The game centers primarily around space-pirate Grayson Hunt and his brother-in-arms Ishi, as they attempt to escape from the ruined paradise resort world of Stygia. After warping out of deep space and coming upon the flagship of the General that betrayed them, The Ulysses, Grayson makes a drunken kamikaze attack on the ship, essentially punching the most advanced Warbird in the galaxy in the face. While his ship is nearly destroyed and goes plummeting onto the surface of a strange alien world, the Ulysses is also wrecked, and both ships crash a few miles apart. Grayson then attempts to not only exact his revenge on the general, but get himself and Ishi off the world as well.

The gameplay consists of lots of standard shooter fare with a ton of added kicks in the form of “skillshots”. These skillshots range from something as simple as a headshot (25 points) to something zanier, like kicking someone into electric cables (50 points) or shooting them in the groin, then blowing their head off as they writhe in pain (gleefully named “Mercy” and rewarding 100 points). There are a litany of over 100 skillshots, and every new weapon added into your arsenal further increases the number of creative ways you can destroy and maim those around you. A “leash”, which you discover fairly quickly in the game, is a module that attaches to your hand and displays both skillshot information and your ammo. It ties in with the various dead-drops you discover in the game. These dead-drops are where you cash in the points you make with your kills to unlock new weapons and ammo. In the context of the story, these were left here by a previous military campaign, and (in a delightfully Darwinian twist) were designed specifically so only the good soldiers would receive more ammo or better weapons.

There are a large number of set encounters: Big, crazy scripted battles where you are up against an unusual enemy or have a super powered weapon for a short amount of time. The game plays out nicely, moving at a breakneck pace from caves to trains to cliffs to villages to cities, propelling you through an amazing number of creative, vibrant, and stunning levels. This is one of the things I enjoyed the most as this is a departure from other shooters. Each level looks beautifully detailed, from the massive vistas near a gigantic dam, to the beautiful sci-fi skyscrapers, and crazy, The Fifth Element-headbutts-Bioshock design, to many of the more civilized parts of the city. The natural flora and fauna of Stygia are just as wide ranging and vivid, from electro-flies to huge man-eating Venus fly traps, and hilarious pods called Noms that, when kicked at an enemy, latch onto their heads and start chewing headcrab-style. That’s only a taste of the enemies you encounter on this murder paradise.

The game controls are tight and easy to pick up, and they at least use the matching buttons when giving you quick time events, such as shoot when you need to shoot in the sequence. One button activates the leash, and holding it down fires a “thumper” that launches all enemies caught in the area into the air, making them easy pickings. The artificial intelligence (AI) of your allies is competent enough, and invincible to the point where you usually don’t have to worry about them. The enemy AI is akin to Left 4 Dead, in which melee enemies swarm you, and regular shooter fare by using cover to advance into a confetti of bullets raining down on them.

The game is accompanied by a suitable soundtrack of loud, action movie fanfare, and squishy, gooey, gorey sounds whenever you land a good kill. The weapons have a great, loud kick to them and the charge shots that come with each weapon sound devastating and brutal. The dialogue is ridiculous and offensive, and delightfully colourful. The visuals mix perfectly with the audio, providing graphically sound and satisfying character models, level design, and effects. Explosions in particular look bright and powerful, streaming off like fireworks from their origin.

The multiplayer and “echo” segments, both of which involves replaying single player levels or edited maps, have some enjoyable times to be had, and it’ll keep your interest for a while as you attempt to get three stars on various challenges. But aside from that, it’s a straightforward multiplayer component, with the cooperative “Horde” mode (like swarm or wave cooperative modes in other shooters) adding a more diverse element.

Bulletstorm is raw and distilled fun for a mature audience. If you love cheesy sci-fi pulp and over-the-top machismo, mixed in with a vibrant, straightforward shooter, this is a game to add to your collection.

I hope you didn’t hang your hat on this one, though, because it would be on the floor, dirty, and trampled by visitors or eaten by a dog. In some ways, M:tGT is everything you’d expect. It’s a turn-based tactics game where you move your avatar and other creatures around the square-based board. The goal is to destroy the other Planeswalker (in other words, a wizard) and their army before they destroy you. This is accomplished through building a spellbook made of various creatures that can be summoned or spells that can be cast. Spells vary from direct attack spells, such as Lightning Bolt, to things that may boost your creatures. The mechanics of the gameplay are quite simple: Each round your maximum mana goes up by one, and the colour of the mana is determined by the composition of your deck. So for example, if your deck has 80% red cards, then you have an 80% chance of getting one extra red mana each round. Your mana fills up to the maximum in each colour every round, so at least that is a clever way around the “mana screw” problem that frustrates all Magic players. Then, in a turn order determined by the initiative of the creatures, you get to use their abilities and move or move and attack. Moving, whether it ends in an attack or not, will always end the current piece’s turn. When it’s a Planeswalker’s turn, they can cast a spell that they have available (you start with five and you get one new one from your spellbook every round) and have mana for, and then move/attack. As with many tactics type games, flanking will deal bonus damage and there are random critical hits. If a creature hasn’t died from being attacked, it will perform a full counter attack.

I believe I ordered the large djinn.

That is it. Everything else is covered by the statistics of the creatures, such as movement or attack strength, or the abilities on the cards. There is a decent variety of abilities, but it still ends up feeling like there is not a lot of choice in the colours you’re playing. You’re given a very basic two colour deck to start with, and you can go through the tutorial section and the first campaign, which consists of five missions, for free. After that, each of the four extra five mission campaigns costs $5 USD, which is actually not terrible value in terms of length even if the gameplay never gets more interesting. The plot of the campaigns is very bland. The narrator does an okay job but the plot might as well not be there. What is interesting though is that you get experience for each mission and eventually when you get enough levels, you get some talent points to spend on talent trees. For example, a talent that made my creatures stronger when the enemy Planeswalker was below 50% health influenced how aggressive I would be with my creatures and who they would target. Completing a campaign will also unlock the Daily missions for that campaign, each of which reward you 2 gold and some paltry experience.

You can use gold to buy into tournaments, so it seems like you can play this game for free and forever. Technically, you don’t have to spend a single penny. You can just do the Daily mission from the free campaign every day, and then every fifteen days or so you can enter a single tournament. You’ll probably be bored to tears way before you can get into your first tournament at that rate though, so you’ll likely have to plop down at least the $20 USD for the campaigns and then a bucket load of time every day in order to earn enough gold to free ride your way through. If you place in the prize positions in the tournament then you may luck out and get a card worth selling on the Auction House for some more gold to fuel more tournaments. There are Open Tournaments that players can enter that are always happening. You play all the games you can during the period, and if you meet the requirements when the tournament period ends, then you get a small prize. When I looked at the prizes, everything awarded to people finishing belwow second place was dismal, so it seems like a whole lot of work for not a lot of reward if you can’t play enough to win. There are Constructed Tournaments where you bring the spellbook you put together to compete, and there’s also the very popular “Draft” format, where you have to purchase booster packs for $4 USD each and then each person takes turns picking cards from the packs until all the cards are gone.

And of course you can always play single matches against opponents for the heck of it, which would be cool if the gameplay was deep. However, there really isn’t all that much to do other than position for flanks and attack, and the interactions between creatures and spells are simplistic and direct for the most part. The fight for positioning is straightforward. The spellbook building side of things is also surprisingly restrictive. In addition to the usual Magic limit of 4 copies of each spell, you are limited to a maximum of 12 different creatures and 12 different spells. Why this is the case is beyond me, but if you wanted to play only one of every creature in your colour, too bad! I found that sometimes I had to make the inconvenient decision not to play a better creature just because I had 4 copies of a weaker creature, I needed 40 spells to fill out the spellbook, and I had to maintain the balance between spells and creatures.

You'll find iconic cards such as Reya Dawnbringer in Tactics

Even if the game had deeper gameplay, though, it would still be mired in a variety of technical issues that seem to plague every Wizards of the Coast electronic product. In my time playing it I suffered glitches that ranged from infuriating to hilarious, such as a frame rate plummet (to 1 frame per second) after multitasking away from the game window or the game chat doubling in the multiplayer room. One of my friends said it crashed on him after every mission. One particularly frustrating glitch was that in the midst of a long mission, the computer AI actually could not decide what to do and ended up being stuck there, forcing a restart. In tournaments, if you crash or you disconnect due to some Internet problem, reconnecting will not put you back into the game – you simply forfeit. In a tournament I played, I ended up forfeiting two games this way, and in the third game my opponent was away from the keyboard, thus defaulting a win to me.

The tournament design is a bit of a tragedy in itself, as you have to stay until the end to wait for the prizes, even if you’re done your games and you know where you will place. It doesn’t even boot you out of the tournament after the end, and I only found out it ended because people received their prizes. The tournament chat lobby is also not segregated among tournaments or even tournament types as far as I could tell and it became a confusing mess of conversations.

Even the Auction House has an pitiful interface, which seems unacceptable after having so many examples of good ones around. For example, there is no search feature. You can only filter by Rarity, Colour, and Type, and you can’t sort the list by any of the columns. And the default sorting is a complete mystery. Interface issues aren’t restricted to the Auction House though, as various other baffling choices litter the game. For example, you can’t look at your talents without leaving the tournament you’re in. During the actual match, if you have more than 7 spells that you can cast that turn, the spell bar doesn’t expand and you need to click these tiny up and down arrows to look at all your spells.

The graphics in the game are kind of bland but acceptable. Some of the animations are fun to watch but an option to speed them up or skip them all together would be nice as I only need to see them so many times. But it’s a nice touch to see my Thieving Magpie get pounded to the floor when it takes a hit. The sounds and music are just kind of there and forgettable.

Much like Duels of the Planeswalkers, this game could have been so much more. It combined one of my favourite genres with one of my favourite brands, and yet it came up so short that it only aggravated my need for a good tactics game. Being a game that you can play for as long and as often as you would like to, Tactics could actually offer a lot of value if you enjoy it. Personally, I’ll just keep playing Duels and the actual card game with my friends.

The wizards of Magicka weave their spells by combining the following eight elements: Water, Life, Shield, Ice, Lighting, Arcane, Earth, and Fire. Each of these elements are assigned a key on the keyboard, but some additional elements can be created by combining multiple base elements. Pressing an element key will store the respective element in your wizard’s spell queue, which can hold up to five elements simultaneously. Mixing elements together and then releasing them will create a spell, and hopefully, the desired result. Things start to get a little tricky when wizards realize that they can release their spells in one of four different ways: Projectile, Area of Effect, Self, and Weapon. Each type of spell will result in a different effect, even if they used the same elements. For instance, mixing the Fire and Shield elements and then releasing the spell as a projectile will create a wall of fire between you and your enemies, while releasing it on yourself will make you resistant to fire for a short period of time.

The beauty and horror of this system is that the game leaves it up to you to use common sense when mixing and casting spells. Mixing Earth and Fire and then releasing it on yourself will weave the arcane magicks of the universe in a manner that would result in a flaming boulder being summoned into existence above your head, and the rest is up to gravity. However, creative self-termination is an essential part of the experimentation process, and death is part of the game, remember?

Once you develop an understanding of how it all works, casting spells becomes very simple and intuitive, but doing it in combat is another story entirely. Navigating your character around the playing field involves pressing and holding the left mouse button on your desired destination, while the elements are mapped to the familiar WASD region of the keyboard, and the different spell types are executed with the remaining mouse buttons and the Shift key. Trying to cast Haste on yourself while you flee from a pair of cave trolls and dodge arrows fired by a distant group of goblins can often be disastrous. Take your eyes off the screen to correctly input your elements and you’ll likely end up on the wrong end of a giant club. Input the elements too quickly and carelessly and you could light yourself on fire, much to the amusement of the cave trolls. Accidents like this would frustrate me in most games, leading to criticisms of convoluted or complicated controls, but Magicka is different. The button layout is great, and I don’t think I could find one that works better, but more importantly, these accidents are part of what makes Magicka so fun to play. The action is very chaotic and overwhelming, often requiring you to deal with large swarms of enemies, and knowing that you’re one mistake away from a horrible fiery death can be exhilarating. Keeping a cool head and successfully casting your favourite spells in combat is very rewarding.

The action gets even more hectic when you add more players. Magicka features a host of spell combinations that result in greater damage. Shooting lighting at someone is more effective if you’ve sprayed them with water first, and launching a boulder at an enemy can be more devastating if they’re encased in ice. Using these combos can be the most efficient way of dealing with a powerful enemy, but coordinating them with other players can often lead to hilarious mishaps. Blue Wizard announces that he’s going to soak an oncoming troll with water, so Green Wizard prepares to summon a bolt of lighting from the sky. Blue Wizard accidentally casts the water spell as an area of effect, soaking Green Wizard as the lighting bolt strikes from the Heavens. Green Wizard needs food badly.

The action in Magicka unfolds across two game modes, Adventure and Challenge, both of which can be played cooperatively over the Internet or via a local network. The Adventure mode is a light-hearted, story-driven campaign that sees players travel across twelve expansive levels on their way to saving the world. Throughout the campaign, players can collect new wands and weapons that grant them new active and passive abilities, find spell books that contain new and powerful spells, and assist the lowly folk with side quests and other diversions. The adventure mode lasts anywhere from eight to ten hours, but may warrant additional playthroughs in order to collect and accomplish everything. For the more experienced wizards, Challenge mode presents players with a series of arena challenges in which they are forced to overcome waves of enemies in an enclosed space. Challenge mode can be very difficult, and should offer most players plenty of reason to come back.

As wonderful as the gameplay is, the graphical presentation is somewhat lacking by today’s standards. Some of the monsters look nice, if not a little generic, but there is very little variety in the types of monsters that you’ll face throughout the game. The environments suffer from a similar fate by offering a few interesting and colourful set pieces, but generally falling victim to an abundance of reused assets. It’s the spell effects that disappoint me the most, though. They’re not bad by any means, but they’re far from being fantastic, which is what they deserve to be. A few more particle effects and some more dynamic lighting would have gone a long way toward making each spell look truly remarkable. In the end, however, the graphics certainly get the job done, and you probably won’t have much time to sit around and admire the effects of your spells anyway. Unless one of them causes your friends a great deal of misery, because that can be fun to watch.

The sound design is also pretty generic, but is often used to humorous effect. Characters speak with a dialect that sounds like a cross between Simlish from The Sims and the Swedish Chef, with a few specific words sounding just familiar enough to get a laugh. The music is standard fantasy game fare, filled with lyres, lutes, and classical guitars, and while it doesn’t distract from the gameplay at all, it’s also hardly memorable. The grunts, groans, roars, and explosions are all suitable and believable, but like the music, don’t particularly stand out. It’s clear that most of the focus went into developing the fun and challenging gameplay, and it’s hard to fault Paradox Interactive for that.

