This is a good day for all you JRPG lovers out there. Not only did Panopticon get revealed in a trailer earlier today, but NIS America has released a new trailer for their upcoming title, Time and Eternity. This new trailer flashes some of the highlights of gameplay in T&E, as well as plenty of fan service and Japanese goodness.

Time and Eternity is centered around a main hero and his wife-to-be, Toki. At the wedding ceremony, a group of assassins attack and killed Toki’s fiance Zack. This event awakens her alter ego Towa and starts up a series of events in time travel. The trailer below focuses mainly on the combat system, which is action-oriented, having you time your dodge and then attack.

Developed by Imageepoch for the PlayStation 3, Time and Eternity is set for release July 16th in North America, and July 28th in Europe. Does the trailer make you want to pick this up and if not, why?

Attention all PSLS readers, today we have been hacked by the notorious group known as Ubisoft. Thankfully, our crack staff of tech monkeys led by Sebastian stopped the hack, but not before they implanted six brand new screenshots of their upcoming game Watch Dogs on our server. Check them out below while we figure out just how they got in.

In the screenshots, the main character Aiden Pearce is introduced to Clara Lille, a lady who, like our main character, uses questionable methods to get the job done. We also get a good look at the phone hacking system in the game, some good old fashion street violence, and a car chase.

Watch Dogs is set to release upon the world on November 19th for the PS3, 360, PC and Wii U as well as the PS4 and Next Xbox if they’ve released by then. Do these screenshots get you even more amped for the game? Will you be picking it up on day one? Let us know in the comments.

Black Rock Shooter started as a 50 minute video animation back in 2010 and has since exploded into a hit phenomenon, spawning a manga, anime, and now an RPG for the PlayStation Portable. Black Rock Shooter The Game brings forth some of the flair, explosions, and barely dressed teenagers of the series, but unfortunately fails to fully realize its potential, leaving gamers with an unfinished experience.

In the world of Black Rock Shooter The Game, the human race has become all but extinct due to an alien invasion, with only about a dozen humans left standing. Players take on the role of a scantly dressed girl who carries around one of the biggest guns I have ever seen and is the last remaining hope of survival for the human race. With her gun cocked, chest all exposed, and an air of clumsiness, BSR will now have to take out aliens after aliens to help realize the hopes of the few people left fighting. There is a story to be found here but is really a letdown and pushes people towards the action.

Black Rock Shooter is a series that is all about speed and high octane action, so it is rather disappointing to see it reduced to an on-rails shooter which very little variety to the combat. Players will take on missions from clearing out some bad guys to creating a distraction so that your mates can take out an objective. Each mission will have you moving from point A to point B, defeating a bunch of enemies, than rinse and repeat. Each fight isn’t much better either, as players are left to dodge left or right while aiming your gun and firing. When you’re tired of just firing your gun, you can also unleash an overpowering attack, which takes time to recharge in battle. And this is really it for the combat, just dodge, fire, super attack, and repeat.

Now the combat might not be the best in terms of variety, but what is there is not really broken and works well for what it is. The mechanics are responsive and the combat is fun at first, though it definitely gets old rather fast. It really would have been nice to see a bit more attention paid to beefing up the combat, since almost 3/4 of the game is spent in combat. Boss battles try to add some flair to the combat and, to a point, succeeds, adding a bit of difference to the game, but it’s not enough. Outside of combat, there really isn’t much else to do in the game and that is where this really falls flat. The game does allow you to ride on a motorcycle and dodge a few targets during some missions, however it does very little to spruce up the gameplay.

Black Rock Shooter‘s cutscene animations look decent enough. However, the environments are downright ugly and do a terrible job of displaying a war-torn world. It is really disappointing to see how this game looks compared to some other PSP titles that released a few years ago that looked better. The enemies and main character do however look pretty good and the world overall has a great deal of color to be found. Thankfully the drab visuals are given some major help with a smash mouth metal soundtrack. The game does have some voice acting during cutscenes, though it’s not very much and really isn’t very memorable when it’s there.

BRS clocks in at just under 20 hours of playtime, with some alternate endings and unlockables to be found. While some might feel this was a little short, I actually think it was just about right, if not a little too long. The story really fails to give you much of anything and with the combat providing a very straight forward and bland approach, it’s hard to sit through more than 12 hours of gameplay. It would have also been nice to see some different modes to possibly add something else to the package. The game is also playable on the PS Vita, which should help to expand its audience a bit.

In the end, Black Rock Shooter The Game is an experience that does a few nice things that are quickly overshadowed by its problems. The story pushes you quickly through rather bland dialogue to get you into the combat, which works if the combat is something amazing. However, the combat fades quickly as it repeats the same mechanics over and over and over again. The game could have really benefited from coming off its wheels and really opening up the exploration to give you more to do. Thank the heavens for an amazing soundtrack that really rocks you through each fight. It’s not a terrible experience and there is some fun to find early on, but it’s not something to keep your attention very long.

Hockey fans are a passionate bunch, especially when it comes to their favorite players. EA Sports is hoping to feed off that with their NHL 14 Cover Vote for the upcoming hockey sim. Last year this vote landed Claude Giroux on the cover and generated a whopping 25 million votes.

All you have to do to make your voice heard is head over here, register, and start selecting players in head to head matchups. The schedule for this contest is as follows:

• Round of 60 (April 22-28): Teammate vs. teammate. One representative from each team plus two wild card selections advance.
• 32-Player Leaderboard (April 29-May 5): Fans vote for their favorite 16 candidates; top 16 vote-getters advance.
• 16-player Bracket (May 6-May 26): Weekly round-by-round, single-elimination playoff bracket decides finalists.
• The Finals (May 27-June 2): Winner takes the NHL 14 Cover.

There are plenty of high-profile playmakers involved in the voting, including John Tavares, Evander Kane, Jamie Benn, Tyler Sequin, Patrick Sharp, and many more. For the full list, head on over this site and check it out.

The Vita is finally starting to pick up a little bit in terms of game releases, but one of the things it is still lacking are games that are almost entirely touch driven. In steps Mass Creation and their upcoming Vita game Draw Slasher, which looks to make full use of the Vita’s beautiful 5 inch display.

Draw Slasher is a story about a ninja Hanzo, who, while short, sets out on a mission to find and free his family, who have been taken hostage by wild Pirate Monkey Zombies. Yes, you read that right, it is a killer combination that would make most run in fear. To free his family, Hanzo will need the help of your quick fingers, drawing lines on the screen to jump, dash, dodge, and slash.

