades and someone has been kind enough to us to bring this cabinet gem to the modern day arcade.

For those who missed the game on the first run, “The Simpsons Arcade” has the four main members of the family chasing Mr. Smithers and Burns in order to save Maggie. In perfect arcade harmony, there are only two buttons to press, attack and jump. Each of the members of the Simpsons family have different variations on these movements, leading each player to pick favorites depending on their play style. Gameplay rarely strays from the classic brawling we have come to expect from these games, sometimes mixing in a minigame for a good time.

The only negative to point out here is that you do not get much for the $10 entry price. Once you beat the main story either by yourself or with three other friends there is little else to do. You unlock the Japanese version of the game and there are harder difficulty levels, but it still consists of playing the same 6 levels over and over again. There is a cool feature in which the game will ask you how you want to deal with your deaths (free play or limited by quarters) adding a little hardcore arcade value for those looking for it, but in the end you can’t help but feel a little ripped off.

While the game presents some heavy nostalgia, in other ways it has you looking strangely back at your gaming habits. When I first played this as a kid I remember barely making it to the second level, even when my friends were playing with me. Now I managed to beat it in one sitting. I’m not sure if this shows how much I’ve grown as a gamer or exposes the internal flaws of arcade games being built to be a short term commitment. Nonetheless, the game features the original voice cast, has some well-done animations and it has been untouched from the original, which is precisely what anyone picking this up wants.

Blast Factor: Respecting its roots, “The Simpsons Arcade” is built to strike directly at your nostalgic bone and deliver on the classic arcade joy. However, expect to sink in more than a few quarters to relive these memories.

The Simpsons Arcade is available now for Xbox Live and PSN. A code for the Xbox 360 version of the game was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review

It’s a bit fitting perhaps that Square Enix used a time travel-centric plot for Final Fantasy XIII-2, as the developers used the continuation tale to literally go back in time and correct what’s widely considered to be one of the worst entries in the long running RPG series. The original was too linear? FFXIII-2 features an impressive amount of wide-open, explorable areas. The original was too repetitive and dull? You’ll find some of the coolest monsters the series has ever seen and beating them will test you almost each time.Yes, this is what Final Fantasy XIII-2 should have been all along, but sadly, no Delorean, Tardis or Jules Verne inspired contraption could save it from becoming just another cliched (if not polished) Japanese RPG game.

The opening moments of XIII-2 set the stage for an epic story. Lightning, the heroin from the original Final Fantasy XIII is in Valhalla, a realm that exists outside of the constraints of time — locked in battle with called Caius. The battle gets you ready for what you think will be an epic confrontation — but you don’t get it, at least not at first. You see, you’re not playing as Lightning, and your main quest is not to defeat Caius — no your quest is completely different. For the majority of the game, you’ll control Noel and Serah, the sister of Lightning on a quest to find her sister before it’s too late. This is in stark contrast to the opening events of Final Fantasy XIII proper, which took an incredibly long amount of time to get you to the main quest.

The time bending story of Final Fantasy XIII-2 serves it’s purpose, but it’s all just too convenient, and Square Enix uses the plot device very liberally whenever it wants to do away with something from the original or something that they can’t wrap up. Stuck in a plot that doesn’t make sense to the rest of the game? Oh, don’t worry — it was a merely the result of a time paradox. Continuity screwed up in between in game elements? I get it, I really do — I want to forget that a lot of FFXIII happened, but it’s a little dishearteing when you’re engaging in one of the game’s longer quests only to be told at the end of it that the events didn’t really matter. I got to the point where I stopped caring about midway through the game. Expect to do the same.

It’s also a bit disheartening that in this, the game that Square is obviously trying to reconnect the series with its roots, have chosen to stick with the nonsense stories that the majority of the later games have used. There are so many moments where you’re going to groan in agony as the game tells another long winded monologue that you’re going to feel like you’ve heard before. Growing up, Final Fantasy was the gold standard of story telling, but it’s no where close right now. To make matters worse, the story is left open intentionally. FFXIII-3 anyone?

That’s not to say that the game doesn’t do anything right — in fact, it does a lot very well. One of the biggest complaints about Final Fantasy XIII was in just how linear the game was; in fact, a lot of people compared it to being fed down a series of tubes with one ending and one entrance. Thankfully, that’s all been changed for XIII-2, as the game features an impressive amount of open and explorable worlds. This plays a part in just about every aspect of FFXIII-2. The game becomes much more open ended and user driven, as you’ll be focusing on a number of different quests at once, but you’re sure to miss a few in the process, which is going to get a lot of people to jump back into the game again once the credits have rolled. FFXIII-2 feels more like the Final Fantasy we’ve fell in love with than any games in recent memory.

I found myself both hating and loving the game’s new, faster combat system all at the same time. Bosses in FFXIII-2 are impressive in both scale and design, and some of them are downright tough. The game seems to encourage trial and error and wants you to keep trying to come back with different strategies. The new Pokemon style monster collection system, which finds you being able to capture up to three wild monsters at a time, and use them in battle is a cool new addition, that fans are sure to love.

Visually, FFXIII-2 is pretty impressive, and at times — inspiring. The series is known for open, sprawling battles and landscapes, and XII-2 is not slouch in that category, but I found myself marveling more at the detail in some of the game’s smallest details. It’s in the ruffling of the Chocobo’s feathers, in the cool effects of your magic attacks. It drips with Final Fantasy charm, and it’s good to see after all of this time. Sadly, the voice acting is pretty unimpressive, and often comes off as overdone and hammy.

The Blast factor: With Final Fantasy XIII-2, Square Enix has carefully listened to fan criticisms of the original game and addressed them; delivering a fast, fun and open adventure that better fits to the classic Final Fantasy name. The sad part though is that it’s still exactly what you’d expect from your typical JRPG, and the developers don’t take any risks — something that the genre desperately needs at this point.

In the past, THQ and Volition’s Saints Row series has been the equivalent of the Scary Movie films. They take something successful and loved, in this case the Grand Theft Auto series and mock it for all its worth. Sure, it’s passable, but it never sets its sights higher than being a goofy version of something that came before it. Until now that is.

With Saints Row: The Third, Volition has thrown caution (and pretty much everything else to the wind) and carved out a brand new identity for its goofy open world action game. Sure, you’re still going steal cars and run amok in a large virtual city, but the heart of the latest Saints Row comes with its new over-the-top action move direction that’s created some of my favorite gaming moments of this year. Perhaps it’s fitting that Saints Row’s defining moment came in its third game, just as it did for the series that it once emulated.

At the end of Saints Row 2, the Third Street Saints have defeated all of their rivals and have thus turned their once little street gang into a media empire. They’re spokesmen for Japanese Energy drinks, they’re on billboards – they’re targets.  It’s in a routine bank heist, with an actor looking to “do some research” for the upcoming Saints movie that things go awry. The bank tellers begin to fight back and it’s not long before the Saints find themselves in jail. Just when the Saints are beginning to doubt what they’ve become, an organization known as The Syndicate bribes the cops and lets the Saints out and the organization’s leader, business man Philippe Loren attempts to make a deal with the Saints; give up two thirds of their revenue and he’ll let them live. Of course, that doesn’t sit well with the our anti-heroes, who stage one of the most off the wall escapes in gaming history and Saints Row: The Third begins proper.

Well, to be honest, any Saints Row game before this one would have began there, but the moments before this scene set the stage for some of the game’s big changes. You’ll start by creating your character, and while not all of your options are open to you at first, throughout the game you’ll be able to create some truly out there characters. I started out with a well dressed and dapper Spaniard with a unibrow and several moles, but as the game worse on he became something else entirely; a cross dressing clown with pigtails and blood dripping down his face.  Saints Row: The Third truly lets players create whoever they want to be their lead character, including zombies. Yes. Zombies.

The core gameplay of Saints Row: The Third remains the same, take cars and run amok in an open world city while trying to make a name for yourself, and it’s deeply satisfying – for the most part. The new city of Steelport is a large one filled with vastly different sections of the city, like the bustling downtown filled with lights and illuminated billboards, the residential section and the industrial section. I often found myself just finding cars and driving around the city, just to see what I could find. Handling is more forgiving like Grand Theft Auto III and it’s spinoffs than the realistic Grand Theft Auto IV, so you’ll be able to have a lot more fun driving around and not have to worry quite as much about taking those turns as 90 MPH.

Where Saints Row: The Third really makes its mark though is with its new over-the-top action sequences. Finally carving out its own identity, Volition has presented a number of high octane moments that are a complete blast to play. Take for instance that scene where the Saints attempt to rob the bank, it starts off as you’d expect, going through and shooting everything in your path, but it soon turns into something that like nothing you’ve ever played before.  Before long you’re jumping from building to building Uncharted style and hanging from a safe that’s being hoisted from the building via helicopter. You’ll also parachute into a crowded party and much more. It’s almost impossible to play through these missions without a smile on your face – or much more, laughing loudly.

Perhaps that’s the real genius of Saints Row: The Third, even while creating its own identity, the game never loses sight of its roots and never takes itself too seriously, keeping its comedy fully intact. The game manages to mock not only games like Grand Theft Auto but movies, music, pop culture and even itself. Throughout the game you’ll catsit a lion, take out furries and even visit a Tron inspired world. I firmly believe that the real appeal of any open world game like this is to be the biggest douche-bag you can be, and Saints Row does that perfectly by allowing me to summon an airstrike against an entire city…while being completely naked.

It’s also remarkable how Volition has managed to integrate the music into the game’s core experience. Parachuting into a crowded party would be exciting enough with a royalty free guitar riff behind it, but when you put Kanye West’s “Power” behind it, the scene becomes something different entirely, it becomes a spectacle. The game is filled with these moments, in fact one of my favorite moments of the year comes early in the game, if you turn your car’s radio to a specific station, the characters will sing the entire song “What I got” by Sublime. When it happened, I had to stop what I was doing and just watch the game, it’s an even bigger feat when you take into account that the game allows you to choose between three different voices for your character.

Aside from the game’s main missions, there’s tons to do in Saints Row: The Third. You can commit insurance fraud, surf on jet planes and even get a sex change. The game also features a number of different modes including the aptly titled “Whored Mode” (yes, you read that right) and a pretty fun multiplayer suite.  Saints Row: The Third is an adult playground that drops you in and lets you do well….pretty much whatever you want.

The Blast Factor: In the past, it was easy to cast off Saints Row. It’s just a funny Grand Theft Auto clone. It’s uninspired. Now though, thanks to a series of improvements and most importantly the series finally carving out its own identity, it’s almost impossible to ignore Saints Row: The Third. It’s a tongue-in-cheek thrill ride that gives the player ultimate freedom. It may not be perfect but it’s easily the best game of the series.

Most racing games flaunt their cars. They flaunt the insane amount of rides, how realistic they are and what it feels like to drive them. Need For Speed: The Run is different though. The cars seem like an afterthought in favor of…the ability to get out of the car.

Yeah, you can see where this is going.

In a year with two quality Need For Speed games and a slew of other high quality racing titles, Need For Speed: The Run feels like a step back, a fraud almost. The actual racing mechanics themselves feel lackluster when compared to similar games and even the Hollywood blockbuster style storyline feels boring and uninspired. The Run could have been a quality action romp, but instead it’s one of the most disappointing games of the year.

From the get-go, The Run could have been great. The game, which finds you as a contestant in a cross country race from San Francisco to New York, is basically a rehash of the 1981 Bruce Willis movie  Cannonball  Run. In truth, there’s nothing wrong with that – the game takes you on some pretty cool trips, from the hills of San Francisco to the fields of Middle America, the tunnels of Chicago and finally the bustling streets of New York City.  The game recreates these locales in pretty impressive styles and most looks just as you’d expect it to.

To the developers credit, they manage to get some pretty varied (well, at least early in the game) missions into these locales. In some stages you’ll be pitted against a clock because you’ll need to make up time against other racers, and others you’ll have to avoid cops and gangsters in Hollywood style action sequences.  They’re really well done, but odds are you won’t notice; these sequences are presented as QuickTime events, so you’ll be more focused on pounding on the button that appears in the corner of the screen to fully enjoy what the developers have done here.

It’s a shame then that this Hollywood style treatment isn’t found throughout the entire game; namely the plot…or lack thereof.  Everything in Need For Speed: The Run feels incredibly scripted and as a result, less than thrilling. There’s no room for error in this incredibly linear tale as you’ll always need to complete each of the game’s objectives in the right order to move on or your trying again. Cops and other NPCs all behave and speak the same way, and in some sections it doesn’t matter what you do, the game shoehorns you into quicktime event action sequences.

The most disappointing aspect of The Run is just how few of options there truly are. You can’t fine tune your car or buy new parts for it; hell – customization is completely gone here. You’ll pick up new cars along the road and in gas stations, but if you don’t like them, your only option is to wait until you find a new one. This takes a lot of the replay value out of the game when compared to other Need For Speed games, and is especially apparent in the online mode. No longer are you racing against player’s own creations, you’re just racing against pre-made cars with attributes set by the computer. Where’s the fun in that?

Of course, this would all be forgivable if The Run was a great driving game, but it’s not…it’s not even a decent one. Gone are the fine tuned machines and mechanics from previous games in favor of arcade style controls that feel tacked on. Cars often feel floaty as if they don’t have any weight to them and handling can be incredibly frustrating.  It’s often that you’ll be chased by a group of pursuers, making good time, but be screwed over by one curve and have to start the whole race over again.

The Blast Factor: Need For Speed: Shift and Hot Pursuit served as rebirths for a racing franchise that had gone stale. They introduced new mechanics and were a blast to play through. In that sense The Run can only be seen as a major step back. It’s built on shoddy mechanics, goofy premises and a horribly bland story. There are plenty of great racing games on the market and this is not one of them.

Once in a while, with a batch of very sub-par games in a genre, one will shine brightly among the rest, proving that such a game genre should exist in the first place. WWE ’12 is that wrestling videogame who rescues the pack, showing the public a phenomenal title can come from such a niche.

On an apparent downward slide, the wrestling videogame industry was hurting. A cult following could only provide so much support when the franchise slowly spiraled out of control. It eventually went into a place where even the most hardcore fans wouldn’t follow (see Hulk Hogan’s Main Event… *shudder*). As of lately, it’s been hard for the wrestling industry in general. But with major changes in the industry (such as The Rock coming back! Who’s stoked?!), the whole aspect of wrestling seems to be on the upswing as it fights its way out of a very deep hole. And it’s swinging hard and fast.

A quick side note before diving deep into the vast universe of WWE ’12:  My apartment is full of diehard fans that were drooling at the sight of this game. Collectively, we’ve been playing these games together since we all met in freshman year of college. Nights have turned into mornings as we’ve created our own characters, move-sets, finishers, and story lines, challenging each other’s titles, interweaving character paths. This traditional has gone for four years and counting as our created superstars, such as Bo Wilson, the Canadian Olympian, or Bad Doktah V, the mad scientist with a hobby of creating evil monsters, have all gone through the test of time just like the real wrestlers through the decades. Just be wary of the judgments made in the review since the game was not only scrutinized by me, but also by the hardcore fan boys that I live with.

We tend to be a bit intense at times.

With that said, let’s explore WWE ’12.

The first thing you’ll notice when you pop the disk into your console is that developers took serious time and effort to make ’12 as smooth and realistic looking as possible. Superstar faces, for the most part, look like the real superstars, the voices are actually their voices, and their move sets and their entrances are exactly their real entrances. The graphics are impressive, clean and the presentation is out of this world. In games past, frame rates would get caught in the currents and freeze up, limbs would go wild into spasms during matches, and the presentation slowly decayed. No such thing exists in ’12. It took me hours of game play for me to experience my first glitch (which I expected much, much sooner considering how glitchy both Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 and 2011 were).

The superstar entrances are truly pristine. The fireworks and pyrotechnics are 99 percent accurate and the entrance videos are the real thing. The lighting is very cool and the fluidness of moves makes for a great show. Even when characters talk, their mouths are attempting to work with the words that are spoken. It’s nice to see so much time spent on even the tiniest details in a game so large.

The Rock returns and delivers a Rock Bottom to Cena.

Combat is usually where past wrestling games have been lacking. They’ve been a lot of show and no mechanics. My roommates had mixed feelings on how the game handled when in the ring (or outside of it).  Thinking since we had been playing the series of wrestling games for so long, we upped the ante and put the computer difficulty on “Legend.” This was a very poor choice, as developers have changed controls completely to make combinations and chains free-flowing. After creating my character, Flynn Withers, the crack-cowboy-hooligan, I decided to try him out against Chavo, who is a relatively low level. With him on set on “Legend,” Chavo decided to bring the pain and tossed my poor cowboy around like a rag doll, totally disregarding the fact that his level was 12 or so below mine. I swear he Gory Bombed me at least twice… If you’ve played previous wrestling games like Smackdown vs. Raw ’09, ’10 or ’11, you’re in for some abrupt changes in controls.

Countering and reversals, the most important thing in any wrestling game, is still one trigger, but a lot more difficult. One of the first things my friend yelled out as Mark Henry was beating him to a pulp was that the game was not user friendly to beginners. I would have to agree. If caught in the rampage of a chain or combination, it can be teeth-grittingly frustrating to try to reverse your way out of it. Not to mention, the signatures and finishers can be so quick to follow, at times, it seems impossible to block. It all takes time to get used to. Time and practice.

The grappling system is what took the biggest changes. Grappling is set to one button (“A” or “X” depending on your console) and then works with directional stick movement. When grabbing an opponent, you have seemingly endless options. You can hold the bumper and target a part of the body to deal a strike to, you can toss them, Irish whip them, you can signature/finish them if you have such an option cued up.  It was overwhelming at first and really confusing, considering we we’re all a bit too stubborn to check out tutorials. Taking the time to know your superstar’s move set is vital, and once you know the set it’s possible to string together some devastating combos.

Pinning has been changed as well, removing the desperate button mashing routine. Instead, there is a meter that can be compared to kicking a field goal in Madden. You’ll hold “A” and attempt to stop the meter in the blue area to kick out from a pin. Using the resiliency ability can give gamers the opportunity to temporarily enlarge their blue area for an easier kick out. The more your superstar is beaten up, the smaller the blue area is. It makes for some pretty quick matches at time and is insanely nerve racking.

Overall, the buttons have been swapped and changed around to the point where ’12 is a brand new addition to the genre. It can be difficult to get the hang of, but through the creation of a move set or playing any of the story options, it gets easier with time. A few of my friends would argue that it’s too complicated and would prefer it go back to 2010 set up. It really depends on the gamer’s preferences.

WWE ’12 has set a new bar with options for creation to the point where it’s almost too much. After pouring hours upon hours into creating a character, a move set and an entrance, I realized there was still the possibility to create a ring, a logo, and even a story with scenes and matches cued up. There are probably even more things to create that I haven’t even found yet due to the vastness of ‘12’s creation opportunities.

WWE '12's creation feature is easily the best of the series.

Although I’m still angry for one sole reason: The point system still exists…

The point system is at the bottom of the screen when creating a character. Players are allotted only a set amount of points to dress and accessorize their superstar. These points run out extremely fast when trying to dress your character appropriately, making it difficult to really make what you want. You may like a jacket that fits with your character’s persona, but it may cost so many points that he’ll go pants-less, much like our created superstar Batty the Banker (a very formal man with a very nice green velvet jacket and no pants we loves leg drops – very professional, we thought). Since our original creations on Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, it’s been absolutely impossible to recreate our masterpieces due to the point system… We all loathe it, and you most likely will too. It’s a terrible flaw to a wonderful concept.

On the other hand, the opportunities are endless with customization. It’s easy to gut sucked in. You may plan on putting an hour aside to work on your superstar, but you’ll glance at the clock when you’re finally finished to see that five hours have gone by. It’s fair to say, even though the point system limits creativity, it makes for evolution of characters if you’re recreating on the new platform.

There are quick options too, if you’re not looking to spend ages on any one thing in particular, which is a nice touch. There are pre-set move sets from old superstars, and you can even use some older superstar move sets that just aren’t labeled in the game specifically (just poke around online and they’ll show who corresponds to each number). Same with entrances: there is a quick edit option to just use someone else’s entrance. What’s great is you can still utilize personal mp3s for entrance music, so if you’ve already uploaded music for previous wrestling games onto your console, they should be good to go.

There’s absolutely no limit to what you can make (unless, of course, it’s actually dressing your character). It’s up to you to decide how deep you want to go into customizing your wrestling world. It’s having the option that makes it so fantastic.

Road to Wrestlemania is the attempted storylines for WWE ’12. And, honestly, they weren’t as bad as I assumed them to be. Usually, the purchase of a wrestling videogame was for the sole reason of multiplayer. This mode, however, is worth one play through.

The modes are broken into three paths. It’s the standard “bad,” “neutral,” and “hero” set up. With each path obviously labeled, the game does not allow you to make your own decisions. You’ll be prompted to fight matches with certain superstars and your fate will already be decided. It probably could have been made better by giving players the option to make a choice, that way there would be some sort of replay value, but the story is already scripted and ready to roll. If you fail an objective, you’ll be forced to restart.

Even winning some matches will earn players a prompt to hit “Y” (or triangle depending on platform), which will cue a cut scene. Sometimes, after laying down the smacketh on an opponent, you’ll still lose because that’s the path of the story. This is understandable considering it’s a story, but it doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

Of all of them, the hero path is the best (which always seems to be the case in videogames). Players will control a new wrestler with the name Jacob Cass who has just joined the WWE and is being mentored by Rey Mysterio. They’ll be prompted to either create Cass or choose someone to model Cass after.

Do not choose an already custom made superstar!

In case you couldn’t read that, I’ll put it in all caps.

DO NOT CHOOSE AN ALREADY CUSTOM MADE SUPERSTAR!

The game will make your superstar into Jacob Cass, changing the character’s build. The appearance should be fine, despite that, but if you’ve spent a long time tweaking the build of your superstar, you’ll find this immensely frustrating.

Getting past that flaw, you’ll fight against Kevin Nash and his WCW cronies as they attempt to destroy Monday Night Raw for good. It’s a story filled with betrayal and twists and, overall, it’s definitely worth the play through. There were a few dull moments of filler where you fight Vader and Animal in backstage brawls over and over again, which definitely gets old. But teaming up with some legendary superstars is pretty cool, not to mention homage is paid to old legends such as Eddie Guerrero. If you play any of the roads, it should be the “hero” path.

