The storyline itself is very interesting, and the symbolism involved is rather profound. Taking its enemies into the darker corners of Alexs past, the creators at Konami have once again hinted towards the truth through bosses, enemies, and sceneries, mixing symbolism with the background to the game. Enemies, which range from nurses to underwater lurkers to creatures which walk on needles, are all scary but rather easy to kill given the right weapon. It takes very little practice to master the games combat system, yet fighting on the whole is somewhat clunky. Alex receives a variety of weapons throughout the game, and it is explained that he can handle most without training due to his background in the military. Therefore, Alex easily wields weapons such as knives, pipes, and even guns, but the game does a somewhat poor job of making combat as seamless as possible. Guns tend to lag when fired, and enemies will freeze for split seconds when shot. It is much more efficient and satisfying to play the game without guns at all, but when the time calls for some heavy firepower, players will be met with a bit of lag.

The sights and sounds in Homecoming are highly impressive. The graphics appear to be taken out of an old photoshoot, as there is always a bit of fading in the details of scenery and characters, particularly in the hellish versions of Silent Hill and Shepherds Glen. Rather than taking away from the experience, this touch makes the events that are happening truly seem otherworldly. Overall, graphics are very bleak and gray while nightmarish and dark in the hell counterparts, making for a beautifully disturbing game. Lighting is once again a crucial factor, as enemies are attracted to Alexs flashlight as well as light from objects such as televisions. However, on default mode, the game is almost too dark, to the point that players will have to turn the brightness level up just to see what they are doing. It is nice when things are dark and scary, but there is a point when players just have to be aware of their surroundings. The sounds of the game are just as good as the graphics, and voice acting is also well done. The only flaw is that dialogue is spoken very softly, making it difficult for players to hear at times. Subtitles help immensely, but surprisingly subtitles oftentimes do not align with what characters are saying. A word or two is off or the timing is wrong, making it difficult to follow along if players are relying solely on subtitles (which they should not have to do). However, the soundtrack to the game is phenomenal, and Akira Yamaoka has once again made magic with gruesome sounds and terrifying noises.

The game features a lot of exploration, and maps are, as they are in all Silent Hill games, extremely helpful. Traveling in the game can get pretty tedious, though, as players will backtrack through multiple areas numerous times in order to gain new items, talk to different people, or simply retrace their steps. Save points are scattered haphazardly around the worlds of Silent Hill and Shepherds Glen as well, making it hard to gauge when the next save point will be. Some save points come within five minutes of each other; others may take up to an hour to find. Furthermore, Homecomings puzzles can be a bit tiresome, including several tablet puzzles where players need to move pieces on a board in just the right way to proceed. These are frustrating, in that when a player gets stuck, they must exit and return in order to reset the puzzle, if it resets at all. With the lack of save points in certain areas, this can make for some disgruntled players. There are plenty of hidden items to find during Alexs travels, including photos taken of the various Shepherds Glen citizens, drawings left behind by Josh to be used as clues, and powerful weapons. Obtaining these items can be tricky at times, but the rewards are relatively good. Not only are there achievements to be unlocked, but they add a layer to the overarching story that makes it worthwhile to explore. With so many items to find, the inventory system is laid out somewhat nicely, yet it stops overall gameplay and can be tricky to maneuver when in the middle of combat, as players must choose from a wheel what items they wish to use.

Silent Hill: Homecoming has its flaws, but compared to the entire game, theyre actually relatively minor. The game itself is a great, in-depth story that is both horrific and inspiring. With five available endings for players, along with many unlockable items including outfits and weapons, there are plenty of reasons to replay this game. Achievements are relatively easy to get, as it only takes two or three playthroughs to unlock them all, but with such a good storyline, players will want to play it to relive the experience instead of just obtaining points.

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version, purchased by the reviewer.

The plot is very original and highly in-depth. The main protagonists stray away from general archetypes, and the voice acting adds a layer of realism and depth to their characters. Special dialogue options triggered with the Select button reveal small discussions between certain characters which brings to life their daily thoughts and feelings. While this may seem a bit useless at first, it does add a new dimension to the plot, revealing the character’s thoughts and feelings in a way without overloading players with cut scenes. These dialogues are shown through boxes revealing the characters involved, and the presentation may appear a little out-dated to some players. Many of their actions reflect the hard decisions between right and wrong, values over necessity, and the storyline forces players to reflect on their own morals, asking themselves what they would have done in such a scenario. There are just as many scenes of laughter as there are of remorse and sadness, and Namco Bandai does a god job of keeping it from becoming childish and cliché while still driving a point home. In the end, unlike most RPGs where the group simply goes their own way to save an unsuspecting population, the protagonists work together with world leaders in order to accomplish a common goal. For such an unrealistic plot, the game’s realistic problems faced, both with individuals and in society, grab players in an astounding way.

Like any JRPG, the game is not just about the main plot; side quests are a must, and in a game that spans 60+ hours, there are certainly some side quests to be accomplished. There are a good number of things to do, such as puzzles, extra exploration, and special monsters to defeat, but the game does very little to present such events. The side quests offer a good amount of extra items, money, and, surprisingly enough, plot, meaning that parts of the main storyline are solved by looking for a side quest players would never have known about. With so many extra cut scenes and information available, it would have been nice if such events were given a bit more advertisement. Instead, they are hidden away and must be followed in a specific order, creating confusion and a bit of frustration for players.

The sights and sounds of the game are very well done. The graphics are very bright, and while Namco Bandai strays away from making the game look realistic, the looks of the game are very sharp and clean. Environments are nicely done, and the music played in each area evokes a certain ethos that contributes to the environment. With four large continents and many smaller areas to explore, the variety of music and atmosphere is refreshing.

Tales of Vesperia utilizes a very efficient system of combat. You initiate battles by running into stationary enemies and are transported to a circular area of combat, where you can use 3-D movement to jump, run, and attack enemies. You can choose to set the battle system to manual, where you control everything, semi-automatic, in which the computer sometimes determines attacks or motions, or automatic, where the computer fights the battles for you. Added to this are a large number of attacks, spells, and items available during combat, which includes moves called ‘Artes’ that utilize Technical Points, or TP. The camera is a bit annoying sometimes during battle, particularly when using 3-D movement, but overall it follows the characters well. At the end of each battle the game lists several properties of the fight, including experience, money, and Grade earned. Some of these properties do not make sense until much later in the game, particularly Grade, which is used at the end of each run to purchase abilities to be used in the next playthrough.