To show us exactly how much exercise those pointer fingers will be in for, Mass Creation has released a new trailer for the game:

Draw Slasher is set for release on the PS Vita on April 23rd in North America and the 24th in Europe. Are you tempted to give this a shot after checking out the video? Let us know in the comments below.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, like its name suggests, is the third game of the series for current consoles and a return to the series’ roots. Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 returns to the form of a story-driven single player with a touch of multiplayer, a far cry from the previously released generations that took a more online, standard fighter approach. With a return to what has made the series great and some nice additions, Storm 3 does a lot of things right but doesn’t get by without a few key mishaps to dampen a solid sequel.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 continues where Storm 2 left off, with Naruto and his friends preparing for an upcoming 4th Great Ninja War. The game does a great job of catching you up with the story if you haven’t watched the anime and even if you have, it has a way to drag you in again. The game features plenty of cutscenes between fights, which can get rather long – not Metal Gear Solid 4 long, but still fairly lengthy. Luckily, the game features a skip option if you don’t feel like sitting through it, but let’s be honest, if you are playing this game without paying attention to the story, you are doing it a disservice. It is a well crafted tale of friendship, family, and the bonds we create and share during both war and peace.

The heart of this game, and the place you will find yourself spending the majority of your time, is the story mode, dubbed “Ultimate Adventure”. The start kicks off with a flash back of the Nine-Tails attacking the Hidden Leaf Village and is a really fun fight to take part in. It sets the stage for a lot of epic, big battles to be found in the game. Granted, the battles are no way near as big or epic as Ninja Storm 2, but they are still well done.

In the story mode, you will spend most of the time making your way through fights and then cutscenes, progressing the story. There are a few patches during the story where you can sort of free roam through levels, but this is left to do at the completion of the game, where you can then head back into the world and try for 100 percent on quests. It is kind of disappointing to see the exploration take a back seat during the story, relegating players to end up simply running from point A to point B and trigger a cutscene/fight. Of course, during those few times you can break objects to find Ryo (money), which you can then use to purchase items. It really is disappointing to not have really any exploration to be found until you complete the story, and then it is really only useful to explore if you are a trophy whore or someone looking to unlock a few small side stories.

Battles in Naruto are fast paced, full of high-flying kicks and furious combos. During a battle, you can run in all directions on the battlefield, dogging attacks, blocking, or attacking with a fairly simple control layout. It is easy to pick up as a newcomer but difficult to master the switching between block, dodge, or attack on a dime. Each playable ninja, which numbers around 80 or so, has their own set of attacks, combos, and ninjitsus to pull off. This ensures that no one fighter feels like any other. During combat, you will need to balance your basic attacks, with building up your chakra to pull off ninjitsus, and dodging attacks with a substitution jutsu. You can also have 2 support characters in the battle with you depending one the story battle, and these ninjas can be called upon to pull off an attack. Players also have four items slots that they can place items of their choice in, but you only start out with two slots and, as you level up following battles, you open up more slots and the ability to carry more of a single item.

Where the combat really fails, though, is with the overall lack of difficulty with the fights. Aside from Deidara and one of the final bosses in the game, every fight in the game is extremely easy to win. In my entire 18 hour playthrough of the story, I died maybe a total of 6 times and those were all accounted for in 2 or 3 different fights. The game does try to make add a bit of difficult into it with the addition of Ultimate Decisions. These pop up during the story at key points and let you decide whether to take the easier Hero road or try the Legend road. Your pick does have impact on where the story goes from there and the Legend choice does add a slight degree of difficulty. It would have been nice to have a menu option that let’s you increase the difficulty of battles and it is a bit of a let down to see that the fights feel like they got easier than they were in UNS 2. Ultimate Decisions allow you the ability to gain different types of items. In the game, you will find items that are Legend or ones that are Hero. So taking the hero road more often will mean more hero items. The problem is that the difference between the two aren’t really that great and for the most part, I found items rather pointless in battle because of the fact that most of the battles are rather easy.

Where Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 and its predecessors really shine are with the boss battles and, more importantly, the Quick Time Events that some games have a real issue with. Boss battles aren’t as epic as the previous entries but still provide plenty of great experiences, fighting off huge monsters that take up most of the screen. Towards the end of most these fights, they will stop the fight and go into a series of QTEs. The team over at CyberConnect2 does a great job of making these fast paced, flashy, and real pleasure to take part in. Not only are the they fun to take part in, but the effects going on during these are absolutely stunning and insane. They are among the best uses of QTEs in the industry, behind maybe Heavy Rain.

Outside of the story mode, Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 offers offline and online options. The offline allows for head to head matches with your friends or the ability to set up a 4-8 player tournament. The online allows you to play ranked or player matches against those around the world. One thing to note is that your use of the roster online is dictated by how far you are in the story, so it makes a lot of sense to finish the story before taking your fight online. The mode itself seemed to play just fine, with just a few moments of slow down here or there. It could also do for an upgrade in search options, as you only have the ability to look by rank or region. The biggest problem I found was with the rather short-lived fun of the online. Battles usually broke down to people spamming the same move over and over again. I did find a few fights where people got a bit more strategic, but overall it was a spam fest and it can get old rather quickly.

On the presentation front, there is very little to find at fault here. The amount of work done by the team at CC2 is to be applauded, as the cutscenes look fantastic and the character models are superb. It would have been nice to see a bit more attention paid to the environments you travel around, but that is a rather minor complaint. Voice work is again top notch, though, like the anime, Naruto’s voice can get rather annoying. Thankfully, you have the option to go with the Japanese audio, which I feel has a better voice for a lot of characters.

CyberConnect 2 knows its audience very well and has stayed close to the formula of the previous Ultimate Ninja Storm games. The battles are an absolute blast to take part in, the boss battles are epic, and CC2 really knows how to pull off some slick QTEs. However, these fun battles are really let down by the sheer lack of difficulty. The addition of the Ultimate Decisions tries to alleviate that issue but falls alittle bit short. Thankfully the story, characters, and visual effects are all top notch and help to hide some of the flaws in the game. Fans of Naruto will be happy with the finished product but might feel a tiny bit let down after playing UNS 2. That said, this is still a very solid entry in the Ultimate Ninja Storm series that I think fans of Naruto and newcomers to the series will have a good time playing.

The month of March is upon us and with it comes Spring Training, roster changes, and the latest baseball offering from the talented group at SCE San Diego Studio. MLB 13: The Show for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita looks to improve an already great formula for success through tweaks of existing modes and the addition of some new features. After making my way from AA to the show, it is safe to say that MLB 13: The Show provides just the right amount of pop to knock it out of the park.

