The 3DS has been hit with more criticism than pretty much any system in recent memory. A lack of launch games along with the lack of enthusiasm for the third dimension has made it hard for the Big N to push units.

Thankfully for them, Mario has come along to save the day. Make no mistake – 3D Land is a system seller.

Like most Mario games, 3D Land has absolutely no story – in fact, once the intro starts, you’re basically in action within thirty seconds – and that’s perfectly ok with me. The gist is that Bowser has once again captured Peach, and in the process, disturbed a racoon leaf tree, allowing many enemies in the game the ability to hover, a la Mario 3.

3D Land hosts a world map screen similar to Mario Galaxy 2, with a linear path connecting all eight worlds with 5 or more levels in each set. Although it’s a bit dishevelled at times (lush, green, happy levels in World 8?), Mario 3D Land provides some of the best level designs in the business.

There were a ton of stages that gave me flashbacks to older classics such as Jumping Flash, which is in part due to the emphasis on 3D. There’s even one level where the camera is panned in such a way that it feels like you’re looking down into a 3D shadowbox: it’s easily a proof of concept for a remake of the original Zelda. This level diversity persists basically for the entire game – to the point where you’re left wanting more.

At the end of each world, you’ll either face Bowser’s castle, or one of his many airships – complete with confrontations with Bowser himself, or the underutilized Boom Boom – the mini-boss from Mario 3′s castle levels. Both encounters are reminiscent of old titles, but have plenty of their own unique spins to them. In fact, I think the final encounter with Bowser is probably my favorite out of the entire franchise – there’s something about running from an invincible Bowser that gets your blood pumping!

After the game’s complete, you’ll have access to 8 more secret worlds, consisting of both harder remakes of older levels, and all new content. Although these extra levels aren’t neccesarily that much harder than the main game, they are still tons of fun, and extra content never hurt anyone. Additionally, completionists will have a ball finding the three golden coins hidden in each and every level.

For those who are interested, there are extra “Mystery Box” levels that can be completed once per playthrough, and more can be unlocked via Streetpass. While these boxes are literally only 10 second distractions, it’s still a nice little addition for Streetpass fans.

Graphically, 3D Land is one of the best looking games I’ve ever seen. To be perfectly blunt, it looks better than most Wii games, and really does a good job showing off the power of the 3DS – hopefully more developers than just Nintendo will be able to take advantage of this horsepower in the future.

Like Ocarina of Time 3D, the 3D effects themselves are second to none, and really augment the graphical style. If you’re not a fan of 3D, the game can be completed without it, but you may have trouble every so often with some deliberately 3D puzzle rooms.

Words cannot stress how great Mario 3D Land really is. Although I would have liked to have seen a handful of concepts expanded, 3D Land does pretty much everything right: if you’re looking for a new Mario game, this is it.

Free-to-play games have a stigma that they are not free at all. Of course, you can play unencumbered up to a point; but, just when things are getting good, a horrible and unwelcome window pops up. The gist is if you want more content, if you want more leveling, if you want more of anything, you have to start emptying your wallet. This sad model has left the free-to-play (F2P) space practically a wasteland.

This all changes with the December U.S. release of SD Gundam Capsule Fighter. In a big way, Softmax and OGPlanet aim to turn the F2P stigma on its head with a free game that plays just like a paid title. In other words, every gameplay element, every mode of play, all progressions are available to the player without the solicitation of money. And, to be honest, it has shaped up to be a rather entertaining game to boot. AND it’s Gundam. What more can you ask for?

I had a chance to put the game through its paces and then some, whilst nestled in a corner suite on the 12th floor of the Serrano Hotel, just west of Union Square, San Francisco, Calif. A fairly comfortable setting, two representatives from OGPlanet accompanied my deep dive as we enjoyed the nondescript hotel furniture, each with his own laptop. There were no punches pulled, no holds barred. We went through all the gameplay elements a typical, non-paying user would go through — which means just about everything.

SD Gundam Capsule Fighter is a Massive Multiplayer Online Third Person Shooter (MMOTPS) reminiscent of Sega’s Virtual On series. Countless mechs descend upon each other in various modes of combat. On a high level, expect beam swords, gigantic machine guns, super powerful rail guns and other weapons that explode things. Key to making this game stand out visually amongst mech and Gundam titles, are the capsule based models. These are the Super Deformed (SD) Gundams, the cute toy-like mechs made famous in illustration and the snap-kit models fans can pick up at conventions. Complementing this visual style are the intuitive, simple controls and interfaces. Don’t mistake simple for lack of depth, however.

Players will be surprised by the choices and customizations available to them upon game start. At any given time, there can be 24 Gundam units in the stable or more, ranked C to SS depending on their stats and rarity. Each unit also has a particular combat alignment corresponding to rock, paper, scissor — rock for close combat units, paper for long range and scissor for balanced. Each unit is particularly disadvantaged against the opposite alignment. In other words, scissors beats paper beats rock beats scissors. Knowledge of this system definitely comes in handy as in the game lobby you can view your team members’ rank and alignment as well as your enemies’. Progression allows players to build the stats of their mech and assign various power ups.

SD Gundam Capsule Fighter also lets players customize the appearance of their units, assigning paint to various parts of the Gundam for both sleek and wacky schemes. On top of that, there is a plethora of decals to choose from for even deeper customization. This would be a place where a typical F2P game starts charging money. Heck, even simply building your stable of Gundam units is prime opportunity for charges. Players need not pay for any of it, however.

Playing through the game is enough to earn the right to buy Gundam units, raise stats and customize to the heart’s content. While you can definitely invest real money into buying and customizing units, you can just as well plow through several single player levels and PvP rounds, earning game points to do the exact same thing. In that sense, SD Gundam Capsule Fighter is blazing new trails in the F2P space. It acts as a traditional game where players progress and earn rewards by playing and leveling up. At the same time, those who pay up front get easy access.

Eugene Choi, marketing manager for OGPlanet assures that there is no tom foolery in this model. Players won’t have to worry that paying customers are getting special items and extra power ups unavailable to those who do not pay. It’s just a matter of time that non-paying gamers also get the same units and power ups through game points. It is just a matter of asking the question, “do I want all the good stuff now, or do I want to play for it?”