Magicka is a charming game that takes classic action-adventure gameplay and gives it a unique twist. The spell-casting mechanic is very deep, yet remains intuitive, and gives players a chance to discover their own favourite spells and the strategies in which to employ them. The action is both intense and exciting, and being able to share the experience with friends is fantastic. You will die a lot in Magicka at the hands of enemies, comrades, and sometimes even yourself, but each death will be a story to laugh about later, and in the end: It’s just part of the game.

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The figure stops and rests his hand upon the sturdy relic before drawing it out of the loop. More wings begin to beat in unison, more fangs drip with insatiable hunger. With a small flick of his wrist, a long, spiked chain hits the floor with a heavy thud, liberated from the confines of the cross. The wings all halt for a brief second, and there is naught but breathing between the horde and the strong, imposing form of Gabriel Belmont, first of the famous clan.

Then – a battle cry from both sides, the whip chittering in anticipation along the stone floor, and the slaughter begins.

This is the world of Castlevania. I have not seriously played any other Castlevania game, so I suppose I was immune to a lot of the criticism that fell upon this 3D endeavour.  Some would say that makes me unqualified to review this iteration, but I think it enables me to judge it on its independent merits alone. Lords of Shadow is one of the most enjoyable games I’ve played this year. It combines a host of themes and gameplay styles from a number of different titles, but envelops them all in a distinctive style. I have not seen such beautifully crafted landscapes in a long time, and while part of the appeal of it was its linearity (having played little but free roamers for so long), the scope and dedication to the design resonates in the execution.

Gabriel travels through the deep recesses of an ancient city, the titular Castle, bogs, marshes, ruined mountain towns, and what seems to be the dusty ends of creation itself, and it all is beautifully designed and sculpted from the same vision.

Gabriel is an enjoyable character. He is both mired by his conviction to his quest and riddled with self-doubt and agony over the death of his beloved. His quest is to not only defeat the various Lords of Shadow, but also to reincarnate his wife. They recruited convincing vocal talent, including Patrick Stewart as Zobek, a knight errant of the same order as Gabriel, who narrates every level opening, and Robert Carlyle (Trainspotting, The Full Monty) as Gabriel.

I think one of the reasons I found this game so satisfying, aside from the art direction and gameplay, was after all the comparisons my friends kept making to God of War, I enjoyed this experience more than Kratos’s forays into madness. Gabriel is a human character and he hurts and emotes as you go through the game, whereas Kratos just rages all the time nonstop without end. Whereas some would say the combat is stolen from God of War, I would argue that Castlevania did everything God of War did first.

The musical accompaniment is suitably haunting with riveting accelerations during tense boss battles and quiet, contemplative tracks during the many puzzles. The puzzles were especially enjoyable, shifting back and forth between obvious and devious like a pendulum. As you encounter each Lord of Shadow, you discover more and more about the order you belong to, the Guardians of Light, and the intrinsic sense of balance of the world. This follows suit all the way up to the game’s powerful conclusion and intense ending.

The gameplay is laced with an interesting magic concept revolving around light and dark magic, which is activiated by either the left or right shoulder buttons, and gives you the ability to either heal yourself by dealing damage (light side) or simply deal more damage (dark side). There’s no moral compass, it’s just more of a “you must know the dark to see the light” sort of jazz. The game takes a fervent and intense turn when you’re forced to switch back and forth on the fly during later boss battles. I found myself intensely focused on the proceedings, due to the whole split-second response time necessary. The various weapons and abilities you unlock are cool and actually appear on your body as you acquire them, which resolves something that has always bugged me about some games. By the end of the game, you’re decked out in some pretty awesome gear. The only thing I would’ve loved more is if Gabriel looked all harrowed and beat up like Batman did by the end of Arkham Asylum. However, it works within the context of the game, so I didn’t exactly hate that they didn’t do it. The animation is brilliant as well, whether it be in game, or cinematic. The boss kills are always very impressive and satisfying.

One of the best aspects I really have to admire about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow is that the game has a great sense of progression; every aspect of the game ramps up in awesomeness. You start off encountering small titans for certain Shadow of The Colossus-inspired boss battles, then each subsequent battle after that the scale is increased ten fold! The combat starts off simple, then gets steadily harder and more complex as more abilities and flourishes become available. Even the environments start off almost conservative, then as you advance, you’re shifting whole towers around and scaling massive, impossible land masses. The castle that you spend about a third of the game exploring is so massive that it seems to be a whole mountain range, ascending to scrape the sky and plunging deep into the earth.  In the various scrolls you uncover on the corpses of your fallen brothers, you read tidbits of information that help you sink further into the universe, give you bits of information about enemies or puzzles ahead, or even give nods to other great games, such as a “Great ‘Dekuh’ Tree” or “The Cake is a lie” references that litter the corners and forgotten passages of the world.

As I’ve stated before, the concept art behind this game cannot be overlooked for it is simply divine. It is some of the most beautiful and detailed work I’ve ever seen go into a game. Whether it is the simple ink illustrations in your skillbook that animate and show you different combo abilities, the gorgeous, massive, wallpaper-worthy works that are unlocked after various encounters and levels, or the awesome quick storyboards showing the progression of the final kill animation, I adore them all. I wish I could capture each one in a print book because I tend to buy those things the instant they’re offered.

Aside from minor grievances like “I shouldn’t have jumped there,” or the occasional glitch, my main complaint would be the saving bug that affected the game a few months prior, and stopped my play entirely for about a week or so, but has since been remedied by the developers. I had progressed up to the final boss battle when my console froze and abruptly restarted with all of my progress locked away. Another complaint is the locked camera. It encounters issues if you move back and forth in certain areas, or if you push yourself into a corner, which disorients it. Mostly, if you avoid those areas, you tend to be rather well off, especially considering this is one of the best implementations of fixed cameras I’ve seen in a game.

I’ve since beaten the game again and unlocked a number of things past that point, so the save complaint is moot. The length added to the frustration with losing the save game because this is not a short adventure. I was pleasantly surprised that this game took at least 40 hours or so to finish, and that was on medium difficulty. With many of the encounters already being quite a struggle, I can only imagine how difficult the two later levels would become.

Castlevania : Lords of Shadow is a stellar title, and with the hearty dose of artwork to unlock at the end of each level, I was subjected to one of the most engaging, immersive, dark, and beautiful games I’ve ever seen. I recommend this title for anyone looking for a good third-person platformer, a videogame art-nut, or really anyone looking for some good old-fashioned fun, with a new flavour. Castlevania will offer all you need to waste a week away.

First off, if you’re doing mostly PC gaming and are looking for a PC headset, pay the extra $20 for the Siberia v2. The v2 is much more comfortable and all the material feels higher quality in general. For Xbox gaming though, the 5XB is definitely a good investment, especially if you play in a noisy room or travel to local tournaments. The first thing that surprised me about the Spectrum is that the plastic feels… well, plastic. Unlike the heaviness due to gold content in the 6g keyboard and the leather on the Siberia, the 5XB features a leather veneer filled with foam along the headband, a hard plastic frame, and cloth cushions for the earpieces. The result is more comfortable than it sounds, but still not as amazing as the Siberia.

One advantage that the 5XB has in quality over the Siberia is the braided cord, thus making it much more durable if you accidentally tug your headset cord. The sound from the headphones is actually quite good and I had no problems detecting where sounds are coming from and even the distance of the sounds while playing Gears of War 2 and Batman: Arkham Asylum. The microphone in the headset retracts just like the Siberia and it does a better job of it by hiding in a nice little nook. The microphone is very clear, and in trying my different headsets, Richard enjoyed hearing me on the Spectrum the most.

This fantastic little thing is the AudioMixer

The headset hooks up to your console in two ways: Through the PC plug which uses the provided adapter for sound output, and through USB for the voice input. The result is a rather upsetting mess of extra cords, although to SteelSeries’s credit, the cords are long enough that it should never be a problem. Still, we’re being brought back a generation and turns your wireless controller into a wired one.

One fantastic feature of the headset is that it comes with an AudioMixer device that plugs into the bottom of your Xbox 360 controller. This mixer allows you to control the incoming voice and game volume right on the controller, which is absolutely great as you can adjust to different teammates’ microphone volumes as they join the game. I found myself fiddling with it all the time to get the perfect noise level for every gaming session, even while playing solo. This is a feature that has surprisingly relevant results, so applause to the SteelSeries Research and Development team!

The LiveMix feature on the AudioMixer is similarly great. It automatically adjusts the voice and the game volume on-the-fly for you. It is hard to gauge something like this but with it on I had no problems hearing all the different people on my team and the game sounds at the same time, so that there is no need to fiddle with the AudioMixer when your hands are already occupied. It wasn’t perfect 100% of the time though so you may want to just stick with the manual adjustments, but the option to use the LiveMix or the manual mode is a great feature.

As always, SteelSeries has made their product for gamers who travel. In this respect, the Spectrum features a neat 3-piece design to the headset. It’s much easier to carry 4 small pieces than one big one, and in addition you can lay the ear pieces flat in this disassembled mode. Well designed once again.

If the Spectrum 5XB was as comfortable as the Siberia v2, I would be using the Spectrum for all my gaming needs, not just the Xbox 360. But as it is, the Spectrum is a really good choice if you’re an Xbox 360 gamer, want all your sound coming through your headset (for example, in noisy environments) or if you travel with your gaming headset. The sound quality, design, and technology are all up to the usual SteelSeries standard I’ve come to expect, but unfortunately the material feels a bit cheaper even while maintaining good durability. The Spectrum 5XB is currently priced at $100 CDN at Best Buy.

The Force Unleashed 2 is a sequel to the acclaimed The Force Unleashed, which featured some of the first tastes of Euphoria physics and Digital Molecular Matter object simulations in a game. This lent to shockingly realistic glass, wood and steel, while also providing physics-based, reactionary movement in the bodies of the enemies you would fling about the level. The original plot focused on the life of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice. He was trained to hunt down the Jedi who survived Order 66. He turns to the Light side and fights against him. Eventually, due to his intervention, the Rebel Alliance is born.

This game expands on the story, taking place during the fledgling days of Rebellion, and Vader’s apparent attempts to recreate his apprentice in a Kamino cloning lab, even though no clone could be imbued with the Force thus far. The plot takes you from Kamino to hanging cities on Cato Nemoidia and even Dagobah, home of the now-exiled Yoda. The level design is apt, each area featuring a wide variety of objects and enemies to play with.

Colour keys range from the sterile bluish-grey of Kamino to the warm, royal reds and golds in Cato Nemoidia. The Apprentice also looks better than ever, with an updated and refined character model. His acting has a wider range, with him showing more rage and frustration than before. He’s become more of an animal within the cloning facility. The gameplay is succinct, with the Force powers having an even more explosive effect on Stormtroopers and the various specialty troopers and droids you face. The animations are still solid, and the combat is slightly expanded upon but feels basically like the first game, except with a second lightsaber. There’s nothing really wrong with this, aside from the frustrations I felt with the dodging mechanic and the time it took Starkiller to right himself after being knocked down.  The new Force Fury ability – a staple of most over the top third-person action/adventure games – lets you become invincible and overpowered for a brief period of time. It is actually exhilarating to perform, as each attack is a flurry of light (he begins to just throw the sabers everywhere, instead of the usual acrobatic combo) and his Force powers become a never-ending tsunami.

So that’s what’s good about The Force Unleashed 2: The acting, gameplay, and level design. The bad resides in the length. Alongside some costumes to unlock, saber crystals to collect, which have different effects, and trials to complete, there are some rather amusing and well written data files about all the characters, enemies and locations. However, a friend and I picked this game up, excited to devote a few evenings to the ensuing insanity, and we were surprised and disappointed when we reached the final, climactic boss battle a mere six hours into the game. The game sets itself up for a sequel, which is a little redeeming, but at the same time, I felt let down because as thrilling as the ride was, it was pitifully short.

Certain amazing set encounters and the gameplay make this a game worth checking out, but much like a snack, it feels like a stepping stone to a bigger meal later on.

Making games hard for some reasons is satisfying. Making them hard enough that you have to struggle and eventually overcome obstacles with wit and skill rather than brute force is impressive. When you’re up to your 19^th try on the same boss, and no matter what you do he keeps killing you and driving you insane, then the game suffers a bit of pretension. It assumes that because you are a gamer, and you think yourself good and skilled, then you will continue to play. But my generation of gamers have been weaned on the teat of easier games where your health recovers instantly, and checkpoints are God’s bounty, prevalent wherever you walk. Demon’s Souls is no such game. It is merciless, cruel, and strangely beautiful at the same time. It is the vicious, vindictive ex-wife, ex-lover, ex-CIA agent with a bone to pick with you. It hunts you down wherever you are, and beats the crap out of you, until you can’t take it anymore.

Then it waits.

Because it knows you’ll come crawling back eventually.

The premise of the game is that terrible demons have swept across the land of Boletaria, and you are an unknown adventurer who adventured right into the sinkhole of despair at the center. You are met with impossible odds and promptly die. After that unpleasantness, which also serves as the tutorial, you awaken in a large, hollow citadel known as the Nexus. Here a mysterious woman tells you she has brought you back to life and linked your soul to this place, so that you may continue your quest, and your soul will not be lost to the demons you fight, but returned here.

The Nexus: An excellent place to hide your circles.

From this point on, you begin to trek from the Nexus to 5 different level-paths, each with its own architecture, design, monsters and themes. The magic is split into two forms as well, because of the recurrence of theology in this game. You can learn miracles from priests and you can create effects such as healing or protection using a talisman of God. You can also learn spells, which require a wand to cast, from magicians. They are usually more destructive in nature, being fueled by pacts with demons. More powerful wands and talismans are hidden out in the wastes of Boletaria, just like the best armor and weapons are to be found in similar dangerous areas. These places are of course wrought with pitfalls, monsters, traps and the like.

Demon’s Souls uses conventions in game play, some of them good, some cruel, to make the game even more difficult. Death results in a restart at the beginning of the level you’re on, some of which are upwards of 20 to 30 minutes long, so each death respawns all enemies and places you neatly back at the starting point with any items you’ve used up, such as potions or ammo, still lost. Your body is in soul form: a corporeal but weaker state that only has half the health of your fully reincarnated character. This means that every hit from an enemy is an instant to near-instant kill, which is understandably frustrating.  Where it gets good is when you actually defeat something. For all of the difficulty, this game has mastered the sense of progression. As you kill enemies, you collect souls from them, which work as a form of super-currency. You can exchange them in large increments to upgrade stats, such has willpower, luck, strength or dexterity, use them to purchase goods, such as swords and armour, or transfuse them into new spells and miracles. The catch is that you never want to have too many souls at any time while adventuring. If you die – and you will die – a blood splatter is created at your feet, and your souls are trapped within. So you begin anew with any souls you gained lost until you make it back to that point. If you die a second time, it restarts you again, with the new blood splatter containing your souls up to that point, and you lose all the souls at the previous mark.

