I’ve always had this theory. In the beginning of every year, there’s that strange lull until we get new quality games, and perhaps it’s a bit unfair, but those games set the tone for what the rest of the year will be like. Terrible games are relaesed first? Get ready for a dissapointing year, but if we get good quality games within the first major release week, then that’s a different story.

If The Darkness 2, the new shooter from 2K games is any indication — we’re about to have a great year. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not perfect, but it’s fun, over the top and gory fun layered on top of quality writing and fine tuned mechanics. The Darkness 2 sets 2012 off to the right path.

The Darkness 2 is of course a direct sequel to the 2007 shooter based off of the Top Cow comic book series of the same name created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl. If you haven’t experienced either here’s a bit of a primer; the titular Darkness is an ancient mystical force that allows the one who posseses it access to a mysterious dimension and control over the darkling creatures that reside there.

The Darkness has currently chosen low life gangster and hitman Jackie Estacado as its host, and he’s parlayed that into a full takeover of his mob family — but of course things aren’t that easy. The Darkness 2 starts off with an attack on Jackie and the mob family, and a mysterious man trying to control the Darkness.

So what does that mean for you? Mainly lots of killing, maiming and shooting — luckily it’s all done so well. You’ll start out just as you do with any other shooter, but when The Darkness starts to beg Jackie to let it out again, that’s when the game starts to retain an identity all its own. The Darkness portrays itself mostly as two giant snake like creatures that portrude from your back, and proceed to make your enemies lives a living hell. 2K and Digital Extremes has done a great job making the actual Darkness abilities make you feel like an unstoppable force, which goes a long way in making the game feel so incredibly rewarding.

Take one of the game’s earlier levels, which finds you traveling through a subway system battling a litteral army of thugs. Not only can you use your average guns to take them out, but The Darkness adds a slew of cool abilities to your repertoire. Slash at them violently, grab them, literally rip them apart, take objects as cover — you can even summon darkling creatures to attack your enemies, and apparently they speak with an English accent.

The Darkness 2 also features an RPG style leveling system which allows you to use dark essence from your downed enemies to make your Darkness abilities even more powerful. One of the first abilities you’ll unlock is key — the ability to eat the hearts of your downed enemies to regain health, but I found that if I wasn’t led to a powerup that I absolutley needed, I never really really found myself going out of my way to level up these abilities. The Darkness 2 often felt like it could be finsished without even touching some of these abilities.

Perhaps that’s the Darkness 2′s biggest downfall — there’s just not a ton of content here. The single player game can be finished in a matter of hours, and there’s not really any reason to jump back in after you’ve finished it. Strangely, the multiplayer suite from the first game has been scrapped, but there is a respectable co-op mode, still though, it could turn a lot of online gaming focused players off from an otherwise entertaining shooter.

The visuals of The Darkness 2 though are remarkably well done. Rather than go for a phot realistic look, the folks at 2K and Digital Extremes have gone a route that makes The Darkness 2 look like the living embodiment of a comic book. The environments are all created as you’d expect, and then given a cell shading-esque top layer, which works very well for a game of this style.

Blast Factor:The Darkness 2 might not be a perfect shooter, but it’s an absolute blast and a great start to 2012. It’s violent, fun and performs well in some of the most hectic situations — we just wish there was more of it. If you like shooter, pulp and gratious violence, do yourself a favor and unleash The Darkness.

Blast Magazine and Sony are teaming up to give you early access to one of 2012′s most anticipated games, the PS3 exclusive Starhawk. Want in? All you’ve got to do is comment on this article and tell us what your most anticipated game of 2012 is and why. You can enter as many times as you want, but only one entry will count. Sorry folks, only US residents can win. Good luck!

If you were to ask me earlier this year who  the most dependable independent studio in gaming was, I’d be hard-pressed not to answer with Telltale Games. The San Rafael, Calif. based developer, famous for episodic titles like Sam and Max, Puzzle Agent and the revival of the Monkey Island franchise constantly releases quality puzzle and action games, with a distinct old school flair and top notch production values.  With their new game though – the gaming adaptation of the classic Steven Spielberg film Jurassic park, the studio is looking to blend new school mechanics with their tried and true formula.

It didn’t work.  Jurassic Park: The Game removes nearly everything from the Telltale formula that made it so endearing in the first place. Gone are the puzzles that require you to think, absent are the high quality production values that give the game that certain something – hell, it’s not even really a game as much as an interactive movie. I get it, the idea is to constantly bring new ideas to your studio’s games, but not at the expense of what made it so popular in the first place.

Jurassic Park: the Game picks up at one of the original movie’s few unanswered questions. About halfway through the movie, Nedry takes a barbasol can full of dino embryos to meet someone looking to pay high money for them, but of course he’s met with a face full of acid and the package never arrives. The game attempts to answer the question of just what happened to the employee (revealed here to be a female mercenary) sent in to retrieve the embryos. Along the way you’ll meet a dinosaur doctor and his daughter who are also stuck on the island, and it’s there that Jurassic Park: The Game begins proper.  It’s an interesting way to approach a story that pretty much everyone knows, and a can be a lot of fun for diehard fans of the franchise.

Jurassic Park isn’t as much of a game as it is an interactive movie experience.  The majority of the game follows a simple formula  — navigate the island through a series of quicktime events and point and click style sections.  Yep, it’s pretty much as boring as it sounds.  Let me walk you through a section, and this could really be any section – walk around, click on everything the game lets you and then move on. Yes, it’s that easy and more often than not there’s no real criteria for in what way you click them or in what order. It’s a far cry from the Telltale Games puzzles of the past, and in a way it’s sort of insulting.  Every now and then you’ll run into some dinosaurs (or perhaps more effectively they’ll run at you) and this is where the game should get interesting, but instead it gets even more disappointing.

So there you are, minding your own business and then BAM! A T-Rex comes out of the bushes and begins to chase you. At this point, you’d think the game would get interesting, but each of the game’s action sequences is presented via a quicktime event so you’ll simply follow the button prompts on the screen and poof – you’re done with the dino nightmare at hand. Normally I’m not as opposed to quicktime events as I was with Jurassic Park, but here if felt like a cop out, like an easy way to deal with having to take on such a menacing enemy. During the game’s development, Telltale was very vocal about how Quantic Dream’s PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain inspired a good portion of Jurassic Park’s gameplay and it shows, they just seemingly didn’t get inspired by the game’s story.

Throughout the game I had literally no attachment to any of the game’s characters, environments or actions, in fact – there were points I wished they would up end of at the wrong end of a Raptor’s claws. Each of the characters; the know-it-all doctor, the innocent little girl and tough talking mercenary chick, all feel like one dimensional stereotypes that seem to have taken all of five minutes to create. The game also seems to have an issue with switching between these characters as it’s never quite easy to be sure who you’re controlling and why. Most Telltale games make you control one character at a time – a formula the developer should have stuck with.

Jurassic Park: The Game is also missing the high quality production value that has given past Telltale Games titles such an identity. The characters models are decent enough, but the rest of the game looks and feels awkward. Characters move very stiffly, and the animation feels less than  second rate and the environments are all drab and lacking in detail. Perhaps most disappointing is just how forgettable the game’s music really is. Aside from the franchise’s trademark theme, the music is all forgettable, and even the dinosaur’s roars all seem unimpressive.

Blast Factor: With all of its classic source material, Telltale had a great game on its hands with Jurassic Park, but sadly the finished product didn’t even come near that potential.  Less of a game than an interactive movie, Jurassic Park is a dated, boring and somewhat insulting way to exploit a classic film. Congratulations Telltale, you’ve found a way to make a T-Rex boring.

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.

I’m what you call a wallflower. Born with two left feet, it’s a hazard to many when I’m dragged on to the dance floor. Let me let you in on a little secret though; when the curtains are drawn, and mood is right — I’ve been known to cut a mean rug in front of games like Dance Central with the family. You’ll probably never see it, but it’s quite the strange site to see a grown 240 lb man shaking it to Poker Face. Dance Central and its sequel are easily the standard in the newly forming dancing genre, but Sony’s new entry Everybody Dance is a more than capable challenger to the throne. With a slick presentation and a few new bells and whistles, it could be the most surprisingly fun guilty pleasure you’ll have this year — be warned though, the more you play, the more you’ll start to pick apart its flaws.

By now you know Everybody Dance’s deal, hold the PlayStation Move controller, and shake it to a bunch of awesome music while diagrams on the screen show you what your next move will be. It’s a simple formula, but Everybody Dance may have found an incredibly simple way to improve upon it. The upper left hand corner of the screen features the song’s music video, and while it may sound distracting for the dance steps, it serves quite a useful purpose. Odds are that the majority of the people playing games like this and Dance Central aren’t the best dancers, but are looking to have a fun time. Adding in the music video seems to make those apprehensive to join in the fun a bit more since not everyone’s attention is focused directly on them. In general though, the presentation in Everybody Dance is top notch. The on-screen display is crisp and unlike games like Just Dance, they’re quite easy to follow.

Of course, any dancing game is built on just how good its track listing is, and Everybody Dance delivers here too. While other games in the genre clearly focus on one genre while throwing occasional love to others, Everybody Dance’s track list is an eclectic one to say the least. At one point you’re jamming to Rihanna, then the next you’re getting nostalgic with New Kids on the Block or even a bit romantic with Barry White.  Personally, I really enjoyed my time with Elton John’s “I’m still standing” and The Chemical Brothers, “Hey Boy, Hey Girl.”

In Everybody Dance, you can dance alone, compete against a friend or alongside them in co-op, but where the game really takes off is with its dance creator mode. Here, you can skip the game’s choreography for the game and record your own, then challenge others to dance it. This is extremely fun and novel in a number of different ways — first, people like me can record the strangest dances in the world and laugh as friends try to copy them, but it’s also great for those who can actually dance and want to show the world their choreography skills. If Everybody Dance has legs, it’ll be here.

Really, the only thing that bugged me with Everybody Dance isn’t an issue with the game itself, but the platform it’s on and its limitations. The PlayStation Move requires the controller and the Eye camera, so it begs the question — if I’m doing all of this work, trying to match up with the choreography perfectly, is it just monitoring the controller itself? Could I get by with just moving the controller somewhat similarly to the way the dancers are? Yes…and no. Most songs don’t allow you to cheat, but there were a few times when it felt like I was just able to take the easy way out. Take for instance a few cases where I was given good scores after I know I screwed up the majority of my body.

