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If you play games with any regularity, it's inevitable that you'll eventually come across a roughly-made, unbalanced, unpopular, or straight-up broken title that you grow attached to regardless of how low the score on Metacritic drops.

Maybe there’s a certain character that resonates with you, or a unique concept that no other game has captured. Maybe there’s one puzzle that lit your brain on fire, or maybe you adore a unique visual style. Whatever the reason, I'm betting that every gamer out there has at least one of these awkward, ugly ducklings that they hold dear -- and I've invited a group of guest writers to kiss and tell.

Tonight, there is no shame and no judgment. Tonight, there is no regret. Tonight, I invite you to join us in embracing things that may not be worth $60, but hold priceless value in our hearts.

Tonight, we revel in Broken Love…Part 3.



It’s a well-known fact that Japanese RPGs have been on their last legs for years now. Ever since we entered the current console generation, Japanese developers have struggled without success to bring us a truly mind-blowing next-gen RPG experience.

Even as a die-hard fan of the genre, I can admit that they’re starting to feel stale – it’s as though Japanese devs are kicking and screaming like an impertinent child at the thought of moving away from the formula that produced so many gems back in the day. That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great new additions in recent memory. Folklore is one such title – an overlooked action RPG that despite its flaws, remains at the top of my favorite JRPGs of this generation.


Folklore received heavily mixed reviews upon its release back in 2007. Though it was praised by many for its dark atmosphere and emphasis on lore, it was hit hard by some for its incessant back-tracking, messy storytelling, and hit-or-miss Sixaxis controls. Though it was never deemed a complete failure (and surprisingly, got more than a couple 9/10’s) there was something about it that doomed it for the bargain bin. Now, five years later, this wholly unique PS3-exclusive has been all but forgotten.

It’s hard to put Folklore under a critical eye and not find a number of glaring flaws, but even for what it does wrong, Folklore exudes charm. Not often do you find a dark (both literal and figurative) JRPG that doesn’t focus on a teenage prettyboy protagonist off to save the world. No, Folklore deals very intimately with themes of death and loss, and even throws some murder mystery into the mix. Aside from that, Folklore’s greatest legacy is in its atmosphere. From its Celtic-inspired score to the foggy town of Doolin and the various Netherworld realms traversed over the course of the game, Folklore has a tight and cohesive vision that utilizes western mythology and locales unlike any other seen in a game coming out of Japan.


The gameplay requires players to capture and utilize the powers of various creatures found throughout the Netherworld, each with its own unique ability and powers that can be leveled up. It’s an intriguing take on the traditional action RPG. I’d also say that never before (or since) have we seen the Sixaxis used in a way that feels so integrated into a game, rather than just being a token add-on.

It breaks my heart that Folklore never saw the sales or recognition that it deserved. Even with its numerous flaws, it remains the most unique JRPG offering of this generation in my eyes. Japanese developers would do well to take a closer look at all the things Folklore did right and expand upon them – if they did, I dare say we’d start seeing some new and intriguing JRPGs at last.



It would be easy to dismiss Killer7 as a game where the style overwhelmed everything else. The gameplay is a bizarre hybrid, fusing first-person shooting with on-rails exploration and some of gaming history’s dumbest puzzles. The intense cel-shading gives certain levels an almost abstract look, and this disorienting quality is only enhanced by the game’s ostentatiously bizarre story and ideas. To reach the end of most levels, the player must pay a bouncer a tooth to enter a nightclub linked to a parking lot linked to the next room of wherever he just was. Also, he must shoot the naked purple people in their weak points before they explode and kill him.


The shooting is done by the Smith syndicate, a group of seven assassins with different talents and weapons who transform into each other by bursting into clouds of blood. This seems quite normal, in comparison to their support staff and enemies. The helpers include a manservant in full bondage gear, a rapist nurse/maid, and several blood-spattered ghosts who seem to be reading a double-babelfish of their dialogue through a voice scrambler lodged in a garden hose. The enemies include a pedophiliac organ-harvester, the entire nation of Japan, and a cult messiah in a space suit.

For a game about assassins, Killer7 has surprisingly miserable combat. It’s genuinely amazing that the same team that made the outstanding, clever boss fights of No More Heroes produced the inscrutable, frustrating encounters that populate Killer7. Most of these fights aren’t even bad in some way that serves a symbolic point; they just seem to have been made by people who had no idea what they were doing. The need to stand still while shooting gives the gameplay some similarities to the contemporaneous Resident Evil 4, but the on-rails movement made Killer7 inflexible and sometimes needlessly difficult, even if it did allow for some neat camera angles.


Despite its flaws, Killer7 bristles with moments that confound and amaze, revealing new layers of meaning each time I play it. Its mechanics at least succeed in getting the player to understand the Smiths, making each one seem real and unique, and the game’s climax is all the more affecting as a result. Killer7 is a work of art that could not have been expressed as effectively in any medium other than the videogame. Although the title is difficult and demanding, any player willing to surmount its barriers will find himself richly rewarded.



"It's complicated" isn't just a Facebook relationship status; it's also the quote I'd put on the back of the box for Brink.


Having bought the game at launch, the full price of $60 initially left a bitter taste in my mouth. The game was broken, and that's a statement made after installing a day-one patch. Maps wouldn't completely load, for instance, and getting kicked out of games was fairly common. There's a litany of other issues, too: terrible AI, a heavy handed tutorial, and weapons that feel like they were pulled from a cereal box all mar any potential enjoyment… Hardly a review that'll have a box quote pulled from it.

Six months after release, Brink clicked. To put that into perspective, that's was in the midst of "Game Flood 2011" - the time when AAA titles hit store shelves with fury. After blazing through shooter after shooter, I stumbled back into Brink one night. The art style alone is refreshing: it's a little Borderlands and a little Gears of War. Aesthetic's one thing and how it plays is another.

Everything Brink offers players is an attempt at making sure goals are met (and not killing everything in sight) is rewarded. Whether that's the "S.M.A.R.T." moving system with an Assassin's Creed flair, ensuring class differences don't revolve around the firepower of weapons, XP incentives or offering multiple objectives, it's obvious Brink isn't your typical shooter. Where Brink really sunk its teeth into me was in requiring teamwork.


In other shooters, a single player can drastically alter the flow of a match. Not so here. Teamwork reigns supreme; trying to go it alone will result in a massacre. Squad versus squad is, for me, far more interesting than constantly attacking. Brink isn't a twitch shooter any more than Call of Duty is an indie game series. Skill and teamwork are rewarded, and unlike its closest relative, Team Fortress 2, there's not a market economy revolving around head-wear. That may turn some off, but, for me, it means play reigns supreme. It's a bona fide game.

Far from the one night stand I had with the latest Battlefield and Call of Duty installments, I keep coming back to Brink after an extended courtship period that’s turned into a nice dinner and a glass of wine in the early evenings. Yes, she's an abusive one: at times, even brutal, but I'm a sucker for a bad romance.



The semi-broken game that holds a place in my heart is Ice-Pick Lodge’s 2005 game Pathologic. It’s a game in which you play as a healer in a turn-of-the-century Russian town that is stricken with a deadly plague. Your job is to find out what’s going on, and cure the illness. The catch – you have twelve days to do it in, and every morning you are given a new person to save and new quests to complete in those 24 hours.


It’s semi-broken as an Englishman because its translation is mess – lyrical and alluring at best, incomprehensible at worst. It’s also because the user interface is a confusing mess and its atmosphere is so dense and muggy that the feeling of bleak drudgery it etches out in the narrative is achieved just a little too well in the gameplay. The graphics (despite brilliant art design) are clunky, and the difficulty will be prohibitive to most players. However, the game offers a redeeming factor to help balance out each one of these flaws.

For instance, the game is a beautiful blend of narrative and ludology. There are hard decisions you must make every day for survival that trump any little-sister moment in Bioshock. For example, will you sell your gun to buy bread today before its value skyrockets the next day and you starve? Will you kill a man to eat? Will you trade razorblades for medicine from a child? Will you dig about in trashcans in full view of people?