If there is going to be any real difference between a paying player and a non-paying player, it is the size of the unit stable. As mentioned before, players can have 24 Gundam units or more. Well, the max for a non-paying player is 24 initially, where coin can unlock additional slots. Now, 24 Gundam units in a game where you can only use one unit at a time seems like more than enough. But these are SD Gundams. There is indeed an element of collecting involved, as one tries to catch em’ all like another game full of cutesy yet violent characters.

SD Gundam Capsule Fighter balances the stable limit for non-paying players through an aspect called blueprints. Blueprints in the game allows specific units to be traded for higher ranked, more powerful and better looking Gundams. So even if paying players unlock the good stuff faster, there is virtually no difference in fire power or ranking against a savvy player who chooses to not pay and instead builds a Gundam fleet from the ground up with good, ‘ol fashioned play.

Another aspect in which this game is bound to shine is the wealth of gameplay modes. There are single player and co-op missions steeped in Gundam’s 30+ year history. There are also several team based and free for all PvP modes sure to satisfy every taste. During the preview,Choi, associate producer Andrew West and I first jumped into a co-op mission where we had to destroy several mini bosses before time ran out. This is where the multiple exclamations that this game brought back childhood memories of Virtual On spewed forth. All in a good way, because Virtual On was very fast paced, fluid and exciting, SD Gundam Capsule Fighter brought that same level of intensity while adding its own spin on mech battle.

Whether in single player, co-op or PvP, there are generally three weapons available — beam sword, gun, rail gun, etc. depending on the alignment. Also, there is a unique super attack for each unit that is charged up with every effective hit. Players essentially find themselves gliding from opponent to opponent slashing and blasting away in a flurry of beam sword trails and explosions trying to unlock that special attack. Then, all hell breaks loose. The result is candy for the eyes.

For all intents and purposes, SD Gundam Capsule Fighter is a rather unique game if only for the fact that it’s treating the F2P space quite differently than its contemporaries. While I had the pleasure of previewing this game for a good amount of time, it only took a short description of their model and several minutes of menus and battle to understand this. SD Gundam Capsule Fighter is essentially a free game, with substantial depth and visuals that rival any MMO and TPS game out there.

That bears repeating: this is a FREE game with surprising quality. You would be a rather savvy gamer to download this title upon release. Whether you want to spend some cash on the game or not, that’s entirely your choice. No matter your wallet’s alignment, there is a promise of good times ahead with this one.

It’s been a very exciting few years for Kirby fans.  Last year brought us the charming and innovative Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and just recently the equally inventive Kirby Mass Attack landed on the DS.  It would be inaccurate to call the more traditional Kirby’s Return to Dreamland a ‘return’ to its roots, since the game went through a very tumultuous development after initially being proposed once Kirby 64 was released.  Kirby’s Return to Dreamland nonetheless demonstrates that you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to bring out the qualities that makes Kirby so endearing.

Return to Dreamland feels like entering a time capsule.  The game channels the spirit of the older 2D Kirby platformers, most notably the excellent Kirby Super Star.  No yarn, no Kirby clones.  This is straight Kirby classic: Inhaling enemies, developing copy abilities, and using them to both navigate through differently themed worlds and access special areas.  The fittingly simplistic story chronicles Kirby as he teams up with Waddle Dee, Metaknight, and Dedede to assist a stranded alien named Magolor, who has crash landed on Popstar and whose ship components have flown across the world.

The first world of the game risks feeling too much like a visually-enhanced Dreamland 3, but once you defeat Will O’ Wisps and enter the second world the game gets much more imaginative with the situations it puts you in.  The differently themed worlds are bright and beautifully presented, but more importantly you encounter different set pieces and gameplay elements.  Sometimes you’ll be navigating through moving blocks underwater, other times you’ll be navigating Kirby through spikes as massive gusts of wind carry him down hallways.  It’s the sane fun, simplistic 2D platforming that has long characterized Kirby.

Return to Dreamland also makes a solid effort to give players more replay value.  The overall Kirby formula has understandably never been characterized by brutal difficulty, but each level has several mechanical gears from Magolor’s ship.  Finding these actually starts to get very tricky in the third world and requires you to carefully look for hidden nooks and crannies.  In some cases you’ll have to drag keys to doors to unlock them, and other times you’ll need to use precise timing to get into a room containing a gear.  Gear-finding actually became challenging to a point where I missed several gears and had to backtrack or retry levels to get all of them.  It’s a fine balancing act between the casual nature of Kirby and doing something to appeal to older gamers.

One of the best benefits of gear collecting is unlocking special challenge modes where you race through a course based around a specific copy ability.  You need to use whatever copy ability the course is based off of to collect coins, maximize your score, and get to a finish line before time runs out.  As you collect gears you also gain access to two entertaining mini-games that are the only instance of taking advantage of the Wii motion controls.  Additional perks are access to your copy abilities directly in Magolor’s ship as well as sound and video galleries.

Kirby veterans will recognize many of the diverse copy abilities, which retain their multiple skills.  The flame-dash of Fire, the blade beam from Sword, the charging static shield of Plasma, and the slick techniques of Ninja have always stood out as personal favorites.  Sadly some other favorites like Wheel have been phased out, but the new copy skills more than make up for it.  The memorable Water skill lets you ride waves of water through stages, while the Whip technique gives Kirby an adorable Indiana Jones hat and whip.  Some new abilities are repurposed, like the Hi-Jump ability, which feels like a modified Jet copy ability but is fun to use nonetheless.

As entertaining and fun as Return to Dreamland is, the copy techniques could have been more imaginative.  Return to Dreamland has a similar problem as New Super Mario Bros. Wii where it’s just not as ambitious as the game it heavily emulates, in this case Kirby Super Star. While Super Star had a huge variety of new copy abilities and introduced the concept of multiple ability skills, about 80% of the Return to Dreamland copy skills are recycled.  The new techniques like Water and Leaf are so fun because half of the enjoyment in side scrolling Kirby games comes from discovering new copy skills and how we can put them to use.  It would have been nice to see more variation, especially because the new copy skills that we did get were imaginative.