A very large part of the game is synthesizing materials, and Namco Bandai made the system both fun and innovative for players. Each character can be equipped with specific weapons and armor, and by visiting stores around the world, players can enhance older weapons or create entirely new ones, allowing characters to learn new abilities. Accessories to outfits can also be synthesized, which adds a bit of humor to cut scenes. One in particular gives Yuri Lowell a large moustache and old-school pipe, which is hilarious to see when he is arguing with the Commander of the Imperial Knights. Added to this are Titles characters can earn, which sometimes changes a character’s attire, and players can make some pretty interesting outfits. Synthesizing occurs throughout the game, and while it may seem overwhelming at first, the fundamentals are easy to understand, and players quickly learn how to master the system.

All in all, the game is a classic JRPG that features unique content to keep players interested. Despite its length, the game stays fresh the entire way through, and the plot offers enough twists and turns to satisfy even the most die-hard RPG fan. Multiple run-throughs for such a long game may seem tedious, but the rewards are great, and it takes more than one run to truly appreciate the plot of Tales of Vesperia.

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version, purchased by the reviewer.

The background to the game is crucial, and players may find themselves consulting the Datalog option in the main menu quite often for information. The Datalog contains updated information on the thirteen days that lead up to the events of the main characters’ l’Cie transformation, along with information on historical references, enemies, locations, fal’Cie, and more. The fact that the game forces players to read what should be spoken may frustrate some gamers, and with so many twists in the game, the goal may become confusing or even muddled underneath it all. Still, the main storyline packs a punch, and while it drags on throughout much of the beginning, once it picks up it doesn’t let go. At its core, it is an emotional tale of survival, and players will enjoy watching the characters transform over the course of the game.

The first thing nearly every gamer will recognize about the game is its phenomenal graphics. The characters and scenery are simply stunning, and the mixture of places visited, from thriving cities to mechanical waste dumps, are beautiful to behold. The soundtrack of the game is equally astounding, having a very dramatic musical theme. Voice acting is also quite good, though Vanille’s voice has received criticism from many gamers. Whenever she is attacked or upset, she groans and moans, and the T-rated game suddenly takes on a more mature edge. Teenagers should not feel embarrassed for playing the game, yet many boys will chuckle or snicker at Vanille’s rather obnoxious battle attacks and moans (it being so obvious that reviewers feel the need to comment on it).

With such beautiful landscapes, many gamers hoped to explore the world of Cocoon. However, Square Enix has severely limited the players’ ability to travel. Maps are about as linear as one can find; often players are literally going in a straight line from point A to point B with only a couple fights and items laid out before them. Out of a total of thirteen chapters, players will only be able to go back to Chapters 11 and 12 once they reach Chapter 13, meaning that most of the places players visit will be a one-time event. This is deeply disappointing, particularly because it creates a limit on side-quests, which are rarities within the game. For a series that usually makes side-quests fun and challenging undertakings, Final Fantasy XIII falls far short of this expectation. Most side-quests are only available in Chapters 11 and 12, and many are recommended only after beating the game.

The battle system is nothing like previous installments to the series. Up until much later in the game, the computer chooses who you will control and who will be in the party, forcing you to try out all characters at one point or another. Only one character in the party can be controlled as well. Furthermore, for the first several chapters, there is no leveling up. Once the main characters become l’Cie, they gain what is known as the Crystarium, a level-up system that is just as linear as the map system. There are three main roles each character is given depending on their unique abilities in battle, and each character levels up these roles in different orders. It is a basic system; characters gain experience from battles and use it to gain one crystal sphere at a time. Spheres range from abilities to accessory slots to generic stat improvements. Rather than liberating characters, the Crystarium feels very restrictive to players’ abilities, for it only expands, allowing for higher levels, at key points within the story. Therefore, players can only max out their characters to specific points before having to wait until an important boss later down the road before they continue training.

Given this restrictive setting, strategy is a much more important feature of the battle system. Battles are very fast-paced and require what are called Paradigm changes. Paradigms are different sets of roles that characters are assigned, and these roles can be shifted in the course of battle in order to use different strategies. These range from having all-out frontal assaults to defensive and medic sets, allowing for swift changes in strategy should something drastic happen (and it often does). Even Eidolons, which are brought back in a new way, follow this emphasis on strategy rather than brute force. Each character receives a specific Eidolon at crucial points throughout the game. In order to receive it, however, players must fight the Eidolon and fill a bar by using various techniques, some of which include not attacking at all. Eidolons also cast Doom, turning battles into a race against the clock. Once obtained, they do very little damage overall, and while they can change into various forms throughout battles, it feels as though Eidolons are around to show off more than to do damage. This emphasis on strategy rather than statistics falls in line with the simplistic level-up system, but it can make for some very frustrating experiences, particularly with bosses.

Final Fantasy XIII is a beautifully complex game, yet it has its share of flaws that will irritate old-time Final Fantasy fans. The battle system is completely different from anything seen before, and the linear gameplay, along with a lack of side quests and exploration, is a disappointment. The game looks and sounds striking, and once they have completed it, players will gain a huge amount of appreciation for the story’s complex nature, but some may not be willing to get through the flaws of the game to complete it.

[Recommended]

This review is based on a retail version purchased by the reviewer.

"Traitor’s Keep" is all about back-story. By way of an assassination attempt, the monarch comes to learn of Ravenscar Keep (the aforementioned prison) and that it has long been used by at least the two previous rulers: the current hero's brother, Logan, and mother. Given Logan’s predisposition towards military might and his hard-line tactics towards the general populous, one can imagine what types of people he incarcerated there ... namely revolutionaries, like the present monarch (though less successful), who’ve been seething ever since their imprisonment. While touring Ravenscar, players learn of a plot betwixt three pathologically fixated inmates, each of which (gasp) constitutes a quest, and one of whom fills in some blanks about how Albion transitioned to its industrial state.

While "Understone" presented little challenge to players who had already leveled-up their character by way of completing the game, "Traitor’s Keep" introduces new enemies as well as a few variants on some favorite beasties that manage to evoke some mildly impressive battles (some of which are more inventive than tough and vice-versa). In addition to the new clockwork creatures (beetles, exploding dogs, and psychotic automatons), there are rainbow-licious hobbes, extra-hollow hollow men, and (my favorite) drunken balverines. There are humans to fight as well, and being in a prison seems to have honed their group-based fighting skills a bit.

