Greg Kasavin sparks heated debate on violence in Bioshock: Infinite when he guests this week's Gameplay podcast.

Posted by Tiberius Jonez
email tiberiusjonez@gmail.com



Greg Kasavin, former Gamespot Editor and one of my favorite game reviewers of all time, stopped by for a visit with Kevin VanOrd in this week's Gamespot Gameplay podcast; which includes quite a heated debate on the occasionally shocking violence and controversial themes featured in Bioshock: Infinite. (beware spoilers from 00:49:00 to 01:05:00)

Among other things, the show includes a very interesting discussion on the birth and maturation of the modern shooter genre, the Metal Gear Solid series, Dark Souls II and a career retrospective on Kasavin's time at Gamespot, highlighting some of his very best game reviews.

Personally, it was great to hear Kasavin's thoughts on the industry again. Back in the day, he and Jeff Gerstmann were the go-to guys for quality game reviews. They were both major influences on me and it's safe to say that without them, GameJonez would not exist.

Gamespot veterans Carolyn Petit, Tyler Winegarner and Tom McShea all contribute to this spirited discussion. The show runs nearly 2 hours in its entirety and is interesting throughout, but if you're cramped for time you can skip around at will.

Greg Kasavin now works for Supergiant Games, the creators of Bastion. They recently revealed that they are working on their next release, titled "Transistor". Which platforms "Transistor" will be released on is yet to be determined, as is the release date. Stay tuned.

Madden 2010 - The best mobile game ever?

by Tiberius Jonez

I recently got a new phone; an LG Dare. I decided to buy a game to see what it could do, and after scouring the entire library of available games on the Verizon network (and reading some reviews) I settled on Madden 2010. At $10, Madden is one of the more expensive games on the Verizon network. Is it worth it? Read on.

After quickly downloading the game, it was installed and I was looking at the menu screen. There are three pretty standard modes of play; Play Now, Exhibition and Season. They are all exactly what you'd expect.

What you might not expect is just how fun and satisfying a football game can be on a touch screen phone.

When the initial kickoff takes flight, you are immediately struck by the graphics - Madden 2010 is essentially a N64 game squeezed into a cell phone. The motion is very smooth for the most part and the animations are quite good. The hit and tackle animations in particular are exceptional. Of course, Madden is fully licensed so all 32 NFL teams are represented.

The control scheme is a combination of a standard 8-direction digital pad located on the lower-left corner of the touch screen (directional toggle on non touch screens) and an "OK" circle that becomes visible in the lower-right anytime an action is available.

So here's how it plays out:

Touch the screen and the ball is snapped. The QB automatically drops back and starts surveying the field. Circles pop up on screen to represent your receivers and the "OK" circle is visible in the lower-right. The circles representing your receivers change colors depending on the action on screen. The colors are: green for uncovered, yellow for partly covered, and red for completely covered.

As a receiver comes open, you tap the "OK" circle, followed by the icon of the receiver you wish to throw to; on this play it was Adrian Peterson. A.P. catches the ball and starts up field. The "OK" icon pops up again, Tap it and the action freezes (actually slows down to a near stop) and a series of icons pop up representing different moves available to your ball carrier, such as spin move, hurdle, dive, change of direction, speed burst, stiff arm and others. I select spin move and Peterson spins, splitting two defenders and continuing up field.

As the "OK" circle refills another defender approaches from the side. The "OK" button fills up...I tap it and select stiff arm. A.P. sticks his hand in the defenseless defender's face and knocks him to the ground. As he resumes his upfield assault, the "OK" meter fills up again - I select celebrate inside the 10 yard line and A.P. holds the ball out behind him, taunting the defense as he struts into the endzone for six.

The controls are very well designed and give the action a very cohesive feel that is rare in mobile games. I have played nothing but this game for three straight days. If a cell phone game can keep me away from my Xbox 360 or PC, it must be pretty damn good.

One of the game's best features is the save system. If you exit the game for any reason - to take a call, text message or because you need to stop playing, your game progress is automatically saved at the moment following your last completed play. This save feature makes it very convenient for playing in short bursts.

Madden 2010 mobile is a fantastic game - the best I've ever played on a mobile device. It is fun, deep, and offers super tight controls. If you love football or just good games, you can't go wrong with this one. Pick it up.

The Last Remnant PC review

By Tiberius Jonez

Final Fantasy; unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past ten years, you know it is widely considered the crown jewel of Japanese style role playing franchises. Personally, I never really enjoyed it until the release of Final Fantasy Crisis Core for the PSP. I always found the stories utterly clichéd, the combat tedious, and the graphics to be less than stellar, except for the cut scenes. And I’ve never personally understood the Japanese penchant for creating male heroes that look like 12 year old girls. Never mind the endless grinding and random encounters.

So, imagine my apprehension when I read that The Last Remnant, the latest attempt by Microsoft (the game first appeared on the Xbox 360) to tap the Japanese RPG market, was created by Final Fantasy developer Square Enix.

The Last Remnant makes a very good first impression; the opening cut scene is dramatic and full of excellent eye candy. In this scene, we witness the kidnapping of our hero, Rush Sykes’ sister, Irina. Of course, the kidnapping is just the tip of the iceberg of a much broader reaching political intrigue in which our hero will eventually find himself deeply embroiled.

The story is alright. Though it never quite reaches the level of fine literature, it does have some dramatic moments, some touching moments and the occasional plot twist that might actually surprise you.

My favorite part of the game is the combat. The Last Remnant's battle system is unique, though it will likely be several hours before you truly appreciate its intricacies. Rather than controlling individual party members during combat, you recruit leaders and soldiers, and group them together into unions. Although each unit has his or her own stats, equipment, and arts (the game's versions of spells and combat skills), you issue union-wide, turn-based commands on the field. Whereas in most RPGs you choose very specific actions, such as casting a particular spell or using a particular item, in The Last Remnant you choose broader commands. These may include healing unions that need it; performing mystic arts (though you can see which arts the units will use, you can't micromanage them on a unit-by-unit basis); or summoning Rush's awe-inspiring, beautifully designed Cyclops to assist in battle. It should be noted that the combat feels most comfortable with a gamepad, especially an Xbox 360 controller. While the combat is certainly functional with a mouse and keyboard setup, it is clear the system was designed for a gamepad.

Another thing I could never quite get used to, and one that is common to JRPGs is how, even though you are traveling with a large group of people, you only ever see your own character while exploring the world. Your allies are only apparent when engaged in battle. You've just completed this epic battle, and a split second after it ends, here you are all by yourself. I find this design choice to be slightly jarring.