See what I mean?

The only redeeming factor to the souls nonsense is that you occasionally collect souls off of bodies and slain monsters that are concentrated, so they can be carried like an item. They come in varieties ranging from an unknown soldier to a renowned hero and reward you appropriately once consumed.

OhCrapOhCrapOhCrap

Even boss monsters, once defeated, turn into this sort of soul with a descriptor. For example, Wriggling Demon’s Soul and Flaming Demon’s Soul are a couple of the ones you can collect. These are worth a hefty, massive amount of souls, but can also be turned into powerful spells by a mage, if you’re willing to forgo the chance to upgrade your stats. They basically act as credit cards with fixed balances. Thus, you can retreat back to the Nexus, consume them, and use the accumulated total in the safety of the base, without fear of losing them all. Unless you trip and fall off of a bridge in there, which happens fairly regularly.

The sound design is fantastic, tapering off or mounting up at the right times with a powerful orchestral score. It is different for each level, and each monster’s signature moans or growls are disturbing and evocative. The weapons feel powerful with the sound of their impact, the spells are cackling with energy on their release, and your death throes are always infuriating as you’re brought to your knees.

While adventuring across the game, you’ll often encounter ghosts of other players, running about and interacting with their own version of the world. This is where Demon’s Souls is unique in its online aspect. Other players can leave messages for you warning of traps, enemies’ weaknesses, or treasure all along the floors of the game. A good choice made in the design of these scrawled missives is that they are created in a flow chart and not by typing. So you don’t come across a situation where you adventure into a dank corridor filled with traps and have “LOSERS GO THIS WAY” scrawled on the floor. There is never a break in the immersion. Furthermore, you can recommend them if they are helpful, which in turn boosts the writer’s health.

This does not look promising.

When other players die, their blood splatter is visible in your game, and if you touch it, it replays the last few minutes of their demise. You don’t see who’s fighting them, just their ghost moving about the room and reenacting their last few moments. Sometimes these are incredibly enlightening, as you see a player cautiously move around a corner, then get sent flying back, strafe away, and eventually get ripped apart. That means run. Other times, they’re comedic or downright tragic. On a delightfully precarious staircase, where moving right means a infinite fall into sadness and death, it’s rather common to see five or six splashes of blood up the winding path, with a few characters just strafing too far right, and cascading off the edge into death. If nothing else, they lighten the mood a bit.

The other way online is helpful is in the use of multiplayer. You can summon another player that puts down a marker on the floor with a special item, which is visible to all in that level. If you assist them in defeating a major demon, you are reincarnated, and feel just awesome about yourself. However, you can also use a different item to invade other worlds, and attack players PvP style. This is random and you could be matched with an utter weakling or an incredibly powerful jerk who destroys you in one hit. Either way, it’s an interesting premise.

Demon’s Souls is peculiar in that it values mortality, making it very important to be brought back to life, whether by defeating a major boss or finding rare stones that can reincarnate you. But after you’ve reached that point, you are forever carrying a liability. I find it safer to move about the levels in soul form, because then at least I have nothing to lose. In addition, if you come across a “Cling Ring” in your travels, it restores your health in soul form to only three quarters of the total instead of half.

Demon’s Souls is rare, strange, and misunderstood on both sides of the reviewing spectrum, and I think due in part to the urge to only see the good or bad of this game. I personally wouldn’t recommend this game to people looking for a way to fill a weekend or indulge in a light gaming habit. This is for the most Hardened of Cores. However, if you’re looking for a little something to test your mettle, then there are few better measurement sticks than Demon’s Souls difficulty curve.

But don’t come crying to me when she burns you – like, with a dragon the size of a zeppelin.

ModNation Racers starts us off with a beautiful and very colourful race. As we launch off from the starting line, the race is packed with other karts trying to get the lead. All of the karts’ different colours and the scenery around you are very vibrant and grabs your attention. The cut scenes are very well done, and everything is crisp and clear. All in all, the graphical aspects of this game are fantastic from the karts to the scenery to the explosions – everything is top notch.

The gameplay is different from other racing games out there. The button mapping is very easy to get used to and the game itself is a blast to play, and there are powered up power ups. There are only four power ups to collect, but each one can be improved. The missile power-up, for instance, starts off with one measly rocket, but powering it up unleashes an impressive barrage that can easily clear the field of the competition. Using these power ups with boost and your shield makes for a whole new style of play.

Unfortunately there are times when you or your kart will explode or somehow suffer destruction. You can be thankful for two things: you will respawn in a couple of seconds, and it will sound wonderful. The audio work done by the team is fantastic, and it sounds even better when playing in a surround sound environment.

There is a breathtaking amount of effort put into the creation tools of this game. You can create your racer, kart and even tracks. This is where you will roughly spend the majority of your time. The success of the creation tools is that any player can use them, even if they are just starting the game. There are options for every level of creativity, talent and patience. You can skim the surface of every preset skin or vinyl, or completely get into the full customization, fiddling with material properties, multi-layer stickers and transparencies. You can use all of this to make a creation that will make your friends envy you. You can pave your track however you feel fit. You can let the game auto-populate the track with scenery, power-ups and other fantastic items, or you can control it all yourself. At any point in time you can jump in and test your track, or once you’re finished, have a practice race. This is one of the most amazing editing tools to be put onto a console, but it’s also very simple.

You can create a professional-looking race track that you and everyone on the PlayStation Network can race, edit and enjoy. After creating your amazing Perry the Platypus driver, you can upload it onto the Network where people can see, rate and download and edit your creation. Should enough people like your creation, you could see yourself on the Top Mods spot in the games hub.

The Career mode is quite enjoyable with many fantastic things to do. Quite often, I found myself not finishing first and not having those gigantic Need For Speed leads. One of the only downsides to this beautifully crafted game is the fact that I never once had comfortable lead and the aggressive AI hassles you constantly. Although the AI is very intelligent, it seems as if it was programmed to stay on your tail and take you out with stacked power ups like a human player would. I guess this is all for making my driving ability better, but most times I felt like I won by luck rather than skill. The career mode has a wonderful story line starring Tag, a rookie racer trying to get up into the big leagues of racing and claiming the ModNation Cup.

On the multiplayer side of things, ModNation’s a great way to have fun with your friends on created tracks or the game’s default ones. The XP race modes are very enjoyable and will keep you coming back for more. These races are focused on drifting because you can use the points to boost and your shield ability.

The final plague of this game is load times. It takes roughly a minute or so to load the next map or menu.  I realize this is most likely due to the game having to load all of the customized tracks, karts and drivers, but this seems a bit too much. Although, there is a new update that should help shorten these times to around 10-20 seconds instead of regular 30-45 seconds.

United Front has done a magnificent job with ModNation Racers. The customizable tracks, karts and drivers bring new life to the racing genre and I would recommend this game to anyone who loves kart racing games.

This leads to interesting social interaction, especially with various love interests as you try to seduce or flirt and select the wrong type, and end up annoying everyone in the room. There is no morality system in Alpha Protocol, so much as there is a manner in which you get things done. The right or wrong is replaced by individuals liking or disliking you, and the consequences that brings. Often this is demonstrated in the emails you can return to contacts in the field, which can be written in any of the three styles, resulting some pretty fun responses from the characters. Email is surprisingly useful in this game, as it deals with your dossiers and intelligence on a given mission as well, and was one aspect I particularly enjoyed. The ability to purchase satellite images of the engagement zone, bribe an arms dealer to bring extra goods for you to procure once you arrive, or even a sniper rifle dead-drop were all pretty cool, and purchasing information about contacts or factions through your information brokers was fascinating as well. Each dossier can be completed and it gave you more of an incentive to search every nook and cranny in a level for a computer or laptop filled with relevant data.  Once you have a dossier complete, a secret fact about the character is unlocked, and you can use that to your advantage when you encounter them again, pulling it out as a sort of  trump card, which can change the playing field powerfully if properly deployed.

The combat is classic third person shooter fare, with cover mechanics at the touch of a button and shooting at people who don’t enjoy your company. However, because this is an RPG, often your weapon and tactical abilities are not very high during the first few firefights, making your aim rather bad. This serves to make the end result a little more satisfying though, when your expertly trained pistol specialist pops out of cover to score a headshot blind, then ducks back without taking a bullet. There are simple upgradeable hand-to-hand combinations you can unlock, which look cool the first time, and vary on which direction the controller is facing, but get old fast.

That is the biggest problem with a lot of Alpha Protocol. It is not a bad game, but it is not great either. The level design is flawed when you have trained out your spy to have stealth skills, and are then forced at every turn (especially near the end) to violently blast away opponents that deal incredibly high damage due to your lack of health upgrades, or when you are constantly setting off alarms for dropping one guard far away from everyone else. The different areas  you visit are initially cool and exciting, but I was hoping for a bit more free roam in the game. You simply arrive at a safe house, a mission hub of sorts, and then choose your actual assignment, check your emails, or flirt with death at your leisure. The graphics are underwhelming and occasionally graphics pop in and out of texture, or create a caustic black “burn” across some characters’ faces for a second. This game was clearly pounded out rather quickly or at least with less than full foresight, and it shows in the delivery. I did not hate this game, but it could’ve really benefited from a few more months in the pressure cooker of design. Everything felt half-rudimentary. Whereas the sincerest form of flattery is imitation, Alpha Protocol brought little that was new to the table, aside from the spy thriller theme and the slight conversation-dynamic upgrades.

When all is said and done, I would recommend that you pick it up to at least try it out, but don’t expect an epic experience. The game has its moments, but nothing that you’ve not seen before if you’re into games such as Deus Ex or Mass Effect. Ultimately, Alpha Protocol still feels like it’s in Beta testing. Not in all areas, but enough of them to make this game a mediocre experience.

The West is a horrible place. Death in all its forms is present here. Larceny, rape and corruption pass and swell like the clouds in the sky. Through all of this, John Marston has persevered, surviving in a domain which mercilessly snatches people away as each day passes. He wears this constant struggle in the scars that adorn his face like trophies. In Red Dead Redemption, he saddles up one more time to fight for the most crucial thing to him – his family.

Red Dead Redemption is a study in wonderful game design, specifically in open-world gaming. The designers understand all the steps necessary to create a great experience, and all the staples of Grand Theft Auto 4 are still there, with the map and travel banter still intact. Everything has been further refined though, and the art and details really shine through to make this game a super set of good design choices. The horses behave like the cars of the last game, except a loyalty system has been worked in, so that the longer you stay with one horse, the longer it can sprint for you. This makes losing a horse a frustrating ordeal. As one of the two staples of a Western, horses have received a lot of attention. Motion capture (using a real horse in a studio) along with exquisite modeling and textures have crafted the most lifelike and realistic looking horses ever in a video game.

Shooting people is one of the more satisfying pursuits in RDR.

Shooting, the other vital part of any Western,  is beautifully executed. The guns have a powerful kick that rocks John back, and each reload animation is properly detailed, with him opening up a break-apart revolver like the Schofield, or rolling a chamber to the side with the double-action revolver and feeding in each round. Lever action rifles are common and very useful. I haven’t used such rifles in a videogame in a long time, and the solid report of each rifle as it delivers a round is very satisfying, accompanying the cocking action to free the shell. The game is very quick and dirty with the fighting, but has beauty buried in its execution. The Dead Eye mechanic is something akin to Max Payne (also from Rockstar) and allows you to drop multiple banditos or empty a few rounds of your pistol into a duelist’s chest. I have fond moments of high-art gunplay, such as when characters being thrown back when hit, and combatants stumbling realistically away from the point of impact. I rode up to a man at one point, and shot him point blank (knowing he was going to steal my horse) in his face. He rocked back, almost as shocked as he was injured, and then dropped to his knees, grabbing onto a bench beside him, before lying still. Moments like this are hard to find anywhere else, and the formula is refined from GTA4.  The fine touches are both beautiful and greatly appreciated: blood that paints a wall from a shotgun blast, or pools around a bandit as he meets the business end of your pistol. The variety of body destruction achieves its goal with exit wounds and churned flesh where needed, adding to the brutality of combat.

The multiplayer must not be over looked. A variety of classic game modes, including Capture the Flag, Team Deathmatch, and Deathmatch, are rounded out by the innovative online free roam. This last mode allows you to assemble a posse of up to 16 players and travel to wherever you like within the map of the full game. You can hunt bears as a group or take on gang hideouts – all while seamlessly working together. You gain experience, which in turn unlocks better weapons, character models, and horses, which serve to fuel your ascent upwards, in addition to awarding arbitrary titles. An interesting feature of the Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch modes is that at the start of every battle, the players form either a circle or two parallel lines, and then are told to start shooting. Generally, you shoot at whoever is across from you, but you can pick whoever you want. This leads to interesting scenarios in the free-for-all. Dueling in such a way allows the member with the fastest draw and a decent amount of luck to get a head start, gathering any weapons or powerups they want before everyone else respawns and the game begins proper. It’s a fun and novel mechanic which serves to dish out some immediate action, and an added incentive to hone that trigger finger.

Traveling in a group has its advantages.

The residents of the various towns, outposts, and establishments are also very well crafted. Unlike traditional free-roaming games, which only allows rudimentary movements, RDR provide you with a variety of encounters, such as people chopping wood, selling wares, drinking, gambling, haggling, hunting, and behaving in any manner.  The populace will challenge you to duels, call you out for cheating at Poker (which leads to duels), ask for assistance, or attempt to beguile you into a scam on the open road. The inclusion of a fair variety of wildlife roaming the countryside is an important factor. It serves to further immerse you as you travel across wide open plains and slow rolling hills as deer prance by or trotting through the pseudo-Colorado “Tall Trees” forest, with your hand constantly on your rifle as you survey for cougars or bears.

The need to hunt for a source of money is pervasive, and the tools to aid you, be it bait or a survivalist map for herbs, are properly implemented. Hunting and skinning your prey can lead to the leftovers that make an animal lover cringe, but it’s worth it. The more rare or dangerous an animal, the higher the payoff when trading their pelts or claws in town. The skillful recreation of the noises of the animals, whether it’s the “rattle” of the rattlesnake in the bushes, the call of a song bird in the early morning or the frightened shriek of an elk as you startle it with a gunshot is an evocative feature. Firing off a gunshot sends creatures skittering for cover and birds into flight from the trees. I find that it serves to better communicate the impact you have on the world around you. The animals don’t constantly feel like set pieces, and they seem to breathe and interact as their own distinct characters at times.