The Super Abilities are symbolic of how the game is solid but doesn’t follow through on what it could do.  Super Abilities are special technique you get when Kirby inhales a unique enemy.  The Super Sword, for examples, cuts a massive swath across the entire screen and devastates enemies and environmental obstacles alike.  It’s a lot of fun, but these are used in very specific situations where the primary goal is to unlock a mirror-world where you find two gears in a level.

When you get to the end of these parallel worlds you fight a boss.  It would be imaginative if you didn’t fight the same copy pasted boss in every single parallel world.  As much as I enjoyed using super moves to devastate enemies rip environments apart, I found myself wondering why the developers didn’t put the Super Abilities to more diverse use or why bosses weren’t more creative.

Return to Dreamland also demonstrates Nintendo’s commitment to sharing your experience with friends because there’s offline co-op.  In keeping with the atmosphere of Kirby it’s very casual: Three other players can easily drop in and out and play as Waddle Dee, Metaknight, and Dedede.  Each character has their own abilities but you still play on the same levels.  It’s simple, fun, and mandates good teamwork because you all share the same lives.

Kirby’s Return to Dreamland channels the classic spirit of Kirby into modern times and it’s a resounding success.  It’s not as ambitious or remarkable for the formula as some of the games it tries to emulate from the 16-bit era, but it definitely represents the best of Kirby.  The colorful art, the creative copy skills, and the inherent cuteness of Kirby all make Return to Dreamland a solid, traditional platformer.

I’m not a big shmup fan, but Final Form Games’ Jamestown: Legend of the Lost Colony broke down my barriers. With it’s unique setting (17th Century Mars?!) memorable sprite-based artwork, and killer gameplay it became my favorite shmup.

Well, now I have a reason to play it again. Final Form Games have released the Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot DLC today! Hit the jump for more details.

According to the game’s official website, the DLC focuses on the Gunpowder Plot, but with a sci-fi, steampunk twist. Instead of being sentenced to death, the conspirators are sent on a suicide mission to Mars to destroy a Spanish munitions factory.

The best part about this whole package: new ships or Conveyances as the game calls them. According to the site, there are at least four new ones, each with their own abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. Personally I think either Gunpowder or Plot would be my favorite.

Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot is available on Steam for just $2.00. Or you can buy the Deluxe Edition of the game which comes with the original game, DLC, and the official soundtrack for just a little over $10. The soundtrack features extended and remastered editions of some of the game’s songs. Considering how highly we thought of Jamestown in the first place, you’d be a fool to pass this up.

Things are really looking up for THQ’s upcoming wacky-fest Saints Row: The Third - the game’s online character creator has just hit one million entries. Kevin Kraff of THQ states “One million is just the beginning.” Indeed!

Personally, I’ve had no interest in the Saint’s Row series before this iteration, but all of the insane assets that have come out since the game’s announcement have put me on board: Scooby Doo’s Velma riding dildo cat hovercars? I’m in!

Source: Destructoid

An army of penguins under the leadership of evil dictator Putzi is taking over Albatropolis and there’s only so much an underground resistance of Cardinals can do to stem the tide of Antarctic invaders. But from the sky soars a jetpack-wearing, shotgun-shooting, action-hero of a chicken, ready to rain death upon the ruthless aggressors invading his homeland.

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken recently made its way to the PlayStation Network, but is this puzzle-platforming shooter worth your dollar in this crowded holiday season? Read on after the break to find out.

Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is a game with several strong suits. Its art style and writing would make most animated shows jealous. With crisp visuals and a story that is serious one moment, and incredibly facetious and juvenile the next. Then there’s a brilliant soundtrack that manages to pull the game’s best qualities together and make an enjoyable experience even better.

Unfortunately, the aesthetic and narrative prowess doesn’t quite carry over into the gameplay department. In this regard, Hardboiled Chicken is an average game at best. While the title blends the sidescrolling-shooter and puzzle-platforming genres, mechanically, nothing is done terribly well — leading to a final product that feels much more stylish than it does substantial.

The controls are competent – if a little awkward.  For a game that has a large focus on shooting that aspect of the game is incredibly limited. While grenades can be lobbed at an angle of your choosing, other weapons can only be fired straight ahead. So while there’s a variety of guns to choose from,  it’s more about finding a weapon that suits your play-style than strategy. Oh, and don’t bother trying to jump and shoot. It doesn’t work.

The stiff controls and slow animations can make the game more of a chore than it needs to be. Because of this combat situations can be needlessly frustrating. Rather than flowing from one action to another, movement feels choppy and slow to respond to user input.  These awkward movements are most troublesome in combat, but can grind on nerves during the puzzle-platforming sections as well.

There are also a few aerial combat portions that help break up the monotony. Shooting down attack helicopters and zeppelins for a few minutes is a nice diversion before heading back to the meat of the game. Unfortunately, these sections also suffer from control issues that take a little getting used to.

Luckily, pretty much everything else is working in Hardboiled Chicken’ favor. The writing is great, and genuinely funny. Serious moments are often undermined by irreverent humor. Fortunately, Ratloop Asia is deft enough to use jokes sparingly enough to never become ham-fisted – despite the juvenile lows to which it regularly sinks – yet often enough to ensure that the game is more frequently hilarious than it is dark.

The story is told largely through cutscenes. However, voice acting is almost non-existent. Music provided by New World Revolution is largely left to convey the story. The lyrics line up with the plot perfectly and this blending of music, narrative, and visuals is easily my favorite part of the game. Even if you’re not entirely sold on the game, give N.W.R. a listen.

There’s an option for multiplayer, but I didn’t find myself fiddling with it much. It’s local co-op alteration of the main campaign, which might help some people extend the life of what is a fairly short game. But unless you regularly have buddies over at you’re place looking for something to play together, I sincerely doubt you’ll be spending much time with this mode.

All in all, Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken is a good game, but a great art direction, narrative, and fantastic soundtrack can only go so far to counterbalance a short campaign with average gameplay.

The world doesn’t end in 2012, at least that is not the check out date according to Fate of the World: Tipping Point. Also, there is no fugitive asteroid coming to claim us all. According to the game, the world will most likely suffer a slow, agonizing death full of drought, famine and civil unrest a century or two from now. This is good news for us, bad news for future generations and careless time travelers.