The battle system is quite deep, and the graphical effects and animations are all very well done, and never become boring. The same can’t be said for the repetitious one-liners that Rush utters before each encounter. After a while, I desperately wished for a way to shut him up and just start the next encounter.




The world presented in the game is stunning to look at, and considerably larger than that found in the Xbox 360 version. While you will travel through many varied types of terrain, they all feel connected and reasonable within the game’s “reality”. There is the occasional texture pop-in, but overall the game's visuals are vastly improved over its Xbox 360 counterpart. Frame rate drops are very rare. One problem, and this is nitpicking, is the animations of some of the characters during in-game conversations. Some of the body language is just plain strange. It’s hard to explain, but you’ll know it when you see it. It’s not enough to detract from the overall enjoyment of the game, but it does occasionally end the suspension of disbelief that is the hallmark of any great game, film, or book. I do have to consider it a slight hit to the game’s otherwise excellent presentation.

The Last Remnant is a very long game, even if you don’t choose to explore every side quest and nook and cranny. Thankfully, the music is excellent throughout. Every area of the world has its own theme, and the music in battle is always rousing and never gets stale. The voice acting is generally very good, but there are occasional awkward moments.

Overall, the technical improvements Square Enix made to the PC version of The Last Remnant render it far superior to its Xbox 360 cousin, and make it one of the most enjoyable RPG games around, and one that any fan of the genre should make a point to experience.

Presentation (8)
Graphics (9)
Sound (10)
Gameplay (9)
Lasting Appeal (7)
Overall 8.6

Killzone 2 Reviewed

by Brendan Rose

Now, I know that a lot of people like Killzone 2, but a lot of people like crack, as well. Killzone 2 proudly sports many features which have become standard in the current generation. Like the iron sights, two weapon limit, and automatic regeneration. Iron sights just makes your normal aim pathetic, I prefer the dot in the center of the screen that actually hits the target. I don't really like any of these, but I may as well be complaining about cell phones.

I suppose there's nothing really WRONG with it. The graphics are fine the music is fine it's all fine...but it sucks... It's just androgynous fighting with no real satisfaction in killing anything. You go from fight, to fight, to fight, to fight, slowly advancing, solving whatever goal of the minute is bothering your comrades, and it's just boring. I don't see the appeal. There is very little blood, and there's nothing really tactical about it. It's terrible.

Some people might point out that the multiplayer is better, which I might believe, but will let sit for now. I don't want to play it. Now, everything I said there was actually about Call of Duty 5. The difference is, Killzone 2 is good, and Call of Duty 5 is tripe. What Call of Duty does wrong, Killzone 2 makes work anyway. It's very generic, and at the same time better than anything it seems to imitate.

There are two deaths in Call of Duty 5. You die normally, and you also die when you shoot your own people. It will say "Friendly Fire will not be tolerated" and then starts it again. I hate that, not only do I want to kill these people, half the time in the middle of a firefight they look the same. There is also the little death every time you have to play it. Thankfully, Killzone 2 doesn't have this problem.

Upon completion of Call of Duty 5, you are rewarded with an endless, ultimately unwinnable zombie shooter set inside of a house that just makes you wish you were playing Left 4 Dead. I'd rather eat broken glass than play Call of Duty 5 again. I'd rather pluck off my fingernails one by one than play Call of Duty 5 for one more minute. I'd rather live in a pile of dog doo. That dog's feces would be like manna from heaven pouring over me rather than playing that festering stinking pile. I'd rather eat raw mold. I don't want to play it. Call of Duty 5 is not even worthy of piracy. HELL is having to play Call of Duty World at War over and over for the rest of eternity.

The first thing I noticed about Killzone 2 is how much livelier and cooler the enemy are. The good guys are instantly repulsive. I think I will enjoy playing as the Helghast in multiplayer. Damn right, get the f*@% off my homeworld!

Okay so the story is that your high school football team, is fighting a space Adolph Hitler. You are invading his home world. No matter how many times you try you cannot kill your teammates, so eventually you start killing space Nazis with glowing red eyes instead that populate most of the game.

Killzone 2's graphics are really great, probably the best I've seen on consoles so far. The AI is smart and the Framerate is good. It's fun, and YES, we have physics. To me physics are as beautiful and important as the graphics themselves, which is why I crave fire and destructible buildings. The audio is excellent, including enemies chattering to each other. The gameplay is strong, cogent, and satisfying. It's really excellent, almost triumphant, and I haven't even gotten to the multiplayer portion.

I can't believe my name is Sev. They swear a lot. You move slowly, but there's a sprint. The weapons are kind of modern, assault rifles mostly, and there are also flame throwers and electricity weapons and RPG’s and shotguns. You can only carry one pistol and one main weapon. The pistol is functional.

What's cool about the multiplayer is how it changes objectives in the middle of a match, going from CTF missions to Assassination to Control points to Team Death-match to Search & Destroy, over and over. It's arguably the best multiplayer game on PS3 so far. The multiplayer graphics are spectacular, there's character progression as you play through the game, and it's just a lot of fun. It's great. There's up to 32 player multiplayer and you can have the extra space taken up by bots or play skirmish missions on your own. The red eyed Nazis are just great, real dark and fascist looking, very fun. The ISA are also good, and their chatter is less intrusive. No complaints on the multiplayer, except that a Nazi gives these weird propaganda speeches when you lose as the Helghast.

Overall though Killzone 2 is a really excellent multiplayer game. It was extremely rewarding to earn my first promotion, the "killing specialist" and "good conduct" ribbons. The first promotion is Corporal which allows you to create a squad. Sergeant lets you create a clan, eventually unlocking new weapons and classes. The multiplayer maps are great, and the overall level design is really good. There are eight online maps and lots of trophies to unlock. The boss characters are pretty cool.

So, how do I sum up Killzone 2? I suppose that I could weakly complain about the story, but that would be verging on pointless. This game is better than the sex act. It rocks. It's first-rate - too polished to bitch about the slightest missteps. Soon the gathering darkness will sweep over us and hover for many months, but this title, right now, just makes me glad I have a Playstation 3.

Presentation (10)

Graphics (10)

Sound (9)

Gameplay (10x2)

Lasting appeal (9)

Overall: 9.6

Valkyria Chronicles

By Brendan Rose

Remember SEGA? Back in the nineties the Sega master system was still a serious competitor to the Super Nintendo. They made Sonic, and they were cool, but by the time the Dreamcast was released they were already financial toast, and now they make games for other systems, games like Valkyria Chronicles for the PS3.