The music is some of the best I’ve heard in a long time. It captures the mood of the game at every turn with a wonderful combination of modern direction with Western inflection. The sound in general is moving. As I rode through a powerful thunderstorm, I stopped for a second to enjoy the savage splendor of it, whipping around trees and soaking the terrain around me, as lightning blasts hard light across the scene. Spectacular. There are several key songs played throughout the game, which were departures from the usual “sans-vocals” background music, and awesome in their own right. The set mood and approach of each tune is a signature moment in the game, and also marks my favourite moments within the narrative. The background noise pulls away, and a slow, melancholy tone overtakes you – with a lower the chance of interruptions like random encounters – as you travel to a destination. John Marston renders a superb performance, coming across as gruff and worn, but at the same time intelligent and well-rounded. His admiration of Landon Ricketts, an old Western duelist who confronts and trains him in Mexico, adds a subtle depth which further serves to make you enjoy the ride. Even now I’m listening to track after track as I type this.

The inclusion of costumes that affect variables in game is not only appreciated, but awesome.

Know how I got these scars?

It allows the character more freedom than being stuck to one garment for the entire game, and allows players who enjoy getting into the experience the opportunity to dress up John for the locale he inhabits, whether it’s the duster accompanying the Wild West, a musky poncho thrown over his shoulders for Mexico, or a suit for more civilized destinations. The inclusion of faction costumes allows the player to disguise themselves and sneak into gang hideouts, making it fun to turn on the men around you suddenly and unleash a surprise attack.

The bottom line is that Red Dead Redemption is one of the best games to come out this year. It is the best Western ever made, and possibly the best free-roaming game in the last couple of years. This is a title that should not be missed and any minimal graphical or gameplay glitches don’t serve to sour the deal in the least. This is a game for the ages. Whether you’re nearing  100% completion (95.4% at the time of writing this) or cornering the story and then jumping into the fun and engaging multiplayer, Red Dead Redemption is a must have for any fan of a good story, great gameplay, and an awesome Western.

Let’s get the more “shallow” elements out of the way. The music and sound were okay, but I ended up turning off the music. The bits of voice that was available were awkward. The sound effects were functional, but lacks the personality of Deckard Cain and even the monster noises seem lacking in identity.

The graphics are really, really poor, even at max settings. I mean, technically it has all the usual dressing with anti-aliasing and support for my usual resolution, but everything ends up looking low budget and really ugly. I understand Soldak is an independent studio, but in comparison to Torchlight it’s just embarrassing. The text is particularly big and ugly and my friends can tell you how much I love great looking text. In addition, the way the minimap is drawn is just bothersome, beyond its ugliness. Instead of just scrolling a static map like in Diablo II, it seems to redraw the minimap and dots as you move through the dungeons, which is really annoying as it gives the illusion that the dots are jumping around. Still, it’s nothing that can’t be overcome with some good gameplay.

Unfortunately, the gameplay was not quite good enough and also mired by some technical difficulties. The dynamic world of Din’s Curse means that the unique monsters actually do things instead of waiting for you to attack them. They build new machines that cause darkness, for example, or send monsters that attack the town. These become objectives for new quests, which is cool. Your town NPCs can die, which is also cool – at least in theory. In practice it’s actually quite frustrating as you lose reputation when the monsters kill someone in town and can cause you to fail the quests related to that NPC, which makes you lose even more reputation. If the monsters kill everyone in town, you fail and move on to the next town, which is like restarting the game but transferring your character. The problem is that except for the gates that exist on every level, you only get one town portal per town. That means if you haven’t discovered the gate on your level and you’re far away, you’re screwed. I’m a completionist, so it may bother me more than most. In either case it doesn’t feel good to fail things that are pretty much beyond my control.

The class system is interesting. There are six classes with 3 skill trees in each of them, or you can choose the Hybrid class and pick any two trees. This allows for some neat combinations, such as the Warrior’s Defender tree and the Wizard’s Ice Mage tree. This was an interesting combination because I could wear plate while blowing stuff up. In reality this didn’t work all that well as I had to spend attribute points in Strength in addition to Intelligence, but the game still wasn’t that difficult. The skill system itself is also a mixed bag. There are no level requirements or skill dependencies for any skill. Instead, you gain a certain number of skill points per level and the higher tier skills cost more skill points. For example, I saved up points for three levels before acquiring my first skill. Thankfully, the character starts gaining more skill points per level, but I often waited two to three levels before getting a new point in a skill or a new skill. I’m not sure I like waiting so long before spending points, but spending the points on the lower tiers feel like a bit of a waste.

There are many different options whenever you make a new world (i.e., go to a new town), such as the Fast-paced option, which makes the mobs respawn faster but gives you bonus experience, Hardcore mode where your character only has one life, and Cursed mode, which means you can only equip cursed items. Cursed items are items that usually has some downside but have 25% lowered requirements. All these modes, in addition to the multiplayer, provides many hours of gameplay if you do end up liking it. In addition you can pick the levels that the monsters start at to control the difficulty. You can enable and disable all these options every time you complete all the mandatory quests in a town and move on to a new one.

The artificial intelligence is decent and it’s pretty cool to see that monsters attack each other and level up. Particularly smart monsters, like the named ones, will even use cave ins and other environmental hazards to kill you. This part of the Diablo formula was well done.

However, there are various bugs in the game, one which pretty much forced me to stop playing the game. During one of the aforementioned town attacks, I was far from a portal and by the time I made it back, all the enemies had gated out. Not that bad, except that the icon and sound warning you that the town was under attack kept looping. I scoured the town and found no enemies or gate. As I’m selling stuff to the vendor, an orc pops out of nowhere and starts attacking. So I kill it, but the warning persisted. I couldn’t wait around forever so I went back to the dungeons, and while I was gone another orc showed up and killed the weaponsmith. Being a PC gamer, I can tolerate many bugs, but this particular one just kills my will to play. Sure, I could either wait until the whole town is killed and start again or maybe try to rush to the boss that is sending the monsters, but why should I have to? This kind of dead end bug is unacceptable in my opinion.

All that being said, I had moments of enjoyment with Din’s Curse. There’s just no way I can recommend it for the price they’re asking. If you’re looking for a game with a lot of replay value and you don’t care about graphics or sound too much, then trying out this game for a low price is not that bad. Otherwise, I’d stick to Torchlight or Titan’s Quest or just wait for Diablo III.

The first thing I noticed about the mouse is that it’s kind of small. I found myself wondering if it could be comfortable at that size, as I’m used to the much fatter MX400 and Razer mice. But it turns out that I can hold the mouse two different ways very comfortably. I can hold it so that my hand fits over and I’m pressing near the front of the buttons, but in high pressure situations I find myself moving my whole hand back a bit a little and bending my button fingers and that also feels nice. The material is very smooth and goes back to the sleekness I referred to earlier.

As for the technical specifications, the Xai realistically has 7 programmable buttons, though you can also reprogram your mouse wheel up and down if you desire. It supports the usual profile functionality (5 in total) that you can switch amoung using the incredibly deep software that it comes with, but there is also an on-mouse LCD on the bottom of the mouse should you desire to configure it without the software on the operating system. The Xai can go up to 5001 counts per inch (CPI) and 12,000 frames per second (FPS). The full specs can be found here.

Now, you may have noticed that I said up to 5001 CPI. That’s because you can set your CPI to whatever you like to control the exact sensitivity that you like. In addition, you can store two different settings, and with the click of the tenth button located below your mouse wheel, you can quickly toggle between them. Not only can you choose exactly any number between 100-5001, which is quite impressive in terms of precision, but what I like best is that the software actually tells you how to choose the right CPI for you. And not only that, the Xai Configuration utility tells you how to configure your FPS and all the other features the mouse offers. This advice came as a wonderful relief to me as I had no idea what was what and didn’t want to spend several hours figuring out what the right combination was. In addition, the utility offers advice on what settings to use in the Windows mouse settings in order to optimize performance, and allows you to change them right in the utility. Everything about the configuration has been very well thought out and I am very impressed with this aspect of the mouse.

Since SteelSeries has a connection with the pro gaming community, their site also offers profiles from pro gamers so you can try out and tweak their settings for personal use.

The only downside I found to the mouse is that the two buttons on the right side of the mouse are rather easy to press accidentally. As a result I haven’t programmed anything to them yet, but it’s a matter of getting used to it, I think. The other worry I have is that the mouse may be too small for some hands. If you find the Dual Shock controller too small for you, you might want to test this puppy out before throwing down your $90 CDN.

It is extremely precise and accurate and was a noticeable upgrade from my previous mouse. In my tests with StarCraft II, World of Warcraft, Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, I felt a significant performance difference. In Mass Effect 2 I was getting headshots more frequently, and it just plain feels faster and more responsive when playing WoW and StarCraft II. I highly recommend this mouse to anyone who is looking for a high end gaming mouse.

You do not have to play the first game to understand the story. The game starts off following four American misfit solders in a fictional war between the United States and Russia. We play as Private Preston Marlowe in our mission to find a weapon codenamed “Aurora” and to prevent it from falling into Russian hands. The characters are memorable, stimulating, and engaging. The voice acting throughout the game was great. It was funny at times and immerses at others. The single player story is about 5 to 8 hours in length.

The fighting and gameplay is similar to Modern Warfare 2, but it has a different style of play. Instead of being more than just another “Run and Gun” shooter, Bad Company 2 involves a lot more strategy. I found myself employing new strategies throughout the game. The controls were fantastic and I got used to them quickly.

Bad Company’s campaign has two forms of collectibles, the first one being M-COM Stations hidden throughout the game. The second are different kinds of weapons found in certain missions, which can be added to your arsenal. An example of this would be automatic shotguns or a bolt-action sniper rifle, which suspiciously looks like a .50 Caliber sniper.

The audio quality in the game was terrific, and at some points the game almost had me ducking from being shot at from a sniper. With the guns shooting combined with explosions and excellent voice acting, the audio quality was superb.

DICE’s Frostbite engine has visually stunning missions all throughout the game. Some of the levels are actually breathtaking, especially when playing at 1080p.  The special part about this engine though is that the entire world is destructible, meaning we can go throw a grenade into a wall and watch a beautiful explosion, making a new door for us.

The difficulty in this game was almost as challenging as I expected. Although there were times when I found myself struggling to get through certain areas, I remembered the new strategies, such as taking advantage of the Frostbite engine, to help me.

The online component of this game is truly a stroke of genius. With a total of 13 maps and 4 different game modes, it’s hard to be bored and it will provide you with hours of enjoyment. The game modes are called Rush, Conquest, Squad Rush and Squad Deathmatch. In Rush, the objective of the game is for the attackers to destroy the enemy’s crates called M-COM Stations. Each defender’s base has a pair of crates, and when both objectives have been destroyed, the map is expanded, making room for a new base with a new set of crates and the defenders have to fall back. This process is repeated until the defenders’ last base is lost. In Conquest, the goal is to capture all of the neutral flags. Teams then hold flags and kill the opposition to reduce the enemy tickets. Once a team’s tickets are reduced to zero, they lose. Squad Rush is a downsized version of the Rush game type and instead of having 24 to 32 players in a game, it’s reduced to 8 players in a game (4 players per team). The same goes for Squad Deathmatch, but instead of a free for all action, there are 4 squads of 4 players. First team to 50 kills wins the game.

That is but a taste of what you can play online, and the experience is quite amazing once you really get into it. We have 4 different classes with the muliplayer scheme: Assault, Medic, Recon and Engineer, with each having their own pros and cons.

The online play is very balanced. For anything that one might think is overpowered, there is always a counter for it. For example we have a tank which has big firepower and armour, but with the Engineer’s mortar ability – boom! –  no more tanks. Leveling up in this game is done by using a specific class to get better weapons and abilities for that class. Lag is not an issue in this game and camping is difficult to do. The modes online are such that you will achieve more by doing the objective and not sitting waiting for someone to run by. I can seriously play this game for hours and hours on end.

I would recommend picking up this game, even at the full retail value. This game was well crafted, well designed, and stunning.

The most impressive feature of this headset is its comfort. Instead of using standard adjustable schemes, the headset uses a soft suspension band on top that essentially self-molds to your head. It fits as comfortably on my two-year-old’s head as it does on mine, as demonstrated here:

That’s my daughter, by the way, and not me. The ear pads are made of a soft leather of faux-leather and allows hours of straight play without discomfort. All other headsets I’ve used will hurt my ears after a couple of hours, but the combination of the suspension band and the soft pads did the trick.

I used the headset while playing World of Warcraft (in both arena and raid settings), Torchlight, and Dragon Age: Origins, as well as listening to some music through iTunes through my Soundblaster Audigy SE card. The increase in audio quality is noticeable as compared to my lower priced offering from Logitech that I was using previously. In terms of listening to music though, it fails to capture the same soundstage that my non-gaming, open Grado headphones provides. But the audio quality is perfect for games. Every intonation from the voice actors in Dragon Age is well conveyed and the booming explosions from Torchlight were… well, booming. The sounds are clean and crisp, and had no problems over Ventrilo either.

The microphone is retractable on the left side, making storage easy and not a hideous eyesore. The microphone is also soft and bendable but I found I had to have it fairly close to my mouth in order for it to carry sound to my teammates.  The noise reduction is probably sufficient for most LAN environments, though I hadn’t had time to go to one to test it there myself. However, I did test it with a child in the house, and though it (fortunately) did not block her out entirely, I was still able hear the dialogue in the games.

The Siberia v2 is a joy to use and is used around the world by some of the top eSports teams, including SK Gaming, and it’s easy to see why. If I was stuck in a long tournament, there is no other headset I would rather use due to the comfort factor.

The story begins with the protagonist shipwrecked on the fictional tropical island of Farango. Prior to your arrival, large temples have sprouted from the ground, releasing monsters throughout the island along with the promise of rare artifacts.  After you wake up on one of the sandy beaches of the island and run through a quick tutorial, you are free to choose your own path. You may choose to join the Inquisitors, a large religious cult of warriors and mages who have taken it upon themselves to deal with the monsters emerging from the ruins and the artifacts within, or the Don’s men, a group of rogues and fighters opposing the sudden and hostile rule of the Inquisitors. The world is completely open to you from the start of the game and it’s up to you to forge your character how you see fit.

The first thing you’ll notice when you play Risen is its technical superiority. The graphics look astounding with rustling trees and bushes, realistic textures and with great attention to detail such as day and night cycles, a dynamic weather system and the occasional rumble of the volcano located in the middle of the island. The character models of the creatures are imaginative and colourful, making the game always appealing and refreshing to the eyes. The graphics are well complemented by the sound quality and voice work.  All the sound effects are executed perfectly and the music in-game is very enjoyable. One thing I absolutely loved is the voice work. The protagonist and all the important characters are very well done. When they communicate it seems like a very natural and believable conversation. The non-playable characters are rather intelligent, to an extent I haven’t seen in many games, making them far more believable and immersive. Overall, Risen is technologically impressive.

