Ah, Bioware. You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? It wasn’t enough to drop Dragon Age: Origins on me, was it? Less than three months after hijacking a majority of my life, Bioware’s done it again with Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 builds on the successes of the first game to deliver a superior experience in just about every facet of gameplay. The continuing adventures of Commander Shepard will pit the hero of the Citadel against the threat of the Reapers once again. Of course, you’ll be filling the well-armored boots of the captain of the Normandy.

The first thing that leapt out at me in playing Mass Effect 2 was the changes that have been made to the environments. Unlike the first Mass Effect, there are very few maze-like environments to navigate. Instead, the levels give you a solid feeling of progressing forward, instead of wandering aimlessly. Combat in these environments can be resolved in multiple ways, including weapons, biotic abilities, and environmental hazards. Controls are easy to learn and master, and using powers is a straightforward affair through a selection wheel that also allows you to bind your favorites to buttons.

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I have to admit to having a healthy dose of skepticism about Batman: Arkham Asylum. After all, the history of superhero-based video games isn’t exactly all rosy and happy. Just in recent times, there’s been a good Hulk game, a bad Hulk game, an Iron Man game with horrid controls, and a Wolverine game that was actually quite good.

My trepidation was somewhat relieved when I got my hands on the demo and found it to have great atmosphere, great pacing, and great voice acting. Now I’ve had my chance to play the full game, and in short, it far exceeds any expectations I had.

Arkham Asylum opens as Batman transports his arch-nemesis, The Joker, to Arkham Asylum. Soon after arriving there, the Joker breaks free of his restraints and takes over the asylum, leaving Batman to pursue him through a myriad of obstacles the Joker puts in his path.

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Turbine is gearing up for the debut of Book 8: Scourge of Khazád-dum for Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria. I recently had the pleasure of accompanying Adam Mersky and Aaron “Rowan” Campbell on an expedition into the heights and depths of Moria. They revealed the horrors and wonders that await players in this latest edition to the LotRO epic storyline.
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I’ll be honest: the name “Red Faction” brings up more memories of “meh” gameplay to me than most other series that have survived past one sequel. So nothing could have been a bigger surprise for me than when I was given a chance to play the new Red Faction Guerrilla at E3 and found myself completely blown away by it. Granted, my impression of it was probably helped along by the fact that the developers put me in a giant mech suit to trash the fully destructible environments with, but I was still left wanting more. Thankfully, now I’ve been given that chance with the multiplayer beta that launched on Monday. So does the multiplayer make as much of an impression as the single-player? In a word…er, “sweetjebusyesyesyes.”

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Castlevania Judgement is a fighting game for the Wii that’s set in the Castlevania world…and that should be enough to give anyone pause. The game unfortunately falls into that annoying category of titles on the E3 showcase floor that I picked up out of curiosity, realized I didn’t like, and ended up feigning interest for several minutes while the presenter tried to tell me more about it. Then I usually scurried off the instant their attention went elsewhere. In this case though, even the presenter didn’t seem to care too much. It’s really too bad though, since the concept of the game and a few of the ideas presented in it are a little different and interesting, but the whole package is just terribly executed.

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Velvet Assassin ranks up there with one of the many happy surprises I had at E3. To be honest, I was a little hesitant about meeting up with Gamecock’s group, since they still linger in my mind as those guys who dress up in capes and chicken masks. As it turned out though, their setup was one of the most low-key at this year’s E3; it was just a discreet area in the Figueroa Hotel. And so I met up with Replay Studios to see their upcoming World War II stealth-action game, since it sounded the most interesting to me. I wasn’t really expecting much, but almost half an hour later, the developers practically had to rip the controller out of my hand to make room for another appointment. However, the whole time the producer and PR director were showing me the game, one word kept crossing my mind: “ballsy.”

Let me explain: the game takes place in Europe during World War II and is being made by a German developer. That’s gutsy enough, but they didn’t stop there. Velvet Assassin is one of the few video games — in fact, the only one I can think of right now — that actually depicts the Holocaust. The level I played through involved you infiltrating the Warsaw Ghetto, where Jews were sequestered after the Nazis invaded Poland, in order to assassinate a Nazi official. The producer was even telling me how he remembered stories his grandfather had told him about when all that happened, which helped him infuse the game with some realism. The more I saw of the game, the more I realized this was not your typical guts-and-glory World War II game.

