So of course, when Left 4 Dead 2 was released, not even a spinal chord injury could keep me from playing.  Much to my delight I found the gameplay mostly unchanged; you’re still controlling four immune survivors through five campaigns filled with Hannibal Lecter cosplayers.  The major changes are the new campaigns and an expanded library of weapons, medicines, ammunition, and enemies.

The South is a trendy setting, and luckily it jives well with the series sense of the absurd.  You’ll be fetching snacks for hillbillies in exchange for rocket launcher cover, driving through plate-glass windows in a stock car ala the Dukes of Hazard, mowing down killer clowns with your trusty banjo, and all-in-all enjoying a game that takes itself much less seriously than the average FPS.   From a carnival of death to a rainy swamp, the new environments are–frankly put–amazing.  They’re atmospheric and diverse, and are sure to provide hours of creepy delight.

The series displayed its flair for the cinematic in the Dead Air plane crash of the first release; moments like these are sprinkled throughout all campaigns, and my first play-through dropped my jaw more than once.  I never thought I could be so excited about fetch quests, but there are great strategic mini-missions that force you out of the “shoot everything that moves” mentality.  The levels are much less linear this time around, with multiple routes to the safe-house, adding another layer to strategy.  There are even moments where you benefit by breaking the cardinal rule of the Left 4 Dead Series: NEVER split up.

Multiple new weapons and items have been introduced to aid your zombie-killing efforts.  I’m very much a barbarian when it comes to weaponry: if it kills things, I’ll use it until it breaks or runs out of ammo, then I’ll just pick up whatever is closest.  Guns still fall into three categories: things that shoot a lot but hurt a little, things that shoot a little but hurt a lot, and sniper-type rifles.  Laser sights are fun add-ons, but they’re more flair than substance.  Incendiary rounds and Boomer Bile are best saved for big enemies, but as I stated, I’m a big fan of good-old-fashioned lead.  Defibrillators are an implausible but fantastic addition to your medical arsenal, allowing you to revive even long-dead party members.  Adrenaline, which will increase your speed, is only useful in very specific situations, and I find the pain pills to be a more practical inventory item.  While the expanded choices aren’t uniformly useful, they certainly increase your strategic capabilities.

Unfortunately, with increase in tactical abilities, the intelligence of your companions seems to plummet.  I remember fondly that I could count on Zoe to snipe the roof-top Smokers while I was busy spraying friendly shotgun fire onto Louis and Francis.    Man, those were the days!  Perhaps they gain competency when playing on easier modes, but on advance they felt a bit dopey, especially in the missions that required more action than just firing guns.

Of the new special infected, we have the Spitter, the Charger, and the Jockey.  I only really loved the idea of the Jockey, which will take control of you and steer you off of cliffs and into traps; the Spitter overlaps a bit too much with the Boomer for me, but perhaps he’ll grow on me.  The Charger, however, was a waste of programming.  It’s the annoying little brother of the pants-wettingly frightening Tank, and it fills no function that the Hunter doesn’t.

Perhaps the only disappointment I feel with this release is the loss of the feeling of simplicity and lightness that came with so few options.  You had health packs, pain pills, pipe bombs, molotov cocktails, and that’s was it!  Now with defibrillators, adrenaline, Boomer bile, laser sights, axes, crowbars, baseball bats, samurai swords, three more kinds of special infected, and multiple variants on common infected, the game has lost the simplicity that made its balance so apparent and so appealing.  Since it’s such an appealing party game, I regret that my more casual gamer friends may have difficulty keeping track of all these new toys.

I also detect a small downgrade in the intuitiveness of the game’s flow.  Music cues that both helped the gamer and enhanced their excitement have suddenly become as slow as the AI.  Character movement feel less vetted, and I found myself firing often at Nick, whose silhouette I found indistinguishable from the zombie masses.  Almost invisible features, such as auto-crouching to enter low spaces, has been done away with.  You know–small things that made the game faster, easier to learn, and gave you fewer scrambling-for-the-right-button moments.  I definitely feel some of the additions were superficial: padding added to justify the release of a new game rather than additional content for the first, especially when so many of the game elements are identical.

Blast Factor: Overall, I probably would’ve been happier with additional content for the first game, or a greater amount of time and thought put into balancing the sequel as well as its predecessor.  But despite some issues, this is still a great game, and I’m sure myself and my friends will be pouring as much time into this one as we did the last.  The new campaigns are the stars of the show, and they alone make this title well worth owning.