The Blast Factor: Everybody Dance is the perfect game to bring out at parties. Everyone is bound to have a good time since they’re not paying that close attention to the game’s mechanics. It’s bright, loud and so incredibly fun that even wallflowers like me are going to find it hard to resist. It may not be perfect, but Everybody Dance could be one of the biggest surprises of this holiday season.

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.

In the coming weeks and months, you’re bound to hear a lot about the big things that make Uncharted 3 so special. You’re going to hear about the thrilling set pieces, the over the top action and the multiplayer. While these things are impressive and go a very long way in making the game what it is, they’re not what makes the game truly great. What separates Nathan Drake’s latest adventure from other action adventure games is the little touches. It’s in the way that Naughty Dog made the worlds and characters so believable, how through a combination of wonderful music, writing, pacing and gameplay, you’re going to care more about these characters than most.  

Simply put, Uncharted 3 is one of the best games I’ve ever played.

Once again you’re dumped in to a globetrotting adventure with Nathan Drake, Sully and the rest of his pals. Trying not to give away much, you’re on a quest that deals with Drake’s ancestor; Sir Francis Drake. While this may seem like business as usual for the franchise, it’s truly anything but. For the first time in franchise history, things aren’t as black and white as “we’re going here to look for treasure,” sure those moments are here, but the story is built around developing the believable relationships between characters like Drake and Sully or even the game’s new villain Katherine Marlowe. Key here is that for the first time ever, we’re actually doubting Drake’s intentions, and each of the game’s characters instantly feels much more real, and watching that story play out is incredibly interesting.

Perhaps what makes the game so incredibly riveting to watch is just how well every part of the game works in unison. The story features absolutely brilliant pacing that rivals that of Hollywood movies, and the top notch voice acting combined with the stunning score and remarkable visuals makes for a great experience. With Uncharted 3, Naughty Dog has cemented their reputation as one of the best storytellers in not just the industry, but all of popular culture.  It’s seen in the relationship reveals, the stunning plot twists that make you rethink the entire strategy, and perhaps most importantly, the game’s feeling of resonance players are sure to have each time they step away.

Gameplay wise, Uncharted 3 takes a lot from its most recent predecessor, but here, things have been fine tuned. You’ll still jump from ledge to ledge, shimmy across pipes and escape from certain death at the last minute, but somehow – it still feels fresh and new. Perhaps it’s because the game at times challenges what you think you know from the series. Take one of the game’s early stages where I was trying to follow the game’s villain, Katherine Marlowe. To get a better vantage point, I jumped on to a pole protruding from the side of the building, but before I knew it, it snapped in half, sending me to my death. It’s moments like these that caused me to stop and rethink my choices for most of the game.

The majority of Uncharted 3’s campaign is centered around gigantic, over-the-top action movie style set pieces that even outdo those of the previous game. Whether it’s clinging for dear life to a chain on the outside of an old tower or escaping a burning chateau in France, Uncharted 3 is full of moments that are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat.  What makes these moments so memorable is just how human Drake feels during them. Now, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about how Drake feels less human this go-round, how he can seemingly survive anything, but do you really want the opposite? Do you want to have to start over after every gunshot, every grenade toss. Drake is remarkably human and relatable because after these events, he’s huffing and puffing, trying to catch his breath; amazed at what just happened.  He shows true emotion. He seems to be just as surprised at what just happened as I did. If you ask me, that’s much more human than most action games, which feature heroes who don’t even flinch in the face of danger.

I may be in the minority here, but I actually loved the melee combat in Uncharted 2, so I was a bit apprehensive when I learned they were changing it for the new game, but after only a few minutes, I found myself enjoying myself every bit as much as in the previous game. There’s now a dedicated reversal system, which goes a long way in helping change the rhythm of a fight, along with a context sensitive grab mechanic. Say you’re standing by a window, you can grab a guy and toss him out of it, or slide him down a bar you’re next to. If I had to compare it to another game, it would be that of the recently released Arkham City, which also had a stellar melee system.

Uncharted 3 is at its best when it’s doing two things, keeping me on the edge of my seat and making me care about what’s happening to its characters. The game succeeds most in both ways about midway through the game, when (hoping to avoid giving too much away) Drake is alone in the desert and you feel like you’re right alongside him. Naughty Dog does this by using a number of camera and control tricks that bring the player even more in to the game.  Go into a cave with tight passageways and the camera zooms in and stays tight on Drake, so you feel like you’re there.  Another great example is in the opening bar scene where Drake rests against the bar for a second, it’s an extremely believable animation, and doesn’t progress until the character allows it to. Nathan Drake feels less like a character, and more like a believable person.

 The Blast Factor: I play most games in a predictable fashion. I sit down, play for a few hours and then I walk away. I do anything else. I let the game brew in my head. With Uncharted 3, I couldn’t do that, every time I tried to walk away, I was pulled back. I needed to know what happens next; and that my friends is the mark of a truly excellent game. Uncharted 3 is sure to wow you with its fantastic presentation, thrilling gameplay and all around complete package. This is a game that I can’t recommend enough, and your PS3 library is not complete without it.

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.

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.

Naughty Dog released this new footage of Uncharted 3′s desert environment, and it’s downright gorgeous. Fair warning before you check it out, there’s one minor spoiler…sort of. Uncharted 3 launches for the PS3 on November 1, 2011. Enjoy!

On paper, X-men Destiny sounds like a great idea. The game gives players the ability to take three characters brand new to the mutant universe, craft them any way they want and allow them to fight alongside (or against) famed mutants like Wolverine,  Cyclops, Gambit and Magneto. Not all ideas pan out like they should.

At times, X-men Destiny flirts with being a decent game, like when it delves deep into the X-men mythos, or lets you play mad mutant scientist by mixing powers and genes of your favorite heroes to create the mutant of your dreams – but it’s all combined with such messy, uninspired at broken mechanics that you’re unlikely to ever experience these things in full. Those who can’t get enough of the X-men should check out Destiny, if just for its fan service; just don’t expect a good game.

The stars of X-men destiny aren’t heroes like Wolverine and Cyclops, but three mutants you’ve never heard of. You take control of one of three characters created specifically for Destiny; Aimi, the mutant smuggled by her parents from Japan to escape incarceration, Grant the jock who knows nothing about the ongoing mutant VS human war and Adrian, the son of an anti-mutant to extremist.  Throughout the game you’ll interact with some of the Marvel universe’s biggest names and play an integral part in the human and mutant war that’s been raging since the death of Professor X. It’s here where X-men Destiny proves that it’s at least in tune with what makes the X-men cannon so unique. The characters origins actually have heart, and each of them (well, maybe not Grant) have a vested interest in the way the battles play out. The game may not portray this 100% of the time, but the game at least makes a valid attempt at giving us a story that fits in with those found in the X-men books on the market.

The beauty of starting with a brand new mutant is that you’ll get to craft them to your liking by finding and combining mutant genes to create a pretty cool arsenal of powers. As you play through Destiny, you’ll earn experience points by exploring, taking out identical no named thugs and even some of Marvel’s most well known mutants, you’ll use this experience to unlock genes, which in turns unlocks new abilities. Want the punishing power of Colossus combined with the speed of someone like Quicksilver? Go for it. Looking to create a badass combination of Wolverine’s berserker rage with Nightcrawler’s teleporting capabilities – you’ll just have to find the right genes. As someone who grew up creating his own X-men characters, I found this to be very intriguing and at times its incredibly rewarding; it’s just a shame that I found myself not caring about it less than halfway through the game.

For all that it has going for it, X-men Destiny falls apart when it comes to its core gameplay mechanics. Rather than fighting meaningful battles, you’ll be taking on a never-ending series of nameless thugs. The result is a boring and uninspired brawler which often feels like nothing more than a grind fest. Now, this would be alright if it were a brawler in the form of previous X-men games like Legends or the later Alliance games, but Destiny is nowhere near the quality of these titles.  Attacks have little or no weight to them and you’ll often get stuck in a sluggish combo that must be completed regardless of if your opponent is finished or not – leading to your character taking unnecessary damage. What’s worse is that these combos often cause the game itself to slowdown.  X-men destiny may present itself as a deep combat game, but it’s really nothing more than a sluggish button masher.

The game also asks you to explore quite often if you’re looking to get more of the mutant genes you’re looking for; but unfortunately, this to tends to drag the game down. Environments are often drab and uninteresting, and exploring becomes something you’ll have to do, rather than something you’ll want to do. At least the genes are hidden pretty much plain site more often than not, so you won’t have to look that hard for them.

The game’s problems don’t stop there as Destiny is an overall thin and unfinished experience. Destiny is a game that shouts its decision engine from the top of mountains, but you’ll find out very soon in the game that these decisions don’t make much of a difference at all. Throughout the game you’ll be asked to choose between two paths, one that aids the X-men and the other that helps Magento’s Brotherhood of Mutants. Making these decisions is supposed to open up new pathways and different missions, but in reality they all play out mostly the same – punch guys in the face and move on. All of this can be wrapped up in as little as 6 hours.

Presentation wise, Destiny is a mixed bag, the voice acting is surprisingly well done, but the rest of the game doesn’t feel as polished. We’ve already touched on the drab environments, but the characters as well feel incredibly awkward and move strangely at times. It’s most disappointing when characters and other elements in the game show up strangely or worse, not at all. These moments don’t happen all that much, but when they do, it’s enough to take you completely out of the game.

The Blast Factor: It’s not all bad though – if there’s one thing that X-men Destiny does right, it’s fan service. Playing through Destiny gives you plenty of different costume choices inspired by your favorite X-men characters. In that sense, there’s a ton of depth to Destiny if you really know where to look for it, it’s just a shame that it couldn’t be found in the game itself. Hardcore X-men fans, who pour of every page of the comics and have a notebooks full of sketches of their own mutant creations will get a kick out of Destiny – just don’t expect it to last too long.

When the original Resistance was released alongside the PlayStation 3’s launch, it felt very much like a launch title. It was a good lucking, entertaining shooter, but certainly didn’t scream next-gen power. Full of linear paths, indestructible walls, and wide-open spaces purely used as massive arena battles, it served mostly to provide a pre-requisite sci-fi shooter and show off how many creatures the PS3 could shove on the screen at once.

Frankly, not a lot’s changed. The sequel was improved, but still suffered from a by-the-numbers design philosophy and felt like an endless string of gigantic set pieces, absurdly crowded battles, and gauntlet runs. With Resistance 3, Insomniac Games gotten off the leash just a little and while it would be easy to say the formula is fundamentally unchanged, the results are stunningly improved.

The third chapter picks up several years after the oppressively downbeat ending of Resistance 2. Players take the role of Joseph Capelli, the angry grunt from the second game whose actions lead to his dishonorable discharge. Joe has settled down, gotten married, and had a son.