The plot is admirable and the execution is just as good – the whole story is presented as a play within a play, with directors and understudies around every corner to explain to you your role in events. The interface is confusing, but the map in particular is the focus of an amazing fourth-wall breaking event late in the game which made all my problems with it dissipate in amazement.

Overall, I’d compare it with something like Twin Peaks at its darkest in terms of the background atmosphere. That’s how dark it is. This game is truly survival horror, with a capital S on survival. I could go on for pages, but I will say only this: buy it, try it, and even if you don’t get as much out of it as I did, it will be a unique experience you will not find anywhere else.

If you play games with any regularity, it's inevitable that you'll eventually come across a roughly-made, unbalanced, unpopular, or straight-up broken title that you grow attached to regardless of how low the score on Metacritic drops.

Maybe there’s a certain character that resonates with you, or a unique concept that no other game has captured. Maybe there’s one puzzle that lit your brain on fire, or maybe you adore a unique visual style. Whatever the reason, I'm betting that every gamer out there has at least one of these awkward, ugly ducklings that they hold dear -- and I've invited a group of guest writers to kiss and tell.

Tonight, there is no shame and no judgment. Tonight, there is no regret. Tonight, I invite you to join us in embracing things that may not be worth $60, but hold priceless value in our hearts.

Tonight, we revel in Broken Love…Part 2.





What if?

We ask that question a lot when a game runs out of development time or tries to do too much with too few resources. The best example of this concept I can think of is Knights of the Old Republic II, the sometimes brilliant (yet mostly tragic) follow-up to the masterful Knights of the Old Republic.


I was a big Star Wars fan in my childhood and teenage years. In some respects I still am. I read most of the novels, had a ton of the toys, and gobbled up every piece of the Extended Universe I could find. Then in 1999 the first of the prequel films, Phantom Menace, was released. I was turned off in every way imaginable, and I all but abandoned the franchise after that. However, in 2003 the original KOTOR was released, and suddenly my Star Wars fandom was resurrected. It still stands as one of my all-time favorite games, even if some parts of it haven’t aged particularly well.

Naturally I was stoked for the release of KOTOR II and the chance to expand on this new version of the Star Wars universe. I wanted the Star Wars breakthrough that I had longed for since my youth, and KOTOR II’s character Kreia came oh-so-close to giving it to me.

Kreia is much more than the standard video game villain, and she represents the brilliant interpretation of the universe that I had always wanted to see. Jaded and disillusioned with the Force itself, she seeks to destroy it rather than master it for any nefarious purpose. That’s a gross oversimplification of the idea as it is presented in the game, but that is why it’s so wonderful for a longtime Star Wars fan -- KOTOR II’s world presents real depth that is much more complex than a simple battle between good and evil.

As for why it’s on my ‘broken’ list, KOTOR II was bugged all to hell. The game was famously rushed out at the urging of LucasArts for the 2004 holiday season, and a ton of content had to be cut. As a result there were countless glitches, major plotlines that went nowhere or just plain vanished, and the final level is a complete disaster. It stands as a testament to the work behind KOTOR II that it contained the brilliance that it did, but to this day I still have to wonder… what if?




Dynasty Warriors wouldn’t generally be considered broken, but it has been negatively seen by a large portion of critics out there. This series saw its best ratings early on, but as time passed, the ratings continued to drop. Warriors (as a whole) isn’t safe from the ire of the gaming masses, but it’s still a game that I love to call my guilty pleasure.

I can’t even begin to describe the countless hours I have sunk into these games over the years. I made sure that I unlocked every character, grabbed every item, and unlocked every last thing the they had to offer. I am proud to say that I own every one of the core games, and at least one of the add-ons for each. I also count Samurai Warriors and Warriors Orochi as well.

You see, when I was a really young gamer, I loved figuring out and learning how to play the games that my father was playing. At the time (the late 80s) my father and his friends were playing Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the strategy game that Dynasty Warriors is based off of. I always wondered what it would be like to play one of the generals on those battlefields, cutting down hundreds of soldiers like many of them did in the stories.


When the game came out, I was hooked, and since then I have loved every version that has been released under the banner. What I never understood was why they were so harshly reviewed. The game did have its flaws, but it got to the point that reviewers complained just because they had to review another Warriors title.

What I like to point out is that most of their comments were based on how the story was exactly the same, or how the gameplay didn’t feel any different. Most reviewers would cite that it was the same old same old, time and time again. Even though there were minor tweaks and new content added, it just wasn’t enough for the reviewers. I always found this amusing because some of those same reviewers would go on and give glowing remarks year after year for games like Madden, FIFA, and lately Call of Duty. Hearing every year that the latest Madden is the greatest version of the game to hit the shelves, and then finding out that Madden ’03 (PS2) is still the highest rated on Metacritic makes me wonder...




We'd all thought Silent Hill 1, 2 and 3 were some of the best-written and most sophisticated games out there, boy howdy. Their stories weren't just handed to you--you had to read between the lines and figure out just how haunted this haunted town was. They weren't zombie-killing fests like their boorish older cousin Resident Evil--they were more deliberately paced. Silent Hill went out of its way to avoid adolescent power fantasy cliches, casting ordinary, out-of-shape characters as its protagonists, and so the games always felt so much more adult; so much more respectable.


Shattered Memories tells a surprising story: Instead of the world-altering calamaties of most games, it presents a very small, personal tale. It distorts and remixes some of the salient features of the Silent Hill mythos into a literalization of the psychological process of resistance. (Quite a far cry from Silent Hill 2, which was widely praised for illustrating the fact that James has sexual anxieties by, for example, simply making some of the enemies be sexy nurses.)

Ultimately, the game is about someone visiting a psychiatrist in order to deal with a past trauma, realizing some repressed truths, and taking the first tentative steps towards healing. It is also a game that loves its characters so much that it explicitly urges us to understand the forces which drive them--and urges us to understand the same about everyone around us.


Unfortunately, Shattered Memories was kind of doomed from the start, and many fans took the game's very existence as a giant fuck you: it changed the game's setting from the familiar rust and blood that we'd been traipsing through for the past six games; it redesigned some of the main characters; it was (in some ambiguous way that the developers seemed almost cluelessly cryptic about) a complete continuity reboot. It appeared on the Wii and featured full waggle action, and the developers were previously known only for some console ports and the least interesting game in the Silent Hill series -- things didn't look good.

In a perfect world, Shattered Memories would have heralded a new era of narrative sophistication which told stories speaking to truly adult concerns, but no one talked about the game when it was out, and it was forgotten about it almost immediately. Meanwhile, the upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour will feature breakable melee weapons, will be viewable in 3D, and will feature a song by Korn. In the videogame world, adolescent spectacle wins out over thoughtful nuance every time.




A wise (and probably very crotchety) old man once said that nostalgia is the enemy of truth.

Although I am loath to admit it, sometimes fondness of a certain point in time and the aesthetics associated with it can cloud our judgement of the qualities associated with that era. Videogames are no different, and perhaps it is through these DOS-colored glasses that I find such an attraction to many old and seemingly antiquated games of yore. (Read: the 90s). This may explain what I find so compelling about Frogware’s modern Sherlock series, specifically the enchanting horror of Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper.


A point-and-click adventure at heart, Sherlock vs. Jack is a living museum celebrating an all-but-abandoned style of gameplay. While it can be played in the traditional third-person, it really sings upon toggling into first-person mode, a perspective typically reserved for shooters – but ironically, there is no combat. At least, no combat in which the player is an active participant.

Regardless of which perspective you prefer, the game suffers from clumsy navigation, a/v-sync issues and the type of graphical glitches you might expect from a game 15 years its senior. For example, in one instance an NPC was being murdered during a cutscene where the murderer was not rendered, so it looked like a woman being strangled by an invisible ghost.

Still with me?

Good, because like many of its point-and-click predecessors, Sherlock vs. Jack is insanely engaging. The written narrative is translated to gameplay in a way that has not turned me on since The Longest Journey.