Left 4 Dead 2 is available on the Xbox 360 and the PC, and retails for $59.99 and $49.99 respectively. A copy of this game was purchased for the purposes of reviewing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

That’s not to say anyone can’t play and enjoy being a virtual DJ here. The game caters to all skill levels, but to really get the most out of the mix table peripheral, you’ll need to master the higher skill settings. Regardless of which difficulty level, DJ Hero is amazingly fun.  Almost 100 mix tracks come with the game and it’s the first music game since Dance Dance Revolution to especially appeal to the techno crowd. The mixes cover the musical spectrum though—plenty of rap, hip hop, Motown, and pop from the last 30 years. But the magic is how the game mixes two tracks together to create something new.

Nowhere else could you hear Marvin Gaye crossed with the Gorillaz, the Beastie Boys and Queen, the Killers vs. Rihanna, David Bowie and 50 Cent, and an impressive and entertaining number of other great mixes. It’s not a stretch to say that this eclectic, dance-centric line-up is the best yet for a Hero game and it makes the color-coded button pressing gameplay feel more distinctive than ever.

The mix table controller is a cool new addition to any gamer’s stash. The main focus is on the turntable, which both spins and has three colored buttons. On the medium difficulty level and below, this is all you’ll really need, and the game plays just like any of the Hero/Rock Band games. Color-coded circles stream down three trails on the screen and the object is to hit the appropriate button at exactly the right time. At times, you’ll have to spin the turntable up or down based on the onscreen cues. The concept is simple, the execution is fun, and the presentation is bright, colorful, and quirky.

Once you get comfortable with the basic gameplay and switch to a higher level, the crossfader becomes a major part of the game. This slider bar is at home in the center, but at times, you’ll have to slide it right and left in time with the music trail, while keeping pace with the button presses and spins. The crossfade bar adds an interesting level of challenge in general, and adds some great variation to the music. On the downside, it can be a bit unruly. Despite have a bit of feedback, when the game is in high gear, paying attention to the current position of the bar without having to actually look at it can be frustrating.

There’s little in the way of onscreen prompts to keep track of the slider’s position as well, making the learning curve a bit steeper than it could have been. Another feature that is great in concept, but still in need of some work is the overlap with Guitar Hero. Some of the tracks allow for a guitarist, yet few of them felt particularly optimized for this feature. Usually the guitar tracks end up being painfully repetitive. Still, it’s a nice bonus feature that could use improvement in the sequel.

The overall presentation is much like other music game, with the moving gameplay tracks taking up most of the screen acreage, and stylized graphics of your on-stage DJ, the crowd, dancers—all reacting to how well you’re doing. The pumping soundtrack is especially awesome for home theater-equipped systems, but as expected, it sounds great in general.

Blast Factor: Without a doubt, DJ Hero is the most distinctive and original music game on the market. While the game is enjoyable for all skill levels, it takes on a whole new level coordination for the hardcore crowd. The packed soundtrack is phenomenal and mix table controller is responsive and fun to use. The  main problem for DJ Hero is the steep asking price. $119 is a lot to spend on one game with only a single controller. If you don’t mind the cover charge though, this is the coolest virtual rave in town.

Another Take — Bradley Ouellette

Activision’s latest Music game is an interesting new twist. They have taken the well-known style of the Guitar Hero franchise, and instead of playing a guitar, the player spins a record, and acts like a DJ mixing tunes. The Music in the game always consists of two pieces that the player has to mix together, fading between the two pieces and adding other effects including scratching, freestyling, and cross fading.

The game plays similar to any other Guitar Hero style game, moving the cross fader to select the track, scratching, or pressing the buttons to cause different effects to the music. When the player gets all of a lit up section correct the game gives a charge to the Euphoria button–this is the same as star power.

The scoring in DJ Hero feels different than the scoring in Guitar Hero also. The multipliers earned from rows of correct notes is very important since if you don’t hit 4x multiplier for a while in the game, you pretty much can’t score more than 3 stars. So hitting an extra note that isn’t there can kill your rating. Also if the player gets enough notes correct in a row, there is a rewind button that will show up in the display. This looks like the regular rewind button on a remote. When that’s on the screen, spinning the turntable back one full turn will rewind the song, and let the player replay a section to increase their score. This can be especially fun, if in Emode, when there is a bunch of cross fading back and forth, since it will allow the player to get a huge score with little effort. That being said, the rewind mode can also kill the score, since while it rewinds it’s easy to mess up a note and lose the multiplier.

Over all, I loved the game. I thought it was a neat new twist in the music genre; whereas the guitar band games haven’t had as much innovation lately, this was completely new. I found that game played smoothly, except for the cross fader. Even with the issues of the cross fader, loved the game, and will highly
recommend it if you generally like music games.