Despite the dark and sardonic outlook, this turn based card game manages to instill hope in an otherwise crumbling world. This is because in Fate of the World: Tipping Point, or FotW:TP for short, you’re placed in the mantle of power, with the chance to turn things around through real world solutions. This is no walk in the park, however, as with this power players must balance resources and public perception or they will wind up on the wrong end of a revolution. Are you up to the challenge?

Fate of the World: Tipping Point is actually comprised of the base game, FotW, and two DLC packs Migration and Denial. All makes up a total of 9 single player campaigns that put the player on one altruistic mission after another. Along the lines of raising the quality of life in Africa by 2045, or raising the world’s gross domestic product to $200 trillion by 2200, it’s safe to say these are not your typical save-the-world video game scenarios; and it is an understatement to say that they stray into the realm of the real world. In all honesty, every aspect of the game pits gamers smack dab in the real world.

Whichever campaign you choose, the game starts off with a series of devastating events. In 2018, the world’s first hypercane wipes out a massive number of the world’s population. Then, earth’s ice caps begin to shrink. In reaction, the world creates the Global Environment Organization (GEO). For some reason or another, this group winds up taking control of all aspects of the world’s development, from economics to technology, above the obvious environmental protection. Guess who is the next leader of the GEO?

On a high level, Fate of the World: Tipping Point is played on a turn by turn basis. The player visits each region of the world, laying down a number of cards representing anything from biotech research to water conservation to police funding. Depending on each region’s problems, the leader of the GEO must choose accordingly. Then, after all the cards are dealt, a simple click advances the world five years. This is when things get interesting.

Red Redemption Ltd. understands that nothing in the world goes according to plan. It shows in the reactive, randomized world they developed for FotW:TP. For example, playing that more expensive biotech card made 3rd generation biofuels available, but at the expense of civil unrest since jobs and industry were neglected. On top of that, a series of storms had struck both coasts forcing evacuation and panic. All of a sudden, the heart meter which show public sentiment goes down a notch or two. In this game, you truly have to think two steps ahead of the world, which makes for quite a challenge.

Thankfully, the game offers a wealth of analytics to help keep players abreast of all global machinations. In fact, it can get a little overwhelming if one really wants to dig in. How’s this for an inventory: Annual Emissions (MtCO2e), GDP, Life Expectancy, Education, Public Outlook (Consumerist, Materialist, etc.), Public Stability, Oil & Gas Need/Recoverable, Coal Used/Extracted, Agriculture GDP, Food ($/Capita), Forest Area Annual Change and Climate Refugees? Each one of these comes with its own graph/chart complete with bright colors and somewhat incomprehensible numbers.

Those who aren’t into numbers need not fear. Fate of the World: Tipping Point also has a news digest that gives context to all the analytics. Getting the news is as easy as clicking into region and then clicking on the envelope icon at the top of the screen. The digest lists both the accomplishments and problems that have happened over the past five years for each region, and is more important than it may seem at first. Each round can last twenty to thirty minutes, especially if one is prone to serious deliberation. Each round can therefore become a game in itself, with the digest as the player’s temporary leaderboard.

As far as the challenges go, that news digest can also become a primary tool in planning out the next round. The game boasts more than 1,000 dilemmas, from flash fires to global resource wars to political unrest. Depending on your view on challenge and punishment, you can be lucky and come face to face with 1,000 problems over the course of one campaign, as opposed to Jay-Z who only has 99. It is more than enough to keep you on your toes.

Albeit, it is important to vary one’s strategy. Reacting to the problem at hand is critical, if only to keep public sentiment on your side. At the same time, one cannot forget the main goal of the campaign as well as the various side goals to increase points. Add the fact that one must do all this with limited resources, FotW:TP is no piece of cake, not by a long shot. Keep your head on a swivel and start thinking in terms of decades in stead of day by day, and the game can get wildly addicting and gratifying for the amount of time you put into it.

Fate of the World: Tipping Point is not all about serious world issues, as it may seem. Red Redemption did have the foresight to add a campaign called Dr. Apocalypse. In this campaign, instead of saving the world, the player must drive the world into hell for as long as possible. Public sentiment plays a big part in the challenge for this campaign as playing the villain naturally creates enemies. Even if you fail here, you can fail with a bang, as a sniper’s bullet puts an end to your tyranny. In the end, this campaign is especially satisfying.

Ultimately, FotW:TP offers a beautifully designed card game to which I don’t mind giving an hour or two of my time per sitting. It dives headfirst into real world issues without climbing atop a soapbox or feeling too preachy. It just makes the player think, while at the same time hypnotizing with a very real experience of power and consequence. It’s a must have for card game vets and it’s worth a shot for those who have never touched a card game in their life. Bravo, Red Redemption.

Batman just can’t get a break. Between Nolan’s films, a recent anime series, and reboot afer reboot, the caped crusader sure is putting a lot of criminals behind bars – just to have them break out again of course!

But in this particular instance, he has a few tricks up his sleeve, and the outcomes of his encounters aren’t as predictable. In fact, whatever issues I had with Rocksteady’s first Batman outing have been solved — simply put, Arkham City presents an unprecedented interactive Dark Knight experience.

Right from the beginning, Rocksteady’s second entry lets you know that it’s serious about topping its predecessor. Without spoiling too  much, within the first five minutes of the game, Bruce Wayne is incriminated under a set of mysterious circumstances.

Through the help of an incredibly well done interactive opening scene, he has to fight his way out of the newly founded city-wide prison known as Arkham City. In a stark contrast to the creepy setting of “Asylum“, “City” feels more bustling and alive, pitting The Joker’s, Penguin’s, and Two Face’s crews against each other in a city-wide conflict.

From there, Arkham City plays out in a similar manner to Asylum, in that it retains the same free-flow combat and free-roam systems, but it expands them masterfully. For instance, one of my smaller complaints from Asylum was that the combat system was too simple.

To rectify this issue, Arkham City basically doubles your gadgets and move sets, in addition to pumping up the difficulty a bit both in the stealth and free-fight sections. Not only are enemies more plentiful and built to last, but the thugs themselves also have their own wide array of weapons and gadgets at their disposal – such as detective-vision blocking equipment, riot shields, or proximity mines.