To break it down, the information you gather questioning NPCs or at various crime scenes is parlayed into an actual game mechanic by way of deduction boards. Once enough evidence has been gathered, Holmes & Watson retreat to 221-B Baker Street where all the information is laid out on a giant board in text boxes, the details of which are chosen by the player from a few multiple-choice options. As the deduction board is populated with clues, more specific scenarios emerge which create new clues, new text boxes and a narrower path to consider. Eventually, the board leaves our heroes with only one conclusion, and all the legwork, puzzles and document-skimming proves extremely rewarding.


Board aside, perhaps what is most enjoyable about Sherlock vs. Jack is the atmosphere. Any mechanical flaws I experienced at the get-go were immediately forgiven once I began to explore Whitechapel, the infamous English village terrorized by Jack the Ripper before the turn of the 20th century.

Like fog rolling off the Thames, it simply exudes charm. It’s painted on every brick and cobblestone. The somber tone, whimsical, eerily charming characters yield something along the lines of a Dickensian cross between The Nightmare Before Christmas and Law & Order: SVU -- there are lots of references to uteruses. The game’s rudimentary graphics might be a turn-off at first, but the more I played, the more I felt they supported the tone and really jived with the story in the same way an artist like Sean Phillips’ work (Walking Dead, Criminal, Fatale) supports the mood of his writer’s stories with high-contrast, low-detail penciling.

I mention comic books because fans of creative fiction will dig this game. While it probably goes without saying, the idea of an elseworlds story pitting the greatest detective in history against the most diabolical serial killer to confound Scotland Yard is a dream come true for crime fiction aficionados. And like many of our favorite comic books, Sherlock vs. Jack maintains cult-status as an under-appreciated gem waiting in the stacks to be discovered, enjoyed and passed around inner-circles. I certainly hope it makes its way into yours.

Games: If you play games with any regularity, it's inevitable that you'll eventually come across a roughly-made, unbalanced, unpopular, or straight-up broken title that you grow attached to regardless of how low the score on Metacritic drops.

Despite friends telling you that you're crazy for liking it, maybe there’s a certain character that resonates with you, or a unique concept that no other game has captured. Maybe there’s one puzzle that lit your brain on fire, or you adore a unique visual style. Whatever the reason, I'm betting that every gamer out there has at least one of these awkward, ugly ducklings that they hold dear -- and I've invited a group of guest writers to kiss and tell.

Tonight, there is no shame and no judgment. Tonight, there is no regret. Tonight, I invite you to join us in embracing things that may not be worth $60, but hold priceless value in our hearts.

Tonight, we revel in Broken Love.





Sometimes you need to hit rock bottom to realize there’s a problem. When it comes to the Sonic the Hedgehog series, rock bottom needed to be hit about six times. No bottom was rockier for the blue rodent than the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog, (commonly referred to as Sonic ’06 to avoid confusion with the original) which was an absolute disaster of a game that I’m still not convinced wasn’t just one giant troll on the Sonic community.


Sonic ‘06 is technically a platformer in the same way the blood of baby seals is technically drinkable. The shell of what the genre represents is there, but everything within that shell is a broken disaster. Physics are nowhere to be found with Sonic being able to literally stop in the middle of a loop, standing completely upside down while thirty feet in the air. Falling through the ground is about as common as jumping, and the enemies have a hilarious habit of spawning directly under the player’s feet. To top it off, there’s a power-up in the game that unintentionally lets Sonic jump infinitely because it wasn’t implemented properly, allowing Sonic to literally fly through the levels. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out this was done on purpose as an apology for the atrocious controls.

I’ve played several games with bad stories, but never one that was trying this hard. Sonic ‘06 desperately wants you to care about the plot, but it’s told with some the worst voice acting and ugliest character models of any game this generation. The humans all look like chattering pirate skeletons from Disney World, and the animals look like sock puppets covered in grease. The plot is a horrific pile of demons, time travel and interspecies romance, all culminating with the most awkward kiss in videogame history.


Sonic ‘06 is a game I’ve gotten every achievement for, and spent probably close to one hundred hours on. After all the insults I’ve just tossed at the game, this’ll probably be a surprise. What kept me playing, despite all of its crippling flaws, is the fact that this game is bad to the point of being both hysterical and fascinating. While a game like Final Fantasy XIII might have me throwing in the towel before hitting the 10 hour mark due to the dull story and rigid structure, Sonic ’06 had me yearning to see what failed gameplay mechanics, unlikeable sock puppet characters, and plot hole-ridden cutscenes would be vomited into my face next. The term “so bad it’s good” has never been more appropriate.

I could go on about how the load times are dreadful and the vehicle sections are almost unplayable, but really it all just leads back to the same point: Sonic ’06 is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played. There’s nothing else like it, really. It manages to find the sweet spot between broken and unplayable, and all that lies there is endless laughter. The fact that this disaster was actually released at full price is something that will forever boggle my mind, and I can appreciate the game just for having that effect on me. It’s truly one of a kind, and I can say in all honestly that it’s something every gamer should experience. At the very least, it’ll make all other games, movies, funerals, and horrific near-death experiences seem outstanding by comparison.





Some games, like religious prophets, simply come before their time – before they can be comprehended by the masses. This was the first strike against Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter. The game had cutting edge features for the Playstation 2 – features present in today’s modern generation of games: cel-shading, an AP driven battle system, and roguelike mechanics. Capcom took a big chance on Dragon Quarter, and many fans felt that in doing so they created a game that was not definitive of the Breath of Fire series. That was the second strike against Dragon Quarter, ultimately dooming the game to relative obscurity and criticism -- and yet I would list Breath of Fire’s final iteration among my favorite titles on the Playstation 2.


I was young when I played Dragon Quarter (its localization was released 9 years ago). Prior to that I had played Breath of Fires 3 and 4 and loved them both. They featured classic RPG fare: kings, knights, and castles – but they were lovable in their own right. Dragon Quarter defiantly shed all but the essentials needed to construct a new Breath of Fire experience: a boy named Ryu who could turn into a dragon and a girl named Nina. That necessary core was transplanted into a dystopian world in which humanity resided in an expansive labyrinth of underground bunkers. The government oppressively assigned citizens to live in certain sectors, most far below the surface and plagued with low quality air. The implications of such a cruel world were not lost on me, especially as I watched the suffering inflicted upon the game’s heroine, Nina, due to the environment. I still recall scenes of her coughing up blood and struggling to breathe. It was all very real and frightening but I felt genuine motivation to right the atrocities of this world.


The first time I played Dragon Quarter I didn’t progress far before getting a game over. I struggled with the game’s AP driven battle system, in which both movement and attacks consumed AP. After my game over, I was given an option as to how I wanted to continue, either starting over entirely with my items intact or continuing from a previous save, forfeiting any EXP I’d earned. It dawned on me that progression wasn’t necessarily a straight path in Dragon Quarter – in instances like this, it was better to take my spoils and start over with a slight advantage. This was the first time I played a game that could be considered roguelike in nature and the gamble of pushing forward or losing everything quickly become addicting, standing in stark contrast to the flat world of try-again, turn-based combat I once knew so well.

Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter is a testament to creation from destruction. After burning away baggage the series had accumulated over the years, the creators were left with room to innovate, and that is precisely what they did. Haters be damned, this game is something I love and will never forget.


Most people who bought Microsoft’s Xbox bought it on the strength of Halo, so when many of those people bought Gunvalkyrie, they expected a brawny, high-budget first-person sci-fi shooter. Instead, they got an alternate history steampunk third-person shooter. Many copies returned to the used bin just as quickly as they left it. Those who persevered with this quirky title, however, discovered something special.


Imagine a game set circa 1906, in a world where the British Empire conquered Earth and explored the stars via its mastery of technology. This British Empire maintains an elite military force, populated by the world’s best and brightest, equipped with mechanical flight suits called Gearskins. When Dr. Hubble (progenitor of this miraculous technology) goes missing, the Empire sends a fleet Irish woman and a burly Japanese samurai to investigate. Imagine this future imbued with a blend of Victorian glamour and organic French art nouveau, a future envisioned by H.G. Wells and George Melies filtered through the imagination of a daring Japanese developer (Smilebit, creators of Jet Grind Radio and Panzer Dragoon Orta), with just a spike of Starship Troopers, and you’re close.

Now here’s the broken part. Imagine a third-person shooter where it is impossible to simply use the left thumbstick to move and the right thumbstick to aim.