If there’s a weakness to "Traitor’s Keep," it’s the obvious moral choices. Kudos are deserved for including them at all, but the few choices that are presented are so heavily weighted that there is absolutely no ambiguity concerning where the hero’s yea or nay would place him or her in an opinion poll...a shame given Hobson’s prominence throughout the earlier portion of the DLC. More decisions affecting the public-at-large would have been terrific, especially if they came to learn of the prison despite attempts at secrecy. That could have at least added a feeling of political pressure.

Most importantly, "Traitor’s Keep" brings the funny. Sight gags and great writing as well as Fable in-jokes found scrawled across myriad notes and letters abound throughout this DLC. Supplement all of the above with four new outfits (three collected and one given) and one robot dog (non-exploding) to call your very own, and the 560 MS points it takes to purchase this quest seems a pittance for the experience.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on downlodable content purchased by the reviewer.

The only other argument I've heard as to why this is such a fantastic "redesign" is that the D-pad is seldom used anyway. And while the D-pad has certainly become antiquated for motion control by way of standardized dual analog joysticks, the iconic cross has come to bear much more important functionality, such as quick item selection, character dialog options, squad-oriented commands, and various other in-game actions.

Unlike the redesigned Xbox 360 console (or 360-slim, as I like to call it), the new controller offers no real new functionality or benefits to anyone except a niche audience of fighting game newbies and obsessive veterans. Its new feature, the Dummy-pad, is merely a crutch for those lacking skill enough to emulate a rounded motion using a centrally pivoted plus or one more slight advantage to pros who already have each in-game character's every move memorized. I refuse to sincerely call it a redesign, because slightly different button coloring and nigh-unnoticeable ergonomic improvements do not a worthy $65 investment make.

I used this new controller interchangeably throughout a couple of hours of heated battles against an experienced fighting game pro friend of mine. No matter who was in possession of the fancy new controller, he still kicked my butt. There is no magical advantage to pulling off moves with this controller; the sneakers will not make you run faster, nor will the dress make your thighs look less composed of cottage cheese. However, the disc-based action does feel smoother when playing, and I'm sure that, in the hands of newbies and experts alike, such fluidity is both welcome and (slightly) advantageous.

So if a fighting gamer has a spare $65 burning a hole in his or her pocket and there are no new games on the chronological horizon that would compete for said cash, why not pick up this controller package? Any other type of gamer, however, should simply pass this off as a fadget (fad-gadget) and save the money for something more relevant or interesting.

[Passable]

This review is based on a retail version purchased by the reviewer.

The gameplay itself is immersive, as there is no heads-up display (HUD) in Dead Space. Instead, Isaac’s items, maps, health, and ammo are displayed via holographic menus that do not stop time, meaning that enemies can still be attacking you when you decide to check your inventory. The game is much scarier in this sense, as there is nothing along the border of the screen to distract gamers from the sights and sounds within the Ishimura. Added to this is the concept of 3D exploration, in which you can jump from wall to wall in zero-gravity areas. This means that you can travel from room to room (only in designated areas) by jumping from wall to wall, but it also means that enemies can come from nearly any angle.

Dead Space's combat is rather well done, as it sticks to both the story and its horror roots. The battle system is termed “strategic dismemberment,” which is the process of shooting off a Necromorph’s limbs until he is dead. If you shoot off an arm, it runs towards you. Shoot off a leg, it crawls until it catches up to you. Shoot off the head, and it flings its arms around in a frenzy. Players have to be careful to conserve ammo during runs, so it is important to shoot where it hurts most, which changes for each enemy. All of the weapons fit the storyline, amazingly enough, as it is easy to see that the weapons used were tools made available to the miners when they worked. The Pulse Rifle goes a little against this, but weapons such as the Flamethrower or the Cutter could have just as easily been used to cut and mine rock as they are to kill Necromorphs.

The graphics and sounds of the game are quite impressive; lighting and shadows in particular make for a pretty creepy atmosphere, and the sheer amount of blood and gore found in the corridors, along the walls, and in the rooms of the Ishimura is enough to make your skin crawl. One room specifically comes to mind: the one in which you find your first weapon. In blood above a dead body is written the words “Cut off their limbs.” Images such as these are everywhere and never seem to become any less scary.

Music and sound effects are also extremely well executed. The former intensifies as players get closer and closer to either an enemy or an objective (in most cases, both), and rather than dying off when a player decides to back away, it merely softens, keeping its edge while not ruining the moment. You can also hear the Necromorphs crawling and breaking through vents and air ducts in a majority of the rooms, yet finding them can often be difficult. I have encountered more than a few rooms in which I was afraid to enter due to the sound of an enemy’s presence on the other side.

A rather interesting aspect of the game is the treatment of outer space. Isaac goes outside into space on several occasions, and the producers do a fantastic job in creating a completely different environment. When Isaac enters space, his suit switches modes in order to accommodate his intake of oxygen. Graphics become a mixture of blues and grays, and all sound is practically wiped out. Instead of hearing enemies or bullets, players will hear the sound of Isaac’s heart beating and breathing. It is creepy, particularly when you begin running low on oxygen, as Isaac’s breathing becomes labored, indicating it is time to use an oxygen tank.

Dead Space is a fantastic mixture of science fiction and horror, plain and simple. While your allies could have played a bigger role in the storyline, the plot is a detailed and ultimately satisfying one with some nice twists involved. Enemies and gameplay remain scary throughout the entire game thanks to well done graphics and sound designs, and the fighting style is both immersive and brutal. Players obtain some pretty nice items after beating the game and can run through a second time with all the items and weapons obtained through the first run, making it fun to play through several times. Those intensely involved in the series have other avenues to explore, including the animated movie Dead Space: Downfall (2008) and the Wii game Dead Space: Extraction (2009). Dead Space 2, the official sequel to Dead Space, is set to be released January 25, 2011.

[Highly Recommended]

This review is based on a retail copy of the Xbox 360 version purchased by the reviewer.

How much fun you'll have, truly the value behind any game, depends on your predisposition towards high-speed, high-stakes racing and lording your own victory over the collective failures of your competitors (or the general determination to win despite the looming laughter of finish line-wading winners). Like the automobile racing game GRID, one slip-up can mean the difference between a lengthy lead and a laughable last, promoting great tension during any race. There is also a good sense of humor through the courses, be it from either the announcer's (all too repetitive) comments on whatever you’ve just collected or backgrounds featuring mighty Thor creating waves in Asgard and alien ships dominating what appears to be Willy Wonka’s version of Mars. It should also be mentioned that the graphics are good (particularly the reflections in the water and water itself), but nothing that’ll turn a mariner’s head away from an albatross.