These simple additions, strewn out over the course of the game, help keep things fresh and unpredictable. It seemed like every half an hour or so you had to learn a new tactic or counter-tactic, which gives the game a more exciting “on the fly” feel.

To combat these enemy buffs, Batman can activate gadgets in combat using various button commands, such as the super simple “RT/R2″ double tap to throw a freeze bomb. Pinpointing targets in combat is as easy as moving towards them, and despite a few misfires every now and then, the system works quite well.

Batman will also have some more help this time around, in the form of four unique playable Catwoman sequences. While these sections aren’t absolutely neccesary to enjoy the game’s story, they are a ton of fun in their own right, and short enough to not overstay their welcome. While Catwoman isn’t as versatile as the Dark Knight, her sections reflect that, and are still a ton of fun to play. At the end of the game you can freely switch between Batman and Catwoman to roam about the city and complete unfinished business, which is an ingenious addition.

Story wise, explaining the narrative isn’t as simple as saying “Arkham City presents an intruiging tale that will have you rivited from beginning to end”. I wouldn’t feel right reviewing this title without making specific mention of famed writer Paul Dini’s ability to craft a spectacular story – simply put, that man can write, and the actors and actresses deliver in spades.

Even dialogue that’s as simple as banter between thugs, that would normally be throwaway in other games, is pure genious. In fact, I found myself multiple times stalling a thug takedown just to listen to a conversation – it’s that good.

In terms of longevity, Arkham City also delivers. In addition to a 12-40 hour campaign (depending on your need to finish sidequests/collectibles), City has a New Game+ mode, extra skins, and a more robust fully themed Challenge Mode. Instead of Asylum’s bland “Challenge Rooms”, that basically threw you into a situation with no explanation, Arkham City’s Challenge Mode is presented by none other than a fan favorite villain: The Riddler.

Not only will you encounter some pretty unique scenarios this time around, but you’ll also be able to use Batman, Catwoman, Robin (DLC) and Nightwing (DLC), all while being taunted by Gotham’s own Edward Nigma.

While it would have been nice to play as Robin during the campaign, Arkham City is packed full of enough content to justify the $60 price tag, and even being able to play as four characters in challenge mode is a feat in itself (most action games will give you two characters at most to play around with). The Ridder’s in-game collectibles also aren’t as easy to locate as before – you’re going to have to use all of your techniques and gadgets to obtain them all this time around (completionists beware!).

All in all, outside of a few minor issues, I couldn’t ask for a better Batman experience. If Arkham City was a graphic novel, it would be considered a classic.

The tower defense genre has always been one of my favorite ways to kill time when gaming. There’s something that is just so satisfying about building the perfect line of defense and watching your maze of death take care of everything. While this genre has previously been relegated to modifications and other derivative works (WarCraft III custom maps, etc.), now digital distribution services like Steam allow game developers to create fleshed out, full fledged titles. Orcs Must Die is one of these full fledged tower defense titles.

As the name implies, Orcs Must Die involves building a series of traps so that wave after wave of oncoming Orcs meet a grisly end. This sounds entertaining on paper but, as gamers know better than anyone, the proof is in the play. To see if Orcs Must Die is worth your money, hit the jump.

Long story short, yes. Orcs Must Die is a great little title that effectively combines the joy of building traps and mazes with the non-stop action of a third-person shooter.

The story of Orcs Must Die is pretty basic. There is a world full of Orcs and other beasts that is sealed off from the Human realm. There are portals that allow passage from one world to another, and it is up to an elite group of “War Mages” to keep the Orcs out. Unfortunately, these War Mages have been falling left and right to Orc hordes leaving only your character, the prototypical douchy bro who, despite his immaturity and ignorance, is the one person standing between the Orcs and the Human Realm.

In order to defend the Human Realm you need to set up a series of traps between the Orcs and the portals. Lucky for you there’s a wide variety of killing machines at your disposal. Spiked floors and Arrow Walls are just the basics. As you complete each level you’ll unlock a new tool of destruction. Expect to see some wacky devices like spring-board floors that send Orcs into pits of lava or a wall of blades that dice up any poor monster that steps too close to it. Unfortunately, these traps aren’t cheap.

The way the game works is that after each kill you get a small amount of money. In addition to these bounties, every time you clear a wave of monsters you get more money. Additional funds can also be found on the bodies of larger monsters like Ogres.

Speaking of larger monsters, there are a whole slew of beasts that want in on the Human Realm. On top of the basic Orc, which is relatively slow and pretty easy to put down, there are armored Orcs, fast but fragile Gnolls, Orcs with cross bows, giant Ogers that can stun your character with a bash from his club, and a whole host of other standard fantasy monsters.

One thing I really liked about Orcs Must Die is the third-person shooter aspect. I always get stressed out playing standard tower defense games because if there’s one hiccup in your tower line you lose the game. Orcs Must Die gives you a sense of urgency. If a few Orcs slip through you can put them down yourself thanks to a pretty hefty arsenal. You start the game with a crossbow (which can insta-kill most monsters with a head shot) and a sword. As you get further in the game you’ll unlock new weapons like the Wind Belt, which allows you to summon a gust of wind sending the Orcs into a pit of lava, or the Fire Bracers, which lets you cast a devastating fireball. Each weapon also has a secondary fire option allowing you more ways to stop the horde. For example the crossbow’s alternate fire stuns a small area of Orcs.

In addition to traps and weapons, you can also hire mercenaries to help the cause. Elven Archers and Paladin Guardians will eventually be unlocked when you hit a certain level. These mercenaries deal a decent bit of damage to the Orcs, but be careful. If you put them in a dangerous spot the Orcs won’t hesitate to bum rush them and take them down.

To add more depth to the gameplay, Robot Entertainment has included two systems for upgrading. First, at the end of each level you will be given a rating of one to five skulls based on your performance. If you don’t let a single Orc though the portal you’ll be taking home five skulls. These skulls can be used to upgrade your traps, mercenaries and weapons. For example, I upgraded my Elven Archers for fourteen skulls and in turn they now cost less money to deploy on the battlefield.

The other upgrade system is not persistent like spending skulls. Basically you can hire Weavers, magical sorceresses that will upgrade specific stats for your character and traps, once per level. There are two Weavers to choose from; Elemental and Steel. The Elemental Weaver will allow you to pay a certain amount of gold to have specific elemental damage upgraded. The Steel Weaver upgrades physical things like how much damage arrows do or how much money you get if an Orc dies in a trap. While these two upgrade systems are nothing new to gamers, they do add an additional level of strategy to the game.