Universe mode is probably one of the coolest and in-depth options ’12 has to offer. You can play as any superstar, included custom ones, and work your way through a schedule of events. You’ll be matched up with and against random superstars as you fight your way to the top. You can play through every match on the calendar, but that would be outright ridiculous if you did. A simulation option is available for players to breeze through matches that don’t involve them or their allies. Again, this is a prime example of WWE ’12 giving players complete control of their game play.

Using my Flynn Withers, I inserted myself into lower matches, fighting against Otunga and Del Rio. After defeating them in the ring, cut scenes took place and one of them to a cheap shot to my crotch, causing a rivalry between them. Managers will get involved, allies will get involved, divas will get involved, there’s really no telling what will happen after each match. Tag partners will choose to not help, the Heavy Weight Champ will come in and wreck house, it all happens and without warning. I tried to make it as realistic as possible, so I worked my character into the upper ranks of Raw in order to fight my way into Smackdown. Winning matches and sustaining momentum will cause your character’s levels to rise slightly, while a defeat will crush momentum and downgrade you a little. You’ll fight Number One Contender matches to have a crack at specific belts and people can interrupt matches and alter who wins or loses. The best part is it is always changing. You’ll make shaky alliances that will flip-flop in the next match, or you’ll make the worst of rivals that will beat you down before the match even starts with a metal pipe (yes, that happened to me). Due to the unpredictable nature of the mode, it’s a lot of fun and keeps players coming back for more, even if it’s just to defend a title.

What’s nice is almost any mode in WWE ’12 can be turned into a multiplayer situation. The only exception was Road to Wrestlemania, which is primarily a single player story.

Multiplayer is much like it’s always been and probably the largest selling point for ’12. Again, developers really stress the idea of customization to gamers, and made every match option a possibility. You can have a 40-person Royal Rumble or you can fight your way to the top of a six-man ladder match (tried it, I suggest you don’t, it took over an hour).  Everything is there, from First Blood matches to Iron Man matches to Elimination Chambers.

The Back Stage Brawl matches, however, were a bit of a disappointment. There is only one stage with multiple areas, which was amazingly intriguing at first, but got old real fast. You can push someone through car windows, or smash their head with a door, but honestly, 2010 got it right. There were plenty of items to use and the item grapple option was wonderful. WWE ‘12’s brawls are far more lacking and get stale after exploring the whole area once with friend(s).

WWE ’12 does offer online play as well as online sharing that’s definitely worth checking out. People will create absolutely everything throughout the game that can be shared and downloaded by other gamers. They’re rated, and the higher the rating the more downloads you’ll probably get. Say you’ve spent considerable time on creating an arena and want to see what others think. Just upload the ring and see how it does, it’s all in good fun. It is very similar to Halo Reach’s option to create maps with an online download option. Uncovering the process was quite refreshing, showing that other people poured as much of their life into ’12 as I did.

As far as unlockables go, there’s a ton. There are old superstars to unlock, new arenas, new titles and new attires. The Road to Wrestlemania will unlock a lot of them, and so will fighting through the WWE Universe. There’s a lot to unlock, however, and it will take full exploration of the game to get everything out of it.

To put it simply – if you have the time for WWE ’12, it will reward you.

BLAST FACTOR: Among the broken remains of the wrestling videogame world, WWE ’12 shouts over Cena’s taunt of “You can’t see me!” and demands recognition. It’s smooth and looks incredible, is outrageously accurate in representation of the superstars, and has fluid combat controls. If you’re a fan of the older games, be prepared for different controls. The customization options are through the roof and unrivaled by any wrestling game thus far. Players have the ultimate control they’ve been looking for… except for that damn point system. WWE ’12 demands a lot of time be put into it and is a very simplistic equation of “work in = work out.” For those looking to really dive into the depths of a wrestling game, this is the game for you. With endless options, gamers can literally spend days creating and building their own worlds. It’s truly amazing what can be accomplished.

There is a lot there for fans to reminisce about, and tons of superstars are available for play (I’m especially glad Edge is still in the game despite his recent retirement). On the other hand, some of the game play can seem repetitive and may bore some gamers if not played with friends. The Road to Wrestlemania will briefly satisfy some, but for most it will grow stale quickly. Universe mode is a huge plus to the game and can keep the single player mode alive longer than a normal wrestling game would survive. Ultimately, ‘12 is definitely meant to be played with friends and is a multiplayer game at heart. This is a game for the fans, but maybe not for the casual player. Exploring WWE ’12 and committing time to it, however, can spark interest of the wrestling world in anyone and give gamers a new appreciation for a genre that seemed so close to a three count. Get that shoulder up, WWE ’12 is here.

For the better part of five years, I worked as  Disney cast member. I spent day after day learning the biggest secrets of a company that protects that to no end and as a result, I lost what Disney and its fan know as “the magic.” The extraordinary became mundane,  and in a weird way, I began to step away. Who knew it would take a virtual trip back to reignite my love.

In that sense, Kinect Disneyland Adventures does its job, and it does it very well; you’re constantly reminded of just what’s right about the Disney company and its brands, especially if you play with those familiar with the park. As a game though, it’s more of a mixed bag. It’s really fun and a cool demonstration of the tech behind Kinect to interact with the characters, but basic mechanics like moving around feel incredibly complicated, and will make you practically hate the experience. Still, I can’t help but recommend Kinect Disneyland Adventures for all of its charm, especially if you’re big on the park itself.

The idea behind Disneyland Adventures is simple, guide your avatar through the Disneyland park and go on adventures and quests as given to you by Disney characters. Now, this is a very idealized version of the famous theme park, there are no lines, the cast members all speak English, it’s not crowded, and you’re able to walk directly up to any of the characters at anytime. Curiously enough — there’s always a crowd around the characters, but no one — but you, ever goes up to them.  To the game’s credit, the Disneyland in the game is pretty accurate compared to the real deal; I was able to run around, without looking at the map, and get where I needed to go just based on my memory of the parks. Of course, some changes have been made for the sake of gameplay, but those are few and far between. The permanent popcorn carts and stands are even in the right place, impressive for a game that basically serves as a commercial.

The characters are also impressive in their recreations. For instance, we found Captain Hook outside of Peter Pan’s Flight in Fantasyland, and one of the options is to extend your arms in a hug motion to interact in that way with the characters, and while everyone from Mickey and Donald to Cinderella and Buzz Lightyear was happy to give a squeeze, Captain Hook (along with the rest of the Villains for that matter) were unsure of what to do and seemed very confused when we tried. Of course, this is a Disney game and every villain has a heart of gold deep down inside, so we eventually got our hug. There’s a fair number of interactions with each character, like dancing and signing autographs. The autographs are one of the game’s coolest feature, as you’ll gain points for collecting different autograph books (there’s one for heroes, one for villains, one for Princesses and so on) and getting the right characters to sign them. I was at first a bit annoyed that I had to do so much backtracking, but it became incredibly fun to dash around the parks with different books.

Each character you find will give you a different quest to go on in the park, whether it be giving something to another character, tracking something down or going to one of the attractions. The attractions are where the Kinect capabilities really come in. The rides and shows take the form of motion themed mini games, where you’ll interact with the attraction and its story. Much like The Disneyland park itself, these are idealized versions inspired by the attractions, so instead of actually going on the Matterhorn itself, you’ll be bobsledding down a hill and trying to evade the Yeti. A lot of these worlds are pretty cool, like the Haunted Mansion inspired world, which finds you hunting ghosts with a flashlight while the famous Ghost Host narrates your adventure. The worlds are given a more cell shaded look than the rest of the game, which lends a classic animation feel to them. The best part of all of this again is just how right they got everything, with the Ghost Host in the Haunted Mansion, Captain Hook and Smee in the Peter Pan levels and even the corny jokes in the Jungle Cruise section.

Now, it can be pretty hard to walk in a Disney park because of the crowds, but even though they are pretty much non existent in the game, it’s an incredibly frustrating experience just to walk. Kudos to the developers for trying to not just making it an on-rails game like most Kinect developers, but there’s simply got to be a better way. You move around the game by holding your hand up; holding it straight causes you to move forward while moving to the left or right has you moving in that direction and putting your hands to your side to stop. When it works, it’s great, but unfortunately, it doesn’t work a lot. The slightest movement will cause your character to shoot off into another direction — just hope you don’t get into a corner, as it’s going to be hell to get out of it.

Things get worse when you start unlocking different items to use like a magic wand or a megaphone. You gain these items by lifting your hand up and selecting them from a pop up wheel. While it may sound simple, the game has a hard time registering whether you’re trying to pick an item, or run forward and it’s incredibly frustrating. At one point I had the wand equipped, and saw the same teacup animate probably 20 times because the game wouldn’t register that I was just trying to put it back. On that same note, the voice controls are pretty superb. While they weren’t perfect, the game was incredibly responsive a good portion of the time.

The Blast Factor:  It may be a pain to get around, but Kinect Disneyland Adventures does its job of reminding you just why you love the  Disney parks. You’ll interact with your favorite characters, go on your favorite rides (sort of) and even find some secrets hidden around the park. The game is at its best when its played by families and kids get excited when they see their favorite characters. At the very least, it serves as a running commercial for the Parks.

A game like Skyrim poses a serious question to how game reviewers do their job. In general, we follow a pretty rigid schedule; start game, play game, finish game, write about game. But what happens when a game never ends?  The answer in short – one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with a video game.

From its gripping opening scene, to the adventures your quests will bring you, all the way to the game’s climactic finale, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is unlike any other game you’ve played before. Its level of depth, dedication to storytelling and details both big and small combine to make one hell of a package.  Say goodbye to the sun, Skyrim is here and it’s about to rule your life.

Skyrim is less of a sequel to 2006’s Elder Scrolls: Oblivion, as much as it’s a new chapter in an ever expanding book. Set 200 years after the events of the last game, tensions are high in Skyrim as civil war rages along the countryside. The game opens with your as-of-yet-unnamed character being sent to be beheaded, but then the dragon shows up. Long thought to be extinct, the slithering beast begins wrecking havoc on the town, prompting your escape. It’s here that you really start to get a feel for Skyrim, and where your quest actually starts.

It’s here, where you create your character, and here that you’ll get your first look at the depth that Skyrim packs. The character creation tool is an impressive one, giving you the freedom to choose everything from your appearance (you can get incredibly in-depth if you want to) to your race and characteristics.  You can of course, change the majority of these throughout your journey, but a few of your choices do stay with you from the beginning.

The depth of Skyrim’s character creator assures for a wide variety of characters between separate games. I myself created a battle-worn, older grunt type character, complete with war paint, hobo bears and scars who specialized in heavy weaponry and elemental energies. To me, it’s what gives me the best chance in any given fight throughout Skyrim. Of course, this is an Elder Scrolls game and the choices you make, combined with the way your game plays out with have a direct impact on your style.

Like any Elder Scrolls game, Skyrim is a game that believes that getting there is half the fun. Sure, you could escape the village where you nearly lost your life and go right on with the main quest, but you’ll be missing a good portion of what makes Skyrim such a remarkable feat. Instead, go somewhere – anywhere. Wander through the game’s vast fields and gigantic mountain ranges, see what the world Bethesda has so lovingly created has to offer you. Pick the plants, talk with the locales, find some bandit hideouts.

There’s truly so much to do within Skyrim that it’s likely you won’t take on an actual quest for quite some time.  I strongly believe that one of the most impressive moments in any open world adventure is the first time you’re given a real look at just what goes in within the game’s world, and that’s a feeling that happened countless times as I found new areas of Skyrim. What’s most impressive about the world of Skyrim is just how detailed everything really is.

There’s a strict set of rules that govern the world of Skyrim, that makes the game’s ecology work. My first few moments being let loose in Skyrim, I found, stalked and hunted a moose and it made me feel incredibly powerful. As I kept traveling, I came across other animals, like bears and wild boars, and while these fights tested my unproven warrior, it made me level up faster and become comfortable to take on the game’s main attraction, the dragons. When you do eventually defeat a dragon and stand over the beast’s defeated body, it’s extremely rewarding and feels like nothing else in gaming. Just don’t get too ahead of yourself like I did and think “I took down a Dragon, a mammoth should be no problem!” Just a word of advice, the majority of the game’s mammoth population is controlled by Skyrim’s race of giants – and you don’t want to mess with them.

As of this writing, I’m more than sixty hours into Skyrim, and I still don’t feel like I’ve even scratched the surface of just what the game is and what it can do. Now, to be fair, that’s because I have been doing so much wandering and not paying a whole lot of attention to the actual events of Skyrim, but that’s still a testament to just how impressively immersive the game is.  The game’s impressive visuals serve as a testament to this – in most cases.  The sweeping vistas and lush scenery is impressive, but close-up, especially on consoles, the textures can became blurry and create some pretty strikingly ugly scenes. For the best results, play on PC with an Xbox 360 controller. Seriously, don’t laugh, give it a try.

I wonder if he's friendly...

The Blast Factor: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim continues a long standing tradition of excellence for Bethesda’s role playing series. Though it retains the depth and strategic elements of the previous games, it’s also the series most accessible title, making it a great jumping on point for fans new to the series. With all of its exploration and content, you’re going to be playing Skyrim for a long time, but that’s okay, you didn’t like sunlight anyways did you?

Hype is a funny thing. It can build anticipation for something, and it can also turn people against it. Uniquely, in the case of Modern Warfare 3, it’s done both.  The Call of Duty series is known as one of the 800 LB gorillas of the gaming universe and is guaranteed to sell a ton of copies each time a new game releases, and Modern Warfare 3 was everywhere. At the same time, its annual release frequency, combined with the soap opera like events that ousted former Infinity Ward (the studio behind the Modern Warfare games) heads Jason West and Vince Zampella have led to some calling the series stale (in not as polite words).

After all of the hype, all of the smack talk and all of bickering, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is more than worth the hype. Yes, the engine is beginning to show its age and yes – there are some hiccups; hell you can even make the argument that this has all been done before, but this is what it boils down too — Modern Warfare 3 is a mechanically sound, fun and fluid shooter that does a lot more right than it does wrong.  Detractors or not, with its much more streamlined campaign and remarkable online play, Modern Warfare 3 is the best Call of Duty yet.

For the last ten years, the world has been gripped by fear and Modern Warfare 3 is the realization of those fears. Picking up directly after the events of Modern Warfare 2, the world has erupted into full scale warfare. Captain Price and his squad are wanted men as they chase down Makarov, the man who ignited this global conflict.  It’s a campaign that will bring you from a war torn Wall Street to the streets of Paris and everywhere in between. Just like in previous games, the story shifts from character to character, location to location, even nationality to nationality, but Infinity Ward has done a great job making this a much more focused endeavor than in years past. In games like Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 it was easy to forget where you were, what you were doing and just why you were doing it, but Modern Warfare 3 rarely loses sight of its goal, and why it’s telling the story that it is, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s all that interesting.

What results is a passable story that serves as a reason to visit some extremely large fire fights.  From the previously mentioned Wall Street mission to a tense mission in the London subway and even a battle aboard the Russian President’s hijacked plane, Infinity Ward and Activision know their audience.  There’s no shortage of Michael Bay style testosterone fueled moments, and they’re incredibly fun thanks to the game’s tight controls, remarkable pacing and fine tuned tweaked mechanics that feel just about as good as they ever have. I was a bit surprised at just how dumb some of the enemy AI is. I may have an unarmed vehicle firing rockets into each and every one of your fellow troops, but sure, just run on out with them, showing total disregard for your personal safety. This happens much more often than you’d think, and it seems like the developers chose this to ensure that the game keeps its high octane level throughout the experience, but it’s a highly noticeable flaw.

Regardless, Modern Warfare 3 is easily the best looking Call of Duty to date. Running at a buttery smooth 60 FPS, Modern Warfare 3 handles the majority of its frantic action and over the top spectacle with little to no damage via lag or other issues that usually effect games like this. Infinity Ward must also be commended for how they used impressive animations and these large set pieces to create a truly engaging experience.  It may not compare to the visuals produced by the Frostbite engine in Battlefield 3, but the burning buildings and full scale firefights are done well enough to keep you interested and keep move the story along.

Let’s be honest though; the good majority of you aren’t here for the single player, you’re going to get the game and dive right into the multiplayer, and thankfully, its easily the best the series has offered. Of course, the core mechanics remain the same as it has in previous games, but Modern Warfare 3’s multiplayer suite is a much more streamlined and persistent experience than those that came before it.  Each of the sixteen new maps are worth checking out, and the constant progression feels immensely rewarding.

Killstreaks and perks have been reworked to be more beneficial to players of all different skill levels. Yes, you can of course still unlock rewards by racking up kills, but there are now support packages that allow those who aren’t as skilled as the others. This goes a great length in making the suite more accessible for newer users, who can then go in and get as addicted as the rest of us are. Its really a great new feature that encourages cohesive teamwork between all squad members.

Also new to the experience in Modern Warfare 3 are weapon perks. Where before you would unlock weapons by leveling up, Modern Warfare 3 adds a new level of depth to the mix with the ability to level up each weapon, adding a whole new level up depth and customization to the experience. You could change the kickback, the amount of ammo it holds or a slew of other options. This means one player using the same weapon may have a completely different strategy and experience than the next. It’s a great addition and should add tons of extra hours to an already deep experience.

Special Ops also makes it return and should serve as a distraction when players want a break from the online multiplayer suite. The challenges in Special Ops are interesting enough, from disarming a bomb to taking over a plane, there’s a lot of replayability here, and even more so when you add in the new survival mode. Survival doesn’t offer anything truly innovative, as it’s pretty much the zombie mode without the undead, but it does serve as a cool new way to get together with your friends, and since it can be played offline, it’s also a great way to learn the multiplayer maps.

The Blast Factor: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is an incredibly solid shooting experience. The campaign and the engine behind it may show its age at certain points in the game, but they are few and far between. The story is much more focused, the weapons have more weight and the stellar multiplayer suite has been fine tuned and tweaked. A game like Modern Warfare 3 will always have its detractors, but it’s their loss, they’re missing one hell of an experience.

When it was released alongside the Kinect last November, Kinect Sports was one of those no question purchases for a good majority of the peripheral’s early adopters. It was easy to jump in, fun for the whole family and a good display of what the camera system could do. It was also filled with flaws and glitches that affected the game’s visuals and gameplay. Now, one year later, Rare and Microsoft return with Kinect Sports: Season 2. Filled with more sports, and fine tuned Kinect functionality, this year’s game goes miles ahead of last year’s, but unfortunately, it’s still packed with many of those same flaws that ruined the previous game.

Kinect Sports: Season 2 introduces players to five new sports, baseball, football, tennis golf and downhill skiing; along with darts (note: not a sport – just sayin’). Of these six, skiing is the easiest to jump in to; simply stand like you’re skiing and move your body from side-to-side to move between your markers. From time to time you’ll have to jump for style points, and while it’s quite fun, it can be irresponsive at times. The game does a great job of adjusting the difficulty so you never really feel like you’ve lost until the end of the race – even if you’re doing terrible.

The game’s football mode is disappointing, but comes with some impressive tech. Players control either the quarterback or one of the receivers. The quarterback crouches down to hike the ball and either yells “Hike!” or moves their arms as if retrieving the ball to start the play. Your receivers icons above their heads will turn green when they’re open and you can either throw the ball to the left, right or straight ahead.  Receivers catch the ball by stretching their arms out, and then run in place to get to the end zone. The quarterback can also call an audible at the line of scrimmage if he sees a weakness in the defense, though don’t expect a Madden-like level of strategy here, calling audibles is basically a game of chance more often than not.

As basic as the football controls are, it’s easy to envision next year’s Madden, which has been confirmed to feature Kinect functionality use something similar to the system here.  Imagine walking up to the line as Aaron Rodgers in the Superbowl, looking over the defense and calling an audible using the same system the actual team does.  The ideas in Kinect Sports: Season 2’s football mode feel an awful lot like a great starting point for other things – even if they’re not all that fleshed out here.

It should come as no surprise that golf is the game’s most fun and responsive mode. The majority of the golfing mechanic is easy and responsive, and the addition of voice controls for club selection makes things seem even more fluid. Admittedly, it was a bit weird being so used to having a Wii-mote in my hands to golf, and it threw me off a bit at first, but thanks to how intuitive the game the system is, that problem didn’t last long at all. It’s important to note that it took a while to get used to putting, as the game kept hitting the ball too hard regardless of my motion, though a quick trip to the Kinect tuner seemed to rectify this.

http://youtu.be/1XOvszz-bdU

In a similar fashion, baseball is also a mixed bag. Pitchers can throw the ball with either their left or right hand, curving the ball by curving their arm. Sounds pretty simple right? Unfortunately, the game seems to fall apart once you step into the batter’s box. As you’d expect, batting is based pretty solely on timing, but sometimes even when you get a good hit, the game sends it directly to a spot in the outfield where an opposing player is, which triggers a mini game for the outfielder. It just seems like the baseball portion of the game is built mostly on luck rather than any kind of skill.

By far, the most disappointing aspect of the game is the darts section. Put quite simply, it’s almost unplayable due to limitations in the Kinect system itself. Darts is a game of accuracy, and the Kinect seems to have no way to judge where you’re trying to send the darts you’re throwing. Quite often I would aim one for an upper portion of the board, only to see it go to the very bottom. To see just how bad the game’s recognition for darts was, I closed my eyes and made a cartoonish throwing motion and to my surprise it went almost perfect straight. Hopefully this is something an update can fix.

One of the biggest problems with the original Kinect Sports was that you had to be playing a full game either online or against a local opponent to compete with friends, but Season 2 adds a challenge mode to each sport that adds a ton of replayability to the title. Baseball for instance has the home run derby and golf has a targeting mini game.  Season 2 also introduces a much more streamlined menu process that features a responsive voice system. Want to play football? Just say it. This year’s game is much easier to navigate through.

The Blast Factor: Though it’s not a drastic change from last year’s game, the teams at Rare and Microsoft have done a nice job addressing the majority of the issues to make Kinect Sports: Season 2 a much more enjoyable experience. Not all of the sports are as enjoyable as the next, and unless you’ve got a big group looking to play, you’re likely to get tired of the game rather quick, but Kinect Sports Season 2 is a fun if not flawed party experience.