The physics engine lends great variety to the gameplay in terms of in- and out-of-water maneuverability (both of which come in very handy) throughout not only individual levels but level types as well. All in all, there are three game modes: Race, Ring Master, and Gauntlet. Championship courses combine all or some of the former into multi-event ... events. In addition to keeping things interesting, these different modes unlock various in-game goodies, such as new boat skins, new boats, and more tracks. OK, it’s actually mostly the points earned per event that add to your bank, but the more you play on tracks with which you’re not bored, the more prizes you earn, right?

Whenever I play online (King Ink), I host all rubber ducky races, and the squeaking from the "boats" is only barely audible over everyone's laughter. Even if you only work a minimal wage job, isn't two hours worth of pay worth infinite enjoyment and adrenaline of online boat racing? You know it is!

[Recommended]

This review is based on a digital copy of the XBLA game purchased by the reviewer.

Granted, most of the games shown at the conference seemed to simply be clones of Wii games, including a sports pack, a cart racer, and even the Wii Fit-esque Your Shape: Fitness Evolved from Ubisoft. Meanwhile, Microsoft also showed off non-game features (actually, a lot of them) that take advantage of the microphone and camera in Kinect. These include a video chat application (demoed by the MOST AWKWARD engineer and her twin sister), new interfaces for interacting with video and music content, and an ESPN application featuring videos of sporting events. [[EDIT: Among some of the third-party games available for the new peripheral are a new Forza racing game (available in 2011) and an MTV Games-produced, Harmonix-developed dancing game.]]

Oh yeah, there were some games there too. We saw a previously-released trailer for Activision and Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops, coupled with an announcement that Microsoft has signed an "exclusive, multi-year agreement with Activision" that will result in all Call of Duty games, map packs, and expansions releasing first on the Xbox 360 through 2012. [[EDIT: Of course, Halo: Reach was there, with a video of its single-player campaign (now with GIRL Spartans!).]] Cliff Bleszinski, also known as "CliffyB," got up on the stage early on to show off Gears of War 3 (spoiler: it's more Gears of War) and Hideo Kojima showed off one of the highlights of the conference: a new trailer for the Raiden-centric game Metal Gear Solid Rising. Apparently this game is about cutting. Cutting everything from limbs to brick support beams to watermelons.

Last but not least, Microsoft announced their new Xbox 360 model (often called the "Xbox 360 Slim" by consumers and press), which is smaller and features built-in Wi-Fi and a 250GB hard drive for the same price as the current Elite model. And it launches ... today? Just like the Sega Saturn? Well OK, way to follow in the footsteps of one of the industry's greatest success stories. But that just wasn't enough everyone in the audience was also given a free Xbox 360, a move mirroring Oprah Winfrey's now-classic "and you get a car" event that left most of the press conference's audience speechless and somewhat confused.

For more news and commentary out of E3 2010, check back with our E3 2010 label page.

Anyway, “No Russian” aside, Modern Warfare 2’s campaign is an incredible sight to behold. The physics engine is one of the best I've seen in years, and the amount of detail in many objects is truly remarkable. Plus, there is nothing better than seeing an AI crouch behind a drywall divider and watching him collapse due to your bullets going right through it.

The plot of the game is a bit lacking, though. Yes, you have to fight off waves of invading Russian soldiers from the White House and Captiol but it's one of those things. They just as easily could have stuck the characters in any order city on the eastern seaboard and had it be just as interesting. As it were, the missions away from the US are significantly more enjoyable, probably because the designers were able to have a bit of fun developing their own unique places. Even in the US, placing the missions in random “Genericville” was a much better option.

The other problem with the story is the absence of the “wow” factor. It's great to have a big shocking event, but when it's three or four times during a game it really loses its value. Not to mention (Spoiler Alert!) the ending is one big quick time event. Yep, you get great gameplay with an above average storyline and they ruin it with a massive quick time event.

The sound of the game is very immersive, but I'm finding sound to be one of those things that it has to be good or the game is just going to be bad outright. The voice acting is superb and the soundtrack is somewhere between Halo on the high side and Fallout on the low side.

The gameplay itself isn't different from the first game. All the buttons do the same thing they've always done , and the game has the same “very easy to learn, hard to master” type of gameplay. There are also four different levels of difficulty, from Beginner to Veteran. The problem is that the game (even on a high difficulty) is only about 2 to 3 hours long and you can cruise by this game on a lower difficulty.

So. now let's look at SpecOps. This is new to the Modern Warfare games and is a very fun mode to play with friends. Basically, as either a one- or two-man group, you can play through certain Special Ops missions that relate to campaign settings. The only is that this is the only co-op part of this game – a real bummer to a person like me who loves to play with his friends.

Finally, we have the multiplayer a.k.a. "bait for seven year olds and the 20+ people who hate them." Seriously, every game I played online, I had a little kid yelling at my team on how we all sucked. Meanwhile, the kid’s gotten five kills and 24 deaths during the game. But I'm the one who sucks? ...

"For the record" this is a great game and one you should go out and get. However, I'd like to point out that, since Modern Warfare 2's release, there aren't nearly as many five-year-old brats playing Halo 3.

great.

Speaking of action, a combination of the FreeFlow^TM fighting engine and enemy AI make controlling Batman throughout the game easy enough for entry-level button mashers while giving hardcore gamers enough special moves to keep things interesting. The latter includes stealth attacks and combos that can be upgraded during the course of the game after earning enough experience points. And points aplenty you’ll get from fighting though an onslaught of drone-type characters – thug, thug with club, thug with electrified club – tackling bosses such as Bane, Killer Croc, and Poison Ivy, and deciphering the Riddler’s enigmatic taunts.

Finding solutions to the Riddler’s mental challenges is done with the aid of the game’s worst handicap: detective mode. This mode lets Batman see through walls, determine which surfaces are hiding secrets (shortcuts or items alike), and track trace elements in the atmosphere. Aside from the last aspect, detective mode fails the game by making it far too easy. What saves the game from detective mode is that its use is optional. I recommend using it at first to learn the ropes, maybe even intermittently throughout your first run through, but then only using it when absolutely necessary for the rest of the game or any subsequent go-around. It ups the difficulty and demands that players become Batman instead of becoming Batman’s tech.

