Dark Souls (360, PS3)

From Software released a different kind of RPG in 2009 called Demon’s Souls, one in which players were expected to die and weren’t supposed to have a flawless, unfailing experience. Demon’s Souls was a game where each death was a lesson that made you play better and punished you if you didn’t learn the lesson it taught. If you died because you weren’t careful enough, you learned to be more cautious or you died again. Neglect your shield, you’ll quickly learn not to. These lessons carry over to From’s latest offering, Dark Souls.

If you played Demon’s Souls, you most likely know what to expect in Dark Souls. Your character faces overwhelming odds and is expected to traverse treacherous landscapes, collect souls and defeat challenging enemies in an effort to gain power and bring order back to a chaotic world. The story this time around features a world cursed by the undead and your character imprisoned for being one such unliving individual. After your escape from prison, you are tasked with saving the world and ridding the land of the curse of the undead. It’s a simple tale, but complex at the same time. The framework of the story is hard to miss, but the meat is in every little detail. Character dialogue, item descriptions, these things tell the bulk of the story about the world’s locations, population and enemies. It’s there if you want it but if you just want to focus on gameplay, that’s fine too. The story will be there for you later.

Dark Souls doesn’t tell you to prepare to die as a simple warning to be careful, it is telling you what to expect at all times. You WILL die in Dark Souls, the only questions are how many times and how often it happens. But Dark Souls isn’t unfair in how it goes about sending you back to a checkpoint. Every death is avoidable if you pay attention to your surroundings and learn something from every time you die. Dark Souls teaches you to play defensively and cautiously. Use your shield frequently, learn to dodge properly, walk slowly and closely monitor your health and other resources like magic and humanity. Learn to succeed against the odds and you will, and you’ll appreciate what Dark Souls has to offer so much more.

Where other games give you abilities and equipment that give you advantage over your enemies, Dark Souls forces you to create your advantage. Your character is just as fragile, in many cases even more fragile, than many of the game’s enemies. Your strength comes from choosing your stat advancements carefully, crafting and upgrading armor and playing to your character’s strengths. Melee characters will favor strength over intelligence, heavy armor over light and room to maneuver to dodge and counterattack. Knowing your character’s strengths and weaknesses is essential in Dark Souls.

What has changed from Demon’s Souls to Dark Souls may not seem very obvious at first. The controls are identical, most of the character classes return albeit with some new additions, souls are still the primary resource and online play is still integrated. What Dark Souls does however is streamline the experience. Instead of segmented, disjointed worlds separated by archstones, everything is connected. You can walk continuously from one area of the world to another without traveling to any sort of hub world or interrupting gameplay. Checkpoints come in the form of bonfires which the player can choose to ignore or light. Lighting a bonfire and resting at it creates said checkpoint, sending players there if they die, and also refills your character’s health and magic and restores your estus flask, your healing item in Dark Souls, which has limited uses. However, most previously defeated enemies (with the exception of bosses and a few others) will be resurrected and you’ll have to fight them all over again. Bonfires can also be kindled which provides bonus uses of your estus for the area around the bonfire.

Environments in Dark Souls make terrific use of vertical space with several locations towering over others or hiding deep underground. Every location feels unique as well, featuring everything from ghost-filled ruins to a trap-laden tower to a forest filled with deadly creatures. Enemies are also varied and feel like they belong wherever they are found. Massive knights in medieval fortresses, predatory trees in the forest and bizarre, demonic foes underground. Everything has its place.

It’s hard to really find a lot wrong with Dark Souls since what it does it does very well. Your character progresses at a steady pace that follows the difficulty curve, locations feel new and fresh as you make progress, the atmosphere is intense and exciting and everything looks gorgeous. Looking out over the land from the top of a towering structure is breathtaking and even the underground sections look amazing despite the cramped, dimly-lit environment. If I had one complaint, it would probably be with the online play. Like Demon’s Souls, Dark Souls (as long as you are connected to the internet) is perpetually online. Players can invade your game and hunt you down, or you can invade them, and other players can be summoned to help you take down a tough boss or clear a troubling area.

The problem comes from game balance. Lightning items are inherently better than others and I was taken down by several players wielding lightning swords and wearing the fog ring, which makes you untargetable and invisible from a distance. Fortunately you can only be invaded when human, so if you want to stay in undead form the whole game you can avoid being invaded, but you won’t be able to summon help from anyone. It’s just aggravating that whenever I wanted someone’s help, I had to watch out for someone stabbing me in the back when all I want is to summon help for a boss at the end of the area. For a game that touts its multiplayer system, this can frustrate a lot of people.

In the end, I loved Dark Souls. I couldn’t put it down. The challenge was just enough to be inviting without being off-putting and constantly reaching new areas was awesome. Any time I got through a particularly troubling area or downed a boss that had been killing me repeatedly, I had a massive feeling of accomplishment. If you love RPG’s like I do, and appreciate a game that doesn’t hand everything to you, play this game. Dark Souls is one of the best games of 2011.

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L.A. Noire (360, PS3)

Crime dramas haven’t been featured much in games, but this one changes all that.

L.A. Noire, Rockstar Games’ latest high-profile release, puts players into the role of Cole Phelps, a rookie officer with the Los Angeles Police Department who looks to put a dent in crime and corruption in a city filled with both. In his quest for justice, Cole must investigate numerous crimes, search for clues and interview witnesses and suspects while surviving the politics of 1947 Los Angeles. What Cole eventually uncovers, however, is a sinister plot lurking in the shadows of a city desperate to pull itself out of the pits of crime.

Gameplay in L.A. Noire is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. L.A. Noire puts heavy emphasis on crime scene investigation and interviews/interrogations of witnesses and suspects. Each crime scene has different clues to look for and evidence to find that will help you solve each of the game’s 21 cases. Overlook a clue and you might miss an important piece of the puzzle which can end up costing you success. Missing clues can lead Cole to neglect an important line of questioning or skip a key location he must visit to assist in solving the case. Players must be sure not to miss anything if they plan on solving each case and putting the right person behind bars.

