A fantasy realm steeped with history and lore, Antaloor is torn between the so-called civilized races and the savage hordes. Most notably, the animosity between the humans and orcs is longstanding and legendary. It is the existence known to all those of Antaloor; it is the way, the reality, and the life of the Two Worlds RPG series. Approaching their release of the second title in the series, Two Worlds II, the developers at TopWare Interactive seek to fully enhance all aspects of the RPG sequel so that the game not only eclipses the merits and missteps of the original title, but also revitalizes their vision of Antaloor through a more proper epic fantasy tale. During a developer-controlled demo at PAX East, representatives from TopWare explained and showed just how Two Worlds II will meet their ambitious goals.

Set about five years after the events of the first game, Two Worlds II essentially rebalances much of what was already in strife in its predecessor and largely starts anew. While even RPG fans can’t deny the stark criticisms against the first game, many will thus find a new ray of hope in Two Worlds II. Gandohar, the primary villain of the original game, has imprisoned both the hero of the series (named whatever the player calls him) and the hero’s sister. The introduction, however, depicts a highly strange turn of events: a group of orcs come to save the player’s human character, and the player then follows, even stranger still, a sexy female orc assassin named Dar Pha to freedom. In a way, both the odd nobility of orcs and the hero’s path to freedom signify redemption: a way for Two Worlds II to redeem the faults of the predecessor and hopefully write a bright new RPG future for the player’s character.

The large overworld will make way for plenty of exploration.

From the game’s outset and throughout its adventure, not only will the player customize his character’s physical appearance, but also the intricate detail and artistic design of much of the armor will always make the hero look badass. Meanwhile, an enhanced version of the “classless” advancement system, one of the strongest features of Two Worlds, places a fresh twist on traditional RPG classes, such magic users, warriors, etc. Instead of dedicating the character to a single class with a focus on skills, the player will assign points, when his character increases in level, to any of the various skill sets and thus create unique hybrids or mixtures of the traditional RPG classes. The unique character advancement of Two Worlds II grants the player great control over his character’s growth in ways largely unexplored by most RPGs, and includes the option to re-spec if necessary.

The deep customization options in Two Worlds II allow the player yet more options to meticulously tailor his equipment. The player, through an enhanced version of the interesting item crafting system of the first game, can break down old, weaker equipment into their base elements (steel, leather, wool, etc.), which allows him to upgrade his current equipment in a much faster and efficient way than traditional RPGs’ method of selling armor to buy new armor. If there’s a certain piece of equipment the player likes, the item crafting system allows the player to continuously upgrade the item so that it can stay useful to the player for a long time. With the armor, the player will also have the very intuitive option to prepare up to three different armor sets that he can switch between on-the-fly for different combat situations, such as long-range fighting, close combat, and magic combat.

Antaloor hosts both pleasing vistas and untold dangers.

The card-based magic system even further empowers the player to customize his character right down to how exactly the character’s magic looks and functions. From a base spell card, the player can effectively mold any given spell to his liking using additional modification cards that he can find during quests and raids. The player can, for example, have a basic fireball spell; add multiplier, seeking, and ricochet cards; and create spell that shoots three fireballs that ricochet off the environment and seek an enemy target. On top of all the intra-spell customization, spells can stack together, so the player, in effect, could shoot fireballs that create small, localized lightning storms. The magic system reflects an incredible amount of flexibility alone, and entails an exceptional amount of freedom for the player to play precisely how he wants.

As the player progresses his character’s growth and goes through quests, he will explore Two Worlds II’s vast, detailed depiction of Anataloor. The graphics engine makes use of advances lighting, textures, and physics effects to create complex environments, and the developers, furthermore, have fully utilized the engine to illustrate beautiful, artistic cities and landscapes. Even with areas that return from the first game, such as the Asian-themed Ashos, the developers have added much more vibrancy and style. The world reflects influences from locales like Asia, the Middle-East, Persia, and Egypt that all present thematic feels that starkly differ from the traditional fantasy RPG castles and dungeons.

With cities that look this nice, you’ll never want to leave.

In addition, Two Worlds II takes particular advantage of the PC platform: it has support for DirectX 10, with graphical improvements over its DirectX 9 mode, and even Nvidia PhysX, which supplements the detail and provides more accurate physics simulations. As Devon Smith, Narrative Director at TopWare, explained in my follow-up interview after the demo, “As a PC gamer, you should be very comfortable”; the developers produced PC titles in the past, and have made sure to optimize the graphics, controls, and menu interface for the PC.

Throughout the player’s exploration and combat situations, Two Worlds II will frame the gameplay with a main storyline and side quests. For those who appreciate directed and choreographed fantasy story moments, the narrative offers 80 to 90 minutes of scripted cut-scenes, most of which the game renders in real time, while a few minutes of CGI scenes serve as bookends for the story. Other story moments come through fully interactive, more immersive scenes where the player can move his character and choose between dialogue options. “I think what’s cool about our conversation system,” said Devon, “is it’s not like there’s a red option that’s bad, there’s a blue option that’s good, and they’re not always in the same places. So, we’re kind of forcing you to read a little bit. At the same time, with all the choices in our game…the hero [becomes] you.”

Customize again and again, and enemies won’t even keep up.

All told, the narrative combines several different types for diverse storytelling effects, such as the books with varying amounts of text that present backstory and possible side quests. As the game’s PR Director, Jake DiGennaro, described it during the demo, “With a game of this size, this magnitude, this scope, and this genre, it’s an interesting challenge to try to find a balance between people that want a crazy, in-depth, super detailed, hardcore RPG and people that are interested in the genre but don’t want to have to plug away and feel like things are kind of a chore.” The various storytelling methods potentially accommodate various players’ tastes, and will resolve together to produce the overall storytelling experience.

Altogether, Two Worlds II will hold the player through a grand RPG single player storyline, and the 2-8 player multiplayer options further supplement the game: the PvP arenas make a return from the first game while the new 5-8 hour co-op campaign provides a separate story that takes place in between the original title and the sequel. By far the most remarkable aspect of the whole experiences stems from the sheer amount of customization available to the player to dramatically control his experience. As a result of its rich story and world and its empowerment of the player, Two World II promises RPG exploits that’ll not only far surpass those of the first game, but potentially could stand alongside the fantasy RPG notables. While the game has no set release date, the game should release sometime in the third quarter of 2010.

Back when it released in 2003, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time became a memorable game that made a tremendous impact on all 3D platformers to come. The classic title’s unforgettable elements clearly provided a strong foundation for platformers up to and including Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia 2008 reboot, despite the fact that the reboot made over the hero’s, the Prince’s, acrobatic platforming and noticeably removed its predecessor’s time-control abilities.

With Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, Ubisoft shows that they still have some magic sand left to go back in time to the series’ fond platforming roots. The very title itself seems telling, as if it’s Ubisoft’s admission that leaving The Sands of Time behind was a mistake they now intend to correct. While there’s certainly a place for the 2008 reboot’s new storyline with a new Prince, original take on a magical Persia, and differing style of platforming, I’m thankful that Ubisoft hasn’t truly forgotten The Sands of Time’s story and its two sequels, its beautiful Arabian Nights aesthetic, its unique narrative use of the protagonist Prince’s whimsical self-narration, the masterful mixture of puzzle solving, platforming, and combat, and most of all its innovative time rewind powers.

The playable demo on the PAX show floor and the developer-guided live demo shown during Ubisoft’s panel show how The Forgotten Sands definitely reenters the enchanted world of The Sands of Time with the full force of an “ocean in a storm.” In fact, Michael McIntyre, the game’s Level Design Director, outlined how much he loved The Sands of Time as his first point in the panel, and then discussed how The Forgotten Sands is a direct follow-up to the original. Set between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within, the game tells a tale of when the Prince seeks to aid his brother Malik, whose kingdom lies under siege.

The playable demo’s tutorial level illustrates the Prince’s traversal of the city’s walls while he fights enemies that block his path to his brother. When the Prince makes his iconic wallruns on the city’s outer walls to get past small gaps in the path, I thought it felt exactly right. He doesn’t automatically wallrun like he does in the 2008 remake; the player has to time his jump correctly and then hold that wallrun button down, just as he should.

And he hasn’t even gotten to the magic yet.

In between the Prince’s smoothly animated leaps, swings from poles, and spelunking along ledges, the great volleys of arrows fly at the Prince and the vast number of warriors battling in the background complete an effect of a grand conflict. The game uses the Anvil engine in combination with a colorful art style to render expansive, beautiful vistas that look like a cross between the 2008 Prince of Persia and the Assassin’s Creed games (all of which also run on Anvil). “Very reminiscent of Sands of Time,” McIntyre said during the live demo, “it has real realism to it, but also just a hint of an Arabian Nights kind of fantasy twist.”

Siege towers ram into the wall and give the hero trouble. Appropriately enough given the game’s “place” in the series, the combat falls in between the simple swordfights of The Sands of Time and the complex, combo-heavy slashing of Warrior Within. In addition to the familiar normal slices and the graceful aerial slashes, the Prince can now charge up his attacks for stronger swipes. He can also knock foes down now, whereby he’ll perform an elaborate, contextual finishing move when enemies are on the ground or near walls.

Jan-Erik Sjovall, the game’s Animation Director, also made the Prince perform a single maneuver during Ubisoft’s live demo that looked very much like quick counterattack. Whether the combat has it or not, a good counterattack system has always been essential to Prince of Persia’s battles, so I’m anxious to see how the combat works in the full game.

The familiar moves feel like the Prince never left.

Finally, the Prince finds his brother, who, in spite of the Prince’s warnings, desperately decides to unleash an ancient Sand Army to further help his cause. Inevitably, things turn dramatically awry, as the army soon turns all of the city’s citizens into sand statues. The second half of the playable demo, as well as the developers’ live demo, takes place during the event’s aftermath, in which Malik and the Prince fight the new Sand Army threat in an attempt to recapture the city.

During the playable demo’s later game levels, the Prince has gained some more advanced platforming, combat abilities, and the vital rewind time power. As McIntyre explained, the kingdom stands on an oasis that Malik uses to adorn his city with an extravagant system of decorative waterfalls and water spouts, which is probably why the game uses energy orbs for regaining health in lieu of drinking water since the abundance of water understandably would make the game too easy. The Prince can take advantage of the water system using his newfound elemental ability to “freeze” the water, like stopping time for only the water and nothing but. Using the ability, the player can temporarily turn waterfalls into a makeshift walls, which the Prince can wallrun or climb, and solidify spouts into poles, on which the Prince can swing across gaps.

The water freeze ability adds a surprising amount of depth, complexity, and even puzzle-solving to the platforming; for example, the player will need to freeze a spout to swing, strategically unfreeze while he jumps through a waterfall, quickly freeze again to land on the next water pole, only to jump back to and off the now solidified waterfall to reach the next area. After relatively easy 2008 remake, I never would’ve thought that Ubisoft would ever again make platforming as complex as it was in the older Prince of Persia games, but they certainly did for The Forgotten Sands.

The water “freezing” allows Ubisoft to do fresh things with traditional platforming.

In combat, the Prince can use the Sands of Time to power special elemental attacks. The earth power partially surrounds him in rock armor that makes him impervious for a short time and strengthens his attacks. The ice power sends chilly waves from his sword to damage enemies from afar. And the wind power creates a massive, cool-looking whirlwind around the Prince to send foes flying and swirling. The developers’ demo also showcased a sort of homing attack, which the Prince can use to charge at enemies and thereby make his way across large gaps. Indeed the hero has a large repertoire of moves at his disposal, and he’ll need them when the game doles out a daunting encounter with dozens of sand warriors.

At the crux of all the gameplay lies the welcome return of the time rewind powers. The Prince will have no need for a magical girl to save him like his 2008 counterpart; he has the Sands, which the player can use at will, provided he has enough, to correct any platforming or combat mishap. With the complex platforming and sheer number of enemies, the rewind power will undoubtedly become essential to the Prince’s adventure.

As soon as I heard the Prince’s lighthearted, humorous remark right after Malik released the Sand Army (“A sandstorm? Well, it’s probably just a coincidence.”), I knew that The Forgotten Sands shows great promise to recapture the spirit of The Sands of Time. From the Prince’s voice, too, I could easily recognize that Yuri Lowenthal has contributed his talents as he once again reprises his princely role. Both the playable demo and the developers’ live demo greatly increased my anticipation for The Forgotten Sands, and I can’t wait for its impending release in May.

Sitting in the Main Theatre at PAX East on Friday, I knew something important was coming to the gaming world. I was at the very cusp of Nvidia’s official launch of their Fermi platform, which consists of their flagship card, the GTX480, and its little brother, the GTX 470. Needless to say, it was a great day for video games.

The expansive theater was filled to the brim with PAX-goers excited about the event. The fact soon dawned on me: these folks weren’t ordinary gamers anticipating any ordinary release. The hundreds of people in attendance all came to see a graphics card, a piece of hardware alone, launch; they can be none other than PC gamers, the very finest stock of enthusiasts. The launch of the card and the impressive PC gamer turnout are why Gordon Van Dyke, an EA guest speaker later on in the panel, says he laughs whenever hears the claim that “PC Gaming is dead.” On the contrary, the launch of the GTX 480 marks not just a great day, but the fantastic rest of PC gaming’s long life yet to come.