My one complaint about Orcs Must Die is that there’s no multiplayer. I understand that the game is suppose to be an arcadey title with a heavy focus on leaderboards, but I can’t help but imagine how much fun this game would be with other players. It could be something as simple as co-op or a last-man-standing type of game mode, just something so that I can play with my friends. To be fair, Orcs Must Die is a $15 title, so the exclusion of multiplayer is totally justifiable. I just hope that Orcs Must Die sells well so that Robot Entertainment makes a more in depth sequel with multiplayer.

All in all, Orcs Must Die is a fantastic budget title with more than $15 worth of entertainment. Available on both Steam and Xbox Live Arcade, you should do yourself a favor and check it out. It’s a great way to kill time while killing Orcs.

Four years have past since the events of Resistance 2. Mankind has grown tired and weak as the Chimera continue to ravage Earth. An Earth that, as each day passes, looks and feels more like the frozen Chimera homeworld.

Between the change in climate and landscape and the worm-hole now forming above New York City, the future looks bleak. But between the mind of Dr. Malikov and the combat skills of Joseph Capelli, hope may not be lost after all. And so begins the journey of one man who wishes nothing more than to have his family live their lives without fear of what the next day might bring.

The first thing that Resistance 3 does right is allow for you to invest in a believable, down-to-earth family man — Joseph Capelli. By doing so, the desire to progress is immediately established. Thankfully though, this is far from the only driving force in the game.

The feeling of hopelessness and tension that is strewn throughout the campaign in its environments and characters is nothing short of awe inspiring. This world that Insomniac has created can only be compared to that of Metro 2033 — a game that’s environment is second to none. But while the environment and characters are an important factor, most are probably more concerned with the gameplay — especially after the lukewarm campaign experience in Resistance 2.

One of the biggest strengths in Insomniac titles is the variety of weapons that are made available. Resistance 3 is no different in this regard. Throughout the campaign, up to eleven weapons with primary and secondary firing modes are provided to you one by one, within the critical path of the game.

While it may seem disappointing at first that these weapons are accessed without any effort, it is actually a benefit to the overall experience. It is in the weapons that the combat in the campaign maintains a consistently fresh, rewarding feel. With each weapon having unique primary and secondary firing modes and additional benefits being rewarded through its continued use, the sheer number of options available to you allows for a sense of strategy that is usually missing in modern first-person shooters.

The large arsenal is almost a necessity at times as the battles are some of the most grand scale, intense, engaging experiences I have ever had the pleasure of participating in. Between the cinematic, scripted events and even the smaller scale gunfights, the campaign manages to keep you at the edge of your seat and never lets up. While at times the overwhelming variety and number of enemies may feel cheap, this acts as a quick reminder that the weapons at your disposal need to be utilized intelligently.

The strongest improvements over Resistance 2 is the removal of regenerative health in the campaign. Before you shake your head at this old-school gameplay element, know that the placement of health capsules is extremely balanced and allows for a much more challenging and rewarding experience. It adds yet another element of strategy to the game as it is extremely important to be aware of your surroundings and use each health capsule when it is absolutely necessary.

The campaign is not without its issues though as various scripted events can fail to occur. While this experience may vary from player to player, you may find that a quick reload of the latest save is required in order to allow for the game to make another attempt at the event. Another annoyance is in the friendly AI when leading or following a character. The AI will at times get stuck in certain places so it becomes very important to stay close with the AI whenever possible.

Speaking of annoyances, the first experience for every player with Resistance 3 will be one of the most frustrating, lengthy experiences — one that comes with the PS3 territory though I suppose. When booting up the game for the first time, a mandatory install occurs that takes roughly ten minutes. After the install is complete, a game update will need to be downloaded and installed adding another five to ten minutes. Finally, once through downloads and installs, the game will ask you to enter the online pass code which actually requires you to exit the game, go into the PlayStation Store, and enter the online pass code. This convoluted process, although a one-time occurrence, is enough to frustrate any gamer.

Sorry about that. Got a bit off track there. Anyhow, what kept me playing Resistance 2 long-term was the unique co-op mode. These co-op events were quick, collaborative, multi-stage scenarios and allowed for each player to fill a specific role. Unfortunately, this mode has been scraped and co-op is nothing more than co-op campaign. In all honesty, if Insomniac had kept Resistance 2‘s co-op mode and still added co-op campaign, this would have been one of the most complete first-person shooter packages available this year.

This time around, it is instead the multiplayer that will extend the life of the title. While the 60-player online multiplayer in Resistance 2 was a great idea, the actual experience was very lacking as each match turned into a chaotic mess. Resistance 3‘s 16-player multiplayer contains various game modes that most may have become used to in multiplayer today. The leveling system and perks aren’t anything revolutionary, but that does not hold the multiplayer back from being a balanced, rewarding, fun experience. Keep in mind though, this will in no way overshadow the multiplayer beasts that are Modern Warfare and Battlefield.

For those of you that still have their PlayStation Move lying around, Resistance 3 comes with full motion support. But, as with most PlayStation Move games, it is ultimately a disappointment. The input lag is noticeable and an extreme disadvantage during the large-scale battles within the campaign. This support feels tacked on and should not, under any circumstance, be a factor when deciding whether to purchase.

In the end, Resistance 3 is one of the year’s best first-person shooter experiences. The single-player and co-op campaign is easily worth the price of admission as it is an engaging, challenging experience. This is not only a must for Resistance fans, but any PS3 owner looking for a solid first-person shooter.

This review of Dungeon Defenders must begin with a short study of M. Night Shyamalan’s film, Lady In The Water. It’s a worthy comparison in its own way. Both game and film feature casts of characters who must defend their precious jewels from evil (in the film it’s a lady and in the game it’s an actual jewel).

One character in Shyamalan’s film also serves as a metaphor for the game as a whole. It’s Reggie the Guardian, that guy with one super buff arm and one regular arm. Translate that into Dungeon Defenders; from one side it seems to have true strength as a co-op RPG. Take a look from another angle, and it’s a rather bland tower defense title.