Along with clues and evidence, witness interviews play a massive part in fighting crime. In each interview session, Cole must assess if a certain answer given by a witness or suspect is a lie or the truth by watching each person closely. Looking Cole in the eyes while answering is usually a sign of truth but a glance to the side or an uncomfortable facial expression might give away a lie. In some instances, you’ll need a specific piece of evidence to prove you caught someone in a lie and without that evidence, the lie will go unproven and Cole might hit a dead end in his case.

Aside from the main story cases, Cole may be called to answer one of the 40 street crimes that take place in L.A. Noire which can range from a suspicious individual to attempted robbery and even murder. Players can choose to accept or ignore each call without a penalty but successfully completing a street crime can give Cole experience and intuition points. These important points can either help Cole find all clues at a crime scene or pick out the right answer in an interview either by eliminating one answer or polling the online community to find out the most popular response. The more experience Cole accumulates, the more intuition points he’ll acquire, up to a maximum of 5 per case.

Rockstar outdid itself with the level of detail in this one. Character models feature an unparalleled amount of realism in both their movements and facial expressions. Subtle movements in character faces are portrayed almost exactly as a real actor would and is indeed the driving force of the game. This high level of accuracy is what allows players to conduct the interview sessions successfully since players must pay attention to such subtle things as someone licking their lips, swallowing deeply or even just frowning in order to crack a lie. Not only do the character models look impressive, everything about L.A. Noire screams 1947 from the clothes to the cars and even the city of Los Angeles itself. The game’s soundtrack also fits the part nicely with music befitting a crime drama including snazzy jazz numbers heard on the radio or during intense chases.

While L.A. Noire succeeds at looking impressive and delivering innovative gameplay with flying colors, it is only average at best with everything else. While the gameplay may be unique it is also disturbingly repetitive. Every case has Cole visit a crime scene, gather clues and interview somebody with only the dialogue and the case details differing from case to case. A little variety would have been nice. In fact, without the street crimes, L.A. Noire would have no other content whatsoever since aside from the story cases and street crimes, players have nothing else to accomplish besides driving around Los Angeles looking for landmarks and adding to Cole’s vehicle collection.

The story in L.A. Noire only really matters at the end since the cases Cole encounters at the beginning of the game have little to no bearing on the game’s final outcome. The cases do serve the purpose of building the character of Cole Phelps and setting the scene of 1947 Los Angeles nicely, but add nothing to the overall story and more or less act as practice for the last few cases which actually do matter. One other thing that really bothered me was how Cole acted during interviews. At any given moment Cole can switch from a polite gentleman to an overly-aggressive jerk trying to squeeze information out of a witness. I understand the whole good cop, bad cop routine but Cole comes off as more bipolar than anything else as he acts gentle and understanding one second and frighteningly murderous the next. By the end of the game I wound up hating Cole’s character, but that had to do more with the rest of the game and less so with the interviews.

L.A. Noire had huge potential to be something really great but by the end of the story I was actually disappointed. I felt let down by the lack of…well, anything to do in the game besides the story cases, the repetitive nature of the game and the incredibly unsatisfying way the game ended. I’m not in the habit of giving away spoilers, so you’ll just have to see for yourself what you think in the end. That’s not to say L.A. Noire isn’t worth playing, it is. The visually appealing detail in both the city and its inhabitants is incredible to look at but it doesn’t make up for the game’s biggest flaw: boredom.

Visiting the game’s various locations involves a heavy amount of travel. Driving through Los Angeles is more tedious than travel has ever been in any of Rockstar’s games before. Travel can potentially take more than 5 minutes and that seems a lot longer considering that, if you want to avoid all the frighteningly stupid drivers, you’ll want to have your police siren on at all times. Listening to that for 5 minutes made me want to mute my TV on more than one occasion and that should never happen in any game. You can have your partner drive and skip all the travel altogether but then you miss out on potentially important things like street crime calls or the LAPD contacting your car for information which only happen when Cole drives.

Play L.A. Noire if you can, but don’t pay full price for it. You won’t want to miss out on experiencing what this unique game has to offer but once you play through it once, there really isn’t any reason to do so again.

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Killzone 3 (PS3)

2009 saw Guerilla Games release the second installment of its highly-acclaimed Killzone franchise, aptly-named Killzone 2, to rave reviews from critics. Killzone 2 featured a well-constructed campaign full of cinematic moments and fast-paced action as well as a smooth, competitive multiplayer component that kept players coming back for more. 2 years later, Guerilla released its latest creation, Killzone 3, into the world of first-person shooters and this one certainly holds its own against the best.

Killzone 3 continues the story of the Interplanetary Strategic Alliance (ISA) as they wage war against the forces of Helghan in a bid to subdue the formidable alien race and bring peace to the galaxy. After the events that take place in Killzone 2, the ISA is in full retreat after the Helghan leader, Scolar Visari, is killed by Rico Velasquez against the wishes of the ISA who had planned to capture him. The Helghast stage a brutal and merciless counterattack and proceed to decimate the ISA forces on the planet Helghan who must evacuate and regroup. The player, taking on the role of Tomas “Sev” Sevchenko, must lead a small force of ISA against the might of the Helghast army in order to stop the mighty alien race from destroying all that he loves.

Killzone 3’s campaign features a touch more variety than that of Killzone 2. While the second game featured mostly on-foot missions and very little vehicle combat, Killzone 3 has several vehicle-based levels and even a space combat mission. Included in the game’s campaign is the jetpack, a device which lets the player travel in the air over a short distance and also has built in weapons with infinite ammo but which can overheat with excessive use. Also featured in the campaign is a stealth-based mission in which the player must silently take down enemies from cover or be quickly overwhelmed. Killzone 3’s campaign can also be completed cooperatively locally, but not online.