The jetpack-equipped protagonists are capable of astonishing feats of dexterity: a skilled player can stay airborne almost indefinitely, racking up infinite dash combos while destroying hordes of insectoid aliens. Getting to this level, however, requires hours upon hours of patience with little direct payoff. Gunvalkyrie is short, and there are no multiplayer modes. Only the promises of higher scores – and additional rewards in the game’s equipment shop – encourage continued play. It’s no wonder disgruntled Halo players tossed the game after learning they could not shoot beyond a 90-degree firing arc without clicking in the right thumbstick.


Those who master Gunvalkyrie’s controls will discover the deep reaches of Tir Na Nog, the game’s setting: a wonderfully eerie, and truly alien planet. In Naglfar’s Pit, the game’s most memorable level, the player must jump and boost his way to the top of a dark alien hive, all the while listening to the disembodied recorded voice of Dr. Hubble. It is here where the player first gets the opportunity to fully practice the game’s boost combos, and truly let his skills shine. For those who have experienced it, it’s a moment no other game has really duplicated.

It’s not hard to see why Gunvalkyrie flopped. Looking back, it’s a wonder that Sega approved it at all. Its peculiar setting is tough to summarize in a press briefing, it had no multiplayer in an era when Halo was king, and its unorthodox controls don’t really pay dividends until several hours into the game -- but for those who mastered the boost dash and quick turn, Naglfar’s Pit remains a fond memory.



Xenogears is more than broken. Broken is a thing you dropped on the sidewalk. Xenogears is a slow motion car crash.

Popular opinion is that the brokenness comes on the second disc, where the result of the budget drying up and the staff getting shanghaied to work on other projects is most plainly obvious. It happens so much sooner, though – think of how the supporting characters each get shunted to the side one by one, how each new town is less complex than the previous one, or how a narrator suddenly appears out of nowhere to keep things moving along. It's a strange RPG, too, where everybody has most of their skills before you've reached the halfway point.

When I say that the crash is in slow motion, I mean it: each individual moment can be looked at as it passes, can be examined as just a little bit more wrong than the moment before. The most promising game of its genre, of its generation, flying apart and sending shrapnel everywhere – and all you can do is watch.

There's a monument to everything that I love and hate in Xenogears that rises above the rest. Both figuratively and literally, the Babel Tower stands. I love the feel and the atmosphere of this crashed ship – the dawning revelation that it's the ship from the opening cutscene, and that answers to the plot's mysteries are beginning to unfurl. I love that as a dungeon, each leg of the trip has a distinctly different feel. That said, it sure is awful to play – What better sign that the vehicle was out of control than allowing random encounters to trigger mid-jump in an area that hinges on precise platforming jumping?


I find Xenogears fascinating as a step-by-step examination of things going wrong – like Lost In La Mancha, or a Hearts of Darkness with a less happy ending. But I also love it for its ambition – the sheer size and scope of what it tried to do in an already collapsing RPG genre – and because of the surprising joy it radiates. For such a cynical little story, it pops up in unexpected places. There’s joy in the references to all of their favorite things, the image of orphan children acting as mission control for their religious superhero, and yeah, even the bizarre sidekick Chu-Chu’s stand against the killer robot.

Xenogears was the Little Engine that Could, even if it didn't.

Games: It's been quite a while since I spent any time with the Soul Calibur series… I think the last one that I really got into was probably the original SoulCal on Dreamcast. The series kind of dropped in terms of quality (for my taste, anyway) and it fell off of my radar until today when GameFly sent me Soul Calibur V.

I've been hearing mixed impressions on it, and after a very brief sit-down, it's already back in the shipping envelope and ready to be sent out in the morning.

Oh Voldo... We used to be such good friends.

As someone who hasn't played the game in quite some time, I was shocked to see how unwelcoming and cryptic it all is. Perhaps it all makes more sense to those people who've been playing the series religiously, but I found it pretty overwhelming, and definitely not in a good way.

For starters, I'm surprised to see that comprehensive, user-friendly tutorials are completely absent. I don't know if that's still the norm with fighting games in general, but the so-called "training" mode was worthless and trying to learn the ropes against AI opponents was a complete wash. It's no fun to jump in and out of a pause menu move list and attempt to do maneuvers I've never tried while getting pummeled on ‘easy’ mode. All I wanted was a mode which showed me each move and combo one by one, in a simple, straightforward manner. Why does that not exist?

Complicating things further, why does the menu listing the moves not display the buttons which correspond to my controller? It must be a very simple to make a triangle or square appear on-screen, yet this is another thing which would make it easier to learn the game that's not implemented. Why should I have to translate the inputs in my head?

WTF is up with this costume?!?

And the story mode? What a joke. What happened to the days when each character had their own little bit of backstory and players could look forward to a unique ending sequence? Hell, the original Soul Blade had at least *two* endings per character! It may be a small thing, but it gave mostly-solo players like myself some reason to (at least) try each fighter, if not finish the game with every one. I really don't think it's too much to ask, and while I'm at it, how about some higher-quality cutscenes for the story mode that does exist? SoulCalV’s shabby storyboards between campaign levels aren’t even finished pieces. It comes off as cheap and slapdash.

I'm not an expert on fighting games these days and I don't know what the norm is for the genre at the moment, but Soul Calibur V feels like it was made without a moment’s thought given to people who weren't already familiar with it, and I see little reason to invest any time or energy in a game that doesn't waste any making me feel at home. This type of approach comes off even more poorly in comparison to the most recent Mortal Kombat -- besides having a ton of singleplayer content, it was incredibly easy to get into even for those (like me) who hadn't played an MK in years. In light of MK's quality, devs can’t get away with focusing on tweaking their fighting engines and ignoring all the other aspects that make for a good, rounded experience.


Games: At the moment, I'm currently playing [redacted!] for review, and it's been an incredibly disappointing experience.

I won't say much about it now, but it's one of those titles that settles into a groove early on, and does nothing to spice it up or change the formula. I'm about twelve hours in (or so) and the gameplay has been me repeating the same sort of tasks over and over and over for that entire time. It's incredibly boring and I think I've reached my limit as to how much I can take.

What could it be?

My guess is that I'm about halfway through the main campaign, although it's hard to say... I've seen other critics on Twitter mention their completion times as being in the 40-hour range, and I just can't see myself putting that much time into something as repetitive and monotonous as this one. If there was some sort of story I could sink my teeth into or even some PVP to spice things up (ala Dark Souls) that would be one thing, but putting myself through another 20 or 30 hours of pure grind?

No thanks.


Games: If you haven't been to GameCritics in a while and you've got some time, we had a bunch of new content go up recently. You can check out my reviews of American McGee’s Alice (the original one, not the sequel, Madness Returns), XBLA’s new puzzler Quarrel, and my take on the very disappointing Ryder White DLC for 2011's GOTY, Dead Island.

Too bad this scene isn't in either of the Alice games...

We've also got new write-ups for Escape Velocity (iOS) by fab newcomer @JohnVanderhoef, and @RichardNaik shares some words on everyone's favorite bit of nonsense, Rayman Origins.

Click on over!



ATLUS today released the full trailer and official website for the upcoming Nintendo DS™ strategy RPG Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2, the sequel to the award-winning Devil Survivor.

The full trailer, aptly named due to it being completely packed with exciting footage, stylishly sets up the game's story and main conflict. It also gives a great glimpse into how the hybrid RPG/SRPG mechanics work, better demonstrates the players ability to interact with, level up, and grow closer to their party members, and lastly shows the Demon Auction in action.

Launching alongside the full trailer is the equally aptly named full Devil Survivor 2 official website. Fans can read up on the history of the series and its developers, learn more about the story in Devil Survivor 2, browse character profiles for the game's protagonists, and better appreciate the title's unique mix of strategy RPG tactics and first-person RPG battles. Both the trailer and website arrive with less than a month before the game hits shelves, coming to North America after releasing to critical acclaim and strong sales in Japan.

SMT: Devil Survivor 2 for Nintendo DS is currently scheduled to release on February 28, 2012. For more info, visit the official website at http://www.atlus.com/devilsurvivor2.


The Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective App is now available on the App Store for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch in North America and Europe. Previously released on Nintendo DS to critical acclaim, the beloved mystery adventure game jumps to iOS. The game features intuitive touch screen controls for easy play and enhanced graphics in a wider viewing area for more immersive puzzle solving and is fully localized in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.

Created by Shu Takumi, the father of the critically acclaimed Ace Attorney series, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective combines his signature style of quirky humor, logic puzzles and an intriguing story wrapped in a unique art style. Players take on the role of Sissel, the ghost of a murder victim who has lost his memory and must solve the mystery of his suspicious demise. Gamers guide his blue-flamed soul through dynamic environments, possessing and manipulating inanimate objects found in the world to solve the captivating puzzles he encounters.

The Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective App is available for free from the App Store on iPad, iPhone and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore. The first two chapters are free with the download of the game. Subsequent chapters will be available in three different packs for $4.99/£2.99/€3.99 each or $9.99/£6.99/€7.99 for all chapters through In-App Purchase.


The new Max Payne 3 website is live with a ton of never-before-seen content.

The site also features updated original artwork and a chronicle of all Max Payne 3 news, videos, downloads and information released to date. Explore it all at www.rockstargames.com/maxpayne3 and check back often in the weeks and months ahead for a fully-loaded barrage of new videos, screens, game details and much much more as we barrel towards Max Payne 3's release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this May.


2011 runaway romantic hit game Delicious - Emily’s True Love now on iPhone and iPad

The PC version of Delicious - Emily’s True Love, designed especially for women, was Zylom’s most successful game in 2011. Game review website Gamezebo gave it five stars and it placed 3rd in their influential ‘Best PC Games of 2011’.

In Delicious - Emily’s True Love, Emily is looking for true love and, as PC sales prove, her story has struck a chord with female game players.

Links Gamezebo: http://www.gamezebo.com/news/2011/12/27/best-pc-games-2011 and http://www.gamezebo.com/games/delicious-emilys-true-love/review

Click here for the free iPhone version: http://itunes.apple.com/app/delicious-emilys-true-love/id492620499

Click here for the free iPad version: http://itunes.apple.com/app/delicious-emilys-true-love-hd/id493505350


Capcom®, a leading worldwide developer and publisher of video games today confirmed that Dragon’s Dogma™, its highly anticipated open world action title, will be released for the Xbox 360 ® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system in North America on May 22, 2012 and across Europe on May 25, 2012. Capcom is also pleased to announce that purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will have the opportunity to be the first to experience a playable demo of Resident Evil® 6, ahead of its release on Nov. 20, 2012.


Sine Mora to Feature Mechanical Boss Designs by One of the Most Prominent Japanese Anime Creators, Mr. Mahiro Maeda

Sine Mora, the beautiful dieselpunk shmup by Digital Reality and Grasshopper Manufacture, is one of the most visually stunning titles coming to Xbox Live to date. Beyond its thrilling, high-flying gameplay, much of Sine Mora’s greatness is thanks to the intricately designed boss battles derived from the very concept work of Mahiro Maeda, the famous Japanese anime creator. Mr. Maeda’s credits include directing Blue Submarine No. 6, Final Fantasy: Unlimited and The Animatrix (segment: "The Second Renaissance Parts I and II"), as well as designing art for Neon Genesis Evangelion, Magic User’s Club and plenty more.

Internationally, he’s first and foremost known for the animation sequence in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill Vol. 1.

For more information about Sine Mora, please visit the revamped official website: http://sinemoragame.com/, or follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/SINE_MORA.


This March, Sony Online Entertainment's landmark MMO EverQuest will not only become a teenager, it is also going Free-to-Play.

With the move to free-to-play, players will continue to enjoy the EQ experience they know and love, only now they have the power to choose a model that caters to their play style. Through the new free-to-play model, players will have the options of non-recurring vs. recurring subscriptions, Free vs. Silver memberships, item unlockers, and many more. Additionally, all players (both old and new) will be given brand new items via a 'Welcome Pack.'

Full details can be found in EverQuest Producer Thom Terrazas' community letter here: http://eqplayers.station.sony.com/news_article.vm?id=524183&month=012012.



Submissions Open for IndieCade 2012 Festival of Independent Games

Submissions for IndieCade’s 2012 International Festival of Independent Games are now open at the IndieCade website: http://www.indiecade.com/

IndieCade invites independent game artists and designers from around the world to submit interactive games of all types. Works-in-progress are encouraged.

IndieCade programs are designed to bring visibility to and facilitate the production of new works in the independent game community.

“Our mission is to spotlight the best cutting-edge work and the most innovative game designs -- often thriving at the fringes of the game industry,” Stephanie Barish, CEO, IndieCade explains. “Our goal is to bring public as well as industry attention to exciting, innovative games, created by independent developers.”

Games selected will be spotlighted at the annual IndieCade Festival, Oct. 4 – 7, 2012; featured on IndieCade’s website and promoted via social media. Finalists will be considered for more than 12 categories, with winners honored at a formal awards ceremony during the fall festival.

Game-makers selected as finalists will receive two VIP all-access tickets to IndieCade 2012, including admission to the awards celebration and all VIP receptions and social events.

Any team that submits a game receives a main festival pass; an invitation to participate in IndieXchange, a day long program offeringpractical workshops, networking opportunities and one-on-one meetings with art leaders, publishers and potential funders.

About IndieCade:

IndieCade supports independent game development globally through a series of international events highlighting the rich, diverse, artistic and culturally significant contributions of indie game developers. IndieCade's programs are designed to bring visibility to and facilitate the production of new works within the emerging independent game community.

IndieCade was formed by Creative Media Collaborative, an alliance of industry producers and leaders founded in 2005. www.indiecade.com


Test Your Tactical Talents with New Jagged Alliance: Back in Action Demo

Do you have what it takes to assemble an A-team, invade an island and oust an evil dictator? If you think you've got what it takes, it's time for you to launch your career as the leader of a Private Military Corporation in the newly released single-player demo for Jagged Alliance: Back in Action, the upcoming tactical combat game for Windows PC from Kalypso Media and bitComposer Games.

The demo includes -

One tutorial mission

One sample level from the final game – “Orta Laboratory”, which takes place about 2/3 of the way through the game and will challenge players to demonstrate their advanced tactical planning skills through the “Plan & Go” system

A pre-assembled team of veteran mercenaries, armed to the teeth and ready for action

Download the demo from the following mirrors –

GamersHell http://www.gamershell.com/download_84934.shtml

Strategy Informer http://www.strategyinformer.com/pc/demos/jaggedalliancebackinaction/demo.html

***

Ubisoft announced today that a patch has been released for Rocksmith. The patch is available now.

This patch will include the following:

1. The user is now able to select ‘Songs’ from the Post Play screen

a. In single player, this allows the user to go straight to the song list, rather than Rocksmith Recommends.

b. In multiplayer, this allows them to select a new song without having to re-calibrate their guitars each time

2. A fix has been entered to disqualify any Guitarcade Game score that was received through exploitation of the Pause Button. A warning message appears on the Pause Screen informing the user that pausing the game again will disqualify their score from the leaderboards

3. The amount of lives that the user has in Riff Repeater has been increased to 30 when selected from Event Manager or Song selection

4. The user is now able to invoke the precision tuner before quick-tuning in any song or event, excluding multiplayer

5. The user is now able to select their own “Phrase Mastery” level in the Pause Menu of Riff Repeater activities. Completing the phrase on the set level carries that progress into the full song, unless the new phrase level is LOWER than what has actually been achieved naturally

6. The user can now start new songs at a HIGHER phrase level if they are good enough (Level 7 as opposed to Level 5), and they can also level up high-level phrases with fewer correct repetitions

7. When the user sets Phrase levels to Highest in the Options menu, the game will return their base difficulty level for new songs to their higher phrase level.

8. A fix has been implemented so that the “Satisfaction” Single Note arrangement can be unlocked for Master Mode

9. A fix has been implemented so that the “Do You Remember” Chord arrangement can be unlocked for Master Mode

10. Lag Correction will be a new feature in the Options menu to adjust the difference between sound and how fast notes appear

11. General stability improvements to fix crashes

For more information on Rocksmith, please visit http://www.rocksmith.com/.