DJ Hero is available on the Wii, Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, and retails for $119.99. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

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

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

This is a new way to play Madden which focuses on a fun, pick-up-and-play, 5-on-5 game between fans. Each team included features the five top offensive and defensive players.

We can’t give you the whole list of available players, but we can give you a list of the teams which are included in the game: Bears, Bengals, Bills, Broncos, Browns, Buccaneers, Cardinals, Chargers, Chiefs, Colts, Cowboys, Dolphins, Eagles, Falcons, 49ers, Giants, Jaguars, Jets Lions, Packers, Panthers, Patriots, Raiders, Rams, Ravens, Redskins, Saints, Seahawks, Steelers, Titans, Vikings, Texans

Are you excited? Let us know below. Don’t forget to mark your calendars!

RTL interactive Games Publishing announced that they are hosting an exclusive competition for redeem-codes for their Xbox 360 Arcade titles Ion Assault and Football Genius – The Ultimate Quiz on their facebook page.

Curious about either of the games? Well go to the RTL Games Publishing Page and become a fan and you’ll be able to learn more about the contest!

Ion Assault is a new shooter game which looks kinda cool from a visual standpoint, while Football Genius – The Ultimate Quiz is kinda self-explanatory.

So go, check out the Facebook contest and win some free codes. Let us know how you fair and what you think of the game in the comments below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This game is one of the best racing games I’ve played. When I opened the box, I was surprised to see not just one disc of content, but a second disc full of extra cars, racing tracks and other tidbits to expand on the already immense experience. I booted up the first disc and immediately ran a race and was surprised by how the controls were more fluid than the controls for Need for Speed: Shift and Gran Turismo. The race wasn’t too bad and as soon as it was over, I sat back and thought about how the game looked.

Need for Speed: Shift had gone all out for realism, right down to first person driving and actual effects for crashes (blurred vision in black and white, a nice touch). Forza’s realistic nature stems from the controls and the graphics. When you play in first person, it looks sharper than the graphics for NFS: Shift. All around, everything was sleeker in this game. When you go through your cars, the menu highlights them in a glamorous fashion which accentuates the beauty of the car’s design and makes you want to own it. Numerous models are included in the game, from brands ranging from Ford to Bugatti (racing in the Ferrari was always a treat).  When you race, the graphics of the layout are amazing. In first person, you feel like you’re actually driving the car in real life. In third person, you enjoy the view as you race against beautiful cars on tracks which range from stunning to borderline perfect.

The Cars are the lifeblood of this game. The sheer number available from the onset is amazing. There are a few which have to be unlocked, but the cars which are already available are pretty good. So you won’t have to worry about driving crappy cars since you can choose a good one if you’re inclined. As you win races you’ll receive credits to customize, upgrade and unlock other cars which furthers the game play and gives you goals.  Once you’ve got a garage full of your favorite cars, just tear up the expansion tracks on the second disc to fulfill your every racing desire.

The difficulty of the game is like most games, easy at first with a proportional rise in difficulty as you go on. You can also control your handicaps by going into options and choosing what controls you want to be automatic and which controls you want to be manual. For a real driver’s challenge, go with change gears manually for an added dose of a realistic driving experience. Once races start getting difficult, the amount of skill needed to win increases as well. The handicaps allow beginner players to get in the game, and there are also features like rewind which allow players rewind the race if they mess up. It’s an interesting feature, which docks you some points in performance, but allows beginners not to get too aggravated if they mess up.

Graphics are also pretty impressive. I’ve mentioned tracks and the load of the cars, but when you play the game, the amount detail put into it is clear. When I hit barriers, it sounded and looked like I was hitting barriers. Every crash takes its toll on the car. I would cry whenever I scratched my car since I could see the damage done to the sides and the paint scratched off. It’s an impressive feat which makes NFS: Shift and Gran Turismo’s crash effects look childish. That’s no easy feat.

The whole game is damn near perfection. But I still have a few issues with it. It’s got a load of content and stunning visuals, but the game doesn’t push the line. It doesn’t really delve into groundbreaking territory. The rewinding features and the handicaps are creative but they’re not pushing the envelope, something I wanted this game to do very well. You can get too dependent on the handicaps, which is ok but doesn’t allow you to experience the full potential of the game. The sheer amount of content can be a little overwhelming and you can feel like there’s too much to do, but this is definitely a game that offers so much game play in return for the amount you pay for it.