The multiplayer in Killzone 3 is also different this time around. Returning from Killzone 2 is the “Warzone” game mode where players are given objectives that must be completed within the allotted time. Objectives include body count, where the team with the most kills wins, and assassination in which a member of the opposite team is marked for death and must be killed to complete the objective. Other game modes include “Guerrila Warfare” where teams of 16 are pitted against each other in a massive game of body count and “Operations” in which teams of 16 players are tasked with capturing certain objectives and where the best players are featured in scenes of victory.

From the start, all of Killzone 3’s five classes are unlocked for the player to use in multiplayer unlike in Killzone 2 where classes must be unlocked. Featured in the multiplayer are the infiltrator, marksman, engineer, medic and tactician. Each class has their own distinct playstyle, for example the medic can revive fallen soldiers and the infiltrator can disguise himself as a member of the opposite faction. As the player earns more points from multiplayer they can unlock more weapons and abilities for different classes. Points can be earned for killing members of the opposing team in any mode and for completing objectives in warzone.

Perhaps the biggest change from Killzone 2 to Killzone 3 is support for Sony’s Playstation Move. In addition to the traditional controller-based gameplay, players can opt to use Sony’s motion controller and navigation controller together to control their character in both single player and multiplayer modes. In doing so, players can also choose to use the new sharpshooter gun controller for use with the Move for increased accuracy. The sharpshooter has space for both the motion controller and navigation controller and features a trigger, button mapping, a reload function and a retractable shoulder stock for added comfort.

So, is Killzone 3 better than its predecessor? In a word…maybe. The campaign, while featuring more variety in its gameplay than Killzone 2, does little to differentiate itself from other shooters such as Call of Duty and Battlefield Bad Company. Killzone 2, while keeping players on-foot for 90% of its campaign, at least kept it simple and did a good job of making players feel less like a one man killing machine and more like an elite squad that was part of something bigger. For a military-themed shooter, it’s my opinion that the player shouldn’t feel like he can take out the enemy army all by himself. Being part of a squad, albeit an elite one, makes much more sense in the grand scheme of war. Killzone 3 does at least allow for its campaign to be completed with a friend, just not if that friend is online.

The Playstation Move works very well, especially with the sharpshooter attachment. After spending some time with the gun and tweaking the settings to make me feel more comfortable, I was able to cruise through the campaign just as easily, if not more easily, as I would have with the dualshock controller. The sharpshooter made it easier to aim and shoot and, once you mess with the sensitivity and deadzones, it feels almost natural. I still prefer to use the dualshock online, for now at least, where I’m more familiar with the controls, but I like knowing I at least have the option for when I want something a little different.

Another cool feature is the addition of the brutal melee attack. When you get within melee range of an enemy, your character will be able to perform a special melee attack that results in an instant kill and looks really cool on top of that. Attacks vary from stabbing your opponent in the throat with a knife, breaking an enemy’s neck or shoving a knife into their eye. Brutal melee kills are easy to pull off with either the dualshock or the sharpshooter controllers and are present in both single player and multiplayer, adding a little bit of flair to your kills.

The multiplayer itself is still the best part of the game and is what drew me to the series starting with Killzone 2. “Warzone” is by far my favorite as it changes the way you play every few minutes. You can go from playing body count to assassination to search and destroy in the same session and takes the focus of gameplay off of simply getting kills and more on strategy and team cohesion. You’ll always have those players who stick to killing regardless of the current objective but for the most part people tend to go along with the game. I really like how all the classes are available from the start so you don’t have to worry about unlocking your favorite after hours of playing a class you can’t stand.

Killzone 3’s multiplayer is what keeps me coming back for more and is definitely the game’s strongest draw. I enjoy it much more than I enjoy multiplayer in Call of Duty or Battlefield where the emphasis is on killstreak bonuses or the first one to get the toughest vehicle and where you actually have an objective other than killing. For this reason, I think Killzone 3 is great and has a lot of lasting power. Oh, and did I mention the game looks and sounds terrific? I didn’t enjoy the voice acting as much as in Killzone 2 but the performances are at least acceptable. This is definitely one title that shooter fans need to pick up, but you can only do so if you have a Playstation 3. This is one console exclusive that Xbox 360 owners should be jealous of.

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Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 (360, PS3, Wii, PC, DS)

Back in 2008, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed posed one important question: what if Darth Vader had his own secret apprentice? The answer was given to us in the form of Starkiller, a super-powerful dark Jedi who slashed his way through countless enemies and even Darth Vader himself on his path of destruction and eventual redemption. LucasArts decided to expand upon the story begun in the first game with a sequel, The Force Unleashed 2. While Unleashed 2 keeps the feel of being an unstoppable Jedi alive, the game itself brings little else to the table.

The Force Unleashed 2 picks up a few months after the first game and once again puts us in the role of Starkiller…or is it his clone? This is the dilemma Starkiller faces and is one of two primary storylines of this installment. Is the Starkiller you control the real deal or is he simply a clone? Starkiller must evade Imperial forces on his way to discover the truth and to find his lost love, Juno Eclipse, all while moving toward a final confrontation with his former master, Darth Vader.

If you’ve played the first Force Unleashed, you’ll feel right at home in the sequel. Many of the lightsaber combos you unlocked in the first game are already available from the start as are some force powers. The first level gets you accustomed to using Starkiller’s various abilities to mow down helpless Imperial troops and machines with the numerous force power and lightsaber combos at your disposal. This time around, Starkiller wields two lightsabers instead of one and allows you to customize them both with crystals scattered throughout the game which alter his blades’ color and abilities. Finding Jedi holocrons and utilizing different combos and powers awards Starkiller style points which you can spend to upgrade his force powers and make it easier to defeat your enemies.

Aside from using Starkiller’s force powers and lightsabers, the environment can be just as much of a weapon. Various objects can be picked up and thrown at whatever you happen to be fighting and even your enemies can be turned into projectiles to be hurled at their allies. One power, the mind trick, can actually cause enemies to turn against their friends or just hurl themselves to their deaths. Anything from boxes to exploding canisters, even force fields can be used to give yourself an advantage.