Risen is an action role-playing game through and through, with basic gameplay mechanics revolving around gathering loot, fighting monsters and completing quests for the various inhabitants. There is a main quest line for each faction along with a nice scrambling of side quests throughout the tropical countryside for you to complete for extra rewards. Sometimes this drags down the story elements as you run about completing quests for a number of minor characters before coming back to the main story.  The pace does pick up once you get further into the game but the first ten to twenty hours are fairly slow. Some of these quests don’t seem very heroic or exciting either, such as tracking down a drug smuggler or delivering health potions for needy people living in slums.  It’s a bit disappointing but can be overlooked. Another small crack in Risen’s overall outstanding presentation is the difficulty. This is not a casual role-playing game. After the opening tutorial you are left to fend for yourself in a very dangerous world. Saving often is definitely recommended, and be prepared for untimely deaths while you get the hang of the controls and the enemy’s combat strategies. Most quests are fairly straight forward but some of them can be confusing – and at some points frustrating – due to the amount of trial and error needed to figure out what to do.

Combat consists of blocking, sidestepping and counterattacking your opponent, and for the most part it works very well when facing a single opponent. But the enemy AI is devilishly good at reading your moves before you make them, dodging and sidestepping most of your attacks while quickly countering you before you can dodge or get your guard up. Again this is most frustrating near the beginning of the game when you are limited to a small arsenal of weapons, but once you expand into using magic, bows and other unique weapons, combat becomes much more fluid and easy.

Risen is a fantastic role-playing game that shouldn’t be overlooked. It performs wonderfully on all fronts. The game starts off at a slow pace but once you delve further into Risen, you can easily be immersed for hours on the tropical paradise of Farango. Your destiny awaits!

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There are three classes, Alchemist, Vanquisher, and Berserker to choose from, but each class seems to have a ranged, melee, and magic skill tree, with some differences to each. For example, the Alchemist has a minion-focused skill tree that is similar to the Necromancer in Diablo II. There are certain skills that every class seems to have, such as a skill to boost magic and gold find, a skill to boost experience points and fame points gained, and a skill to get cheaper vendor prices. Much like Diablo, whenever a character gains an experience level, they will gain 5 attribute points to divide among strength, dexterity, magic and defense, in addition to a skill point. Fame levels are just like experience levels, except they reward you with just a skill point instead of a skill point and attribute points. The skill trees do not have dependencies, so theoretically you could take the top level skills in all three specialization trees once you meet the required level.

Instead of traveling to different towns and locales, Torchlight puts you in one town. All the action takes place in 35 levels of the mine, which is also where the story unfolds. Each level gets harder, of course, and there are special levels where there’s a plot point. With the exception of these special levels, each level is a randomized Diablo-esque clickfest. There are better hotkeys for use, even though they’re not customizable, and I would have really appreciated the ability to use more than two mouse buttons. There are also quests in the game, but they’re not very exciting and are generally just an avenue to get more fame, experience, and gold. In addition to the story quests which have no rewards, there are generic, streamlined quests for every non-plot level: kill something, and find something. There is a fishing minigame that has rewards that are not great and is generally not that useful. The fish you get can turn your pet into different things temporarily with matching strengths and vulnerabilities, which is cool, but entirely unnecessary to play the game.

Inventory management is exactly the same as Diablo II, with the exception of your pet, which is a feature borrowed from Fate. Each character starts with a cat or dog, and the pet will fight for you as well as carry stuff for you. In addition, you can send the pet back to town to sell stuff. This could take up to two minutes, but each class has some kind of pet-boosting skill that will reduce this time. This feature was actually very useful for me and saved me quite a few time consuming trips back to town. Less selling and more killing is a win in my book. There’s a shared stash between all your characters as well as a personal chest for the character itself. As is typical for these type of games, none of the inventories seem like they hold quite enough, but it’s only a minor distraction. The game makes up for the meager bag space by making every item take only one slot, thus eliminating the need to play Tetris with the items in your bag or to calculate gold-per-bag-slot for every item you want to pick up.

A feature that is new to the formula is the ability to enchant your items. Starting at a base cost depending on the type of item, the quality (common, enchanted, rare, or unique) of the item, and how many abilities it has already, you can pay for the chance to add a new ability to the item. The ability is completely random, and the cost to add a new enchantment increases each time. Also, there seems to be a higher chance of failure the more you enchant one item, until the process fails every time. It would have been great if there was some on screen display of the percentage chance of failure, or if it actually told you what enchantment it added instead of having to check yourself, but it’s still a addictive mechanic that is similar to gambling. It is also fairly useful in keeping some items either up to date or to augment a weapon that will be used for many levels. A feature the game borrows from Titan Quest is the ability to recover your socketed gems from your items by destroying the item, or recovering your item by destroying the gems in it. This makes collecting gems quite a bit easier at the cost of the vendor price of the item or allows you to keep upgrading the gems in your favourite item.

The graphics are charming. They’re not the best you’ll find even at max settings, but it’s clear that Runic was going for accessibility over flash, as the game even includes a Netbook Mode for gaming on the go. Your character’s equipment visually looks different with different types of armour, though, and that is really cool and keeps things fresh. However, the game does experience a tiny bit of slowdown when lots of things are exploding on the screen, but this was very, very rarely an issue. Playing in a maximized window in window mode also seemed to skew certain overlays such as item slots which makes it weird to play in that mode and I would not recommend it.

The sound is generic, and the town music and sounds are heavily inspired by – if not outright stolen – from Diablo II. The dungeon music is varied enough though. The voice acting is adequate since the story isn’t all that involved, and everything else sounds like it should. Again, it was clear that Runic was going for accessibility and trying to make the game sound okay on the lowest common machine rather than trying to win any technical achievements, which is fine.

Where Torchlight really shines is the value of the game. Even though there is no online play, it still packs in a lot of replayability and content. Other than trying the different combinations of all three classes and skill trees, the game is not over for the character when the 35 levels end. That only opens entry to the Shadow Vault, which are randomly generated dungeon with enemies that match the level of the character. Once you open up the Shadow Vault, all new characters will be also able to access it. Only the streamlined quests continue in the Shadow Vault, albeit from new NPCs, and there is no new plot to really keep things interesting from a story perspective. Still, the Shadow Vault provides unlimited play for a favourite character and will generally yield better loot and experience. Also, to inspire even more replay, players can now Retire their characters once they reach a certain level, which grants some heirloom bonuses to new characters. This is a really neat feature although it’s painful to depart with a character you’ve spent so much time on. In addition to all this content, Torchlight brings back the beloved Hardcore Mode, which means when your character dies, it is permanently deceased. With no leaderboards or anything though, it’ll be tough to prove you hit level 99 without ever dying. On top of all these reasons to keep playing, there are also four difficulty levels to challenge, though unfortunately you cannot switch difficulties for a character.

If you liked Diablo, Torchlight is pretty much a necessity at the extremely attractive price point. If you’ve never played Diablo and are looking to check out what the fuss is about, it’s a pretty low risk venture. It’s pretty much guaranteed to work on your computer and it offers a lot of content for the money. I would not call Torchlight an inspired game, but it was incredibly fun and I’ll go back to play it again a few times until Diablo III comes out and consumes my life.

Based on the arcade release of Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, Tekken 6 is a well-balanced three-dimensional fighting game with a massive cast of forty playable characters. The fighting mechanics are very similar to previous installments in the series, with canned combos being executed by inputting a series of button presses, with each of the controller’s four face buttons corresponding to your chosen fighters four limbs, and the majority of combat damage being dealt during juggles that carry your opponent through the air. The differences come in the form of the two new mechanics introduced: Rage and Bound. The Rage system is quite simple: whenever a fighter drops below five percent of his or her starting life total, they receive a significant boost in attack power. For those who have had the pleasure of playing Tekken Tag Tournament, Rage is functionally similar to Netsu Power. However, in addition to the character’s life bar glowing red, the characters themselves now also glow red. The glow itself is minimal, and hardly ever a distraction, and when combined with Tekken 6’s new motion blur effect, can look pretty cool when seen on darker levels.

The second new mechanic, Bound, has a much greater impact on the way the game is played. With the Bound system in place, players can smash their opponents against the ground with certain moves that will result in their opponents bouncing upon impact, making them vulnerable to additional hits. The bounce itself is brief, so players need to act fast in order to take advantage of it, but if they succeed, the result could lead to massive damage. The more advanced combos in the game rely on Bound in order to maximize damage potential and to carry opponents further in walled levels. On a walled level, bouncing your opponent off the ground directly in front of a wall will often lead to an inescapable wall combo, which is guaranteed to make opponent wince. Thankfully, the release of Bloodline Rebellion addressed the lethality of Bound combos, which in the original arcade release could be used to kill an opponent in one juggle, making them much more balanced. Most Bound juggles deal damage on par with the standard juggles from Tekken 5: Resurrection. Unfortunately, while this keeps juggle damage within the realm of reason, it also forces players to learn more demanding juggle strings in order to remain competitive.

The console release also benefits from the addition of a few console-exclusive features: Scenario Campaign and Online Mode. Scenario Campaign is similar to the Tekken Force beat-’em-up modes seen in previous console releases of Tekken titles, but with a greater story component and a world map complete with branching paths. The default story is based around the two new Tekken 6 characters, Lars and Alisa, and is told through several real-time cutscenes that occur before and after missions. The story itself is pretty campy, at best, and far from Oscar material, but it gets the job done, and for players not interested in sitting through the cutscenes, they can be skipped. As players progress through Scenario Campaign, they’ll unlock other characters to use in this mode, and by defeating enemies, earn spending money and some items for their chosen character. Here’s where Scenario Campaign gets interesting, as the items earned in this way have special properties exclusive to this mode. You may find a pair of gloves that will engulf your enemies in flames when struck, or a pair of sunglasses that greatly increases the amount of money earned during each mission. Players can equip each costume of their fighter with five special attribute slots, something that may be necessary in order to complete the later missions in the game. Unfortunately, Scenario Campaign is not without its flaws. The controls are awkward and frustrating, and the graphics appear to be rendered in a lower resolution than the rest of the game. The characters and the environments look generic, and several of the resources are reused throughout the experience. Sadly, players that want to customize most or all of the characters in the game will need to spend a lot of time in this mode, as it’s the fastest way to earn money and items.

Though taking your favourite combatant online certainly has its rewards as well. Defeating higher ranked players can result in a nice payout, and even losing a Ranked Match will earn you a little scratch. The online mode offers both Ranked and Player Matches for players to participate in, which has become the convention for most console games in this online age. The Ranked Matches will earn you both cash and rank, and for those players that seek fame, a spot on the leaderboards. The Player Matches offer rooms for players to fight without the added pressure of losing a rank, have customizable settings, such as time and rounds needed to win, and allow other players to spectate. For the most part, the online play is enjoyable, but in our experience with the game, suffered from intermittent lag problems. As Tekken 6 is a game of precise timing and execution, the lag can be a little discouraging for serious play, but will hardly get in the way of a casual match or two with some friends.

However, there’s more to the Online Mode in Tekken 6 than beating up friends and strangers. Players can download replays of matches in order to study tips and combos, or even submit their own. The replays are ranked by popularity, but can be filtered to find matches involving specific characters or players, and can be saved for later viewing on your hard drive. Another feature, and probably our favourite of Tekken 6’s online offerings, allows players to upload a Ghost of their character, or download ghosts made by others, including friends. Ghosts are AI representations of your character that attempt to emulate your style of play by using your most commonly executed moves and combos. The science isn’t perfect, but it can be surprisingly accurate at times. Whenever a new Ghost is downloaded to your system, it is placed in the database of random AI players that can be encountered during the offline Ghost Battle and Arcade Modes. Players can store up to one hundred downloaded Ghosts on their system, and may upload one for each character that they use. Encountering an AI opponent that attempts to mimic a friend of yours is pretty exciting, and I hope we see more of this in other fighting games.

One of the best reasons to upload a Ghost of your character is that it actually retains its customized appearance when encountered in another player’s game. The customization options in Tekken 6 are quite expansive, so a great deal of variety is guaranteed to be seen. Furthermore, the customizations have much better character model integration this time around. Fewer items look as though they’re floating near the character, and each character has dozens of purchasable items instead of just a handful with palette swaps.

Though as great as the customizations are, the visual presentation of Tekken 6 is a little lacking. The game suffers from some serious aliasing issues, as well as an upscaled resolution that can make some of the characters and environments look a little muddy at times. It’s hardly a deal breaker, as Liz Lemon would say, but it’s certainly noticeable, especially when compared to another Namco Bandai fighting game, Soul Calibur IV. However, Soul Calibur IV was without an arcade release, meaning that it was designed for both consoles from the ground up. To make matters worse, Tekken 6 also suffers from some lengthy load times, which can make loading a match take as long as thirty seconds. Thankfully, the load times can be significantly reduced by taking advantage of the optional install, which we’d strongly recommend doing. The aliasing issues can also be fixed by turning off the game’s Motion Blur feature, which allows the system to use anti-aliasing instead. Overall, we found that the game looked better with the Motion Blur disabled, but that’s a matter of opinion, of course.

The sound design is also a mixed bag. Most of the voices and sound effects have been recycled from previous Tekken games, sounding a touch stale, and the stage themes, in most cases, are less memorable than those heard in previous installments. However, there is the odd gem that can really help engross you in the battle, or put a smile on your face as you and your adversary take turns kicking sheep. Yeah, you read that correctly. Sheep.

Overall, the Tekken 6 experience is a very solid one, especially if you’re a hardcore fan of the franchise. The offline fighting is just as great as ever, perhaps even at its best with the largest character pool in franchise history, a more expansive move lists, and the benefit of two years of balancing. However, the additions made to make the console release more unique, Scenario Campaign and Online Mode, are too hit and miss for their own good. Throw in the dated visual presentation and the poor load times, and you get a game that to some, may feel like it came out two years too late. Regardless, as a die-hard Tekken fanatic, I have little trouble viewing this game as a success based on the merits of the offline versus mode alone, but if you’re new to the franchise, or hoping to get a little extra out of your fighting games, you may leave the Tournament a little disappointed.

The game begins with the pieces of our nameless robotic protagonist getting dumped, for reasons presently unknown, in a junkyard on the outskirts of a towering mechanical metropolis. Thankfully, due to his robotic nature, and the assistance of a robotic rodent, he is capable of putting his body back together – but remember kids, you can’t! Shortly after being reassembled, our automaton’s adventure begins with a trek back toward the city from which he was just expelled. This journey is accomplished through a series of screens that act as individual puzzles for the player to solve through clever use of the surrounding environment and some creative inventory management. However, the journey is much more than mere puzzle solving, as a surprisingly engaging story emerges in Machinarium as well.

The execution of this story is made all the more surprising by the complete lack of dialogue in the game, written or spoken. Instead, the characters of Machinarium converse telepathically, with thought bubbles filled with animated sketches provided for the benefit of the player. These animations are beautifully illustrated, wonderfully convey each character’s emotion and intent, and are quite often very funny. Through these pictograms we learn more about the inhabitants of the mechanical city, the reason our protagonist was expelled from it, a terrible plot to destroy its largest tower, and even a tale of love. These conversations are just one of the many brilliant highlights of Machinarium’s distinctive visual style.