Aside from that singular drawback, there are many things to gush about in this game. To start, it’s excellently written by Paul Dini, one of the guys behind Batman: The Animated Series. Voice actors from the same read the script: Mark Hamill reprises his uniquely lovable Joker (though this time with a bit more darkness than the cartoon's sensors could let by), Kevin Conroy brings CG Batman to life in the true tradition of often being voted as best Batman ever, and Arleen Sorkin pulls up on the corners of mouths everywhere while smashing people’s funny bones as Harley Quinn. Gameplay variety also makes this game engaging. Let alone the combat challenge mode (better on the PS3, which exclusively lets you play as the Joker) and detective/action aspects of story mode, my favorite part of the game is the integration of a platforming game-within-a-game that served as the Scarecrow’s mini-levels in story mode. It takes guts to revert to platform gaming in an age of 3D environments, and the execution only adds to the game’s ambience.

All in all, Batman: Arkham Asylum is an immersive experience made by all the right people for a fanbase that’s uber-picky when it comes to their hero. Seeing as it is already worshipped by critics and inhabits a place in the Guinness Book of World Records, I would be an idiot to disagree. Story, rendering, control, and acting come together to make this a 3.5-star victory, with slightly lacking replay value being the only thing detracting from a perfect score.

great.

As I started to play the game, I was excited to get into a good, old-fashioned hack-and-slash, overworld type of game. I knew about the RTS/Freedom Fighters-esque mission involved with the game and looked upon it with some interest, in the hopes that it would break up the gameplay. However, I didn't realize how incredibly often these missions would pop up. The multiplayer (which is highly lacking in expandability, as the only match type is skirmish) is also unfortunately based around this gameplay style.

The world of Brütal Legend is beautifully executed – almost enough to make you forget about the gameplay style...almost. With superb, cell-shaded art, a well-developed background mythos, and gory deaths, the developers at Double Fine definitely know how to immerse a player in a world. Add your car's ability to play songs that you unlock both in game and during the campaign and players will find that some of the best times during the game are cruising across the landscape listening to metal while running over some demented deer. Even so, this is a definite one-and done game (unless you're going for achievements).

One of the major problems I have with Brütal Legend is the amount of repeated dialogue. For a game that boasts some of the best writing and voice acting talent around, I fail to see why I'm stuck with characters saying the same four or less lines during both overworld and stage missions. It only gets worse when Eddie begins to talk, because all that seems to come out of Jack Black's mouth are dumb jokes and random puns.

Also of note is the badly-designed leveling system. In order to level up, players will need to do two different things. First, they will gain fire tributes to upgrade Eddie's car, weapons, and special attack combos. Second, players will have to free (no joke) ball-gagged dragon statues to upgrade their attributes. And when the dragons are freed, players will not even get to choose their upgrades. The game does it automatically, really taking some of the minimal customization that is in the game away from the player. The worst part of this system, though, is that it breaks up the gameplay by demanding that players move away from the Campaign for about 20 minutes at a time to go and find more fire tributes and gagged dragons.

All-in-all, my gripes with this game are small shots compared to the overall picture. Double Fine wanted to make a game for “Metal Heads,” by “Metal Heads,” and they succeeded completely, despite some gameplay slip-ups and limited replayability. So, did it live up to the hype?

Well...sort of.

fair.

The single player campaign of Halo Wars is very much like any other RTS campaign; it slowly brings you through the learning curve by showing you how to control units and build bases until you have to fight off wave after wave of unrelenting enemy forces towards the end of your campaign.

The story is a prequel to the events of Halo: Combat Evolved and takes place six years after the fall of the planet Harvest. Many familiar themes come into play; the Prophets stop at nothing to continue the great journey, you go toe-to-toe with Grunts, Elites, Hunters, Jackals, Brutes, and many familiar vehicles, as well as some new ones, and you have to blow up some forerunner technology to save everyone's lives.

The gameplay within the storyline is slightly different from multiplayer or skirmish matches. For one thing, there are some campaign-exclusive units that effectively change battle scenarios throughout the campaign. They usually give you an unfair edge over the enemy and make some missions a cakewalk if you're playing on the "normal" difficulty level. On top of that, in some missions you're given ridiculous amounts of something, like 11 Spartans as opposed to the maximum 3 in multiplayer, 40 Mass Accelerated Cannon rounds, or free drops of fully-upgraded ODSTs.

The hero system within the campaign is different as well, marking Spartans as hero units, as well as your leader. When any of your heroes die, you can revive them as in Age of Empires III by bringing a friendly unit close to them. In the other game modes, heroes just die and they have to be resurrected, and as a balancing issue, UNSC leaders do not actually enter the battle yet act more like the governors in the AOEIII system.

The game's graphics are the best I have ever seen in an RTS. It includes incredibly detailed, slightly different renditions of the characters of Halo to take time difference into account. The sounds within the game are ripped directly from the Halo series, and their quality has been improved to allow for sound cues within battles.

Playing online is incredibly entertaining because each of the six leaders has a different way of playing the game, therefore making an effective six races. Because the game is not as strict as other RTS games such as StarCraft, no two players can play the game the same way. The limitation of how many buildings one can create force a player to specialize in one aspect and utilize it to its full effectiveness.

Ensemble claims that there is a rock-paper-scissors type balancing within the game, but I found that to not be completely true. The game's unique style of play puts strategy over production, and in a battle of ODSTs versus Grizzly tanks (Scorpion tanks with two cannons) a good commander on the ODST side has about as much of a chance of winning as the commander of the Grizzlies.

The largest drawback to playing online isn't caused as much by the game as by player mentality. When I first got Halo Wars, I ran through the tutorial levels, fought some skirmish battles, played online, then played through campaign mode. The average player, however, would play the campaign before they would play online. Because the campaign only covers the UNSC, about two in every three members of the online community play as the UNSC. Regardless, battles still turn out interesting with every player having their own unique strategy, making every battle different.

Overall, Halo Wars is a great game, earning most of that greatness through its uniqueness. Being a veteran of many RTS games, I can comfortably call this one of the simplest – but simultaneously one of the most fun – games I've played. I wouldn't recommend buying it if you don't have access to LIVE, but the skulls and achievements allow for a lot of replay value, as does the ability to create your own scenarios through the skirmish option. Even with LIVE, the $60 price tag seems a little steep, but due to its addictiveness, Halo Wars is definitely too valuable to rent. Chances are, the price won't drop because it is part of the Halo franchise, so do a few odd jobs and the game will pay for itself.

great.