Joe helps protect one of the rare “safe” towns with his family in Oklahoma, and the game does an amazing job of detailing just how dire the situation is for humanity. The chimera has overrun the United States and stopped capturing humans to replace their vast numbers. Now, they just kill any humans they find. To make matters worse, they’ve started reproducing in the wild somehow, leading to a feral breed of chimera that attack anything.

Through the game, Joseph will bear witness to all manner of horrors and wonder on this trip through the darklands of Americana. Vast wild herds of gigantic widow makers, hordes of zombie-like grims, and variations on other old favorites scour the landscape. The levels take you from Oklahoma to the Mississippi river, and through Pennsylvania, in order to reach the ultimate goal of destroying the worm hole generator in the heart of New York City.

To that end, Joe will fight through small towns, mine shafts, and burned out urban landscapes. He’ll defend a moving train and run rampant through a super max prison. Every environment feels new and different in comparison to the last, and the game’s oppressive portrait of a destroyed America makes the action feel all the more intense. Joseph, like Hale before him, isn’t a particularly personable protagonist, but the cinematic sequences and overall story do a good job of presenting him as the country’s last hope.

Resistance 3 throws in some surprisingly retro mechanics that actually make the game feel more innovative. The tired two-gun limit has been thrown out the window, allowing Insomniac to flex their creative penchant for destruction learned from Ratchet & Clank. Players now have access to all available guns all the time—provided they have ammo.

While old standbys like the shotgun, assault and sniper rifle, bullseye, auger, and magnum are all here, many of the new guns are ingenious. There’s a freeze gun, viral mutator, and lightning gun, all of which have very specific and entertaining uses. The secondary fire options are especially well-done. The mutator is a charge shot that can infect most enemies with a mutated chimera virus, leading to a truly awful death. The secondary fire, however, disperses a cloud of the virus to infect a group.

The magnum uses explosive shots that can be detonated at any time with the secondary fire. The lightning gun uses chain lightning normally, but also shoots a sucking vortex of death. The fights tend to be so overwhelming that using all the guns and constantly running low on ammo is common place.

The other change is Joe doesn’t regenerate, nor does he have a shield. Instead, he must find good ol’ health power-ups, which greatly changes up the tactics that most shooters have been relying on since the original Halo. It is somewhat annoying that Joe can’t actually hold med kits in his inventory, leading to somewhat unnecessary frustration during the harder battles.

Resistance 3 still relies heavily on a linear approach to design focusing on huge set pieces and vastly outnumbered battles. During some of these sequences, Joe has some minor help from AI allies, but mostly it’s just him against an army. The battles are well-paced, intense, and mostly incredibly entertaining.

Yet, there are times when it just feels canned. Why, for instance, would a lone human join a battle of militant chimera against a giant, feral widow maker instead of just sneaking around them? Another oddity is the final act, which bizarrely loses steam right when the game should be gearing up for a grand finale.

Just the same, Resistance 3 delivers an insane amount of over-the-top shooting carnage in an environment that feels amazingly compelling. Flaws be damned, this is a great single-player shooter. Multiplayer-centric players can opt to play cooperatively with a second player, or just battle each other with a solid array of online game modes. Some features are tweaked or missing from the earlier games and the multiplayer sessions have been downgraded (again) to 16 players, but it’s still an excellent example of online battling.

The Blast Factor: Add in excellent 3D and Move support, and Resistance 3 marks another great and much improved sequel exclusive to Sony. Insomniac has relaxed enough to tell a familiar story their way instead of simply making PlayStation alternative to Halo, and it shows.

Dead Island is a classic example of art imitating life. By the very definition of the term, Dead Island can easily be considered to be a bit of a  zombie itself. Originally scheduled for release in 2008, the game was repeatedly delayed and assumed killed off until a new emotional trailer featuring a family fighting for their lives against a horde of undead invaders hit the web and instantly went viral. Back from the proverbial dead, Dead Island was set to be an emotional and gripping take on the zombie formula.

Or at least it was supposed to be.

Half a year and a ton of hype later, Dead Island’s final product isn’t what you thought it would be – and that’s not an incredibly terrible thing. With its interesting twist on the growingly stale zombie apocalypse genre, Dead Island has some great ideas, they just don’t feel as well thought out as they could be. At its best moments, it’s a thrilling horror survival game, but at its worst – it’s a dated, limited, lethargic and confusing experience.

The clear strength of Dead Island lies within its setting. The isle of Banoi is lush, tropical and offers picturesque views, an significantly different world than most games dealing with the zombie apocalypse.  The change in setting works wonders for the game’s survival horror feeling as you’re not (well, at least for most of the game) looking around the same corners as you would in most games as the tourist resort is full of small twists and turns that you’re not going to expect. Some of the best moments of the game involve walking past an area dense with hills and trees and you’re suddenly startled by the scream of the undead when you have absolutely no idea where it’s coming from.

Perhaps that’s the genius of Dead Island, rather than focusing on merely wailing on zombies at every turn, the focus is clearly on survival. You’re rarely ever going to run into a horde of undead and have to fight your way through (though, fear not, it does happen), rather the game throws a few zombies at you, but places them in all of the right places. It’s an extremely cool feeling to round a corner and see a ton of bodies, and one of them slowly gets up, looks at you and begins to charge.  It’s a frequent occurrence to hear a growling undead from somewhere and then have to quickly adapt your strategy.

It may have the walking dead featured prominently, but Dead Island feels like no zombie game before it. It’s probably easiest to describe the game as Fallout meets the zombie apocalypse. You choose your character based on skill specialty (one for example is more proficient than the other in throwing weapons, while the other’s specialty is brute weapons) and level up as you progress through the game’s sidequests and finding items. As you level up, you’ll gain access to new weapons and the ability to combine these weapons at workbenches found throughout the island.  While this may sound great, it’s also where the game begins to fall apart. The game puts absurd restrictions on the weapons you can use depending on what level you are. Like an old wrench for example.. You mean I can’t just pick up a rusty wrench from the ground and start wailing on zombies? Nope. You’ll have to unlock certain levels first. I get it, I really do; it’s a way to progress through the game, but it’s a little frustrating when you’re searching for weapons as you’re being chased down by zombies and the only thing you can find is something you’re not able to use.

In games like Dead Rising and its sequel, you were similarly asked to look throughout the environment for weapons and items to help fight off the undead horde. In those games, the question instantly became “Can I do this?” and the answer was mostly yes, but in Dead Island, it’s a frequent no. See that surf board leaning up against the lifeguard tower? Wouldn’t it be swell to take that and beat the hell out of a few zombies? Well…you can’t. That’s just a piece of the scenery, have this canoe oar instead.  Oh, that pool umbrella over there? The one with the pointed end that could impale a zombie? You can’t use that either, can I interest you in this canoe oar instead (yeah, there’s a lot of those in the game).

It all plays a part in just how dated Dead Island feels. A good majority of the weapons feels remarkably the same, and you’ll end up grinding your way through a good portion of the game.  A lot of my play time went like this: grab weapon, swing wildly, clear area, repeat. You can make the point that this is the point of a game like this, but here, it all feels so uninspired.  On the same note, the island and its sweeping vistas may look impressive, but the characters and their animations look like they’re straight out of the early days of this console generation.  The voice acting is rather well done though.

My final complaint about Dead Island may be a small one, but it’s just as important. Now, I’m the guy who when given the choice, will normally choose the “good guy” route in most games, but even though I wasn’t given the choice in Dead Island, I felt like a douche the entire time. Regardless of what character you choose, you wake up in your hotel room unsure of what’s going on, you know nothing about the undead roaming around; all you really know is that something is going on and it’s probably a good idea to get up. That doesn’t stop you from digging through people’s bags and luggage to find supplies and money, oh, and deodorant. Lots of deodorant.

The Blast Factor: Dead Island is like no other zombie game you’ve played, and that’s both a good thing and a terrible thing. At its best, it’s a zombified take on Fallout, but at its worst – it’s a dated and uninspired action title with little to offer in the end. Regardless, if you’re a fan of zombies or action games, you should at least check out Dead Island, even if it is disappointing.

What’s with all the gaming cat fights latelty ammirite? The latest hair pulling and name calling comes from Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Rob Dyer, senior VP of publisher relations, who’s taking a shot at rival Microsoft and its policies that require an Xbox Live Arcade game to be released on the platform first, before being sold anywhere else — like the PlayStation Network. Specifically, he’s targeting Microsoft’s European VP of interactive entertainment Chris Lewis who recently defended the company’s policy.

“I think what Chris and the other representatives at Microsoft are doing is protecting an inferior technology,” Dyer told IndustryGamers. “I think they want to dumb it down and keep it as pedestrian as possible so that if you want to do anything for Blu-ray, or you have extra content above 9GB, or you want to do anything of that nature, you’d better sure as heck remember that Microsoft can’t handle that.”

Dyer went on to say that Microsoft’s policies are hurting not only their relationship with the developers, but the consumer as well. “So potentially any time we’ve gone out and negotiated exclusive content of things that we’ve announced at things like DPS or E3, publishers are getting the living crap kicked out of them by Microsoft because they are doing something for the consumer that is better on our platform than it might be perceived on theirs. So from a creativity standpoint and what we are doing to try to make it better for the consumer, our view is Microsoft’s doing everything they can to eliminate that because they have an inferior technology.”

Okay, stick with me here – in Driver: San Francisco, John Tanner, undercover cop and everyman has the ability to shift from one person to another and take over their body as they drive around the streets of San Francisco. For now, let’s ignore the immediate questions that spring up at this idea (Only in cars? What happens to his own body when he does this?) and the fact that it sounds like the premise for a cheesy Sci-Fi channel movie and focus one thing; somehow – the shifting mechanic works..and it works very well. The latest Driver installment is a wildly fun and over the top summer movie of a driving game that throws realism to the wind and allows you to enjoy the fun of car crashes, tight turns and yes – even shifting.

In all fairness, the story makes sense when you look at it in context. Tanner’s long time rival Jericho has broken out of jail again and sends our protagonist into a coma very early in the game. The rest of the events, shifting and all, take place in the comatose mind of Tanner, so it’s a bit more believable in that sense. Regardless, it works well within the world of Driver: San Francisco. The majority of the game’s missions require you to either chase, follow or beat someone to a location, and the shifting mechanic allows you to never really feel out of the mission until the very end. Take one of the missions where I was asked to take out another car before it gets to a meeting point on the other side of the city.  The game’s arcade controls aren’t very tight and as such, I plowed right into the wall. In most games, this would be the time to curse the game out and restart the mission, but using the shift mechanic, I was able to pull up a map that goes far above the city and pick a car close to the target vehicle and continue the mission.