The graphics are two-dimensional, comprised of highly-detailed hand-drawn sketches, and bathed in moody neutral tones and drab, desaturated colours. Still, the world of Machinarium feels very much alive, thanks to the amount of animation and interactivity weaved into each screen. Small robotic insects scurry about, steam pours out of vents, lights flicker, water drops from exposed pipes, and gears and pistons shift and turn to keep the heart of the city beating. The fantastic animations aren’t limited to the environments either, as the robotic characters themselves benefit from a wealth of expressive and often amusing animations as well. Where most games of this nature would often recycle a small set of key animations over and over again, the characters of Machinarium, most notably our protagonist, benefit from a vast pool of unique animations – rarely doing things the same way twice – resulting in a silent, robotic hero with a very human personality.

However, being a robot, our little hero is capable of doing things that humans cannot (beyond putting himself back together), such as stretching his torso and limbs to interact with the environment in different ways. By clicking on his head and dragging up or down, our protagonist will grow and shrink as desired, enabling him to reach items dangling above or to squeeze into a small ventilation shaft. Furthermore, despite his size, our hero apparently has a rather spacious interior, as he collects items by swallowing them and stores his inventory in his stomach. As with most adventure games, items in the inventory can be called upon at any time or combined to make new items entirely, and whenever an item is needed to proceed, our hero merely pulls it out of his mouth.

You’ll need these abilities and some solid logic if you wish to help our protagonist complete his journey, but be prepared to get stuck from time to time. While some of the puzzles are more traditional in nature, several of the screens require a much more abstract approach in order to solve them. The solutions are similar in nature to a Rube Goldberg machine, achieving a very simple goal or task in a complicated or convoluted manner. Normally, this manner of puzzle would be incredibly frustrating to solve, but the character and charm of Machinarium makes even the failed attempts a delight to watch. Additionally, there is no way to lose or perish in the game, as you are awarded as much time as you need in order to overcome the puzzle at hand.

Though if you find that your patience draws thin, and you’d rather put a particular puzzle behind you, Amanita Design has implemented two very welcome options for assistance, each offering a different degree of help. The first comes in the form of the idea button, which makes our protagonist think about the final step of the puzzle, illustrating it in a thought bubble similar to the telepathic conversations. The beauty of this method is that the game shows you what your goal should be, which is not always obvious at first, but doesn’t spoil how to achieve it. Ideally, with this new-found sense of direction, players should be able to work out how to accomplish their goal, but that won’t always be the case, and that’s where the second assistance tool comes in. For those completely stuck, Amanita Design has provided a solution book for each screen. However, obtaining that solution isn’t as simple as clicking on the book icon, or it would be far too tempting to use. Once the book is clicked, players are forced to play a shoot-’em-up mini-game in which they control a flying key traversing a cave fraught with deadly perils. If the key successfully navigates the cave, reaching the keyhole at the end, the book will open and reveal the step-by-step solution for that screen. It’s a beautifully illustrated and beautifully designed system that on more than one occasion actually discouraged me from spoiling the solution for myself, but I certainly appreciated its inclusion nonetheless.

While working out the solutions to each puzzle, or merely getting lost in the gorgeous visuals, Amanita Design has seen fit to serenade us with some wonderful music. Much like the environments in the game, the score is both moody and subdued, relying mostly on atmospheric electronic tones. Each area uses slight variations of the themes heard in those before it, or new themes altogether if the situation demands. The themes certainly aren’t memorable pieces, but they fit perfectly with the world and atmosphere that Machinarium presents. Additionally, and I know this is just conjecture on my part, the subdued and relaxing tones may help most players think. In fact, I have found the music to be so beneficial in this regard that I have actually left the game running in the background so that I may listen to it while I work (even as I write this review). Could we get a soundtrack, please?

The adventure game genre is all but extinct in the modern age of gaming, yet it seems that every year we are treated to one masterpiece such as Machinarium that keeps hopes for the genre’s triumphant return. Unfortunately, the experience is brief, as most players, especially genre veterans, will complete the game in six to eight hours, but every minute spent in this robotic world is a very pleasing one. For traditional adventure game fans, or just fans of games that make you both think and smile, Machinarium could very well be the best $20 you spend this year.

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That’s how you would feel if you were playing as one of The Joker’s henchmen in developer Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum. Thankfully, you won’t be, as it would prove to be a very frustrating and fruitless experience. Instead, of course, you assume the role of Batman, the world’s greatest detective, and the worst nightmare of petty criminals everywhere. Though it’s not just petty criminals that you’ll encounter in Arkham Asylum, as the institution from which the game derives its name is home to the most colourful characters in all of the Caped Crusader’s rogues gallery, including The Joker, Scarecrow, Poison Ivy, The Riddler, and Bane.

The game begins with Batman escorting The Joker back to Arkham after a wild night on the town with the crazy clown. Everything seems to be going smoothly when The Joker springs a trap, with the help of the always amusing Harley Quinn, throwing Arkham Asylum into utter chaos and locking both Batman and Commissioner Gordon inside. As the rest of the game unfolds, Batman must pursue The Joker and uncover the truth behind his secret plans, all the while rescuing the innocent civilians caught inside, doing battle with Arkham’s other insane inhabitants, and engaging in a little detective work.

The gameplay in Arkham Asylum does a fantastic job of showcasing the many facets of Batman’s character. From his proficiency with hand-to-hand combat, his knack for stealth, his ability to investigate the scene of a crime and make brilliant deductions, and his collection of wonderful toys, Rocksteady definitely did their homework and made sure that all the bases were covered. The hand-to-hand combat is quite simple in design, using one button to attack and another to counter incoming attacks, but manages to be very fun in its execution. Hitting the attack button repeatedly will result in Batman unleashing canned combos on his enemies, and perfectly timed button presses will lead to critical hits, which deal more damage and often result in a knockout. Pressing the counter button when an opponent is about to attack you, which is indicated by a pair of lightning bolts appearing over their head, will see Batman perform a punishing counter attack on his assailant, regardless of where they are attacking him from. This means that Batman could perform a combo on a thug in front of him, and interrupt it instantly to counter a foe attacking from the rear. It can be very easy to feel like a total badass with such tools at your disposal, and the hand-to-hand combat is just the beginning.

Arkham Asylum wouldn’t be a Batman game if it didn’t provide access to the Dark Knight’s expansive arsenal of gadgets and gizmos. Players will have access to several of Batman’s famous gadgets, such as the Batarangs and the Batclaw, as they navigate the corridors of Arkham, and many of them have multiple applications. The Batarangs, for instance, can be thrown at unsuspecting enemies to score a knockout, thrown at enemies during hand-to-hand combat to stun them momentarily, or at switches and panels out of Batman’s reach in order to interact with them. As players progress through the game by defeating bad guys and completing objectives, they’ll earn experience points that can be used to purchase upgrades for these items. Upgrades include Sonic Batarangs that emit a noise that will lure enemies to a desired location or the ability to throw up to three targeted Batarangs at once, and the player can choose the upgrades that best serve their style of play. Furthermore, as Batman reaches certain areas in the game, new gadgets will be unlocked, allowing him to interact with enemies and his environment in a whole new way. Obtaining these new items also gives players the opportunity to navigate previously explored sections of the asylum in new and exciting ways.

However, the coolest of Batman’s toys is available right from the get-go: the cowl. His cowl is equipped with a multitude of lenses that allow Batman to view his surroundings through a variety of spectrum filters. Whenever players desire, they may enter Batman’s Detective Mode, which through the use of these lenses, Batman is able to see clearly in the dark, look through walls using x-ray technology, monitor an individual’s heart rate, spot structural weaknesses in the environment, and more. Detective Mode offers a great deal of useful information and can be very empowering, and when used to clear a room of five goons without breaking a sweat, almost feels like cheating. In fact, Detective Mode is so useful that there’s little reason to ever turn it off, save for the sometimes overwhelming blue hues, but is too much of a good thing really that bad?

Batman also uses the lenses in his cowl to perform detective work. Like the combat, the detective gameplay is quite simple, but unfortunately not quite as fun. Throughout the game, players will be prompted to enter Detective Mode in order to examine an area for a clue. This typically means navigating the area or room until Batman spots the evidence that he’s looking for, which will lead to a trail of some kind, left by DNA or tobacco, for instance, that Batman must follow. It breaks up the standard exploration gameplay to a degree, but it’s not very engaging or challenging due to the trails themselves being very obvious to spot and follow. However, the detective gameplay is a welcome addition regardless, because a Batman game without some manner of detective work wouldn’t fully capture the essence of the character.

When looking for clues throughout Arkham, Batman will occasionally stumble across a clue of a different nature: one left by The Riddler. Knowing that his favourite intellectual counterpart would be spending the night at his place of residence, The Riddler arranged several puzzles throughout the asylum for Batman to solve. These puzzles appear in three forms: Riddler Trophies, which resemble a green question mark on a golden base, that are hidden in hard-to-reach areas of Arkham, riddles that describe a specific item in the area that Batman must look at and scan in order to solve, and painted question marks that can only be seen in Detective Mode (another reason to keep it on) when viewed at specific angles. These Riddler Challenges are entirely optional, but offer valuable experience points whenever completed. Furthermore, they give players ample reason to revisit previously explored areas with new gadgets, and the sheer number of Riddler Challenges adds quite a lot of longevity to the game.

Forza 3 sports over 400 cars from 50 different manufacturers and thousands of upgradable bits and bobs.  These vehicles visit over 20 locations and race on over 100 different track layouts, which includes speed rings, drag strips and a few reverse tracks.  There are some sweet cars in the game, ranging from perfectly reasonable ones like the Firebird Trans Am to ridiculous stuff like the Veyron.  The game mixes some fictional courses in with real ones and even has a few winding road courses thrown in.  In a somewhat curious move, all cars and tracks are unlocked from the get-go, so no grinding is necessary.  Vehicles can only be upgraded and tweaked once they’re part of a garage, though, which can require a good deal of play to save up enough credits.  It’s an interesting move all the same, since it lets everyone go at their favourite bits right out of the box.  It does mean that there’s nothing to look forward to, though.

Screenshots show that a huge amount of effort has gone into making Forza 3’s car models absolutely stunning.  But nothing can show how the game looks and feels during that first race.  Every single race blazes at a solid 60fps.  I never experienced a moment of slowdown, frame drops or screen tearing during an offline race.  Having such a high frame rate makes controlling this beast an absolute dream.

I’m not a huge fan of using racing wheels in games, even though it’s the preferable option.  Thankfully, driving using the regular controller works amazingly well.  Cars respond well to everything I do, and after only a couple races, I was back in the groove.  Racing hundreds of laps in a game that looks and feels this good is easy and fun.  It’s not necessarily the definitive racing graphics of this generation, but it is a very high watermark that will hopefully inspire other developers.

The interface, from menus to the HUD during races, has been designed to be simple.  Want to race?  Just choose Go Race.  Want to check out cars, or do upgrades, or go to the storefront?  Choose those options.  The HUD during races is the same for all vehicles and varies depending on the camera choice.  The good news is that the cockpit view in this game is perfectly playable, and shows a good amount of internal detail to boot, with working gauges and all that jazz.  There were a couple times I wished for a bit more detail in terms of on-screen stats about the race or trial I was taking part in, but what’s there is more than adequate.  During play the game will record ghost laps for each vehicle on each course, which is awesome.  I’m a huge supporter of the ghost agenda.

However, all is not well in the land.  As good as the in-game racing looks, it’s clear that corners were cut in order to keep the game at a solid 60fps.  During replays or the ‘car porn’ slideshow in the menus, the game looks noticeably different.  During a race, there’s little in terms of post-processing effects, such as motion blur, pixel shading and bloom lighting.  There are some good lighting effects and transitions from dark to light that can be breathtaking on certain tracks, but the whole game has a very efficient look that can come across as plain.  During photo mode and replay mode, all sorts of tricks get turned on to make the game look great, but at the cost of the frame rate.  At the moment a race finishes, when the game switches from race mode to replay mode, the sudden change in frame rate can be very jarring.

The damage modeling that the game uses is visually weak, even though cars scratch up nicely, paint flakes off and body panels bend and distort.  There’s a little spark effect that comes off vehicles when they rub or bump, which comes across as a little weird, especially for cars that I know have carbon fiber shells.  But that’s really the extent of the damage.  It’s enough most of the time, but if a car takes a really bad turn and flips, it’ll come off looking like it just had a little rough love in the corner.  It’s the same with smashing into a wall at 150mph.  It’s a minor complaint, but it’s something that can spoil the immersion.

The roar of engines and squeal of tires in Forza 3 are top notch.  I’m not a massive car buff, so I I don’t know how accurate all the sounds are, but every vehicle seems to have its own unique sound.  When a race is going smoothly, the sounds are great and adds to the excitement.  The collision noises are a little weak and usually amounts to little more than a thump or a bit of grinding.  The music is a vast and mixed bag.  The stuff we get at menus and during the little preview bits is generic electronic filler – nothing too offensive, but nothing that I can remember.  There’s some nice, slow piano pieces that play during car showcases.  There’s some rock, some drum and bass, some electronic, and some pop.  I have no idea who made this music, who the artists are, what the names of the tracks are, or anything -  there are no credits to be found.  There is no ability to skip or configure anything other than the volume. Which is a shame, because good music makes racing exciting. I either turned the music down, or put on my own terrible racing music for most of the game.

Graphically, the game tries very hard to present itself in a realistic sense, with detailed tracks, gorgeous cars modeled inside and out, and an absolutely awesome sense of speed.  The presentation stumbles now and again, with the damage modeling looking oddly blocky at times.  Vehicles tend to look less realistic the more banged up they get.  The insides of the vehicles are quite impressive, showing off working gauges, meters, mirrors and the hands and arms of the driver.  A cool depth-of-field effect gets used when the vehicle goes at a good clip and the interior blurring out as the driver focuses on the track.  Unfortunately, the view’s so far back in this mode that under half the screen shows the actual track.  As much as I liked the interior camera, I played using the hood camera.

On the subject of cameras, the game frequently has trouble with its exterior views, especially during replays.  The camera will clip through the ground, pieces of scenery, or even the cars themselves.  The physics engine will act up oddly now and again, with vehicles flipping up into the air – seemingly weighing nothing.  Upon the conclusion of a race, when the AI takes over the player car, it sometimes immediately slams into a wall.  These are all minor points, but they contributed to a detachment from any sense of realism the game was trying to present.

The sound of all these cars zooming around manages to be pretty impressive, with different effects for each one.  The roar of supercar engines contributes to the sense of speed, and everything being just barely under the player’s control.  The driver makes some odd little grunts when cars bump about that I found a little distracting and silly.  SHIFT has to have a whopping ten tracks of music, a bizarre mix of tunes that get heard mostly in 15 second clips at the end of races while advancing through the reward screens.  Drift events play music all the time, further alienating this mode.