One of the first things you should know about MLB 13 is the developers are trying to make the game more accessible for the casual fans. To do this, the game features a beginner mode that allows new players and even those who have played before a good chance to ease into the game. However, this mode is not just a watered down version that will stay simple—it is in fact a learning system that adapts to the players performance automatically. As someone who is a veteran to the series, this was still a nice addition for myself as a way to get my feet wet without feeling overwhelmed by all the different control schemes. It should also help to bring in new players who want to just get in and play without feeling like they need a full month of training to do it right.

Speaking of control schemes, if you wanted an insane amount of options this year to make your experience unique, The Show offers over 29 pages of customization options to fine tune your gameplay to fit your exact preferences. It can be a bit intimidating when you first start sifting through the options, so you might want to stay out unless you know what you’re doing. I found myself spending 30 minutes tweaking fielding, batting, and pitching options to what seemed like no end. The game also feature a new push/pull hitting engine that shows you which hitters are extreme pull hitters, balance, opposite field hitters and so on. This new engine also allows you to pull or push the ball in whatever direction you want with more control, and it works exceptionally well. During games, I was able to pull off well-executed situation hitting, like pushing the ball to the right side of the infield to score the runner from third.

MLB 13: The Show brings back many of the modes and features it had last year but with improvements all around. Franchise and Season Modes are back but this time with the addition of a new team budget system that revolves around a reward-penalty type system which plays off the team’s on-field performance. Picked a low budget team and are worried you won’t ever be a big player? Don’t worry, because this new system allows you to become a big spender after a period of good play—something that you would find in real baseball. An example of this system would be my hometown Texas Rangers, who, with trips to the postseason, have extended their budget.

The biggest mode for the series, Road to the Show, returns with improvements as well. In this mode, you create a player and enter into the draft or select your team. Then you play through seasons and try to get your player to the big leagues through training points and doing well in games. The big focus this year around has been to bring a more simple approach to player control to allow for users to have a better overall experience. It works wonders as I felt in better control of my speedy Center Fielder this year, something I had major issues with in previous years. The mode also puts more focus on your individual position. So if you are a pitcher, the half-inning when you aren’t on the mound is spent looking at a presentation of what is going on in the field or the action can be viewed from the dugout to add immersion to the experience.

The other big mode, Diamond Dynasty returns to the Bigs and is a lot easier to understand and navigate through. Diamond Dynasty allows players to create and manage a team that can play games online and offline. The amount of customization here is amazing, with logos to create and complete control over the style of your uniform. You can even go in and edit every player on your team to fit your desires. Visual tutorials have been added this year to offer insight into the more complex aspects of the system. Just like the Beginner mode, the changes in DD have been made to try and make it accessible to more users. One of the bigger changes this year is the ability to have the DH and choose whether they want to play by NL or AL rules.

The Show doesn’t just rest with improving old modes, it also has a few new modes it introduces this year. The first of these is The Show Live, which allows gamers to play “real-world” games that are determined by MLB.com data, populating the match-ups, line-ups, and even the starting pitchers. The mode offers the ability to play any game from the current day or earlier in the season. If you don’t like the way your team lost the day before, go back and replay the game, trying this time to come out victorious.

Post Season mode is another new addition, allowing players to skip through spring training and the regular season and jump right into the playoffs. Here you just select your one to ten teams and the mode supports single player, head-to-head, co-op, and PlayStation Move support. It’s a nice addition and to be honest, one that I am not sure why it took so long to get here.

Online is a huge part of games these days and MLB 13: The Show is no different. Players can track their offline Road to the Show stats online in a leaderboard and the Online Leagues have seen some great changes, allowing players to play the real MLB schedule with all 30 teams. The Home Run Derby has also been updated this year with the inclusion of cross-platform play. So, whether you’re on a PS3 or Vita, you can slug it out against each other to see who can mash it the best.

On the subject of the Vita, I would normally do a different review for a Vita title but there are not enough differences between the two versions to really warrant it. The main differences I could see was in the character creation, where the amount of options to customize your character were less on the Vita. A few key modes are also missing, like the Diamond Dynasty and Leagues. Other than that, the game runs extremely well on the Vita, except for a little bit of slow down during some of the games I played.

Presentation is one of the keys to making a sports game alive and vibrant. Thankfully, The Show has also been top marks in this category and this year is no different. The way a player flings the bat after a long bomb or the way an outfielder runs down a flyball are fluid and life-like. The only real knocks here are the stiff crowds and some slight repetition of the presentation. It would be nice to see them trying the wave or really getting into the game. I know it’s a minor beef, but it would still be nice to see a bit more life out of ‘em—baseball fans should be more rowdy. The in-game menus and overall in-game presentation are extremely well done, with every game feeling so much like its real-life counterparts.

With a 3-2 count and the winning run on third, MLB 13: The Show delivers a clutch single to win the game and the title of most accurate sports franchise. The attention to detail delivered in every aspect of the game is to be commended. The game features smart tweaks to returning features and the addition of solid new modes. The beginner mode is perhaps the smartest move made and should invite plenty of new fans to the game. If you are looking for the closest thing to a pure baseball experience without leaving your home or turning on your cable, then MLB 13: The Show is made for you.

[Editor's Note: The following is a review of the US version of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, we previously reviewed the Japanese version and gave it full marks]

As a big fan of Studio Ghibli and the work they do on animated movies, I was very excited to hear about Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Add in the talented group of RPG makers at Level-5 and you have the groundwork for a great RPG. After spending a lot of time in the game this week, I am proud to say that this combination of Ghibli and Level-5 shines in almost every aspect, resulting in an experience like no other.

This stunning adventure puts players in the small sized shoes of Oliver, a young boy out to save his mother and save a parallel world that is at the mercy of an evil mage. Along the way, Oliver will free the High Lord of all Fairies and from there, the journey begins. This is a story that finds a great way to tell a child’s tale in a way to where it doesn’t feel too childish for adults and is not too mature for children. It is a beautiful adventure full of topics such as love, courage and enthusiasm. It is a striking tale that will draw you in and just make you smile the whole way through.

To make any story great, you have to have just the right characters to give it life. Absent from the game are any of the typical characters that gamers have come accustomed to in JRPGs. Oliver is not your usual annoying, teenage-angst filled hero. He is a child that believes in respect and honesty, showing maturity beyond his years. The rest of the cast compliments him and, countless hours in, I have yet to find a truly annoying character… something that I have not been able to say about almost 90 percent of the RPGs made the past 10 years. There is a great chemistry between the cast and the story is one of the best told stories this generation.