Sonic the Hedgehog’s gaming career sounds an awful lot like an episode of E! True Hollywood Story. When he debuted for the Sega Genesis in1991, he quickly rose to super stardom; spawning everything from TV shows to action figures and even breakfast cereals – but then it all went wrong.  After a steady stream of games, some of which changed the very appeal of the character, Sonic and his growing cast of supporting characters began to wear out their welcome with the gaming public. It wasn’t long before the once proud console mascot was reduced to making cameo appearances in his one time rivals games.

Of course, even the worst True Hollywood Stories have some sort of a happy ending – and Sonic Generations is just that for the Blue Blur. Of course Sega has gone back to the well and revisited Sonic’s heyday before – but never to this level.  Not since his original 16-bit debut almost twenty years ago has Sonic felt this fast, fun and imaginative. Be warned though, much like Sonic crashing in to a wall, Generations ends with a disappointing thud and reminds you why Sonic went away in the first place.

Sonic just can’t catch a break. While celebrating his birthday with his friends, the Time Eater, a n unfamiliar enemy appears and begins to send everyone into time holes, scattering them throughout different points in history. Sonic finds himself in a bland, colorless area known as White Space where he encounters a younger and more pudgier version of himself. The two blue blurs decide that their best option is to race throughout their shared history, restore order and rescue their friends.  Naturally.

What follows is both a love letter to the Sonic universe as well as an epitaph for it. The game is split in to two sections; classic Sonic races through 2D landscapes just as you remember, and its loads of fun. There’s no question that this more than anything is where Generations shines. You’ll race through re-imagined stages from the original Sonic, like the Greenhill Zone and it all feels so natural, and so pure that it’s almost impossible to resist – and this is coming from a guy who’s childhood was heavily dominated by Nintendo consoles.

Perhaps most impressive about the classic Sonic reimagining is the amount of detail and effort that the Sonic team put into its recreation. This isn’t just an HD cleanup of the original visuals; this is a whole new look inspired by the classic. Take classic Sonic himself for instance, inspired by the spirte-based design used for the original, the Sonic Generations features an almost clay-mation like appearance and it feels an awful lot like something straight out of our childhood should feel.  To that extent, the game does suffer from a noticeable amount of slowdown when the game gets up to its top speed, an issue for a game like this.

Then there’s the other half of the game; featuring the more modern sonic levels. While still built for speed, this half of the game channels the 3D versions of the franchise, also known  as where the series went downhill.  Now don’t get me wrong, there are moments (and there always have been these moments) where 3D Sonic games work incredibly well, but they lose a lot of the original charm in the translation. Whereas classic Sonic games were built more on pure speed, games like heroes and colors feel like they really heavily on thunderous velocity, which puts the emphasis more on being destructive than the originals. Also much like the originals, the 3D iteration doesn’t do speed quite as well as its counterpart, as even the slightest error (and even sometimes without an error at all) will cause Sonic to come to a screeching halt. Most disappointing though is that these modern Sonic levels outnumber the classic ones as if Sega is trying to force us to come to terms with what the icon has become.

Regardless, the dynamic between the two Sonics is interesting to say the least. The character has always been built on an in-your-face attitude, but it’s quite fun to watch the two spar. Though he seemed very edgy at the time, classic Sonic seems tame compared to the more modern version. New Sonic seems grizzled, and hardened. He’s less edgy than he is cynical and it’s fun to see how both react to situations, especially when that dynamic shifts about midway through the game.

As you play through Generations, you’re sure to want to go back and play through levels over again to unlock extra challenges or better your time, but those who are going to get the most out of the game are those who have stayed with the hedgehog throughout his entire career as there are tons of unlockables that are sure to make you make you feel all sorts of nostalgic. These won’t really entice any non fans of the series to jump in, but it’s great for those who are dedicated.

The Blast Factor: Though half of the game is a reminder of why an icon fell, you can’t dispute just how fun Sonic Generations truly is. It’s fast, fun and everything else a Sonic game should be. Most importantly, it’s proof that Sega still cares about its biggest star, and knows how to handle him. Those who grew up in the 16-bit era will love the throw back, but really everyone should check it out.

Regular readers here are no stranger to my strange obsession with Disney. Of course, we’re not talking the High School Musical Shake it Up version of Disney, but the old school, classic animation, Walt variety. I’m also a huge fan of Media Molecule’s Little Big Planet series of games, so when I first saw Disney Universe, which looked like a cross between the two properties, I was instantly excited – turns out I should have reigned that in a bit.

Don’t get me wrong – it’s not that Disney Universe is a bad game, it’s mix of platforming and collecting is great for its intended audience, but the game’s biggest problem is that it’s just simply too much; the game often feels like it’s too many ideas going on at once, and as a result, it feels overly hectic and poorly guided. Disney Universe is good for young gamers, but older fans will get frustrated quickly.

Disney Universe casts players in an admittedly unique story. Disney’s most famous worlds have been recreated in a virtual setting so people can experience them in real time, but as it seems happens with every “virtual world,” someone has hacked they’re way in and filled the worlds with dangerous creatures and hazards. Enter you – a weird looking non descript Sackboy-esque looking thing with a penchant for Disney cosplay. It’s your job to go in, eliminate the dangers and turn everything back to the way it was.

Disney Universe is broken up into worlds inspired by some of the company’s most well known movies and cartoons, like Pirate’s of the Caribbean, Finding Nemo and Monsters Inc. The majority of these worlds require little thought and are of the, run around, break stuff and collect stuff variety, but there are a few interesting twists, like the Lion King stage which has you running from left to right escaping a fire. Regardless, pretty much all of the worlds are impressive in their design, as they don’t borrow directly from the properties but are inspired by them. For instance,  I had a lot of fun in the Monstropulous section of the Monsters Inc level, which featured a somewhat new take on the classic “door hopping” scene.

Perhaps Disney Universe’s most glaring issue then is how misguided it is. More often than not your goal isn’t easily laid out in front of you, and what’s going on in the game at any given moment is so hectic that you’re bound to give up and just start smashing things until it becomes more clear. This becomes even more of a problem when using four players – though that can also be the game’s most endearing quality, playing with three other friends can lead to some hectic and fun gameplay moments.

The most endearing lasting piece of Disney Universe is unquestionably the costumes and suits of classic characters found in the game. Similar to Sackboy from the Little Big Planet series, your character can don suits from a literal who’s-who in Disney history. Everyone from the fab-5, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy and Pluto to lesser known characters like the Sushi chef from Monsters Inc (no, really) are here and are a blast to collect. My only gripe was that there’s far more costumes from newer properties than the classics, which is understandable given the target audience, but do we really need characters like Angelica from the latest Pirates of the Caribbean movie? Throw me some Roger Rabbit or Chernobog instead. This an issue that can easily be fixed via DLC, and I’m hoping Disney Interactive offers it.

The Blast Factor: It’s easy to see the appeal for a game like Disney Universe, it’s platforming and collecting that everyone can easily jump in on. Unfortunately though, it’s ideas never really feel feely thought out, and as a result, Disney Universe often feels like a mix of a lot of good but unfinished ideas. Still, you can’t knock it’s easily accessible gameplay, especially for the little ones.

The first time I died I was crushed to death by an ugly club-toting prison guard demon.

The second time, death came to me as I was shoved off a cliff. The third time skeleton warriors wielding cleavers overran me. The list continues: I was burnt, impaled, frozen, pummeled, squished, eaten, poisoned, slashed open, cursed, stunned, bashed, stuck full of arrows, you name it.

And it was all a painful, aggravating but ultimately rewarding learning experience.

I was being educated.

Enter Dark Souls, From Software’s follow up to Demon Souls. And I can easily say it’s the hardest game I’ve ever played.

The third person action RPG dungeon crawler Dark Souls is a fickle beast, one that doesn’t care if you’re good or not, the epitome of hardcore and the gatekeeper of victory and happiness. Its tagline, “Prepare to die,” is no joke. Even in the tutorial, you will die.

Sounds terrible, right? Wrong.  Not only is Dark Souls the hardest game I’ve ever played, but also the most unique and rewarding.

Through death, a player learns survival. This doesn’t quite make sense, I’m sure. It can be compared to touching a hot plate. With your hand burnt from the contact, you know not to touch it again or, perhaps, to hold it with a cloth to reduce the heat. It is no different when dying in Dark Souls. When an enemy parries your attack and returns it with their own instant-kill thrust, driving a large sword through your torso, you now know you should not attempt such a route when fighting said enemy. It’s all a huge lesson on versatility and thinking outside the box, a game that will keep your mind spinning and your heart pounding with every encounter.

Dark Souls furthers the intrigue by its openness and lack of direction. Once out of the Undead Asylum tutorial, the world is open for you to explore and scavenge. Players are merely told to ring bells and “something will happen.” Pretty vague, right? The story is sparse and barely described, although the opening scenes and cut scenes are beautifully done and graphically stunning. The story is weak, however, as you find yourself wandering, sometimes aimlessly, through broken down churches, dark forests, poison swamps, tombs and underground villages. But that doesn’t matter. The story is far from important. Dark Souls is just one epic and massive adventure when it comes down to it.

The game will push you in a basic direction by the difficulty of the demons you encounter. I knew immediately that going through the poisonous Blighttown before I rang the first bell was not the smartest move, mainly because I was too weak to handle the beasts within. Then again, it’s completely arguable. Some may think one section is harder than the other merely based on the fact that their stats are distributed differently. It really is open for debate.

With its refusal to hold your hand, Dark Souls makes gamers’ hearts pump faster and sweat build on their brows. As they enter a dark unknown area with no idea what is around the corner, they’ll either march proudly and arrogantly or inch their way through with their shield up and a strong paranoia sinking in. The tutorial is brief and lacking in description, forcing players to figure it out on alone. Once brought to the Firelink Shrine, the official starting place in Dark Souls after the escape from the Undead Asylum, the world completely lacks a linear path. You are given a simple objective, how you accomplish it is up to you.

This beginning is vast and intimidating. Words like “overwhelming” don’t seem to do it justice. The start of your exploration will invoke awe due to its size. As you further your escapades and plunders, however, you’ll find small shortcuts, making each area interconnected. By the time you make it halfway through, you’ll have paths to so many areas around the Dark Souls realm, it will make travel easier. The realization of shortcuts were always a huge victory when I was playing, and I found myself rejoicing each time I found my way back to the Firelink Shrine. Being a safe haven, it was always comforting to know that the Shrine wasn’t as far away as it seemed.

Again, death is stressed to be the ultimate teacher. You’ll find through error and exploration what enemies are weak against and their attack patterns. You’ll learn that some enemies are weak against fire, while others are immune. You’ll find that divine forged weapons will halt the revival of skeleton warriors, opposed to struggling as you battle the reanimating bastards over and over again for no gain. There isn’t a moment that the game isn’t teaching you something. Players must be wise enough to take note when things happen, especially in combat and death.

In no way is Dark Souls a hack ‘n slash game. Running into a crowd of undead soldiers with your sword drawn may seem like a fun idea at first, but will lead to your inevitably quick death. The game is about patience and testing your limits. With an endurance bar acting as both your defense and your strength, players must truly come to balance with their actions. Swinging a heavy weapon could use up half your endurance bar, leaving you susceptible to an onslaught. To attack or not to attack, that is the question.

But the combat system is the heart of Dark Souls and is extremely unforgiving for beginners. I think I died far more in the beginning trying to get used to the combat than later. The learning curve is brutal, and can push players into fits of anger as they attempt to figure out their hero’s limits and the attack patterns of their enemies. But as time progresses, you’ll get stronger, level up and conquer. It’s all a matter of taking risks and knowing when to pull back from a fight.

The gamble is a huge playing point in Dark Souls. To act or not to act. Play it safe and miss out, or take a chance and risk annihilation? It’s a rush every time and players are faced with it frequently.

Scenario: There is an item on top of the roof a structure. The gap between you and the structure is quite large. Falling into said gap is a most certain death. Having no idea if the item is worth the jump, do you take a chance anyway, risking all your collected souls and progress in the area?

Let’s say you jump. You don’t make the gap and plummet to your demise. “You have died” shows up on your screen and then fades to black. You respawn at the last bonfire you rested at. This sucks, but is the norm. You can, however, try try again, which eventually will lead to success, and a swelling rush of pride.

Bonfires are a player’s saving grace, their haven, the light in the pitch black. Bonfires are scattered few and far throughout Dark Souls, acting as a checkpoint where you can level up, change your spells, replenish you spell count and safely re-arrange your inventory. You’ll recover your health and refill your estus flasks – potions that heal you out in the world. But it comes with a price, as does everything in the Dark Souls universe.

By resting at a bonfire, the enemies slain have respawned (except for some of the tougher enemies like the Dark Knights or bosses). After tirelessly clearing out an area of blood-thirsty beasts, it might not be worth the risk to rest a bonfire if you don’t need to. Then again, players will learn to expect death everywhere, so it may be worth cashing in on the souls you’ve collected.

Souls act as currency. Killing an enemy will yield a specific amount of souls. These souls can be used to level up at bonfires, where players can up their stats. They are also money, in the sense that you can use them to purchase items or services from merchants and blacksmiths. There, you can forge new weapons, repair weapons and armor or enhance your belongings with materials found throughout the world. The game is especially difficult and, at points, unfair, with it’s distribution of souls through victories.

Perhaps it was the developers’ way of discouraging grinding, but it is tedious and risky to attempt it. Even some of the (respawning) toughest demons only provide a few hundred souls, making it more and more difficult to level up or ascend weapons and armor as the game progresses. There are some areas of the game that seem to be made for soul farming, but they’re spread far and thin in between.

Not only that, but weapons and armor have durability stats, meaning that you can only hack away at enemies for so long before your sword breaks. Just adding to the difficulty, Dark Souls? Yeah, I’d say so.

Be prepared to die. A LOT.

Playing Dark Souls makes you feel small and insignificant. Your hero will face creatures 1,000 times their size, with a bleak chance of survival. But yet, it’s all possible. It makes the victories a million times better. I distinctively remember standing up and dancing after I defeated the Bell Gargoyles (giant stone creates with huge lances, axe tails and breathe fire) and rang the first bell. Winning has never felt so good.

But as small as you are, you are not alone. The most genius part of Dark Souls is the online world. Playing it on a PS3, I was always connected to the Internet, which made for a fantastic gaming experience. Often, players will see ghosts of other players briefly running through an area or fighting an invisible enemy, but then they will disappear. Glowing orange markings on the ground are also left by online players, which provide hints (or sometimes trolls provide fake hints) that help your hero prepare for the worst. Although the specific player who wrote the note won’t show up in your game play, their message will, creating a strong sense of unity.

Even better is the act of summoning. White writing on the ground can give players the prompt to summon spirits to aid their adventures. These spirits will be other heroes that are online, willing to provide their services to defeat difficult bosses. Together, you’ll work silently by the side of a stranger to face nightmares you’d hopelessly be crushed by if you were by yourself. Once you defeat the creature, the summon will disappear, and you’ll most often never see them again. Whenever I utilized this option, it gave me a warm feeling that I wasn’t alone as I thought I was.

It’s a strange sense of unity that the online game play brings into Dark Souls. You’re all in this together, and you’re all just trying to survive the worst.

There is also the option to become a phantom yourself, helping out fellow heroes to take down bosses you’ve already slain. By writing on the ground with a white soapstone, you can be summoned by someone and reap the benefits of victory together.

Again, this wouldn’t be Dark Souls if there was not a yang to the ying. With online game play enabled, it gives gamers the option to invade other worlds. Being completely honest, invasions are terrible. Players will invade other’s games with the one purpose of massacring the other player. At one point, I was invaded four times within an hour, hopelessly fighting off much stronger foes, and dying with each invasion. It was probably the most frustrating thing I experienced.

But this leads to the idea of covenants, a brilliant side quest-like option in Dark Souls. Players will meet NPCs throughout game play, and can be offered to join different covenants. Each have their perks and their specific purposes. One secret covenant has the single mission of invading players who invade players. Every time a person chooses to invade another’s game, they are sinning. These sins are recorded in a Book of the Guilty by Dark Souls. It was quite the cool experience.

Dark Souls is truly a massive game that gamers can pour their heart (and many, many hours) into. It’s something I’ve never quite experienced in a videogame. Some of the battles gave me a sense of Shadow of the Colossus, where the enemies were just so massive success seemed out of the question. The victories were made so much sweeter because of it.

Graphically, Dark Souls has an incredible way to pull the gamer into the mood it’s conveying. There are moments where players will have a chance to gaze at a beautiful landscape and truly appreciate the texture and time put into their surroundings. Other times, players will be begging to see grass again as they crawl through the Depths filled with giant undead rats and cursed demon frogs. The game’s environment finds a way to dig under your skin and give you a feeling of loneliness, claustrophobia, fear, or, at times, comfort. Just another genius aspect, I suppose.

Not everything about Dark Souls is innovative and wonderful though. As said before, the learning curve is outrageous. The first 10 hours or so of game play is so harsh, it could make even the most hardcore gamer quit. Leveling up is especially difficult because there isn’t a marker telling you how many souls it will take to improve your stats. It’s impossible to know when you have enough, you can only estimate. Some of the scenarios breach the intense difficulty to the “completely unfair” zone too. Many times Dark Souls was turned off from my television in a flurry of cuss words and rage. Luckily, my controller is still intact, although it did fly across the room once or twice.

It’s a give and take kind of game that really is not for everyone. Those who expect a linear, baby-steps, simple game need not apply. It takes grit, patience and time to make it anywhere in Dark Souls. Not every gamer prefers that, and that’s fine, but for those up to the challenge, it’s beyond worth it. The adventure is epic and far too hard to turn down.

BLAST FACTOR: Dark Souls is only for the select few that want to put the time into it. It’s harsh on all levels and extremely difficult in the beginning especially. Getting past the amount of times death overtakes games is where players will find solace. It’s a genius learning game, forcing you to think outside the box. It defies the new wave of gaming that is all quick time events and only 12 hours of game play. Dark Souls is visually beautiful, terrifying and will completely take over your emotions. It’s an epic journey where only the bravest and wisest succeed. It would be a shame to pass up such an experience, but with its insane difficulty level it’s completely understandable. Dark Souls has breached my favorite game titles and definitely made it into my top five. I wouldn’t pass it up.

Perhaps the most telling tale of Battlefield 3’s complicated existence comes before the game even enters your system. Certain versions of the game come in multiple discs, one for the game’s multiplayer suite, which comes first – and the other for the single player. After more than a decade,  EA and DICE  surely know their audience and have justly put the majority of their time and development into the game’s online gameplay, but as a result, the single player suffers and you’re left with a mixed and uneven shooter that fails to deliver on all of the hype it’s generated since being announced. No, Battlefield 3 is not a bad game – it’s just not as good as it could be.

Before you go any further you should know something about me — I’m a single player campaign first kind of guy. Before I even touch the online multiplayer I want a game to tell me a story, I want the game to take me places, to make me care. Quite simply, Battlefield 3 failed to do that for me.  That’s not to say that there aren’t any edge-of-your-seat moments; when Battlefield 3 fires on all cylinders, it’s great action, just not great drama. Take for example on sequence early on in the game where you’re asked to take out an enemy held up in a hotel balcony. It was thrilling to run up to the top of the building and strategize with my squad-mates as to how to take them out; but for the life of me, I can’t tell you just why we were doing it.  The uninspired story of Battlefield 3 feels less like a fleshed out plot, and more like a device to move you from set piece to set piece, and they’re just not all thrilling enough to make you care. You can only take so much military jargon before you just find yourself just pointing at something and shooting.

It’s almost impossible to write this review without mentioning the 800 LB gorilla in the room – the rivalry that’s played out between Battlefield and Call of Duty over the last year. In the midst of the verbal sparring; a strange thing has happened, Battlefield has become everything they’ve spoken out against. Modes from previous Battlefield games have been removed (where’s my commander mode EA?), and the team at DICE seems insistent on making this feel like a Modern Warfare game. All of the plot points are here, the stolen nukes, the gruff commanders and the stereotypically evil Russians; hell there’s even a few missions that feel like they were lifted directly from previous editions of the rival series.  What’s most disappointing about the campaign experience is when it’s clear that they didn’t do the necessary research. In fear of spoiling some key moments, I won’t get into much detail, but there are some moments that defy military law that are sure to take you completely out of the game.

That being said, I can’t deny the sheer enjoyment I had when the campaign worked. When Battlefield 3 fires on all cylinders and gives you frantic action, it’s hard to argue that it delivers.  Lessons are learned quick in the world of Battlefield 3, like the time I was facing down a sniper and mistakenly got up from my cover in an effort to get a better vantage point, only to be instantly shot down. It’s moments like these that make Battlefield enjoyable, where you’re forced to make split second decisions in the face of a coming onslaught. These edge of your seat moments don’t come often in Battlefield 3, but when they do, they’re more than worth it.

Let’s be honest though, myself aside, the majority of gamers are going to jump in to Battlefield 3 for its online play – and this is where the game undoubtedly shines. On the PC version up to 64 players (24 on console versions) can load out in nine different maps which vary from industrial to urban and even some jungle locations. What makes these maps so interesting is not their size (though, they are quite large), but how varied in scope they are.  One map for example had me dodging sniper shots from multiple roofs, while the other had me scurrying between tunnels to try to get an advantage. Of course, this is a Battlefield game, and that means you’ll have access to plenty of vehicles, which can be a great addition to the game, but can also be a pain in the ass. Getting a vehicle, like a tank or a helicopter can turn a battle around completely, but they’re so powerful that each game becomes a mad dash to occupy each vehicle, and if you you’re not the lucky one, you better turn around and run. We also experienced a slew of issues with the EA servers while playing Battlefield online. These issues mostly cropped up with the console versions, and they’re likely to be fixed via a patch, but it was incredibly frustrating to not be able to get in to a game on launch week.