Blast Factor: This is everything a racing game should be. Realistic, practical, sleek and well designed. Overall the gameplay is magnificent and will attract gamers who are casual fans and please those who are hardcore racing fanatics. Beginners have helpful automatic driving and rewind to help them through the beginning stages until they’re ready to fly solo. Players have a highly customizable experience and also have an absurd amount of cars at their disposal. This game is everything Need for Speed Shift aspired to be and definitely buries the other entries in the Forza series. If you’re looking for a great holiday game for racing fans, this is definitely the game you’ll want to get.

Need for Speed Shift’s Community Podcast just went live – the 100 Million Special. In order to celebrate, the NFS team has invited Vehicle Styling Director Andy Blackmore to chat about his work on the game and his experiences with EA since he joined back in 1999. Check out the Podcast here. Other news: if you go to MyCokeReqards you can get a free code to unlock the Coke Zero Dodge Viper SRT10 for the game! Check out the NFS Facebook Page for more info. Curious about the game? Check out our review here.

If you like the screens, check out the Warden’s Quest. It’s going on right now, so go and check it out!

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

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

See, explosive. Explosive is good.

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

Friday, October 30: 5 – 10 p.m. ET: Game with Developers session featuring members of the Rockstar North team.

Gamertags: GwRockstar1, GwRockstar2, GwRockstar3, GwRockstar4, GwRockstar5, GwRockstar6, GwRockstar7, GwRockstar8, GwRockstar9, GwRockstar10, GwRockstar11, GwRockstar12, GwRockstar13, GwRockstar14, GwRockstar15, GwRockstar16

Saturday, October 31: Xbox LIVE All-nighter – Jump in to Xbox LIVE and play Grand Theft Auto from dusk ‘til dawn with the Xbox LIVE community.

Sunday, November 1: 3 – 5 p.m. ET: Game with Fame session featuring Henry Santos Jeter of Aventura.

Gamertag: GwFHenryHH

And if that wasn’t enough, here’s something to get you in the mood for the weekend. Here’s a character clip which highlights a new character, Luis Lopez. Luis Lopez is “Gay Tony” Prince’s personal bodyguard. He watches after Tony despite the impresario’s uncontrollable neuroses and drug problems.

How do you address gameplay in a karaoke game? You use your wireless microphone to sing songs! Lyrics appear on the screen and you need to sing. Simple? Yep. Bars appear under the lyrics and as you sing, you fill up the bars. The points you earn allow you to grow and as you go through the game. You start out as a Shower Dreamer, the starting level. As you earn awards, you can increase your level until you peak at Superstar. In addition to matching the vocals and keeping up with the lyrics, you can earn bonus points based on how you move your microphone, so be sure to watch what your avatar is doing! You can customize your avatar to look the way you want it to look, so be sure to customize it to bring out the inner Rock Star or Pop Diva in you. Not only do you have a dancing avatar, but you also have a few options about what’s playing in the background.

The background changes depending on what you choose to play. If you want the song’s music video in the background, the game lets you play it in the background while showing the lyrics in front of the video. If you decide to play some of the mini games, the background changes to reflect the conditions of the game. One of my personal favorites involved having to save the world by singing, otherwise a bomb will explode. Corny, yet somewhat thrilling.

Now, the most important part of any karaoke game is song selection. I’m not big on main stream radio, but the game developers did a good job of balancing out the song list so that there’s a little of everything available for everyone. Karaoke classics such as The Cardigan’s “Lovefool” and Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants to Rule The World” are joined with new hits like Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” and The Plain White T’s annoyingly catchy “Hey, There Delilah.” The game also includes a redemption code for a genre pack. If you want rap, love songs or rock, you’ll have a chance to download them to expand your experience. You can check out the full list here.

Now, let’s be honest here. Karaoke is can only really be fun when you’re with a group of friends (and maybe drunk). My experience will probably be very different from yours depending on who you play the game with. If your friends love letting loose and going crazy once in a while, then this is a game you will probably enjoy since it’s cheaper/easier to play from the comfort of your home with a group of close friends than it is going to a bar and singing in front of strangers.

If you’re expecting a revolutionary karaoke experience, then be forewarned. The game is fun, but there are a few weak points. The loading times can get on your nerves. To shave off a few seconds, load the game to your hard drive so the songs and menus load a bit faster. Not too fast, but bearable. When you’re in the menu section (which is now like iTunes’ album Grid layout), you see more than the 40+ songs which come with the game, which can be a little confusing. Some of the songs, which were released in Lips, can’t be played without swapping the disc (so you need to own Lips as well). These are minor drawbacks which don’t make it any less fun, just a little annoying.