Scoff if you want at how easy this all sounds, but it’s not without its fair share of issues. It takes about a second and a half to shift into any vehicle, so you’ll have to be very strategic about which vehicle you’ll choose. Is it going the right way? How close is it to the target vehicle? How fast is it? Picking the wrong vehicle can make for some frustrating moments, but it can also make for some awesomely surprising ones as well.  There were more than a few times when I chose what I thought was the right car, but it ended up just crashing into cars coming behind me, which caused the target car to wreck.  Well, that works…

Driver: San Francisco is not a racing game and it’s at its best when it clearly knows this.  The best moments are found when the game embraces its quirky nature and goes completely over the top, but when the game introduces the racing missions, things slow down tremendously.  The game also loses steam near the game’s third act, as the missions start to blend together and become very repetitive. It’s a bit disappointing to get two acts of amazing fun, and then the third is such a screaming halt.

Luckily then, Driver’s San Francisco is a large one that’s great fun to explore.  If you’ve ever been to the city, San Francisco is a spread out and bustling metropolis with a small town vibe you can’t find anywhere else, complete with landmarks and tourist attractions, even areas filled with small mom and pop shops. The city may not be recreated exactly within the game, but the key points are there, and of course, the hills make for some awesome chase moments. I often found myself ditching missions just to look around the city of San Francisco, which by the way is rendered at a beautiful 60 frames per second.

Perhaps most surprising about Driver: San Francisco is just how fun the game’s multiplayer suite is.  The shift system works amazingly well in this realm as it gives even the most novice players a chance to stay in the game for longer. The multiplayer missions also tend to get away from the typical race and wreck type of missions that multiplayer racers like this usually use in favor of some lesser used types. One game mode for example finds you having to trail behind a target car to get points while another has you playing a game of tag with an ever changing target core to earn points.

Blast Factor: It may not be the most realistic racer on the market, but Driver: San Francisco is a wonderfully fun arcade style driving game that shouldn’t be missed. The San Francisco setting makes for a virtual playground of vehicular enjoyment, and the shifting mechanic works surprisingly well. If you’re looking for a fast paced and fun action car title – you really can’t go wrong here. Welcome back Driver, we’ve missed you.

We live in a society obsessed with perfecting the human image. These shoes will make you run faster, this drink gives you more stamina and this surgery will irresistible to the opposite sex. The world of Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a futuristic look at where that society is headed, and it’s a grim one.  Competing biotech corporations are augmenting people with new limbs and new senses, but a secret war for these technologies is brewing and innocent lives are being put at risk for this war.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the latest chapter in the long running, critic and cult favorite series casts players in the middle of this war and gives them the freedom to decide just how it pans out. Your choices have a tremendous amount of weight and as such, the replay factor is through the roof. Deus Ex is not just a tremendous action game, it’s a gripping and satisfying tale that hits all (well, most) of the right notes to leave you on the edge of your seat.

Human Revolution casts you in the role of Adam Jensen, chief security officer for Sarif Industries, one of the leading Biotechnology companies on the planet. Sarif is on the verge of a major breakthrough, and could unlock the full potential of the human body, but they have their detractors. Not only are their rival companies attempting to steal their information and ideas by any means necessary, they also have a number of “purists” who believe that their work is wrong. On a routine mission, Jensen is attacked and left for dead, leading him to augmented with the company’s own technology.  What results is your quest  to unravel a global conspiracy and find your attackers.

Human Revolution is so gripping because it deals with issues that though they may be a ways off, are very possible in today’s society, but just how deep you dive into the mythos of the game is completely up to you – and that’s where the game truly begins to shine.   A lot of games can claim to give you choices, but very few give you the freedom that Deus Ex offers. Each mission gives you a few basic choices, for instance if you want a weapon to take out enemies from a distance or close-up, but you never feel like the game is guiding you in a certain direction. You’re merely dropped into a mission and asked to complete it in whichever way you prefer. Go through and take out

Deus Ex allows players to take on missions anyway they want.

I often found myself going the other route; sneaking around missions and avoiding enemy contact whenever possible. This is where Deus Ex is at its most gripping, enemy AI is astoundingly good, responding to everything from noise to suspicious activity and yes, even unconscious bodies if you don’t hide them well enough. You’ll genuinely have to plan a strategy and think about how you’re going to do things before leaping right in, as getting caught often leads to having to think on the fly, and adopt a new strategy.  The way you play not only has an effect on the game’s missions, but the way the game itself plays out, as certain actions will open up new interactions and side missions that further delve deep into the world of Deus Ex.

There is something to say though for how satisfying and remarkably realistic the game’s gunplay is. Throughout the game (especially if you choose to shoot first and ask questions later), you’ll gain access to a lot of different weapons, and each feels like its weighted right and fun to shoot. It’s incredibly rewarding to take out a room of baddies with a high powered weapon, and the game’s well done cover system adds to it by leaps and bounds.

As you play through Deus Ex, you’ll earn Praxis points, the game’s currency system that you’ll use to level up and earn new abilities. These too have a profound effect on just how you’ll experience the game. I found myself investing them in the blades on my arms, as I found it incredibly rewarding to sneak up on an enemy and take them out this way, but you’re able to distribute them to literally any aspect of your character in an effort to max out your play style of choice. A tip though – no matter how you choose to play, give a significant amount of your points to hacking, as it makes the entire game easier, and opens up a lot of new choices.

For all that it does right; Deus Ex has an unfortunate habit of stopping its own momentum. While the majority of the game is choice driven, there’s a few moments where the game feels remarkably linear, and you can’t help but feel like the game is pushing you in certain directions. A good example of these moments are the game’s boss fights. In a normal game, they’d be sufficient, but when a game is as well done as Deus Ex, they seem out of place and counterproductive to what the game truly wants to do.

Though it’s marred by dated facial animations, the majority of Deus Ex: Human Revolution looks like an art-school dystopia. Heavy on blacks and grays, the game plays the troubled future motif well, and not as predictable as some other games that explore the same theme.  There were multiple times I just found myself staring out a window at the wonderfully rendered cityscape. Human Revolution is one of most unique and cool looking games of this generation.

The Blast Factor: Barring a few missteps, Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a gripping and unique thrill ride that everyone should play. It’s faith in its mechanics, and play style allows the player an ultimate sense of freedom and the result is a game that you’re not going to want to just experience, but play through again and again. It may not be perfect, but Deus Ex: Human Revolution is a great action romp.

You? How about you? I see a few hands there.

Blast Magazine is partnering with Sony to hand out a slew of beta invites for the upcoming Resistance 3 multiplayer beta kicking off August 4.  How do you win? Just enter a comment on this post and you’ll automatically be entered. You can post as many times as you want, but you’ll only be entered once.  Please note, these codes are for users with North American PSN accounts only.

Oh and be sure to follow me on Twitter @JoeSinicki. I’ll be slinging codes there every now and then as well.

Winners will be chosen sometime Monday! Good luck!

Want to know a secret? I’ve never seen a single moment of a Harry Potter movie, nor have I read a page of any of the books. Nothing against the franchise, I just never did. In fact, the only real concrete memory I have of the series is the god awful first Deathly Hallows game.  Is this really what people wait in line for?

The good news is that pretty much everything has been refined from The Deathly Hallows: Part 1, the bad news? It’s still pretty bad. Though there’s been obvious effort to tweak and tune the mechanics from the last game, they still don’t work and can be incredibly frustrating. With painfully bad voiceovers and a dull, short campaign, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II is not a good gaming send off for a franchise that defined a generation.

Much like its predecessor Deathly Hallows: part II plays like Gears of War in a Harry Potter mask. If that sounds weird…well that’s because it is. You’ll take cover and use your wand as your main weapon.  Different spells have different effects and can be used to take on different tasks – when they arise. That last part is key as the majority of the game is an incredibly repetitive affair.  Walk in to an area, cast a few spells, defeat bad guys and repeat until the game is over.  From time to time you’ll get new spells that will make the game feel a bit different (especially towards the end of the game), but for the bulk of the game, it all feels the same.

The most disappointing part of the game happens when you figure out just how paint by numbers the game is. Take the cover system for example; in a game like Gears of War, there’s multiple options for cover in an effort to be strategic, but in Deathly Hallows, it’s obvious that the developers put the cover points in where you’re supposed to take cover.  It gets to the point where you’ll see cover and instinctively know that death eaters are going to pop up right in front of it. This type of handholding becomes a bit more accepting when you take into account the game’s target audience; but it’s no excuse for the lazy level design.

One of the game's many different spells

For what it’s worth though, the game is full of great ideas – they’re just not implemented well. When you learn new spells, it’s a great deal of fun to experiment with them, but that feeling goes away when you realize that they all pretty much have the same effect. There’s a cool spell towards the end of the game that allows you to teleport between cover points, but it comes so late in the game that you never get the chance to truly explore what it can do. Perhaps Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II is most disappointing because it could have been much, much better.

The voice work in the game is done by impersonators, rather than the actual actors, and a few of them, like Harry, are rather impressive, but others are laughably bad. Characters like Voldermort come off as mere cartoon caricatures of their on screen personas. Visually, the game is a mixed bag. The screen is presented sans hub, which offers a nice and clean presentation, but the environments are so diluted and animations are so stiff that it doesn’t really matter. The first game had an embarrassing number of glitches that made the title’s faults stick out that much more, though most of those glitches are now gone, the graphical issues somehow still stick out.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II will only take most gamers about 3-5 hours to complete, which is incredibly short when you take into account the game’s $50 price tag.  There’s no extra modes, no multiplayer and thus no real reason to go back through a second time. With this being the last game of the series, why not offer collectibles or hidden nods to past stories for the fans? Sadly, Deathly Hallows: Part II is as bare bones as a game can get.

The Blast Factor: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II is miles ahead of the first game, but sadly, that’s not saying much. It’s a bare bones, flawed and unimaginative title that sadly never delivers on its novel ideas. So long Mr. Potter, sorry you never got a decent gaming experience.

Every year, I have a very distinct way that I play the NCAA Football series. At any time I have no less than two different dynasties going. I always start with the Wisconsin Badgers and continue my home state’s yearly dominance over winning countless national titles, but the other is a bit more interesting. I take a random small school and through recruiting and old fashioned coaching slowly turn them into a national powerhouse; then after a few years I change schools to see if I can do it again.  This usually means giving up my numbers and record and starting over, but thanks to the coaching carousel, a new feature in this year’s game, I’m able to play in one continuous game that allows me to think and more importantly react as an actual NCAA coach.