Drew Henry, General Manager of the Geforce team at Nvidia, hosted the launch and led the charge in the name of PC gaming. He held up Nvidia’s next generation, the GTX 480 card that will assuredly lie at the heart of PCs as it pumps out the life blood that is frames per second. Even though there was no motherboard, no CPU, no case, and no actual PC attached to the card that rested in Drew’s hand, I could tell right away that the GTX 480 fit Nvidia’s long-standing graphics philosophy: that of bigger, better, and more power. With its massive PCB, four large heat pipes, and nearly brick-sized dual-slot heatsink and fan, the GTX 480 considerably dwarfed the man’s puny hands.

1 million particles, in full PhysX and 3D, is a sight to behold.

Nvidia’s take on the graphics card isn’t one I’m personally comfortable with, as I prefer GPUs that still perform amazingly well despite their focus on power efficiency. Nevertheless, I respect Nvidia’s perspective behind their powerful behemoth cards: as Henry said, the company wants gamers to “Crank that shit up.” The GTX 400 series grants gamers that power.

The GTX 480 is, in Henry’s words, after all “The top-of-the-line, hands-down, fastest GPU we’ve ever built, the best GPU we’ve ever built, and, as well, the fastest GPU on the planet.” The GTX 470, meanwhile, maintains fantastic gaming performance despite its lower price tag. The specs Henry outlined back up his claims: the 480 has a daunting 3 billion transistors, 480 GPU cores, and a 1.5 GB frame buffer while the 470 has 448 cores and a 1.2 GB frame buffer. The performance charts he showed back up claims as well: compared to the last generation’s 285, the 480 offers a range of 1.5 to 2 times the frames-per-second performance across the board of the games shown (Crysis Warhead, Fallout 3, Far Cry 2, Hawx, Just Cause 2, Left 4 Dead, Need for Speed: Shift, Metro 2033, and Battlefield: Bad Company 2).

While fancy numbers and colorful performance charts are nice, the real-time game demos made the biggest impression. Starting with a demo of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Henry and EA’s Van Dyke demonstrated the 3D capabilities of the 480. Gaming in 3D, however, isn’t anything new, and Nvidia has supported their 3D Vision feature for quite some time already. “You know what?” said Henry, “I don’t think that quite looks good enough. I think we got to crank that shit up!” At that moment, the display turned on 3D Vision Surround, displaying an immersive, ridiculously wide, high-resolution 3D gameplay without any noticeable slowdowns. At the time, the 3D did look somewhat cool, but for whatever reason—my horrible viewing angle or the cheap, Avatar-style polarized 3D glasses—I also saw a considerable amount of image doubling.

Raytracing makes the most photorealistic cars in gaming ever.

Although the 3D also didn’t work well in any of the other demos, namely World of Warcraft, Need for Speed: Shift, Metro 2033, and Nvidia’s special Super Sonic Sled showcase, I did get the full 3D effect during my hands-on time with GTX 480-powered games on the PAX show floor. Utilizing the more expensive shutter 3D glasses, the 3D in the show floor demos looked pristine and perfect, and the 3D Vision Surround demos looked even more captivating. None of the games made use of any foreground depth, or “pop-out” of the screen, yet the realistic 3D depth looked incredible nonetheless.

I especially liked the Super Sonic Sled demo, where a man strapped to a giant rocket boosts along a rail track. Even though it technically isn’t a real game, it shows the potential capability of the GTX 480: the demo has the card run 3D, DirectX 11 with tessellation, and PhysX all at the same time. I “cranked that shit up” and dialed the particles on the track’s bridge to an extraordinary 1 million particles. As soon as the rocket blew across and destroyed the bridge, I paused the game, zoomed and panned around the bridge in mid-collapse, and marveled at the sight of 1 million particles rendered in full 3D.

The Need for Speed: Shift demo looked just as impressive. Specially modified for the GTX 400 series, the demo showcased, for the first time ever, full, interactive raytracing. While the lack of in-motion racing gameplay is an important note here, I could still pan the camera around the cars and witness how the raytracing dynamically renders highly accurate reflections of the surroundings on the cars’ shiny bodies.

If the ability to run 3D, DX 11, PhysX, and even the potential for raytracing all at great performance and high resolutions appeals to you, the GTX 400 series cards will serve you well. Furthermore, both the Super Sonic Sled and the Need for Speed: Shift raytracing demo will come free with every GTX 480 and 470, and will allow you play with the card’s new features right away. While Friday, March 26th was the “official” release for the 400 series, the cards won’t hit retail for another 14 days.

Within the genres of science fiction or fantasy, we can’t help but find ourselves overwhelmingly captivated by the rich worlds we find. From Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic to Dragon Age: Origins, BioWare’s games render such highly detailed and well thought-out universes that they especially enable us to escape our lives and truly immerse ourselves into other realities. More than just escapism, however, the games provide a more important (and less pathetic) thematic function: their alternate realities inform our own.

My Shepard, captain of the Normandy.

When playing Mass Effect, for instance, the way I control Shepard’s character is the way he becomes my character, and thus helps me understand myself, whether by reflection—my choices make Shepard embody everything I am—or by difference—I make him everything I’m not. I can become so invested in a BioWare game like Mass Effect because its characters and reality mean so much more than simple fantasy. So please understand why I might get a little touchy when things drastically change in my beloved universe.

I can’t even imagine the Mass Effect 2 experience without first playing the original, and I’d be totally remiss if I didn’t extensively critique the narrative or discuss spoiler-laden comparisons to Mass Effect. If you import your unique completed Mass Effect saved game, you’ll experience far more satisfying results in interactivity and agency – the developers author the ongoing effects of your past choices into Mass Effect 2 (that will also assuredly continue through to Mass Effect 3).

You should play the original Mass Effect not just because it’s a fantastic sci-fi odyssey and a significant prelude to an ongoing story, but also because the narrative fulfills your specific choices in impressive ways only possible in video games.

Damn, I wish I saved Kaidan.

Shepard went through hell to defeat the rogue Spectre agent Saren and prevent him from destroying all life in the galaxy, so you’d better make his efforts, or rather your efforts, count. Granted, the game wipes the slate clean, so to speak, when Shepard dies during the well-directed introduction. During the two years it takes for Cerberus, a radical pro-human organization, to literally rebuild Shepard and revive him back to life, Shepard’s old crew has dispersed and moved on, so he must start anew.

Despite Shepard’s death, the way you determined his past—whether you saved Ashley or Kaidan, ended up killing Wrex, or left the Citadel Council to die by the end of first game—still matters. Ranging from minor references on the “Galactic News” to the very existence of certain side missions and segments of the primary mission, Mass Effect 2 essentially fleshes out much of its narrative based on your prior story choices.

The Collectors, not as cool as Saren.

Alerted by Saren, the Reapers—a group of massive AI harbingers—still pose a threat of impending doom on the galaxy, but for now Shepard must attend to more immediate matters. Many of the initial quest’s involve Shepard’s dealings with Cerberus and its shadowy leader “The Illusive Man,” his recruitment of a new crew, and his investigation of the Collectors, an advanced alien species bent on abducting humans.

The missions flow with a brisk pace that keep you enticed and wanting more, though many of them are rather too short, especially when compared to the satisfyingly long missions of Dragon Age and the first Mass Effect. Worst of all, missions end with arbitrary summary screens, which take you out of the immersed experience and don’t let the missions conclude by their own merits. Despite their issues, they consistently reflect a variety of memorable points in Shepard’s journey, and I especially enjoyed the ones, such as the investigation of virally infected mechs across several planets, that sprawl over multiple sub-missions. Most remarkably, they maintain their memorable qualities throughout Mass Effect 2’s 35 hour adventure, even while their quantity outnumbers that of the first game.

Pursuing the Collectors and assembling his crew, Shepard must weed through a galaxy full of foes and combat challenges worthy of the kings of consoles. And that’s not a compliment. On the one hand: gratitude to BioWare for vastly improving the squad members’ AI, as they’ll no longer have trouble following your orders and they’ll even take down a few enemies themselves.

On the other hand, while BioWare probably had good intentions when they removed the problematic inventory and stat-enhancing mod system of Mass Effect in favor of the sequel’s streamlined, less stat-dependent shooting, their solution is like replacing an entire engine to fix a bad spark plug. The fact that your aim doesn’t rely on RPG-style accuracy stats anymore might be a good thing, but the combat falters on two vital fronts: it assumes that making head-shots is difficult (read: that you’re playing on a console) and it doesn’t counterbalance the more effective shooting with smarter, tougher enemies.

Uh, Mordin, I have a mouse and keyboard. You don’t need to fry the poor bastard.

The combat essentially boils down to the colorful little bars atop enemies’ heads. Yellow bars mean they have armor, so use your trusty pistol to punch through. But purple and blue bars mean they have barriers and shields, so watch out because (brace yourself) now you should switch to an automatic weapon like the machine pistol because— what’s that you say? You already killed them anyway with headshots? Oh of course, you’re a PC gamer!

Well, I suppose you don’t need the more advanced RPG strategy either, where you can pause at any time and use the show-stopping biotic abilities, the “mass effect” fields that can levitate, slam, and otherwise cripple foes in various ways. Hey, even though biotic powers are basically overkill, you can still use them anyway to stave off your own boredom of the straightforward shooting, right? You’ll likely miss Mass Effect’s challenging RPG gun-play despite its flaws. You and me both, brother.

Enjoying the scenery after a hard day’s work.

When it’s not providing target practice for other, more challenging shooting games, the rest of the experience precisely captures the vibrancy and wonder of BioWare’s expertly developed sci-fi reality. Much better utilized than the first game, the Unreal Engine 3 renders striking environments with an abundance of people and ambient décor that beg exploration.

Complete the effect with plenty of lens flare and film grain—though there’s still no in-game anti-aliasing support—and it hearkens a classic sci-fi cinema feel akin to Blade Runner and, of course, Star Wars and Star Trek.

EA could make a killing on a standalone mining game.

Unfortunately, multi-core PCs might experience a glitch that causes long level loads, which is ironic since the game takes a humorous “shot” at its predecessor’s annoying elevator rides used to hide long load times. You can at least use a bothersome manual fix every time you start the game: tab out, go to Task Manager, set MassEffect2.exe’s affinity to one core then back to all cores, and go back in game to reduce the loading times to their intended few seconds.

Gone, moreover, are the majestic vistas of Mass Effect’s Citadel: since Shepard traverses the galaxy’s darker, seedier underbelly, the locales appropriately portray smaller, lower class wards and club scenes. Add on top the distinct lack of “M4 Part II” quality music and the sequel doesn’t quite reach the memorable impression of the original, yet it still depicts salient places imbued with story nevertheless.

Mere exploration of the galaxy becomes a pleasure in and of itself. The galaxy map, updated since Mass Effect, provides a fun little course-charting system, where you physically move Shepard’s ship, the Normandy SR2, from planet to planet, and an addictive new planet mining mini-game, where you scan planet surfaces to gather minerals used for upgrading the ship, weapons, and armor. It’s no replacement for the Mako vehicle exploration, though, and I wish, as with the inventory system, that BioWare fixed the Mako’s unwieldy controls rather than removing it entirely.

As for the on-foot treks, the game consistently rewards the player who discovers and uncovers. The numerous mini-games—used for hacking computers and bypassing locks—make exploration even more enjoyable. Early on, the video journals of Miranda Lawson not only detail the back-story on Shepard’s rebirth and compel you to progress the narrative by finding her, but they also demonstrate a major motivational element: the appeal of finding all the bits of story and gameplay items embedded throughout the environment.

I love Shepard’s crib, if only to listen to the Mass Effect soundtrack.

By far, the one environment or “salient place” that most greatly facilitates the player’s personality and sense of belonging has to be Shepard’s ship. The redesigned SR2 model of the Normandy makes Mass Effect’s SR1 puny by comparison, and it more integrally hosts story events like the noteworthy sequence involving Joker, the ship’s pilot. It’s essentially a large, four-story mobile hub that the player can explore, check personal messages for missions, adorn the captain’s quarters with various purchasable trinkets, and interact with the crew.

Finally they let him sit down. These people can talk for ages…

Character interaction makes for the best reason to see Mass Effect 2’s fantastic narrative through to its conclusion. The dialogue, featuring an all-star cast, now conveys more natural, dynamic character movements. And as you choose your way through the Paragon and Renegade options, you’ll have even more meaningful options to “interrupt” the script at certain dramatic moments.

The ten crew members (more if you include DLC) are also a strange, yet fascinating group of misfits, and unlike the characters of the first game, many more of them can be potential love interests for Shepard. Perhaps there are too many characters, as the bulk of their development is relegated to dialogue and each one’s singular “Loyalty” mission.

I’d prefer a smaller crew, so that multiple Loyalty missions would more fully develop each of the characters. Nevertheless, the missions reward Shepard with special abilities, and many of them, including Tali’s trial on the Quarian Migrant Fleet and Thane’s effort to save his son, stand out among the best missions and story moments in the game overall. By the climactic end mission, with its surprisingly different, yet extraordinary structure, each of the characters’ specific roles will mean a great deal to you and to the story.

You’ll decide the fates of the characters in the fantastic finale.