Blast Factor: So here’s my summary. If you like Karaoke and Pop music, you will love this game. It’s not very challenging, and while it attempts to build up a solid single player, the game really shines when playing with friends on multi-player. It’s a solid expansion pack and has an edge on the original. If you want more songs, all you need to do is purchase them from Xbox LIVE. All in all it’s a solid investment, considering the fact that the bundle comes with a microphone and a 45 solid starter songs. Expansion improves the experience, and each person’s experience varies on conditions, so the only way to find out is to get it and bring a bunch of your friends together and sing your hearts out. BYOB.

Lips: Number One Hits is available exclusively on the Xbox 360 for $59.99. A copy of this game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

Added to the Games on Demand section of the Xbox Live Marketplace today was Dead Space and best of all, it’s up there priced at only $19.99.

The game, which released a little over a year ago, runs in full-on 1080p, and is comprised of strategically dismembering hungry creatures among other tasks, in order to stay alive.

We reviewed the title when it came out Oct. 14 of last year, and if you’d like to peruse our review again, you can do so here.

The digital copy Microsoft is selling clocks in at 6GB, so we hope your hard drive is beefy enough to handle it.

At $19.99, the title should be pretty attractive, seeing as GameStop sells a used copy for just $2 less, at $17.99, and this is brand new and runs off your hard drive. But the choice is, as always, yours.

Dead Space — Xbox 360 Games on Demand.

Source: Rock Star Games

Comment below with your thoughts on the clip!

Anyway, don’t let my horribly corny jokes dissuade you from checking out Van Halen’s edition of Guitar Hero.  It offers much more depth than you’d expect from an installment of Guitar Hero that is more of a side project, and it totally shames the Rock Band offering of The Beatles, at least in this humble reviewer’s opinion.  While it clearly isn’t as polished or as much of a value as Guitar Hero 5, if you love Van Halen or need more Guitar Hero fun, it is a clear “must buy” for you.

As you can imagine from the premise of the title, Guitar Hero: Van Halen focuses primarily on the band.  Almost every significant single is included, from the pure arena rock nature of “Jump” to the… uh, other arena rock songs, like “Hot For Teacher” and “Jamie’s Crying.”  Happily though, some deeper tracks are included, such as the ultimate shredding song, “Eruption,” which is as ridiculously difficult as you would expect.

A note right up front about the song selection – The game only features songs and avatars of the current  lineup of Van Halen.  Given the band’s notoriously challenged relationship with past contributors, this probably isn’t shocking to most of you reading that actually enjoy Van Halen.  Almost every David Lee Roth song of significance is included in the 25 Van Halen tracks, and the avatars are of Roth, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Van Halen and Wolfgang Van Halen.

When it comes to the other 19 tracks, they were picked out by the 18-year-old Wolfgang, the son of Eddie, and it shows.  Weezer, Foo Fighters, Blink-182, Jimmy Eat World and Fountains of Wayne are artists you would normally associate more with modern rock, but I’d argue that they have more in common with Van Halen than, say, Twisted Sister, or some other hair band from Van Halen’s era.  Case in point – While era contemporary The Clash have a song on the game, “Safe European Home” is more gritty punk than the refined, arena rock sound of Van Halen.

The difficulty of Guitar Hero: Van Halen is definitely a tick up from the most recent rhythm game releases, Guitar Hero 5 and Rock Band: The Beatles.  Then again, that is probably to be expected with the tracks featured.  The guitar and bass portions feature lots and lots of notes, especially if you’re trying to segue from The Beatles, who feature fairly simple transitions and chords.

However, while the game is incredible at its core goal – Roth-era Van Halen excellence – it doesn’t incorporate some of the features from Guitar Hero 5.  I suspect that development on this game began far before the completion of Guitar Hero 5, which might explain why some of the new tweaks weren’t incorporated.  (It might also explain why there is a Foo Fighters song present, even though Dave Grohl got pissed that his former band mate was a playable character in Guitar Hero 5.)  For example, there is no drop-in play, and while you can chose or create an avatar to play as, you can’t swap out other members of the band.  On the plus side, the crowd sings along during certain choruses.

One other sticking point is the price – $50 for the Wii edition.  Eech.  For practically the same amount, Guitar Hero 5 is a much better bargain, since it provides almost double the amount of songs: 85 to 45.  Although Guitar Hero: Van Halen was a throw-in for purchasing Guitar Hero 5 early and features half the songs, this is not reflected in the price at all.