Past the story and its characters, Ni no Kuni delivers a unique style of gameplay that is very refreshing to the genre. The combat is a combination of action and turn-based that takes a little bit of getting used to, but after a few fights it feels natural. Players are able to run around the battlefield at their own leisure but must select an action from your combat menu to perform it. It feels a little strange at first glance, but fits extremely well into the game. In the beginning, you fight as Oliver and a familiar, switching between sending out the familiar to attack or performing magic with Oliver. The real strategy of the system doesn’t come into play however until around 10 hours in, when you get a second party member and the ability to capture animals throughout the world to be new familiars. Each character can carry three familiars into battle, with some being better at defense, some solid at magic, and others are pure attackers. The twist here is that both the player and the familiars they summon share the same Health and Mana bar. The combat is a wonderful blend of timing and action; switching between a defensive familiar and one with more offensive stats.

My only real gripe with the combat system is that there are not enough tactical options to choose from on how your 2nd party member will act in battle. The options available are very basic, ranging from go all out to support leader. It would be nice to have some of the options that the Tales series has – something along the lines of ‘don’t use abilities when your mana is below 50%’. Also, the AI of your teammates at times can be questionable, as I have, on numerous occasions, watched them die because they refused to summon their familiar with the ability to heal.

As you progress through the story, you not only level up with your characters but also with all of the familiars in your party. To do this, you have to collect foods throughout your journey that add different effects like attack or magic defense. Each familiar can only have 10 stats upgrades, so you have to pick and choose wisely how you want to improve them. As you level them up, you will also have the ability to morph them into a strong version of themselves. A third time morphing your familiars will find you at a fork, giving players choices as to how they want to take each familiar. This little wrinkle adds a lot of options and replay value to the game.

The entire leveling system for the familiar works but could really use a bit of updating. The process of going in and feeding food the familiar, then watching it eat and celebrate is a bit long-winded. This becomes especially annoying when you have 6 familiars to feed and multiple different kinds of food you want to feed them. An ability to feed someone 3 chocolate bars at once instead of 3 separately would be nice, but this is by no means a deal breaker and is but a minor hiccup.

Outside of combat, gamers have the ability to accept quests from people in each town and also take on bounty hunts. The quests range from going to gather things in the world, fight off enemies, or provide a heartbroken person with something to fix them up. The theme of fixing heartbroken people throughout the world is a central theme and found all through the game. To fix someone who is heartbroken, you must find out what they are lacking – whether it is courage or something else – and find someone with an abundance of what is needed and use magic to take a piece of it from them and give it to the person in need. The bounties are typical go here and kill this mini-boss type of quests.

As you complete quests, you will not only get money and items, but also a set number of merit stamps. These stamps are placed on a merit card that has 10 spots. Once it is filled up, you move on to the next card. As you collect more cards, you can turn them in to unlock game boosts like faster movement throughout the world map or more health and mana dropped during battle. These boosts are very helpful and kind of making quests more of a necessity than an option.

The world map is a refreshing change from the norm. Outside of towns, players are placed onto a beautifully rendered landscape, running over sand dunes in one part of the world and through forests in another, all from a high angle. These worlds are huge, with tons of land to hike across – and there’s plenty of reason to, with hidden towns and items sprinkled throughout. Enemies are also visible and littered throughout the map, making each trip a real adventure. The world map fits the game like a glove, bringing back a nostalgic feeling of games I played when growing up.

Magic also plays a huge part in moving around the world map. If you find a spot where you can’t cross the water, simply cast the bridge spell to create a path across. There is also a growth spell to cause things like mushrooms to grow up so you can use them as stairs. It is these uses of magic that are something new while roaming the world and adds a cool twist to the action. Alchemy is also used in the game, with players able to combine ingredients found throughout the world to make items, weapons, and armor.

On the presentation front, there is absolutely nothing to find any flaws with. Studio Ghibli is a true master in their field, with the game featuring adorable and stunning cutscenes. Characters and enemies are brought to life with bright colors and very unique design choices that work wonders to make a simple enemy that much more. The game also offers voice acting through a good chunk of it and the casting here is top notch. Every character’s voice fits perfectly in with who they are and how they act.

I have been asked a few times which games Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch resembles the most and, to be honest, I cannot think of a single one. This is such a refreshing and unique experience that brings together a solid story and characters with gorgeous visuals and a fun combat system. Merit cards add huge value to the questing system and magic adds a great element to how you traverse the world. The only gripes are extremely minor and don’t even put a dent in this polished game. This collaboration between Studio Ghibli and Level-5 has produced a beautiful tale of friendship, courage, and adventure that covers multiple age groups and brings older gamers back to a time when they first started to fall in love with RPGs. With over 30-60 hours of gameplay, this is a game that you cannot afford to pass up, it is a true gem. To put it best, this game gave me the same feeling as the first time I saw the original Star Wars trilogy.

Winner: Gravity Rush

The Vita might not have had the best year in terms of hardware and software sales, lagging a few football fields behind Nintendo’s 3DS, but that doesn’t mean that Sony’s handheld didn’t have any quality titles worth picking up. One such title was Gravity Rush – this sleek game won over gamers and the media with its slick presentation and unique gameplay that brought out the best in the PS Vita.

Take the role of Kat as you defy gravity with relative ease, zipping around the world from building to building. While moving from place to place, gamers will complete quests for the townsfolk of Hekseville or collect pink gems to upgrade Kat’s attributes. The controls couldn’t be crisper and enhance the game with how smooth it is to float around the town.

Gravity Rush doesn’t just rest on its fun controls and out of this world gravity manipulation, it also has a solid story told through manga-like pages. Not only a good story, but the characters are well thought out and provide great depth to the story that is in place. Just remember, in this story black cats are good things, or are they?

Runners Up:

• Persona 4 Golden
• Sound Shapes
• Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle all week during our Best of 2012 Awards week.

The lands of Middle-Earth have become a popular place for gamers as of late. First we got to build and destroy everything in sight with LEGO: Lord of the Rings, now it’s time for a round of action combat with Guardians of Middle-Earth. This MOBA game, or Multiplayer Online Battle Arena for those not down with the lingo, takes pages out of the popular League of Legends on PC and mixes in all things Lords of the Rings. Read on below to see if this genre translates well to a console and if it does justice of the epic world of J. R. R. Tolkien.