Mass Effect 2 builds off the original game with a range of both improvements and failings. Exploration, dialogue, and character interaction work well in the sequel, but the lack of a central Saren-like antagonist to drive the plot seems to point towards a lack of focus. However, upon further reflection , you’ll realize that the story is simply different; its darker themes and initially ambiguous, faceless foes lend themselves to alternative analyses than those of the previous tale.

In the context of the overarching trilogy, however, the middle story seems oddly out of place and mostly inconsequential: the Reapers were coming at the end the first game and they’re still coming at the end of this one. Many of the fulfilling moments connect to the first game, of course, while the rest of sequel stands greatest on its own. Resolving the overly easy shooting with the strong RPG gameplay and storytelling, the adventure comes just shy of Mass Effect’s achievements, yet it upholds a worthwhile experience in its own right.

Our current jam sounds oddly familiar.  We ran all the way up to the hotel’s roof, but we just didn’t make it in time.  The bastards took off in the chopper without us, but at least they graciously left behind some scraps for weapons.  Thanks!  Now we four survivors simply have to stroll down to the ground floor.  Easy, right?  Oh yeah, just follow the same routine: look in every room?  Check.  Pick up every resource we can carry?  Check.  Shoot our way through hundreds of mangy, freakin’ zombies?  Double check.  That’s right, in case you hadn’t noticed, it’s the zombie apocalypse, the same one you know and love.

Descending the hotel in Dead Center, the first campaign of Valve’s latest co-op FPS, Left 4 Dead 2, initially played a lot like the first game’s zombie-killing exploits of only a year ago.  Even with the difficulty cranked all the way to Expert, I had no problem doing some brutal zombie housekeeping.

I can perform zombie spinal surgery with this thing. Really.

In the past, I’ve been harassed by the powerful special infected in more ways than I could’ve imagined, and some ways I’d best keep to myself.  Hunters have pounced me, Smokers have French kissed and strangled me, and Boomers have vomited on me and attracted the zombie hordes.  I know better than to disturb the deceptively dangerous Witches now, and I’ve gotten killing the hulking Tanks down to a science.  After all I’ve seen, I think I can handle their new friends, the pummeling Chargers, the face-riding Jockeys, and the acid-spewing Spitters.  Needless to say, I plowed my way through to the hotel’s elevator with underlying feelings of déjà vu and disappointment.

Then I got in that elevator.  Smoke seeped in ominously while the survivors made their pleasantries.  At the bottom, the doors opened to a wall of flame.  Quickly, someone threw what was apparently a bottle of Boomer puke into the fire.  Before I could ask what he was doing, I let out a smile as dozens of infected hurled themselves to their own oblivion towards the putrid substance they so dearly craved.  Despite my character’s coughs, the dense, obscuring fumes, and the bright, engulfing flames, I barely made out the silhouette of my friend a few paces ahead and managed to follow him through the fiery maze.  In that moment, I finally found what I eagerly anticipated: an excitement to be alive in a dead world, a building of tension and adrenaline-fueled release, or, in other words, an incredible presentation.

Believe it or not, running through a burning, zombie-filled building actually made my day.

A total of 23 levels spanning five campaigns depict the survivors’ extensive journey from the burning hotel in Georgia through several toilsome, yet fantastically thrilling experiences that finally lead to their hope of evacuation in New Orleans, Louisiana.  If the first Left 4 Dead offered survivors a perfect way to unleash their sadistic zombie bloodlust that weaved countless individual anecdotes of heroic valor, the sequel not only improves the methods of zombie obliteration, but also surrounds them with simple, yet dramatic narrative.

“Every lady’s crazy” when the Coach’s not around,
but few will care for the other survivors.

Valve’s new implementation of a narrative throughout the campaigns presents some cause for concern.  The minimal plot goes a long way to connect the campaigns; however, it doesn’t fully differentiate Left 4 Dead 2 from the first game, and sometimes, in the case of the forgettable characters, it appears comparatively worse.  Don’t get me wrong, a closer examination of both the gameplay and the overall presentation shows how well Left 4 Dead 2 succeeds and supplants the first game, but I also believe it missed an opportunity to depict a tale of near Half-Life quality, which would clearly distinguish it as a unique, worthy new entry in the series.

As you make your way through the campaigns, the AI Director system is the essential force that binds your zombie-killing escapades.  Enhanced since the first game, it dynamically adjusts the difficulty and intensity of your fight to always challenge your group without overwhelming you.  Most importantly, the new Director does a spectacular job organizing Left 4 Dead 2’s new weapons, special infected, and level design changes throughout each campaign.

Many of the levels feature wide-ranging environments with multiple paths that give you a chance to explore and renew your experience with every play-through.  Not only must you stay alert for an impending horde attack at any time, but you must take heed of the path itself.  Sometimes you can trust your instincts and take any route; other times, you’ll find your favorite lines blocked by fences or other obstacles.

Humorous graffiti and dialogue make a welcome return.

For the most part, Valve did a remarkable job pushing their Source engine to create levels of such great size; regardless, the aging engine largely limits the game’s potential.  While Valve can shave off some of the rust to create nonlinear paths, the engine essentially forces them to set aside areas for level loading, and they in turn must construct generally linear checkpoints to ensure players reach those areas.  In a way, the linear structure helps Valve focus and enhance the fantastic presentation in every part of Left 4 Dead 2, but leaves to potential wonder how Valve could use a newer, more efficient game engine towards nonlinear campaigns with fewer constrictive level loads.  At least the shifts in the road that do occur, as determined by the Director, provide that always enticing degree of chaos that certainly keeps you aware of and immersed in the apocalyptic world.

Exploration and speed are keys to staying one step ahead of that chaos, and they frequently lead to salient discovery.  Throughout the campaigns, you’ll notice all sorts of charming surprises, such as the graffiti scrawled inside safe houses and Dark Carnival’s quirky minigames. Left 4 Dead 2’s impressive arsenal of weaponry also lies in certain locations scattered across levels, but you’ll need to search everywhere: the powerful bullet spraying M4s and AK-47s could be leagues away from the always popular auto-shotguns.  To an extent you’ll eventually learn where you can typically find weapons, but as with the changing pathways, the Director always refreshes the experience by shuffling the various weapons among those locations.

You must search for your favorite gun, except when you find the ridiculously stocked gun shop.

What’s that? You want a katana, too? Sure! But beware, your  friends won’t like being human sushi very much.  In lower co-op difficulties and multiplayer modes, you can use melee weapons to viscerally bludgeon and slice zombies, but in the harder difficulties (the preferred way to play), you’ll see exactly how much you’re accidentally hitting your nearby buds.  Indeed, the survivors will often deal more damage to each other than the infected, so I personally wouldn’t be caught undead with the unwieldy melee weapons on Expert.

Your team’s weapons, health, and grenade load-out is revealing, as your ongoing decisions determine how much each individual’s weapons needs cohere with the needs of the group to prepare for anything.  The array of new items, including the limited stores of fire or explosive ammo and the speed-inducing adrenaline shots, expands the team’s contingency choices.  More so, I appreciate how your willingness (or unwillingness) to make item concessions for the good of the team can drastically affect overall teamwork performance.

Chargers: for the lopsided linebacker in all of us.

While the respawn closets of the first Left 4 Dead do make a return, big  thanks to Valve for finally giving us the defibrillator, an item that absolutely enriches the cooperative experience and provides a more meaningful and immediate way to resurrect our fallen comrades.

Besides their usefulness in Campaign mode, their electrifying importance surges even stronger in multiplayer modes, where, as respawn closets don’t come into play, you’ll gain a significant advantage whenever you defibrillate dead teammates back into the competition.  Just imagine how much they can change Survival mode alone: bringing dead friends back can make all the difference between a glorious last stand against the endless zombie hordes and a whimpering defeat.

In context of another much needed new element, I must scoff at my younger self’s naivety towards Left 4 Dead 2’s newest batch of mutated monstrosities.  Look at him up there in the third paragraph, all smug with his first impressions.  Despicable.  Seriously though, after playing through the campaigns, I now recognize the new zombies for their subversive, essential tactics.

Whether Chargers knock survivors asunder, Jockeys ride players far away from their friends, or Spitters send survivors scattering and panicking from pools of acid, they all force players to abandon safe strategies.  I can’t think of anything more boring or cheap than hiding in a closet until the madness ends, but we did it in Left 4 Dead because we wanted to win.  I’m glad the new special infected dare to light a fire under our asses, for their continuous pressure keeps us moving and brings us ongoing, unpredictable action.

It ain’t right, but it feels oh so good.

The new specials even improve Versus mode over the first game: the high health levels of the Chargers and Jockeys, compared to the low health of the older specials, give the infected team a subtly honed balance against the survivor team.  On the other hand, their divide-and-conquer attacks adversely render Survival mode, a co-op experience about gathering resources, hunkering down, and making a last stand against waves of zombies, absolutely worthless.  Until Valve reworks Survival to give us better ways to move around levels—by using, for instance, the same horde-then-Tank pattern of the campaign finales—don’t  bother with it.

As much I enjoyed the improved Versus mode, I spent a vast majority of my team multiplayer time in the extraordinary new Scavenge mode.  While the survivor team desperately tries to retrieve as many of the 16 scattered gas cans as possible within a time limit, the infected team lies in wait, brooding and strategizing.  Using the lifeblood in each can to refill and sustain the heartbeat of the central generator, the survivors replenish their countdown clock with additional time; however, a good Spitter, the queen of Scavenge, can use her acid to ignite gas cans and quickly spell the survivors’ doom.  Bold ventures of the survivors and coordinated strikes of the infected represent major risks, but the chance of huge payoff within the intense strategy makes Scavenge a must-play.

Even on its own, Scavenge makes Left 4 Dead 2 worth the price of admission.

After all the nuances of the co-op gameplay and the addictiveness of the multiplayer that keep me plunging buckets of hours into Left 4 Dead 2, I can trace all my enjoyment back to situations akin to Dead Center’s first elevator ride.  With the exception of Swamp Fever, a campaign as dreary as its muddy marshes, every campaign produces similar well-directed, unique spectacles that all build up to a veritable odyssey.

During the climactic “crescendo” events, Left 4 Dead 2 forces you to trigger the horde and run for your life, though you’ll love the rush of cutting through the endless torrents of zombies; and when you realize you’re also, for instance, successfully running the high tracks of a roller coaster, you’ll cherish the moment’s unbelievable awesomeness.  And specifically with Hard Rain, the way it flawlessly syncs the pitter-patter of drops in the escalating storm with your mounting anxiety will make you hard pressed to ever play a better campaign.

An impromptu duet opens for the survivors’ last big show.

Campaigns culminate in some of the best presented Left 4 Dead finales to date, where you’ll make the nerve-wracking, nonstop run to rescue in The Parish’s bridge or take down zombies while jamming to the guitar riffs in Dark Carnival’s rock concert.  That’s right, a rock concert finale!  I’ve never appreciated zombie-killing quite like I did during “The Midnight Ride.”  In spite of certain issues with the narrative and some disappointing levels, I can’t help but let the game repeatedly overwhelm me with its elaborate orchestrations.  So the next time I meet you at Left 4 Dead 2’s concert at the end of the world, I’ll make sure we decapitate our fair share of infected and, most importantly, we’ll enjoy the ride.

Imagine a man who holds the ability of flight at his fingertips. In his suit, he can soar the skies with the speed of a jet, yet maintain the flexibility of an agile athlete. The pinnacle of a harmony between man and machine, he is both a fighter and his own most powerful weapon. He is…not Iron Man.

No, William Grey is a simple cargo pilot. But in Airtight’s latest game, Dark Void, he becomes an aerial hero and your player character through the title’s third-person shooting adventures. After crashing in the historically mysterious Bermuda Triangle, Grey enters a portal to the Void, an alternate dimension of seemingly benign, beautiful tropics that really host the Watchers, a hostile alien threat to Earth.

The demo for Dark Void sees Grey already in the Void when he first dons his iconic rocketpack. With the talented Nolan North (Uncharted 2, Assassin’s Creed II) lending his voice work, Grey expresses robust character and charm as he undertakes an exhilarating first flight. I felt just as exhilarated since I could control the rocketeer with surprising fluidity. I appreciate just how every one of my mouse motions makes accurate pitch and yaw movements, while at the same time Grey’s aerial action animates realistically and loosely with just as many bobs, weaves, and dangles as I’d imagine a flying body would do.

Falling, with style!

That said, however, some aspects of the controls appear more suited towards a controller, as a few “interesting” and ill-conceived default keyboard bindings bring a nice contortionist circus act right to your desk. Although the more advanced airborne maneuvers demonstrate the cooler and finer points of Grey’s flying, for some reason you have to hold Left Alt along with WASD to perform them. As much as I enjoy contortionists, I preferred the acrobat that arrived after I rebound the controls, which allowed easy performance of lateral jukes and other aerobatics so Grey could best dogfight against the alien threat.

Opt to hijack…

And aerial combat highlights just how much maneuverability you truly have. Even against a new rocketman like Grey, the Watchers stand no chance in their sluggish flying saucers. Sure, they may look awesome with their well-designed gyroscopic stabilizers, but you can basically dance around them as you blast ‘em out of the sky. If you’d rather sacrifice flexibility for firepower, you can also try some of the finely animated hijacking: the Watcher will try its hardest to shake you and fry you, but after a few dodges, a removed control panel, and a quick kill, you’ll have your very own flying saucer.

…for a splatter-filled payoff and a free ride.