The coaching carousel mode is just one of many additions that makes NCAA Football one of the series premiere titles. Though it has its fair share of flaws and the majority of the gameplay hasn’t been changed much, there’s still much to like here.  From a slew of new presentation improvements to a notable amount of customization options, NCAA Football  2012 finally steps out from the shadow of its big brother, the Madden NFL series and it does so by celebrating the spectacle of college football and not just the product.

The addition of the coaching carousel to the Dynasty Mode is an interesting one. You start by creating your coach from style to alma matter and of course look (admittedly though there are some curious absences here. You mean I can make my coach wear a 3 piece suit but can’t give him a 60’s era hat?) and then you pick your first coaching job. Where you go and what role you take will have a massive impact on your experience: pick an offensive or defensive coordinator and you’ll only have control over that side of the ball; but if you pick a head coach you’ll have control over the entire team. At the beginning of each season you’re given a set of goals and these are how you’re judged at the end of the season. Once your contract runs out you’ll have the option to stay with your current team (if they don’t fire you) or testing the waters otherwise.  It’s an interesting twist and a brand new way to look at a mode that had become somewhat stale in recent years.

The mode isn’t without its flaws though. Key among them is the fact that regardless of what position you choose, you’re going to be responsible for the entire team’s recruitment process, thus giving you pretty much the same responsibilities and making the feat of getting a head coaching job seem that much more trivial. What’s more, it’s entirely too easy to pull of the game’s biggest feat – landing your “dream job.” Simply create your coach and set his alma matter to whatever team you want, then make him the head coach of that school, and you’re in (interestingly enough it’s also a way to get a 30 point achievement on the Xbox 360).

Coaching carousel isn’t the only notable addition to Dynasty mode as for the first time ever you’ll be able to change around divisions and NCAA rules to your liking. The impressive customization suite was included as an answer to last year’s talk of super conferences and a dramatic realigning and is a college football fans dream. Want Norte Dame to play in the Big Ten? Go for it. Want to move a small southern team into the SEC to play with the big boys? It’s all up to you.  What’s more, you can even change bowl bids and where the bowl games happen. For instance, you can make the winner of the SEC and the winner of the Big Ten play each other in the Orange Bowl if you’d like.

Another mode that’s grown stale in recent years but given an overhaul in the 2012 game is the Road to Glory mode.  The mode, which puts you in control of one single created player now starts you back at the beginning of your senior year of high school (teams are either automatically created or you can import them using the impressive team builder). Once you choose which school you’ll be playing for, the game becomes almost more like an RPG as you’ll earn experience points to level up your player through in game play and mini games like practice performance. While you’ll start as a simple backup, you’ll eventually work your way up to becoming a trusted starter that can call his own plays and audibles at the line.

As you’d probably expect, save for a few new animations and tweaks, not much of the game’s core gameplay has been changed from last year’s installment. Unfortunately, this includes a few key elements that desperately needed tweaking. Some of the game’s physics are still a bit strange (there were several times where the ball went directly through my receiver), and the AI still has a tendency to become unbelievably good towards the end of the game especially when trailing. Come on, it’s a bit strange when you’re dominating for three and a half quarters only to have the other team suddenly become experts at interceptions and sacks.

Not all of the game’s tweaks are of the gameplay variety though, as the game features an updated presentation aspect this year.  Key among the updates is the stadium specific introductions. While not all teams have big introductions, the key ones are here like Florida State’s Chief Osceola and Renegade running on to the field and the LSU Tiger. They’re great to watch the first few times, but what about the rest of the game? If you’re going to capture the true spirit of college football, why not do something special for the end of the game?  Why does it feel the same when I beat a no name opponent as it does when I upset a top ranked team? Also notable is the fact that the game’s crowd noise has been improved dramatically and you no longer get the feeling like you’re listening to 50 fans amplified to sound like 100,000 fans; you’re actually listening to the right amount.

Much like the gameplay however, the game still suffers from some of the same visual flaws that have haunted the series for years. At random times half of players will vanish and the ball will completely go through whole objects. The new presentation aspects are great, but I almost would have rather had them wait on those until they fixed these lingering problems.

Blast Factor: Though it has its fair share of flaws, NCAA Football 2012 is easily one of the best of the franchise. With its new customization suite and revamped modes, college football fans are sure to find enough to enjoy for some time to come – or at least until next year’s game releases.

A man wakes up from a coma after almost 15 years. His friends, family and the world around him are vastly different than the world he remembers. The man makes a jokes about something no one remembers and everyone laughs politely. This, in essence is what the majority of Duke Nukem Forever feels like. Yes, it’s great seeing  Duke after all these years, but he is truly a man stuck in time – and that’s not a good thing. Graphically inferior to most modern day shooters , Forever is filled with problems that make you wonder why Gearbox even bothered.

They say that patience is a virtue, and using that logic, Duke Nukem’s fans are saints. By now, you surely know the story of Duke Nukem’s return to games. Announced nearly 15 years ago, Duke Nukem Forever has been shuffled from developer to developer before becoming virtual vaporware when it’s current studio, 3D Realms closed its doors in 2009. That is, until Randy Pitchford and Gearbox software swooped in and announced that they would be publishing and finally releasing the game. After all of this time, fans of the long running series deserve more. Much more.

Right from the get-go, Duke Nukem Forever looks ages behind most modern day shooters. Textures are messy and undetailed, there’s a ton of slowdown and screen tearing and the entire game just looks unpolished. Character models look robotic and outdated as well. Okay, I get it, Gearbox wanted to keep the spirit of the original game intact, they wanted it to look like it’s still from that era of gaming, but they better hope that the rest of the world, and not just the gaming public is in on the joke, and are willing to pay $60 for a game that looks like it’s decades old.

Just some of the bigger enemies you'll be facing in Duke Nukem Forever

Of course, the appeal of Duke Nukem has always been it’s take no prisoners in your face adult humor. It’s here (the first  two minutes feature quicktime events of the game’s protagonist peeing and then ability to pick up poop and throw it), but unfortunately it too feels dated. Remember movies like Team America: World Police and the famous political scandals of the 90s? Because Duke Nukem and Gearbox sure do.

The game is filled with dated jokes and references that just feel so stale. Oh, there are references to modern day; like the time Duke walks past a suit of Spartan like Armor and mocks it, saying that he doesn’t need it, but they’re few and far between.   Curiously enough, it’s this Halo joke that points out another one of Duke’s issues. It scoffs at mechanics from games like Halo, but that regenerating health bar seems awfully familiar doesn’t it?

For the majority of the game, Duke Nukem Forever feels an awful lot like you’d expect, a throwback that harkens back to the shooters of the early 90s. The good news is that this makes for some pretty cool moments; like the one that finds Duke Nukem racing around in a miniature RC car, but the bad news is that this too feels incredibly dated. After nearly 30-45 seconds of loading each time you load the game (the load screens are also filled with helpful tips like “Enemies sometimes drop weapons”), you’re treated to horrid enemy AI, awkward puzzles and terrible uneven aiming. The worst part offender by far though is the game’s terrible pathfinding and level design.  You’re going to find yourself backtracking through levels and searching for objectives as the game employs no map, and very few levels feature an easy to identify path.

Of course, Duke Nukem Forever also has multiplayer modes, but they too are just as buggy as the singe player campaign – just with a lot of Dukes instead of just one. We setup a number of play tests with a few other outlets that got an early copy of the game and featured tons of lag, and uneven play. Hopefully this will be addressed via  a patch once the game comes out, but for now it was nearly unplayable at times.

Strippers. The Duke's got 'em.

Blast Factor: After continuous delays and even a cancelation, Duke Nukem Forever is finally here and the results are unfortunately disappointing.  The humor is lacking and the gameplay feels incredibly outdated. Want a modern day version of the classic Duke Nukem formula? Play Bulletstorm, not this disappointment.

LOS ANGELES — Blast Gaming Editor Joe Sinicki and Blast Editor John Guilfoil are in The Los Angeles Sports Arena for Sony’s press conference. Stick with us for up to the minute updates.

We open to a rather long video, then Jack Tretton shows up, he’s talking about the PSN hack. He days you’re welcome to the press and thanks well…pretty much everyone.

Consumers are the lifeblood of the company. He apologizes for the hack.

Triton encourages those who left or who are afraid to embrace it as a result of the hack to open up to the brand.

Sony will soon be offering free access to cinema now.

Naughty Dog is now on the stage to talk Uncharted 3. Its new footage not seen anywhere else. A boat level where Drake is constantly swaying and yes, it’s gorgeous.

Water effects are fantastic.

Like previous Uncharted games, the scale on this game is astounding.

As you’d expect, very cinematic, very cool.

Multiplayer beta begins June 28.

New contest will give people first access to entire game.

New level features Drake scaling an airplane as it takes off.

Marcus Smith from Insomniac is up to talk about Resistance 3.

Were seeing new footage from the St. Louis section of the game.

It, like most other games in the lineup is on 3D. Not completely sold on the tech, but it works well here.

Were now talking PlaystAtion move. Were getting a bundle with everything you news for the move, the sharpshooter and r3.

God of war, ice and shadow of colossus are getting 3d treatments.

Two new 3d products, one a 24 inch display. It will be able to let two people see two distinct 3d images. Were also getting a more affordable pair of 3d glasses. There’s also a bundle with the monitor, glasses And resistance for $499.

2k sports is now up to talk NBA 2k12 with the move.

NBA on the move will allow easy play with move controller.

Kobe Bryant is here. He’s going to show how easy it is to play with the move. He doesn’t seem to be doing so well.

Kobe calla the game so realistic it’s frightening. It comes out October 12.

Were now seeing medievmoves, a new move game from the team that made sports champions.

No inventory system, what weapon you use depends on what motions you use.

This reminds me of sorcery from last year. Wonder what happened to it.

It features pretty impressive 1-1 motion.

It’s available this fall.

Were looking at infamous 2. Yeah, we know it comes out tomorrow.

The game gets user created content and move support this fall. Little big planet 2 gets further move support as well.

Starhawk is up next. Great reaction from the crowd.

Jack is now talking about a return, it better be… It is…. Sly Cooper is back!

Sly Cooper: thieves on time coming next year.

Dust 514 only for PS3. Will combine with Eve Online.

The ability to create one persistent world is awesome. Dust looks great too.

Closed beta hits this fall.

Bioshock infinite is shown. Incredible.

Looks so much different than any other game on the series.

Ken Levine talks about the move and his doubts. He talks how Sony has made him a believer by allowing new people to experience his games.