Surprisingly, Microsoft announced Crackdown 2, the sequel to the Xbox 360 open-world action game that achieved mild critical acclaim, but was widely seen as nothing more than a ticket for the Halo 3 beta. Apparently Microsoft thought it was a strong enough franchise on its own to get a sequel. After that came one of the biggest new game announcement of the conference: Left 4 Dead 2 (which totally should have been called Left 5 Dead). Few details are confirmed just yet, but we do know that it will be an Xbox 360/PC exclusive, and will hit stores (and Steam) on November 17, 2009. The CG teaser trailer shows a new cast of characters, and a new setting – New Orleans. That's quite an interesting choice, especially considering the scenes of devastation and urban unrest that occurred there in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

It's not a Microsoft press conference without Halo, and Bungie was in full swing yet again this year, despite no longer being owned by Microsoft. They presented details (and a trailer) for Halo: ODST, which takes place in New Mombassa, "weeks before the start of Halo 3." Included in ODST will be a multiplayer beta invite for Bungie's other game, Halo: Reach. Presumably the game will follow the plot of one of the Halo novels, which details the "Fall of Reach," but I'm not personally familiar with the story's particulars. The only piece of information that Bungie provided was a teaser trailer (featuring no gameplay footage), with the words "Drops 2010."

The conference also boasted showings from the Xbox 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII, which will eventually see its release in 2010 and the Chair Entertainment/Epic Games-developed sidescroller Shadow Complex (formerly Empire: Alpha Complex), which is based on the Orson Scott Card novel Empire. Splinter Cell: Conviction was present with a rather impressive demo video boasting some gameplay reminiscent of Assassin's Creed. Of course, there was also a trailer and gameplay footage from Alan Wake (releases in 2010) and the announcement of Forza 3, which ships in October.

Finally, Schappert announced Joy Ride (trailer here), a new free-to-play XBLA kart racing game that uses Avatars as characters – a clear attempt to grab some of the success of Nintendo's Mario Kart Wii.

The biggest announcement of all came from the hardware side though. Sure, Microsoft announced the ability to edit your Netflix queue on your 360 (a feature lacking in previous versions of Netflix on 360) and a partnership with Facebook and Twitter that will make it possible for you to never ever get up from your Xbox in your entire life. But what has everybody talking are two simple words: Project Natal.

According to the videos and demos shown by Microsoft, "Natal" (named after the word for "birth") seems to be, in essence, a motion controller, sans the controller. It is a camera that captures the player's movements and translates them into game actions by (presumably) fitting the person to a virtual ball-and-rod structure. Other features include facial recognition, object scans for things like skateboard designs, voice recognition, and AI interaction. The trailer (shown above) is full of Wii-level silliness, which actually highlights the true reason why Microsoft is trying to implement such a revolutionary change – they are losing to Nintendo, and they are looking to change that. While I'm generally opposed to playing a game without something physical involved (since there's no physical feedback), I'll admit that the idea might be just crazy enough to work. The question is, can it actually cut into the Wii's market?

I'm going to say no, at least for this generation. The Wii has already grabbed mainstream attention by "doing it first," and the name "Wii" has a much better ring to it than "Project Natal." The technology being pioneered here by Microsoft is revolutionary, certainly, and I would love to see it work, but I'm afraid that it will be just as wonky as the Wii. If Microsoft has a product of equal quality but with inferior marketing, they simply cannot hope to win the fight for the casuals.

But let's just get this straight: Natal is similar to things like the Wii and OnLive in that it's crazy and unlikely, but if it works, it will completely and utterly change the landscape upon which video games are played. I applaud Microsoft for taking such a major leap, whether it ends up working out for them or not.

Graphics are definitely the pretty part of what keeps the average gameplay session to nothing less than hours. It’s pretty – real pretty. It’s not polished Ninja Gaiden-beautiful, but then again it isn’t meant to be. Its cell-shaded anime/manga blend makes the playing experience feel something like navigating a cut scene. At times, some of the techniques used can be frustrating or distracting, but it all works in the end to create a totally immersive environment. It’s what makes this video game become the hybrid movie/game it is intended to be.

Afro Samurai employs a very unique HUD. Usually such a thing would clutter the game screen with such non-prettiness as scores, life meters, and maps, but here it doesn’t even appear as part of the game. Who cares about score, anyway? The point of this game, which stays mostly faithful to the anime (and only excels at diverting from it), is to take on anyone in your way on your path to the #1... in the name of vengeance... in the name of your father. So, instead of distracting from the story’s catharsis by cluttering the screen with obvious game-oriented indicators, the HUD turns Afro’s clothing into the life meter, becoming more or less bloodied as his health decreases or increases, respectively. Another stroke of brilliance is the casting of Afro's imaginary partner, Ninja-Ninja, as a GPS/where-the-hell-do-I-go-now system, who spontaneously appears as a puff of smoke calling to you from the general direction in which you need to head (and waits patiently until you find him) during the more maze-oriented phases of the game.

Aside from the non-reversible horizontal camera control that is annoyingly opposite of most action games, fight scenes are superb. Even the most basic enemies will take advantage of a turned back and are agile enough to give Afro a run for his sanity. Instead of tutorials, players learn techniques via select boss battles and memento collection. Getting combos aren’t all that crucial, though...just fun, so don’t worry if you’re not a Dead Or Alive master. Another aspect of gameplay that helps in executing some of the more complex moves is "Focus Mode," which lets the player slow down time enough to concentrate on which enemies to slash first and aim for select body parts (and even time mid-air slashes). That's not to say the action is always slow-able or so simple that fights become boring, but Focus Mode helps keep everything manageable. A mix of cut scenes as well as watered-down Prince of Persia-esque puzzles and mazes help to break up what might otherwise become monotonous button mashing.

Overall, this is a great example of how an anime should be adapted for interactivity. Its blend of great graphics, non-stop action, and enthralling story is simultaneously immersive and awe-inspiring.

good.