You won’t have much time to enjoy your new toy since the demo soon takes the fight to the ground. The third-person cover-based shooting might make combat look like traditional Gears-of-War-fare, but remember Grey still has his jetpack, so he can literally boost combat back into the air. Whether the enemy has you pinned or they’re just hiding behind an annoying hunk of cover, you can break free of the constrictive 2D plain and line-of-sight: use the brief, yet useful hover ability to launch above the heat and pick off the aliens like ants. All of the combat options and full use of verticality makes combat fresh and interesting, though it does make Grey somewhat overpowered compared to his landlocked foes. While I welcome Dark Void’s take on third-person shooting, I hope that the full game will dole out tougher enemies that can counter Grey’s hovering and offer a necessary challenge.

While its combat makes the gameplay highly unique, Dark Void certainly looks familiar; at least with the on-foot action, I could easily mistake it for Mass Effect. The Unreal Engine 3 renders beautiful and expansive outdoor environments that provide great freedom to soar, but are sparsely detailed. A lack of in-game anti-aliasing support and the dull indoor structures, meanwhile, mar what’s overall a lush and finely constructed world of the Void. As far as the demo shows, it doesn’t quite reach the graphical quality of the best-looking UE3 games, such as Batman: Arkham Asylum and Mirror’s Edge, though its art style seems to focus on making the aerial action as eye-catching and dramatic as possible.

From cover-based to hover-based.

The demo shows how Dark Void places an innovative new vertical twist on the already thoroughly iterated third-person shooter by applying the classic rocketman fantasy from film that has yet only appeared in relatively few videogames. It strikes me, especially with its strange and adventure-themed orchestral score, as a title that hearkens back to beloved ‘50s sci-fi and film serials just short of having a bold-typed poster advertising “DEATH DEFYING THRILLS!” and “FLYING SAUCERS!” Though the demo brings up some valid concerns, including the controls and the difficulty, it ostensibly doesn’t showcase all Dark Void has to offer, such as the so-called “vertical cover system.” So, I look forward to how all its individual gameplay and narrative aspects weave together into the whole of the final release.

So says the grave of the valiant hero of Monkey Island. And I thought Telltale put the world of their Tales of Monkey Island series in disarray in Chapter 4, but no, Chapter 5 clearly begins even more hopeless. If you’ve followed the series up until now, you’ve witnessed the shocking death of Guybrush at the hands of LeChuck, who returned to his wholly evil, demonized state.

Heroes die, but that’ll never stop them.

The opening cutscene for Rise of the Pirate God unfolds with quite an impressive presentation that feels much cooler than the tarot-powered recaps from the Voodoo Lady in previous chapters. Now, the Lady’s cards lay scattered. The camera pans ominously over them as dialogue from the end of the last chapter replays to remind us of our hero’s fall. Finally, the solemn grave of Threepwood appears and punctuates an effective intro that sets a captivating, yet gloomy tone.

But wait, in a truly brilliant use of the point-and-click adventure genre, the game makes you, the player, the agent of hope. Your shock wears off and you realize you’re in control. When Guybrush’s ghostly fist punches through the earth triumphantly, the moment makes a satisfying start for the pirate adventure. Without any hint from the game itself, your action frees Guybrush; such an intro flows  naturally and its significance is thus subtle and easily overlooked, but the way the entire rest of the narrative moves because of your small, yet important initiative still feels gratifying and cool nonetheless.

The fact that we can see through to Guybrush’s bones probably isn’t normal fare for humans, so he’s still very much dead. At least now he can walk around and enjoy the sights of the mesmerizing Crossroads of the underworld. As I said about the last chapter, Telltale’s graphics engine might use low-resolution textures, but it depicts dark, glowing environments quite well. For a place with as much eternal hopelessness as purgatory, Guybrush’s afterlife at least looks pretty.

Even in death, it’s always a good time for a threesome.

There’s no time for forever with Guybrush, however, as he must find a way back to the land of the living to end the havoc of LeChuck. While Telltale doesn’t weave a tale as epic as Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy, Guybrush’s escape from the afterlife is yet a fulfilling story of great puzzles and humorous dialogue.

The Crossroads makes a great setting for puzzles that hearken fondly back to The Secret of Monkey Island’s pirate challenges of sword mastery, thievery, and treasure huntery. I’m starting to think I like Guybrush better dead than alive, for his death means other dead characters, like pirate assassin Morgan LeFlay, can make a welcome return to the story, and it brings Telltale’s highly enjoyable twist on Monkey Island’s insult sword fighting. Chapter 5’s three-way fight makes quite a salient story element: the satisfying challenge comes through as you have Guybrush make proper responses that both insult one opponent and also cheer Morgan up from her post-death depression.

Guybrush’s exploits in The Crossroads eventually brings him back down to Earth in the latter half of the narrative. Story-wise, I find Guybrush’s situation fascinating as he becomes a curiously compelling reflection of his dark nemesis when he ventures out in different undead forms. Even better, his predicament illustrates creative, multi-faceted puzzle design involving both ghost and zombie Guybrush. On the other hand, the tedious switching back and forth between forms marks the one chunk of rotting flesh in the otherwise pristine body of Chapter 5. It felt most tiresome in the Club 41 bar scene where switching between forms to progress in a single puzzle involved long treks between Crossroads areas.

Guybrush is a zombie and he thinks talking birds are weird?

Inevitably, the experience culminates in a thrilling battle against LeChuck, which marks a fantastic return to form for this Monkey Island title. I mean really, as cool as it is for Telltale to experiment with the series, it can’t be Monkey Island without LeChuck as the main villain. If Chapter 4 marked Telltale’s ability to author a great Monkey Island tale so unlike the others, Chapter 5 shows the developer can apply the same effort using the traditional Monkey Island formula.

Back when the first Tales episode released, I enjoyed the new developers’ take, but I thought they had a long way to go to make the writing and puzzles as humorous and fulfilling as those in some of the greater Monkey Island games. I certainly had my doubts in Chapter 3, but Chapters 2, 4, and 5 show just how well Telltale has done. While Tales of Monkey Island doesn’t surpass the best of the LucasArts Monkey Island games, it rivals them in overall quality and definitely makes a worthwhile entry in the series.

I’m not crazy! The voices tell me so!

True, I am reading into the narrator’s initial message beyond its explicit intention in the narrative. After all, the narrator speaks to you, or rather, the character you control. Akin to the narrator of Dear Esther, another Source-based indie title and one of Post Script’s main influences, the narrator guides you throughout the experience and provides commentary that complements your exploration of various salient environments. Also, you’ll hear the voices of several narrators through Post Script, as a different character will guide you in each of its five episodes.

Despite the influences of its predecessor, Post Script experiments with game narrative form far more than Dear Esther. While Dear Esther, for one, is hardly a “game,” and rather something like an exploratory narrative, Post Script fluidly incorporates light puzzle and game elements into its experience. The narrator guides often comment on your puzzle-solving actions; each unique personalities will set a tone for the exploration and gameplay experience in ostensibly different, dynamic ways from episode to episode.

Her text is pink, what harm could she possibly do?

Perhaps the most experimental aspect of Post Script comes from the nature of the narration itself, which works on multiple levels and even looks visually enticing. On one level, the well-written dialogue of the characters pop-up on-screen, and either speak to you or banter with each other, like disturbing, yet amusing voices in your head. While text doesn’t quite convey the same essence as voice acting, it makes way for the creativity of the player’s imagination, which may suit some of Post Script’s very abstract notions better than any voice actor could.

Their pop-up words, in turn, complement the second level of narration, which comes through your exploration and puzzle-solving. The world of Post Script will feel desolate and lonely as you make your way through. At least the voices in your head will keep you company, though that offers little comfort. While I enjoyed the ways the characters’ text describe the world and reminisce of lives long gone, I also thought the narrative style seemed quite jarring and altogether disorienting. I appreciate the interpretive levels of the pop-up text and the ways they apply to various details in the world, but I simply could not concentrate on moving about the levels and on reading the text at the same time.

Beautiful areas reflect a well-disciplined Source Engine modder.

The text works very similarly to that in the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction game, which projects both narrative text and video onto the environments themselves, as if Sam Fisher sees them there with his mind’s eye. Both Post Script’s and Splinter Cell’s narrative styles look intriguing, but I just feel Splinter Cell’s text-projection integrates much more fluidly with the game-world in ways that don’t detract from the experience.

Post Script’s experimental style takes some getting used to; nevertheless, its risk-taking with form reaches beyond more mainstream games, even including the upcoming Splinter Cell, as it aims for an artistic, character-driven aesthetic reminiscent of literary works rather than the flair of action-heavy blockbusters. Only indie games not motivated by profit, for the most part, can do this, and on some level, they must do this in order to gain attention. Like its own blunt first message, Post Script flies in the face of convention and seeks only to fulfill its artistic purposes. I’m sure I’ll get used to its style eventually; I want to, at least, because I very much hope to peer into the minds of more peculiar characters as each episode releases.

Starting you at the controls behind the twin rotors of the Samson transport gunship, the demo sets the tone for all of your invasive exploration to come.  Briefly, you can gaze in awe at the sight of Pandora’s iconic (and scientifically impossible) floating rock structures amidst a serene cloudy sky before you must blast them all to smithereens with a lethal mix of bullets, explosions, and hellfire.

Only the bravest warrior would defeat fierce beasts from the safety of a protective bubble.

Known as nothing more than a “grunt” for the human RDA faction, you’re tasked with clearing a path through the lush jungle for a massive invasion force.  And if you’ve wanted nothing more than to blindly follow a mighty, progressive regime, crush that dastardly evil known and feared under the unspeakable name of “the environment,” and fight as the highly unique “space marine” character type, then the RDA grunt is your perfect avatar.

In all seriousness, the game does initially look fun to play, but then ten seconds later you realize that you basically can fly your Samson like a bird in a glass cage.  You’ll have no other choice but to land on the jungle floor, where you’ll then take the grunt through Avatar’s main third-person shooting adventures.  Unsurprisingly, the brimming, colorful alien foliage and environments just don’t seem so captivating when your only mode of interaction with them requires attack.

Some areas certainly look stunning.

Undoubtedly, Avatar’s Dunia graphics engine—the same engine that powered Far Cry 2—renders gorgeous Pandoran environments with a highly dense population of exotic ferns, trees, and lively creatures.  Avatar utilizes DirectX 10, which doesn’t add any visual improvements, but, much like for Far Cry 2, does at least boost rendering performance by about 10 to 15 percent more frames-per-second.  All the colors and details will dazzle you as you take them all at once, especially the luminous glows of the darker, more wooded areas; however, each of the individual objects appear glaringly low-res and poorly detailed when observed closely.  While the world, as a whole, nearly spans that of Far Cry 2’s expansive African landscapes, it carves disappointingly linear, narrow paths with only a few divergent forks that would provide any form of satisfying exploration.

Play Far Cry 2 Avatar and drive African alien dune buggies.

But “satisfying exploration” and “environmental appreciation” are all hippie, liberal pieces of crap anyway.  When you’re the all-important grunt, you just take what’s beautiful, put a few bullets in it, and then watch the experience points fly out.  Yes, when you upgrade your weapons and armor using the RPG elements, you surely represent the hand of progress, civilization, and humanity itself.

Ok, so the game probably won’t work as a metaphor for the arrogance of civilization and the nobility of the savage as well as film will attempt to convey.  And the RPG elements run just as deep.  Destroying countless specimens of rare wildlife racked up hundreds of experience points, but they really amount to very iterative, insignificant stat improvements and little more than palette swaps on the bland, rectangular weapons.

Playing as the Na’vi would look much cooler.

Because the combat hardly rewards your grunt’s painstaking deforestation efforts, you have no real motivation to follow through on orders or take part in the shooting gameplay.  For most of the demo at least, you can just grab an RDA dune buggy and drive past most of the action.  Even in the climactic battle between the RDA and the fierce alien Na’vi tribe, you simply spectate the fight around you; joining the fray might bring you some thrills, but the Na’vi rarely fight you back and often continue attacking other random human troops.

The demo doesn’t showcase it, but the full game apparently does let you control the Na’vi Avatars, as the title would suggest.  If I were to pick up the game, I would likely enjoy the Na’vi aspect far more than the kill-everything-beautiful human side.  Judging from the demo, I think Avatar: The Game will only appeal to me if I like the film, and I’d therefore want to further explore the potentially fascinating alien world.

I’ve played through several campaigns, and out of all my exploits, I now deliver to you the very best tales.  Memoirs from a true survivor tell each tale best.  Heed his testimony, choose your weapon, mix up your finest fiery cocktail, and join me on some fine anti-zombie crusades.

Out of all add-on campaigns, this one looks the most similar to Valve’s L4D style. In fact, it even starts in a city level much like that of No Mercy or Dead Air. The crescendo moments also don’t particularly add any original events, though the path-opening zombie attractions excite nonetheless. The most creative level design starts with the hotel; all the interconnected rooms within provide multiple ways through and often hide boss infected for some nasty surprise encounters. You’ll eventually make your way to a multi-tiered prison that makes zombie killing all the more interesting, especially if a Tank awaits in the cellblock. Death Row’s short four-level campaign feels refreshingly varied, and makes a great first taste for those looking for new user-made L4D experiences.

No cell could hold these monsters.