Blast Factor: Your enjoyment of this game though, as with any of these band-specific rhythm games, hinges on your enjoyment of the track list.  I love Van Halen, so I loved this game.  If you love Van Halen, the higher price tag will probably not dissuade.  In addition, if you love modern rock and alternative, this is definitely the best track list next to Guitar Hero: Modern Hits for the Nintendo DS.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is available on the Wii, Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 systems, at a cost of $49.99 and $59.99 respectively. This review concerns the Wii version. A copy of this game was redeemed via the Guitar Hero 5 offer for review purposes; the official retail version is not available until December 22.

Oghren – a dwarf from the Warrior Caste. His wife, Branka, revolutionized the dwarf smelting process and was given the honorable title of Paragon, ensuring their place among the history of their ancestors. But Branka and her followers have vanished, leaving Oghren behind. Oghren is determined to find his wife and the reasons for her sudden departure and defection from the dwarves.

This profile paints a very interesting picture of what to expect for the game, so if you haven’t already, check out the Dragon Age: Origins website and pre-order your copy today! It’s available for PC, Xbox 360 and the PS3.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here is the list of songs in the game:

Artist – Song

2Pac feat. Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman – California Love

Akon – Don’t Matter

Aqua – Barbie Girl

Atomic Kitten – The Tide is High (Get the Feeling)

Beck – Loser

Black Eyed Peas – Don’t Phunk With My Heart

Blondie – Heart of Glass

Bob Sinclar – Love Generation

Bobby McFerrin – Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Colbie Caillat – Bubbly

Coldplay  - Viva la Vida

Culture Club – Karma Chameleon

Cutting Crew – (I Just) Died in Your Arms

DJ Ötzi – Hey Baby

Extreme – More Than Words

Fergie Big – Girls Don’t Cry

Fine Young Cannibals –  She Drives Me Crazy

James Morrison feat. Nelly Furtado – Broken Strings

Jason Mraz – I’m Yours

Kanye West – Heartless

Lady Gaga feat. Colby O’Donis – Just Dance

Lily Allen – The Fear

LL Cool J –  Around The Way Girl

Mariah Carey – Touch My Body

Marvin Gaye – I Heard it Through the Grapevine

MC Hammer  - U Can’t Touch This

Nickelback – How You Remind Me

Pet Shop Boys – Always on My Mind

Plain White T’s – Hey There Delilah

Rihanna – Disturbia

Robbie Williams – Millennium

Roxette –  The Look

Roy Orbison –  Oh, Pretty Woman

Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’

Here are the download packs

· “Lips” House Party

o LL Cool J – Going Back To Cali

o Bobby Brown – My Prerogative

o Janet Jackson – Nasty

o Paula Abdul – Straight Up

o Montell Jordan – This Is How We Do It

· “Lips” Hearts and Heartbreak Tour

o James Blunt – 1973

o Daniel Powter – Bad Day

o Robbie Williams – Eternity

o Daniel Bedingfield – If You’re Not the One

o Jewel – You Were Meant For Me

· “Lips” Turn It Up to 11 Tour

o 30 Seconds to Mars – From Yesterday

o Coldplay – Lost!

o Nickelback – Photograph

o Hoobastank – The Reason

o My Chemical Romance – Welcome to the Black Parade

Not a big fan of the selection of songs available but if I had to recommend one, I’d go with the Turn It Up to 11 Tour pack. So check it out when you can, since this looks like a great gift for aspiring singers. Comment below with your thoughts.

What does this list mean? That Steelers fan have deep pockets (each jersey is $4)? We’ll let you decide.

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

2. N.E. Patriots

3. Dallas Cowboys

4. Philadelphia Eagles

5. NY Giants

6. Chicago Bears

7. Minnesota Vikings

8. San Francisco 49ers

9. Green Bay Packers

10. Denver Broncos

Source: Major Nelson

Ah, the joys of pre-order incentives.

Wording is tough on this one, so enjoy this breakdown and when you’ll be able to kick some zombie tail.

Those who pre-ordered- October 27

Xbox Live Gold subscribers and PC gamers – November 3

Everyone else- November 10 (the day some other game goes on sale)

Left 4 Dead 2 release date - November 17

The demo will take place during the events of the “Parish” campaign set in the French Quarter of New Orleans and will will let one to four players game together online or locally on both the Xbox 360 and PC versions.

Additionally, in the demo you’ll meet new infected zombie bosses and use the game’s new melee weapons. Nice!