Unfortunately…there isn’t much more to this game.

Now I’m not going to sugar-coat this: The Force Unleashed 2 was a disappointment. The first game ran almost 10 hours long, had much more depth in terms of upgradeable abilities and the enemies provided more of a challenge later in the game. The story fit right in with the Star Wars universe and, from a Star Wars perspective, made sense and felt like it belonged. Starkiller struggled, both outwardly and within himself, to do what he felt was the right thing and he made an impact on the mythos of the entire saga. You had the chance to battle though numerous levels thoughout the game and each one varied in its environment. The game wasn’t perfect but it worked and it was one of the better Star Wars titles in recent memory.

The Force Unleashed 2 was supposed to match or even best its predecessor, but it falls pitifully short of even coming close. The gameplay in The Force Unleashed 2 runs a pathetic 4 hours long, features only 4 levels (one of which you repeat), 3 boss fights and no enemy variety. Starkiller has only a fraction of the upgradeable abilities he had in the first game with only 7 this time around which means you find yourself repeating the same old lightsaber combos over and over. Speaking of lightsabers, Starkiller’s second blade was added purely to make the game look flashy and doesn’t really make Starkiller any more powerful than he was with one. Regardless, the game provides very little in the way of a challenge since it starts off easy and gets even easier since the enemies stay the same while Starkiller gets progressively stronger, and the only replay value comes from playing the final level one more time to get the ending you didn’t choose the first time through.

This time around the story feels completely unnecessary and tacked on and the character cameos of Yoda and Boba Fett add absolutely nothing to the game itself. Starkiller has transitioned from being a troubled, conflicted young man stuggling to do what’s right into a whiny, selfish man who only cares about himself and won’t stop repeating the fact that he’s looking for Juno Eclipse and nothing else. Aside from the fact that the story is unnecessary, it doesn’t make any sense either and seems to jump around without providing an explanation for why you are where you are.

If there is one good thing I can say about The Force Unleashed 2,and trust me, good things about this game are in short supply, it’s that the game does a great job of making you feel like the unstoppable Jedi you are supposed to be. Enemies fall before your blade with little effort and force powers feel like they’re unbeatable and are being wielded by a master. The climactic battle with Darth Vader is more epic than the fight from the first game, if only a little over-the-top, and is definitely the game’s highest point. I could feel the emotion from Starkiller as he attacked his former master and seeing him hack away at Vader is fan service at its best, but not in a bad way.

In terms of presentation, the game looks and sounds amazing. Character models are well-constructed and the cutscenes blur the line between computer-generated technology and reality. Force lightning in particular comes to life in vivid detail as lightning arcs from Starkiller’s fingertips to his enemies, shocking them into oblivion. The soundtrack is what you’d expect from a Star Wars game, featuring music from previous games and movies but little original creations and the voice acting is at least bearable.

Look, the bottom line here is if you love Star Wars like I do, The Force Unleashed 2 is at least worth playing if you enjoyed the first game. There is a lot of fun to be had hacking your way through ranks of Imperials and looking badass doing it, but don’t make the mistake of paying full price for it. Rent it, buy it pre-owned if you can and return it once you’ve finished it, but don’t buy it brand new and expect to feel like it’s worth $60. It’s not.

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Sid Meier’s Civilization V (PC)

Here, I present to you a guest review written by a friend of mine who enjoys PC gaming, Matt Coughlin.

Civilization has been a staple of my life since the very first Civilization in 1991. The latest one is just as addictive as every previous version. Civilization V is the latest installment in the hallmark franchise of Civilization for the PC.

The Civilization series uses a simple formula of creating a civilization and watching it progress through history. Each iteration brought with it new changes over the previous one and dropped previous features that didn’t work out quite right. This one is no different, but more on that later.

Civilization is one of the few games that can go without a story and get away with it. In a more abstract way, there is a story regarding you and your people and their struggle to power throughout all of history. As with all previous versions, you pick a nation lead your people to glory in one of five ways: Conquest, Diplomatic, Scientific, Cultural and ending with the highest score.

One of the first things you’ll notice is the hexagonal tiles instead of the square ones that have dominated the series. These make combat far more strategic and give the landscape more realistic features (no more 90 degree rivers).

Speaking of combat, you no longer have the dreaded “Stack of Doom” to contend with anymore. Only one military unit may occupy a tile at any time (though workers and settlers may end a turn on an occupied tile and other units may pass through a tile if they have enough movement points), which makes it all the more strategic in terms of attacking or defending a unit or city. Laying siege to a city now requires skill and planning since the cities will fight back with their own defenses. Terrain also plays a large part too, as a mountain may bottleneck your units and prevent ranged units from firing over them. Ranged units no longer attack directly but use ranged attacks.

Diplomacy has changed dramatically as well in this new version. Among the highlights, you only have one leader per civilization to choose from, and most of their policies and relations towards you have remained the same (yes, Montezuma is still a warmongering jackass). One nice touch they added was to have the leaders all talk in their native language (My high school Latin teacher would be so proud until he realizes that Julius Caesar just called him a “wine-swilling Pompeian whore”). Other Civs are far more aggressive and isolationist this time around (no more bugging you relentlessly for open borders), and you are almost guaranteed a war if you so much as have a settler look in the direction of land by their borders.

Sadly, and this put a massive damper on my war financing late-game, you cannot sell technologies anymore. You can however, enter into a “Research Agreement” where, for 250 gold each, both civs will secretly work towards a technology together for x number of turns. At the end of it, you’re given a free tech of your choosing. If you have the cash, its a great way to get ahead or stay ahead of your rivals.

One nice thing you’ll notice as well is that you now encounter City-States that can either give you food, culture points or military units. The City-States also act as a vote in the UN Secretary General elections. Keeping yourself on their good side is a bit of an annoyance because they constantly ask for money.