By looks alone Dungeon Defenders is bound to catch people’s interests and hold them for a good time. Graphically, the game delivers sharp, 3D cell shaded characters with smooth animation, who can be customized leveraging a wide color palate. The environments are also highly detailed — one can really get a sense of the grittiness of each stone on the castle wall, the inherent magic of glowing crystals, etc. It is apparent that Trendy Entertainment makes good use of the Unreal Engine in this regard.

If the game were to fall short presentation wise, it would be for the simple fact that it is full of completely worn fantasy tropes. The Squire (knight), Huntress (elf), Apprentice (wizard) and Monk (okay, wizard again) are not breaking away from convention. No matter how much one customizes their outward appearance or how wacky their names (and no matter that Trendy chose to render them as cute yet vicious children) they are just the same old characters with predictable abilities.

The environments fair no better. Triteness can be found in the snowy castle, the fiery forge, the cellar, etc. for a total of 13 levels. Then again, what is there to expect from a game with “dungeon” in its title? Dungeons are dungeons. At least, in this game, they are well designed and make for compelling strategy from a tower defense perspective.

A big part of what makes Dungeon Defenders fun is that, unlike other tower defense games, it challenges the player to strategize on multiple levels. Traditionally, the map is the player’s best friend. It is critical to have that bird’s eye view to determine the various choke points where you can catch baddies in crossfire, the places where you want to divert the flood of enemies. That’s only the beginning with this game.

Each round in Dungeon Defenders is broken up into a Build phase and Battle phase. This introduces the next level of strategy. During Build, the action is essentially paused, giving the player unlimited time to determine whether defense or offense is the best approach. The choices are really diverse since the game also allows you to cycle between characters and take advantage of their respective arsenals, accommodating any play style.

Examples — for those who like to hang back, it may be best to set up the Squire’s spiked barricades, with the Apprentice’s magic fireballs and the Monk’s lighting aura traps. Then, in Battle you can use the Huntress and her crossbow, dispatching enemies from afar while they spend their time trying to break down defenses. For the more adventurous, it may be fun to set up the Apprentice’s towers, Huntress’s mines and gas bombs and the Monk’s slow aura trap. Then, go gung ho with the Squire swinging his two sided broadsword in the midst of explosions and debris.

Dungeon Defenders offers a robust RPG experience on top of this all, making for the last level of strategy — character progression. Whereas Build phase allows switching between characters, only one can be used in Battle. Essentially, the game forces the player to think about which character she wants to level up since XP is rewarded only to the one used for finishing off the stage. The more a character is leveled up, the stronger her towers, traps and walls are. So, depending on play style once again, it will behoove you to favor certain characters, leveling up certain abilities at the expense of others.

There is also plenty of loot to be had. From more jewel resources to weapon upgrades to pets that augment the character’s stats and/or attack enemies, vanquishing the evil horde offers more reward than just satisfaction. Albeit, sometimes navigating the RPG portion of Dungeon Defenders screws with pacing.

Having a Build phase for the player to architect the perfect playhouse of death already brings the game to a halt. Having to cycle through menus, sort through items, sell items, lock certain ones, bank jewels, upgrade stats and so on, one can run out of breath. It doesn’t help that in the beginning characters are relatively slow as well. Sometimes it can feel like an eternity to travel from point A to point B just to set up a single tower or to repair a wall. Even when speed stats are accounted for, it is just hard not to yawn when traversing the map.

Another frustration comes from the fact that Dungeon Defenders favors co-op to the point that it marginalizes those who like to play solo. The game doesn’t scale, so the same amount of enemies that four players would experience is the same amount single players experience. In other words, if you play by yourself, you die. There may be a chance to survive solo on easy difficulty, but, who wants to be stuck playing on easy?

The game has a penchant for randomizing bosses, hammering this frustration deeper. The scenario happens something like this: you’ve managed to get to level X on your own (quite a feat!). You’ve gotten to the last stage of the level, and it seems like you’ll pwn this thing. Then the words pop on screen “an ogre has appeared”; that’s enough for a rage quit because that green behemoth has thousands and thousands in health points and the rest of the horde has broken through. Expect this to happen a lot; and if you’re not playing with three others, it’s a hopeless enterprise.

Pulling from the Reggie the Guardian metaphor from the beginning of this review, the game is strangely imbalanced, because the co-op side of things is great. Strategy takes on a whole new dimension when others are involved, and you feel the camaraderie in teamwork when taking down hordes of foes, including the seemingly juggernaut ogre. It has to be said that Trendy Entertainment had sought to build a co-op focused game early on, and they achieved their goal, even though the final product has one super buff arm and one mediocre arm.

Human Revolution has been a long time coming, and Deus Ex fans should be basking in the nostalgia as they go down a familiar road.  New series players will be just as engrossed; Human Revolution is a polished, deep experience in an immersive near-future world.

Our star of this world is Adam Jensen, a security manager working for Sarif Industries.  Sarif is a leading augmentation company making strides in human augmentations, which doesn’t sit well with people who believe in human ‘purity’.  No sooner can Jensen voice his worries about the potential results of human augmentation than a radical terrorist group attacks Sarif Industries, leaving Jensen on the brink of death when he tries to rescue his ex-girlfriend.  Jensen is saved with extensive augmentations before being called back in during a hostage crisis.  This seemingly simple mission immerses Jensen in conspiracies and cover-ups as Jensen bears witness to the titular human revolution that leads into the first two games.

As a prequel Human Revolution ran the risk of appearing redundant given our foresight of how future events culminate with Deus Ex but the narrative of the game is second to none.  Human Revolution waxes about the relationship between man and machine in interesting ways.  Social criticism explores topics including the relationship between humanity and technology, how technology is used by people of different socioeconomic backgrounds, and fighting against the same technology one relies on for survival and functionality.  The opening features a telling sequence of machines mingling with man.  It saves Adam’s life, but how far is too far?  When does humanity end and machinery begin?