Yes, Bioshock infinite will feature move functionality.

Bioshock is also coming to the NGP.

Saints row 3 will feature brand new ps exclusive content. So will the new Star Trek game.

New phaser peripheral coming.

At an alpha stage. The game looks impressive.

SSX will feature exclusive content, as will need for speed: the run.

Battlefield 3 on PS3 will include bartledie 1943 on ps3 only.

Kazuo Hirai is up to talk about NGP.

Playstation suite will allow ps content to be available on android smart phones and tablets.

It’s official. It’s PlayStation Vita. It’ll be working with AT&T for 3G versions. The crowd laughed and booed at that.

Near is a streetpass like system for vita.

Uncharted Golden Abyss is being demonstrated.

So wait, is there only touch controls for combat?

The game is very heavy on touch control.

Next were talking about Ruin, a social action rpg compatible with the vita and ps3. So far…kind of underwhelming.

Saves will work on PS3 via cloud tech.

Mod Nation Racers is coming to Vita.

Where is Kevin Butler?

Mod Nation Vita will feature a cool track editor that you can trace with your fingers. Even the lighting can be changed.

PS3 tracks will work with Vita Mod Nation Racers.

Little Big Planet Vita is coming. Will revolutionize portable gaming. Rather cool ways that the features work with already in game mechanics. It will allow you to use textures from pictures as well as the PS3 game.

Sf x Tekken is coming to Vita.

Cole from Infamous joins the game.

Vita will be available this holiday. Wifi only retails for $249. The 3G model goes for $299.

E3 2011 is under two weeks away, and it’s shaping up to be one hell of a show. As usual, there’s a ton of rumors circulating around just what’s going to be revealed June 7-9 in Los Angeles. This week, we’ll be bringing you our predictions of just what we’re going to see. Here’s our Sony predictions, be sure to check out our Nintendo predictions and our Microsoft predictions.

So are you guys as sick of hearing about the PSN hack as I am? You can bet Sony is too, and that’s why I don’t think Sony is going to spend a ton of time on it. Oh, don’t get me wrong — they’re going to talk about it. They have to. They’ll apologize for the incident, perhaps even go into a bit more detail of how it happened, then they’ll talk about how they’ve overhauled the network’s security features. Sony is going to spend most of its time talking about their future and their lineup.

Key for that lineup? Is the NGP (or PS Vita as we may be calling it before long). We already know that Sony’s new portable will be playable at the show, but expect more — we’ll finally get a price, release date and a clear launch lineup. I’m going to go ahead and say $299, released in November with games like Modnation Racers, Little Big Planet and Uncharted leading the way. On top of that, we’ll also get some cool new features announced for the NGP that are going to make folks get really antsy for it.

But what about exclusives for the big guy? What about the PS3? I kind of think that Sony was a little too eager announcing their big name franchises earlier this year and late last; for instance, we already know about a new Uncharted, a new Ratchet and Clank, a new Resistance and Twisted Metal. We’ll get more information on those titles, but don’t count Sony out; they’ve got a few tricks up their sleeves. Look forGod of War IV to be formally announced as well as a possible Mod Nation Racers sequel. We’ll also get news of connectivity between the PS3 and the NGP as well as further information on the PSP masters collection coming to America.

I also fully expect to see the long rumored game for Heavy Rain creator David Cage. You know, the one he thinks is better than pretty much anything that’s ever come before it? It won’t be Heavy Rain 2 though.

Random prediction, Kevin Butler will return to the stage and it will be awesome.

So what about the PS Move? Much like Microsoft and Kinect, this year is essential for Sony to solidify it’s peripheral, and they’ll deliver. We’ll get more information on Sorcery as well as a few new titles including Eye Pet 2. The big news of the prsser, look for Sony to announce Move support for a major third party title. Will it be Modern Warfare 3? Perhaps Grand Theft Auto V? A new Star Wars game?

Oh, and also, Sony’s press conference is going to be 5 hours. Well…sort of. It’s going to be a welcome session, the conference, then the ability to play everything unveiled right there, and then a reception with a mystery musical guest. Anyone want to venture a guess as to who it’s going to be?

What do you expect to see at this year’s E3? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to keep with Blast during this year’s E3, as we’ll be live blogging the press conferences and giving you our hands on impressions of the latest games and info.

In the last few years, comic book fans have been spoiled by games like Batman: Arkham Asylum and Spider-Man: Web of Shadows. So it’s logical to hope that Thor: God Of Thunder, the video game tie in for the Summer movie will follow the trend  and not be just another crummy movie tie in. You hoped wrong.  Thor: God of Thunder is less Batman: Arkham Asylum and more Iron Man, it’s just what you hoped it wouldn’t be; another subpar movie tie in that doesn’t seem interested in doing enough to stand out.  Sure, it does some things great, but even those elements can be found done even better in other games.

Much like other movie tie-ins, Thor doesn’t follow the story of its big celluloid brother, rather it features its own unique story written by comics scribe Matt Fraction (who also wrote the Iron Man 2 game).  It’s a shame then that the game’s story which finds Loki tricking Thor into causing destruction on other planets, and as a result going back to have to fix things seems so uninspired. You see, rather than really fixing things in Thor, like the game tells you you’ll be doing, you’ll constantly find yourself going through area after area just smashing anyone and anything you can get your hands on. See that crate? Smash it! See that building? Smash it! Yes, you’ve saved this planet!

Most of the game is held down by this repetitiveness as well. Much of the game finds Thor running from one room to another, getting locked in said room and then moving on and repeating. Luckily, the game’s mechanics save it from being a complete bore, at least at first. It’s easiest to compare Thor’s third person action mechanics to that of Sony’s God of War series; mashing on the attack button unleashes a fury of attacks on your opponents, and redirecting the thumbstick in any direction will cause Thor to attack in that direction. It’s a simple and intuitive formula that works well here until you start to realize that it’s the same set of moves repeating again and again.

You do get a break from the monotony of the button mashing though, in the form of the game’s surprisingly well done boss fights. The majority of these bosses are much larger than anything in the game, and as an admitted scale whore, I really enjoyed each of them. While they do of course feature the same basic mechanics, the elements of timing and strategy found in the boss fights makes it feel much different than the other areas of the game.

Playing through Thor, you’ll gain experience points, which in turn will give you tokens. These tokens can be used to upgrade Thor’s abilities, unlock new attacks or health. Exploring in certain areas will result in finding more tokens for these upgrades, but the game is so linear that there’s not really much to explore. In fact, you’ll notice that going pretty much anywhere off the beaten path will result in getting more of these tokens.

Visually, Thor: God of Thunder is a mixed bag, while environments like Asgard and several cityscapes look impressive, the majority of the game looks like it’s straight out of the last console generation. Characters look awkward and move even worse, and some of the environments and objects tend to get pixilated and blocky often. One bright spot in the game is the voiceovers, which are impressive, especially for a licensed game.

Blast Factor: Thor: God of Thunder isn’t a terrible game, it just doesn’t do much to break out of the monotony that hold so many licensed games. It’s a paint by numbers third person action game that if it didn’t have the likeness of Marvel’s Thunder God, wouldn’t even be noticeable. If you’re a huge fan of the character, you may want to check out Thor, otherwise – there’s always Captain America (fingers crossed).

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.

ORLANDO, Fla. — There’s nothing quite as whimsical and charming as entering the gates of Walt Disney World. Just the very sight of the welcome sign leaves you with a unique excitement and undeniable giddy feeling. Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, Florida was the home to the first U.S. based GT Academy national finals. I accepted an invitation to attend the event on behalf of Blast Magazine with no idea what I should really expect of the event. George Nicholson, an avid gamer and simulation programmer, also attended the event with me. Little did I know, during our brief visit to the academy, I’d get to observe and interact with 32 grown men chasing little boy dreams.

The GT Academy events started back in 2008 in Japan, but this is the competition’s first visit to U.S. soil. 32 competitors are narrowed to 16 finalists and those finalists will proceed to Silverstone, a course in in the UK. At that point, they’ll go through very rigorous training, physical and mental conditioning to prepare them to compete in actual race cars. It’s a little like the scene in Armageddon when they’re training the unsuspecting oil rig workers to be astronauts (which is awesome, in my opinion).

The event was appropriately hosted in the PlayStation Pavilion. Upon our arrival, we were met by a warm PR rep for Sony and escorted into the Jostens Center where the event was already in motion. We made our way down the stairs and were greeted by a couple of names you may already know – the Nissan Nismo Z and the GTR. Well, hello there! We’ll go ahead and file those under “do want”.

The Nissan Nismo

After making our way through the makeshift entertainment hall, we found ourselves in the center of the competition circle. Eight racing stations stocked with their very own barefoot racers. I couldn’t help but notice that everyone driving in a racing station had their shoes sitting next to them. Apparently, these guys are above the law. Rules of my road say that I have to keep my feet enclosed in proper shoe attire. Pretty sure I’ll be writing my congressman about this.

The intensity in the racing circle (which I lovingly refer to as Racing Row) was incredible. Every racer was extremely focused — despite the many professional photographers, videographers and fuzzy microphone covers in their faces. That kind of focus is a highly coveted skill where I come from. I’m just sayin’. After a short stint in Racing Row, I meandered back to the lounge area gratuitously provided by Sony.

In the lounge area, there were several couches individually placed in front of their own 40” (if I had to guess) TV. These gaming stations were equipped with PS3s and the latest Sony titles, of course. Two GT Academy finalists were focused on LittleBigPlanet 2. I sat and took in the sights with Darryl from Lima, Ohio.

After we discussed the fact that neither of us could understand what was going on in this game of LittleBigPlanet 2, we talked a little about racing. Darryl works in the automotive parts industry and participated in “some drag racing” in Lima — but never anything like what the GT Academy was offering. “We’re all gearheads” was what Darryl told me. According to what he knew, almost every competitor had some kind of leg into the automotive world — be it racing, simulation racing, automotive industry workers, etc. He was the one who kindly educated me on the types of cars on display and some other aspects of the competition.

After making my way back to Racing Row again, the intensity drove me out yet again! I’m pretty sure that the guys in the black shirts that said “official” across the back that were holding clipboards had a lot to do with my discomfort. There just seemed to be too many bodies in this small area (and let the record show that I’m not claustrophobic OR afraid of hugs). So, in sneaking away, I saw in my peripheral an interview taking place with an extremely enthusiastic young competitor. That’s when I met Christopher Roberts. The charisma and excitement from this guy was incredible. You’d think he just won the Super Bowl kind of excitement.