The entire Battlefield package comes together with the new Frostbite 2 engine. There’s no denying that the game is nothing short of gorgeous; from the detail on characters and buildings, to the views of the city around you. Most impressive perhaps is the level of detail Frostbite allows for in its destruction. Remember that scene early on I was talking about? The one where you’re trying to take out the enemy in the hotel? It’s extremely satisfying to watch as the entire building rumbles, smoke starts to billow out and pieces start to fall off. At times its almost impossible to not marvel at how well it all comes together. It’s not all perfect though, as we did notice a few oddly muddy textures and a bit of slowdown – especially in the console versions.

The Blast Factor: Battlefield 3 may be the toughest game I’ve yet to review; it’s majorly flawed, but at the same time, it does so much right that it’s almost impossible not to at least enjoy your time with it. After all the hype and the name calling, Battlefield 3 is here. Was it worth the wait? The easy answer is an emphatic yes; it may not be the end-all-be-all first person shooter you’re looking for, but it is a remarkable one, that you’re going to want to play – especially if you’re into multiplayer.

Battlefield 3 is available now for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 from EA and DICE. The Xbox 360 and PC versions of the game were used for this review and provided by the publisher.

I still remember the moment I fell in love with Batman: Arkham Asylum. No surprise, it was pretty early in the game, I entered a warehouse type room filled with the Joker’s henchmen, but rather than merely having me go rough ‘em up, I was challenged to find a new way around them, to think in essence, like The Batman. I used my surroundings, I stalked my prey, I turned their own fear against them. It was after this section that I realized that developer Rocksteady wasn’t just giving me the opportunity to play as The Batman; they were giving me a chance to feel what it would be like to be the Dark Knight.

With the sequel, Arkham City, a lot could have gone wrong. We all know most sequels suck and what are the odds of two Batman games in a row being exceptional right? Turns out pretty good. Everything you loved about Asylum returns, but only now they’re tweaked and reconfigured almost to a point of perfection.  Arkham City is a sprawling and gorgeously detailed environment, and Bat-fans are sure to enjoy the little nods to the caped crusader’s past. It may not be perfect, as some of the flaws that hindered the last game are still naggingly present, but Batman’s latest adventure is still a damn good one.

Arkham City picks up mere months after the end of the last game; the asylum’s former warden Quincy Sharp is now Gotham’s mayor and has had the wonderfully smart idea to move all of the city’s most dangerous criminals out of Arkham and into a walled off area in the center of the city. Millionaire playboy Bruce Wayne isn’t a fan of the idea and stages a press conference outside of the newly named Arkham City to oppose it, but it’s not long before he’s arrested under strange circumstances and thrown in himself.  This begins Arkham City proper – and it’s one of the most dynamic openings in recent memory.  From the moment you enter the prison, and an inmate yells “Welcome to hell,” you can’t help but be amazed by the scale of it all, and how theatrical the presentation is this go-around.

THUNK!

These superb presentation levels extend themselves throughout most of the entire game. Arkham City is a decaying mecca in the heart of downtown Gotham City; and it feels like it.  There’s plenty of back alleys and side streets to get lost down if you’re the gutsy exploring type, and the whole thing is done in striking light balance and detail. It’s almost awe-inspiring in certain moments when you’re on top of a building high above Arkham city taking in the scope and detail of the world around you. Of course, it still does suffer from occasional graphical pop-ins, and that damn camera that always seems to turn at just the wrong moment – but more on that later.

Much like the original game, Arkham City will have you ting out thugs and henchmen en-route to taking on Batman’s rouges gallery in an effort to uncover the conspiracy at hand, and that’s one area that this game does a ton better than its predecessor. Batman has perhaps the most well known villains in pop culture, and the first game had a few of them, but they pale in comparison to what Arkham City is packing. Throughout your journey you’ll take on The Joker, Mr. Freeze, Two-Face, the Riddler and a number of surprise guests from Batman’s past that are too cool to spoil here. Interestingly enough, the actual boss fights with the legendary characters aren’t that memorable and can be passed quite easily, but it’s the way Rocksteady built up these events with fantastic pacing that truly make them memorable.

Undoubtedly the game is at its best when it does what the previous one did so well, make you feel like the world’s greatest detective. It’s not uncommon to walk in to a room of ten or more thugs and still feel like you’ve got the upper hand. Though this go-round did feel a bit more linear than the previous game, just how many ways you can go about taking out your enemies is pretty impressive.  You could go in and let your fists do the talking or you could go the route I did and use your wits and gadgets to take them out strategically.  Disappointingly, it’s these large fights that also disappoint most in Arkham City as just like in before the game’s camera system can be incredibly frustrating. I remember one boss fight in particular where I kept having to run away just so I could get enough distance between myself and them to center the camera.

The level of detail throughout Arkham City is impressive.

After you’ve completed the campaign (which you can jump back in to with all of your upgrades thanks to a new game plus mode), Arkham City still offers a ton of content for your money. Challenge maps are back, and much more plentiful, as are the Riddler’s trophy challenges, but what you’re really going to want to check out is the Catwoman mission pack. A code for these missions is included in each new copy (you’ll have to buy one if you’re buying it preowned), and they add a ton of backstory to the game’s main campaign and are best experienced when played in the context of the game itself. I was also surprised at just how much I enjoyed playing as Catwoman; she’s a lot quicker than Batman and is a lot of fun to decimate baddies with.

Rocksteady also must be commended for their remarkable job in delivering fan service to the legions of Batman fans with Arkham City. Exlploring those back alleyways and side streets will prove to be a fruitful endeavor as there are plenty of references and nods to Batman’s impressive history in pop culture.  We’re still finding secrets in Arkham Asylum  to this day; meaning there’s plenty to be found in the game as well.

The Blast Factor: Any game that can make you feel like The Batman is doing something right – -and Arkham City does that very well.  Rocksteady has taken everything from Arkham Asylum and tweaked it enough to create one hell of a love letter to DC’s Dark Knight.  It’s a great licensed game, but perhaps most importantly, it’s a fantastic game in general.

Batman Arkham City is available now for the PS3 and Xbox 360 from Warner Bros Games and Rocksteady Studios. It will be available this November for the PC. A Xbox 360 copy of the game was provided by the publisher for this review.

You’ve got to feel bad for poor ole’ Chucky Green. This time last year, the former professional dirt bike rider was the star of his own blockbuster video game. Fast forward a few years and he’s sharing the spotlight with former protagonist Frank West, who as we all know has covered wars you know  (Okay, that’s the only time I’m going to do that I swear). Then it happened, with Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Green’s role had been completely recast by the man he once replaced.

It would be easy to throw Dead Rising 2: Off the Record away as a mere cash grab by Capcom – but the truth is, it’s not. Sure, it’s basically the same game you’ve played before – same location, same weapons, same story, just with someone else in the lead role, but the new features it does pack are more than worth a look. It may not be the most original game, but Dead Rising 2: off the Record feels an awful lot like coming home, like the sequel we should have gotten in the first place.

The last few years have not been kind to journalist and zombie basher Frank West. After uncovering a breaking the scoop on the outbreak at the Williamette Mall in the original Dead Rising, Frank shot to unheard of levels of fame, but he also learned that fame soon fades. In an effort to recapture that fading glory, Frank travels Fortune City, Nevada, where he hears word of a new outbreak.  What results is your basic “What if” storyline – what if Frank West was the main character in Dead Rising 2. There are a few twists thrown in, but you’ll be talking with the same people, treading the same ground and bashing the same zombies as before – only as someone new…or old…whatever.

I couldn’t help but feel that the game would be served better not as a “what if” type story, but rather an alternate take on what was going while Chuck was trying to clear his name.  There are plenty of story points in the original Dead Rising 2 that Capcom could have introduced Frank West to expand on the story, not just re-hash it.  Things get really weird when Chuck actually shows up in the game; complete with his Terror is Reality bike and daughter from Dead Rising 2 proper; so in the context of the game, certain parts of the story had to happen to Chuck.  The only real explanation is that Dead Rising 2: Off the Record occurs in some sort of weird Paradox where both Chuck and Frank’s versions of the stories are going on but never really intersecting. Mind blown.

Core mechanic wise, Off the Record plays just as you’d expect it to; run around, pick stuff up, smash zombies with it and repeat. There are a few new weapons, and a few new combo weapons that you can craft together in Fortune City’s workbench areas, and there are also a few new psychopath boss characters as well as a new area –The Uranus Zone. All that aside, Off the Record does tend to feel very familiar; and just how big a fan you are of the franchise will determine whether or not that’s enough.

Of course, with the return of Frank West comes the return of his trusty camera. Now digital (yep, no more searching for film), the camera mechanic adds a lot to the game, and I found myself using it even more than I did in the original Dead Rising game. Even in the face of imminent danger, I found myself reaching for the camera to take shots. One of my favorites was in the utility corridors of Fortune City, with a slew of zombies barreling down the steel steps at me. I brought out the camera and got a horror rating for the growling undead and a humor rating…for the ones falling down the stairs. Taking great pictures awards you more prestige points, which in turn allows you more health and the ability to carry more weapons.

By far though, the most exciting addition Off the Record brings is the fan demanded sandbox mode. Free of time, ringing cell phones and expiring missions, sandbox mode allows players to run around the majority of the game’s map and simply have fun bashing zombies. There are challenges spread throughout the map, but they’re completely optional.  I’ve always described Dead Rising to people as an interactive playground with zombies, and sandbox mode makes the game truly live up to this title. Perhaps the best thing about sandbox mode is that it allows the game to truly embrace its goofiness. In the mode Frank’s portrayed not as a guy looking for his next big break, but rather as a guy who simply loves bashin’ him some zombies.

The Blast Factor: In the last year, Capcom has kind of gone Dead Rising crazy, releasing no less than four different titles in the series. Off the Record could have easily been the entry that jumped the shark, the one that fans realized they just didn’t care anymore – but it’s not. Sure, it’s not completely original, but thanks to a few tweaks and new modes, this is the definitive Dead Rising experience and a great starting point for those who have yet to experience it.

As a kid I wanted nothing more than to be Hulk Hogan, in fact there are probably more pictures in the family album of me wearing a Hulkamania shirt than anything else –  and why not? He was the guy who made a room pop when he entered, he stood up against the bad guys for what was right, he showed no fear in the face of adversity. He trained, he prayed and he ate his vitamins.

Fast forward a few decades and much has changed. Hogan is arguably no longer the immortal icon he was before, he’s a failed reality star, slinging everything from energy drinks to grills and what’s worse – he seems to be clinging to fading glory. It wasn’t until this week that I felt his legend had hit rock bottom.

Enter Hulk Hogan’s Main Event, the Kinect based wrestling title (for lack of a better word) that makes you the protégé to the biggest name in the history of sport’s entertainment.  Long story short – it’s as bad as it sounds, in fact, it’s worse, much worse. Utterly broken and uninspired in every way, Main Event easily takes the championship as Kinect’s worst game, and that’s saying something.

The problems with Main Event start before you even pop the disc in. The game brands itself as a wrestling title, but it’s far from it. There’s no mat work, no ring psychology; no, this game is all about the entertainment aspect of the “sport.” You’ll create your superstar, who will oddly enough be noticed by the Hulkster at a backyard wrestling event, and from there you’ll work on showmanship, personality and eventually throw a few punches. This might be acceptable if you were allowed to show any spark of creativity when creating your wrestler – the entire creation suite is severely lacking; there’s no even an option for long hair. How the hell am I supposed to tease my hair ala Rick Rude to make the ladies in the crowd swoon?

The story mode in Main Event finds you attempting to climb up the ranks of a wrestling organization but being held down by an unfair booker, who is named….booker (no, really). This is told to you through a series of comic book panel like cut scenes, complete with speech bubbles. Why they didn’t just have Hogan record the lines is beyond me, but perhaps they realized how annoying the majority of the lines he did record can become. During any match, Hogan will randomly yell “inspirational” phrases your way like “You’ve got to believe in yourself” and “Nice finisher brother!” It’s important to note that Hogan seemed to yell that last one regardless of what move I was doing or what portion of the match I was in.  Remember that episode of The Simpsons where Homer is training to climb the giant mountain and his trainer just stands behind him and yells promotional slogans? To the Max! Push it! Yeah, it’s kind of like that, just not nearly as funny.

Yup, that's a winner.

So here’s how your typical match in Main Event goes; Your character is introduced and from there your goal is get the biggest reaction out of the crowd by posing how the Hulkster tells you to. Now don’t get too excited, this isn’t a free-for-all, you won’t be making your own poses, that’s what you have Hulk Hogan for, and you’ll be doing such thrilling maneuvers as raising your right arm (ohhh) and puffing out your chest (double ohhh!). From there, you’ll enter into a food dodging mini-game and yes, you read that right. The crowd seems insistent on pelting you with their nachos and beverages, which would make sense if you’re  a bad guy that’s getting over, but it happens every time. Every…single…time.

The game’s in-ring action finds you doing a lot of punching and kicking while throwing in a few actual wrestling maneuvers (if you count clothes lines and simple throws) for good measure. Your basic goal is to repeat your moves until your opponent is finally on the ground and ready for the pin, upon which you’ll have to do the strangest motion for a pin – moving side to side wildly. The most infuriating part of all of this is that your opponent’s health bar is constantly regenerating, so if one of your moves gets blocked, it’s back to square one.

It could be easy to forgive Hulk Hogan’s main event if the damn thing worked at all. The game is a perfect example of how not to make a motion game. Less than half of your moves are actually registered by the game, but it’s not like you really have to try, the game doesn’t really require you to do any certain moves. Oh, it tries to tell you that it does, but at certain parts I got so frustrated with the game that I began to wildly flail my arms around, and the game picked it up as whatever it wanted me to do. Air guitar? That’s a punch. Moving around like an airplane…that’s a punch too.

The Blast Factor: It’s tough to say just who Hulk Hogan’s main event is marketed to; it’s not really a wrestling game, nor is it a good Kinect game. Hell, it’s not even a good game at all. It’s broken, uninspired and cheap. They say you should never meet your heroes, apparently you should never play their games either.

There are a lot of ways you could describe Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport 4. It’s a racing game, it’s a driving simulator, but the easiest way – it’s simply pure unadulterated car porn.  Gorgeous and deep, the latest in the long running Xbox racing series feels like the genre perfected and while it may not change the way those who don’t like driving games feel about the genre, it’s impossible not to appreciate the level of detail and depth put on display.  Forza 4 is quite simply a car lover’s virtual dream.

The Forza series has always been a visual treat, but nothing that came before it compares to what Forza 4 is packing, and it’s all thanks to the game’s new image-based lighting model.  The locations you’ll be racing in come alive with picturesque scenic vistas and stunning backdrops, and they’re made all the better by the superb lighting model which causes shadows to stretch out to just the right points and interact in just the right ways.  You want a show piece for your new HDTV? Pop-in Forza 4 and show someone its visuals.

Of course, all of this works together to make the game’s main attraction; the cars look downright stunning.  Turn 10 has poured a ton of work into ensuring that each car is perfect down to the smallest detail.  Going through and inspecting the models, especially some of the more exotic and vintage car proves to be an impressive endeavor (especially if you’re able to do so with Kinect). The cars look great in motion as well, as they’re incredibly smooth and weighted just right as they roll down the game’s multitude of tracks.

For true car lovers though, Forza 4’s sweet spot has to be its audio presentation. The game features a wide variety of cars, from classics, to exotic models and each of them sounds incredibly authentic when punching the engine.  Want to get to the heart of a car junkie? Turn the volume up real loud and crank a few engines, it’s stellar, strangely rewarding and almost impossible to resist.

Of course, much like any good car, the true heart of Forza isn’t in its looks, but under its hood, and Turn 10 delivers here as well. Genetically speaking, Forza 4 shares a lot of its core with that of its predecessor Forza 3, but thanks to a generous amount of tweaks and new additions, this is now slight upgrade.  The most noticeable of these updates is how smooth the games monstrous suite of cars handle. Each of the cars handle remarkably true to their real life counterpart, now I may have never driven a Ferrari, but the ones in Forza 4 feel an awful lot like what I’ve always dreamed they would. One of the things I really found myself enjoying about Forza 4 is trying out different cars, how they feel, how they sound – and I’m not even a huge car guy.

One of the most notable features of Forza 4 is just how accessible it can be when compared to other hardcore driving simulators. Sure, the focus here is on sheer driving and skill, but Forza also features a slew of driving aids and tweaks that will allow even the worst driver to enjoy their time with the game. Perhaps that’s the mark of what makes Forza so enjoyable, it’s perfectly fine being one of the most deep racing sims on the market, but it’s also not afraid to turn things down a bit to encourage others to play.

Turn 10 has also made other changes to the Forza formula to better accommodate novice players, but they haven’t necessarily made the game easier, just easier to jump in to. At the easier settings, AI controlled drivers aren’t dumbed down so they’re worse drivers, they’re just not as confident as those found on the higher difficulties. These inexperienced drivers will brake more often and be cautious going in to turns, allowing newer users the ability to learn the finer points of the game, and not just scale by on the easier difficulties.

In previous Forza games, you would only be able to level up cars until they reach level 5, leading to a lot of replayability being lost. That’s fixed in Forza 4 as the game introduces manufacturer specific levels called affinity levels which can be attributed to any vehicle; as long as it’s in the same manufacturer family. In essence, what these levels do is allow players to continue using a car they really like no matter how fine tuned it is while still earning XP and credits you’re able to use throughout the game and adds a ton of replayability.

As robust as the single player experience is, Forza 4 also packs a rather impressive multiplayer suite. The best mode of this suite is easily the rivals mode, which allows you to play against your friends whether they’re online or not thanks to a ghost system. Perhaps most impressive about the multiplayer suite isn’t how robust it is, but how everything works together. Playing online will also give you XP and credits to use throughout the game. In short, that means ultimate bragging rights.

Forza 4 could also be the first game baring the “better with Kinect” branding that I actually believe, as Microsoft’s motion sensing camera actually adds to the experience quite a bit. Using Kinect will allow you to use the cool steering wheel controller as well as the ability to look to your left and right while driving, by simply doing so in real life.  The true allure of Kinect is when you use it to oogle the cars in the auto vista mode…hands off of course.

The Blast Factor: I may never own an Italian sports car or high performance muscle car (unless Guilfoil ups my salary), but thanks to Forza 4, I can know what it’s like. It’s the most detailed, fun and rewarding driving simulator I’ve ever played. Car junkies are going to love that Turn 10 gets it, and even those who don’t get hot under the collar at an engine will love the jaw dropping presentation values. Forza 4 is simply an accomplishment in every sense of the word.

The apocalypse fascinates us. Tales of a grim future of desert wastelands, horrible mutations, and rampant violence have long proven to be a successful formula for movies, novels, and, especially, games. Id Software’s long-awaited Rage certainly seems to have been crafted with an exacting eye for wasteland standards. It’s a game that definitely succeeds on a technical level, but from a design and gameplay perspective might require players to lower their expectations.

Rage opens in a familiar manner. Just before a giant meteor strikes Earth, a select few are given a reprieve in the form of cryogenic status chambers in protective “Arks”. Fast forward a hundred years, and it’s clear this plan wasn’t bullet proof. The player awakes from cold storage to find themselves the only survivor of their ark, and is immediately thrust into a violent world of dusty landscapes, burned out structures, and well-armed buggies.

Comparisons between Rage and other wasteland games like Borderlands and Fallout 3 are inevitable. How Rage distinguishes itself however, is that it is undoubtedly an Id-made game. There are no role-playing elements here and no greater strategy beyond kill-or-be-killed.Anyone expecting another Fallout will be disappointed by the sheer shallowness of the gameplay.

Rage also lacks the deeper cooperative play experience of Borderlands and the sense of humor of either game. It seems to be a game that takes itself too seriously, even though players will be hard pressed to discern why. There’s no cliché left unturned and despite the initial appearance of an open world, even this is merely an illusion.

Players have no control over even the basics of character development. You can’t change the look, gender, or any physical aspect of the ark survivor, and the only real commodities in the game are money and race tickets. Both of these currencies are used to buy weapons, equipment, ammo, and vehicle parts.

Rage is divided between two distinct play styles. The standard first-person shooting elements will make veteran gamers feel right at home. The indoor levels have a distinct Doom feel to them, with tight corridors and much the same imagery and design techniques used in the developer’s past games. Even the horror elements are cribbed from so many other sci-fi horror games. Despite the apocalyptic mutant theme, the game throws in the whole growing biomass cliché that makes little sense in such an environment.
The driving portions will delight fans of arcade-style combat racing. The physics are over-the-top with an eye for fast action not realism. So, you can still steer in the air, for instance, and there’s a decided focus on making crazy jumps. There’s plenty of opportunity for extra points by destroying objects in mid-air and skillfully dispatching foes.

So long as you understand exactly what kind of game Rage is, however, there’s no denying that it’s fun to play. The whole game is just one errand run after another. Talking to the various non-combative denizens of the wasteland frequently leads to a new task (usually either a fetchin’ or killin’ mission), which you just go and do. It’s not deep, creative, or complex, but this formula provides plenty of action, which has always been Id’s design focus.

Enemies have decent AI and tactics, with excellent movement abilities. Bandits and mutants will use free-running skills to leap over things, run along walls, and be generally hard to hit—frequently too hard to hit, since the game’s auto-assist is suspect. There’s a wide array of bad things to shoot, including some impressively large boss creatures.  Bandits are divided into themed tribes. There are redneck cannibals, technologically-advanced soldiers, and British punk-rocker wannabes. Ultimately, their specific look and dialogue is irrelevant, since outside of the few “safe” towns, everyone is merely fodder for your guns.

Beyond bandits, there’s the so-called “authority” that make life in the wasteland a nightmare for anyone who crosses them. To go along with these tyrannical would-be rulers, there’s also the pre-requisite resistance for the player to join. The story is just there to service the shoot ‘em gameplay though, and it’s clear that the minimum amount of effort was put into the writing and non-shooting and driving mechanics.
Thankfully, as expected, the shooting and driving is satisfyingly entertaining. There are enough missions to occupy hours of violence and, for action lovers, that’s a fine reason to enjoy this romp through the wasteland. The other major draw is the multiplayer, which brings multiplayer car combat front and center.

Id definitely has a handle on great death matching and Rage’s vehicle-centric online play is terrific. Totally ignoring the first-person shooter elements, the competitive play is fast-paced and well-designed. There are a handful of entertaining game modes fought in superb and spacious arenas. The downside of the multiplayer is the four-player limit, which is too small given the expansive scope of the maps. There are also two-player cooperative “legend” missions, which are fun, if shallow, but not really a replacement being able to play the main single-player game with a friend.