Valkyria Chronicles is a bit reminiscent of games like Final Fantasy Tactics and Disgaea, except with no grid, bigger levels, and an emphasis on guns and tanks with elements of a third person shooter thrown in for good measure. It starts with an overview map in the Player Phase where you have a limited amount of CP to select units to move. You can select the same unit more than once per turn, but they're able to move less each time. The movement phase is a bit like a third person shooter. You run around until the movement bar is finished, and you can attack once per turn. Enemies automatically attack as you appear within range. When you are out of CP, or finished the round, you end the phase. Then the Enemy Phase starts, they move their units and attack, your characters fire at targets within range, and then the process repeats until somebody wins.

The goals are stuff like:

"Victory"
The enemy base camp is captured.

"Failure"
Welkin dies

Valkyria Chronicles is one of those games that tries to make you gay. For instance clearly the enemy is your heterosexuality, and Welkin is their own salivating sense of arousal. The cell shading however makes up for this with lots of lively pastel colors.

The game is awesome; it's actually one of the best games I've played this year. It's very tactical and you have to work strategically as a team to win. One of the important factors is hiding behind cover, you take a lot less damage from behind cover, and in turn sandbags and cover can be destroyed by tanks and explosives. You're also able to issue orders (like attack boost). You can fight skirmish battles to gain experience and you level up by class. So if you spend all your experience to bring up Shock Troopers to level 6, all your Shock Troopers will level up. There are also Scouts, Lancers, Engineers and Snipers.

The “plot” is simple. The Empire was at war with a united group of democratic states, and the minor state of Galia had remained neutral in the conflict, but was later invaded by the Empire. You take control of a local militia, and kill an endless slew of nameless, faceless soldiers. Your militia soldiers all look different and have their own personalities. They have individual if somewhat repetitive animations, voices, special abilities and afflictions, and if they die in combat and don't get to a medic, that's it. There are about 50 of them to choose from.

Welkin meets Alicia when he is drawing fish by a stream. Alicia points a gun at his back and tries to arrest him, and eventually they join together to fight the Empire. The story is good, and there's a lot of it, but it is a little bit happy flying pigs and kitty butterflies. Every time it loads there's a picture of two pretty flowers. Still, that is tempered by some rather good action, and the graphics are great. The plot is told by selecting frames on the pages of a book, and is partly in fmv and partly in animated frames. It gets a little tired playing the same skirmish missions over and over for experience, but it is a rich and rewarding game, and a lot of fun. There are at least 20 hours of gameplay, and 9 skirmish missions to unlock. If you try Valkyria Chronicles out you'll find one of the better RPG’s on PlayStation 3, and nobody wants to see SEGA begging for change at the side of the street in ten years. So, if you need a good game, try Valkyria Chronicles.

Halo Revisited

by Tiberius Jonez

In November of 2001, Microsoft released the original Xbox, and the game touted as the console's "killer app" at launch was Halo. Halo was a trend-setting game in many respects, such as the auto-recharging shield, which has been adopted by virtually every major shooter since, in the form of auto-regenerating health systems like those used in Gears of War and Call of Duty. It was also the first major game to limit you to carrying two weapons at a time. Another first was the Warthog, Master Chief's favorite armored 4X4. Halo was the first game I can remember to present driving in a shooter in an accesible, fun and satisfying way.

At the time of its release, the Xbox was far superior, technically, to the Playstation 2, and Halo showed us exactly what the new-kid-on-the-block console could do; and the results were stunning; no game had ever looked this good. The first time you emerged from the drop ship and stepped into Halo's ring world is a moment permanently etched in the minds of many gamers. The Xbox was the first console to include a hard-drive, and as such, programmers were able to stream information from the hard-drive, lightening a considerable load for the processor and RAM. The ability to stream from the hard-drive allowed Halo to become the first single-player game to offer an entire game world free of loading screens, so there was nothing to pull you out of the experience; an absolute technical marvel at the time.

While Halo was a trend-setter, it was also just plain fun. It was the first console game to spawn a serious LAN party following; something previously reserved for blockbuster PC titles. In fact, before Xbox Live was even born, loyal players had already figured out a way to play Halo online using their PC's and "tunnel" software. I admit, I used the Xbox Tunnel software to play Halo online with my brother. Even though it was a less than smooth online experience, when it worked it was great fun, and it gave us a taste of things to come.

Sure, it took PC veterans a while to adjust to using a controller in a shooter...but Halo proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that a console shooter with a gamepad control scheme could work, and work well. Seven years later, I now prefer an Xbox 360 controller over a mouse and keyboard anyday.

I recently installed Halo on my PC to see what I thought of the game today, and somewhat to my surprise - it holds up amazingly well, even by today's graphical standards. The animations are excellent, the textures, while not high-res by today's standards, are bright and crisp, and the environmental effects like flying dirt, smoke and muzzle flashes still look very nice.

What made Halo the complete package was its story. Bungie crafted a legitimate sci-fi masterpiece that told an imaginative and well-written story using strong dialogue and the occasional plot twist. It didn't hurt that the game's voice-acting was universally strong...for once voice acting didn't make you cringe - quite the opposite - even today, Halo's voice work sucks you in and keeps you there for the duration.

Some may say the end portion of the game is cheap by virtue of the fact that you essentially play the game's levels in reverse. But in reality, it sticks with the story - you have to go in deep to complete your objective, and you have to get your ass back out of there in one piece to escape.

Another area in which Halo excelled was enemy A.I.. Few games today can match the cunning and unpredictablilty of Master Chief's many foes.

Aside from the weak story, many Xbox fans consider Halo 2 to be the better game, but not me. Sure, Halo 2 had it all over the original in terms of online play, with its fantastic matchmaking and bazillion game types. But the original Halo set the stage for that game and Halo 3 as well as virtually every other online shooter released since on any platform, both in terms of gameplay and presentation.

More than seven years after its original release, I enjoyed Halo as much today as I did then, and in some ways I enjoyed it more now, mainly due to the new respect and admiration gained with the perspective of time. If you've been living under a rock since November, 2001 and have somehow never played Halo, please, do yourself a favor and play it now. I guarantee you will have some fun, whether you play it on the Xbox, Xbox 360 or the PC.

Left 4 Dead at a glance

by Brendan Rose

The surprise hit of 2008, and an instant classic for me, was definitely Left 4 Dead by Valve software, makers of the archaic masterpiece Half Life. Half Life spawned games like Team Fortress 2, Counterstrike, Half Life 2 and eventually the evil and draconian Steam, which often refuses to let you play a game even though you’ve already paid for it.

Left 4 Dead is a Co-Op zombie shooter modeled on a movie theme. The zombies are kind of like those from 28 Days Later, really wild and crazy running at you slavering and screaming for blood, trying to rip your throat out when they notice you, and just standing around staring off into space when they don't.