Source: Kotaku

For any readers heading over to California, be sure to go to the Irwindale Speedway on Saturday (Oct 17), since there will be a Need for Speed booth at the Formula D Round 7 Championship. Pro drift racers will compete to see who can post the best lap in the Royal Purple Need for Speed Shift Time Attack Challenge, so be sure to check them out. If you want to read our review of Need for Speed Shift, check it out here.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The game’s coming out January 12 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP, so mark your calendars and start saving up! Comment below with you thoughts on the score sample and video.

IGN revealed today that the Wii version of Tony Hawk’s latest foray in the game-world, will allow you to use your Mii as a playable, skateable character and that two Wii-exclusive maps will be in the final product.

Additionally, Mii versions of professional skateboarders including Paul Rodriguez and Steve Nesser are in the game, if their actual character models just don’t do it for you.

“One of the big wins for us is that you can skate as your Miis,” said Yale Miller, Tony Hawk: Ride’s producer. “We kept asking to get this feature in, and Nintendo liked what they saw.”

Buzz Monkey, developer of the Wii version of RIDE, also built two levels exclusive to the game. It’s likely not enough for a multiple system owner to jump to the Wii version, but at least it’s something.

Full story at IGN

The new doohickey has two bunny ears and, as Microsoft so eloquently says  will “seamlessly connect with [your] home network with the highest wireless ‘N’ technology.”

I’m all for better, faster technology. With all the Netflix, online gaming, and downloading I do, I’d welcome such an advancement. But the GameStop listing points to a makes-me-want-to-hurl-at-its-absurdity- price point of $99, with the old model believed to drop only $20 to $79.99.

If you didn’t know, the new 802.11n is a notch up from the current 802.11g model, but we haven’t seen any figures that indicate just how much more useful it is.

Check out the official GameStop listing to pour salt in your already open “why didn’t you include Wi-Fi” wound.

Enter Bubble Bobble Neo for the Xbox Live Arcade. In this remake, the gameplay remains solidly intact but its updated graphics, four-player support and newly three dimensionally animated character models really make it a desirable download for fans of the series and lovers of casual games alike.

The first thing you’ll notice in Neo is its full sensory overload of a main-screen. You’ve got a wondrous reprisal of the original’s soundtrack (which will be stuck in your head), as well as bright and popping colors to enjoy every time you fire up the game.

And when you actually start playing you’ll find three game modes, but they basically boil down to either single or multiplayer. Once you’re in the game your job is to kill every bad guy on the particular single-screen stage,in the same way you did 20 years ago. Playing as one of the dragon brothers Bob or Bub, you’re able to shoot bubbles out of your mouth and trap enemies.  Next you can either vault off the bubbles or pop them. The former allows you to reach higher heights, necessary on some levels, and the latter kills the baddie and earns you point multipliers in the form of anything from gems to bananas. Once you’ve mastered the art of jumping, bubble shooting, and popping, you know all you need to beat the game; it never gets more advanced in the control-department. That said however, there are over 100 levels in the game, and the latter stages are tricky, finger busting toughies to say the least.

This is where cooperative play becomes not only more practical, but a lot more fun too. As enemies soon become far more belligerent and starting shooting fireballs, someone in the room can quickly and simply tap the A button and jump in with you right then and there. What I did was say, “hey, I don’t really need you until level 15 or so, mind waiting?”

The other two game-modes are Arrange Mode and Versus Mode. In Arrange Mode the mayhem balloons to four players at a time, and even though I was only able to muster up two more to play with me for a total of 3, we had a blast and adding the fourth player would have been even better.

And the Versus Mode, my personal favorite, pits four players against each other in a game of survival. Basically, hordes of enemies overflow the screen and you’re tasked with surviving as long as possible while attempting to rack up the most points. And, as an added level of awesomeness, you can also trap those you’re playing with in a stream of bubbles to keep them from scoring.

There’s no online multiplayer support in Bubble Bobble Neo, and yes, that would have been nice. But the franchise has always been rooted in local multiplayer. I know I had one hell of a good time playing with friends on the same screen and fully expect you to as well!

Once you’ve exhausted the hundred levels, clobbered your friends in versus mode, and posted your highest score to the leaderboards, you might still want more. And if you do, you’re in luck. Taito released two additional maps as DLC for the game and each bring 50 more stages for a total of 100. Now, they’ll set you back 240 MS Points each, but you can’t put a price on nostalgic happiness can you?

Blast Factor: Bubble Bobble Neo is a quickly addictive XBLA title that will please followers of the franchise and entertain newcomers. Co-op and four-player modes are added benefits that will keep you playing for hours and hours. Updated graphics that pop and sizzle are great, but the core gameplay is what defines the title and everything feels great in that department.