Id Software has always been known for their technology, and the latest iteration of their graphics engine takes the core visual style of Doom 3 and expands it to vast open spaces. Despite some graphic glitches on the console versions, Rage is a beautiful game with a solid frame rate and nice variety of indoor levels. The audio is also superb, with powerful surround effects, solid voice acting, and a decent musical score.

Blast Factor: Ultimately, the best way to sum up Rage is shallow, but fun. There’s virtually nothing here that hasn’t been seen before with more depth. Even when the game threatens to evolve beyond its own shallowness, it just can’t make it. Taken as a straight-forward, mission-based shooter, there’s plenty to like. Yet, after so long in development, the game has an almost half-baked feel. The presentation, the environment, the combat… almost all the parts are in place to make Rage an epic post-apocalypse adventure, but the sum total is ultimately less than these pieces.

I’ve always felt a weird connection to the Gears of War franchise. Maybe it’s because both of the first games were released on my birthday and it became a ritual to check out Delta Squad’s latest mission as I got older – but I always felt like Gears of War 3 was somehow my game.  So please, forgive me if I gush a bit.

With Gears of War 3, Epic Games has taken the formula set by the first two games and tweaked it ever so much to create the perfect finale for their long running series. Everything you love is here, the chainsaw lancers, the grubs, the brumaks, but there’s also so much more.  The characters are deeper, the story is more engaging and the entire experience is deeply satisfying. Gears of War 3 is undoubtedly Microsoft’s biggest release of the year, and it’s also the best; one that if you own an Xbox – you simply have to experience.

It’s been eighteen months since the end of Gears of War 2, where Jacinto, the last human city was sunk in an effort to flood out the locust horde. As a result, the remaining survivors have setup camp throughout the world and must ban together to survive – food and weapons are scarce, and hope is bleak. To make matters worse, the high levels of imulsion left in the world (a luminescent, highly volatile, low-viscosity fluid) have turned some of the locust into glowing, mutating monsters.  Marcus Fenix, the leader of Delta Squad gets a message that his father is alive and being held captive. Your job is simple – return order to the world and find Adam Fenix.

The story in Gears of War 3 is easily the most well paced and thought out of the entire series. For the first time ever, Marcus and the rest of Delta Squad aren’t fighting the Locust because they’re soldiers; they’re doing it for their survival. Throughout the game, there are several emotional moments that for the first time ever, really let us see emotion from the members of Delta Squad.  One of these moments happens early in the game, where Cole returns to his former hometown, ravaged by Locust and Lambent in search of supplies and see’s statues and images of his former career as a thrashball superstar. Staring at a cardboard cutout of himself; Cole remarks to his squadmates about seeing his own death.  It’s a bit humbling for these characters, who have previously only been seen as muscle-bound brutes to show real emotion for the first time.

Of course, at its core, Gears of War 3 is built on its action – and it does not disappoint.  Sequences in the third game are incredibly large compared to those of previous games with huge badass monsters to take on, and are anything but easy. The Lambent, which sprout up from stalks from underground offer a change to the formula the franchise has setup for the last two games; as they’re mutating abilities will usually allow them to reach behind your cover to attack you, or worse – smash right through it. This of course forces you to adapt your strategy since you won’t be able to stay behind one source of cover for an entire battle.  The Lambent will explode when you defeat them, so it’s best to keep your distance less you want to take an excessive amount of damage even when succeeding. It’s these elements that make Gears of War 3 feel like a true evolution of the formula.

The lambent's explosions make for great visuals.

What surprised me most about the campaign in Gears of War 3 was just how much room it left for creativity and error. The first two Gears games were strictly linear affairs, but here, there’s a bit of user choice. Of course, you won’t be able to navigate the battlefield as you choose, but take for instance one section early on in the game where you try to sneak into a Locust stronghold without sounding the alarm. Your obvious route is to sneak around and pick off guards with the sniper rifles conveniently strewn about the battlefield (you’d think they wouldn’t want to leave them around like that), but letting one of the guards get to the alarm doesn’t necessarily mean you fail, as you’ll just have to take on the remaining horde head on. Interestingly, I also tried sounding the alarm myself, which proved to be the hard, but most fun route.It’s when you’re fighting the non-infected Locust though that the game truly feels like a Gears of War title. Don’t get me wrong, I liked the challenge of the Lambent, but you can’t do a lot of the things that make Gears unique. It’s with the Locust that you can do the game’s signature executions (there are a number of new ones here, including some really badass ones with the trusty chainsaw lancer), and it’s the Locust that feature the superb AI that the series is known for.  There are of course several new Locust types, including the Savage Grenadier and the Digger Boomer. Trust me; you’re going to hate the damn Digger Boomer.

With these new Locust types comes new weapons, and they too deliver. Killing the Digger Boomer gives you the digger gun, which sends missiles that burrow under the ground and the ground and come up rip the target to shreds. The most prominent new weapon though is the retro lancer, which replaces the chainsaw on the lancer you know with a musket like blade. At first, I hated it, but the more and more I used it, I preferred to always have one in my inventory. Rather than revving up a chainsaw to melee attack an opponent, you’ll hold down the b-button to charge and impale them. It’s deeply satisfying, perhaps even more so than the traditional lancer.

Apart from the campaign, the game features an impressive online suite. There are of course the competitive modes, which are powered by dedicated servers and features new game modes, and some awesome maps (I’m partial to the checkout map, which puts you in an abandoned grocery store and thrashball, which puts you in an old stadium –complete with falling jumbo-tron). For the first time ever, Gears of War 3 features full four player co-op throughout the entire campaign.

Horde returns in a more strategic form.

Horde mode also returns in the form of Horde 2.0, a new and more strategic way to play the survival mode. At first, I wasn’t sure about the new changes, as you and your squadmates buy barriers and bases to keep out the Locust and the Lambent, but it started to grow on me rather quickly. It forces players to work together, rather than camping out in certain areas. Also new to Gears 3 is Beast Mode, which is like Horde, but lets you play as the Locust Horde and target humans.  You start with simple tickers and soldiers, but as you progress you unlock new Locust types – it starts slow, but it’s a ton of fun, especially if you’re able to get a group of dedicated friends together to play the mode.

The Blast Factor: Gears of War 3 is easily the best game in the franchise, and it makes its case for best Xbox 360 game period. It’s a deeply satisfying and at times touching game that takes the formula set forth by the previous iterations and tweaks it in just the right places to make an incredible gaming experience. Simply put – if you own an Xbox 360, your library is not complete until it includes Gears of War 3.

Gears of War 3 releases worldwide for the Xbox 360 on September 20, 2011. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for this review.

Get ready to punch, kick, sweat, and have a good time, because a new breed of videogame has arrived and it’s here to stay. You get the freedom of designing your own personal workout while giving you access to elite martial art trainers such as Mark DellaGrotte, Greg Jackson, and Javier Mendez all at your convenience? Of course, there are a few kinks and technical difficulties that come both on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 alike, that can slow down your workout. However, I promise that you will be out of breath and sweaty if you give it a chance; this is definitely not a game that you can sit down and relax while playing though.

The UFC Personal Trainer is fun, organized and extremely detailed, as it puts you into actual exercises that have been approved by the NASM (National Academy of Sports Medicine). If you’re ready to get fit and not afraid to move around, then this game is a must to have. Each workout is divided into several different sets with a warm-up and cool-down period, to ensure your muscles are loose and to prevent injury. Whether you’re looking to lose a few pounds or bulk up, they’ll have a workout for your goals and lifestyle, guaranteed! The only down side to this is the fact that some of the exercises and body reaction times come through as kind of sluggish or delayed. This causes your workout to move slower, so make sure you have some patience. Another awesome feature that this game has is the ability to save any designed, personal workouts so they can be easily accessed the next time you want to train like a pro.

There are also modes that appeal to the serious gamer type who want to feel accomplished and conquer objectives. The main activity for this style of play is Hit the Mitts. You will have to carefully follow arrows and successfully engage in kicks, punches, etc. Immediately, you start moving and sweating while also being given feedback and the ability to gain points in the process. People who are die hard and extremely motivated can put themselves through the 30 or 60 day programs that allows you to track yourself, which can be time consuming and feel more like a job than fun; remember, this is a videogame after all. I also found some of the commentary to be a little annoying because the dialogue script does not get changed up enough. Either turn down the volume with your remote or grit your teeth during the workout; your choice.

For those of you out there that have the Kinect, make sure to be in front of your sensor when doing your workout. Most movements are easily picked up, but some movements are a little tricky and may be difficult for Kinect to pick up if you are not right in front of the sensor. An added benefit to the game is you will have the luxury of the Kinect keeping tabs on the amount of reps that you do while also tracking the calories that you burn. I know most of you might not view this as a huge benefit, but it is much easier to keep track of your overall progress.

Blast Factor: UFC Personal Trainer is a very good game that promotes working out and gives you the motivation to better your body and endurance. It is very hands on friendly and gives you the tools to inspire a healthy lifestyle. Yes, there are some cheesy repetitive words of encouragement and technical issues that can hamper game play every now and again, but overall, a good buy for fitness gamers. This could be the beginning of the end for couch potato games, as it encourages a more healthy and active lifestyle. It might at least encourage you to stand up every once in a while; it’s your choice.

Codemasters has been pumping out rally racers for years, first under the Colin McRae name and more recently the Dirt series. The original Dirt was a superb rally racer. Dirt 2 superseded the original in every way and was easily one of the best racers of the year. Dirt 3, however, builds on those successes and provides one of the finest and most entertaining racing games of the year.

Rally racing focuses largely on off-road competition that varies between standard racing against other cars and traditional rallies, where each driver takes a turn trying to make the best time on a given track. Dirt 3 expands well beyond these two styles of racing and provides an insane variety of challenges across an impressive amount of tracks and locales. The game is one of the most complete racing games on the market—providing an engaging and intense racing experience both on and offline for all skill levels.

Dirt 3 is an incredibly customizable racing. While even hardcore racers like Shift 2 and Gran Turismo offer scaling difficulty levels to accommodate varying skill levels, even on the easier levels they still feel less than welcoming to casual drivers and newcomers. Dirt 3 provides as much assistance as you need, or as little, making the gameplay fun for anyone, without sacrificing the gritty feel of the racing.

The career mode is the main meat of the game, and serves up over 100 different events to conquer. Dirt 3 offers a great array of locations to blast through, providing extremes at every turn. Races take place everywhere from African deserts and snowy roads in Aspen to LA and all over Europe. Some tracks are lap-based circuits, while others are just long stretches of road. Brand new to the series is the gymkhana mode. This is a trick-focused event where players are tasked with stringing together slick driving moves to earn big points.

The gymkhana mode is strangely reminiscent of skate boarding games like Tony Hawk, and adds a great new dimension to the otherwise more straight-laced racing action. More importantly, conquering this mode ensures that you’ll have the driving skills to ace any other track. No matter what type of event you’re racing, the controls are always spot on and, as with Dirt 2, if you really get into trouble, you can rewind time and try again without having to start the whole race over.

Perform well enough and you’ll earn new sponsors, which unlocks new vehicles and greater challenge. Of course, even a great single-player game can only get you so far, and Dirt 3 has pumped up its multiplayer game immensely. Beyond multiplayer versions of the various single-player modes, the game throws out some crazy game styles usually seen in first-person shooters. The Outbreak mode, for instance, is a game of vehicular tag where one player is “infected” and must spread the disease to the other cars. Transporter is a capture the flag-style game and Invasion focuses on smashing through alien robot cutouts while trying not to cause collateral damage to the movie-set-like buildings.

Dirt 3 brings all its racing greatness together thanks to a gorgeous presentation. The visuals are stunning, and easily on par with the competition. Cars are detailed with full damage modeling. The tracks and backdrops are varied, sharp, and realistic as well. The soundtrack is powerful, with great sound effects and voice work.

There’s very little to complain about in Dirt 3. For racing fans, this is a no-brainer. This is a great sequel, which improves on the previous game in every direction. The career mode is massive and the multiplayer is terrific. When it comes to rally racing, this series has always been the leader of the pack, and Dirt 3 is the best yet.

Reviewers by nature are known for hyperbole. It seems like every game, movie and album is “fantastic” and the “best thing ever.” As a personal rule, I try not to use these words very often. I say this not as some weird form of bravado, but to make sure you know that I mean this next statement whole heartedly.

L.A. Noire is one of the most impressive gaming experiences I’ve ever encountered. Rockstar’s latest combines cutting edge technology with a new and novel gameplay system to create a truly memorable and thrilling experience. Does it have its fair share of problems? Sure, but throughout my time with the game, these problems weren’t enough to take away from what made L.A. Noire so memorable in the first place. Simply put – there’s absolutely nothing like L.A. Noire.

It’s 1947 in Los Angeles, and you’re Officer Cole Phelps, just back from World War II. It’s your job to police the city, be it via chasing down random street crime perps, or investigating gruesome murders. As a Rockstar game, you probably already expecting that this process involves stealing cars, speeding down the streets and gun fights. Sure, all of that stuff is in there (note: you never actually steal a car, you borrow it for “police business”), it’s a lot less than you’d think. L.A. Noire asks players to use the brain and think not as gamers, but as detectives in order to advance through the game.

Here’s how your standard case works in L.A. Noire, you get a briefing from your department superior (sections are broken up into traffic, homicide, arson and vice desks), travel to the scene and investigate. From there, you’re pretty much free to solve the case anyway you want. Do you search the crime scene for evidence? Question the witness? Finding different leads and clues is incredibly fun, (if not too easy, but a bit more on that later) It’s all up to you, and the result is incredibly rewarding and immersive. To put it into perspective, while playing Red Dead Redemption, I never lost sight of the fact that I’m a guy playing as a cowboy, in L.A. Noire, I actually felt like a detective.

Undoubtedly, the first thing anyone will notice when checking out L.A. Noire is the amazing facial animations sported throughout the game. Using a revolutionary technology called Motion Scan,  L.A. Noire features undoubtedly the most impressive and realistic faces ever to grace a video game, and goes a long way in making the world of L.A. Noire believable. It’s not all for looks though, as the new technology plays a major role in the way L.A. Noire plays out. A major part of solving the crimes in L.A. Noire is the interrogation process. Essentially, you’ll question everyone from witnesses, to suspects of persons of interest by listening to their story and judging if you think they’re telling the truth, if you doubt them or if they’re straight up lying. Every movement, from not being able to look you in the eye to how they’re sitting needs to be observed, and if you guess wrong, it could have a huge impact on just how the case plays out. Granted, you’ll still end up at the same point at the end of the case regardless, but its how you get there that’s important.

While solving cases will take up the majority of your time in L.A. Noire, there’s also unassigned street cases you’ll be able to solve, these pretty much all involve catching purse snatchers or bank robbers (or in one case, a guy in his underwear wearing a metal pan on his head). These unassigned cases are where the game most resembles a traditional Rockstar game, you’ll weave in and out of traffic to chase down a suspect. The major issue with these cases though is that they’ll continuously pop up, and once you’ve done a number of them, you’ll often find yourself repeating them. There’s also a number of hidden cars to collect (which interestingly enough, the game doesn’t have a garage feature, so you’ll just find the car, and can’t keep it anywhere for easy access) and newspapers and film reels to collect. Much like previous Rockstar games, L.A. Noire is a completionsist’s heaven.

Possibly the most impressive aspect of L.A. Noire, above all else is the attention to detail in recreating 40s era Hollywood. The development team combed archives, interviewed experts and did a ton of research to get even the smallest details perfect, and the result isn’t a game, but a time machine that acts as a love letter to an era by-gone. Don’t want to solve any crimes? Take a cruise down Sunset Boulevard and take in the sights. If you really want an interesting ride, switch the game over to black and white to give it that extra old time Hollywood charm.

The Blast Factor: With L.A. Noire, Rockstar cements its place not only as a definitive game maker, but as a story teller. L.A. Noire is a risky, daring and novel approach to a game that pays off in spades. By focusing the experience on the police work, the result is a truly immersive thrill ride of a game that everyone should play. The tech is incredibly cool, and the entire experience is one that cements Rockstar as one of this generation’s premier story tellers. Simply put – there’s absolutely nothing like L.A. Noire.

The central question concerning Portal 2 is whether or not it could rise to meet the high bar that comes attached with every Valve game in addition to being the sequel of one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time. In many ways it not only meets but exceeds those expectations by blowing the scale of the first Portal out of the water and by incorporating several ingenious new gameplay mechanics that facilitate some of the most inventive 3D puzzles the industry has ever seen. While Valve’s sequel is not as perfect as the original due to a less captivating story and narrative delivery, it is still incredible in its own right.

Portal 2 begins with the player character, Chell, being woken up at some indeterminable point in the future by Wheatley, an AI core charged with managing the thousands of test subjects in stasis. Wheatley transports Chell’s stasis container through a maze of structures, crashing into other containers along the way and providing a nice opportunity to show off the geometry deformation that will be a graphical highlight throughout the game.  The entire sequence is a subtle, twisted nod to the tram opening of Valve’s first title, Half-Life.

After breaking through a final wall, Wheatley deposits Chell at her final destination which not so coincidentally happens to be the starting room of the first Portal. Only now, the Aperture Science facility has fallen into a state of disarray with dilapidated walls that have been overrun with fauna indicating that many years have passed since Chell destroyed GLaDOS. The first handful of rooms that Chell navigates serve a dual function of introducing new players to the mechanics of Portal while simultaneously playing up the nostalgia of veteran players for the original game.

For those that haven’t played the first Portal, the most basic way that the player moves through the world is by using the Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device which is commonly referred to as the portal gun. The portal gun fires a blue portal with one button and an orangeportal with another. Entering through the blue portal will cause the player to exit through the orange portal and vice versa. Additionally, the speed at which objects enter one portal will be the speed at which they exit the other meaning that the player can “fling” themselves over long distances by jumping down a great height into a portal on the floor and then exiting through a portal on a wall. Manipulating portalplacement to solve puzzles was the fundamental gameplay of the original game and Portal 2 covers much of the same ground in the beginning.

Wheatley helps the player move through the facility’s test rooms and back halls while an emergency broadcast system offers hilarious commentary that replaces the auto-tuned taunting of GLaDOS (my favorite: “If the laws of physics have been abandoned in the future, God help me).

Speaking of the lovable villain from the first game, it should come as no surprise that she is reintroduced in all of her sarcastic, trash-talking glory early on. In the course of attempting to leave the Aperture Science facility, Chell and Wheatley inadvertently reactivate GLaDOS which leads to a sequence of testing as experienced in the original Portal. However, since GLaDOS has been deactivated for such a long time, no test chambers are prepared so the player is treated to an impressive display of visuals as GLaDOS constructs each one on the fly. These puzzles are very similar to those of the first game with a few additional mechanics thrown in to mix things up such as flight pads that propel Chell through the air, weighted cubes that can redirect lasers, and hard light bridges that can be used to span gaps or to protect the player from turret fire. While the new puzzles are enjoyable, there is an unavoidable feeling that sets in after the first few chapters of retreading familiar ground.

Just when it seems like Portal 2 will be nothing more than a slightly tweaked rehash of the original, Valve flips the script and kicks things into overdrive

Just when it seems like Portal 2 will be nothing more than a slightly tweaked rehash of the original, Valve flips the script and kicks things into overdrive. Without giving too much away, the situation changes quickly with a twist to the story –albeit one that is a bit too obvious– that sends the player off into previously unexplored areas of the Aperture Science facility. It is at this point that Portal 2 turns a corner and becomes a fantastic game in its own right with wild new mechanics, inventive puzzles, and an awe-inspiring scale to the level design.

Progressing through new parts of the Aperture Science facility introduces additional gameplay mechanics, most prominently in the form of three experimental gels the company developed. Each one has a unique property: blue repulsion gel makes objects bounce great distances in the opposite direction, red propulsion gel causes high-speed movement, and white portal-conduction gel allows placement of portals on any surface it covers. There are pumps that output the gels into test chambers and Chell must use her portal gun in combination with the gels to tackle a nice array of new challenges. Many puzzles require a combination of gels for mind-bending solutions and these are some of the finest tests that Valve has created across both games. Things get even more creative when the excursion funnels, tubes of light that push or pull objects, are factored in allowing players to distribute the gels throughout levels in new ways. Beyond being extremely clever in their implementation and forcing players to think in new directions, the gels are simply a lot of fun to use. Splattering the bright colors across surfaces speaks to the two year old in all of us and bouncing off floors and walls is so enjoyable it will draw a smile from even the most jaded gamers.

In addition to the ingenuity of the gameplay, the latter half of Portal 2 is so impressive because of the scale of the environments that the player must navigate, particularly their verticality. The new areas are massive, cavernous spaces that in many cases are several stories in height. To navigate through these locations requires the player to span great distances with portals or, when that is not an option, by flinging at incredible speed. These are all things that have been done before in the original but the increased scale amplifies the wow factor of these actions. Using a portal to maneuver through a small test chamber is neat; crossing a chasm the length of a football field by stepping through a window in the fabric of space is downright cool. The larger spaces more effectively convey the power of the tool the player has at her disposal.

That being said, there are some issues that arise with the larger areas that are not as prevalent in the smaller test chambers. In several instances, especially in very tall levels, the “correct” solution to arrive at the exit necessitates placing a portal in a specific location very high up that can be hard to spot. One particular chamber comes to mind in which I spent roughly 15 minutes trying various solutions because I hadn’t noticed a place for a portal that was hidden at the top of the room in a dark corner.

This last point brings up another issue with Portal 2 which is that the game feels much more linear with its solutions than its predecessor did. One of the fantastic things about Portal was that there were a myriad number of solutions to each test chamber. The tests in Portal 2don’t feel like they have as much leeway for thinking outside of the box especially when navigating the wide-open areas of the game. That is not to say that there aren’t multiple solutions to the puzzles but the feeling of the game overall is that the player is searching for the path the designers intended as opposed to the organic puzzle solving of the first game.