L4D features 5 boss zombies. The Boomer, a bloated fat zombie barfs or explodes, sending a hoard of lesser zombies to kill you. The Smoker, like the licker from Resident Evil, constricts you with its tongue and drags you away to eat or strangle. The Hunter moves quickly and dives at you to tear you to shreds with his hands. The Witch cries until she's startled and then rips you apart. The Tank slaughters everyone half the time; you really need to stick with your team or you'll find yourself swarmed, restrained, and dead pretty quickly.

All the monsters and most items are placed randomly by the AI director, ensuring that every outing through the four chapters of screaming infected, each containing five levels, always feels fresh and new.

The game also features a versus mode where two teams face off as either the Zombies or the Survivors.

There is no way to express the joy of ditching your three stupid friends as they die in a hoard of zombies, overcome by their own dumbness, while you escape unscathed. Left 4 Dead features crisp live voice chat (or garbled gibberish on 360), swarms of enemies, and is really one of the most fun games of the year. I bought it twice, so I can easily recommend that you buy it once.

Far Cry 2 at a glance

By Brendan Rose

I wasn't particularly excited about Far Cry 2. It was released along side a slew of other more interesting titles and it was one of the last that I picked up. I played through the start, wasn't really impressed, got frustrated hunting diamonds, and gave up. That was it for a while. But after sitting down with it, sometime around the point I'd just wiped out an enemy unit and blew up a fuel tank which set fire to the grass that spread all through the area as I drove away, I realized, I love this game.

The graphics are rich and colorful; the African landscape looks great, ranging from dry plains to lush green jungles. It's a very pretty game. Not as pretty as Crysis, and I was disappointed that destructible buildings didn't make it over for instance, but at least it doesn't abuse and debase your computer like Crysis does.

Sure the story is crap, and it's just repetitive shooting and driving from place to place, but it's fun. The action is solid and the graphics are pure and beautiful. It’s one of the nicest looking games I've played, and it looks even better on the PC. The fire physics are the best I've seen in a game so far. It's also just plain cool to see your character pull a bullet out of his leg with a knife. It's a well rounded, polished, balanced and fun action shooter. The landscape is detailed and full of color and life, and it's funny to run over a gazelle.

Far Cry 2 is said to be a sequel in name only. It carries over none of the story or mutant powers of the first game. You are dropped into an unnamed African nation in the middle of a civil war and your mission is to track down and kill the arms dealer supplying both sides. The plan goes sideways as you're overcome with malaria and you have to start doing missions for either side for diamonds to buy weapons, and help the underground for malaria pills.

The AI is passable but nothing to scream about and there is the issue that you will be fighting the exact same enemies, time after time for the rest of the game. Most of the variation centers around your choice of weapons, and there's plenty. the game also includes a map editor.

There's not much depth to be found in Far Cry 2, but what it does, it does well. If you like first person shooters, it's worth a look.

Watch the video below for a taste of Far Cry 2's eye candy.

Fallout 3 - Game of the Year

by Brendan Rose

Fallout 3 is the next in line of the classic series of games from the nineties that allowed you to wander a post apocalyptic wasteland and lose much of your soul in the process, pillaging and tormenting survivors. With it's over the top violence, prostitution, drugs, pimping your wife for money, and killing little kids that throw stones, the game quickly gained cult status among fans. They were warped and deformed by the game forever, and hid in damp caves until the release of Fallout 3. Many of them were frightened and hateful towards the new game, but most have now come to accept it.

After the developer tanked, the licence was picked up by Bethesda, makers of the classic Morrowind, and the tripe Oblivion. Oblivion was a terrible game, but it's barebones engine provided the perfect framework for the new Fallout.

A lot of people thought it was just Oblivion with guns, which was true, but far more importantly, it was Oblivion with decapitation and dismemberment, and they fixed the damn level scaling, and the guards don't attack you everywhere for crimes in one city.

But that is just nerd history. The game starts you out being yanked out of your mothers vagina and told to decide the sex of your character. Your father (Liam Neeson) then has you sent off and you begin a series of milestones in your characters development in the underground vault where you decide your stats and skills which have an important impact on your character. You can also choose your appearance.

The game tries hard to give you the option of pursuing whatever interests you and still being able to get by. If you want to play it like a shooter, you can put your points into perception and weapons. If you want to use stealth, or melee, or focus on speech, the game will accommodate you.

As you level up you are able to receive perks depending on your stats and level that bulk up and customize your character in often unique ways. You can kill most of the people in the vault eventually, not all though. You can kill almost anyone in the game actually, which is nice. One of the first choices you're presented with is whether you want to destroy a town (Megaton) or save it. Your choices have some effect on the story and the ending is dynamic based on a few variables.

It's a very polished, fun game, with lots of depth. The wasteland goes on for miles and it's rich and full with beautiful graphics and plenty of detail, and it's just nice to be able to wipe out a town.

There's also a lot of depth to most of the characters, with a nice variety of dialogue choices, which makes it a lot more fun to blast their head off. The game uses a system called VATS to freeze time and line up attacks against different body parts and then watch all the violence in flashy slow motion. It's a nice throw back to the original isometric game. Strangely, watching limbs and heads go flying off, does not get old over time. The only problem is the regular FPS style fighting feels a bit clunky, you really need to use VATS.

Also available for the PC version is the GECK, which with a simple PHD in Quantum Physics, you can design and build your own levels, and the rest of us can try vainly to place one NPC that immediately runs away from where we placed it.

You can follow the main quest or just explore the wasteland, doing side quests, of which there is an abundance. There are also other characters you can recruit depending on your alignment.

There's a nice variety of enemies to suit different points in your development, ranging from Raiders to Supermutants to The Enclave, and plenty of random monsters like the Deathclaws. It's a nice nod to the spirit of the original games, and the next logical step for the series. The ending, however, is terrible...just terrible.

The main story lasts about 20 hours, and if you like exploring weird vaults and caves full of monsters, there's a lot more beyond that to be experienced.

It's my favorite game for 2008 and definitely worth a try.


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He Said, “Lego Indiana Jones, The Original Adventures” is a pleasant surprise

By Tiberius Jonez

Well, as you can see below, my better half has really enjoyed playing the new Lego Indiana Jones game. Well, why not, with a name like Jones – it has to be good, right?

Well, when I asked for the game for Father’s Day, it was more an excuse to have something we could play together than an outright desire to play it myself. Sure, I had read reviews of the previous Lego games and figured they must at least be decent, but I honestly thought they’d be too simple for an uber-gamer like me. However, I am pleasantly surprised to report, Lego Indiana Jones,The Original Adventures is a really fun game – and it’s challenging to boot.