Culture has changed drastically this time around as well. Your city’s borders will expand when they fill out the culture requirements, but its not a uniform expansion like in previous games, you expand only a certain number of tiles (highlighted by purple rings in the city viewer) every expansion. In case you can’t wait that long to expand your borders, you are allowed to have a city buy certain tiles for a price. Culture points, which are gathered by buildings in your cities (and the rate lowers by having many cities), can be spent on a new feature of Policies. Basically its the civics from Civ IV but simplified and there are more of them. You have ten separate policy trees, each of which can be filled out at any time when you spend culture points. When you fill out five separate trees completely, you can build the “Utopian Project” and get yourself a cultural victory.

Some final changes are resources, strategic resources (those required to build units/buildings) are a finite supply and can only be used for one project per resource at a time. This means that you can now invade America for it’s oil in the most ironic war imaginable. The UI has also been revamped in a way similar to the console versions of Civ IV. The game is more streamlined and easier to get into, especially for new players, but feels like it lacks the depth of the previous game.

Civ V is also the best looking game in the series, which means that it does require some decently mid-range hardware to get the game running smoothly.

The game is also a Steam-exclusive which means that even if you buy a physical copy, you will still need Steam to play it.

The only real complaints I have on the game is that I miss religion and had hoped they flushed it out a bit more. Combat is also a much greater focus of the game than before, as your rivals are incredibly aggressive (even on easy settings). The difficulty levels seem to be much more forgiving than in previous settings. You may have to play one or two levels higher than what you’re used to.

Civilization V is an exceptional game. It doesn’t surpass the bar that Civ IV raised, but it does an excellent job getting there. The game strives for perfection and does come up just a wee bit short in some areas but those should be fixed after the first inevitable expansion. Civ V is a wonderful addition to one of the greatest franchises in PC gaming. If you’re new to the series or a hardened “One more turn…” veteran, Civ V is a must have to any strategy gamer.

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Fallout: New Vegas (360, PS3, PC)

Welcome back to the wasteland.

Fallout 3 was released in 2008 to near-universal acclaim and was gifted with a Game of the Year edition the following year. In 2010, Bethesda released the newest game in the series, Fallout: New Vegas. This time, instead of playing a vault-dweller, players take on the role of a Mojave courier tasked with delivering a special platinum chip. Before the delivery can be completed, the courier is shot and left for dead in a shallow grave, classic Vegas-style. The courier awakens and begins a trek across the Mojave seeking answers and revenge and learning about their place in a war that spans the entire desert.

New Vegas begins with the usual character creator which lets the player choose the gender and appearance of their courier as well as the initial stats and skill levels of their character. Afterward, instead of the restrictive vault setting we saw in Fallout 3, New Vegas sets the player loose right off the bat with the freedom to roam wherever they may please. New Vegas features the same kind of open-world gameplay one would expect from a Fallout title and allows the player to explore the wasteland, complete sidequests and tackle the main quest at their leisure. New Vegas features a new faction reputation system which affects your standing with the various Mojave factions that are present in different towns in the wasteland and will influence the way they treat you. Helping one faction may cause one or more other factions to dislike you and certain armor will dress you up as a member of one faction. Certain quests will only open up if your reputation with a faction is high enough and companions will only join you if you share a similar cause.

The courier’s journey through the wasteland is affected by their skills and S.P.E.C.I.A.L. stats. S.P.E.C.I.A.L stand for the seven primary attributes of the courier: strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility and luck. Each stat has an effect on your character, for example strength determines your melee weapon damage and how much weight you can carry and intelligence affects the amount of skill points you receive per level and also unlocks certain conversation options. In addition to these attributes, the courier has access to a variety of skills such as lockpick and repair, which allow you to pick and unlock increasingly difficult doors and repair weapons and armor respectively. There are also weapon skills that increase your effectiveness while wielding guns, energy weapons, explosives and melee weapons.

Combat is much the same as it was in Fallout 3. Fighting takes place from either a third-person or first-person perspective with melee, ranged or thrown weapons. Aiming in first-person mode with a ranged weapon now allows the player to look down the guns sights instead of simply zooming in and allows for more precise targeting. V.A.T.S. (the vault-tec assisted targeting system) returns from Fallout 3 and once again allows players to target specific body parts of their enemies and even shoot weapons out of their hands. You can cripple enemy legs to slow them down, cripple their arms to ruin their aim or destroy their weapon to disarm them. Each body part has an accuracy percentage which will rise or fall based on distance to target, visibility and your weapon skill for the weapon you are wielding. Your own weapons will, over time, suffer durability damage from use and need to be repaired periodically with other weapons, which will repair your weapon to a level based on your repair skill, or from repair vendors which will cost you money.

The player can be assisted in combat by companions which can be recruited through a combination of quests and reputation. Companions come with their own armor and weapons and each has a specific way of attacking. One companion may prefer sniping from afar or another might like to get up close and personal. This time around, instead of interacting with your companion through conversation options, New Vegas introduces the companion wheel. This new system allows players instant access to eight commands which include healing, opening their inventory and telling the companion to follow the player or stay behind and allows for quicker micromanaging of companions in and out of combat.

Where Vegas shines is in the ways it distances itself from its predecessor. The faction reputation system allows for more dynamic gameplay and assures that you can’t just do whatever you want and expect everyone to still love you. Unlike Fallout 3, you can’t just murder an innocent, fast travel away and return a couple of days later with all forgiven. If your reputation drops to a point where a faction is hostile on sight to you, it will stay that way until you take steps to improve it. What this does is make the player think about the consequences of killing certain individuals and completing certain quests, but also ultimately determines how the game ends as the player has the option of supporting several different main factions. This is perhaps the biggest difference between New Vegas and Fallout 3 and is what prevents it from feeling like an expansion pack. Companions are easier to manage than they were in Fallout 3, and at campfires around the wasteland, players can cook food with ingredients gathered from all around instead of needing to spend money on food and stimpaks.

Yes, you can gamble at the casinos but unless you’re going for achievements there isn’t much point in doing so. There are only three games to play: roulette, blackjack and slots. They follow the real-life rules of each, but there isn’t much point to gambling except for the sake of gambling and for a handful of achievements/trophies.