From the Memoirs:

As we hoofed our way here, we passed through a nice hotel just a click south of the sticks;  there was no vacancy for anyone except Charlie.  When this whole zombie craze blows over, I think I’ll book a stay there sometime. Spend some hard earned leave; recuperate some R & R.  We force-marched it through more city streets (those alleyways are murder-holes), we low-crawled it through the mosquito-plagued humid woods, and a Smoker damn near tore the cigarette right out of my mouth all so we could find rescue in a prison? What do these baby civvies call it? That’s right…ironic.  And I’ll be damned if I didn’t spend my whole life making up for that one mistake.  Sure, now we’re obliterating the criminally undead, but coming here rustles up flashbacks best forgotten.  Good idea, Francis.  Wouldn’t be surprised if he felt right at home here. Hell, if he ever wore camouflage, wouldn’t be surprised if he was stationed here.

If you’re willing to commit to an extensive campaign of epic proportions, you’d best answer when Vienna calls. Starting out at the top of a department store, you’ll explore a large square footage of vertical space as you search each floor for useful pipe bombs and molotovs. You’ll certainly need as much weaponry and ammo caches as possible because the incredibly long trek down the train-car filled tunnel will certainly test your survival skills against several infected hordes.

Despite their size, environments consistently overflow with salient European landmarks and maintain a brisk pace. Highly creative combinations of objects and triggers make for some of the most original and climactic crescendo events I’ve seen in a L4D campaign. Hit a L4D2-esque trigger to briefly open a door, and you’d better gun it. Face the horde on the other side head on or else you’ll need to do it all over again. Hit a fuse box and get to the train! You’ll love every bit of the 2-3 hours the campaign takes on Advanced difficulty; and if you can tackle it on Expert, I’ll be very impressed. Despite its great pacing, Vienna Calling is still far too long, though it definitely makes a more fulfilling experience than any of Valve’s official campaigns.

“No, Zoey, I said ‘Check out the European ads.’ Honest.”

From the Memoirs:

When they broke the news that we were deploying to Vienna, I didn’t expect the damn 3 hour tour. I mean, it’s the apocalypse – not some damn skirmish on hamburger hill, and all Zoey could think about was shopping at some fancy foreign department store. They cart my ass halfway ’round the globe, all the way across the pond, and they still drag me through a maze of catacombs and a whole damn mile’s worth of subway. My bones ached by the time we finally took that train ride; old bits of un-escaped shrapnel tickled my cartilage – not so friendly reminders of a few minor missteps not unlike this one. I tried to reason with these green rookies: the longer we humped it, the more likely we’d get dead. Jesus, I wish my ol’ Bravo company had as many Tanks as we saw today. At least this fine piece a city brings back memories of better days. No, not from WWII, smartass. I ain’t that old.

To your left, beyond the fence, you’ll see the entire path of the amazing campaign that lies ahead.  In the distance, a lighthouse spires with hope and the promise of rescue.  A disheveled prison, however, lies ahead.  You stop suddenly; at the edge of the gaping crater, you see the lay of the complex with several levels littered with the loitering hunger of the undead.  Take leaps of faith down each floor for the quick path.  Or explore cautiously to leave a bloody wake of zombies.  Through the prison and the following shipping yard, diverse, varying environments brim with detail and beckon with boss infected at every bend.

The heart of your survival journey lies within a massive shipping vessel, a barely buoyant path through to the lighthouse beyond.   A near-nausea inducing display of rumbling, creaking, and listing creates a highly impressive level design, as harsh angles add an interesting dimension to your movement and shooting.  Finally you reach the finale with the call for help at the lighthouse peak, and rescue all the way back down on the docks.  No hiding in a closet for you.  Bash the zombies, fight the Tanks, but with every lull in the onslaught, you’d better keep moving down the cliff, hold at each ammo cache, and make it to rescue.  Death Aboard’s finale, with its constantly compelled movement and action, makes for the most climactic and dynamic finales ever made, and a fitting end for perhaps the best L4D campaign yet.

The finale requires the most intense run of your life.

From the Memoirs:

Another prison, another botched mission, another zombie massacre. I can’t stand the sight of another cell block, but dang: this one was broken down and open enough to let us choose and pick our way through. For myself, I’ll take the fastest. But hellfire an’ brimstone, of course we had to saunter right onto a lopsided floating deathtrap. You think these hips were built for angles? And there I was, just climbing a ladder, when a goddamn car near takes my head off, and made such a racket every mangy son-of-a-bitch onboard wanted to join-up and enlist in our squad. Scared the bejeesus out of me! Made Da Nang look like easy-street. Sure glad I never joined the Navy. Didn’t help that we then had to climb up to a lighthouse on top of a cliff. And what do we end up with? A balloon?! That ain’t no chopper- that’s a giant un-lit Molotov cocktail. Too much goddamned excitement for this ol’ war-dog. All we need now is for Francis to start his yammering – this thing could use some more hot air.

Though an official downloadable campaign from Valve, Crash Course still provides a great final experience for us survivors before we all head on south in L4D2. Instead of designing the long, narrow and linear levels typical of L4D, Valve gives us a taste of the much wider, expansive levels of L4D2. And the exciting finale forces survivors to stay on their toes, as they’ll have to run out, risk their lives, and fix the vital generator when it breaks down. Any experienced zombie-killing group can easily blitzkrieg down a single path through the campaign in less than 30 minutes, especially since the AI Director can’t spawn the boss infected as effectively on wide maps. But the campaign’s shortness further underscores the fun of replaying, so players can try out different paths, find all the humorous graffiti, and hear the amusing character reactions to different areas.

Only Valve can provide new hilarious, pulpy graffiti and dialogue.

From the Memoirs:

If that genius was my Huey pilot in the war, I’d be pushin’ up daisies in Arlington right about now. Good news is we ‘landed’ in a decent part of town. LZ was cold. We found our way without too much trouble. There was once a time those godforsaken Witches and Tanks could get the better of me. From what I’ve seen here, these zombies wouldn’t last a day back in ‘Nam. Intel has it there’s much better targets down south. I defended these stars and stripes, dammit! Watched soul after soul take two to the head and one to the chest to keep this country free. I won’t let these abominations tear it to shit before I get a dog tag between my teeth. Christ, Francis is an ass… I don’t care how much he hates shrimp gumbo, we’re hightailing this bus down along the mighty Mississippi if I have anything to say about it.

Differing, too, from their own prior Tales chapters, the developers at Telltale don’t start with an action-packed intro scene that acquaints players with the adventure-style gameplay; while another exciting tutorial level could have been interesting, they are totally reasonable to assume that, by this chapter, players already know how to solve puzzles, use items in the inventory, and do other point-and-click actions. Instead, a well-produced, lengthy intro cutscene depicts Guybrush, captured by pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay in the previous chapter, begrudgingly returning to Flotsam Island where he gets swept away to pirate court.

Finally, the visuals look as appealing as the sultry Miss LeFlay.

Particularly noticeable right away, the visual style actually looks decent compared to the awful graphics of the previous chapters. A full moon and starry sky create a beautiful atmosphere for the otherwise dull Flotsam. Despite using the same graphics engine, the veil of night goes a long way to remove most of the ugly porcelain sheen on characters and to obscure the low-res textures enough to shift focus to the nice lighting and glow effects, which also work well within several light-related puzzles.

Though not full of thrilling action, the following trial provides great pirate humor and adventure gameplay, but with intriguing courtroom-drama style. Slick salesman Stan, and his comically impossible jacket, makes a very welcome return to Monkey Island without, unfortunately, his original voice actor (which is odd considering he recently contributed dialogue for Stan in The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition); still, as the prosecution against Guybrush, he provides much comedy through his fast-talking enthusiasm and arm-waving-enhanced objections.

The structure of the trial, meanwhile, makes way for very flexible pacing and adventure gameplay. You can proceed with the case where you’ll have Guybrush examine the evidence or interrogate each of his four accusers. Or, you can simply move for recess right off the bat to get a much needed breather. And thanks to the rather dim bailiff, Guybrush easily walks out of his cell, whereby you can have him explore Flotsam, solve puzzles, and piece together items as vital evidence to bring back to court. You can also pursue proof of Guybrush’s innocence against each of the four charges in any order, which greatly helps prevent difficult puzzles from halting the narrative since you can save them for later. Needless to say, after a typical pirate night of playing with paralyzed cats and examining risqué scars, you’ll help Guybrush walk free.

The trial culminates with a peculiar, and farfetched, revelation: Telltale pulls a Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and unveils information that apparently lies at the heart of everything that ever happened in every Monkey Island game to date. I mean, they already ventured away from the Monkey Island formula when they removed LeChuck as the villain for previous episodes, yet now their revelation takes Tales even more astray, which isn’t necessarily a bad move, though only the 5th chapter will tell whether it pays off. While I look forward to the outcome, some will likely hate both the new direction and the introduction of story elements that only resolve in the next title installment (arguably, however, all the Tales chapters comprise a single whole game).

I’ve been hoping for this girl-on-girl action for a while.

In fact, while the latter half of the game still has much of the light-hearted humor and fun adventure gameplay, it certainly feels different, and more serious in tone than past Monkey Island games. For one, I much appreciated the catty sword fight between Morgan and Elaine, Guybrush’s wife. And though I disliked quests in labyrinthine jungles in previous chapters, I did like the way I could fold a map belonging to the Voodoo Lady that rearranged the jungle for some intuitive exploration and puzzle-solving. Beyond those, I was shocked by the amount of drama in this Monkey Island game: more than one character dies, bloodlessly at that, yet still seriously, and Elaine’s vengeful “Go to hell!” took me off guard.

I enjoyed The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood most out of all chapters released thus far for its longer, more fulfilling experiences, quests, and story in general. But by Monkey Island standards, the atypical melodrama overshadows, and sometimes conflicts with, the expected humorous qualities too much for me to commit to Chapter 4 as “the best” yet in Tales of Monkey Island. By all indications, however, the ending sets things straight in a way, and significantly increases my anticipation for the final chapter.

My favorite moment in the game felt fulfilling, though not in a game narrative fashion.

Don’t get me wrong, I definitely agree with Chris’s emotional attachment with the little guy while I guided him through his whimsical adventure; every one of his somber, lonesome animated gestures cried out to my sympathies.

And Keenan accurately observed the experience’s remarkable artistic style, story, and gameplay. The setting illustrates an overbearing tone of industrial corruption and isolation, and an ingenious use of animated bubbles subtly reveals our hero’s small, yet significant story of hope in the bleak world. The adventure style gameplay, meanwhile, offers brilliant challenges and puzzles that hearken back to the height of the adventure game era in the ‘90s.

Such analyses, however, don’t go far enough. Appreciation for Machinarium flourishes on the levels of both story and gameplay. Since the whole experience fundamentally relies on story to motivate the player to solve puzzles, I’d also expect its storytelling, or narration, to shine. On the level of narrative, however, the game couldn’t possibly disappoint me more.

Animated bubbles work great, so long as you look and don’t touch.

In his work, Story and Discourse: Narrative Structure in Fiction and Film, narrative theorist Stuart Chatman affirms that the final outcome of a narrative depends on the interdependence between story and discourse. As mentioned, the story of Machinarium—in essence, the cause and effect relationship between events—works beautifully. Its discourse, or the way it tells the story, uses both the ingenious adventure gameplay and the charming animated thought bubbles to great effect. The disconnect for Machinarium lies within the interdependence between the story and discourse, and I’ll explain why soon.

Another approach to narrative comes from Bordwell and Thompson in Film Art: An Introduction, which explains the importance of content and form. For Machinarium, the content comprises both the excellent story and gameplay. The form of the two content elements, meanwhile, doesn’t make an effective use of the videogame medium towards a game narrative.

In the post-Half-Life videogame landscape, a game cannot reflect narrative mastery without interactive storytelling. Games prior to the late ‘90s generally kept narrative in a rigid, separated form: narrative techniques from other media, such as non-interactive cutscenes and text, often exposed story, which then motivated the interactive actions taken within the gameplay. Half-Life then released in 1998 and showed that game narration didn’t need to borrow non-interactive narration from other media. Its story and discourse, its content and form combined together in ways unique to the medium; its narrative told the entirety of its story without sacrificing the interaction that defined it as a game. For the game medium after Half-Life’s release, both the aforementioned elements of form and the interdependence between story and discourse must hinge on interactivity.

Warning – Minor Spoilers Ahead: Batman: Arkham Asylum, Braid, Half-Life 2, Tales of Monkey Island, and, of course, Machinarium.

“Feel free to look around.” Better words could not have been said.

In Half-Life 2, which obviously follows the precedent set by its predecessor, you, the player, retain complete control over protagonist Gordon Freeman in scenes of narrative salience. When you first meet Dr. Kleiner in his secret lab, you can pay attention as Kleiner talks with other characters Alyx and Barney about the resistance against the Combine, you can keep your ears listening while you explore the lab and tinker with the interesting objects, or you can pay them no heed while you do your own thing. Even moments that don’t “box you in” a room for story still use interactive storytelling: as Dr. Breen broadcasts his propaganda, you’re in Nova Prospekt shooting Combine, commanding ant lions, and choosing whether to listen to Breen’s piece of the story. In all cases, the game grants you the rights of interactivity and agency, the ability to make decisions during narrative and see the results.