One of my first fears going into this review was how well the controls would translate to the consoles and how difficult it would be to pick it up. Those fears were quelled rather quickly, as a 15 minute tutorial to start the game showed me just how easy the game is to pick up. The controls are extremely well done and provide themselves quite nicely to the DualShock 3 controller. All of your spells and abilities are left to the face buttons, potions to the d-pad. Attacks and leveling up your spells are kept up on the top on the triggers. I can’t think of a better way to set this up, it really works well. Even better is the user interface, which is easy to use and keep track of.

Just like League of Legends, players will need to select a single guardian before setting off into the battlefield. These Guardians come in different class types; Defender, Striker, Enchanter, Tactician, and Warrior. Enchanters are all about ability damage; Defenders are designed to support their allies; Warriors have a good balance between attack and survivability; Strikers are your DPS, and a Tactician controls the battlefield with buffs and traps. There is more to just the type of character you pick though, as you will want to also check out each individual Guardians stats; which show their own damage, ability damage, survivability, and difficulty. With over 20 evil and good characters in the game and with most of them needing to be purchased, there is always someone new to try and buy. There are also plenty of big names from the books and movies, such as; Legolas, Gollum, Eowyn, and the big bad Sauron.

As you progress through the game, you will also gain money to buy potions, commands, guardian belts, gems, and relics. Only four potions can be mapped to the d-pad during a battle, so be careful which ones you choose. Commands are god-like powers that players can unlock and equip. As you level up, you will unlock higher tiers of these powers to equip. The gems and relics act as buffs that you can equip to your belt to increase ability damage, health, and much more. All of these things can be purchased with the gold that you acquire through your games.

All this talk and I have yet to touch on the most important part of the game – gameplay. You will have four options of game modes in the game: Battlegrounds, Elite Battlegrounds, Skirmish, and custom match. Battlegrounds is 5v5 competitive play, with a time-limit of 20 minutes to move things along. Elite Battlegrounds takes out the time limit and does not allow matchmaking to throw in AI-Controlled Guardians to either side, so you have to wait on 10 people which can be an issue. Skirmish is 5 players vs. AI-Controlled Guardians, and then custom match is fairly self-explanatory. Each mode can also be played in 3 lanes or 1 lane, which basically means a 1 lane battle provides just one lane to attack each other’s base, while 3 lanes gives multiple different ways to attack.

The main objective in Guardians of Middle-Earth is to attack and try to destroy the enemies main base while not letting yours get taken down. It won’t be easy though, as the enemy will have towers placed in your way and soldiers attacking from barracks. These soldiers don’t do much other than provide a solid meat-shield but the towers are deadly. Soldiers and towers can be upgraded to improve the troops and attack type of the tower. However, these upgrades cannot start until you reach level 6, which gets us into the Guardians. As you attack with your character, you will gain XP and level up, which allows you to upgrade one of your spells. You have 4 spells per character and they can be upgraded 4 times each, with your Guardian able to reach a max level of 14. As you level, your health and resistances will also increase.

Towers, soldiers, and enemy Guardians are not the only things you will have to worry about on the battlefield. There are also shrines in the map that teams can capture to boost things like max health or defenses. Shrines can switch possession as many times as needed in battle and help a lot, so make sure to seek these out. Also hidden in the darkness of each battle are neutral monsters that stay out of the fight but provide a lot of experience if you decide you want to take them down.

One of the main problems found in the game is that lag has been a huge problem so far. The lag usually hits in a few spikes and then settles down, but I have had a few matches where I spent a good 5 minutes spiking around the field. This is mainly an issue when you get a match with 6-10 human players, but I have seen it happen with less. It’s not a huge breaking point as most of the time the lag settles down, but it can get extremely frustrating.

Another of the big issues for me was the AI-Controlled Guardians. The difficulty on the Guardians was top-notch and they often times will kick the crap out of you, but I found that if you have 4 AI players in the game, they will often duplicate the Guardian that is selected. Example being, both teams will have a computer Gandalf and Gollum. I know this is a minor complaint, but I would like to see a bit more variety in the computers and not selecting the same characters.

Visually, this is a good looking game that won’t win any awards but doesn’t leave itself open for mocking. The character models are well done and the battlefields look passable, but could have use a bit more life. The game could also use more variety in the arenas, as there is really only one. Attacks and special abilities look great though, with a lot of detail and pop to each move. On the side of audio, things are executed to a tee, with good sounds for attacks and special abilities.

As I stated at the beginning, I was worried how this type of game would translate to the PS3 controller. After spending a fair amount of time in the game, I can safely say that it came across without a hiccup and what we were given was a well executed and fun experience. The abilities fit each character’s play style to perfection and playing against AI Guardians doesn’t diminish the fun. The game can be purchased retail or digital and, with a season pass available, you can expect plenty of reasons to come back for more.

It seems almost odd to be reviewing a game for the PlayStation Portable game as the system has gone on life-support here in the states. That didn’t stop developer GungHo Online and publisher Aksys Games from releasing Ragnarok Tactics, a strategy RPG spin-off of the Ragnarok Online series, here is the states. Does the game showcase the age of the PSP in a positive way or a negative way? Well, you will just have to read on below to find out.

Ragnarok Tactics places players in the middle of a long-standing conflict between the Branshaldo Empire and the Aura Republic, who have been in conflict over a land called the Grantria Peninsula for some time. A truce has been called but those things never last. You play as a character of your naming, choosing to take a stance with either side, thus only telling the story of that particular side.

Upon starting the game, you are greeted with a screen to name your character, select your hairstyle, voice, and most importantly your job. This is perhaps the coolest part of the game as your main character is not limited to a set type, instead you get to pick from 10 various jobs. I selected a Clown for my main character and with that I started my journey as a guitar playing fool who attacked his enemies with awesome riffs. If playing the guitar isn’t your thing, you can also choose from classes like Paladin, Sniper, Dancer and High Priest. Each class plays extremely different from the other and, as you beat the game, you can unlock up to four more classes for use.

Not only can you edit the main character, but as you recruit new people throughout your journey, you can edit their names, hair, and even jobs. As you level up through battles, you will earn experience to use on your character’s base stats and then job XP to use on learning and improving skills related to that job. The XP for your level and Job are separate and, when you change jobs, your level will remain the same but your job level will reset. If the system sounds familiar, it is because the game plays a lot like Final Fantasy Tactics.