The National Finals top 16 (photo credit: gran-turismo.com)

“I’m still on cloud nine. I had goose bumps and my heart and adrenaline was pumping.” The mechanical engineering student has been playing Gran Turismo since he was eight years old. He was gifted a PS3 and GT5 from his girlfriend for Christmas which is what allowed him to practice for the GT Academy competition. Best gift ever? I think so. Between his dad’s love of cars and his mom’s competitive nature, this scene doesn’t seem inappropriate for the Champlain, New Yorker at all. He’s been racing other driving simulators for a while now (iRacing, Forza Motorsport). He also raced RC cars with his little brother. So glad this kid made the top 16. His charisma, skill and energy earn him my support — Christopher Roberts is officially my favorite.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Lucas Ordonez, the first season winner of the GT Academy competition who was presently in Florida racing in Sebring (which he eagerly informed us of placing second in the race). Another high-energy character, Lucas will soon be moving on to practice for the Le Mans 24 Hour. I have respect for anyone who puts off an MBA to pursue a career of passion as a racecar driver. Though I was excited to hear about his recent successes, a little of his personal history and his upcoming races, I really had just one question: Based on your observation, which competitors have what it takes to really race? Ordonez said he saw some fast ones this time around, but that fast wasn’t necessarily what it took. Anyone can make a fast car go fast — “what is really most important is staying calm and focused”. He points to Emerson Trimble and Jose Sebastian Cedeno. “Those two over there in the caps (referring to their hats). I think they are very good.”

Congratulations to the final 16:

1. Bryan Heitkotter (GTZf_CudaMan)

2. Christopher Roberts (Dr_3Wide_Skills)

3. Jason Miller (R1600Turbo)

4. Andre Gomes (FixByWire)

5. John Wilding (SpecMiata-JSW)

6. Christopher Morton (Z06Fun)

7. Kris Norris (Appalachian_Kris)

8. Gregory Russell (Gar529)

9. Connor Clifford (ConMan_Skills)

10. Phillip Arscott (Doctor_ILL)

11. Nick Fontana (BlindSideFive0)

12. Rich Pratt (ZeroLM)

13. Glenn McGee Howle (Glenn_McGee)

14. Steve Driscoll (Choate51)

15. Sean Johnston (GTP_TheCheef)

16. Jose Cedeno (SebaF1)

Blast correspondent George Nicholson contributed to this report

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.

In celebration of Resident Evil’s 15 anniversary, Capcom has announced that they will release HD versions of Resident Evil 4 and Codename Veronica this fall as downloadable titles for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

According to the publisher, both games have received new visuals and will support trophies and achievements respectively.

Originally released for the Nintendo Gamecube, Resident Evil 4 has had numerous ports and stands as one of the most well reviewed games of all time.

Thanks to the music gaming boom over the last few years, homes have been invaded by cheap plastic gaming peripherals.  The last thing any gamer wants is something else to add to the pile. Luckily, the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter isn’t just another cheap piece of plastic destined for the peripheral junk pile; it’s a badass answer to the “how will motion gaming handle shooters?” question. Thanks to some pretty cool tech and a great layout; the PlayStation Move is a must have for any Move owner — if your arms can take it.

The Sharshooter is set up pretty straight forward, you put the move controller into the front section of the navigation controller into a specialized slot below it. The peripheral itself may look surprisingly bland (coming off as a sub machine gun painted gray), but you can’t deny how cool it looks when powered up with the glowing orb of the Move. The front of the gun features an orange shotgun like pump that serves different purposes depending on the game, for instance reloading. There’s also two triggers and buttons mapped to the side of the gun. Like the shotgun portion, the buttons are mapped for different purposes depending on the game. The back of the gun features a stock that can extend to different sizes to resemble different guns. While as a whole the Sharpshooter feels sturdy, this stock feels quite cheap and I found myself shying away from it in fear of breaking it.

When first using the Sharpshooter, you’re likely to be a little put off by it. Your hands aren’t used to playing a shooter the way the peripheral requires. Stick with it though, it gets better. After roughly an hour of playing Killzone 3 with the Sharpshooter, I became quite skilled at mowing down Helghast with it, in fact, I almost prefer it to the standard controller controls in some ways. The Sharpshooter is a lot more fluid than you’d expect and very precise (though, admittedly, not as much as a controller).  Keep in mind, to get the most out of the gun, you’re going to have to seriously mess with the gun’s sensitivity settings.

One of the issues I did find though was that as impressive as the button mapping was, at times they felt too small, and placed too close together. Now, let me preface that; I’m a rather large man, with pretty large fingers, so it may not be an issue to anyone, but I constantly found myself hitting the secondary trigger during moments when I didn’t want to.  Another issues I had, and it’s a minor one, is that the Sharpshooter isn’t made for long sessions. After a while, holding the gun up becomes a bit taxing on your arms, and you’re likely to either take a break or switch back to the Dualshock.

The Blast Factor: With a surprisingly reasonable price tag of $39, the PlayStation Move Sharpshooter is a great addition to the Move lineup. It’s sturdy, intuitive, well built and incredibly fluid during most playthroughs. While it does have it’s downfalls, like the fact that it’ll tax your stamina and it doesn’t seem to be built for those with larger fingers, I had a great time with the peripheral. Most importantly, I can’t wait to see how other developers can incorporate it into their games.

Note: Check out our reviews of the PlayStation Move and Killzone 3 too!

Surprise! Following reports that Sony had delayed Motorstorm Apocalypse in Japan and Europe, word now comes that the North American release of the racer is effected as well.

Sony delayed the game in Japan in the aftermath of the Earthquake and Tsunami that hit the country last week.

No new date has been scheduled for either territory. Stick with Blast for more info.

Fans of Russian stacking dolls take note, Stacking’s first DLC hits next month.

The DLC pack, made official by THQ today is called “The Lost Hobo King” and once again teams Charlie with his homeless buddy Levi to the kingdom of Camelfoot to sort out an important family issue. It turns out Levi may have some royal blood in him.

Though no price or official release date has been set yet, THQ has promised 15 new dolls along with brand new quests and achievements.

He, while you’re at it, check out our Stacking review.

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.

Even open world games have to end sometime; an issue Sucker Punch Games is looking to rectify with inFamous 2′s newly revealed user created content feature.

The developer promises a simple set of tools that’s lets users create pretty much any sort of mission they want, similar to the creation mode of the Little Big Planet series.  Sucker Punch also assured everyone that while the top rated user created content will be showcased, players not interested in experiencing it will be able to filter it out.

Can’t wait until the game releases on July 7 to get your hands on the user created features? Good news, as the developer also announced that a limited public beta will launch in early April for folks to try the new features out. More info will be released regarding the beta on March 14 via the game’s official website.

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 make a gamer’s morning.

The official Facebook page for Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon announce earlier this morning that the next chapter in the cult favorite insect slaughtering series will hit Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 5th.

The Earth Defense Force series places gamers in the shoes of an out manned soldier as they attempt to rid the world of giant firggin’ bugs.

Stick with Blast for more on EDF: Insect Armageddon as we approach the release date.

Killzone 2 was easily one of the best PS3 games of 2009, so expectations have been high for the sequel. Thankfully, developer Guerrilla Games has taken their time to construct a superb shooter, and the result is likely to be one of the best action games of the year. Fans of new technology will especially love Killzone 3’s terrific support of both Move controls and stereoscopic 3D.

Killzone 3 picks up the saga from the previous game mere moments after the death of Helghast dictator, Visari. The ISA troops are struggling to evacuate the Helghast homeworld, after the nazi-like red-eyed stormtroopers have actually nuked their own city. You take the role of Sev, who along with his best bud Rico, are near super-soldiers who must struggle to survive against the Helghan army and the harsh environments of the planet.

Killzone 3 streamlines the gameplay enough that the action feels less like Call of Duty and more like Halo this time around. You can carry three weapons, and move more quickly, but the core shooting gameplay remains intensely intact. Helghan feels like a world on fire, and through the entire game, Sev and his comrades are consistently outgunned and outnumbered. None of this is new for a first person shooter, of course, but the way Killzone 3 expertly creates an atmosphere of intense clandestine fighting is thoroughly remarkable.

The faster pace lends a slightly less realistic feel than the previous game, but the return is a more responsive feel to the gunplay. Being able to carry a pistol, main gun, and heavy weapon gives the player far more tactical choices. Since you can always carry a heavy weapon, this adds a whole new dimension to the combat zone. The game is generally generous about supplying ammo, so you can go crazy with the rockets, chain gun, and, later in the game, an awesome energy weapon that causes its victim to explode in a massive energy surge. All the guns have a great feel, which is a major facet to the success of the overall gameplay.

Adding to the variety is the exo suit (basically a small mech) and the jet pack. Both are used sparingly in the single player game, which is sort of a shame as they’re tremendously fun to stomp around in. The suit lets you fire off rockets and heavy machine gun fire with abandon, though it’s definitely not invulnerable—especially to tank and rocket launcher attacks.

The jet pack is really a jump pack. It launches you into the air, but can only provide lift for a few seconds. This leads to some obvious platformer-style sections, where you are leaping from one ledge to another, while fending off troopers. The sections that use these new toys are great though, and provide some of the most memorable fights in the game. There are a few on-rails sections as well, where Sev is a passenger on a vehicle and must man the weapons to mow down the enemy.

The AI of both enemy and allied troops is another impressive part of the package. For the most part, your allies are effective and useful. They’ll heal you if they can get to you in time, and actually use tactics to fight the enemy. Conversely, the enemy troops respond intelligently, use cover, and even seem to coordinate their attacks. That said, there are still times when they act like brain dead video game drones, but that’s the exception instead of the norm.

Of course, most players will want to battle it out against actual humans and Killzone 3 soars online. The main focus is still on the multifaceted warzone mode, which mixes up various game styles to create an intense online experience. There is also a more standard deathmatch mode and the new operations mode, which is a team-based attack-and-defend variation. The maps are expertly designed and the class selection is excellent. As you play, you earn experience that lets you advance your online character, earning new weapons and rank.

As expected, Killzone 3 looks and sounds amazing. The diverse landscapes look gorgeous, and the character models are realistic. The game supports both the Move controller and stereoscopic 3D visuals, and both are executed fantastically. The 3D visuals are particularly stunning, adding an amazing sense of depth to the game, although we encountered some ghosting during the cut scenes.

Move support is very well done. Far more responsive than similarly-controlled shooters on the Wii, Killzone 3 manages to make the Move a viable option for controlling the action—especially for fine-tuned aiming. That said, while you certainly could play through the whole game this way, most players will still likely opt for the standard controller, if only for comfort.