The graphics are very cute and quite eye-pleasing aside from some noticeable vertical tearing. The camera angle isn’t always conducive to making the platforming aspects of the game as easy as they could be – which is somewhat surprising considering this is the latest of several such Lego games. While it is somewhat disappointing that Traveler’s Tales, the developer responsible for the game hasn’t solved the game’s camera issues – it is not a huge detractor from the game’s overall fun factor.

While I was expecting simple puzzles from the title, I can attest to the fiendish difficulty of some of the game’s puzzles portions. We’ve had to consult YouTube on more than one occasion to figure out what step we were missing to get past different challenges the game presented for us.

As far as the way Traveler's Tales handles the Indiana Jones franchise – they do a remarkable job of remaining true to the movies while adding their own unique comic twists here and there. A sense of fun and light-hearted humor pervades the entire production and adds nicely to the title’s overall appeal. Any fan of the man in the hat will enjoy the Lego treatment he receives.

Overall, I would highly recommend Lego Indiana Jones, The Original Adventures to anyone who either loves good action-platforming-puzzle games, or to any fan of the Indiana Jones movies.

Indy is a winner on the big and small screens!

Wii Fit impressions

by Tiberius Jonez

I've had a few days with Wii Fit and I'm ready to give you my impressions of this highly anticipated Wii title.

The first thing I'll say is we were lucky to even get a copy of the game as it's been sold out everywhere around the greater Minneapolis area since its release. We just happened to be in Walmart this weekend and decided to check for it on a whim, and lo and behold, there were two copies that must have just come in so we grabbed one.

When we got it home and set it up the first thing we (the wife and I) noticed was the quality of the balance board - this thing is sturdy. I weigh about 250lbs and it didn't even flinch at me when I stood on it. Conversely, it was accurate reading the inputs of my 2 year old son who weighs less than 30 lbs.

When you first boot up the game it does an overall assessment of your Body Mass Index (BMI) and gauges your balance. The balance part of it seemed a little strange to both my wife and myself as it seems like you have to lean forward a bit to achieve a "center" of balance. Perhaps this is accurate and we both have poor posture but it felt a bit odd. Once the initial assessment is complete, you are asked to set a goal for future sessions. You can set a goal to lose, maintain or gain weight over a period of time ranging from two weeks to 6 months.

Once the assessment was done, we dove into some of the "games" included with Wii Fit. Initially, only some of the mini-games are available to try. As you progress and spend time with Wii Fit, you are rewarded with more game variations based on the number of minutes you spend "working out". I haven't tried all the available options, but I can say of the ones I've tried - stepping, hula hooping, soccer, tight rope walking, slalom skiing and ski jumping - the skiing games are my favorite by far.

The Ski jumping requires you to maintain a squatting, forward leaning center of balance during the run down the ramp and then when you reach the end of the ramp you thrust up into an extended standing position, leaning forward with a good center of balance to achieve and maintain a good jump.

This game is quite fun and it replicated the feeling (or what I would guess the feeling is like) quite nicely. It was a satisfying experience and one I wanted to repeat over and over again.

My other favorite was the slalom skiing. The controls of this were simple to learn, but difficult to master. Essentially, you lean forward on your tip toes to get maximum speed and lean your body weight left or right to steer. It sounds simple, but is much more difficult than it sounds. Even on novice (the only level available initially) the balance board is quite sensitive to your inputs and requires small adjustments to keep from veering off course. If you run the slalom three or four times in a row, you can really feel it in your ankles, calves and hamstrings.

When I got my best time of 30.5 seconds I was very pleased with myself - even though I'm sure that is probably a lame time in the grand scheme of things.

The soccer game has you leaning left and right to stop incoming "shots" of soccer balls while dodging shoes and other non-ball objects. I found this quite challenging, mainly because it is very difficult to recover from a wrong move if you incorrectly anticipate an incoming object.

The tight rope walking game has you walking and maintaining your center of balance while occasionally "jumping" over an obstacle. I thought this was a bit boring.

I haven't delved into the strength exercises or yoga bits of the game yet, but what I've seen so far has been quite positive and I'm sure for those of you who are in less than great shape, you can indeed get a bit of a workout. Wii Fit won't replace your gym membership as an overall fitness regimen, but it will get you moving and can certainly help you improve your balance.

While I was unhappy with the fact that you have to unlock activities by putting time into the Wii Fit activities, my wife thought that was a good thing and an added incentive to get the most out of the title's fitness offering by making you commit some time and effort into the exercise regimen the game offers.

Overall, my impressions of Wii Fit are positive. The balance board is a quality peice of equipment and if the future activities are as interesting and fun as the skiing aspects then I will certainly have a good time playing it. Regardless, at the very least, I know it will be an excuse to spend some quality time with my wife doing something that we will both enjoy.

The possibilities for future games using the balance board are endless and I look forward to seeing what comes of it. A skiing or snowboarding game using it could be quite successful.

In short, if you have any interest in such an offering, I would suggest picking up Wii Fit, that is if you can find one in stock at a retailer near you.

MGS4 first reviews hit the web – opinions vary

By Tiberius Jonez

The first reviews are out for Metal Gear Solid 4: Sons of the Patriots, and it appears Hideo Kojima’s latest MGS creation is as stunning as its fans were hoping – and as frustrating and tedious as its detractors remember.

IGN UK says, “MGS 4 is simply a game that you have to experience for yourself. Because the one thing that can certainly be said, prohibited topics or not, is that Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is, without question, the ultimate Metal Gear game. It represents the pinnacle of Hideo Kojima's achievement, and it's undoubtedly one of the games of the year.”

The IGN UK author does acknowledge the (over?) abundance of cinematic cut-scenes in the game, a staple of MGS games, noting, “well, yes, you could argue that there are too many of them, that they're too long, and that the dialogue is occasionally leaden. Indeed many of the most dramatic cut-scenes might make you crave action, or wonder why they couldn't have been turned into interactive sequences. But that's because they're the work of an auteur, and if you're going to enjoy the high points of Hideo Kojima's vision, there has to be an acceptance of his excesses, too.”

On the other hand is the review from Eurogamer, which wraps up with the following conclusion, by the end “You're sorry to see Snake go. But should you be? Guns of the Patriots is a frustrating, fractured game that turns Metal Gear Solid's world upside down several times over, but never changes it. It just burrows deeper into what fans love and detractors hate than ever before, and it will make few converts. It's a crying shame, given how many genuinely classic gaming moments there are here, given the countless exquisite creative touches, but Metal Gear Solid 4 is its own worst enemy. You could not ask for a funnier, cleverer, more ambitious or inspired or over-the-top conclusion to the Metal Gear Solid series, but it's definitely time to move on.

We love you, Snake. Don't come back."

Two very divergent opinions there.

MGS4 drops in North America on June 12th. I’ll have it on day one and will give my own impressions after I’ve spent a couple days with it.