Again, just like Final Fantasy, Ragnarok Tactics is a strategy RPG that has players moving characters on a grid map. As you select a character, you will have options such as moving, attacking, items, and skills to use. It’s fairly straightforward, you move your character to a distance where they can attack and you do so. Unlike some of the more recent SRPGs, the pacing here is a bit on the slow side, with battles feeling as though they are dragging on for too long with not enough action.

The game tries to get the pace moving a bit with two parts of the combat – Overdrive and Burst Strike. With Overdrive, you use multiple skills in a row on an enemy to try and land a huge amount of damage. You can select up to four skills to use depending on your SP. To use this ability, you have to earn Overdrive points by using the attack command, using skills, or taking damage. Each character can only use Overdrive once in battle, so make it count.

Burst Strike is the other cool aspect of the combat and works like team attacks in Disgaea 4. The strike acts as a co-op attack, where up to 3 party members can do damage to any enemies within range. Like the Overdrive mode though, the Burst Strike is limited to once per battle, so make sure you manage its usage properly. These two attacks do a good job of adding more strategy to each battle, especially when facing off against a boss.

Outside of battles, players have the option to take part in main events to progress the story along or sub events, which give you back story into characters without moving things along. There is also an option to do free battles, which allows players to level up and do some grinding. Free battles will become huge for players as you will need to grind for levels to keep pace.

On the world map you can also visit towns along the way, learning information from the locals, hiring new recruits and stocking up on supplies. Ragnarok Tactics gives your characters a slot for a weapon, armor, headpiece, and up to three cards equipped. Cards are acquired in battles and help improve your stats or elemental attacks. You can also collect rare cards by killing an enemy with overwhelming force. The game also deploys an ad-hoc mode that I was unable to test but the mode allows you to exchange items and equipment with friends or submit a group of soldiers to do battle with a friend.

Visually, things are a bit of a mixed bag and it is clear that the graphics have really hit a wall with the PSP. The opening scene and the background’s for each battle are really good looking, along with the character models during cut scenes. However the character models during battle and the effects of each attack are muddled and unimpressive. On the audio side of things, the main theme to the game is downright captivating, though it sets the rest of the game up for failure as the tunes never live up to that opening sound. There is also no voice-work to be found in the game, which is a bit of a letdown but I understand why it was omitted.

Ragnarok Tactics is a good tactical RPG that never gives you a wow factor but stays solid throughout. Battles feel like they are stuck in mud at times, but are helped out by good battle mechanics and the Overdrive and Burst Strike modes. The game is playable on the PS Vita, which is a huge boost to it and hopefully the community who picks it up, but it would have been nice to see what could have been if it was an actual Vita title. Fans of tactical fantasy games should really give this a look, but beware it is kind of pricey for a PSP title, coming in at $30.

The Zone of the Enders games are cult classics, with a huge following of loyal gamers clamoring for a third title in the series. Kojima and publisher Konami have decided to do put a short term band-aid over this and released the first two games together as an HD collection. After over a decade since they released, it’s easy to see the major flaws the games have but there are still some great things to be found here.

The original Zone of the Enders, which released as a PS2 launch title, takes place in space as humanity has begun expanding into space by building colonies on nearby planets. In doing so, an energy source called Metatron is found and thus begins a power struggle for this new energy, which drags in our protagonist Leo. As Leo is pulled into the fray, he stumbles upon a Mech suit called Jehuty and sets off to stop the war.

2nd Runner takes place a few years after the original, as your new main character Dingo finds the Jehuty suit while being attacked. Now he has become the pilot and takes off to avenge his fallen comrades, who have been slain by a group called BAHRAM. This group just happens to be after the very suit that Dingo is piloting, creating a real struggle as he tries to use it to end the plans of BAHRAM.

Neither of the stories are particularly memorable, which is a bit disappointing coming from Kojima. Both games feature long, drawn out dialogue that seems to go on forever with some flashy cinematics sprinkled in. The first game does a terrible job of expanding on the characters or trying to develop any sort of sensible plot. 2nd Runner does a better job of trying to bring things into focus, but still falls extremely short.

The combat in both games is what helps Zone of the Enders remain interesting in today’s market. Mech warriors fighting at breakneck speeds is always fun and after playing one of these games, you will begin to realize just how bad current mech games really are. You have use of your sword to take out enemies, as well as a long range gun, lazers, and other special weapons you pick up along the way. All of this is handled while flying around the screen, dodging and darting between oncoming enemies. In the original game you get a tiny sample of what this battle system can be but are really left wanting more. The encounters are boring and over far too quickly, however the 2nd Runner provides a lot more depth per battle, with various different strategies to take down different enemies as well as the ability to pick up objects and use them in battle.

One of the few things the original can say it offers that the sequel doesn’t is the ability to travel back and forth between areas on the map. 2nd Runner is very much a linear game in this aspect, with no real exploration to be had. However, to make up for this, the sequel does offer better level design and more unique objectives to complete. It also offers compelling boss fights that really test you and force players to bring out all the stops. It really does feel as though the original game was just a demo to get people’s thoughts on the combat; while the sequel took those ideas and expanding them into a proper action game. What is clear though, is that despite it’s kinks, Zone of the Enders delivers one of a kind exciting action.

As with all Kojima games, the visuals here in Zone of the Enders are all extremely well done. Animation studio Sunrise was even brought on to create a new animated sequence to tie the two games together. However, the HD Collection suffers greatly from huge performance issues in the frame rate department. This is more noticeable in the 2nd Runner, which damages the best game in the collection sadly. Voice work in both games is also very weak and time has not done the two any favors. Thankfully the soundtrack still holds true today, with great techno beats and some truly good orchestral arrangements.

There really isn’t anything like Zone of the Enders on home consoles today. The first game is absurdly weak and offers little more than a look into the world before it ends abruptly after five hours. The main course here is the 2nd Runner, which takes concepts from the first and expands them to create a very appealing experience that everyone should try. Even with all the shortcomings to be found in the story and character development, this is one HD collection worth picking up. Sure it might just be a glorified action game but it doesn’t matter – this is a sweet action game. As someone who never played the series before today, I can safely say that Zone of the Enders really surprised me in a good way. I too now join the droves of people out there begging for a third entry in the series to see just what Kojima and company could do with the game on current consoles and beyond.

I think we all know what happens when zombies attack or whenever the Germans decide to invade – but what about those hard-hitting Vikings? This is a question I am sure developer Clever Beans is trying to answer with their new PS Vita and PS3 title When Vikings Attack.  Whether you find that answer appealing is up to you but for this guy, it’s a mixed bag or hit and miss; but we can get into that below.