Because Left 4 Dead is so centrally focused on four-player co-op, you'll need to coordinate to get the best of the ever-changing AI. Far from just another mindless shooter, L4D encourages you to stick close to your team, patch each other up when wounded, and cover all of the angles when someone mistakenly sets off a car alarm, thus summoning a stunning amount of enemies. Ideally, each play-through is completely different from the last, but you'll start to notice familiar patterns as you continue to complete the nearly story-free missions. For example, upgraded weapons appear in spot A or spot B, and the Tank spikes intensify once you cross a certain threshold. Nevertheless, there's enough variety to add longevity to the experience with the mixing up of enemy spawn points, grenade locations and med-pack cabinets.

If you find yourself exhausted from surviving as the four endearing characters – Bill the grumpy war-vet, Louis the nervous nerd, Zoey the fearless college kid, and Francis the vitriolic biker – you can switch gears to competitive multiplayer in Versus. With two teams of four, your squad alternates between Survivors and Infected, giving you control over the aforementioned special zombies as you try to foil your opponents' escape. The Infected team requires precision cooperation, perhaps more so than the rifle/shotgun/machine-gun toting humans, as you're quite vulnerable as a zombie. Lengthy respawn times might turn some away from the mode, and impatient people will find themselves staring at that countdown a lot if they're not willing to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. Acting alone will earn you a shotgun blast to the face, so cooperation is crucial.

Sadly, only two of the four possible campaigns are available in Versus. The multiplayer mode adds excellent legs to a shooter that you might otherwise tire of after a couple completions, but after extended play you'll certainly start to become bored of looping the same stages. Even so, it is without a doubt addictive and fun to blast your way to the next safe house as you flee from the horde, protect your friends, avoid the lethal one-hit-kill "Witch," and make smart use of multiple tactics. L4D slowly becomes more formulaic than frenetic, which doesn't play well in to the themes of the game. Moments that previously haunted you, such as rooms filled with shredded corpses, eerily silent sewers, and the trumpeting crescendo that signals an incoming swarm become routine rather than emotionally evocative.

Still, it's impossible to resist the urge to fight off the attacking mass of bloodthirsty Infected in a desperate struggle to survive. More campaigns would definitely have been appreciated, because you'll breeze through the entire game in six to eight hours. Because the AI is constantly changing, if only slightly, every match does manage to feel different. With a breadth of witty character dialogue exchanges to listen to, the dread of death can briefly be alleviated with a whimsical comment or ironic joke, too. And with the addition of Versus multiplayer, you'll have plenty of horror to experience as you strangle, shred and smack human players around. So, it's not for a lack of things to see and do that Left 4 Dead feels slightly limited; it's the limited places to experience these moments that hurts.

Left 4 Dead is a fantastic twist on an established (and played out) theme. With very little story to speak of beyond scribbles on walls, there isn't very much depth to anything but the combat, which is endlessly entertaining regardless of how long you play. It's just a shame that many players will become bored once they've finished the campaigns, especially if they're not into the competitive mode.

For the rest of us, there is no end. Only survival. And we'll contentedly shoot our way to whatever boat, chopper or plane wants to take us to our next terrifying co-op adventure.

great.

Mirror's Edge doesn't fool around when it comes to the primary gameplay mechanic. This game knows full well that it is about running, and as such, it provides a smooth, phenomenally entertaining mechanic to simulate that running. The longer that Faith moves in a generally straight line, the more momentum, and hence speed, she builds up. Momentum is like a realistic version of a "special move" bar, as having more of it allows for bigger jumps, higher wall-climbs, and quicker movements. For example, when climbing a fence, there are around a half-dozen different ways of climbing it, based on when you react and how much momentum you have.

How you react to a fence (or similar obstacle) is actually the most important part of the game. Instead of the hold-the-"do stuff"-button strategy of similar games like Assassin's Creed, Mirror's Edge uses context sensitive buttons, mapped to the Right Trigger and Right Bumper, to create movements. When Faith reaches an obstacle, she can either press the "up" button (RB) to jump, vault, or climb, or the "down" button (RT) to slide under it. Combining these button presses allows her to do things like jump, curl over a barbed wire fence, and hit the ground in an action roll. Faith can also use a special ability if enough momentum is built up, allowing her to slow time temporarily and increase accuracy in jumps and combat.

Like most games of its caliber, Mirror's Edge needs to be played to be believed. Thanks to great animations and a camera placed in Faith's eyes (rather than her chest), the game turns everything into a natural, smooth movement. This effect is so great that players will punish themselves for losing momentum or missing a big jump, creating a very self-motivated atmosphere. The style of the game rewards players for great moves like action rolls, but it is rarely frustrating because the game never actively punishes you for things done wrong.

It might not look like it at first glance, but Mirror's Edge actually runs on the Unreal Engine, just like Bioshock and Gears of War. The game is beautifully rendered, and made all the more amazing by the stark, whitewashed landscape of the city. There are splashes of color here and there, but in general the game manages to make stunning, realistic landscapes using a simple, effective palette. And for further immersion, DICE has not included a HUD of any kind in the single-player campaign. Damage is shown by tunnel-vision and screen desaturation, and even the blue reticule in the center of the screen can be turned off in the options.

Despite its daring disregard for traditional gameplay, Mirror's Edge runs into problems when it tries to go back to normal gameplay conventions. Terrible animated cinematic sequences are littered throughout the game, so that when the final level's cutscenes are delivered entirely in-engine (to great effect), it leaves one asking, "Why didn't they do that the whole time?"

More problematic, however, is the combat. Enemies always have their guns aimed at you (no joke! I tested it), and shoot without hesitation or reloading as soon as they see you. Once you get close enough, you can fight them by pressing the Right Trigger for punches, and combining this with jumps and slides. When their gun turns red, pressing Y will cause you to grab the enemy's weapon and knock them out, but most of the time the window of opportunity is so small that you will need to use Faith's slow time ability. The best thing for players to do is to avoid combat at all costs, relying on the game's fantastic parkour mechanics to get them through hard times. Since the game is made to be played without shooting, this actually makes it far more fun.

Sometimes Mirror's Edge might feel like a bad purchase for its somewhat steep $60 price point. Regardless, players who complete the game with the right free-flowing, pacifistic mindset will find that it is an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only that, but there are Time Trials and Speed Runs (connected to EA's leaderboards) that will provide endless entertainment for the perfectionists and competitive spirits out there.

Playing Mirror's Edge like a first-person shooter is simply not fun, but investing yourself in the experience, running forward with all of your heart, and having a little Faith in the people at DICE makes this one of the most fascinating (and fun) games of the year. Mirror's Edge reflects how we tend to play games, and challenges us to try a new approach. A good mirror can do that.

good.