IGN - Latest PS3 title mired in a Haze

by Tiberius Jonez

The latest big title for the PS3, Haze has been highly anticipated by many as the game to bridge the PS3 gaming gap until Metal Gear Solid 4 drops in June. Sadly, according to IGN’s review of the game, the only thing Haze will do is make you want to jump off a bridge.

The review scores the game a paultry 4.5/10 and describes Haze as “a middling, generic first-person shooter with bland visuals, a weak plot and laughable characters”. Of the graphics IGN says, “Many of the environmental textures are generic and weak, and you'll frequently see seams or tearing constantly pop up within the game, which distracts from the action onscreen. The worst example of this has to be the visuals for the flamethrower, the Dragon de la Gente, which vomits a horrid cone of supposed flame that looks visually on par with what you'd find from the 386 PC days 15 years ago”.

It’s good to see developers harnessing the power of the Cell processor…ok, maybe not. With two of the PS3’s biggest guns, Little Big Planet and Killzone 2 being delayed, 2008 is starting to look a lot like 2007 – which is to say, not good.

Somehow the console continues to outsell the Xbox360 in most markets, which leaves me to wonder why? Is it selling purely on the strength of Blu-Ray? If you own a PS3, are you happy about it and why did you buy it? Comment and let us know.

Mass Effect review - GOTY? Almost.

I've been meditating on my time with Mass Effect which I finished a few days ago, and now I'm ready to share my opinions on this would-be 'Sci-fi Epic' of a video game. Bioware has made some great games in the past including the Knights of the Old Republic (KOTOR) series, which Mass Effect has been compared to ever since it was announced. Mass Effect was supposed to set a new standard for exploration in gaming and while it does offer a well-written story of grand scope on par with some of the best sci-fi around, I wouldn't exactly call it an open world game. It is more like riding through a beautiful landscape on a luxury train; it's a great ride, but there's more you want to see.

When the game begins, you are presented with the opportunity to create the character you will inhabit during your time playing. The customization options are not limitless, but they are acceptable, including the ability to play as male or female. After a brief preamble you are almost instantly placed in combat on a planet's surface. Right away, the game's biggest problem is thrust in your face -- the graphics are seriously marred by frame rate stutters and extreme bouts of texture pop-in. Granted, the developers obviously tried to squeeze a lot out of the Xbox 360's impressive hardware, but that's no excuse for not better optimizing the game's overall performance. A little more time spent polishing could have benefited the presentation greatly. Still, overall, Mass Effect is a beautiful game.

As far as the open-endedness of the game world, I found the universe of Mass Effect to be quite a bit more confining than I expected. You do get to travel to several planets, land on their surfaces and explore, but how much you can explore is severely limited. Still, you are presented with a nice variety of planet surfaces which lends each a distinctive look and feel. It's just difficult not to be disappointed after hearing the developers describe being able to explore an entire galaxy of planets and then only being presented with one planet per solar system that is actually explorable. All other planets are only able to be scanned for resources. It's a far cry from the planet hopping I was expecting.

Also, unlike another 'open world' game, Oblivion -- which presented you a game world that allowed for completion of side quests before, after or during your time with the main quest -- Mass Effect's side quests must be completed before you reach a certain point in the game's primary plot as a rather important piece of real estate is destroyed at one point, rendering it unvisitable. Players wanting to earn every possible achievement will be sorely disappointed when they discover missions they had planned to complete are no longer available to them.

Like the previously mentioned KOTOR, Mass Effect allows you to customize the weapons and their upgrades for you and the two other members of your squad. I found myself spending a lot of time equipping my team with just the right balance of weapons. The menus for this are all very well laid out and intuitive.

One area in which Mass Effect is a complete triumph is its story. The plot, writing, voice acting and overall story presentation are all top notch. This is some of the best original science fiction to be found anywhere, including movies and books. I don't know that a video game has ever achieved this quality of narrative. The closest would probably be the original Deus Ex which was released back in 2000. When presented with choices that determine the fate of your crew members, you will struggle with your decisions. You will become attached to your allies, and grow to despise your enemies.

The much-lauded dialogue tree lends the game another level of emotional impact. You often wonder if your choice of words will have the affect you intend or if you will inadvertently stick your foot in your proverbial mouth.

The gameplay in Mass Effect as it pertains to combat is O.K., but not spectacular. While the Mass Effect abilities -- similar to force powers in the Star Wars universe -- are fun to use, the weapons combat is rather unsatisfying. Part of the problem is the poor framerate during firefights; it is difficult to aim smoothly at enemies when the screen is jittering and stuttering. At higher difficulties, the inconsistent framerate can be downright crippling, forcing you to either play the game at the casual difficulty level or repeat some battles over and over again. The clunky cover system is the other problem. While it is functional, it never feels as fleshed out as similar systems in Gears of War or Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Your character never seems to get into cover as easily as you would like and once there, he/she tends to come out of cover too easily, exposing them to damage.

Even with these problems, Mass Effect is an immensely enjoyable experience. You will enjoy visiting the different planets available to you, you'll just wish there were more of them. You will be gripped by the story, just make sure to complete as many side quests as possible before you go too far in the plot. I don't think I'd put Mass Effect on my short list of nominees for 2007 Game of the Year, only because this is a very special year in gaming with the likes of Bioshock, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune and Halo 3 all buffed to a mirror gloss. With a little more spit and polish though, Mass Effect could have taken the top honors.

8.5/10

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - The PS3 has arrived

With all these blockbuster games hitting in my birthday month (Nov 20th, thank you Mass Effect!), it's been a busy two weeks of gaming at my house. In the past two weeks, I've finished Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, I'm working on Super Mario Galaxy and Saturday saw me complete Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

It's no secret that my Xbox 360 gets a lot more play than my PS3, but let's face it, if there were more games for the system I'd spend more time on it. Well, if Sony can bring more games like Uncharted to the system, I'm going to have a tough time ignoring it in the future!

I've seen a lot of footage of Uncharted over the past six months, so my anticipation was running high before I put the disc in the console. I had read reports of how it could only be developed on the PS3, and while I took those with a boulder-sized grain of salt, I was curious whether the final product would validate those claims. In short, it does.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is everything a great game should be. It grabs your attention with the opening frame and holds it firmly to the end credits. It's filled with memorable characters, both pro- and antagonists, that drive the story forward and leave you wanting more. Technically, it is a showcase for the hardware it is designed for, in this case, the PS3. For the first time, I finished a PS3 game and wondered if it could have been done on the Xbox 360. Honestly, I don't know the answer to that question, but the fact that I even wondered about it is a testament to the quality of Naughty Dog's work on Uncharted.