Visually, Portal 2 is a significant improvement over the simple graphics and sterile textures of the original game. The rendering of the enormous spaces and the animation of multitudes of moving parts as tests chambers are constructed and shifted about is, in a word, impressive. Moving through the back halls of the facility’s construction area is another highlight as the player is treated to various wonders such as the piece-by-piece assembly of a turret in a beautiful, automated ballet of technology. It is admirable how far Valve has been able to push the Source engine but, as good as Portal 2 looks compared to the original, it doesn’t quite measure up to its contemporaries in the first person genre. More specifically, the texturing in the game leaves a lot to be desired when considered alongside the visuals of games like Crysis 2 and Bulletstorm. While the fidelity may not be as high as those games, graphical problems were almost non-existent with the lone issue that comes to mind being some texture popping when splashing the same space with multiple colored gels.

In many ways, Portal 2 is a massive improvement over the first game but the story and narrative delivery fall disappointingly short of the original. Unlike Portal, which presented a premise and then gradually peeled away the layers of “reality” to reveal the true nature of the situation through subtle environmental cues, the sequel is a straightforward tale of escape. The twist that is thrown in near the halfway mark can be seen coming far in advance but the reasons for its occurrence don’t make much sense and it seems to exist only out of necessity to do something interesting with the plot. As the player moves through the new areas of the facility, she is presented with a lot of background information about Aperture Science, its founder Cave Johnson, the origins of GLaDOS, and the nature and evolution of the facility itself. This knowledge provides welcome revelations but filling in the back-story feels more like a corollary to the original game. It gives off the impression that Valve made the safe play of falling back on explanations to pre-existing questions rather than forging ahead with an engaging new story.

The chief complaint lobbied against the original Portal was that the game was too short (it could be finished in less than four hours) and gamers desperately clamored for more. Portal 2 avoids that pitfall by providing plenty of gameplay, roughly double that of the first, in an experience that feels just right in length. There’s almost always a feeling of ending too soon in a game that is this fun but when the conclusion came it felt like the right time, as if all the creative angles had been explored properly. While the game’s final challenge is uninspired and too easy, the ending that follows is superb. It is one of the most memorable in recent years and nicely wraps up a fantastic journey. Many great games have finished with a whimper because of a weak ending or bad cliffhanger –several of Valve’s previous efforts included—but, thankfully, that is not the case here.

Blast Factor: Portal 2 is, simply put, an amazing game. The new gameplay mechanics make for even more incredible puzzle solving; the sense of scale is astounding; and the twisted, dark sense of humor remains hilarious. It may not come quite as close to perfection as the original title because of weaker narrative delivery but it is still a must-play for anyone that enjoys videogames. Buy it without hesitation, play it, and then share it with friends who don’t play games so they can see what they’re missing out on.

Editor’s Note: Due to PSN outages, we were unable to properly review the cooperative play mode of Portal 2 which is a significant component of the game. As soon as the service is active, we will post our review of the co-op mode as well as comparisons between the console and PC versions of the game.

Portal 2 is available now for the PS3, Xbox 360, Mac and PC from Valve, a copy of the PS3 version of the  game was purchased for this review.

I’m a wrestling fan, but comparatively I despise sports entertainment. I long for the days of Gorilla Monsoon calling epic confrontations of warriors, immortals and immovable objects.  The days of Kayfabe. When the spectacle was the athleticism of off the top rope elbow drops, and not gimmicks. Back when the McMahon family wasn’t afraid of a panda.

It’s for those reasons that I thought I would love WWE Allstars, THQ’s over the top arcade style wrestling game that pits the top stars of yesterday against the new generation, but instead, after playing though the game, I felt unfulfilled and disappointed.  While the game can be fun when played with a number of people, it gets old incredibly quick and leaves a lot to be desired.

Unlike the WWE Smackdown VS Raw series which comes off as more of a simulation, All Stars presents the WWE stars as if they were action figures, and finds even the biggest competitors doing over the top, flashy maneuvers that send them flying into the air. The roster is full of legends like Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant and Randy “it’s about fucking time” Savage along with some of today’s biggest names like John Cena, the Miz and HHH. Oh, and they brought Kofi Kingston with them as well. The legends thing has been done before, like in the majority of the recent Smackdown VS Raw games and the Legends of Wrestlemania game that hit a few years ago.

Sounds great right? Strip away all of the WWE flash, all of the legends, all of the memories and you’re left with a rather thin package. Think about it, if the exact game was available, minus the license, how would you feel? All of the match types you’d expect are here, from single to tag team, extreme rules and steel cage match, but they all come off playing out remotely the same. The roster is broken down in to four categories, brawlers, big men, acrobats and grapplers, but there’s very little strategy since most of the roster plays exactly the same.  This goes a long way in ruining what is the biggest draw of the game, playing as your favorite stars of generations past. What’s the point in being excite to play as Jake the Snake Roberts if he plays exactly the same as say Bret Hart or Mr. Perfect?

To its credit, WWE All Stars is easy to pick up and play, at first. It employs basically the same control scheme as the excellent n64 WWE grappler No Mercy, with buttons for strikes and grapples, but then throws in a few odd additions. One button runs at the ropes, but you’ll have to switch over to another button to get out of the ring? There’s a different button to reverse grapples than there are strikes? Really? Finishers are another issue, as once your meter fills, you hit a button to activate an animation that sets you up for a your specific move. Here’s the problem with this though, your enemy can attack you while you’re doing the taunt that sets up your finisher, and if that happens, you lose the finisher. Oh, and AI opponents are constantly no-selling finishers.

Pow, right in the kisser.

The game’s best mode is easily the fantasy warfare, which pits a superstar from today against one from yesterday for a specific title. For instance, Andre the Giant VS The Big Show is for best big man, while pitting the straight edge superstar CM Punk VS the beer guzzling Stone Cold Steve Austin is to determine the better lifestyle choice. Each bout is presented via a click intro that chronicles both superstars careers featuring actual video footage. The matches are fun, and are no different than if you were to do them in exhibition, but they’re fun none the less. It would have been nice though to have the results of matches online so we can see who is really winning these fantasy warfare matches rather than just who is winning them on our consoles.

It’s a shame that the rest of the game doesn’t feature the fantasy warfare mode’s slick presentation values. In fact, the game feels like a missed opportunity in that aspect. Sure, the Path of Champions mode has animated and fully voiced scenes depending on which path you choose, but that’s just your opponent cutting a promo looking at the camera. Also, the choices of Path of Champions seem a bit off. You choose whether you want to try to fight Randy Orton at WrestleMania, The Undertaker at Summerslam or DX. Since when is The Undertaker associated with Summerslam? Wouldn’t it be cooler to try to snap the dead man’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania?

There are also no Path of Champions modes for the newer guys to take on the legends. Why not build up to facing Hogan at Wrestlemania? The game seems void of any real sense of WWE history, when I pit Hogan against Savage, I want to see a video package chronicling the Mega Powers and their rivalry throughout the years. The Legends of Wrestling game from a few years ago did a great job celebrating the history of the company and the sport, WWE All Stars merely using it as an accessory. Oh, and the commentary of JR and The King is just and random and annoying as ever.

The Blast Factor: WWE Allstars is at it’s best when playing with a group of friends, but even then it feels like a thin, wasted opportunity. As a full $60 game, it’s tough to recommend, perhaps if it were a  digital download title for half the price it would be the other way around. WWE All Stars seems like a forced attempt to win over the market from yesterday, but still cram the stars of today down our throats.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 controller pretty much sucks. No, it’s okay, you can admit it — they already have. Earlier this year, Microsoft released a new controller, complete with raised d-pad for better accuracy. Sounds great right? But what if another company did it better? Enter Evil Controllers.

What is it?

Evil controllers is a company that makes modified controllers and controller pieces. They’ve got a ton of products from different controller designs to controllers that are modded to perform better with a specific game. For this review, we’ll be focusing specifically on the Evil D-Pad, a modified d-pad replacement for the Xbox 360 that’s supposed to be more accurate and respond better to your button presses.  We’ll also be taking a look at the evil sticks for Xbox 360, which changes out the Xbox 360 thumbsticks for a pair with a better grip.

You can get both the Evil D-Pad and the Evil Sticks in two different ways, already mounted on a refurbished controller or as a kit that you can put on yourself. Don’t let the word refurbished scare you, the controllers the company buys and uses are described as “like new” fashion and as the company shows on the website, comes in great condition compared to other sellers.  Regardless of how order, the items come packed in a cool little box that holds everything together quite nicely.

How should you get yours? Trust me, you’re going to want to get it pre-assembled. Maybe it’s just me, but taking the entire controller apart and putting everything back in was nerve-wracking and incredibly difficult. The controllers that the company provides are in great condition (they even do their own soldering).

How does it work?

Surprisingly well actually. I was especially impressed with the thumb sticks and how much more comfortable they felt. Rather than the Xbox’s standard indented top, the Evil Sticks feature a rubber gripped top that make your thumbs stick incredibly well. I used my modified thumbsticks for a while and then the originals,  the difference was amazing and I soon found myself switching back to the modified version.

The same really goes for the  D-pad, which I’ve protested since the Xbox 360 first released. Essentially what the Evil D-pad does is separates the four directional buttons into separate buttons. The difference is amazing. Not only is the d-pad more responsive, it’s also much more comfortable. Take a game like Gears of War 2, where you switch weapons with the D-pad, no longer are you switching to the wrong weapons at the worst moments.

The Blast Factor: If you’re at all serious about your gaming, do yourself a favor, check out Evil Controller’s line of products at http://www.evilcontrollers.com. Their done with quality and pride  and could make quite the difference in your game.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Want to own an Evil Controller evil stick as well as some other cool goodies? Keep your eyes on Blast the next few days, we’re doing an auction for relief in Japan, and Evil Controllers has been kind enough to send us two awesome prize packs. There will also be items from Microsoft, Sony and some other awesome publishers.

If nothing else, 2011 will be marked as a great year for first person shooters. Killzone 2 and Bulletstorm have been burning virtual ammo with aplomb, but perhaps they were merely the opening act to the main attraction—Crysis 2. The original Crysis was a PC-only release known mostly for its hardware-crippling requirements. The focus of how much raw CPU and GPU power Crysis needed to run overshadowed just how great the game actually was.

Crysis never made it to console systems. So, it’s likely that most gamers who jump into Crysis 2 won’t have the experience of the first game to guide them. Thankfully, that’s not much of an issue. While the game certainly has historical ties to the original, you won’t feel like you’re missing anything substantial by not having experienced part one of what is apparently due to be a trilogy.

Going cross-platform has helped immensely to streamline the game mechanics. The original’s convoluted controls are gone, replaced with an elegant and intuitive method for using the super-human abilities of the protagonist’s nanosuit. Interface changes aside, the focus of Crysis remains on intense action in huge areas while utilizing different tactics to take on the enemy.

In the spirit of big budget action movies, Crysis 2 starts with a bang. Players take the role of Alcatraz, an otherwise-nameless grunt sent in with his squad to extract a scientist from New York City. Far from the bustling metropolis it used to be, New York is a burning husk. A rampant alien plague has wrecked havoc through the populace, killing thousands. An alien race called the ceph has invaded and entrenched themselves into the city’s underbelly. Finally, the heavily-armed internal security troops of the corporation behind the suit’s development are searching high and low for you.

This three-way fight dynamic plays a huge role through most the game. Although the environments aren’t as huge as those from Crytek’s previous games, Crysis 2’s rendition of NYC is stunning. The levels generally feel huge and offer an incredible variety of urban settings. You’ll fight on rooftops, ground levels, in buildings, and sewers. Almost every level offers a variety of ways to take on the combat.

The suit will inform you of specific tactical choices and their locations. Switching to the visor mode enables a HUD display that points out specific points you can use to approach a situation with stealth, sniping, flanking, and other tactics. Even without such promptings, the abilities of the suit enable players to utilize an incredible number of combat styles.

The main functions of the suit are armor and stealth modes. Armor mode lets you take heavy damage and high falls. Stealth mode turns on camouflage that makes you effectively invisible under most circumstances. The suit also lets you run and jump at a superhuman level, and see the world with thermal vision. All these abilities cost energy, so you have to use them strategically.

The suit recharges its energy fast, but frequently finding cover to duck behind and recharge is a necessity. This ability to use stealth or run and gun tactics at virtually anytime, in addition to the sheer mobility afforded by the suit, makes Crysis 2 feel different than any other shooter. As you progress, you’ll also earn points that can be used to modify the suit and your weapons.

The mod system is surprisingly simple to use, and allows the player to customize their abilities to accentuate stealth, power, speed, and other elements. There are a lot of guns to choose from as well, and while most are the usual fare, being able to modify them makes even a standard assault rifle seem much more original. Where the gameplay is terrific, however, certain other elements are merely stereotypical cliché.

The story is generally fine, but hardly original. Most of the side characters are two-dimensional, and the many suffering plague victims you encounter are completely non-interactive set pieces. The plot has some cool twists in it and the evolution of the suit is clever, but the writing never approaches the quality of the rest of the game. Also, the use of a hero who is just another nameless grunt taking orders from voices over the radio is really disappointing.

The single-player campaign is surprisingly long—easily 12 or more hours. When you’re done trampling through the streets of New York killing AI-controlled bad guys, there are endless more hours of killing to be done online. Adding the abilities of the nanosuit to a team game or standard deathmatch provides a fantastic alternative to standard multiplayer fare like Call of Duty or Halo.  Since there are even more suit modifications for multiplayer, the more you play, the more you can customize your gameplay experience.

Finally, it’s no surprise to say that Crysis 2 is simply gorgeous. The sharp, HD graphics are stunning and the stereoscopic-3D support is superb—adding an intense sense of depth to the visuals. The audio work is equally as impressive. The score is dramatic, the voice acting decent, and the surround mix is enthralling.

The Blast Factor: Crysis 2 is easily one of the best games of the year so far, and the best shooter on the market. The gameplay is truly distinctive, the action is intense and addicting, and the game provides a topnotch shooter experience in both single and multiplayer. Although there are certainly some disappointing holdovers of old school design, the game as a whole is absolutely worth having.

The Ghostbusters are well known for their English deprived slogan “I aint ‘fraid of no ghosts.” Apparently, someone forgot to tell the team’s new recruits from Atari and Behaviour Santiago’s  Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime because one more than one occasion I witnessed them running from the action and cowering in a corner.

No, really. And that’s just the beginning of the downloadable title’s problems.  From the terrible pacing to the insulting new team, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime is a literal fail reel; not even the most hardcore dedicated fans of the franchise will be able to enjoy this turd.

Sanctum of Slime follows a familiar plot, drive around New York City blasting paranormal baddies. It all sounds great right? Here’s the thing though, the game features absolutely none of the charm or intelligence found in the movies. Hell, it doesn’t even have the original Ghostbusters. Oh, they’re minor characters in the story (spoiler: they’re pretty much desk jockies), but this time around you’re going to be playing as a new batch of recruits. This really wouldn’t be a problem, except that these new recruits are just so easy to hate.  Come on, did the developers really think fans would welcome the idea of a Ghostbuster in a trucker hat? The new class is also incredibly boring and uninteresting. The fact that Atari and Behaviour took the Ghostbusters lore in favor of their red-bull generation (you won’t get much time with Ecto-1 here, the new recruits use a tricked out hummer) story is more than just a bit insulting.

The gameplay of Sanctum of Slime can best be described as Smash TV with a Ghostbusters overlay. More specifically, it’s a twin stick shooter; you’ll use the left stick to move and the right stick to shoot. It’s a simple control scheme, but here it comes off so sluggish that you’ll often feel like there’s a delay between your button presses and the corresponding action.  Compare that with something  like the Xbox Live Indie Game I MAED A GAM3 W1TH ZOMBIES 1N IT, which uses the same control style, but only 100% times smoother and better altogether – and it only cost $1.

This is not cool.

You’ll play through a number of missions set throughout different New York locales and blast different ghosts with weapons that correspond to their color. Sounds fun right? Hardly. Each level plays out essentially like this; go into a room, door locks behind you, blast all the ghosts. Move on and repeat. Sanctum of Slime’s level progression is entirely backwards though, as just when you think you’ve completed a section, you’ll find yourself backtracking through an area you’ve already completed. It’s really lazy development and shows how lacking the game really is.

Oh, it’s not like the game isn’t challenging, in fact somewhere around the 10 chapter in the story, the game ratchets up the difficulty to ungodly proportions. The game keeps throwing wave of enemy after wave of enemy at you and you’re unlikely to have the patience to deal with it. It’ not like the AI helps matters any bit either. They seem to panic when things get hectic, and fire the wrong weapons at the wrong enemies. Even worse? The fact that they get frightened and hide in corners when they seem to get scared. It’s quite possibly the worst AI I’ve ever seen.

The Blast Factor: As much as it pains me to say this, Ghostbusters seems like one of those franchises that seems destined to never have a good video game, but Sanctum of Slime takes things a step further – it’s an absolutely terrible game altogether. The AI sucks, the gameplay sucks, the pacing sucks. To put it quite simply, Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime..well…sucks.

This time it’s personal. This time they took out Hooters.

Welcome to Homefront, the latest shooter from Kaos Studios, the development team behind 2008’s Front Lines: Fuel of War. Oh, but don’t be confused, this isn’t your average military shooter, Homefront brings the conflict to the shores of America, and it does so fantastically thanks to sturdy mechanics, a phenomenally character driven story and an impressive online multiplayer suite.

It’s the year 2027, and out of nowhere your apartment door is kicked in and you’re dragged out and onto what used to be a school bus on the way to a detention center. In a surprising move, the Greater Korean Republic has invaded the United States; taking Hawaii first, and then moving on to San Francisco. As you progress through the city streets, watching the Koreans carry out horrible attacks and shocked and helpless American citizens, you’re suddenly broken out and the real fight begins.

Homefront succeeds wildly because it touches on a true American fear.  We live in a society where the idea of another growing nation attacking is never out of reach, and Kaos studios has done a remarkable job creating this ominous world. The incorporation of actual businesses and staples of the United States like previously mentioned Hooters, White Castle and of course the Golden Gate Bridge make things feel all too real, helping Homefront reach a level of emotional attachment that few shooters achieve. You’re not chasing some terrorist in a river in some foreign country, you’re trying to survive in actual US cities, and perhaps more than ever, you feel like you’ve got a reason to fight.

Yes, you’re going to want to take down the Korean Army for every atrocity they take out on innocent civilians, and you’ll do so set against a number of wondrous set pieces and incredibly detailed backdrops. One of the game’s slickest moments lies in the game is when you’re doing battle on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. It’s awe inspiring, but admittedly a bit unnerving to dodge rockets on the landmark as the city looms in flames on the horizon.  Homefront’s impressive production values are made that much better by its haunting audio, be it the last remaining radio waves broadcasting messages of hope or the screams of American citizens as they flee in terror.

Of course, none of this would matter if Homefront wasn’t such a fun first person shooter.  Generally, your controls are tight and reactive throughout the game, featuring a number of different guns and weapons to fit whatever suits your taste. These weapons all range in feeling impressively, from different weight and kickback to just how it sounds. As you don’t play a CIA or a hulking soldier as in many current first person shooters, you always get the feeling that your character isn’t used to firing the weapons – and it’s a rather interesting feeling. Because most of the game’s weapons feature a relatively small ammo capacity, you’ll often feel panicked throughout much of Homefront’s campaign, and you’ll be left scrambling to do close quarters melee kills and grab enemy soldier’s ammo. Said enemy AI is also impressive as they duck in and out of cover reminiscent to..dare I say it…Half Life 2?

Homefront isn’t without its fair share of issues though, mainly that the game doesn’t really have much of a cover system at all, and being in firefights can become quite tiresome when you’re dyeing over and over again. Also, the game features a few too many escort or follow missions that seem to point out the game’s flaws a bit too easily. Your counterparts always seem to hog what little cover the game offers, forcing you to run frantically, all while taking on a ton of bullets, to find the next best hiding spot.

Aside from the campaign, Homefront offers a remarkably stellar online suite that’s sure to please even the most diehard FPS fans.  While the obvious goal is complete domination, Homefront rewards players with Battle Points, the game’s reward system for doing everything from recon work, to successfully navigating the game’s vehicles (which you gain access to via battle points). The battles are large, fun and fast, with a ton of different options. I don’t expect Homefront to overthrow Black Ops on the Xbox Live charts, but it’s got to be a great contender.

The Blast Factor: Homefront is a stellar opening to what will hopefully become a long standing first person shooter franchise. The story is gripping, and you have a reason to fight unlike any other, and combined with an impressive online suite, and you’ll see why Homefront is such an impressive debut. It may not be perfect, but we can’t wait to see where the franchise goes next.

Stacking is the latest game from the minds of industry veteran Tim Schafer and Double Fine Productions. It is the second downloadable title released by Double Fine inside of six months following their new business model of developing smaller, creative games. Stackinglegitimizes the viability of this strategy as a unique and fresh puzzle adventure game that provides plenty of enjoyment for a reduced price.

The world of Stacking is one where all of the characters are wooden Russian nesting dolls called matryoshkas. The story follows Charlie Blackmore, whose family of chimney sweeps is kidnapped and forced into labor by the evil Baron. The runt of the family, Charlie is left behind by the Baron’s henchmen along with his mother because he is deemed incapable of labor. Charlie sets off at once on an adventure to free his siblings and father in a straightforward tale of the underdog against an evil tyrant. There is little in the way of character development however the underlying issue of child labor lends the narrative some gravity despite the humorous tone.

Gameplay in Stacking is a nice blend of puzzle and adventure elements where the player must guide Charlie through each location besting various challenges to rescue the members of his family. As a matryoshka doll, Charlie is capable of stacking into larger dolls that populate the world. The stacking can be repeated multiple times into increasingly bigger dolls with the sole restriction that Charlie can only stack into a doll that is the next largest size.

Each puzzle in the game is solved by stacking into other dolls and using their special abilities which is an ingenious mechanic that puts a welcome twist on traditional adventure gaming. Stacking is at its best in puzzles that require using a combination of doll abilities but, unfortunately, these don’t occur until late in the game and are the exception, not the norm.

The highlight of Stacking is the well-designed challenges that are entertaining to solve and feature multiple ways to go about them. Unlike other puzzle adventure games that force a player to discern the exact solution the developers intended, Stacking provides several different possibilities for tackling each problem; this helps avoid the frustration of getting stuck. Players can advance after discovering a single solution which keeps the game moving. Most of the solutions are not difficult to discover but do require some clever thinking. There seems to be at least one blatantly obvious way to handle each puzzle although hints are available if needed.