One major new addition is hardcore mode. Hardcore is a new level of difficulty above hard that makes the game more “realistic”. The player will need to keep track of three different meters which represent sleep deprivation, dehydration and starvation. If any of the meters gets too high, the player will die. Crippled limbs will also not recover instantly when healed with a stimpak and will require a doctor’s visit to heal or the use of a doctor bag. Stimpaks themselves now heal over time instead of instantly, so combat needs to be approached much more carefully. In addition to increasing the difficulty of the game, hardcore mode grants an achievement/trophy to the player if the mode is enabled for the entire duration of that playthrough.

New Vegas does suffer from some technical issues, some minor but some major enough to disrupt the experience. I would occasionally find typos and missing words in character dialogue and every once in a while a character would say nothing at all while their words appeared on-screen. More seriously though is the freezing issue. In the first three days of playing New Vegas, my game froze three times and I got frozen out once or twice at the very end as well. The situation got better the more I played after the start, but I still encountered more freezes than I felt was acceptable. If the game wasn’t freezing, it was pausing every 10 seconds or so or it was lagging here and there. I feel that a little more fine-tuning would have fixed this and I’m disappointed that these issues made it to the final product.

One other issue I had that bothered me was how over-powered my companions were. I barely had to fight anything at all because my companions would either kill everything before I even noticed it or would easily handle the threat if it snuck up on us. I could literally stand in a room of enemies and not fire a round while my companions took care of the situation while I went and made a sandwich. Plus, at least on normal difficulty, my companions never died so I’d never need to waste stimpaks on them. The worst thing that would happen is they would be rendered unconscious and I’d have to actually fight something so they’d recover. Like I said though, this is on normal difficulty so this may actually be different at higher difficulties.

Aside from the technical difficulties, my complaints about New Vegas are few and far between. Yes the companions are over-powered but they are also optional. New Vegas was, for me, a continuation of the fun I experienced playing Fallout 3. The sheer size of the world, while just a little smaller than that of Fallout 3, still offers countless experiences for the player and the story has the option to branch off in many different ways and brings a lot of replay value. Gameplay is still smooth and still works well and I’ll give Bethesda credit for releasing a game that feels like it belongs in the series without feeling like too much more of the same. If you liked playing Fallout 3, I definitely recommend picking up New Vegas.

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Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (PSP)

In 2002, Square Enix and Disney came together to create an exciting blend of RPG-style gameplay and Disney magic known as Kingdom Hearts. Now, eight years and three more terrific games later, Kingdom Hearts has yet another title in its popular franchise, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep. This story follows Terra, Ventus and Aqua, three young keyblade wielders with a common dream of becoming keyblade masters, as they venture across the Kingdom Hearts universe to locate their missing keyblade master, Xehanort, fight a new enemy known as the Unversed and uncover the mysteries of the keyblade and of their own hearts.

Birth by Sleep follows the formula set in place by previous Kingdom Hearts games in which your character travels from one world to another, fights enemies, gains experience, meets new characters and collects various items, weapons and abilities. This particular installment differs greatly from the previous handheld title, Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days, and more resembles those found on the Playstation 2. Unlike Days’ mission-based system, Birth by Sleep grants players access to an entire world at once without being restricted to certain zones or needing to backtrack to a hub world, allowing for the completion of each world’s story in one visit. Players will encounter various Disney, and in one case Final Fantasy, characters on each world and, unlike Days, can fight alongside them.

Unlike Days, players gain experience by defeating enemies and can level up abilities and magic with experience as well, sometimes unlocking new abilities in the process. Abilities are equipped in the command deck alongside spells and items and can be cycled through at will without the need for equipping tiles before adventuring. Abilities can be customized before and after any fight, but not during combat, allowing for players to adjust for each encounter. Also unlike Days, very little scenery is recycled from previous games in the series. In fact, Birth by Sleep’s first four worlds are entirely new to the series and only a handful of characters have even been seen in the series before.

Birth by Sleep features three different characters each with their own playstyle, presenting players with three unique adventures and stories. Terra focuses on strength and physical attacks, allowing enemies to be quickly defeated with only a few strong attacks in a short fight, however he attacks slowly and is not very proficient with magic. Ventus offers a balance between strength and magic and attacks with quick combos and spellcasting, but excels at neither physical attacks nor spells. Aqua is a pure spellcaster, winning fights easily with powerful spells and few physical attacks, but suffers from a lack of strength and defense. Players need to adjust to each character’s style in order to succeed as one character will not necessarily succeed with the same attacks as another.

Each character also has their own unique perspective on the game’s story and requires completion of all three stories to see the big picture and unlock the final chapter. Though some story events occur at the same time, generally speaking Terra’s story comes first, Aqua’s comes last and Ventus’ falls in between, though each character can feel the impact of other characters’ actions in certain worlds and meet denizens of other worlds who have met the others before. There is no set order in which you must tackle each story, so feel free to jump in with your favorite or save the best for last.

There really isn’t much in Birth by Sleep that doesn’t work well. Combat flows as well as it ever did and physical attacks and magic alike can be unleashed at will. Customizable finishing attacks add more flavor to combat as do the style forms, which can be unlocked by combining commands of different types in combat. The fast-paced combat system offers plenty to look at and is one area in which the game truly shines and the different styles offered by each character means you’ll never get bored.

Another huge positive for Birth by Sleep is the engaging story. Square Enix has never been one to skimp on storytelling and Birth by Sleep is no exception; I was hooked the whole way through. The fact that the story expands with each character you play certainly helps to add to the experience and always leaves you wanting more. There are unfortunately one or two forgettable characters but they detract little from the overall cast. The fun thing about the story is that you can see all kinds of hints at how Birth by Sleep, as the first game in the series chronologically, influences events in every game that comes after it…and even the one that hasn’t been made yet. Yes, there’s a secret ending and no, I’m not spoiling it. Unlock it for yourself and see.