Minecraft World Explorer Now Free For Limited Time

Build, Play, and Explore Minecraft Worlds on the Go

Robots and Pencils is delighted to announce Minecraft World Explorer will be marked down to the low, low price of free for a limited time.

Minecraft World Explorer allows players to import their saved Minecraft games, letting them take their existing worlds on the go with iPad, iPhone, and Android devices. Minecraft World Explorer is the only app that allows players to use full-size Minecraft levels, because size definitely does matter.

For more information, visit http://minecraftworldexplorer.com/


7th Guest and 11th Hour to Be Added to GOG.com Catalog as Trilobyte Games Joins List of GOG.com Partners

GOG.com, the DRM-free digital distributors filled with dash and derring-do, announced today that they will be adding Trilobyte Games’ best-selling 7th Guest and 11th Hour titles to their catalog in the near future.

The 7th Guest is a gothic thriller adventure set inside an eerie abandoned mansion on the edge of town in 1935. The game presents enigmatic puzzles, large amount of pre-rendered 3D graphics, live action video clips and an original, orchestrated musical score. Bill Gates lauded the game as "the future of multimedia." The 11th Hour, the highly anticipated sequel to The 7th Guest, features similar logic riddles, improved in terms of quality and quantity of the FMV sequences, and an engaging horror story set 60 years later, but in the same rotting mansion.

Games: There's been a lot of chatter lately about buying new games versus used games, and I've been asked several times about my stance on the whole thing.


I don't have a pat, easy answer, and if I was to tackle every single angle on the subject in a comprehensive manner, this entry would take me weeks to write. I don't have that kind of time (hence the complete lack of cleverly selected images tonight -- sorry) and I suspect that I would get bored of the topic before I got to the end. As such, this particular blog post isn't going to have an answer to every single question that can be asked, but I have been thinking quite a bit about it.

So, used versus new... It's a huge topic to begin with, and it’s only gotten more complicated due to the various tricks made possible by online connections. Thanks to these ‘innovations’, something that has never been black-and-white to start with is now more grey than it's ever been. That said, let me try to pick apart the various strands of the problem as I see them, one by one...

First things first, FUCK PIRATES.

I am 100% anti-piracy, I don't advocate piracy under any circumstances whatsoever, and there's not a thing anyone can say to me to convince me that piracy is in any way justified or correct. It's straight-up stealing, period.

Why am I bringing up the issue of piracy in a discussion about used versus new? Because used games aren't piracy. Rentals aren’t, either. Problem solved, the end.

Next thing up on the docket, PROFIT IS NOT EVIL.

Games don't just fall out of the sky or get plucked from the gravid branches of lush trees in warm climates. In general, it takes a lot of people a lot of time to make a game that's worth playing, and it takes a publisher to keep those people fed and clothed until something hits retail. Money has to be made -- after all, it's not like you get up out of bed every morning and go slave away in an office for eight hours because you’ve got nothing better to do, right? You do it to pay for your rent, to be able to party later that night, to afford healthcare, and so on. In order for games to exist, the people who make and distribute these games must get paid. Developers and publishers are human beings just like you and me, so it's a no-brainer.

Something else that's pretty clear to me? CONSUMERS NEED TO HAVE RIGHTS.

As far as I'm concerned, this is one of the biggest things that needs to be looked at in the used versus new debate, and it gets very little attention from any side -- even from the very consumers who are being hurt!

The problem is this: Both developers and publishers are doing everything they can to convince gamers to buy games brand-new and are effectively waging war on the used games market. What's the dilemma? In this brave world, the hard-working people who pony up the cash for new have absolutely no recourse if they buy something they end up not liking, or even worse, buy something that's just broken.

While many games offer playable demos on the various online services, not all do. It may be easy to tell which genre a new title falls into, but there are countless factors that determine whether or not a person will enjoy that buy, and ultimately whether they feel as though they got their money's worth.

It's easy to get lured into a game by a great cover art, energetic screenshots, carefully-directed trailers, overly-hyperbolic previews from overly-hyperbolic writers, and ubiquitous ad campaigns. That said, a person still won't know that the game will be to their taste until they try it. Since I don't know of any store that will accept an open video game and refund a consumer's money, asking people to take this leap of faith at $60 a pop is a little unreasonable, not to mention it shows an enormous lack of confidence in the final product. You need to trap your customers in no-escape sales? really?

(Hello, GameFly!)

Completely apart from the matter of personal taste, more and more games are being released unfinished, buggy, or genuinely broken. If you ask me, a consumer who picks up a glitchy piece of software should have every right to return it as a non-working purchase and get their money back -- yet again, I don't know of any store anywhere that will issue a refund under these circumstances.

If you ask me, it takes a hell of a lot of gall to ask a consumer to risk $60 on something that they don't know is to their taste, and which may or may not be in a functional state. Such business practices put the consumer at a terrible disadvantage by stripping away all normal guarantees, and I am hard-pressed to think of any other product or industry that asks for as much faith on the part of the consumer (with no assurances given whatsoever) as video games do.

Since used games can be returned for the full purchase price at GameStop and other retailers for a variety of reasons including ‘I just didn't like it’, that serves as a huge incentive to buy used, totally apart from lower cost.

Furthermore, it needs to be said that NOT EVERY GAME IS WORTH $60.

Although some publishers have been experimenting with various price points, the vast majority of titles come out at the same one-size-does-not-fit-all MSRP. While more affluent gamers may shrug off $60 with little concern, that's quite a lot of money to some people.

With that in mind, I would be quite happy to pay $60, $75 or even $100 for a huge (bug-free) open-world RPG with fantastic characters and interesting quests, especially considering how much time and effort goes into something like that. On the other hand, I'm leery of spending more than $20 or $30 on a shooter that can be finished in a weekend, or on an experimental title that has some good ideas, but stumbles over itself on the production side. For such games, buying used for a cheaper price just makes sense since relative value isn't there.

Finally, WHAT ABOUT DLC, PREORDERS AND PASSES?

Since it seems no game under the sun can be released without some sort of multiplayer function these days, seeing publishers charge for online multiplayer is now the norm. Honestly, this is one aspect of the new games industry that actually makes sense to me.

Having dedicated servers up and employing the tech support people who constantly clean up code and keep things running costs money, and it's not unreasonable for the people providing these services to ask for compensation from the people using these services. It's also fair in the sense that that people who don't want to play multiplayer don't have to pay for it. I sure don’t.

Finally, pre-order bonuses, exclusive DLC and the like -- really, it makes complete sense that a publisher (or any producer of a product, game or not) would want to give consumers incentive to buy new as opposed to buying used. I don't blame them, and the more I think about it, the less opposed to it I am -- however, there are a few things to chew on here.

For example, offering content that's only available with a new purchase doesn't sit quite right with me in light of the “buying on faith” issues I raised earlier. As someone who tends to be a completist for games I'm a fan of, I'm a lot more comfortable with the idea if this same content is available (for a price) to players who buy used.

I certainly don't mind paying $10 for a few missions or an extra character that new buyers get for free, as long as I'm sure that I like the game and that I want more. In such a situation, it's totally up to me whether I pay that money or not, and for quality products that enhance my experience, I'm happy to support developers and publishers via DLC.

Keeping that goodwill support that in mind, the issue of what constitutes a ‘complete’ game is up for discussion, and the thought that content might be removed and repurposed as DLC really rubs me the wrong way.

For example, it was hard not to notice the two missing chapters in Assassin’s Creed 2, or the inexplicable ‘escapee’ cutscene in Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Both of those games were supposed to be “complete”, yet it was pretty clear to me and many others that something was missing. The same could be said of Shale in Dragon Age: Origins, and both Mass Effect 3 and Kingdoms of Amalur: the Reckoning are both about to launch with bits of "extra" content held back. It remains to be seen exactly how relevant these things will be, but I fear that the slide down a very slippery slope is already well underway.