Is the game perfect? What is perfect? If you are looking for things to pick apart in the game, you could do that with anything. The Mona Lisa has a crooked smile, but isn't that what gives "her" her charm? Yeah, the grenade explosions could be bigger in the game, but then you couldn't avoid them as well. There could be more platforming in the game, but I only say that because the platforming that's there is as good or better than in any previous game. It could be a bit longer, but only because when it ended I wanted to keep playing. It could be a bit more difficult, but that might detract from the fun. Clearly, the developers want you to finish Uncharted and they give you help to that end.

When I form my opinions of a game there are a few basic criteria I look to as the basis of comparison. Graphics, gameplay, ability to mesmerize, story, and replay value. On all these fronts, Uncharted is an unmitigated success. Rarely does a game with no multiplayer component warrant subsequent play-throughs, but Uncharted does.

Excuse the cliche, but if you're one of the 94 million or so gamers straddling the fence of buying or not buying a PlayStation 3, Naughty Dog has just made you an offer you can't refuse. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is a game worthy of the $460 you will spend for the combination of a PS3 and the game.

Assassin's Creed - A Glorious Mess

After last week's early reviews of Assassin's Creed hit the web, I wasn't sure what to make of them. Game Informer gave it a 9.5 and then IGN called it "one of the top five most disappointing games of all time." How do you balance those disparate opinions? These are two media outlets I usually respect, yet clearly they both saw this hugely anticipated title completely differently. Who was right and who was wrong?

Well, now that I've had a few days to play Assassin's Creed myself, I've formed my own opinion of it, and I also have a clearer understanding of where my esteemed colleagues were coming from with their polar opposite views.

Right away I will let you know, I like Assassin's Creed, and yet I am very disappointed by it. The parts of Creed that work well, work very well; like the amazing climbing and free-running. When you scale the heights of cathedrals and various other towers or free-run across rooftops while escaping pursuers, the feeling you get is one of immense power, both the power of lead character Altair (pronounced al-tie-ear), and the power of the Xbox 360. (I have not played the PS3 version of the game, so I will not be commenting on the negativity surrounding it here.) Regarding Altair, Game Informer noted in their review, "Rarely has a character without superpowers or magic been quite so powerful and exciting to vicariously inhabit, whether he’s perching on a high tower of the Acre Cathedral or countering the blows of a Templar knight." As for the Xbox 360, it handles the vistas, combat, hundreds of characters and huge, seamless cities beautifully with hardly a stutter.

I found the game's combat to be very enjoyable. It is definitely not going to be liked by hardcore hack 'n slash fans, but anyone who enjoys a bit more thinking in their swordplay will be very pleased. The combat is also very cinematic, keeping it fresh over time. I never got bored thrashing four or five foes at a time, even the hundredth time I did it.

The vistas you see from those previously-mentioned high perches, as well as Altair's movements and pretty much all the other graphics in the game, fully demonstrate Ubisoft's ability to develop a great game from the code up. For the most part, Assassin's Creed looks really good! Consequently, the parts where the game falls flat are even more baffling to me.

The voice work in Assassin's Creed, at least that of the actor playing Altair, is absolutely abysmal. Very surprising considering this is almost universally a strong point in Ubisoft games. Just look at the Splinter Cell or Ghost Recon franchises. Making Altair's voice even more grating is the fact that most of the other voice work in the game is actually quite enjoyable. While virtually all the ancillary characters have mostly-accurate accents of various middle-eastern origins, Altair sounds like he was born and bred in Indiana. Topping off this vocal crap sandwich is the fact that his lines are delivered with all the flair and emotion of a narcoleptic spelling bee judge reading the dictionary. Therefore the blame falls squarely on the shoulders of the person responsible for casting the game's actors.

The gameplay is far from perfect. As great as the combat and climbing are, the investigative aspects of the game are tedious and overly repetitive. When you save various citizens from a beating or kidnapping at the hands of ruthless town cops, you're thanked by having to hear the same three lines of canned dialogue over and over again. Boring with a capital WTF!?! Same for the "eavesdropping" and "pickpocketing" mini games...they are overly simplistic and occur far too often.

As far as the writing in the game is concerned, I found it largely forgettable. Without spoiling it for those who've yet to play it, Creed's "hook" is cliched at best and just plain lazy at worst. The story is further gimped by the fact that the story's one major plot twist is revealed before you even actually play the game. Someone needs to take a "Fiction 101" class.

As bad as all that sounds, it didn't stop me from playing Assassin's Creed. I would take a break from it only to find myself thinking about the swordplay or climbing another tower. It also helps that the Xbox 360 version has achievements tied to it. I seriously doubt I would've finished this game if not for the opportunity to fatten my gamerscore. Even though I dreaded playing parts of the game later, my achievements addiction brought me back for more.

As you can see, Assassin's Creed is a somewhat frustrating game to review. It's an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, sprinkled with some wonderfulness and nearly ruined with some craptastic design choices. If I have to give it a numeric score (which I loathe), I'll give it an overall score of 7 out of 10. I actually enjoyed the climbing and fighting aspects the more I played it, but the other stumbles in game design and casting really hurt the overall experience. On the bright side, I see the potential for an absolutely fantastic sequel.