Bubble Bobble Neo is available today on Xbox Live for 800 MS Points.

The two competitors in the genre; Activision and the Guitar Hero brand and Harmonix and Rock Band, have taken different approaches to creating and selling their respective titles over the years. But whichever side you personally favor, there’s another person out there disagreeing. So we’re not going to hype one side or the other, I mean we loved Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles: Rock Band for goodness sake.

Harmonix recently released the “Metal Track Pack” for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii and I played the heck out of in the past week. It’s a collection of 20 tunes highlighting the many shades of metal with one overarching theme: the songs are freakin’ hard!

Of the 20 on-disc tunes, 6 of them are brand new additions to the Rock Band universe and are not sold in the Rock Band Music Store. This means the only way to experience these songs is to buy the disc. Here’s the full tracklist with the exclusive tones denoted as such *

All That Remains – “Two Weeks”
At the Gates – “Blinded By Fear”
Black Tide – “ShockWave”
Blue Öyster Cult – “Transmaniacon MC”*
Bullet For My Valentine – “Waking the Demon”
Children of Bodom – “Are You Dead Yet”
Evile – “Thrasher”
Godsmack – “I Stand Alone”
The Haunted – “D.O.A.”
Hawkwind – “Master Of The Universe”*
I Mother Earth – “Levitate”*
In This Moment – “Forever”
Judas Priest – “Screaming for Vengeance”
Lacuna Coil – “Closer”
Lamb of God – “Laid to Rest”
Motörhead – “Killed by Death”*
Nazareth – “Hair of the Dog”*
Queens of the Stone Age – “3’s & 7’s”
Rage Against The Machine – “Bulls On Parade”*
Yngwie Malmsteen – “Red Devil”

The Rock Band Metal Track Pack adds nothing new, besides the exclusive songs, to the Rock Band series. No artistic redesign in a metal-tone or any digital likenesses of members of bands featured in the game, but Harmonix has never done this with their slew of track packs over the years.

Visually, the Metal Track Pack is 100% similar to Rock Band 2, nothing more, nothing less. This isn’t a terrible thing, but with Guitar Hero 5, and Beatles: Rock Band both on the market, I’ve come to expect a much higher level of aesthetic fidelity and the Track Pack simple doesn’t deliver in that department.

However, as a lover of the metal music scene, and anyone who does purchase this game need be, I found the selection of songs to be utterly fantastic; you won’t want to skip anything. The tunes range from the hardly metal “3’s and 7’s” by the Queens of the Stone Age to the in your f*cking face anthem “Laid To Rest” performed by none other than hardcore thrashers Lamb of God.

Most of the songs in the Track Pack are very difficult, but we’re talking about the metal genre here; to expect anything less would be silly. Additionally, no one is forcing you to play through the tour on Expert. I had to dial down my ambitions a bit, suck it up, and play a few tunes on Hard to get by. I didn’t enjoy doing so but now I have a thirst to get back and conquer those few songs on Expert.

Additionally, if you’re a drummer, the Track Pack will set your feet ablaze as the metal genre demands a light-footed, proficient stick-wielder to get by. The drum part in “Waking The Demon” on Expert? Yeah, it’s a little tough.

Living-room rockers looking to score a quick Gamerscore boost will be hard-pressed to do so with the Metal Track Pack, as the achievements are mighty beasts to slay, and includes tasks like “5-Star “Blinded by Fear” on any instrument… with your eyes closed.” Good luck.

The Track Pack is a standalone piece of software meaning you need nothing but instruments and the disc to get rocking. Additionally, all 20 tunes import into either your Rock Band 1 or 2 libraries, and is really the right thing to do to avoid rampant disc-swapping.

Blast Factor: The Metal Track Pack is for fans of the circle pit, lovers of face-melting, finger busting solos, and those who aren’t afraid to scare the girls next door by playing At The Gates at 2 in the morning. If you haven’t downloaded any of the on-disc tunes already and love the 6 disc-exclusives, this purchase is an absolute no-brainer.

Played all songs, mostly on Expert guitar. Played drums on Expert and Hard. Tried singing, failed hard, but still had fun.

The Rock Band Metal Track Pack is available today for Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and Wii. It’ll run you $29.99.

Developed by Piranha Bytes, the RPG features a nameless protagonists and as the trailer describes “Humanity is Dying,” leaving you in charge of defeating the enemies and saving the land. Well, at least you’ll have Gollum and Gimli to help you out.

Risen releases exclusivley on PC this Friday October 2 with an Xbox 360 version promised for “early next year.” Bummer, this is my sleeper title of the year, I want it now!