Help Tim help her. This time you both will reach the last star.

I can think of few recent titles that purely use interactive storytelling throughout their experiences like the Half-Life series—namely, Assassin’s Creed, BioShock, Braid, and Dead Space—and even some of them contain minor non-interactive exceptions. Braid, for example, largely uses text, a typical style of narration for games, yet still lets you control the character of Tim so you can decide to read or skip at your own will. Narration culminates in the complex final level that lets you enact events, platform, and control time through Tim’s attempt to reach his love, and ends differently depending on whether you found all the stars in the previous levels. In this case, not only do you retain interactivity throughout the game narrative, but your choices also directly impact the narrative.

Games like Batman: Arkham Asylum, meanwhile, prefer a mix of both interactive and non-interactive narration. It still clings to traditional cutscenes to tell story in its poorest use of the medium, but that doesn’t mean it can’t narrate in powerful game-centric ways. When the Joker speaks over Arkham’s video intercom system, when Batman thinks to himself, or when Batman speaks to Oracle through the cowl, the game tells story while still letting you explore Arkham Island. The most dramatic interactive narrative moments truly reflect a mastery of the medium: in a hallucination caused by Scarecrow’s poison, the setting of Arkham breaks apart and you have Batman walk down a hall of Wayne Manor as it slowly changes to the fateful dark alley; you walk to the haunting memory, the murder that defined the Dark Knight. You’re just walking—manipulating “Forward” via the keyboard, one of the subtlest forms of control—yet even from your small sliver of interactivity comes a visceral unity with Batman that could only be done in a videogame.

Walk with Batman. Remember as he remembers.

After experiencing the ways games combine interactivity and narrative towards the most effective use of the medium, I thus can’t help but feel disappointed by Machinarium. While its content is fantastic, its form uses little, if any, interactive storytelling, which should be unacceptable in a post-Half-Life world. Solving its puzzles triggers non-interactive narrative events that progress the story; thus the story does not mesh with the gameplay discourse, and instead remains separate.

While I agree with Chris when he points out the emotionally evocative style of “imaginative expressionism,” I’d argue that narration through non-interactive thought bubbles, however effective they may function towards narration, is a fundamentally poor use of an interactive medium. Machinarium’s narration might convey interpretive themes and motifs better than the “clunky” dialogue trees of Tales of Monkey Island ever could, but Tales’s interactive narration will still always be superior within the videogame medium. I don’t want to sit back and watch the story unfold, I want to lean forward and interact with story while it’s told.

It may be “clunky,” but at least I can clicky.

That being said, I could only find a sparse few interactive narrative moments in the game. Moments like diffusing the bomb at the end could, arguably, represent the narrative description of the way the character diffuses the bomb through the puzzle solving of the player, but events like these number a disappointing sum in a sea of non-interactive narration. Maybe I would’ve appreciated the animated thought bubbles more if I could somehow manipulate their figures with my cursor; in the end, however, the game’s developers chose a method best suited for a different medium.

While I can certainly appreciate the entertainment value of games like Machinarium, I mostly tolerate them in moderation. I not only can’t consider the game for game of the year, but I’d go so far as to say if more games like it went back to old-fashioned storytelling methods, I’d probably stop playing story-based games altogether. I definitely enjoyed the game, but I hope Machinarium comes as a swan song for the traditional, pre-Half-Life story-based game.

And then the momentum starkly halts in an insufficient interlude of indigestion.

The slow start at least leads up to
Coronado’s over-the-top challenge.

See, once in the belly of the beast, Guybrush really has nothing to do except an overly elaborate “inside story” that’ll make sure the manatee makes his way to La Esponja.  As much as I recognize the talent of the writers at Telltale, I feel they drove the story down the manatee’s gullet to artificially elongate what would otherwise be a simple journey to the cure-all sponge.

Perhaps I should give Telltale the benefit of the doubt.  Maybe getting La Esponja, the solution to Guybrush’s problems, shouldn’t be so easy.  Even then, I still didn’t enjoy the claustrophobic Manatee innards as a setting for Leviathan’s adventure-style puzzles and quests.

The cramped manatee belly sure doesn’t make way for an intro as fast-paced as those of the first two chapters, and instead acquaints you with the point-and-click actions with rather standard item collecting and dialogue.  The stomach lining, too, makes for an unappealing, dank use of the game’s graphics, especially when low-res textures look very apparent as dull backgrounds within dialogue.  Using WASD and Shift, you can’t even make Guybrush run fast through the narrow flesh corridors because he’ll keep bumping into things.

They say “Great minds think alike.”
They weren’t talking about these two.

It takes an unsatisfying short time for you to explore the manatee and meet the sparse cast of characters.  Of course, living trapped inside a manatee for a few years made them somewhat strange to say the least, but their eccentricities do allow for some fantastic Monkey Island humor—the one thing the manatee stomach acids couldn’t dissolve.

For one, you’ll clearly see the clever humor behind the peculiar Spaniard, Coronado de Cava, whose hare-brained plans seem all too familiar.  His over-the-top test for Guybrush, moreover, creates an interesting deductive challenge. Though you can easily refer to useful past observations and Guybrush can’t actually die, the scenario still creates a captivating mix of urgency and comedic fun, as the answers to de Cava’s high stakes questions require a logical, yet witty thought process.

Nestor Carbonell of Lost and The Dark Knight makes an unexpected guest appearance.

From the bile-addicted surfer named Moose to the “Guyliner” of Bugeye, de Cava’s supposedly “long lost” crew also offers some funny tasks and does the best it can to have you explore the small environments. I can’t help but notice, however, that too many unimaginative puzzles counteracted the enjoyable ones; for example, the same item disappointingly solves three different puzzles in a row.

The most redeeming aspect of Chapter 3 by far must be the long-awaited appearance of Monkey Island fans’ most beloved demonic skull.  I won’t spoil any more, but if you’ve missed his endearing sadism, his appearance alone justifies the existence of Chapter 3.

The real reason to play Chapter 3.

The latter half of the chapter finally lets Guybrush out of the smelly manatee, but then again imposes similar frustrating restrictions.  Though you do need to travel to different locales, de Cava refuses to haul anchor and further keeps the environments fixed to a singular, constricted point around Guybrush’s ship.  While you’ll have Guybrush perform some surprisingly intriguing manatee match-making on the ocean floor and experience the mystifying out-of-body powers of the Voodoo Lady, all the interesting scenes don’t connect together as well as they could.

Chapter 3’s narrative thus often cuts away for story scenes or puzzle-solving areas, instead of, you know, actually letting you explore and travel to those places; calling it an “adventure” game at this point is a misnomer.  I did enjoy many of the puzzles and dialogue, and I certainly still appreciated the comedy, but Lair of the Leviathan undoubtedly marks the lowest point in the Tales of Monkey Island.  Now that it’s out of the way, I hope the story can get past the filler, and steer Guybrush’s ship to its true heading: the climax promised by the first two chapters.

Taking the role as one of DC’s most famous heroes in the game Batman: Arkham Asylum, I thus walked Batman a cautious few steps behind the criminal transport party. The developers at Rocksteady put on a visceral, constantly unfolding display that effectively acquainted me with the looming darkness of Arkham’s halls. As I apprehensively guided Batman past prisoners who cheer for the Joker and tensely clutched my controller (yes, I used a controller) during a menacing encounter with Killer Croc, Batman remains stoic in his resolve. He stares the Joker down: the two colossal personas collide with tense antagonism during what was, for me, a deceptively calm walkthrough before the storm.

The scene has so much tension, any other game would’ve crashed by now.

Despite Batman’s vigilance, the Joker inevitably escapes. While the villain chases after his master plan, a storm of titanic proportions brews over Arkham. I felt that the game’s first hour builds necessary intrigue as Batman initially follows Joker’s trail, but I most appreciated how the rising action motivated and subtly introduced me to the gameplay. Prisoners stand in Batman’s way so I can learn about combat. Both Zsazs’s hostage situation and armed thugs require knowledge of a stealthy approach. And Joker, in all his arrogance, points to his own whereabouts using painted green arrows and graffiti, which greatly helped keep me on the right track while I still adjusted to the otherwise daunting labyrinth of Arkham.

Very early on, Joker even gives Batman a single opening to end their conflict once and for all, knowing full well the honorable hero won’t break his solemn vow. With the Joker gone again, Batman retraces his steps with some high tech detective work. I can activate the cowl’s detective mode to scan the environment for clues, whereby I can follow a new path to the Joker, or at least track down his airhead assistant, Harley Quinn.

Batman’s detective vision seems overly helpful to the point where it makes the game easy, as it can guide towards the correct direction, highlight vents and gargoyle perches useful for sneaking around, and mark hostile prisoners from far away and even behind walls. Indeed, when I could see everything, I ended up seeing nothing. I used it sparingly rather than let it wash out the environment’s details and gritty art style, so I could better enjoy exploring Arkham.

Behold the greatness of Arkham Island.

What follows might be a spoiler, but I can’t talk about the game without discussing how the above-mentioned first hour built up my expectations only so it could dramatically blow my mind. Even the detective vision didn’t spoil my feeling of awe when I realized that the constricted, enclosed facility I first assumed was the asylum was only just a single wing within the entire Arkham Island. Batman walks out to a vast expanse with an ominous full moon in the night sky, the once hopeful lights of Gotham City in the hopeless distance, and the Gothic Arkham architecture that hides the Joker with dusty, haunting ambivalence. The spirit of Arkham looms, beckoning me to scour the island’s depths and uncover its darkest secrets.

Amadeus Arkham died centuries ago, yet his immortal will endures to contain the madness of Gotham within his isolated island. Arkham’s presence permeates every one of my button presses, and the game’s combat certainly doesn’t feel like a soulless afterthought. Batman is Arkham’s avatar as much as he is mine. He silences mad hysterics through Batman’s punches, counterattacks, and stun maneuvers, and he’d turn in his grave if he knew that anyone button mashed. I appreciated how much combat requires a more calculated mix of Batman’s move set, without which enemies can easily take him down. Combat scenarios can get repetitious, and only throw an increasing number of enemies at Batman along with the occasional Titan-sized miniboss. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed combat because it let me feel Batman’s versatile martial arts mastery, his humorous redirection of the clumsy Titans’ strength back at other inmates, and his creative use of gadgets.

Batman especially needs stealth with Scarecrow, who’s apparently a big fan of sidescrollers.

My thoughts grew even more like Batman’s when I most needed stealth. In moments, armed enemies can easily kill Batman, but with an incredible variety of stealthy approaches to stalk the inmates or improvise traps, they’ll never see him. I can spray explosive gel behind a crumbling wall, perform an inverted takedown of one prisoner from a gargoyle perch above, and, as the others gather around him to investigate, I then detonate the gel to blast them all. The one poor sap who stayed behind, meanwhile, turns into a nervous wreck, and I highly enjoyed watching him react to the tiniest of noises with screams and gunfire before I finally silenced him.

Whether or not Batman actually qualifies as a “superhero,” in stealth, he still becomes an overbearing presence, an “ideal” as Ra’s al Ghul puts it in Batman Begins. Stealth not only feels like the most satisfying game element, but also the most unifying and immersive. Any more and I may as well have donned the cowl myself.

Joker’s commentary in the Visitor’s Center provides brief, captivating moments of narrative reflection.

As much as I became increasingly sympathetic to Batman, the story of his toilsome search through Arkham doesn’t dig very much into his character. The voice cast from Batman: The Animated Series, including Mark Hamill as Joker, perfectly embodies the comic-based characters, yet even Kevin Conroy’s Batman doesn’t veer too far from the adamant comic hero cliché. Pre-rendered cut scenes are the game’s poorest use of the medium, while Batman’s in-game dialogue and self-commentary reflect a more effective narration that enhances player interaction within the narrative.

The few scenes that do elaborate character, however, come from Scarecrow’s hallucinogens, which make Batman walk through vivid visions where his world tears apart into the realm of Bruce Wayne, the man behind the cowl. Rocksteady practices a degree of game narrative restraint, where I simply have Batman walk during the dramatic scenes, yet their use of minimalist interaction creates a highly evocative connection that reflects a mastery of the medium. This time I won’t spoil the ways Arkham Asylum reenacts Wayne’s most influential event, but I’ll say that its representation of his parents murder is the best I’ve seen, and could only be done in a videogame.

I guess “tears apart” wasn’t a metaphor.

I especially value the story’s capacity to let me follow or leave it at my own pace so I could also explore Arkham. Riddler’s challenges, for instance, gave me an ongoing side mission to appreciate the extraordinary effort that went into Arkham’s design, including the searches for the disturbing interview tapes of the game’s main villains and all the salient Batman universe references. Though a relatively small open world, the brimming Arkham Island astounded me with visits to Batman’s secret Batcave, Killer Croc’s murky sewers, and all its other detailed environments.

Batman’s more at home in Arkham Asylum than the patients.

Batman’s determination to find Joker mirrors Rocksteady’s ambitious endeavor to make the greatest Batman game, if not also the best superhero game. I’m sure the developers likewise ignored their growing facial stubble and bodily demands to better achieve a game that fully realizes the strengths of The Dark Knight. Arkham Asylum not only makes an unquestionably faithful interpretation of the already well-defined comic hero, but also stands as its own worthy entry within the overarching Batman story.