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Metareview

Sony and their fans have had a tough year with lost exclusives, delayed blockbusters and a continuing stream of top flight games appearing on non-Sony platforms. Now, Naughty Dog, the developer responsible for the Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter series' is giving those fans one last basket to place their remaining eggs of hope in in the form of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Gamers want to feel like the $600 they spent on a PS3 was not wasted, and Sony needs to move consoles this holiday season. To say there is a lot riding on the success of Uncharted would be a major understatement. Can it fulfill the vast promise of the beautiful screenshots we've been ogling for the last six months? Our metareview has the answer!
IGN (91/100) A lot of times we as an industry like to wax on and on about how videogames rival movies, but rarely do we have an example as well done as Uncharted. Nate is funny as he laments over yet another wall he needs to scale, Sullie is loveable as he tells the same traveler's tales over and over, and Elena's fire for her story and give-and-take with Nate is endearing. When these characters interact and you watch their relationships grow, you feel like you're part of their circle. You feel like they're your friends. Uncharted does what few titles manage -- it completely immerses you in its experience. From the moment the game begins with a sweeping camera move through the waters off Panama, a rich score and the words of Sir Francis Drake etched on screen, Uncharted will have you hooked. It'll maintain that hold with its story, style and gameplay.
Eurogamer (90/100) In a game where the split between combat and platforming is about 50-50, you don't want one aspect of the game to be any less fun than the other. Such imbalances nearly always cause you to resent the disparity, and it's evidently something that Naughty Dog has worked extremely hard to avoid. Rather than the game's ongoing narrative and action feeling like a sequence of vaguely connected set-pieces, most of the chapters in the game flow expertly into one another. It feels like a journey, albeit a particularly fraught and dangerous one where imminent death lurks around every crumbling corner. By starting with a great control and camera system, building on that with excellent combat and a wonderful spin on Ico's platform adventuring, and then topping it off with a decent storyline, Naughty Dog has cooked up one of the most relentlessly entertaining, fat-free games to emerge in ages. Topped off with the most stunning use of the PS3's underused technical prowess yet, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is, for my money, the first must-have PlayStation 3 title.
Gametap (90/100) The game borrows platforming elements from the Prince of Persia games (minus the wall running), shooting mechanics from Epic's Gears of War, and the subject matter of a Tomb Raider game. Visually, it's a stunning game, with extraordinary textures. Drake's character is fascinating to watch, and he's full of gestures and quips motivated by context. When he walks the wrinkles of his shirt move and crease appropriately. When he swims, all the material gets wet, and eventually dries off. He even breathes heavily from the workout a swim gives him. And those are just the surface details--it's the nuanced features that make make you appreciate Drake as a human being. He curses and gets visibly irritated when he runs out of ammo in the middle of a firefight. When he's hiding behind cover, he flinches as bullets graze the wall he's hiding behind. And thanks to an innovative technique that blends various animations together at random, when Drake shoots and takes cover, the pose he comes back to tends to look a little different each time. When all of these details accumulate, it makes for a pretty rich experience. This game is one of the most immersive gaming experiences I've had this year, and it's definitely a great reason to own a PS3. The mix of platforming and gunplay worked really well and left me craving the next title in the series. Hear that, Naughty Dog? Get to work!

IGN calls Assassin's Creed one of "top five most disappointing games ever"

Assassin's Creed has received almost universal praise from media outlets across the web, so when I read a review from one of the most respected and widely read game sites around, IGN, I was stunned by the negativity of their opinion. However, once I got past my initial shock, I realized the reviewer makes a lot of valid points; and honestly, it's refreshing to see someone take a deeper look at a big name title without being blinded to its faults by the hype machine.

The reviewer, Hilary Goldstein, praises the game's stunning visuals, even giving a pass to the inordinately long loading times (as long as five minutes for some levels), texture pop-in and occasional frame rate stutters. Considering the immense size of the cities in the game, such hiccups are forgivable.

As a historic recreation, Assassin's Creed is a triumph. The main character, Altair, is a member of the Hashshashin (or Assassins), a real-life group that performed politically-motivated murders between the 11th and 13th centuries. The three cities in the game, Jerusalem, Acre, and Damascus, are modeled meticulously using historic documents available from the period. Even the nine people you assassinate throughout the game all actually existed and were either murdered or vanished mysteriously around the time the game takes place.

Gameplay wise, the free-running and climbing aspects of the game are superb. The combat is unique and fun, although hack 'n slash fans will probably find it frustrating (which is not a bad thing if you ask me). Unfortunately, the rest of the gameplay mechanics fall flat. The information gathering aspects of the game, including eavesdropping, pickpocketing and other minutiae are incredibly boring and repetitive.

What is not expected or acceptable is the poor voice acting of Assassin's main character, Altair. While the ancillary characters are all voiced very well, the star of the game is voiced by a b-grade actor. Even worse is the writing. The story, which had great potential if handled correctly, is crippled by having its biggest twist revealed in the first five minutes of the game.

The long and the short of Assassin's Creed comes down to whether you plan to play it for the long or short term. If you play the game for an hour, you'll probably think its great, but if you play all the way through, you're likely to find it tedious and disappointing. Overall, the reviewer feels the developers have laid the groundwork for a potentially fantastic sequel, but in his first mission, this Assassin wields a rather dull blade. He goes so far as to call Assassin's Creed "one of the top five most disappointing games of all time considering its vast potential."

I would be curious to hear some of your opinions. If you've played the game, share your thoughts with your comments.

Watch the full video review below.

Crysis review - the bar has been raised!

Crysis has been on every PC gamer's radar for the past 18 months, ever since the first stunning images from the game were revealed to the public. No one ever questioned the game's unbelievable near photo-realistic graphics, but could the gameplay live up to the visuals? Gamespot has posted their opinion, and the video review follows after the break.

Amazing graphics...check. Excellent sound...check. Riveting story...check. Exciting gameplay...check. Apparently Crysis has it all. The reviewer calls it "without a doubt, one of the best shooters ever made." His only real complaint is the perplexing lack of a team deathmatch mode in multiplayer.



Now, all you need to do is spend a couple grand to upgrade your PC to an acceptable level to run Crysis.

Update: Firing Squad has an excellent story showing how you can upgrade your PC to run Crysis and the new Unreal Tournament game for only $500.

Review - Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

I've been blowing stuff up in Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction on the PS3 for the better part of the past three days and now I am ready to share my thoughts on the game with you. Is the series getting stale? Is it worthy of a PS3 exclusive? Most importantly, will it give those not yet invested in this generation of consoles a reason to go out and buy a Sony console that just happens to play Blu-Ray movies?

My first thought when starting the game was that I found it to be more graphically impressive than I expected. Yes, I know it's a Playstation 3 game, but what little I had seen of it in commercials and online hadn't left me drooling or anything. The lighting and particle effects are excellent, and with a ton of objects on screen at once, the frame rate rarely dips, and never enough to be any kind of hindrance to game play.

The cut scenes are truly laugh-out-loud funny. The writing is top notch; worthy of anything Pixar has put out in theaters.

The game's fundamental game play mechanic is using outlandish weapons to destroy all the little (and large) minions on your way to a boss battle at the end of each level. Certain weapons are only effective against specific foes, and learning the combinations is the difference between being an apocalyptic warrior or a grease spot. There are some puzzles thrown in for good measure as well as some mini games, ranging from a "hacking" game similar to the one found in Bioshock, only instead of using tubes filled with water, R&CFTOD has you moving a metallic ball on a motherboard to make electrical connections. The most notable mini games involve rail grinding while avoiding obstacles and enemies and some flying ones that actually play out as semi boss battles themselves. There is usually a pattern to be learned for each boss, and once you've gotten it down, beating them is fairly simply.

In fact, simplicity is probably my only real gripe with the game. Most of your weapons are so grossly over-powered that defeating even the toughest bosses is child's play. That's not all bad as it keeps the story moving forward and gives you the opportunity to view another hilarious cut scene.

All in all, Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction has been a pleasure to play and an excellent diversion from the darker and more "adult themed" games I often play, such as Call of Duty 4 and the like.

I highly recommend it for anyone who owns a PS3, and for those that don't, it's not a bad reason to get one!