Human Revolution comes across as a very visual game, and a lot of these questions are mostly conveyed through the world itself.  It really feels like a living world; bums rummage for trash and gang members talk trash in back alleys, civilians fiddle with phones, and augmentation clinic doctors plead with the police for protection against protesters who claim they are fouling humanity.  Something as simple as listening in on two civilians can give interesting insights and perspective onto how Sarif Industries has affected the world and peoples’ thoughts on augmentation’s benefits or downfalls.  Character histories can be discovered through pocket secretaries, E-mail accounts, and testimonials from other characters just by looking around.

Gameplay in Human Revolution is diverse and rich.  The game fully understands the spirit of Deus Ex but feels very much like its own first person RPG.  The four distinct gameplay styles of combat, stealth, hacking and social are all deep and full of their own strategies, but they often mix with each other.  There are always multiple ways to complete any given objective and, as the game itself notes, the easiest route isn’t necessarily the best or most effective.  As early as your initial hostage situation you’re given the ability to initiate a firefight with the terrorists guarding the front entrance, carefully sneak past them, or discover a cleverly hidden rooftop entrance.  Getting into a police station can mean talking your way past the desk sergeant, hacking security systems, or sneaking in through a ventilation system.

Combat will likely take some getting used to.  Firefights are cover-based but combat functions very differently than most shooters. Even with augmentations Jensen is a mere mortal who can’t withstand more than several hits without dying.  As infuriating as this may sound on paper it makes each battle delightfully tense.  There’s a thrilling sense of strategy to taking advantage of cover when available, isolating enemies and confusing them with concussion grenades, and picking them off one by one.  Even with higher end weapons like sniper rifles and shotguns, combat is very situational.  Running and gunning will do nothing but put you in a body bag very quickly.

Combat is a viable option but since you can’t effortlessly blast through your enemies stealthy gameplay is also encouraged.  Stealth is top notch in Human Revolution with enough cover and alternate routes that you can often sneak through entire bases or areas without a single combat encounter.  On a basic level, there’s a clever mechanic that lets you press a button to hide against cover view the surrounding area from the third person.  It becomes a fantastic way to carefully plan routes, watch for enemy patrols, and quietly make a break for where you need to go.  You can perform takedowns that knock enemies unconscious (or outright kill them at the risk of making more noise) but you’ll need to hide the bodies lest they be discovered by other patrolmen.

Hacking is another example of the game going above and beyond pseudo-quicktime events you often see in other games. It’s a clever, dynamic mini-game in which you go from node to node inside of a computer system on a hackable terminal with the intent of accessing a central node that lets you override security.  Each time you access a node you have a chance to set off a trace, which puts you on a timer to get you to a central node, but you can combat this with software pieces to slow down or temporarily stop traces.  Hacking has five levels of increasing difficulty, and it’s fun enough that I enjoyed hacking even when I had a door or safe code, least of all for the experience points.

Even the social aspect is much more engaging than most speech checks found in RPGs.  You frequently engage in social ‘battles’ to convince someone to get what you want.  Early in the game when you confront a terrorist who has taken a Sarif manager hostage you can sympathize with him, appeal to his reason, or be threatening to try to get him to release his victim before she gets hurt.  You can also get a social augmentation to see ‘persuasion levels’ to see how well your tactics working corresponding to someone’s personality.  Additionally you can determine what type of personality somebody has and the best type of dialogue approach that will give you what you need.

Regardless of what you do the game rewards you for just about everything.  Completing quests awards you with experience points, but taking down an enemy without being seen, discovering a ventilation shaft, and every conceivable tactic awards you with extra experience.  Experience earns you points that can be spent on various augmentation skills, such as an upgrading your strength to carry more inventory items or lift heavier objects.  One of my favorite techniques is an upgrade that gives you temporary invisibility.  Alternatively you can put points into hacking to hack more sophisticated security systems.  In a nutshell you can take whatever strategy you want and bolster it significantly with these upgrades.

If there’s a problem with the augmentation it throws in several upgrades that have almost no practical use.  The damage resistance upgrade marginally upgrades your health, but it makes almost no difference when an enemy is spraying you with machinegun fire.  I was able to pick and choose the upgrades that were actually good, but I wound up getting them all early enough that it’s easy to see a particular ‘cookie cutter’ system working unless you have a devout interest in specializing in one pillar.

The one downside to all of this diverse gameplay is where it comes into play during boss fights.  Specifically, it doesn’t come into play.  For a game where combat is tactical and gameplay itself emphasizes multiple pathways and methods to accomplish an objective, you’re forced into boss battles where, perplexingly, brute force is the only option to take down your foes.  I focused comparative little on gunplay so engaging the boss for the first time forced me to run around, empty my inventory, and defeat bosses before they drained Jensen’s meager health bar.  It’s the only smudge on an otherwise stellar gameplay experience.

Even outside of tactical scenarios the world of Human Revolution is immeasurably fun to explore.  You’re constantly rewarded for wandering even on a smallest level, be it hacking somebody’s E-mail to learn more about their personal history or reading one of several Darrow books that give you a “Scholar” bonus of 200 experience points apiece.  The moment you step into the grimy city of Detroit there’s a sniper cache to discover, side quests to involve yourself in, safes to discover and hack, and apartments to raid for credits, pocket secretaries, and painkillers.  When judged by scale Detroit is fairly small, but the depth of the city allowed me to get lost in it for hours on end before I even bothered with a sizeable chunk of the main story.  I found myself accessing apartment rooftops for hidden weapons and hacking into offices to see what I scrounged within.

The art direction in Human Revolution lends itself the type of functional dystopian future that echoes Blade Runner.  Society lives and functions but an eerie sense of fatalism permeates the atmosphere.  The slick, polished walls of Sarif Industries contrast sharply with the filthy streets of Detroit where the poor and despondent linger in alleyways while civilians go about their business discussing the coming changes due to human augmentation. Juxtaposition is a common theme in Human Revolution as dark shades of gray and black mix with sharp orange and gold hues similar to what is seen on the box art.  It may be depressing but it’s also captivating, and it contributes to the stellar atmosphere.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution lives up to the lofty expectations of the Deus Ex name. Beyond that, it’s a superb game in its own right.  A thoroughly engrossing narrative is made all the more entertaining by the polished gameplay  and rich opportunities for exploration.  There’s a lot to do in Human Revolution; as bleak as the world is, feel free to immerse yourself in it and get to hacking, sneaking, exploring, or whatever else you feel like doing.