The main enemies of the FEAR games, the Replica soldiers, made up some of the first person shooter genre’s most formidable foes.  The developers at Monolith gave them fantastic AI, so they’d use their environment to their advantage and outgun you if you weren’t careful.  As an army of clones controlled by a powerful psychic, they were fearsome, but a single Replica soldier was anything but unique.  And once you gained FEAR’s heightened reflex ability, you could take back the advantage with slow-motion shooting to turn the once smart and agile Replica into a mess of bloody gore.

But then there’s Foxtrot 813.  Somehow he’s special, and different from his Replica brothers.  For one, you play as him in the downloadable campaign for FEAR 2: Project Origin called FEAR 2: Reborn.  You know he has an ambitious destiny ahead of him.  A familiar voice beckons him forward.

The intro scene reuses the fun, palette-cleansing giant mech sequences from the main game to immediately thrust you into fast-paced action, while you play out the events of the Replica takeover of Armacham.  In an interesting twist, however, the vertically-tiered Armacham skyscraper adds a more satisfying way to maneuver through your path of carnage down building stories that feel different from the street-level mayhem of FEAR 2.  At one point, a nasty fall even forces you out of your mech, creating an arresting reversal of fortune as you rely on nothing but a pistol to fend off enemies while you wait for the mech to self-repair.

Like the Replica raid, the rest of 813’s storyline runs parallel to the events of Project Origin sometime after the fallout of Auburn city caused by the vengeful psychic, Alma.  During the aftermath, you, as 813, fight alongside your clone brothers under Alma’s control. I especially enjoyed the more cooperative style to the shooting, which comes as a huge change to the solitary experiences of past FEAR games.

Why not appreciate some fine art while your mind falls apart?

That’s all actually a great setup for 813’s world to shatter: in the midst of other Replica, you hallucinate and prove just how different you are. From here, you gain the reflex ability, the fulcrum behind FEAR’s slo-mo based shooting, which amplifies a Replica’s apparently innate ability to outflank, especially now that you’re controlling one.  Needless to say, 813 becomes an enemy to his brothers, while the familiar voice within compels him towards a new goal.

Taking point from previously mentioned gameplay, the rest of 813’s ordeal takes him through shootouts similar to the peak moments of FEAR 2 proper, but with some refinement to their circumstances.  You’ll face one of FEAR 2’s most interesting enemies, for instance, the Remnants, which could revive and control dead soldiers like marionettes.

You have access to all of FEAR 2’s weapons very quickly, in accordance to the fast pacing, including the incredibly satisfying Hammerhead, the stake-shooter that can pin enemies to walls.  Even powerful weapons, such as the rocket launcher, are too easily available, yet a firefight against a Power Armor mech still effectively challenged me since some near-invisible Replica Assassins reinforced him.  The multi-floor level design here especially works well if you use the slo-mo reflexes, as with enough effort you can move between each floor to outrun, outflank, and outshoot them all.

Against a crazy clone with slo-mo? The Powered Armor should just quit already.

813 basically moves between all the major gameplay types from Project Origin so quickly, however, that the entire experience just feels too fast paced.  Barring the few brief moments, like when you traverse a completely toppled building and can hear panicked office workers banging on now horizontal doors, Reborn loses most of the atmospheric exploration of the main FEAR games.  Since it crams together all the highlights from FEAR 2, even with its alterations it still acts more like an extended demo.  Any decent FPS gamer can blast through the whole campaign in a single 1.5 hour sitting.

Unlike a certain other recently released DLC, at least Reborn actually has an important impact on the overarching FEAR story.  Despite its utterly short length, the meaningful story combined with all the best gameplay moments from Project Origin make it a worthwhile DLC campaign for FEAR fans.  Sure, it’s too short, but I enjoyed the game  enough to play through it twice.  Even as it recycles gameplay, Reborn proves Monolith can yet do more with FEAR, so I definitely look forward to more from the series.

Despite these very nitpicky requirements to even reach the side mission, I certainly didn’t mind reviewing climactic story moments involving Shepard’s determination to stop the rogue Turian Spectre, Saren. I mean Mass Effect mixed a highly intriguing sci-fi narrative, fluidly nonlinear and realistic character conversations, and fun third person shooting action to effectively make a fantastic action RPG. So after I watched a few scenes, I of course wanted nothing more than to continue playing through to the exciting conclusion.

Sure Saren threatens to destroy the entire galaxy, but I guess I could take the scenic route through Pinnacle Station to see what interesting new story it has to offer. Boy, was I disappointed.

For 5 bucks, at least the view is nice.

The whole mission is really just a glorified menu. Pinnacle Station’s entire premise—its minimal story and some newly recorded dialogue—boils down to the same annoying words you’ll hear several times from the particularly peeved Quarian who runs the station’s simulator: “Which combat mode: Time Trial, Capture, Survival, or Hunt?” Simulated combat? Maybe I should’ve kept pursuing Saren after all.

Enter the simulator and you’ll have overly simple task of getting top scores in four combat modes with three maps for each. With Time Trial, you and your selected squad must find and defeat the 25 enemies scattered across the map as fast as possible. For Capture, you must reach, defend, and capture three preset positions in the map as fast as possible. Survival, like Left 4 Dead’s Survival mode, has you hunker down and hold out against an onslaught of enemies for as long as you can until you die. And Hunt makes you defeat as many enemies as you can within a time limit that repeatedly replenishes with each kill you make.

Overall, the simulator provides some pretty generic, unremarkable Warehouse, Subterranean, Tropical, and Volcanic maps with straightforward designs to accommodate the cover-based third person shooting. Though in all modes the simulator pops enemies into the map at random places, I had no problem killing them fairly quickly. Defeating the high scores for all 12 scenarios took me no more than two or three tries each.

Shepard checks out his new digs when he could be saving the galaxy. The lazy bastard…

For all your efforts and the $5 you spent, you do get some “reward.” You’ll have a choice between a pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, or sniper rifle, all high caliber weapons exclusively obtained through Pinnacle Station. After you beat the extra challenging mission offered by Pinnacle Station’s Admiral Ahern, you’ll even win his retirement home, which you can visit to find free items. But really, am I supposed to care about these extras?

Pinnacle Station came over a year after Mass Effect released on PC, so most have already played through the original game. Sure you get these nifty trinkets, but at best you could only enjoy and use them during the final few scenes of the game. Most of us, however, will probably just finish Pinnacle Station with a nice sour taste in our mouths, and not bother to replay the ending using the rewards.

And the rest of Pinnacle Station comes as no prize either. With no real semblance of Mass Effect’s excellent sci-fi story, we simply get the game’s arguably weakest aspect, the combat. Not to mention, it’s quite ironic that this DLC costs $5 especially as the free DLC, Bring Down the Sky, had story, gameplay, and length that made it one of the best side missions in the game. I know neither why EA charged money for Pinnacle Station, nor know for sure why Bioware even developed it; I can only assume it comes as a half-hearted attempt to fulfill Bioware’s original promise to develop several DLC missions. But with Mass Effect 2 coming soon, I see no reason why anyone, even Mass Effect fans, should waste their time with Pinnacle Station.

The game has a certain je ne sais quoi, or something grand that takes a lot of effort to pin down.  In this way, a game particularly can reveal its own greatness, not just from its aspects, but also because it challenges me, as a games critic, to explain my feelings and specify its quality.  It’s inspiring.  I feel I must do it justice.

Looking at the other end, I can pinpoint bad game aspects much easier than the good.  When a game frustrates me to bits, sure I’ll bash the keyboard or yell obscenities at the screen like a lunatic, but I damn sure know why.  Bad gameplay.  Glitches.  Whatever.  I hate them all.

I finally found a reason to open these.

From here, when I think about what aspects can make games mesmerizingly memorable or tormentingly terrible, I connect back to something I actually learned from Management classes.  Yeah, I know: it’s hard to believe, but I did learn something useful.  I’ll warn you ahead of time: I’m going into the “wonderful” world of business.  I’ll be mercifully brief.

Please, class, take out your textbooks.  We’ll refer to some small sections from the works of Richard Daft and Gitman & McDaniel for this semester.  You may tear out, burn, or otherwise eat whatever’s left of the texts.  Thank you.

Here, we learn about theorist Frederick Herzberg’s “Two-Factor Theory.”  Its “dissatisfiers” factor covers working conditions, salary, and policies.  If a company poorly implements these, workers will grow dissatisfied, while their presence, at best, will meet workers’ expectations so that they feel neutral.  Not only does the company need to implement these, but they also need to provide the “satisfiers” factor, such as recognition, achievement, and growth opportunity, so that workers can feel satisfied.

If you’ve fallen asleep, you can wake back up now.  I’ll only apply the theory to games going forward.  Based on the Two-Factor Theory, I think that game-related variables can show how games can either satisfy or dissatisfy us gamers.

Dissatisfiers

• Gameplay

• Interface

• Bugs/Glitches

• Value

These generally make up standards all games should have.  We gamers, of course, want to play the game through its gameplay mechanics.  We need its interface to input controls and receive feedback through graphics and sound.  Ideally, we want to play without running into glitches, technical errors, or other obstacles to our fun.  And we want to know the game was worth the money we paid for it.  Furthermore, we usually wouldn’t applaud a game for “having controls” or “not having glitches;” we take them for granted.  But when games don’t implement them correctly, boy, do we notice.

Let me make Chris proud by using Far Cry 2 as an example.  I’m sure he’d agree it had quite a few dissatisfying qualities, right Chris? (No. It’s perfect. -Ed)  The game’s tedious guard posts got in the way of most of my fun and exploration, and the presence of occasional game-stopping glitches definitely didn’t help.  Its first-person shooting, on the other hand, received a full complement of various guns and fun; the first-person interface, moreover, always works quite well on the PC’s mouse-and-keyboard.  As for value, the game does provide dozens of hours of gameplay; though, in this case I’d also argue that the presence of the other dissatisfiers makes those hours less worthwhile.

Dissatisfied? You’re probably looking at something like this guard post.

You know what?  Let me piss off Keenan too:  Far Cry 2 has some disappointing aspects, yet covers enough standards to make way for a potentially satisfying experience.

Satisfiers

• Graphics

• Sound

• Narrative

• Innovation

Satisfiers provide much more noticeable stimuli than the dissatisfiers.  We can plainly see graphics that dazzle our eyes with lush color and meticulous detail.  We hear the euphony of well-designed sound effects combined with tone-setting music.  A combination of graphics and sound can provide us an added feeling of immersion.  Narratives and stories motivate us through games by playing with our hearts and minds.  And we always appreciate innovation that provides necessary change and propels the medium forward.  We feel these with our senses and emotions.  They build on top of the standards to provide a compelling, satisfying experience.

That last bit is highly important, as, by themselves, the satisfiers mean nothing.  Say developers failed on all accounts to implement good gameplay, an effective interface, a bug-free experience, and a fair amount of content; even if their game has the best satisfiers, it’ll still be absolutely terrible.  Developers need to cover some, if not all of the dissatisfiers before they can worry about wowing us with graphics or delving into an intricate narrative.

All aspects of the two factors burst into euphoric visions that explode in my mind. All pictured above.

Conversely, if developers only focus on the dissatisfiers, and fail on the satisfiers, at best, their game achieves mediocrity, as it neither satisfies nor dissatisfies. Games should then foster a mutual interdependence between the two factors to make up a fantastic overall presentation, which also explains why satisfied opinions can be hard to specify and break down.

I’d say Far Cry 2 covers some of the dissatisfiers and some of the satisfiers.  It depicts lush African landscapes with visceral sounds of gunfights.  Its narrative surrounding The Jackal highly intrigued me.  The balance between its application of the two factors implies a good game beyond simply “mediocre.”  Games like Braid, meanwhile, excel in both of the two factors, and are quite fantastic.  Compared to my previously established thoughts and reviews of Far Cry 2 and Braid, the Two-Factor Theory thus seems to follow along my levels of satisfaction very closely.

Remember, the Two-Factor Theory as applied to video games is just a theory.  I don’t feel it’s the definitive theory to explain game satisfaction.  And, of course, I don’t write reviews based on cookie-cutter categorization like the theory would imply.  Gamers’ feelings towards games are subjective.  Therefore, variables change so much depending on both the game and the player that any given theory can’t simply categorize them.  Sometimes, gameplay can lead to satisfaction.  And personally, I want great narrative from most games, so, for me, it acts like a dissatisfier factor.

I wouldn’t suggest using the theory to generate your assessments of games; rather, it can generally explain your sentiments after the fact.  Despite all theories’ inherent fallibilities, I think the two factors make a useful jumping point towards further thought and self-reflection on the ways we judge games.

Since the episodes are now available individually, some people may opt to start with the second, although I’d have no idea why. For newcomers and for those who just need a refresher, the Voodoo Lady uses her tarot cards at the chapter’s start to recap the important events of the previous chapter, Launch of the Screaming Narwhal. I did enjoy that episode so I highly recommend playing that first if you still haven’t.

Guybrush valiantly defends against Morgan LeFlay in a dramatic swordfight intro.

The game literally thrusts forward into an action-packed swordfight aboard Guybrush’s ship that effectively grapples the player’s interest firmly into the experience. Infamous pirate hunter Morgan LeFlay seeks to collect a bounty over Guybrush’s head. Their resulting swordfight then cleverly introduces the main puzzle-solving gameplay, as the player has Guybrush set up items amidst his taunts and parries across three parts of his ship so he can defeat the sexy assassin.