In addition to solving challenges, there are numerous Hi-Jinks to complete and a collection of unique dolls and sets to find in Stacking’s four locations. Hi-Jinks are smaller side tasks that can be completed independent from the story progression such as using a purse-swinging doll to whack five mimes.

Stacking does not take much time to finish –it can be breezed through in about two hours by finding just a single solution to each challenge. As such, it feels a bit short even for a $15 downloadable game. However, much of the fun of Stacking is in discovering the various ways to hilariously solve each puzzle so working out all of the techniques is encouraged. Finding all of the solutions and going for total completion pushes the length to around five or six hours which is more reasonable for the price point.

Handling a group of nested dolls with different abilities may sound like a difficult task to manage but the elegant control scheme makes it simple to execute all actions. One button stacks a doll, another unstacks, a third uses a doll’s special ability, and the final face button talks to other dolls. There is also an objective locator that is taken straight out of Dead Space making it easy to navigate from puzzle to puzzle.

Interacting with the other characters in Stacking is not only useful for finding clues but also provides a lot of the game’s entertainment. Each character will offer several responses that change depending on what doll is currently being used. The dialogue can sometimes be lowbrow –as can the game, what with farting and vomiting dolls—but generally displays the witty writing that is to be expected of a Tim Schafer creation. In addition to the humorous dialogue and cutscenes, some of the dolls’ actions are quite funny such as the geriatric man who falls asleep as he begins to tell a story.

Stacking won’t win any awards for its graphics but uses blurring and edge filters to good effect to create a stylized presentation. Many of the areas are wide open and colorful but often feel a bit too sparse. The artwork for each doll shows a better attention to detail and does well to bring the characters to life which is no small accomplishment considering they are essentially painted wooden cylinders.

An impressive musical score does a wonderful job at highlighting the action throughout the game. This is particularly important as all of the dialogue is text. The symphonic pieces, heavy on the piano and strings, work well to convey the mood in the cutscenes that have a 1920’s silent film style.

The Blast Factor: Perhaps the greatest strength of Stacking is its near-universal appeal. From children, who will enjoy the colorful worlds and silly antics, to grizzled adventure veterans, who should appreciate the fresh take on puzzle solving, there is something for everyone to like. The story, graphics, and length have room for improvement but this is such a fun game that those criticisms seem like quibbling in the end. Stacking may not be the greatest downloadable game ever created but its combination of inventive gameplay and great sense of humor make it one that everyone should play; at only $15 it is hard to find a worthwhile reason not to.

By now you’ve probably heard a lot about what Bulletstorm is supposed to be. You know, the swearing, the violence, how Fox News says it’s going to cause a rise in rape; all that stuff. Scrap ‘em. Throw out all of your preconceived ideas of just what you expect from Epic and People Can Fly’s shooter. Yes, it’s crass and ultra violent, but beneath all that lays a surprisingly solid shooter, with thrilling set pieces, awesome characterization and most importantly, one of the most fun shooter experiences in years.

It’s the 26^th Century, and you’re renegade space pirate Grayson Hunt (referred to as Gray for much of the game) , who along his with partner and soon to be cyborg warrior Ishi has been discharged from the Dead Echo; a Black Ops style group that protects The Confederation of Planets following a double cross. Flash forward ten years, and an intoxicated Gray sees an opportunity to exact revenge on his former employer. Surprise – it doesn’t go so well, and before long Gray and Ishi crash land on a Stygia, a former resort planet that’s now crawling with savages. From here you can guess what to do.

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the strong characterization of Gray, and the world around him that make Bulletstorm so extraordinary. Hunt is basically Han Solo, if he’d taken up drinking and grown out his hair.  Famed comic book writer and artist Rick Remender (Uncanny X-Force, Punisher) has crafted a remarkably well done story that feels awfully similar to a buddy comedy (think 48 Hours, but with guns and savages). Each character is believable and fun to watch, thanks to well written and entertaining dialogue, which yes, is awfully colorful, but serves its purpose. Hey, you try keeping your words PG-13 while being chased by a ton of bloodthirsty savages.

Where Bulletstorm differs from more traditional shooters of course is with its skillshot system. Essentially, using different weapons, targeting specific boy parts and using different elements from the environment unlock cool and ultra violent stylish kills that earn you points to unlock new weapons and ammo type. Some of my favorites? The homie missile, which requires you to attach a grenade gag to an enemy, then kick him into other enemies causing a mass explosion and the Fire in the Hole, which finds you killing an enemy by shooting him directly in the rectum. Hey, it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s damn entertaining, and damn rewarding to string together moves with your different weapons, your leash and a series of “This is Sparta” style boots kicks. Though it does seem to get a bit old later in the game, it’s still a very unique and well implemented mechanic.

In the movie business, there’s a rule, show don’t tell, in gaming, it should be do, don’t show. In some modern games, developers have a tendency to show gamers the really cool moments of a game in the form of a movie sequence, but that’s not a problem with Bulletstorm; the game is filled with tons of awesome thrilling, and playable set pieces and “holy shit” moments that are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. I may catch some flack for this, but the only game that I’d say compares to what Bulletstorm has done here would be the phenomenal Uncharted 2. Take for instance early in the game, you’re trying to outrun a bunch of the savages when you suddenly find yourself on the wrong end of a giant concrete wheel. The first time you see this thing start barreling towards you, much like the game’s later set pieces is a truly thrilling experience.

Once you finish the game’s main campaign, there’s an online co-op mode that allows other players to assist in creating skillshots, but it’s the echo mode that steals the multiplayer show. The mode, which is best played once you’ve finished, or at least gone through a good portion of the main campaign allows you to go through specific sections of the game strictly to see how many points you’re able to get via skillshots. What’s really cool is that once a friend passes your score, you’ll get a notification, and be able to jump right in and try to beat them.

In the visuals department, Bulletstorm is no slouch either, the game is filled with sweeping vistas and great views – you just don’t get to enjoy them as much on a count of the savages and all. What’s most impressive though is the astounding voice work throughout the game. Most notably, Gray, voiced by Steve Blum (most famous for his work as Wolverine in a ton of Marvel shows and games) and the voice acting for Serrano, which comes off as a character from an over-the-top Tarantino character.

The Blast Factor: It would be easy to discount Bulletstorm as just another crass shooter looking to make its mark, but doing so; you’d miss one of the year’s best shooters. Some of the mechanics may get a bit old later in the game, but you’ll hardly notice thanks to the thrilling set pieces, well written dialogue and simple, fun experience. Bulletstorm’s ending may be just a cheap way to hint at a sequel, but the promise is an exciting one.

Some things just seem to be made for each other; peanut butter and jelly, popcorn and movies, Marvel and Capcom. Yes, for the last 13 years (15 if you count the very first coin-up  Japanese release of X-men VS Street Fighter) the unlikely series pitting characters from Marvel’s comic book universe and Capcom’s lineup of games has kept fighting fans up at night and arcade stinks clanging. Now, the highly anticipated third game in the series is finally hitting retail, was it worth the wait?

Hell yes. It may be missing a few fighters compared to the last game, and the online is surprisingly lacking, but Marvel VS Capcom 3 is the ambitious and fun fighting experience that gamers have been waiting for. If you have even a passing interest in the worlds of Marvel, Capcom or fighting games in general, you can’t pass up Marvel VS Capcom 3.

Marvel baddie Dr. Doom has assembled his world’s most dangerous villains and formed an alliance with Resident Evil’s Albert Wesker in an effort to control both universes.  Sounds like a great plan right? Except for the fact that doing so has awakened an ancient evil that could potentially destroy each world. Of course, it’s up to both the Capcom and Marvel heroes to stop it from happening. Okay, so it’s not the most original story but it’s unlikely you’re going to pay much attention to it anyways. Of course, the core of the game is the fighting mechanic, and it’s sure to not disappoint.

The first thing you’re going to notice when popping in Marvel VS Capcom 3 is the eye-popping sensational visuals . Borrowing much from Capcom’s Street Fighter IV, the game features a dynamic cell shaded visual style that balances well with the 3D fighting on a 2D plane, and just wait until you see the vibrant and dynamic super moves. Much of the same love has been given to the game’s sound, all of the one liners and music from the past of both universes is well represented.

Let’s not waste any time and get to the elephant in the room right away, Marvel VS Capcom 3 only features a total of 36 characters, a far departure from 56 in the second game. It may seem like a big deal, but each of the characters in Marvel VS Capcom 3 is genuinely fun to play and unique. It’s also the most diverse of the rosters yet, with Capcom including less Street Fighters and more oddball characters like M.O.D.O.K., Deadpool (the cool comic book version, not the lame Ryan Reynolds movie one) and even Arthur from Ghosts and Goblins who fights in his trademark heart skivvies.  Of course, your favorites are still here, like Wolverine, Ryu, Captain America and the Hulk. With the promise of upcoming DLC, the strength of the roster will only get stronger.

As much as the Marvel VS Capcom series has been popular, it’s also been one of the most difficult series in recent memory.  That core experience is still here for veteran players, but Marvel VS Capcom 3 is unquestionably the most accessible of the series thanks to an intuitive training experience. You’ll start at the most basic step, having each of the attacks mapped to one button and working up to taking off the training wheels with the game’s more robust and difficult features. The game is enjoyable with a controller, but it’s downright heavenly with an arcade stick.

Much of the framework for Marvel VS Capcom 3 was borrowed from Street Fighter IV, or more specifically, Super Street Fighter IV, it’s just a wonder why they didn’t bring over the robust online engine from the game as well. As it stands, the game features only ranked and player matches, plus custom lobbies to recreate the arcade experience.

The Blast Factor: To put it plain and simple, Marvel VS Capcom 3 was more than worth the wait that the franchises dedicated fan base has suffered through since its announcement. Retaining much of the formula from the original and adding a slew of new characters and visuals – it’s the next logical step in the evolution of the franchise. Even more, Marvel VS Capcom 3 is simply the best we’ve seen of the series yet.

At the end of every year, we in the video game journalism world have a habit of making lists. We write about the bestgames, the best console, and yes – we also write about the worst games of the year. Mark my words, in December of this year we’ll be talking about Mindjack, the new futuristic third person shooter for worst game of the year.

It didn’t start that way though; in fact Mindjack started as an impressive idea. Built on the framework of modern day third person shooters, Mindjackallows players to leave the bodies of their character, and take control of an enemy. It’s not the most unique idea (last generation we saw it in Battlefield 2), but we don’t see it much in this genre so it still feels a bit fresh.

In the year 2031, government as we know it has all but dissolved, and in its place stands resource controlling corporations. Throughout most of the game you take control of Special Agent Jim (no, seriously. The dude’s name is just Jim) as he and his partner Rebecca as you try to infiltrate the compound of the NERKAS corporation for some reason. The whole thing plays out like a really bad Sy-Fy channel weekend movie. Plot points are introduced, but never wrapped up, characters come in, but are never seen again, and worst of all, the game never takes the time to fully explain just what’s going on. It’s like we’re just supposed to accept that the technology to jump into someone else’s mind is now possible.

Much like Vanquish before it, the gameplay of Mindjack could best be described as an eastern take on the Gears of War formula. Hell, if you’re playing on the Xbox 360, the controllers are mapped to the exact same buttons; you shoot with the right trigger, aim with the left and roadie run by holding down A. The only difference, while in Epic’s flagship shooter they worked – here, they’re unquestionably broken. The biggest problem is that even the most civilian actions like moving to cover, reloading and shooting, come off as cumbersome and incredibly slow. Even the “Mindjacking” itself comes off as slow. Combine that with the fact that your enemies seem to be on a permanent caffeine binge and jump around incredibly fast and you begin to get an idea of just how frustrating of an experienceMindjack can be.

One of, if not the most memorable aspects of Gears of War and its sequel is just how memorable and satisfying the action is, yet another feature this game is missing. Take for instance the seemingly simple act of snapping to cover and firing at an enemy. Somehow, even if you line up the reticule exactly on your target, more often than not you’re going to end up shooting slightly off where you wanted. It’s incredibly frustrating and defies the basic principles of shooters. What’s more, there’s pretty much no logic to any of Mindjack‘s action (seriously, if you just ignore a boss for long enough, it seemingly defeats itself).

There’s a decently enjoyable multiplayer suite that essentially turns the entire single player campaign into one large death match, but it too suffers from the same problems as the main game. To be honest, with games like Bulletstorm, Dead Space 2 and Killzone 3 on the horizon, there’s pretty much no reason to play Mindjack. Flawed in nearly every way, Mindjack is the definition of a frustrating gaming experience.

Isaac Clarke is back for another wacky adventure! If by “wacky” you mean dark, disturbing, grotesque, and ultra-violent. The original Dead Space was one of the best games of 2009 and certainly one of the best horror-themed games in years. The game’s take on science fiction terror took the typical survival-horror stereotype and revitalized it with a hefty dose of pure action, along with the ever-entertaining dismemberment-focused gunplay.

Isaac Clarke may have destroyed the bizarre alien-created marker that the Scientology-like cult, the unitologists, worship in the first game, but you can’t keep a good monster infestation down. Dead Space 2 doesn’t waste a second throwing Isaac into a new nightmare. He wakes up in a straightjacket, having horrible visions and questioning his own sanity, when the horrors he faced on the USG Ishimura are suddenly back.

Now aboard a giant space station city known as the Sprawl, Isaac finds deja vu all over again, but on a much larger scale. Where the Ishimura felt like a more intimate and claustrophobic environment for horror, the Sprawl lets the vile necromorphs wreck havoc through schools, churches, shopping districts, apartments,  and everywhere else that the creepy crawlers can reach. As a result, there’s some truly twisted stuff here.

Familiar monsters return, but with a broader environment come creatures that use the open space more effectively. Infected children have become pack-hunting creatures that use surprisingly effective tactics to trap Isaac. There are exploding babies, vomit-spewing pukers, spitters, and some truly foul and massive boss creatures. Thankfully for Isaac, pretty much all of them can be shot apart with a wide-array of fire power.

While the guns from the first game return, new toys include a spear shooting javelin gun and a mine layer. The javelin gun in particular seems a bit redundant since Isaac can telekinetically pick up any sharp object (of which there are a shocking amount, including the limbs of necromorphs) and shoot them at high velocity. Mines are a particularly good tactical choice, since the hunter creatures are exceedingly good at tracking you, so laying traps for them can help thin out their often overwhelming numbers.

Numbers is a big part of Dead Space 2. Everything feels bigger, even if it’s often merely the illusion of scope. Though a fair portion of the end game moves into the close quarters and corridors, most of the levels open up into huge rooms with massive windows. There are a lot of apartments to stalk through and unlike the first game, there’s no doubt that the Sprawl is someplace where civilians were living right up until the point where they died truly horrible deaths.

Gored bodies are everywhere and the game is full of indiscriminate carnage. The necromorphs spared no one, and the addition of the unitologist families who were so brained washed that they actually prepared for their last moments happily makes the gruesomeness even more effectively disturbing. So, there’s no doubt that Dead Space 2 works as a horror game.

Even though the pacing is frequently action-oriented, the nature of the enemies and how they attack makes the game the most effective monster game you’ll likely see all year. On the standard difficulty level, the levels can be brutal, but not unmanageable, and the superbly refined gameplay and atmosphere make Dead Space 2 insanely addicting.

Targeting is vitally important here, since dismemberment is key to quickly killing things, and controls are tight, intuitive, and effective. The camera is amazingly adept at keeping up with the action, while still keeping the view slightly claustrophobic. It seldom gets in the way, and you won’t have to adjust it in an unnatural way like so many third-person games.

That said, Dead Space 2 still sticks close to the formula of the first game and most similar games in general. Isaac is hardly his own man here. Missions are relayed from strangers via video or audio comms, and he is ultimately just an errand boy through the game. While this narrative-heavy method works in keeping the plot and action moving forward, it just feels amazingly cliched at times. Thankfully, Isaac actually speaks this time around, so he feels like an actual person this time around.

The one aspect of the game that is completely new is the multiplayer. Like a more horrific take on Alien vs. Predator, these team-based games pit teams of necromorphs versus humans. The result is an amazingly distinct online game. Short of AvP, there’s no other multiplayer game that will let you play as a standard marine-type human or a scary, wall climbing monster. Humans inevitably will be trying to use switches to complete goals, while the necromorphs are simply trying to stop them.

Since the necromorphs can respawn anywhere on the level they want and see human skeletons through walls, devious players can effectively act like a monster and sneak up on unsuspecting prey. While the overall survival horror nature of the multiplayer might not distract players from Black Ops in droves, it’s the most creative take on deathmatches since Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood.

There’s no doubt that you could nitpick Dead Space 2. The gameplay is hardly changed at all, and too much of the time, you’ll feel like little more than a badass errand boy. That said, the pacing, atmosphere, controls… well, nearly every other aspect of the game is refined, tense, and enthralling. Dead Space 2 is so addictive that it will suck your hours away well into the night. Just make sure you’re not too squeamish.

Southpeak Games’ new off road racer Nail’d is a definite  product of the times. Take one part ATV VS MX, add in aheaping helping of tongue-in-cheek humor and a ton of Red Bull for good measure. Recreating an incredible sense of speed superbly, Nail’d is a to the point, full throttle, little innovation arcade racer, but it’s also damn fun. It may not be the deepest, most complex racer on the market, but you can’t help but smile as you freefall off cliffs or dodge trains. Nail’d is the perfect game to kick back and share a Saturday afternoon with your buddies with.

Nail’d is an arcade racer – plain and simple, and the developers over at Techland (most well known for the Call of Juarez series) aren’t afraid to show it. While other games have you swapping out parts and modifications, Nail’d has one goal – to create an amazingly fun racer with a blistering sense of speed. You’ll be going off ramps, dodging obstacles from speeding trains to rock walls and even hot air balloons. The trick, and what makes Nail’d so damn different than the other games like it is that the developers have included the option to steer your ATV in mid-air. While it may sound like a small addition to an already established formula, it adds a ton of cool moments to the game that are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat. Imagine launching yourself off of a giant ramp, as you hit the peak you notice that you’re headed right into the side of an unforgiving rock wall and you frantically attempt to steer your way to the ledge on your left.  What you do in these next few seconds could be the difference between placing first or last. This in essence is the Nail’d experience.

Complementing the frantic action quite nicely is the game’s fantastic track design. Most races start off with your typical straight away, but rest assured, it’s only to build up speed. Before you know it, you’ll be banking off intricate twists and turns and launching into gorgeous set pieces. Though you’re

Going to be whizzing past them incredibly fast, you’ll be missing a major part of the game if you don’t take a brief second (even if it’s just the pre-race movies) to admire the incredible level of detail in the environments. The same detail isn’t carried over to the entire game, as some of the player models and animations can come off a bit lacking, but you won’t see them much because the game is moving so fast.

Nail’d  is a game of decisions both big and small. Many of the tracks feature multiple pathways you can take. Do you pull up to try to get more air and tae the higher path or should you dive down to avoid getting smacked and cut to pieces by a wind turbine (no, really)? Either way proves to lead to an exciting outcome, but you can’t always judge the situation easily thanks to an unreliable camera.  All too often you’re looking like you’re going to make a jump, only to meet a fiery crash at the edge. Another issue with the camera is the game’s  camera is that it randomly seems to darken the screen. This happens more often than not in tunneled in areas, and leads to you crashing on unseen obstacles, meaning you’re bound to do it again because you can’t see exactly what caused it.

As mentioned above, Techland does a great job making Nail’d a fast and fun racer, but it doesn’t do much for the overall depth of the game. You have career mode, which of course tasks you with coming in first or restarting races, along with  time attacks and stunt modes. The odd thing about the game’s stunt modes is that there’s not really a stunt trick system in place, and in truth – you can’t really do much other than pop wheelies and land on other racers.  The day one DLC included with each new copy of the game puts a bomb and racers ATVs and tasks you with having to boost at the right time to defuse it is good fun and a decidedly different way to play Nail’d.

The Blast Factor: Nail’d would be right at home in the arcade scene of yesterday, what it lacks in innovation and depth it makes up for in blissful speed and unabashed fun. Best played with others (you’ve got to trash talk you know), Techland’s dirty racer is an unexpected favorite of the year. Go out and get Nail’d, you won’t regret it.

Picking out a racing game is sort of like ordering a pizza. Do you want a high-speed realistic title heavy on the realism? How about a fun and lightweight kart racer, light on the realism? Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit is sort of like the cheese pizza of racing games; it’s extremely enjoyable, but depending on your taste – you could be left craving more.

In all honesty, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is one hell of a racing title. It’s built on break neck speeds, high risk, and dangerous collisions. Regardless of which side you play on, you’re sure to enjoy your time with Criterion’s interpretation of the long running racing franchise. Be warned though, those who are looking for a deeper experience, complete with customization and story may want to look elsewhere. Though it may not be perfect, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is still one hell of a ride.

Though it bears the name of the long running franchise, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit isn’t like any other in the series. Rather, it feels much more like Criterion’s other well known franchise, Burnout. If you’ve played Burnout before, you’re sure to feel at home with Hot Pursuit, the cars control the same and there are even some of the same effects in use, but there’s more at steak here. You play as either an illegal street racer or one pissed off cop trying to bring said racers in. Regardless of which side you play as, the game is incredible fun. In true Criterion fashion, you’ll gain rewards for driving dangerously and performing specific maneuvers.

As you progress through Hot Pursuit, you’ll unlock new equipment to use against your opponents. Mapped to the d-pad, this equipment – which includes spike strips for the law and more powerful NOS tanks for the racers – are available only in limited supply, which goes a long way in making the game even throughout. Think about it, how many times have you been playing a racing game with weapons online, only to be cheesed out by an opponent who uses them persistently? What’s even cooler is that as you play through the game you’ll require bigger and more impressive upgrades to your ride, like longer spike strips and bigger barricades. This, combined with a truly remarkable and unpredictable AI system makes for game that’s different each time you play.