As I said at the beginning of this piece, I could go on for weeks trying to cover every single angle of this discussion -- things like a future of download-only games leaving players with even less power and fewer rights than they already have, or what about those whispers of a console that somehow won't play used games? I'm pretty sure that George Orwell predicted that one a while ago. Regardless, I think I've hit most of the major used versus new points that bear discussion at the moment, and this is a pretty good reflection of where I'm sitting at right now, not only as a critic, but also as a consumer and someone who has spent the lion’s share of his life eating, breathing, and talking videogames.

If you ask me (and really, if you don't want to know, then why did you read this far?) I strongly believe that a compromise needs to be reached. Whether you fall on the side of used or new, it's easy to see that neither one is completely correct. In my perfect world, consumers would be able to return games within reason, and publishers and developers would put out games that were complete, functional, and priced to reflect the value being delivered.

In such a fantasy land, I think everyone involved would be quite happy to keep this particular economic engine running, and all sides would come away satisfied. Whether any such situation could become a reality remains to be seen, but this murky, groping middle ground the games industry currently occupies can't and won't be held forever.

Podcast: For fans of the GameCritics podcasts, tonight is a double feature.

First up, Episode 68 of the regular show. Topics include X-Men Destiny, Rayman Origins (a.k.a - the episode that demonstrates why I am the coldest, most unfeeling Francophobe critic on the ‘net) and quite a bit of discussion about being employed as a games writer, writing reviews for free, and how the two relate to each other. Also, for those keeping track, this is the third-to-last show that Tim Spaeth will ever be hosting, so if you are a Tim fan (and really, who’s not?) then make sure you catch him before he's gone.

If one podcast wasn't enough, then tune in to the resurrection of GameCritics After Dark. This particular offshoot is an episode focusing solely on Zelda: Skyward Sword and features a different cast. This time around, the program is hosted by @RichardNaik, he’s joined by GC regular Mike Bracken (@HorrorGeek), and they are hashing things out with guests Jeffrey Matulef (@MrDurandPierre) and Michael Abbott (@BrainyGamer). If you're hungry to hear more about Zelda, this is the ticket.


Games: Not much to report in terms of gaming.

I'm still trying to complete Yakuza 3 before anything big comes in for review, and I'm almost done. If my guess is correct, there are only one or two chapters left, so I'm hoping to wrap it up tomorrow.

So... Come here often?

I've got to say, out of the three Yakuza titles I've played so far, this one has definitely been the weakest. It's strange to say that because there have been some tremendously emotional moments at certain points in the story, but the game loses its way in the middle and starts to drag... it's just started to pick up again now that I'm closing in on the end, but there were certainly (at least) three or four hours of gameplay that could have been removed from the critical path and the game would have been better for it.

The meandering middle is made worse by the fact that the developers have tinkered with the combat engine and made it quite dull and repetitive -- in the previous two games, there were always new moves to unlock, and this constant growth kept the combat feeling exciting and fresh. This time around, it feels as though there are fewer moves, and of the moves that are still here, many of them are tied up with the "heat" status.

Basically, what this means is that there are many attacks that are not usable until the player enters a special powered-up mode. Even after entering “heat”, many of the moves that become accessible are impractical to use, or only work in very specific circumstances. For example, I unlocked one move that lets my character jump off of a fence to tackle an enemy… and I haven't ever used it, even once. I don't want to get into too much detail here, but the bottom line is that I've been using the same combos for about eight hours and I'm pretty damned sick of the combat right now.I've never, ever felt that way in the previous two games, so I'm quite disappointed in how things have shifted for the worse here.

I'm hoping that the end will make up for some of the dead space I had to plow through to get there, but we'll see.


Games: I'm still putting some time into Aliens: Infestation, as well. It's actually a pretty cool title and there’s a lot to like if you’re a fan of the films. On the other hand, it's a little rough in spots and I question how appealing it would be to someone who has no love of the franchise.

That's right... The Space Jockey makes an appearance.

For example, there are too many hard-to-hit enemies taking cover behind large crates, and there are certain points at which the player must use the "Flamer" weapon to burn through certain doors. Using fire against aliens is ridiculously underpowered, so of course the developers triple the number of aliens between Point A and Point B when the Flamer is equipped. I also had the game completely crash on me in the middle of fighting a boss, which was pretty frustrating.

I don't mean to sound too negative because Infestation is clearly a love letter to the franchise from people who care about doing it justice, and I really respect that. There is definitely some good stuff going on here, and anyone who considers themselves an Alien fan should own a copy -- just go into it knowing that not everything here is roses.


Games: I just wrapped up my review of Quarrel for XBLA and submitted it earlier this evening. Look for that to go live soon. For those of you who don't know, it's basically a puzzle game that combines Scrabble and Risk with a few other strategic elements added to the mix.

A war of words!

It's a pretty good time playing with friends over Live, and it's only $5… it's got a few issues, but it's hard not to recommend at that price for people who intend to play with other people. On the other hand, I wouldn't really recommend it for solo players -- as is usually the case in games of this type, playing against the AI is an exercise in frustration.


Music: For you parents out there who need something to listen to that's appropriate for kids, but not annoying enough to drive you crazy, let me give a quick thumbs up to a disc from Caspar Babypants.

Catchy and Kid friendly!!

The album is titled Here I Am!, and has a number of catchy tracks that are both friendly enough for even the littlest children, but steer clear of the saccharine inanities that make want to jam and icepick in your eardrums. Interestingly, the band was started by Chris Ballew of the Presidents of the United States of America, so there is certainly some solid musicianship and a pretty good cool factor going on here. My son can be pretty picky about what he listens to, but he took to this CD right away.

In our house, there's no higher recommendation.



Law & Order: Legacies is now available for PC and Mac! Play the show as you investigate crimes and prosecute the offenders. Will you prove the suspect guilty, strike a plea bargain, or will the jury let him walk? Law & Order: Legacies features all-new stories (ripped from the headlines, of course!) and reunites your favorite characters from across the Law & Order franchise, including Rey Curtis, Lennie Briscoe, Jack McCoy, and SVU's Olivia Benson. Get the game now and play Episodes 1, 2, and 3 with Episodes 4-7 coming very soon!

Law & Order: Legacies features a brand new content delivery system that allows you to download all of the series' episodes through the game's main menu! When a new episode is available to download, you'll be notified through the game itself. You can become a Law & Order Legacies series owner for just $19.99 and get the first three suspense-filled cases immediately.


New Expansion to The Lord of the Rings Online™ Launching Fall 2012

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment unveiled today The Lord of the Rings Online™: Riders of Rohan™, the latest expansion to the award-winning free-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game (MMORPG) developed by Turbine. Riders of Rohan expands the online world of Middle-earth where players join forces to ride into the Plains of Rohan. Riders of Rohan launches in the Fall of 2012 with an increased level cap, the vast plains of Rohan including iconic locations such as Amon Hen and Fangorn Forest, the new Mounted Combat system and much more!

NEW FEATURES:

 Experience the Riders of Rohan – Join with the Rohirrim and ride across the sprawling Plains of Rohan; witness the breaking of the Fellowship at Amon Hen; forge alliances with the Ents of Fangorn; and aid Éomer, adopted son of Théoden, as he seeks to protect his homeland from the growing Shadow.

 Introducing Mounted Combat – Ride into Combat atop your loyal War-steed as you defend the people of Rohan from the forces of Isengard and Mordor. Customize your War-steed’s armor and level its skills over time to aid you in mounted defense of King Theoden’s lands. Mount your steed and gather your fellows to fight against Warbands, contingents of roving warg riders that have been scouted all over the Plains of Rohan! It falls to you to head off and defeat this new threat before they over take the land.

 Advance to level 85 – Continue your legend in the next chapter of The Lord of the Rings Online. Experience new adventures in the epic story, and gain new skills and deeds as you face new challenges on your journey to 85!

The Lord of the Rings Online is the ultimate adventure. This award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game delivers an interactive experience brimming with life and filled with the familiar people, places and monsters from the most famous fantasy of all time. From the picturesque surroundings of the Shire to Moria, the most fearsome underground realm ever imagined, players can experience the world of Middle-earth for free! For more information, visit www.lotro.com.