The actual racing engine under SHIFT’s hood is good.  It wants to be something along the lines of a Gran Turismo / Forza game, with real-life courses, real vehicles and racing that requires knowledge of racing lines and proper braking instead of crazy powerslides and drifts.  There is even a colour-coded racing line: green for speed up, yellow for coast, red for brake.  But it also tries to be approachable, offering different racing models to appeal to different gamers.  On the Casual profile, the game auto-brakes and helps with turning.  So much so that I could do full laps on top-tier cars while keeping the gas all the way down.

I appreciate what Slightly Mad Studios is trying to do with choices like this, but it really does feel like the game isn’t sure what it is supposed to be.  It’s immensely satisfying to take the Corkscrew on Laguna Seca at speed and have the little Corner Mastered message pop.  But that’s all diminished when I can get it during the first lap on the track – ever – because of the amount of help the game gives.  On the Experienced or Pro models, the game feels really good and offers a fairly consistent challenge, at least as far as car versus track.  I’ve read comments about the controls feeling sluggish, but I either didn’t notice, or got used to the feel of the game too quickly.

The core of the SHIFT experience is the idea of Driver Level.  Start at level 1 and progressing to level 50 over the course of the game, the player unlocks more garage spots, vinyl bits, rims and paint job types.  Every now and again an Invitational Event will open up, offering cash for races a little outside of the current tier, and biased towards the player’s racing style.  It all sounds pretty impressive, but it essentially boils down to much the same to Metropolis Street Racer’s / Project Gotham Racing’s Kudos system.  Do certain things during a race to get points and collect enough points to level up.  Precision points are awarded for clean overtakes, following the racing line, and taking turns perfectly.  Aggression points are awarded for dirty overtakes, tapping opponents, making them spin out, and drafting.  Rewarding players for playing like jerks is always a recipe for disaster.

There are online support and Quick Races, but the bulk of the game is found in Career mode.  It all starts with an empty garage, an inexperienced driver, and a test lap.  Depending on how well that goes, the game suggests an assortment of difficulty options, gives a bit of cash and sends the player on his way.  Over the course of the next 15 hours or so, the player progresses through five tiers of races against more and more demanding opponents, unlocking features and bonus bits as his experience level rises.  By no means a bad system at all, for the most part.

Slightly Mad has packed a lot of races into Career mode – easily over a couple hundred.  Apart from achievement / trophy hunting, there’s really no reason to do all these races, although there are a good variety of events to be had.  I was plugging through the game, going for completion points, and had managed to unlock the final tier of the game (effectively tier five) halfway through the races on tier two.  I could have been picking and choosing the races I enjoyed most and made the same progress.  Given that there’s way too many unpleasant races, this is the best course of action.

Everything about the Drift events, which involve sliding wildly around a few turns and getting points, seem shoehorned into a game that doesn’t want any part of it.  Competing in these events is just a matter of scoring the most points after three heats on a short section of track. In addition, only eleven vehicles are Drift compatible.  Every single one of these events involved chain-restarting until I managed a good run.  I never really felt in control, and although I started to develop an ability for controlling slides after a few dozen attempts, it was never fun.

This theme of ‘never fun’ crops up again and again towards the end of Career mode.  The AI ramps up and Rivals start coming into play, with the first 20 seconds of every race degrading into an absolute mess that would make David Cronenberg proud.  There’s still good racing to be had, but it’s all way too aggressive, spoiling the illusion of working up the ranks of more and more experienced drivers.  I’ve seen more civilized behaviour on the Krachenwagen.  All this ridiculousness came to a head in two events:  an Endurance race that took place around a figure eight track, and a Duel Driver race-off where my opponent was using a vehicle type that was banned in the current event.

As I put more and more time into the game, I started noticing these little odd omissions.  There’s no real Time Trial mode that lets one car do infinite laps to practice a course.  There’s no support for Ghost replays, or proper support for best lap times in a certain car tier.  The leaderboards that the game offers off of the Career mode events only ever show Friends.  During a race, all the split times are hidden in the upper-left, with no individual splits showing up after laps or track sections.  These are mostly all basic racing game functions that didn’t seem to make the cut.  Was attention being focused elsewhere?  Was it all an attempt to make the game more approachable to the casual, old-school NFS fan?

Collisions in the game make the whole screen go all black-and-white and blurry, which is a cool effect, except that it can really shift the emphasis off racing.  If I get a good bump on me during the first turn of the race, I’m off the track and odds are it’s going to take a few moments to be able to see again, get back on the track, and get up to speed.  This more or less sums up my experience with online play.  The performance of it was fine, but I felt I wasn’t playing the game right.  Furthermore, I couldn’t find any way to filter my opponents based on their driving settings, which can make recovering from a ‘take out’ much more straightforward.

Which is a shame, because one of the online modes is pretty cool.  Driver Duel matches up players in one-on-one matches, similar to the Rival events in Career.  The game chooses a random car, a random track, and sets up three races, with alternating players having an advantage, then an even, rolling start.  The first player to two race wins (five seconds ahead or cross the line first) takes the whole event.  But the cool part is the Naruto: Rise of a Ninja style tier system that this mode uses.  As the player goes into this event over and over, they will rise through standings and face opponents of a similar ranking.  It’s a dynamic sort of tournament mode that seems like a good fit with most of what Slightly Mad is trying to do.  I hope we continue to see it in future games.

I know I’m being really hard on the game, but I did have fun with it, despite the 20-30 second load times for races and other assorted quibbles.  I feel the whole series is at a transition point right now, with EA and Slightly Mad trying to bridge the gap.  The realistic controls and closed-circuit tracks will frustrate traditional fans of the series, who just want a good arcade-style race.  The more casual elements of the game will frustrate people looking for a more realistic experience, leaving no one truly happy with what we have here.

Need for Speed: SHIFT is a summer blockbuster.  Lots of bang, flash and wow that really does manage to impress, but it all comes across as shallow and engineered to move, and will probably be forgotten in a few months’ time.  I’d recommend it to racing game fans who’re not averse to a little mingling of arcade and simulation style racing.  Big kudos to Simply Mad for something so close to awesome for their first high-definition console title, and let’s hope they find the perfect niche for the undoubted sequel.

From the gunfights and precarious climbing scenes to the clever puzzles and comedic interludes, Uncharted 2 has all the makings of a summer blockbuster, and with near-perfect execution in direction and pacing, surpasses many such films that have seen release in recent years. With a story rich with adventure, romance, betrayal, legends, and myths, Nathan Drake even beats Indiana Jones and his quest for that Crystal Skull at his own game – or would that be movie? The lines are far too blurred.

Controlling Nathan has become much easier in Uncharted 2, keeping the level of immersion high throughout the entire experience. Handhold detection has been improved for the climbing scenes, making it easier for players to get to where they want to go, and the cover mechanics have been improved to give players more options when sneaking around or shielding themselves from gunfire. Naughty Dog have also introduced some new stealth mechanics in Uncharted 2, providing Nathan with the option to pursue a more subtle approach when confronted by enemies. When infiltrating an area unseen, players can sneak up on unsuspecting enemies and silently dispatch them with the press of a button. These silent maneuvers are completely contextual, allowing Nathan to pull enemies off of ledges from below, drag them behind cover, or pull them around corners. Dispatching an enemy in such a fashion will always result in that enemy dropping additional or improved weaponry, such as grenades or a better assault rifle, which can be very rewarding. It’s not a revolutionary system, but it adds more depth and variety to a franchise already filled with exciting and cinematic gameplay.

However, while Nathan may have more tools at his disposal, so do his adversaries. Proud to be cast in small but important roles, the enemies in Uncharted 2 have greatly improved over those found in the first game. The artificial intelligence can be rather cunning, using suppressing and flanking strategies to keep players on their toes, and forces players to give more consideration the aforementioned stealth mechanics. The enemy units are also more varied this time around, with the introduction of fully and partially armoured soldiers, soldiers that carry riot shields, and a few other dangerous surprises found in the later scenes. The soldiers with the riot shields are particularly intimidating, as they relentlessly advance on Nathan’s position while others provide suppressing fire. Though once they are defeated, players may equip the riot shield and apply the same pressure to the enemy.

For those that look to get the most bang for their buck, Naughty Dog have included a significant multiplayer component in Uncharted 2. Players can jump online and choose from a multitude of competitive and cooperative modes, each of which features an abundance of Trophies and in-game medals to unlock. The competitive modes support up to ten players, and include Deathmatch, which sees two teams of five, heroes and villains, do battle until one team reaches a specified number of kills, Elimination, a mode similar to Deathmatch but without respawns, Plunder, a traditional Capture the Flag mode, and Chain Reaction, a Capture the Flag variation with multiple flags that must be captured in a specific order. Players earn experience points and cash throughout each match, which they can then use to purchase new skills or multiplayer character skins. The competitive multiplayer is surprisingly deep for a game so focused on delivering a memorable single-player experience.

The cooperative modes are just as deep, and perhaps even more fun when played with a full compliment of three people. Uncharted 2 features three co-op modes: Arena, Gold Rush, and Co-Op. Arena is similar to the Horde mode found in Gears of War 2, pitting players against wave after wave of increasingly difficult enemies. Gold Rush gives players the task of locating a number of randomly placed treasures and artifacts from throughout a level and returning them to a specified rendevouz point, all the while getting assaulted by wave after wave of persistent baddies. Co-Op mode, on the other hand, is the closest players will come to playing the single-player campaign with a friend. It offers an assortment of missions that involve finding a specific treasure or rescuing friendly character that players can complete together. The gameplay in these missions is identical to the single-player campaign, exciting and cinematic, and each takes about thirty or more minutes to complete. With these cooperative and competitive online modes, in addition to the many treasures, Trophies, and in-game medals for players to find and unlock, Uncharted 2 offers significant amount of gameplay, making it a worthwhile purchase at just about any price.

Though as good as the gameplay is, it doesn’t steal the show. The visuals in Uncharted 2 deliver an outstanding performance that will have most picking their jaws up off the floor. From the dense jungles of Borneo to the ruined streets of Nepal, some of the environments crafted by Naughty Dog need to be seen to be believed. The level of detail is almost unparalleled, and the textures, lighting, and draw distance are remarkable. Nepal, when seen from atop one of its highest buildings, is breathtaking, and the jungles of Borneo could make one long for an exotic vacation. Furthermore, the many temples and shrines found throughout the game are works of art, filled with enough cultural and religious symbols, intricate statues, and ancient artistry to make one’s imagination run wild. When exploring each environment, I often found myself stopping to take in every detail as though I was truly travelling abroad.

The characters look remarkable as well, improving in detail over those seen in the original Uncharted, which is no small feat. The textures of their clothing are crisp, giving the impression of real fabrics, and the way in which they get wet or dirty as the characters navigate the environment is amazing to see. The character animations are also incredibly lifelike, especially during the motion-captured cutscenes, and the facial expressions are near-perfect, leaning more toward subtle than exaggerated. Combined with the beautiful environment design, the characters and animations make Uncharted 2 one of the best-looking games to date.

However, as believable as the characters look on screen, it’s the voice talent that truly brings them to life. The original Uncharted benefited from some of the best voice acting in the history of videogames, and with the returning cast growing more comfortable in their roles, as well as the addition of some new, experienced talent, the voice acting found in Uncharted 2 is second to none. The performances sound completely natural, giving the impression that the on-screen characters are actually speaking to each other and not just saying lines, and the delivery and intonation is spot-on. Such performances make it very easy to grow attached to the characters in Uncharted 2, which probably explains my well-documented obsession with Elena Fisher.

The music is also fantastic, with a complete orchestral score to help drive home the cinematic experience, and the sound design is just as good. The music shifts dynamically with the action, treating players to intense tribal beats during combat and keeping them on their toes with atmospheric rhythms while sneaking and climbing. Uncharted 2 also supports full 5.1 surround sound, immersing players into the heart of the action.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is a cinematic masterpiece, and one that fully lives up to the hype. In the days following its release, I found myself more often comparing it to movies than videogames when discussing it with friends. The story, the characters, the voice acting, and the music all add up to an incredibly memorable experience, and the multitude of online modes and unlockables will keep players entertained for months even after the credits roll. Uncharted 2 is a thrill ride from tutorial to finish, and makes the recent announcement of the franchise leaping to the silver screen all the more sensible, because it wouldn’t seem out of place as is.

NHL 10 features the much the same pick-up-and-play gameplay that many have come to associate with the series, with the addition of some new mechanics to increase the level of realism. One of the most notable additions is the Post-Whistle Action, which allows players to engage in scrums and extracurricular activity after a stoppage of play. Has a sniper on the opposing team made too much of an impression this period? Wash his face with your glove after the whistle to send him a message. Want to get a rise out of the opposing team? Take a shot on net after an Offsides call. The Post-Whistle Action rarely makes an impact on the game, but can sometimes result in a roughing penalty or a fight, which can give a team some unexpected momentum. And despite being a little unnecessary, it does add realism to the game, and most importantly, it’s pretty damn fun.

In another attempt to inject some realism into NHL 10’s gameplay, EA Sports implemented the all new Battle on the Boards mechanic. With the press of a button, players can now pin another player to the boards. Once a player is pinned, the two combatants will battle for control of the puck, while AI team mates will wait nearby for the puck to be kicked free. It’s a very simple addition to the game, but one that results in a significant impact on gameplay. When playing NHL 10 on the more demanding game difficulties, dump-and-chase and forechecking strategies become a necessity. Much like in the real life sport, pinning a defenseman in the corner after a dump-in and kicking the puck out to free team mate can lead to some exciting opportunities, and being able to execute such a strategy on a whim feels fantastic.

Do you know what else feels fantastic? Punching people in the face. And it has never been more engaging in a hockey game than it is in NHL 10. The new fighting mini-game puts you directly in the skates of your player, providing a first-person perspective on the skirmish. Punches are thrown by flicking the right analog stick in the direction of your opponent’s head. If your opponent is dodging to the left, flick the analog stick toward the ten o’clock position, and if he’s dodging to the right, flick to the two o’clock position. Furthermore, a power punch can be thrown by pulling back on the stick before flicking, similar to taking a slap shot when controlling the puck. Like the Post-Whistle Action, such attention to the in-game fighting is unnecessary but incredibly fun regardless. I just wish there was a way to jersey your opponent. Perhaps next year!

Other gameplay refinements include Precision Passing, which gives players complete control over the speed and direction of their passes, enabling players to create plays by banking passes off the boards or passing ahead of a team mate instead of passing tape to tape. Offensive-minded players can also take advantage of the ability to push the puck ahead while skating up the ice, or protecting the puck while leaning into an over-bearing defenseman. Impressively, with all of the aforementioned additions, the gameplay still remains as accessible and as approachable as ever. I engaged in a match with my brother-in-law over Thanksgiving weekend and despite not being an experienced gamer, he beat me with a score of 3-2 in the dying seconds of overtime. I mostly attribute this to my choice of teams (the Toronto Maple Leafs), but the efforts made by EA Sports to make the game intuitive and simple to play certainly played a part in my heart-breaking loss.