Let’s be honest though; you’re dodging in and out of traffic but deep inside, you’re yearning to see some kick ass crashes, and Hot Pursuit delivers in spades. When you wreck, the game slows things down (yes, like in Burnout) so you can see every detail. In truth, the entire game is full of incredible detail. Environments are strikingly realistic change depending on the action on the screen. Criterion are known for fantastic looking racing games, but they’ve outdone themselves here. There are a few quirks though, like a bit of slowdown when the online action gets too hectic and a quirky series of camera cuts that throw off your driving (which can be incredibly unnerving when you’re desperately trying to shave a few seconds off your time).

You’re unlikely to run out of things to do in Hot Pursuit thanks to a rather impressive feature set. Though it doesn’t support local multiplayer, the online modes are incredibly fun. The online races support up to eight players and don’t feature weapons, so pure racers will enjoy it, but most will spend the majority of their time in the Hot Pursuit events which breaks the eight players into four cops and four racers. the cops job is to stop the racers from crossing the finish line. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s one of the best online games you’ll play this year.

As impressive as the features in Hot Pursuit are, they won’t please everyone. There’s no story here, and while that may please some, I did find myself questioning why I was going on at certain points. Yes, it’s cool to upgrade your car, but there’s really no real motivation to go on during the game’s second act.

The Blast Factor: Quirks aside, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit is simply the best racing game this year. The gameplay is fast and fun and the crashes are incredibly wicked. Most importantly, the game features plenty of content and awesome features that are sure to keep players coming back for more. This isn’t just a reimagining of the Need for Speed franchise, this is a new series entirely.

It’s here. After months of advertisements in men’s restrooms, on cereal boxes and even plastered all over Justin Bieber’s world tour — Microsoft’s multi-million dollar motion sensing camera, Kinect has hit shelves. Do you need it in your home theatre system?

Maybe. Much like Sony’s Move, Microsoft’s Kinect is a mixed bag. The tech is undeniably awesome, and you’re not going to believe some of the things it can do, but it is at the mercy of a lackluster launch lineup that doesn’t truly show exactly what its capable of. The main draw of Kinect is not what it does now, but what developers may be able to do with it in the future.

The Hardware

There’s really no way around this, Kinect is a beat of a machine. Coming in at just under a foot long and 7 inches tall, you’re likely to be taken back by the actual size of the unit. How easy Kinect is to install depends on just what model Xbox 360 you have. Got one of the fancy new slim models? It basically plugs right in with little hassle. If you’re an old timer like me with the original model however, things aren’t as easy. If you’re using a wireless network adapter on your console, you’re going to have to move it to the front of your console in order to make room for Kinect, which plugs into the back USB port of the console. It’s nothing major, but it does take up a front port of your console, and can mean trouble if you’re still using wired controllers.

Setting up Kinect once you’ve got it plugged in in incredibly easy. Power on the Xbox and follow the onscreen instructions. Just be ready, the unit will move up and down on its own to adjust its position ( note: Blast wasn’t aware of this when we got our Kinect in — hilarity ensued).

The Tech

Microsoft promised a lot in the year and a half since they announced Kinect, and while most of the tech is here, some is missing or not working as well as it should. You’ll still be able to control the console without the use of a controller — which is admittedly impressive in most cases. Just wave to engage Kinect and a menu will pop up, hover your hand over what you’re looking for to select it. As of this writing, not all of the Xbox features were controllable via motion, but Microsoft assures us that they will be added shortly after launch. What i really liked was that unlike the Wii, where you could sit and fake many of the movements for games, Kinect almost forces you to be active. It is watching you after all.

Another way to control your system using Kinect is with your voice. As cool as this sounds, it’s very limited and can be quite annoying. Again, as of this writing, you can’t actually power on your system using voice commands, to engage the Xbox, you’ll have to power it on the old fashioned way. Once you actually have the option, you’ll be saying Xbox…a..lot. Say you want to play the disc in drive; you’ll need to say “Xbox” then “Kinect” and then “Play Disc.” Yes, it’s a bit long of a process to do something you could have done by pressing the A button, but it’s cool and friends will love the novelty of it. Much like the motion sensing, it could be more useful if its improved after launch.

One of Kinect’s coolest features is the new video chat. While the Xbox 360 has always had a video chat, going from the Xbox Live Vision camera to Kinect is like going from a betamax player to a Blu-ray on an HDTV screen. While the camera can get a bit distorted at times, the image quality is mostly superb and follows you around the room so you never have to worry about adjusting it.

The Games

Kinect’s launch lineup is obviously aimed at a certain consumer, the one that owns a Nintendo Wii and doesn’t quite get what’s been known as the Xbox experience until this date. Much of the launch titles are smaller, casual games  that you’d expect with a peripheral like this. The one everyone will be playing, Kinect Adventures comes packed in with the unit, and serves as a great welcome to the new technology. I especially had fun with the adventure course type mini games that had you running, jumping, ducking and dodging to collect Adventure coins. There’s also some cool social features in the game that allow you to share and edit treasures you find along the way.

Undoubtedly, the best game though of Kinect’s launch lineup is Dance Central from Harmonix. It’s best to think of the title as Rock Band, but you know…with dancing. You follow and try to mimic the moves of an on screen dancer as they perform dances to a variety of songs from a multitude of genres. The game does a great job correcting what you’re doing and easing those of us with two left feet into the fray. It’s fun, it’s active, it’s everything a Kinect title should be.

There are a number of launch titles for you to try, like the virtual pet-esque Kinectimals and the “Oh no, we’re not trying to be Wii Sports” clunker Kinect Sports, but there’s not really anything for core gamers to run out get, which while Microsoft  assures us that they are coming, will undoubtedly slow sales a bit.

The Blast Factor: Kinect is a neat peripheral with some cool tech. It may not revolutionize the gaming industry like Microsoft claims yet, but it shows some great promise. More than anything, we’re excited about what developers will do with it after they really get time to open up the peripheral’s engine and tinker around. How these developers build these experiences will determine whether Kinect is a failure or the next big thing in gaming.

The music industry is filled with albums we’ll never forget. The Beatle’s Abbey Road defined a generation in transition. Michael Jackson’s Thriller announced the arrival of a new standard. Nirvana’s Nevermind was the voice of a changing American landscape. Rock Band 3 is all of this, and more; much more.

Rock Band 3 is a phenomenal achievement that not only rejuvenates a dying genre, it redefines it. With a slew of tweaks and a set of cool new features, the newest Rock Band title bridges the gap between musical game andmusic in general.  Simply put, Rock Band 3 proves that Harmonix are still the masters of the genre, even with a whole new set of challengers.

Rock Band 3 succeeds mainly on the strength of its own ambition of all else.  While most music games are okay with the idea of being just that – a game – Rock Band 3 aims a bit higher. With the game’s new Pro Mode, it becomes less about high scores with plastic peripherals and more about learning actual music notes. Rather than merely matching up the now expected colored boxes, Pro Mode tasks players with playing actual notes. Please note, the mode isn’t for everyone, in fact – some will hate, but it opens up a brand new, and much deeper experience for those already fluent, or looking to become so at their instrument of choice. Pro modes requires a new instrument – be it a drum-kit add-on or the insane pro-mode guitar complete with 102 buttons and the ability to use it as an actual guitar, but if you’re serious about music – you’re going to want to experience pro mode. Take that Prince.

The Rock Band experience has always been about vocals, guitar, bass and drums, but Rock Band 3 introduces players to a new addition to the band – the keyboard. Now, it may not seem as badass as the other choices, it is a great addition to the lineup, and tons of fun to play. There’s a ton of keyboard centric tracks here, and you can use the controller as an extra guitar for those songs that don’t make much use of the peripheral. While the keyboard feels just as rewarding as the drums or guitar, certain sections of certain songs can be downright challenging. While learning the ins and outs of the keyboards, odds are you’ll probably going to fail…a…lot.

Speaking of the set list, I can honestly say that Rock Band 3’s is easily the best of the franchise. Come on, how can you down a game that features both The Power of Love by Huey Lewis and the News and Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen? There’s a pretty wide variety of content here, and though not everything is going to please everyone, you should be able to find enough to keep you busy – especially considering that all of the previous songs from Rock Band 1 and 2 are compatible with the third game. Seriously, that’s over 2000 songs you can choose from. With that much content, it can be pretty hard to navigate, but luckily Rock Band 3 comes packed with a whole new way to sort your tracks. Now, you can sort by everything from number of vocal parts (the game also supports the three part harmonies introduced in Beatle’s Rock Band), decade, genre and more.

Rock Band 3 is also much more accessible than its predecessors. In previous titles, you had to earn fans strictly by playing the career mode, here though, you can do that in just about any game mode (save for the Tutorial of course). Players can now drop in and drop out of gameplay as they wish, as well as being able to navigate menus for each player without disrupting the experience of others.

The Blast Factor: If you’re into music games – Rock Band 3 is an absolute must buy. If you’ve been burnt out on the genre and haven’t played on in a while, here’s the perfect chance to come back.  Rock Band 3 is a cultural achievement because it questions what a music game can be. Simply put, it doesn’t get much better than this.

If you’re a gamer who was born in the late 90s, chances are you ask your older brother one question. “Why does your generation like that stupid blue hedgehog ?”.

Yes, indeed Sonic is now considered a flop, but there was once a time when Sonic was the arch nemesis of Mario, both of them were the most successful characters in the video gaming industry, Sega even created a subsidiary development team called Sonic Team, Sonic was on fire!

Nowadays though, it seems that Sonic is on life support, the shift from 2D to 3D wasn’t too kind to the hedgehog, with SEGA releazing one terrible Sonic game after another, and creating many useless characters along the way, such as Silver the hedgehog, and that dreadful Werehog in Sonic Unleashed. The quality of Sonic games have declined considerably over the years, the blue hedgehog no longer felt on par with Mario, but rather felt like some generic, mediocre mascot.

However, that was then and this is now, SEGA have decided to take Sonic back to his roots, and have released Sonic 4, the sequel to Sonic 3, and a game that fans have been waiting 16 years for. The question that many people will ask, is it good? And the answer, finally, is a “Yes”.

Sonic 4 Episode I is the best Sonic game in a very long time, it took SEGA over a decade, but they finally got it right. The gameplay in Sonic 4 feels like that of a true Sonic game.

The game starts out fairly simple, you find yourself in Splash Hill, an almost updated replica of Green Hill Zone, you play the first level in the game and pass with absolute ease, and then you are taken to the screen where you get the complete freedom to choose which zone you want to choose, and which act you want to choose from that zone.

While Sonic games usually didn’t let you choose the zone or act you wanted to be in, this feature doesn’t exactly give or take much from the game, just like past Sonic games you take on the boss of each zone after finishing all three acts.

The graphics in Sonic 4 are gorgeous, the game stays true to the Sonic 2D formula while updating it with HD graphics and a constant framerate that never drops, the great news to Wii owners is the fact that the game looks exactly like the PS3 and X360 versions, only in 480p, which isn’t a dealbreaker at all really. In fact, the game felt more at home on the Wii than the PS3 and X360, having the game next to other Sonic titles new and old in the Wii library made it feel like this is where it truly belongs.

Some fans have wondered what Sonic’s appearance is like in Sonic 4, does he resemble Sonic of yore? Or does he resemble the modern day Sonic? While playing Sonic 4, we played Sonic 3 and Super Smash Brawl alongside it, seeing how the best 2D sonic models of past and present are featured in said games. Sonic’s model resembles the modern day Sonic more than that of the old Sonic during SEGA’s golden era, with his long legs being the most distinctive feature.

The music in Sonic 4 is a step in the right direction, it surpasses the music in the majority of the 3D Sonic games, the downside is the fact that the music sometimes doesn’t feel like that of a Sonic game, the music is slow, and at times it’s too slow, it just doesn’t mesh with the sprinting hedgehog at times.

The gameplay in Sonic 4 adds nothing new to the franchise, and that is probably one of the greatest things in this game, seeing as how every time SEGA adds a new element to the game (like that God damned dreadful werehog), the game turns out to be a disaster. The new feature in the game is the homing attack, while this feature isn’t new in the Sonic 3D games, it’s new in the Sonic 2D ones, when Sonic is in mid-air and near an enemy, a lock-on appears and Sonic can attack that enemy, this feature actually fits in with the gameplay quite well, and is also crucial at times to progress through a level.

While the gameplay is solid, it does have some issues of it’s own. For instance, the only power ups available are the temporary invincibility and the ability to breath under water, features such as the fire ball and electiric ball were present in Sonic 3 almost 16 years ago, SEGA not including them now is an awkward strategy on their behalf.

Another issue that is noticed almost immediately is the speed of the game. It is obvious from the get go that Sonic 4 is slower than previous iterations in the Sonic franchise, especially in 2D sonic games, add the fact that you will be stopped from progressing in certain levels later on in the game until you perform some minuscule tedious tasks, and the sense of momentum in the game falls flat. It’s not as bad as it sounds, but it stops the game from being truly great.

The final, and perhaps most annoying aspect of the gameplay is the difficulty settings. Usually in video games the game becomes harder gradually, helping the players adjust to the gameplay and introduce new enemies and challenges at a reasonable pace. Sonic 4 throws this strategy right out the window and disorients you in a way like no other.

You spend the majority of the game unchallenged, quite literally breezing through the leves, by the time you reach the final zone, you’ll have around 20 lives and the only real challenge you’ll have faced is the boss of zone 3, during the three acts in the final zone, you will die around 6 times (assuming you get lucky and pass certain frustrating parts of the game quickly), then you will face the final boss of the game. Here you will die over and over again, in one of the longest boss fights in a Sonic game, at times the fight will be hard, and not in a modern day game hard, but in a Mega Man hate yourself kind of hard. And the most frustrating part about the final boss, is the tempo of the level. It is so slow it hardly fits a Sonic game.

The biggest downside for Sonic 4 isn’t the game itself, but it’s the price. Sonic 4 Episode I is priced at $15, the game can be finished in less than 3 hours if you’re dedicated enough to finish it in a single session. It has good replay value, and you can even unlock Super Sonic, but it’s not enough to slap a $15 price tag, especially when there are games like Castle Crashers, and Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light that offer mad replay value and multiplayer gameplay for the same price.

The Blast Factor: It’s almost hard to believe this, but this might the first time in over a decade that Sonic fans get two great Sonic games in a single year (assuming all goes well with Sonic Colors), this could be the year Sonic fans celebrate after all. If you’re a Sonic fan who’s been dying to play a great Sonic game, Sonic 4 is well worth the 15 dollars, if you’re hesitant and wondering if it’s worth the investment or not, you might wanna check Other PSN/XBLA titles first, like Castle Crashers and GoL, or Wii Ware titles like Cave Story.

In the two years since its release, Bethesda has kept Fallout 3 relevant thanks to a steady stream of downloadablecontent that expanded the game universe. Now however, it seems to be hurting the franchise more than anything else.

Fallout: New Vegas is a difficult beast to review. On the one hand, it adds to the experience first seen in Fallout 3 wonderfully, but on the other, that experience is nearly three years old.  The world is as massive and creative as ever, but playing through the latest chapter in the critically acclaimed franchise grows incredibly familiar and tiring all too quickly.

As you’d expect, New Vegas takes place in the year 2281 in a post apocalyptic Las Vegas, Nevada. Much like the Washington DC setting of Fallout 3, the map of New Vegas is incredibly large and impressive. In fact, the wasteland setting in New Vegas is easily one of the game’s best features. Actual landmarks like the Hoover Dam and the Helios Solar Energy Plant dot the landscape, which is tons of fun to explore. Playing through and exploring the world New Vegas presents is incredibly rewarding and the more you play, the more you’re sure to appreciate. Case in point – when you get to the actual Vegas area and see swing entertainers and the lights of the strip – it’s a truly awesome sight when you realize that up until this point you’ve been staring at a barren wasteland.

As a living  artificial world, Fallout 3 is nothing short of fascinating, but as an interactive experience, it’s a bit more thin. What worked so well before, often feels old hat here, and rather than feeling like you have complete control, it’s not uncommon to feel like the game is limiting what you can do.  Everything you’ve come to expect from the engine is here, just in a different form – while Fallout 3 began with you choosing your traits at birth, New Vegas does so after you regain consciousness after being brutally attacked and forced to dig your own grave.

While much of New Vegas’ gameplay is showing its age, the citizens of the wasteland are a different story altogether. In previous Fallout games, the factions were easy to navigate; one was good – one was bad – and so forth. Here, many of the factions come off as neutral forces, perpetuating ideas rather than stereotypical responses. This makes the game incredibly more fun to navigate, as you’ll have to really identify and choose which faction you want to align yourself with.

Each time I would get into the action of New Vegas, a technical glitch or troubling design choice halted any interest I had in the game. Several times, I had to restart my game as it caused the entire 360 to lock up. Furthermore, when the action starts to pick up, you’re left with a chugging framerate and some embarrassing textures. The worst aspect though by far is the game’s obscenely long load times. Even those wouldn’t be much of an issue if they didn’t happen so frequently. Going into a building? Load screen. Leaving a building? Load screen. It’s obviously annoying and has a tendency to take you out of the game, especially when your quest has you going through different buildings.

Those looking for more of a challenge with Fallout: New Vegas are pushed towards the new hardcore mode which severely amps up the difficulty and realism.  In Hardcore mode, stimpaks (the  game’s health system) heal over time rather than instantly, severe injuries require additional medical assistance and players must eat, drink and sleep to avoid starvation, dehydration and exhaustion. Yes, it’s as hard as it sounds, but it’s incredibly satisfying for dedicated Fallout players.

The Blast Factor: If Fallout: New Vegas were an expansion pack or DLC, it’d be instantly worth the money, but asking gamers to put down $60 for a title that adds almost nothing new, yet is chock full of technical issues is a bit much. Still, those who love The Fallout games are sure to find much to love in the Mojave Wasteland. Fallout: New Vegas isn’t the masterpiece many thought it would be, but fans are sure to enjoy one more romp with their pipboy.

The world of sports and its presence in the video game industry has become huge for many reasons. For one, the average person can sit on their couch and immerse themselves in a professional sport and be throwing touchdowns and pulling off 360 dunks just like their favorite stars in no time. You can hop on PSN or Xbox Live and compete against your friends and talk trash, which is a personal favorite past time of mine.  These games also give players the ability to play out the future and see how it stacks up to how the next season really plays out.

Two developers have dominated the sports genre over the past decade EA and 2K who bring us yearly renditions each year of basketball, football, baseball, and other sports games such as EA’s Fight Night boxing titles. The masses line up for each new edition just to hop into a franchise mode or start with bragging rights online, whether the game has any new features or qualities or not. This year, 2K has brought a NBA title to the shelves that has a legend on the cover and his name is Michael Jordan.

This title is by far the best year over year improvement in a sports franchise I have ever seen. That statement alone I know is huge but this game packs a basketball lovers punch. There isn’t just one aspect of the game that makes it so spectacular. I don’t want to spoil too much but the game begins with Michael Jordan in the tunnel at the 1991 NBA finals game one looking back at you saying “are you ready”. The fun doesn’t stop there before even seeing a menu screen you play out that game as the 1991 Chicago Bulls against Magic Johnson and his Lakers. This alone had me floored and wanting more right off the bat.

Now you are probably wondering with Jordan on the cover this year “does that mean Jordan is a big part of the game?” YES it does. The title offers a Jordan challenge section that allows you to play through 10 historic scenarios in his career. They are called challenges because you have to do as well as he did in those historic games to complete the challenge. That isn’t where the love stops either for completing different aspects of the game you unlock different Jordan edition sneakers that have cool attributes, such as +2 to speed. The best Jordan feature in the game in my opinion is once you complete every Jordan challenge you have the ability to bring Michael Jordan into the current NBA league as a rookie. This gives you the ability to see how he fairs against the leagues best like Kobe, Lebron, or Dwayne Wade. The amazing Jordan experience is alone enough to warrant the purchase of this game but that’s just the surface of this title.

The presentation of the game is phenomenal with great character models except for a few like Kobe Bryant for some reason he looks like he is from another world. This is the first basketball game that truly feels like you are at home watching a real NBA game 2K really nailed the simulation this year. The commentating is top notch and where there is a little repetition its not enough to take away from the great feel of the game. The player animations and player specific reactions like Kobe Bryant’s fist in the air after a great dunk are spot on.

Now earlier when I said this is a basketball lover’s dream that is exactly what this game is. The weird player mechanics and horrible AI of past NBA titles are long gone with 2K11 there is a new standard. The AI is amazing in this game they make the right defensive switches on their own and challenge you on defense at every turn. The ability to throw a lob pass and dunk every time down the court is long gone. The AI in this game is too smart. You have to think your way down the court this year and be aggressive. You can call plays for each position, picks, and alley oops with ease. The end of every game is just as much a treat as it was playing the game. The player of the game highlight is amazing to watch and intelligent. There is a photo reel that is full of close up snap shots of the action that you can upload to the 2K servers. You can also record replays this year and make your own high light reels.

The franchise mode is amazing and the best I have ever seen with the ability to be in a sixth or seventh season and the league not be in total shambles. It also is smart enough to keep things realistic as well. The Miami Heat will not be giving you Lebron James for a couple early draft picks so you can create a monster team. This is where I will talk about the few aspects of the game that keep it from a perfect grade. This title is the most realistic sports game experience I have ever had. That aspect actually holds it back a little because the level of the difficulty can be a little frustrating. This really is apparent in the weakest part of the title the My Player mode. This create your own player mode is detailed and fun its just too darn hard and it takes FOREVER to up your skills enough to just get drafted into the NBA. I would say most players would start this mode and probably give up. Which is a shame because it is a lot of fun playing in the NBA and seeing your player rise to be a star. You actually hold press conferences after each game and decide whether you want to be loved or hated by the fans. The last aspect that needs improvement is the passing in this game. The passing won’t hinder your fun with this title too much but sometimes you will end up chucking a ball down court when you just wanted to toss the rock to the man five feet in front of you.

The Blast Factor: In closing this game was an amazing surprise and is the best sports game to hit the shelves in years. The people at 2K really put in the hard work and attention to detail that warrants having a legend of the NBA like Jordan on the cover. This is an NBA lovers dream game and will keep you hooked with the Jordan challenges alone. If you are looking for a fun wacky arcade basketball experience pick up NBA Jam, but if you want the most realistic sports experience out there pick up NBA 2K11.