Killzone 3 certainly isn’t perfect. The main issue is the sheer volume of cinematic sequences in the single player game. The story is passable, if unoriginal and laughably melodramatic at times, but the too-frequent cut scenes break up the action far too much and hurt the pacing.

A few other old school design holdovers nag at the gameplay as well. The environments are mostly non-interactive. Not being able to use a well placed rocket to create a new path in a junk yard just seems silly. Also, splash damage is a bit wonky. Trying to hit enemies behind sandbags with a rocket is almost futile, as the rockets seem to do no damage unless you hit just the right spot.

Blast Factor: Killzone 3 succeeds despite its shortcomings. The insistence on using cut scenes to tell the overly dramatic, yet clichéd story hurts the single player game’s pacing, and there are some other outdated design decisions that keep the game from feeling truly innovative. That said, Killzone 3 works in the most important way. The gameplay is terrific, with intense, tough and thoroughly involving combat.

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.

World renowned creator and visionary Walt Disney and his Imagineers had a policy to not change the attractions hiscompany built, but rather to plus them. This is, rather than completely take away from the original; they would take the experience, and add to what made it so good in the first place. Similarly, Little Big Planet 2, the highly anticipated sequel to PS3 DIY platformer feels an awful lot like a plussed attraction as Media Molecule has taken the formula set forth by the first game, added a ton of new content and created a wonderfully inventive world that still feels as familiar as the original.

On the surface, not much has changed between Little Big Planet and its sequel, as the core game remains mostly unchanged. Swing and platform jump across arts and crafts inspired worlds in search of stickers and prizes. A closer look though will showcase just how much work has gone into improving Little Big Planet 2 from its predecessor. Everything here is much more dynamic and rendered impressively well. The franchise is known for its distinct arts and crafts DIY inspired world, and here’s it’s much more imaginative than you’ve known from the first game. What’s cool is that even the levels and objects from the first game can be used in Little Big Planet 2 and they too are given the upgrade.

Little Big Planet 2’s campaign mode, which finds Sackboy aligning himself with a mysterious group known as “The Alliance” after a mysterious vacuum sucks up most of the world’s residents. It’s a cute little story, but much like the first game, you’re likely to ignore it as you progress through the game. What you’re not likely to ignore though is the phenomenal level design throughout the game. One minute your platforming from gap to gap like you’d expect and the next you’re navigating a segway like vehicle through a room with reverse gravity. Throw in some rather unique and ingenious (giant possessed cupcake anyone?) and you have a picture of what Little Big Planet 2 has to offer. The genius of the game and the franchise even is that the dynamic is always changing so you’re unlikely to ever get bored.

Of course, playing through the 30 levels of the campaign is barely even scratching the surface of Little Big Planet 2, as the real heart and ingenuity of the game comes in the game’s robust creation system. Diving head first into the game’s creation mode can be a bit daunting or even intimidating at first, but  luckily there’s fairly large number of tutorials (all voiced magnificently by Stephen Fry) that will get you caught up on how to use the game’s suite of tools. To say that Little Big Planet 2’s creation modes surpass that of the original is a gross understatement.

Literally everything in Little Big Planet 2 is larger than the original

When talking about the game, Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans quoted Henry Ford, saying “If I asked them what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse, I gave them a car.” This quote is perfect for the improvements made here, as everything has been made easier. Take for instance the action of creating movement, in the original it would take a multitude of calculations and different pieces tied together, here, it’s as easy as selecting the tool, tying it to the object and watching it go. There’s a slew of new improvements, including sackbots (a huge help to make created levels seems more populated), and the ability to record your own music assign specific movements to different buttons on the controller seamlessly.

This seamlessness translates well into the game’s community as well. Sure, you can send your level out to the masses with the click of a button, but the fun really starts when you start perusing the works of others. Play through their levels, rate them (on a simple frown or smiley face scale) and compare pins with others.  Sorting through levels is a ton easier as well; as you’re now able to search by a number of new descriptors (including the infinitely handy ‘Media Molecule recommends’) as well as the ability to create a cue of levels you’ll want to play on LBP.me.

Of course, Little Big Planet 2 isn’t perfect, and most of the problems are the same that haunted the first one. As a platformer, it’s a bit lacking at times, including a few curious button glitches and issues (come on, double jump?). It can also be said that some of the tutorials still leave you scratching your head at times, but given the depth of the game, it’s almost expected.

The Blast Factor: Depending on how much you want to put into it, Little Big Planet 2 can be either a small and fun platforming romp with friends or an extensive creation suite that you’ll spend hours on. Either way though, you’re sure to have a smile on your face as you play through one of the PS3’s most innovative and fun titles. Little Big Planet 2 is simply a stunning exercise in creativity and video games.

When Sony officially announced Little Big Planet 2 last year, it came as a bit of a suprise as Media Molecule’s level designer Danny Leaver was quoted as saying that a sequel to the DIY platformer wouldn’t be such a great idea. “We’d never want to do that. That’d be the most counter-productive thing you could do I think,” said Leaver. Or did he? Blast Magazine sat down with Media Molecule’s Technical Director David Smith to talk about the upcoming sequel, being the faces of creativity on consoles and that infamous quote.

Blast: So let’s talk about that quote, why is now the right time for a Little Big Planet sequel?

DS: That was a rather unfortunate misquote. He was actually saying that we would never split the community, and we kept that promise by allowing LBP2 to access the more than 3 million levels that the community has created in LBP1. Danny was rather disappointed at the time, since he was referring to the hypothetical scenario of us releasing a sequel to LBP that wasn’t backwards compatible with LBP and thus fragmented the community. Our whole approach to LBP and DLC has been to focus on what would most excite our community while making enough financial sense that we can afford to do so. It doesn’t take much imagination to think of how our community would have reacted to us making a sequel that effectively made all of their levels and hard work redundant. We really respect all of that hard work. There must have been tens of thousands of hours spent making content for LBP, so we spent a lot of coding time and QA time on ensuring the best possibility compatibility between LBP and LBP2 that we could. Because so much of LBP had to be rewritten for the sequel, this was a big undertaking.

Blast: The scope of LittleBigPlanet 2 is unquestionably larger than that of its predecessor, how does the team at Media Molecule manage to allow players such a sense of freedom and creation yet keep the experience so well structured at the same time?

DS: A key to preventing some of the more advanced creation tools from feeling overwhelming was to retain the modularity and physicality that we focused on with the first game. By modularity, I mean that we try to give the users a relatively small number of tools that can combine together in may useful ways, rather than a large number of complex objects that are harder to understand and potentially more limited in what things you can use them for. So for example, the most complex additions in LBP2 are the Music Sequencer, AI Sackbots, and the Controlinator. Initially the Sequencer was just something for making music, Sackbots were just for making AI enemies, and the Controlinator was just for making vehicles. But we continually revised and improved these elements so that they became as useful as the other fundamental building blocks alongside things as simple as the existing blocks of wood, or motor bolts! So you end up with weird possibilities like using a Controlinator to remote control an army of Sackbots that are dressed up to look like pop stars and then using the sequencer at the end of your level to lay out the timeline for not just the music but the dance moves, lighting and camera movements for a Thriller style music video. Or use Sackbots in Controlinators to actually drive vehicles with their AI and then the Sequencer as a tool to choreograph the procedural generation of landscape ahead of the Sackbot! There are so many exciting combinations that it will really take the combined effort of our whole community to try them all out and see which ones lead to new gameplay/music/visual possibilities.

We also really tried to keep the interface consistent between all these different tools, so that our creators don’t need to waste time relearning how to edit all the different objects. Everything the player does comes down to placing physical objects in a physical world, moving them about, and tweaking a few numbers/options in these objects for more specific effects. We avoided ‘abstract’ interfaces as much as possible. Of course, some of the logic tools that we give the users can be a bit overwhelming for some of our users but we try to soften the learning curve as much as possible by keeping the interface clear and friendly. And ultimately, we really encourage our users to work together and share inventions and techniques. The new Microchips are a good example of this as they allow you to take a large amount of cleverness and boil it all down into a cute user-made gadget that can be easily shared with other users.

Blast: From the Sackbots to the ability to record and implement music, LittleBigPlanet 2 features a number of improvements both feature wise and cosmetically. How many of these ideas were originally intended to be the original game but were cut due to time restraints?

DS: In hindsight, it’s hard to recall which of these ideas we were planning on doing for LBP but dropped due to time constraints. Regardless, I think we set ourselves enough of a challenge with the feature set of the first game! Lots of the new LBP2 features were quite specifically asked for by our community, often after we’d planned on doing them anyway, so that was very important to keep us feeling justified in doing a sequel and on the right track regarding the needs of our community. It was heartening and sometimes surprising to see discussions on forums where people were suggesting big new features but then suggesting that there was no chance that they’d really happen. I hope a lot of these people are pleasantly surprised at how aligned we are with their needs. A lot of the challenge was empowering people to do all these cool new things, but in ways that fit the LBP style and so feel cute rather than clever.

Blast: One look at the user created levels for the original LittleBigPlanet and you’re sure to see homage’s and tributes to other games and media. Why do you suppose these have survived in LBP when other game’s that feature user created content have been forced to ban these references?

DS: We’ve been pleasantly surprised by how willing other developers and IP holders have been to have their games, films, and music recreated in LBP. I think that this is in part because of how remarkably friendly our community is! These homages are really driven by love, as opposed to any sort of cynicism. So they perhaps act as a form of marketing. In LBP, the homages tend to be much shorter than the games they imitate and have a distinctive LBP look that reminds you that you’re still in the LBP universe. With LBP2, the homages are becoming immensely more sophisticated while still generally retaining a lot of the LBP look and feel.

Blast: Along with Killzone, LittleBigPlanet is one of the first of Sony’s major franchises to incorporate Move control. How easy was it to integrate this technology into the game, how does it add to the LittleBigPlanet experience?

DS: It’s something that we’re still working on! While there is a demo of this technology on the LBP2 Blu-ray, we are still tweaking it. Being able to use the Move to control a cursor unlocks or greatly improves a variety of game genres that typically would rely on a mouse. Of course, there are many types of gameplay that don’t naturally map to these sorts of controls, so it’s a case of exploring the new types of gameplay which this controller is uniquely suited for. Of course, this is a new technology so we (in the games industry) are still discovering all the possibilities about what things it’s really good for and what sort of gameplay needs completely rethinking to fit a Move controller. Ultimately, our community is going to be very active in discovering the best ways to use Move for new types of gameplay. I would love to see some of our community Creators come up with novel uses for Move that are then ‘borrowed’ by commercial games.

Check out Blast’s review of Little Big Planet 2 later this week!