The voice acting and dialogue are slightly overdone at times, but this really isn’t anything new as voice actors in the Kingdom Hearts series have always been a little overenthusiastic. All sound aside from character voices is fantastic though. The musical scores for each world, in addition to how the tune and tempo change when in combat, are beautiful and live up to the series’ reputation for amazing music.

One major distraction however is the amount of time you’ll stare at a loading screen. I can’t recall a PSP game that had loading times as long as this one has and it came to be very irritating very quickly. Luckily there is a data install option which helps the problem a little, but even after installing the most data possible the load times are still longer than average. I recommend performing a data install as soon as possible before actually playing this one.

With very little to complain about, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep is a complete package. Brilliant visuals and an amazing soundtrack, a gripping story and memorable characters, new locations and fun gameplay all come together to make Birth by Sleep one of the PSP’s best. A true gem, this one belongs in any PSP owner’s collection.

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Red Dead Redemption (360, PS3)

Rockstar Games took a trip away from the city and back to the Wild West in their latest gaming hit, Red Dead Redemption.

Set in the year 1911 in Texas along the border of Mexico, Red Dead Redemption sees players take on the role of John Marston, a former criminal turned reluctant bounty hunter, as he is forced by the US government to hunt down members of his old gang who left him to die years ago. John travels throughout Texas and into Mexico to accomplish his goal and free himself from the clutches of the government who kidnapped his family and forced him to work against those he used to call his friends.

Red Dead Redemption is very similar to Rockstar’s previous forays into gaming, namely Grand Theft Auto, with its free-roaming gameplay and open environments which grant the player an enormous amount of freedom. Players can choose to move along with story missions at their leisure while performing tasks for strangers and friends alike. Aside from completing missions and tasks, you can also advance through ranks of mastery sidequests which involve hunting, treasure seeking, collecting and sharpshooting. By completing these mastery assignments, players increase their fame until they achieve the title “Legend of the West.”

In addition to fame, there is also an honor system. Marston’s actions, good or bad, affect his honor in different ways. Bringing bounties back alive and completing stranger tasks grants positive honor, bringing bounties back dead awards no honor and acting like a criminal (stealing, murdering, etc.) grant negative honor. A lot of the time, actions which award or take away honor will also grant fame as word of your exploits travel. Depending on your level of honor, the law may turn a blind eye to your actions, stores may offer you a discount or you may be granted other bonuses.

Red Dead Redemption’s strengths are certainly plentiful and definitely outnumber its weaknesses. First off, its presentation is practically flawless. Character models and environments are beautifully detailed and look like they belong in the period and the game’s numerous voice actors clearly put their all into making the experience believable. John Marston’s actor, Rob Wiethoff, in particular stands out and delivers an outstanding performance. Ambient sounds like wolves, horses, rattlesnakes and other animals really fight to bring the West to life.

The West itself is presented very authentically. Players get a sense of total lawlessness outside of the local sheriff where double-crosses are paid in blood and crimes are faced with the consequence of death more often than not. Nature itself is a danger with the threat of coyotes, rattlesnakes and even bears and cougars ever-present in the great outdoors. Nature is as much a threat as the dangerous bounties you hunt and it’s always wise to keep your rifle loaded and well-stocked with ammunition and your horse nearby in case you need to make a quick getaway.

Where Red Dead Redemption really shines is in the storytelling. John Marston drives the story forward as the likeable anti-hero trying to atone for his past and rescue his family and the various antagonists met along the way make Marston all the more appealing. Each story mission is like a story in its own right and keeps the player interested until the curtain closes on the final act. I could barely force myself to put this game down once I got started, I was so enthralled.

It’s hard to pinpoint anything in this game that doesn’t work well, and anything I can think of simply isn’t worth mentioning. I’m not ready to call this game perfect, simply put nothing is, but it’s closer to perfection than any other game in recent memory. This is a must play for anyone who has the means to do so, and I’m going to go ahead and call this one game of the year, so take that for what it’s worth.

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Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver (DS)

Looking for more Pokémon to catch? Look no further, trainers.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, the 2010 remakes of their predecessors Gold and Silver from 2000, were released this March for the Nintendo DS and proved, once again, that Pokémon is still alive and kicking. HG and SS once again send trainers to the Johto region to set out on their very own Pokémon adventure. While much of the content of these games is a straight up remake of the old Game Boy Color versions, improved graphics, revamped environments and more Pokémon make these titles just different enough to warrant a re-release.

HG and SS start out much as you would expect; you are a young, promising Pokémon trainer who is gifted their first Pokémon and sent on a quest to fill up your Pokémon encyclopedia (Pokédex) with every one of the 493 Pokémon while at the same time making your Pokémon stronger by battling trainers and gym leaders on the way to becoming Pokémon League Champion. The story rarely varies between Pokémon titles, if it does at all, so the premise should come as no surprise to Pokéveterans. Newcomers will soon find that this is a perfect time to jump into the series as this is possibly the most complete Pokémon game ever made.

Not only do HG and SS contain every last bit of the old Gold and Silver versions, including the Johto and Kanto regions, but they feature bits from all the other Pokémon versions that came before. Every legendary Pokémon from Red, Blue, Silver, Gold, Sapphire, Ruby and Emerald are obtainable in HG and SS, as well as Pokémon from the Hoenn and Sinnoh regions featured in Sapphire, Ruby, Diamond and Pearl. HG and SS also feature the double battle system introduced in Ruby and Sapphire, where a team of two Pokémon battle another team of two, and also the Suicune storyline featured in Pokémon Crystal. Sadly, though, none of the legendaries from Diamond, Pearl or Platinum are available outside of special Nintendo giveaway events or an Action Replay.