EA Sports also added some exciting new gameplay modes, most notable of which is the Be a GM mode. As the title of the mode implies, players assume the role of a General Manager of a hockey team of their choice in Be a GM mode. As an acting General Manager, players must oversee all aspects of their team, including roster management, trading, contract negotiations, scouting, drafting, staff management and more. Be a GM also provides goals for players to try to achieve, earning them experience points to spend on upgrading various aspects of their franchise. Trading and contract negotiations are handled in a balanced and satisfying manner, making it more difficult to cheat the system than it is in some other hockey games, and with a fully active and developing AHL farm team, top prospects will actually grow to earn NHL ice time. Like Be a Pro mode before it, Be a GM mode adds a significant role-playing game element to EA Sports’ NHL franchise, and which results in a very engrossing experience overall.

Battle for the Cup, the other new gameplay mode found in NHL 10, isn’t nearly as deep, but offers an exciting experience in its own right. Battle for the Cup lets players select two teams to go head-to-head in a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Finals series. The mode can be played against an AI opponent or with another local player, co-operatively or competitively. What makes Battle for the Cup so fun is the additional information used to bring each series to life, like the developing stories about the performance of specific players, line match-ups, and injuries that are shown before each game, and the running commentary about the series from the real-time commentators, Gary Thorne and Bill Clement. A Battle for the Cup series may not carry the weight of a full season or franchise behind it, but it still does a great job of conveying all the drama and emotion associated with the post-season.

Unfortunately, with all the attention given to the new modes and gameplay refinements in NHL 10, it seems that the graphics and visual presentation were overlooked. The interface and menus are sleek and well-designed, but the in-game graphics are lacklustre and uninspired. The player models are blocky and somewhat generic looking, and while some players do resemble their real-life counterparts, the resemblance could hardly be called realistic. The player animations could also use a little work, as players rarely transition as smoothly as they could between actions. Furthermore, the framerate drops occasionally during goal celebrations and other cutscenes, and during the odd on-ice play when the action gets too hectic. Overall, NHL 10 is a good looking game, as good as NHL 09 before it, but is certainly over-shadowed by other recent sports titles.

With the exception of the soundtrack, the audio in NHL 10 seems similarly ignored. As mentioned above, the commentators featured in NHL 10 are none other than Gary Thorne and Bill Clement, the same pairing used since NHL 08. For those that have been faithful to the franchise since then, you’ll be hearing a lot of familiar lines, but for those that haven’t, you’re in for a treat. The play-by-play and colour commentary in the game sounds more natural than most, and benefits from an expansive database of dialogue. Colour commentary will provide insight on everything from star player, team, and arena histories to information about season, series, and game statistics, and the play-by-play is often accurate and rarely repeats. Additionally, the audience can be quite lively, with player and team-specific chants that are heard loud and clear, and benefit from small touches, such as getting louder during the playoffs or for the last minute of a sure win. However, none of it is really new. While the audio design is solid throughout the entire experience, it will likely seem just as stale and familiar as the visuals to those that spent a significant amount of time with NHL 09.

So is NHL 10 a worthy successor? Most definitely. While the recycled audio and visual offerings are a little disappointing, the enhancements made to the gameplay and the new game modes more than make up for it. NHL 10 features enough gameplay to keep hardcore enthusiasts involved for years to come, and with the intuitive controls, make even the most casual and sporadic players feel like masters of the sport. Now if only EA Sports could find a way to make the Toronto Maple Leafs reflect their performance in my Be a GM franchise. NHL 11 perhaps?

Reviewing NHL 2K10 is actually quite difficult. The game has a great deal of potential built into its foundation, but without a certain level of dedication required of the player, that potential will never truly be unlocked. NHL 2K10, like other entries in the franchise before it, enable players to tweak a rather significant amount of gameplay and sliders in order make the game function as they desire. Manipulating these sliders can change almost every aspect of gameplay, from ice friction to rebound frequency, and NHL 2K10 adds even more sliders to the mix by giving the player full control of the game’s artificial intelligence, for both human and computer-controlled teams. These sliders enable players to determine how often the computer will shoot or pass, and how creative your AI teammates will be when making plays.

Slider adjustment is crucial to the enjoyment of the game, and entire communities have spawned around creating slider settings for specific styles of play. Unfortunately, not every player that purchases NHL 2K10 will be savvy enough to locate these communities, or have the patience to tweak the sliders themselves. Visual Concepts have allowed players to share slider settings with NHL 2K10’s 2K Share feature, but due to the lack of detailed descriptions, there’s often little guarantee that the downloaded settings will be satisfactory. For most players, the default slider settings will be the only ones they ever use, which is a shame, because they make the game feel sluggish and sloppy.

The sliders aside, Visual Concepts have added some new gameplay features to NHL 2K10 that take the franchise in the right direction. Gone are the unnecessarily complicated one-on-one and goalie deke maneuvers from NHL 2K9. Gamers can still make flashy moves with their more agile players, but the controls required to do so have been greatly streamlined. Furthermore, the goalie dekes will now take your position relative to the net into account during execution, making the resulting maneuvers much more appropriate. Manual line changes have also been streamlined, allowing players to change their forward lines or defensive pairings on a whim with a quick button press. This system results in much less distraction, which is crucial in those close games against a division rival.

Visual Concepts has also implemented a stick lift mechanic that has a number of useful applications. Is an opposing forward about to receive a one-timer pass in the slot? Lift that stick! Did an opposing defenseman struggle with a pass he received on the point? Lift that stick, and if your player is agile enough, he may just steal the puck in the process for a breakaway. The stick lift adds a strategic alternative to poke checking and standard checking, but it can often result in hooking or slashing penalties if you’re not careful, or both players getting tangled up for a few seconds.

Furthermore, with Alexander Ovechkin gracing the cover of the box, players had to expect a gameplay mechanic or two that was inspired by the flashy winger. In addition to some of the goalie dekes, which were motion captured using Ovechkin himself, Visual Concepts implemented Stumble Shots. Stumble Shots occur when a more skilled player is checked or bumped during a shot, resulting in the player taking the shot from one knee, while falling over, or, like Ovechkin’s famous goal, while on the ground. Thankfully, the Stumble Shots rarely happen, and when they do, they rarely score. Some can be a little over-the-top, but do a great deal to add excitement to the game.

NHL 2K10 offers several offline game modes, including Franchise, Season, Playoffs, Mini-Rink, Pond Hockey, and the quick game and practice modes that you’d associate with most sports games, but it’s clear that the emphasis was on online play this time around. Visual Concepts have created a full suite of online game modes, enabling players to play full seasons, including the playoffs, with up to thirty players. Players can also co-operatively progress through an online franchise, and even create an online team for you and your friends – with each player assigned to a specific position – for you to challenge others online. Unfortunately, most of the online modes adhere to the default slider settings in order to provide a fair and universal gameplay experience to all who venture online, making the transition somewhat jarring for those who use their own custom slider settings offline.

However, whether you’re playing online or offline, it’s easy to see that Visual Concepts went the extra mile when producing NHL 2K10’s visuals. While the default gameplay may be a disappointment, NHL 2K10 is without a doubt the best looking hockey game to be released this year. The player models are properly proportioned, feature crisp textures and immediately recognizable likeness, animate very fluidly, and for those that are obsessive about this kind of thing, use real sponsored equipment. The arenas are also gorgeous, with each featuring subtle yet different lighting schemes, detailed architecture, believable fans, and team-specific entrance animations. As good as the game looks, though, it does have some visual flaws. Player models clip through each other and sometimes disappear entirely during special animations, such as goal celebrations. Such animations also result in the occasional player trying to skate through the boards or getting stuck on the net. All of this could have been avoided with better AI pathing, but the lack thereof sometimes gives the impression of an unfinished product. Overall, despite a few flaws, NHL 2K10 is a visual treat and the best looking hockey game to date.

The sound doesn’t fare quite as well. While the soundtrack offers a more balanced selection of music, almost everything else about the sound design feels dated. The commentators have very few new lines and become repetitive after just a few games, the audience sounds flat and dull, and the on-ice sound effects are the same ones that have been used for years. A few new player and team specific audience chants have been added, and each team uses their real life goal horn whenever they score, but it all tends to feel rather lifeless. Additionally, some player names are still missing from the arena announcer’s speech database, occasionally resulting in the announcement of a goal being scored by nobody, assisted by a player’s first name, with another player’s last name being awarded the second assist. Once again, it can give the impression that the game is unfinished, which can be somewhat discouraging.

Overall, NHL 2K10 is what you choose to make of it. Veterans of the franchise and players that are familiar with the slider system will know how to make the best of the game, and in those situations NHL 2K10 can really shine. However, more casual players and those that are new to the franchise may find the gameplay sluggish and frustrating straight out of the box. Furthermore, while offering several game modes, NHL 2K10 offers little in the way of goals or unlockable content aside from the standard implementation of trophies and achievements. Those that play will only keep playing it for the love of the game, and with the awkward feel of the default settings, many will turn away after their first impression. However, NHL 2K10 represents a significant building block for the future of the franchise, and is quite capable of being a great game to those willing to work for it.

Unfortunately, the original developer, Ensemble Studios, is no more, which is a shame, because that whole situation overshadowed what is a really decent game.  It looks great, plays really well, and is the first RTS I’ve played that really feels at home on a console.  Sure, it made some sacrifices to make it all work, and the value of the whole package can be really questionable at times, especially for a gamer who is only interested in part of the package.  But it manages to fulfill what I see as its two primary goals: bring out an RTS that a Halo player might play, and present the Halo universe in a way a non-FPS gamer might care about.

As a bit of a disclaimer, I fall into the former category.  I’m certainly no Halo superstar, but I have played all three.  I’m also a modest RTS fan.  I’ve enjoyed the assorted Warcrafts and Command & Conquers by muddling through them in my own way.

The game wears its Halo crown very well.  The main menu opens with a remix of a familiar theme, with all the expected blue highlights and doodads.  I was especially impressed with the inclusion of a Halo Timeline.  It’s a group of about fifty key events (about a third of them initially locked) that take place during the Covenant Wars, leading right up to the events that started the original Halo game.  I’ve always enjoyed Bungie’s backstory, a lot of which didn’t fit in too well with the run-and-gun action, so it’s nice to be able to read up and know what’s going on.

The core of the single player experience is the campaign mode.  A number of bells and whistles are packed into it, but it does come across as underwhelming.  It’s 15 stages, and UNSC only.  Although the Covenant units are playable in the Skirmish and Multiplayer modes, there’s no matching campaign.  It’s a little disappointing, especially given how much I was impressed by the campaign that is there.  The game has absolutely amazing pre-rendered cutscenes.  They’re very well done, very exciting, and fit the theme of Halo very well, much like the initial teaser released back during E3 a few years ago.  They set up the missions and join them together.

Once in the mission, there’s a so-so cutscene done in the engine.  Except that it has all been captured and compressed to the point where it looks rather blocky.  The actual game looks quite good, so it’s really a minor squabble.  There were no noticeable framerate issues, as I was too involved in the action to notice. The UI is simple – just a little minimap in the upper-right, next to unit numbers, reactor level, and number of remaining resources.  Along the bottom will be icons when units are selected.

The sound fits the pace of the action very well.  Halo-ish music at the right times, rising when things get exciting, growing muted when there’s a calm moment.  All the familiar shouts and explosions, panicked Grunts and plasma blasts.  The voice acting during cutscenes was perfectly fine, which is always a nice surprise.

The game’s tutorial explains most of the controls, and there’s really not a lot to explain.  Analog sticks move and rotate the screen, A select units, and B cancels selection.  X is move/attack, and Y uses the single special ability of any selected item.  LT speeds up movement, RT cycles through selected units, LB selects all units, and RB selects all units on the screen.  The d-pad is used for bringing up commander abilities and cycling between various locations (bases, alerts, armies).

That’s really it.  Ensemble streamlined all the complicated controls a PC RTS would have to just those.  No more than one ability per unit, no real way to create squads or groups of units, and so on.  A very simple interface.  It really does work, though.  It’s easy to roll into battle with a huge group of dudes, tap RT to cycle to tanks, get them aiming at a Scarab, tap RT again, get the Spartans trying to hijack a Wraith, and that sort of thing.  There’s no pinpoint precision, but there doesn’t need to be.  There’s enough control given to let the game shine.

The simplicity of the control extends to other parts of the game.  Halo Wars is built around the idea of a base.  Certain locations on every map can support a base.  Run a guy up there, choose Build Base, and you’re building that base!  It pops up with a Command Center and three empty pads.  Choose one of the empty pads and six options appear (some greyed out, depending on tech level).  Supply Pads constantly produce resources.  Gotta have a couple of those.  Reactors raise the tech level of the base.  They’re expensive, but necessary.  A Field Armoury allows for upgrades, but makes no units itself.  And then there are the Barracks, Vehicle Depot and Air Pad to produce the game’s various units.  It’s possible to upgrade the Command Center so the base has five or seven pads, as well as four locations for turrets.

And again, that’s really it.  The Covenant buildings have different names, and there are some slight differences, but the two factions are essentially the same.  The game’s tech tree (PDF) is very straightforward.  Each building can make two or three units, with a certain super unit getting unlocked should the tech be advanced enough, depending on the commander choice.  And it’s all wrapped up in a Rock-Paper-Scissors system:  infantry beats aircraft, which beats vehicles, which beat infantry, with a couple of exceptions. There’s an anti-infantry infantry unit (Flamethrower) and an anti-vehicle vehicle (Cobra), and the game does a good job of making all of this clear with on-screen prompts.

The major difference between the two factions is the way leaders are used.  For the UNSC, the leader is on the Spirit of Fire, in orbit.  They will have their one special ability, plus the ability to disrupt Covenant powers, send down healing / repairs, and order transports.  For the Covenant, the leader is on the battlefield.  His ability requires him to be in the area, putting him at risk.  Because of this, all Covenant bases have the ability to teleport units directly to the leader at any time, with no cost.  Kind of scary when you see the Arbiter running towards your base and suddenly he’s surrounded by a dozen squads of Suicide Grunts.

I really don’t feel the simplicity of the game is that bad a thing.  Yes, there are really not all that many traditional strategic options, as far as development goes.  But just because there are not billions of units, and the ability to drop buildings everywhere, doesn’t mean it’s not a strategic game.  Resources are technically unlimited, but only come in so fast.  What should be focused on at one time?  Make them come in faster, focus on getting more bases for cheap Reactors, try to go for a Warthog rush, or rain down Regret death?  Every pad is precious.  By limiting building in such a way, every structure is valuable, even if resources would allow for many more to be made.  The metagame that works in a good RTS is still intact.