XSEED Games is pleased to bring gamers freshly-sliced story details about their upcoming and highly-anticipated PlayStation Vita action-platformer title, Sumioni: Demon Arts. Literally translated from Japanese as “Ink Demon,” Sumioni: Demon Arts is set in a fantasy world where players guide an ink figure through a landscape painted on a canvas backdrop in classical Japanese “sumi-e” style. The game uses the PS Vita’s touchscreen controls to allow players to manipulate the game’s world, creating platforms or summoning magical allies with the swipe of a finger.

In Sumioni: Demon Arts, players are given control of Agura on his quest to destroy Seimei and save Japan. Along the way platforms, strings of fire and jets of water can be drawn into existence at will on the PS Vita’s touchscreen, and Agura’s two Inkgod companions can each be summoned to perform massive, screen-filling attacks.

Sumioni: Demon Arts, developed by ACQUIRE and published by XSEED Games, is currently in production and will release on the PS Vita system in spring 2012.


Two of videogaming’s most iconic characters are entering the ring and going toe to toe. Exclusive to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions of Street Fighter X Tekken, Capcom’s very own Mega Man will be joined by Namco’s mascot, Pac-Man.

For the first time, the version of Mega Man featured on the original Mega Man 1 box art will make the jump from the cover to be a playable character, with Pac-Man taking on all challengers as he rides atop Mokujin.

Mega Man and Pac-Man join the previously announced PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita exclusive characters, Cole from Infamous plus Toro and Kuro.

Street Fighter X Tekken will release for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 6 in North America and March 9 across Europe with PlayStation Vita and PC versions to follow.

For more information on Street Fighter X Tekken, please visit: http://www.capcom-unity.com


GamesAid is delighted to announce that the inaugural littleBIGbunch successfully closed raising significant funds from its launch on December 14 through to closing on January 2.

“Over 20,000 gamers registered for the bundle and when deciding where their money went, the funds were split pretty evenly between GamesAid and the Developers, which is great as ultimately it is the guys who make the games that enable the whole enterprise to take place,” offered Ian Livingstone, OBE and Trustee of GamesAid.

He continued, “Mommy’s Best Games, Oddworld Inhabitants, New Star Games, Mode 7 and Curve Studios deserve all the kudos and respect for their support and to the thousands of gamers who embraced and supported this venture, GamesAid extends their heartfelt thanks.”

GamesAid is now planning littleBIGbunch 2. “We are not planning on releasing dozens of packs in 2012, rather to release a couple of packs of awesome games and let the gamers decide where their money goes. We would be delighted to hear from any Indie developers who are up for this and they can get in touch with me,” offered Graeme Struthers, Trustee at GamesAid.

Indies looking to get in touch with GetGames: Graeme AT getgamesgo DOT com

All member of the UK Videogames Industry are encouraged to support GamesAid and become members by registering online atwww.gamesaid.org

All fundraising donations are gratefully received at www.justgiving.com/gamesaid


To enter Wal-Mart’s giveaway of a Death’s Head mask from Darksiders II, go HERE.

Dead Island’s latest DLC, Ryder White, offers a unique new perspective into the incidents in the main story of Dead Island: This time the player will get the chance to play as Ryder White, the antagonist of the main game (SPOILERZ!) Learn more about his motivations and why, from his point of view, he did what he had to do. This fresh take on the Dead Island story shows Ryder White both as a military man and a loving husband.

The DLC stars Ryder White as a newly playable character and offers a single player campaign with several hours of story content with twists and turns that will shed new light on the game’s happenings. Two blueprints and weapons will further expand the already impressive arsenal of Dead Island.

The DLC will be available on February 01, 2012 for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Windows PC. It will be available for 800 Microsoft points on Xbox LIVE Marketplace or for $9.99 USD on PSN and Steam.


Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, andTeam Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the beta release of the Steam application for iOS and Android devices.

With the Steam app, gamers around the world may chat with Steam friends, browse community groups and user profiles, view screenshots and user-generated content for their favorite games, read the latest gaming news, stay up to date on unbeatable Steam sales, and more.

Those who wish to join the beta just need to download the Steam app (free of charge) and log in to their Steam account via the mobile app to express interest in the beta. Gamers will be added to the Closed Beta as the service ramps up.

For more information, please visit http://store.steampowered.com/mobile


It’s time to put those Zombie Apocalypse plans in action! Digital Reality and developer Candygun Games, along with PC distributor partner Kalypso Media, have announced that their frightfully fun zombie defense game, Dead Block, is available now on PC across several distribution networks (see the list below).

Dead Block is an engaging, campy and humor-filled title that mixes zombie killing with tactical defense strategies, letting players defend their territory by discovering new weapons to strategically rock ‘n trap the invading zombie horde.

Play along other survivors in co-op mode for the most addictive co-op zombie combat experience in Dead Block. For more information, please visit the Dead Block website at www.deadblock.com, follow the characters on Twitter, subscribe to ourYouTube channel and ‘Like’ the game on Facebook.


DEVOLVER DIGITAL LAUNCHES “PITCH FORK PARKER” PROJECT

- Indie Game Development Initiative Set for GDC 2012 -

Devolver Digital’s Fork Parker, infamous Chief Financial Officer and champion of the 1%, has thrown down the cash-filled gauntlet to challenge the next generation of indie game superstars. The eccentric money man at the pioneering publisher is offering completion funds and a publishing deal to the three best game prototypes, demos or pitches presented to the Devolver Digital team at this year’s GDC in San Francisco, March 5 – 9th.

WHEN

GDC 2012
San Franicsco, CA
March 5th – 9th

WHERE

The Devolver Digital Indie Bus trolling the Moscone Center during GDC 2012

HOW

Email pitchfork@devolverdigital.com with information on your team and project to setup a meeting with Fork Parker and the Devolver Digital team at GDC 2012.

WHY

Glory, Cash, Free Nachos

Devolver Digital and Croteam previously launched the successful Serious Sam Indie Series project which included unique takes on the iconic franchise from indie developers Vlambeer, Mommy’s Best Games, and Be-Rad Entertainment. The collection of indie games was launched in anticipation of the triumphant launch of Croteam’s uber-epic Serious Sam 3: BFE. In addition to partnering with teams on new and unique concepts pitched at GDC, Devolver Digital is also interested in forming new relationships with talented developers to create similar games for an as-yet-announced new IP coming from the Austin-based publisher.

Devolver Digital invites those developers unable to make it to GDC 2012 to come visit them at the BandPage Hotspot during the SXSW Festival in Austin, TX immediately following GDC 2012. At the event, Devolver Digital will be demoing the Serious Sam Indie Series along with several other projects currently in development.

“The only thing I love more than money is working with talented indie developers to make their sweet ass games even sweeter,” said Devolver Digital CFO Fork Parker. “Attractive twenty-something ladies and lobster nachos are pretty high on the list too.”

Appointments to visit Fork Parker and the Devolver Digital team can be made through pitchfork@devolverdigital.com. For more information on the Pitch Fork Parker initiative visit www. pitchforkparker.com or devolverdigital.com/pitchfork or tweet the man himself @ForkParker.


Spacetime Studios Sires Vampire Themed Mobile and Desktop MMO: Dark Legends

Spacetime Studios takes its mobile and desktop Legends franchise into a frightening new world with Dark Legends. Players will embrace the secret societies of vampires to challenge the hordes of undead, werewolves, demons and humans that hunt them. The title will be released for Android, iOS and Chrome in the first quarter of 2012.

Fans of the popular Legends franchise, Pocket Legends and Star Legends, will discover a gameplay evolution in Dark Legends that draws them even deeper into the experience. The combat system delivers fast paced, action oriented gameplay that includes new mechanics such as charge attacks and the ability to drain enemies. A wide breadth of solo and multiplayer content will also be available.

The most significant change is a much deeper focus on narrative. In addition to story communicated during the 3D multiplayer missions, players will periodically be given the option to complete quick action missions with a single tap. These missions use brief cut scenes to create an interactive storybook, where players experience the life of a vampire up-close and personal.

The company's goal for Dark Legends was to combine casual, strategic advancement content with their award winning real-time 3D multiplayer system to create a blend of gameplay never before seen.