HG and SS also gave the Johto and Kanto regions a complete makeover. The layout of the regions remains the same, but the appearance of the landscapes and environments has improved drastically and take full advantage of the DS’s improved capabilities. Buildings, trees and other structures are in 3D, colors are much more vibrant, Pokémon battle animations are fluid and worth watching rather than skipping and the music, while the same from before, received a remix of sorts and sounds better than ever. Gym leaders from both regions had their teams slightly altered and updated, upping the difficulty ever so slightly, and more Pokémon have been made available to the player. HG and SS feature the usual version excusive formula where certain Pokémon can only be caught in one version, encouraging trainers to trade with someone who has the opposite version to complete their Pokédex.

It’s hard for me to find anything wrong with these games, but I’m not about to say they’re perfect. I’m not going to sit here and say these are new games because, as remakes, that would be impossible. I did find myself level grinding from time to time as the difficulty from one gym leader to the next tends to jump and provides few trainers between leaders to level up on. Beyond those few negatives, I completely enjoyed my experience.

Longtime Pokémon fans may be disappointed that HeartGold and SoulSilver do little to change the usual formula of catch ‘em, train ‘em, battle ‘em that has been featured in every handheld Pokémon to date and those looking for drastic change may need to set their sights elsewhere. For me, the Silver version was always my favorite in the series and to see it get such a terrific remake was very fulfilling. As I said before, these games are perhaps the two most complete Pokémon games to ever exist and do well to bring everything together. I’m not sold on the idea that they added very much to the series and at times they felt more like fan service rather than actual franchise progression, but I can’t say I didn’t have a blast playing SoulSilver. If you like Pokémon or are looking to give it a try, I would absolutely recommend these two.

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Final Fantasy XIII (360, PS3)

Final Fantasy has, at last, entered the current generation of gaming.

Square Enix’s latest installment in its flagship series, Final Fantasy XIII, features its latest group of heroes battling destiny and fighting for survival. This particular fantasy features the game’s primary heroine, Lightning, as she fights to rescue her sister and save her homeworld while resisting a corrupt military regime and its omnipotent mystical leader. Lightning travels with her allies to great lengths, and even another world, in her quest to for justice and redemption.

Final Fantasy XIII’s cast features the aloof and quiet Lightning, her brother-in-law to be Snow, former soldier Sazh, youngsters Vanille and Hope and the mysterious warrior woman Fang. Each character comes complete with their own personalities and goals, often clashing with each other but ultimately working together to find success. Players will likely find at least one character they can relate to and probably another that will rub them the wrong way. This should come as no surprise to fans of Square Enix’s projects as strong character development has always been a mainstay.

Let me say one thing right away: this is not your traditional Final Fantasy. The typical formula of turn-based attacks, world exploration, NPC interaction and non-linear gameplay has been tossed in favor of something less familiar but by no means terrible. Combat has a more real-time feel to it and allows the player somewhat more control over the outcome. Players control only the leader instead of the entire party but they can still call the shots. Party control comes in the form of various strategies called paradigms that players can customize to have party members heal, absorb enemy attacks or cause as much damage as they can; strategies which can be changed at any point during the course of battle and which allow the player to adapt to any situation.

I’m going to be honest and say I haven’t finished the game yet. I’m at about the halfway point but the way I see it, with the exception of the rest of the story, I’ve seen enough of what the game offers to be able to pass along an opinion. I’ve enjoyed the battle system and the paradigm shifting is great; it really does allow you to dictate the flow of battle and play in whatever style you want. At any point you can alter your party’s complexion from all-out offense to casting status ailments and party buffs to healing and defending in a matter of seconds. The single member control can be frustrating since the game ends whenever your character is defeated regardless of the status of the rest of the party, but the game does allow you to retry at the start of whatever fight ended your quest.

Exploration is nonexistent until around the game’s midpoint and to be honest the game is very linear up until that point. Players can travel through the areas the game places them in but other than that, there is very little freedom offered. There is no backtracking or revisiting areas already cleared and the only movement is forward. Admittedly, yes this does deviate from the typical Final Fantasy gameplay, but in the context of the story of XIII, it makes sense when you consider your party is on the run and must remain incognito lest they be captured or executed. Considering it’s been some time since a truly nonlinear Final Fantasy existed, this is not as big a deal as many have made it seem.

If I had any complaint at this point it would be the story. I see the story as one big family squabble between Lightning and Snow over whether Snow is worthy of marrying Lightning’ sister Serah. I understand the story evolves beyond the two heroes into a worldwide scale, but at the center of the conflict is a sister’s disapproval of her sister’s fiancée. The story may only be one aspect of the game, but it is crucial in a game like Final Fantasy where every action is designed to drive the story forward. If there is no motivation to see the remainder of the story, what is the point of playing any further?

In support of the game, there is the previously mentioned battle system, but the game also looks and sounds amazing. Animations are fluid and environments are vibrant and imaginative and are complemented by the game’s soundtrack which is very easy on the ears even though the battle music gets a little repetitive. The character voice actors are acceptable and provide adequate performances, with the possible exception of Vanille whose accent shifts in and out of existence at will. Particularly noteworthy are the eidolon (summon) animations which are jaw-droppingly beautiful (Odin’s especially) and are among the grandest sights in the game.

The gameplay is about as deep as you would expect from a Final Fantasy game, and that is about the only of the series’ roots to remain intact. Experience points have been replaced by crystogen points which allow players to progress through a character’s crystarium, reminiscent of the sphere grid from Final Fantasy X. Each character’s role, of which there are eventually six (medic, saboteur, commando, ravager, synergist and sentinel) can be individually customized and advanced through the crystarium, allowing for completely unique character development at the total control of the player. Various weapons are available and upgradeable and numerous accessories can be equipped which add different abilities and benefits. The only downfall is that players cannot take full advantage of upgrading until well into the game due to lack of components or places to acquire them.

My opinion is this. If you’re looking for yet another traditional Final Fantasy adventure that strictly follows the formula set by Final Fantasy I, stay away from XIII. If you’re among those brave enough to try something new and risk not enjoying it, pick this one up. This isn’t the greatest Final Fantasy ever produced and probably isn’t going to win any game of the year awards, but RPG fans looking for a deep, rewarding experience won’t want to miss it. Rent it first if you can.

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