As you would expect with the title of this game, Vikings have invaded your neck of the woods and it is up to you and your fellow citizens to fend them off, Red Dawn style. Except in this case, you will not be using AK47’s, there is really no guerrilla tactics to be found, and sadly no retro Swayze available. It’s just you, your neighbors, and whatever you can find to pick up throw and your assailants.

When Vikings Attack features an extremely simple approach to gameplay and combat. In the game you take control of a single citizen who can find other people in the map and have them join your cause. The bigger you grow your group, the heavier objects you can lift. You can pick up anything in the game from tractors and cars, to street signs and park benches. There are also rockets to find later that can either explode or win over enemies to your cause. Once you pick them up, you simply aim at a group of Vikings on screen and throw your item their way.

You can’t just sit there and go offensive all day, though, as you will need to sometimes pay attention to 2 or 3 groups of Vikings and what they are throwing your way. You have to dodge out of the way or catch their item in mid-air, creating a very skillful mixture of defending and attacking. As you make your way through each level, you will come across sections of the map where you must fight your way through a ton of Vikings. Once complete you can then move onto the next section. Once all the sections are completed, you will then be faced with a boss for the level.

During your game time, you will come across various different kinds of Vikings to do battle with. Most of them will be straight forward, normal bad guys, but you will also have to deal with ones with shields who can block your attacks. For these guys, you have to use things like street signs in the level to make your objects bounce off them and hit these enemies behind. While on the surface it looks like rather simple combat, there is a fair bit of strategy underneath. However most battles still boil down to running around like crazy and throwing everything in sight.

As you make your way through the levels, you will start to find things a bit more challenging as the amount of people on screen doubles and the environments become more alive. There are levels like the pipe level where you can throw an item in one pipe and have it come out another. Yet another level has you fighting on a busy street, having to watch out for not only the enemy, but oncoming traffic. However, no matter how far you get, the game never gets too hard and is actually fairly easy to breeze through. It also features no difficulty options, so there is no place to jack up how hard the enemies are.

When you are not playing through the solo campaign, you can hop into an online lobby and play through the levels with up to 3 other people on the Vita or PS3. Online is really where this game shines, as you not only fight the Vikings for control of the levels, but also each other. You can do everything from stealing the other player’s items or taking them out from behind with a well-placed park bench. This ability to fight each other for points, while also trying to complete the level is a lot of fun. Add in voice support and just sit back and enjoy some hilarious online matches. Lag was also non-existent, even with all the players and enemies on screen at one time.

Aside from the online campaign, you can also take part in three different versus challenges; Gold Rush, Last Man Standing, and Vikings vs. Vigilantes. Last Man Standing is just how it sounds – the last team standing wins. The first person to win 3 rounds is crowned the victor. Vikings vs. Vigilantes splits the teams up between the two factions and has them duke it out. The first side to win three rounds wins the match. Finally, Gold Rush has the teams fighting to win medals and the mode continues on until someone wins all 5, which takes forever to accomplish, making it the least fun of all the modes for me.

Levels are not all about just finishing them either, as there are also unlockables to collect. However, these are as simple as just discovering a footballer, for example, in the level and finishing that level with them still in your party to unlock that look. It’s always cool to unlock things but these costumes don’t add any kind of stats to your group, just makes them look different, so I can’t really say it adds much to the game.

Visually, it is a decent looking game that doesn’t try to be too flashy but what’s there is solid. Environments look good and the objects you are throwing look and react pretty well to being thrown around. The music in the game is cute but changes to downright annoying rather quickly. Luckily, the game is completely playable without sound, so just turn off the music and play away. Characters themselves make random grunts or cheers whenever they throw an item or take out an enemy.

When Vikings Attack is a game that is best played in short spurts, beating a level or two and then moving on to something else. It is not a game with an extreme amount of depth with only 15 levels to complete and each one taking just a few minutes to complete. You can play it on both the PS3 and Vita but I found it a bit better suited for the on-the-go style of the Vita. At $9.99, $6.99 for Plus Subscribers, there is some real fun to have here, just make sure to find some friends with the game because the single player won’t last long, leaving you to hope the online community lasts awhile.

The Vita is finally starting to pick up some steam in the games department but what most fans have been clamoring for is Monster Hunter. Sony might just have the next best thing in Ragnarok Odyssey. From developer GungHo Online and publisher Xseed, this title brings a lot to the table in its small package and utilizes the Vita to perfection. At a time when the pickings are light, Ragnarok Odyssey is a game you need to have in your Vita collection.

There is a story to be told in Ragnarok Odyssey, but it’s not really much of one. Giant monsters have invaded the land and humans, down to their last hope, must fight back to save their race. The story is told almost entirely through conversations with NPCs, so if you are looking for a deep and compelling story, you ain’t getting it here. Instead, the game is all about tossing players into the fray and seeing how they fare.

Everything begins with an epic opening video that gets you pumped up for an action-packed battle. I seriously had to show everyone I could because it blew me away. After the intro you will be given a character customization screen that is extremely deep. Pick a character class and then get started picking from over 19 hairstyles, 16 voices, and much more. Players will also need to select their class of character; a swordsman, long-range hunter, a cleric, hammersmith, Mage, and Assassin. Each of these classes present their own strengths and weaknesses to take into consideration but don’t worry if you pick wrong, the game allows you to change in between missions.

The meat of Ragnarok Odyssey centers around questing through missions to move through the many chapters in the game. Pick a mission from the guild, head out and complete it, then return to pick another. The quests are broken down between gathering a set amount of items or killing a set amount of enemies, so nothing new to see here. Missions are given a set amount of time to complete and you can only take one mission at a time. Most of these can be completed well before the time expires, so there is usually no worry there.

After accepting a mission and heading out of the guild, you are automatically transported to where your quest will take place. These places break down into multiple small maps that tie together and are full of all sorts of monsters. Killing these monsters or destroying boxes will drop valuable materials that you can use to craft new items or expand current ones. Bad guys will half the time already be on screen when you enter a new area and the other half of the time they will show up as a trap when you enter a specific spot.

Combat is a good mixture of button-mashing and well timed dashes. Players will have a main melee attack and advanced skills that can be used at different points of your melee attack to achieve varied results. There is an ability to guard as well but most of the time it is best just to dash out of the way. Everything from attacks to dashing is controlled by the good old AP meter, which causes you to have major issues when it depletes but thankfully refills quickly. Most battles will have you doing enough damage to then catapult your foe into the air, smack them around a bit up there, and then send them back down to the ground. The fighting is fast-paced and can really become hectic as you progress through the chapters, when there are far too many enemies on screen and not enough space to get away.