Assassin's Creed's Altair learns to swim for future project (Joystiq): In an interview with AusGamer, David Wilkinson (animation director for Prince of Persia) was talking about Alex Drouin, animation director for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Assassin's Creed, when he was asked what Drouin is up to now. Wilkinson, in a classic moment of slipped tongues, replied, "He's busy making Altair even more beautiful. Last thing I saw him do was getting Altair to swim." There's pretty much nothing that you can glean from this except that there is a sequel to Assassin's Creed coming (as if that wasn't clear), and that the main character Altair will indeed be able to swim this time around.

U.S. Copyright Law That Allows Equipment Seizures Signed (Anime News Network): President George W. Bush recently signed into law a bill called PRO-IP (Prioritizing Resources and Organization for Intellectual Property), which will create a position known as the "Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator," in charge of tracking down and dealing with copyright infringers, much in a similar fashion to the War on Drugs.

An earlier version of the bill would have allowed the government to sue on behalf of rights holders, something that would put anime fansubbing in grave, grave danger. The most important point about the law is that it allows the government to seize any and all equipment (i.e. your computer) if there is evidence of copyright infringement, and sue again if any more infringing material is found therein.

Konami: 'We're actively looking' into MGS4 on Xbox 360 (Joystiq): According to Japanese investment research firm Morningstar, game developer Konami is "actively looking into a [Metal Gear Solid 4] release for the Xbox 360." We've known for a while that the developers of the hit game were thinking of bringing it over to the Xbox 360, but the recent multi-console movement among big games like Final Fantasy XIII just might push Konami to finally make the jump.

The fact that Revolution is turn-based, instead of real-time, makes this title a much more relaxing experience for the console player. Compared to games such as Tiberium Wars, where scrambling around through a sea of menus trying in desperation to locate your units is just part of the charm, everything here is laid out for you on a neat little grid, and you have all the time needed to plan your next move. It’s a liberating experience which, in many ways, opens up the possibilities for a more in depth strategy now that the noise between you and the options at your disposal has been removed.

In more ways than you might imagine, the world of Revolution is centered almost entirely around you and your chosen nation. Right from the start you had better be prepared for the dogs of war to come howling at your borders as this game definitely places its focus on the combat aspect. You will be beset by other nations on a constant basis with demands of gold, technology, or influential people. Reject, and more often than not you’ll be staring down the barrel of a gun.

What’s irksome is that, while other nations will spare no expense in hounding you, they very rarely interact with each other, besides signing peace treaties. Barring a direct bribe on my part, not once did I see one nation declare war on another – even when victory was nearly assured. Nor was there ever news of one nation extorting gold or technology from another; basically for one nation to interact with another they have to go through you first.

Graphics/Sound:		3.5		Overall: (3.5 stars)
Gameplay:		4.0
Design/Story:		3.0
Lasting Appeal:		4.0

Vectorman (VC, 800 Points): Released back in 1995 by BlueSky Software for the Sega Genesis, Vectorman was sort of Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s Donkey Kong Country as they were both games that looked phenomenal at the time.

However, history has shown that it was Donkey Kong Country’s masterful level design that bumped this sleek, green robot from the spotlight. Vectorman would later make his return in Vectorman 2 a year later, but would then go dark soon after. For you long-time Genesis fans out there, this one’s for you.

Burnout Paradise (PSN, $29.99): As we reported back in August, the team at Criterion Games is bringing their open-world racing title, Burnout Paradise, to the digital distribution market via PSN. This announcement has cased a bit of a stir within the gaming press centered around that fact that if digital distribution such as this really begins to take hold then where does that leave outlets like GameStop who thrive on selling used games?

The release will also include, for free, all of the additional content that has been added to the game so far, including the motorcycles update that hit last week. Burnout Paradise is a title that has received a lot of mixed reactions for its non-linear take on racing, but no matter where you fall, for 30 bucks, you just can't pass this on up.

Mega Man 9 (WiiWare/PSN, 1,000 Points/$9.99): Time to step into the Way-Back Machine and revisit the late 1980s, when Mega Man 2 was on top – before it slid from grace into its cookie-cutter formula. Recapturing the 8-bit visuals, 8-bit music, and 8-bit grab you by the cohunes difficulty it what Capcom has been aspiring to with their latest true Mega Man release since Mega Man 8 on the PS1.

To those who step up to the challenge of Mega Man 9, you can expect a hardy portion of bottomless pits, spike traps, and Game Over screens to be sent your way. And with some planned DLC on the way, the pain just keeps on coming!

Armed with a sword, shield, and some magic spells, the four castle crashers are each tasked with searching far and wide for an evil wizard and four kidnapped princesses. Along the way an eclectic cast of enemies will attempt to stop them - ranging from the simple thief, to a troop of light saber wielding dark knights, all the way up to a giant cat crossed with a shark. If you haven’t guessed it already, everything you encounter here really sports its own flavor of twisted humor; I mean, in how many games are you able to fight off a giant cat/shark that has a little white bear for a jockey? That’s what I thought.

And as the host of villains you face increases, so to does your personal arsenal. Starting out, you’ll have nothing more than the basic light and heavy attacks, but before you know it you’ll be discovering new combos, advanced spells, and a few useful items to give you that edge: An edge which you’ll desperately need if you’re only going into this title alone or with a friend, as this game gets just downright brutal at times. If you manage to round up two other friends for co-op play, however, it’ll be smooth sailing.

Another way to give your characters an extra boost is to hunt down a few of those collectibles. In particular, new weapons and animal companions will each bring their own little stat tweaks, useful abilities, or sometimes both. Perhaps in your travels you’ll stumble across a giant meat tenderizer that gives you a boost to your strength, or a tiny owl companion who will search out food for your character. And also realize that almost every minion you fight can also be unlocked as a playable character, further driving home that collect-a-thon mentality.

In the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace there once existed a sizable gap in the shape of a fun, group-oriented action title that you and your friends could all hop into and enjoy together. Sure we had our Ninja Turtles and even our Gauntlets, but The Behemoth has succeeded in providing us with a fresh new take on the genre and therefore deserves a hardy “kudos.” Castle Crashers is a fantastic title worth every cent of your 800 space bucks and is a triumphant “bang” to finish off this Summer of Arcade!

Graphics/Sound:		4.0		Overall: (4.0 stars)
Gameplay:		3.0
Design/Story:		3.5
Lasting Appeal:		4.0