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I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. if anyone ever invites you to visit a sleepy little lake town called Silent Hill, run  screaming in the other direction because you’re probably dead or have some serious baggage in your past that will soon come back to bite you.

While from the initial impressions I can’t give you an overall sense of the story in this latest version of Silent Hill, I can talk about some of the changes that Konami and its development partner Double Helix Games are making to freshen up the long running horror series.

Silent Hill: Homecoming features a bit of a different protagonist for the series. Previous games always focused on the “everyman” characters in horrible situations, a staple of the survival horror genre. This time out the main character, Alex Shepherd is a former Airborne Ranger who is returning home and apparently is looking to discover the fate of his younger brother Jacob.
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Dark Void is what you’d get if you somehow broke the laws of science and mated Gears of War, Crimson Skies, and The Rocketeer. And trust me, I mean that as a huge compliment. The demo on the showcase floor of E3 2008 was a very early build according to the presenter there, but I was still able to get a good feel of the game and the vision they’re going for. So far, it looks like they’re on track to make a game that should definitely make for a unique experience when it comes out. Read the full article »

I’m a Fallout fan. I’ve been following this game since it was a GURPS title. I was saddened when Interplay lost their way and the franchise seemed doomed to obscurity but when Bethesda scooped up the game three years ago I found renewed hope.

Last year Todd Howard, and the team fresh off of The Elder Scrolls Oblivion showed a very tight, controlled demonstration of the game in action, and this year I actually got 30 minutes of hands on time with the title. While the areas shown in the live demo area covered much the same content as last years presentation I didn’t care. This wasn’t my shot to gauge the story or the acting; this was about finding out if Fallout could translate to the 1st person RPG space and not lose its charm.

Well I have good and bad news for Fallout fans. Fallout 3 makes the transition well but only if you’re a fan of the Oblivion style of gaming (which I most definitely am). Controlling the character, implementing stat points and choosing perks using the Pip boy interface were all simple and intuitive.

Unlike Oblivion, Fallout 3 does not rely on a clunky interface. There is inventory management but its reminiscent of the older Fallout’s turn based grid with a few modern updates. The change of setting – from a medieval combat system to a modern gun-slinging wasteland works well also. I demo’d the game on the 360 and the title showed the same visual finesse of Bethesda’s earlier game. Those who found fault with the dialog interface or camera system of that title will find it virtually unchanged.

I spent a good deal of time navigating and interacting with NPCs. Dialog choices that could be influenced by skills were set apart – including the percentage chance of success, though the actual “roll” was hidden it was obvious when you succeeded or failed. This little tweak felt like a good reflection of the classic games and the content of the dialog also followed a more adult, humorous bent in the area of Megaton.

Wading into combat with some rabid scavengers in an old elementary school, I used every chance possible once engaged to test out the V.A.T.S. targeting system. This turn-based mode freezes combat momentarily and displays a digital overlay of a foe. The various target spots of the baddie glows and players can choose trick shots with likely success indicated by percentages based on skills and perks your character has.

All in all I’m just as excited about this game as I was last year. The hands on experience felt familiar in many good ways and with the game coming soon on the 360, PC and PS3 at least I won’t have to wait long to wander around at the end of the world nuking super mutants.

Like many older gamers I was a fan of the golden age of Sonic the Hedgehog. I still have fond memories of a certain New Years Eve party when I was younger and the challenge was issued amongst the rather inebriated guests to partake in a competition of skill.. namely to see who could get the furthest in Sonic the Hedgehog on the Genesis. I’d never been particularly good at the game, though I’d spent a lot of hours playing it but as the host I was obligated to try the best. Long story short, I got further in Sonic that night than any other time since and I credit that to my loose reflexes compensating for the game’s innate sense of speed.

Years have passed and Sonic’s seen better days. The last two games – Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic and the Secret of the Rings were mediocre titles that lacked the certain charm and style of the earliest games, or event the excellent early 3D games.

Sega wants another shot at changing the impression that Sonic is old hat. Last year’s Mario & Sonic titles sold well but they were not true Sonic games. The announcement of Sonic Unleashed however caught the attention of Sonic fans and the limited screens and footage hinted that maybe Sega had finally found the right mix to recreate the Blue Hedgehog for the new consoles.

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