The battle system is not without its flaws however, as the difficulty can spike up at the drop of a hat, leaving you crying on the ground after you have died three times and failed the mission. The game has also decided to give a lot of enemies the ability to interrupt your attacks far too easily, even though you are laying into them with your weapon. It can become a pain to have multiple enemies around you knocking you down, stunning, and hitting through your combos. These issues are minor and while they can aggravate you at times, they never take away from your experience and leave you feeling negative.

One of the bolder decisions made by GungHo Online is to not have a leveling system in Ragnarok Odyssey. The game instead has you collecting cards, which can be equipped to boost your character. Each player’s outfit can store up to eight cards, with the ability to expand your clothing to equip more expensive cards. These cards each have their own equip cost, so you will have to do a bit of math to equip your best set of cards. Bonuses from the cards range from healing up, elemental weapon damage, and defense up. Aside from just cards, you can gather materials through your missions to use refine your weapons, expand your card slots, or buy headgear to make your character extra fancy. The headgear doesn’t give any stat bonuses, it’s simply a fashion statement, as you can wear earmuffs, viking helmets, and more.

The move to leave out a leveling system might be a deal breaker for some people but it really works well in Odyssey. One of the knocks on it however, is that at times you will feel utterly helpless to move past certain bosses because you just can’t seem to gather the right materials to upgrade your weapon or expand your armor. Some materials can only be acquired from certain bosses and can fall at random. Lump this with the fact that the game does a terrible job of telling you where you can go to collect the resources needed.

One of the big perks with Ragnarok is the ability to play the missions locally or online via a tavern in the game. Each online room will have a leader who can select the missions and can be played with up to four people. Players can only compete in missions they have either beaten or at least reached in the single player campaign. For example, if you have only gotten to Chapter 3, Mission 2, then you won’t be able to take part in an online party that is on Mission 3 or Chapter 3.

Online missions are a great way to see just how well the classes mix to form a great party and provide a lot of fun to be had. There is however a major issue with lag in the game, as the game will lock up and stutter for a second or time during missions. This often comes at the worst possible times and I found that it happened most when playing with four people. Interactions online are simplistic and don’t try to take away from the experience. You can either select to pull up a keyboard to type a message or select from preset commands like “hey” or “let’s go”.

One of the biggest areas of success in Ragnarok is with the controls and the use of the Vita touchscreen. Controls are almost entirely done with the face buttons, with the only use of the touch coming in the form of using potions or interacting with other players. The use of potions via the touchscreen works with three equipped potions in the bottom right corner that you press when needed. Its only issue is that when the pace gets crazy on the screen, I had a tendency to hurry and press the wrong potion. The use of touch is refreshing in that it doesn’t force a lot of needless swipes on the screen and does what’s best for the game.

With the presentation, Ragnarok Odyssey is one of the more visually appealing games that the Vita has seen. The game is extremely bright and colorful, with a great blend of flashy attack visuals and smooth animations. The levels could have use a bit more detail and can feel a bit dull, but the game manages to hide this behind all the enemies and attack animations. One of the best and most amazing things in the game is the load times, or lack of load times. Yes they are in the game, but they are so minimal that you will hardly spend any time waiting to get into a mission or move to a new area.

As I said in my opening statement, Ragnarok Odyssey is a Vita game that you need to pick up and enjoy, because it is one of the best experiences on Sony’s handheld yet. Sure the game has some frustrating moments and can become a bit repetitive, but it delivers intense action, smooth visuals, and an online experience that will have you coming back for more. It’s not Monster Hunter but who cares, it’s good!

Back in November of 2004, the fight between humans and the Helghast was brought to us on the PlayStation 2 in the form of Killzone. Now, 8 years later and with HD Collections in full effect, developer Guerrilla Games has re-done the game in HD and released it on the PlayStation Network. Some games have had success in making the transition to high-definition but this is sadly not one of them.

In the game you play as ISA Captain Jan Templar as you try to repel the Helghast, a faction of humans who have colonized the planet Helghan. The conditions on this planet have forced the people to adapt and mutate to survive, making them faster and stronger than regular humans. As you fight to defend humanity, you meet up with other ISA agents to form a 4 party group. The story is simple and doesn’t do much to provide anything substantial to the game. In fact, even the big cut-scenes don’t do much to really draw you into the story.

But this is a first-person shooter, so it is all about the gameplay right? Unfortunately time has not been kind to the game and there are a lot of shortcomings with the game. Players will march through level after level, fighting their way through Helghast troops as they head towards an objective. If you have played either of the Killzone games on the PlayStation 3, then the game and weapons should feel very familiar. Levels are short and easy to make it through, even on the harder difficulties. Computer AI is weak and your weapons don’t have any real impact to them, feeling weak and dull.

Aside from the campaign, there is also a battlefield mode. In this mode, gamers select from deathmatch, team deathmatch, supply drop, and more. After selecting the type, players then need to pick their side, how many bots, and how difficult. This mode gives you a little bit of a break from the campaign and can provide a bit of fun but with the same gameplay, it still has the same issues.

On the presentation front, there really isn’t a lot to like here. The HD conversion didn’t do much to improve the look of the game at all. The levels are ugly, the character models could be better, cut-scenes are atrocious, and really the only good looking thing are the guns, which look great. Explosions, especially from grenades or rocket launchers, are abysmal. I know this is an older game and going HD doesn’t create miracles, but it is clear this game just didn’t age well. The game also features a lot of messed up textures, invisible barriers, and can really get visually choppy.

Audio is also on the bland side of things. Guns sound like pea shooters and not military grade weapons. At no point in the game do you really feel like you are in a battle, as explosions going on around you carry no real weight with them. The voice work was actually the best part of the audio and really delivered on all fronts. It’s just a shame that the rest of the effects in the game couldn’t follow suit.

In the end, Killzone HD comes in at $15 on the PlayStation Network and for that price, it’s a really tough sell when there are so many other shooters available for the same price or less. For me, the only reason to really pick up this title is if you never played the original and you want to complete the trilogy. The voice work in the game and the attention to detail on the guns is top notch; I just wish the rest of the game followed suit. HD conversions are a great idea and for some games they work, but not this one. If you are in the mood for a good shooter on the PSN, this is not for you.