So Guybrush doesn’t keep the upper hand (you’ll know what I mean) in the end, after the initial fun action scene, he still must set out to find the legendary Esponja Grande, which should cure the voodoo plague. Whether he sails on his ship between islands in the seas or travels by raft in the chapter’s main setting of the Jerkbait Islands, Guybrush continues to solve puzzles as he proceeds towards his goal.

The point-and-click adventure-style puzzles seem somewhat easy this time, but only compared to those few ridiculously disconnected actions and use of items for the puzzles of the first chapter. The writing definitely causes more laughs, especially with the humor surrounding the puzzles. Guybrush confusedly flirts his way with the ambiguously gendered Vacaylian Merfolk, the ones who know the way to La Esponja Grande. Don’t look at me: even he doesn’t know, but his dealings with them sure sound funny.

Meet your new dimwitted strong-arm of an ally… LeChuck?!

I particularly enjoyed the tasks Guybrush, at the doe-eyed request of his wife Elaine, begrudgingly does alongside the now (debatably) human LeChuck. I took great pleasure watching the very inept LeChuck, who was once Guybrush’s most formidable undead foe, insist on solving puzzles himself. Poor thing. I’m sure Guybrush reveled in the role reversal just as much though.

Overall, Guybrush’s three hour adventure, like the first chapter, moved along with good pacing. Though, the inclusion of another labyrinthine forest annoyed me: moving through the paths of the jungle artificially lengthened the experience, while Ch. 1 at least involved puzzles with its forest. Besides that, scenes, including the aforementioned intro and a fantastic end sequence involving the siege of Spinner Cay itself, successfully use well-written humor alongside fun adventure gameplay towards a mighty pirate tale.

While Ch. 2 uses the same game engine as the first, which I still think looks like ugly porcelain, the graphics depict grander scenes of sea battles and large creatures that mirror the increasing narrative intrigue. The overarching story of Tales approaches its climax, which I assume must involve La Esponja Grande, so every aspect of Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay in turn feels more exciting to match. This episode proves that Telltale can uphold their faithful Monkey Island writing, and so I very much look forward to more Tales of Monkey Island.

Enter Arkham Asylum and see where all of Gotham City’s most dangerous criminals lurk and remain locked away.  For comic hero Batman, Arkham is the last place he needs to be, so long as it stays in order.  Leave it to the developers at Rocksteady and Eidos to disrupt that order and you get the latest stealth-action game, Batman: Arkham Asylum.  The recently released demo, furthermore, provides a glimpse into the chaos that’ll soon unleash at Arkham.

Batman caught the Joker.  Surely he went through hell to get the villain, but that’s another adventure.  The demo starts at the ostensible beginning of the game, as Batman himself hand delivers the Joker to the asylum.  Though he takes extra care detaining one his longtime arch nemeses, he still can’t stop the Joker from breaking loose in Arkham.  “Introduce a little anarchy,” the Joker once said.  “Upset the established order.”  Oh, he will: he’ll free the comic franchise’s most infamous villains.

Now, Batman must stop the Joker.  He goes after him, but all the thugs the Joker frees in his wake slow him down.  Here in the demo, Batman faces them in hand-to-hand combat.  He expertly doles out martial arts punches and kicks.  Multiple enemies can surround him, and yet they’re no match when Batman effortlessly sends jabs to different targets in rapid succession.  Lightning bolts around brutes’ heads signal points of incoming attacks when Batman can fluidly return with counters.  The combat appropriately highlights a stylish interpretation of Batman, especially as figurative bats swarm in to mark each enemy’s defeat.

At times, the combat slows down to focus on cool finishing moves.

Batman truly looks badass as he performs impressively animated, complex maneuvers, yet on the player’s end, all the moves simply amount to the same four controls: strike, counter, stun, and jump.  In fact, even these few controls are overkill for the simplistic, easy combat.  I could defeat the thugs just by mashing the regular melee attack, and didn’t absolutely need the other moves.  While the combat looks cool no matter what, I’d have more fun if it would challenge me and then reward my skill with some of Batman’s awesome-looking takedowns.  Hopefully in the full game, more enemy attacks will come Batman’s way that’ll require player to use his move set more creatively.

Video monitors set the dramatic mood
and lead the player towards goals.

After he clears the enemies, he returns to tracking down the Joker.  At this point, I particularly noticed how well the game makes effective use of mise-en-scene, or level design in this case, to keep the player motivated towards a goal as well as set the overall tone.  The most obvious example comes through in the numerous security monitors dispersed throughout Arkham.  As Batman runs through the halls, the Joker taps into the feed and talks to him directly to bait him towards the next trap.

When Batman encounters the first notable villain, Mr. Zsasz (fans may know him from his brief appearance in Batman Begins), he runs past several monitors displaying live video feed of Zsasz torturing a guard, which dramatically builds tension before the confrontation.

Beyond the monitors, the gargoyles that fill the environs of Arkham reflect the dark, Gothic overtones inherent to Batman, but also have a gameplay purpose: in this scenario, Batman can grapple to them and position himself behind Zsasz.  Add the fact that the criminal threatens to kill his captured guard if he sees anyone approach and the demo makes way to introduce the stealth gameplay.  From the gargoyle perch, the player has two silent strategies: have Batman drop down, sneak up to Zsasz, and perform a silent takedown; or, swoop into Zsasz with a more difficult to execute, yet cooler-looking glide kick then finish the offender off with a ground takedown.

He wouldn’t be Batman without high-tech detective abilities.

With the criminal down, Harley Quinn, series villainess and the Joker’s right-hand gal, debuts herself and her hot, skimpy new look in a cutscene.  She promptly locks Batman in the room, but, of course, she’s not that bright for underestimating an experienced detective: Batman has heightened skills and advanced technology at his disposal.  With a button, the player can activate Batman’s detective vision, which highlights important objects like the grapple-ready gargoyles, or, say, a nearby vent he can use to escape a locked room.  Beyond the vent, the detective vision also proves useful to see through walls and reveal armed thugs lying in wait to shoot up anything bat-like that passes.  Now more aware of the danger ahead, Batman can safely grapple over the assailants.

The final level of the demo showcases a more complex stealth scenario:  dispatch several armed thugs who populate a multi-story room in order to proceed.  Don’t get discovered; despite Batman’s armor, he can only last a couple seconds against gunfire.  As far as the demo shows, the stealth gameplay does what the simplistic combat can’t: it both provides easy tactics for casual gamers as well as rewards skilled players for trying harder moves.  The more difficult maneuvers, such as an inverted takedown from a gargoyle perch, have Batman carry out the most visually impressive actions, but also require patience and timing, and alert surrounding enemies to his presence.

Thugs: “I think I heard something awesome over there…let’s check it out.”

The demo’s stealth combat, the detective work, and the overall experience of Arkham Asylum promise a game that’ll do the Batman series justice.  Justice: Batman wouldn’t want it any other way.  Batman: The Animated Series fans will most appreciate the return of Kevin Conroy, who lends his voice for Batman, and Mark Hamill, who plays the Joker; to some, they portray Batman and Joker better than Christian Bale and Heath Ledger ever could.  I’m also glad the developers resisted using the comic’s traditional setting of Gotham City for a more obvious open-world approach akin to Prototype or InFamous.  Arkham serves a Batman game rather well with its Gothic architecture for grappling and dark aesthetics, numerous maniacs for low-level enemies, major series villains for boss encounters, and enclosed environments perfect for stealth.

If you haven’t already, check out the freely available demo. Look forward for Batman: Arkham Asylum to arrive September 18 on the PC.

With the fifth game in the series, Resident Evil explores the latest “live together, die alone” craze as a cooperative zombie shooter.  Capcom released Resident Evil 5 last year for consoles, and now they give us PC gamers a first taste with a free downloadable benchmark tool before they finally release it for PC on September 15.

Play together, “You Are Dead” alone.

Taking place after the viral outbreak in the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4, the sequel oversees a similar plague in Africa.  Like the Ganados of RE4, the virus turns the Africans into rabid, yet still sentient, humans.  While RE4 involved the adventures of Leon Kennedy, RE5 instead has another Resident Evil veteran, Chris Redfield, play the hero.  As a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance, Chris must investigate the viral infection in the African desert.  Most notably though, an African BSAA agent named Sheva Alomar will aid him on his mission, and her involvement also  provides the foundation for the game’s new cooperation-based gameplay.

To prepare us PC gamers for our mission to Africa, Capcom gave us a convenient benchmark tool.  The tool can run in either DirectX 9 or 10, and has two tests: a fixed benchmark for a short, basic rendering check and a variable benchmark for a more thorough assessment involving simulated gameplay.

While the fixed benchmark pans over a scene of a public execution assembly, the variable benchmark uses it as the first level to thrust AI-controlled Chris and Sheva against a crazed African horde.  The two frantically move along a set path as they shoot their way out of a house, climb up to a make a towering stand on top of the wooden execution structure, and finally jump down towards their hope of freedom at the gateway.  The AI characters have autonomous control over their attacks, so beyond the pathfinding scripts, their differing maneuvers ensure variability throughout the test.  The variable benchmark then takes them to a shipping/storage area and a harbor-side level to cover as many differing graphical effects and enemy-types of the game within the test as possible.

The game looks and runs great in DX9.

In DX9, the game runs at a very smooth 50 frames per second average on my machine at a 1920 by 1200 resolution with the highest settings and 4x AA enabled.  The test constantly surrounds Chris and Sheva with an impressive, yet overwhelming few dozen enemies for maximum stress.  Rest assured, however, the actual game saves those ridiculously insurmountable odds for only the most intense story moments.

The game engine maintains numerous enemies against some gorgeous African landscapes and detailed shantytowns while the characters move with articulate animations.  Firefights looks awesome and action-packed, and Chris’s and Sheva’s punches, kicks, stomps, slashes, and finishing moves look as cool as they are to play.  Overall, the graphical port to PC runs efficiently, while looking as fantastic, if not better than, the console versions.

As for DX10, I must say he shoots blanks; he’s the impotent stepchild, who can’t perform, so to speak, as well as his older graphical brother.  And that’s not just for RE5, either: out of the DX10 games I’ve played so far, surprisingly only Far Cry 2 offered a substantial performance increase over its DX9 mode.  Most other games with DX10 modes at least provide extra visual flair to justify their slower rendering.

Notice the difference in DX10? The huge, beautiful performance drop of course!

Not RE5.  Running in DX10 unlocks no otherwise unavailable graphics options.  I looked closely and couldn’t see any changes between the modes.  If any difference does exist, you can call me a blind fool right now.  I simply couldn’t discern any graphical improvement from DX10 that would make sense out of its brutal 40% performance hit compared to DX9.  Needless to say, unless Capcom makes any changes to its DX10 rendering by the full release, just stick to DX9.

Unfortunately, gameplay is the one thing the benchmark tool doesn’t offer.  Where’s our full demo, Capcom?  Sure, the tool looks like it accurately tests whether the game will run on PCs, but demos also provide a slice of actual gameplay.  What if we don’t like how it plays?  I’ve played through the game in single player and co-op modes, and let me tell you, it will completely hit or miss with most people.

My guess is that Capcom’s still finalizing the PC version’s controls, interface, inventory system, and network code for online co-op.  While I had fun playing the game in co-op with a friend on the console version, the other aspects were huge points of clumsiness and contention.  The controls in particular still disappointingly don’t allow moving while aiming; while the game rests on the laurels of the once great RE4, it ignores the improvements of later third person shooters, such as Gears of War, Dead Space, and Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune, that do allow simultaneous movement and aiming.  And for the love of all things good, Capcom better support the keyboard and mouse for more precise shooting controls this time, which they ashamedly did not do for the PC port of RE4.

Hopefully Capcom pulls through with improvements for the PC version.  If they do and you consider getting Resident Evil 5, be sure to find a friend who’ll play through the entire game with you over online co-op.  Judging from my previous playthroughs, I think the co-op mode represents the game’s best possible experience.  When you’re down and zombie onslaught beckons, only your partner can save you.

The nostalgic original (top) and the pretty remake (bottom).

As soon as the game starts, it opens with a classic view of Melee Island, the game’s main setting. The graphics, though dated, have a retro style of beauty that no update can replicate. Literal bits of color construct the scene to make some remember a more innocent, purer time of PC gaming. Then the title pops up: “The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition.” The screen shifts. And the view of Melee changes to the stunning high definition painting of the Special Edition while the familiar Monkey Island theme music plays. The difference definitely makes for a “wow” moment.

It looks like a painting imbued with motion, which destroys any notion of “still life.” The water surrounding the island looks especially fantastic, as at any point it looks hand-drawn, yet still animates with the flow of the seas. While I certainly can appreciate the original version’s bits and sprites, I love how the remake, much like Braid, applies artistic acrylic dabs over well-preserved classic 2D gameplay. While 3D may be the norm of the present, 2D never died, but continued improving until it matched current high resolution standards.

Any update to the game, thankfully, sticks to an aesthetic level of graphics and sound. The remake preserves the adventure gameplay and dialogue that fans loved in the original, and, moreover, the player can switch between the original and remade versions with a simple press of F10.

Notice the remake now has detailed backgrounds,
but lacks the extra funny text of the original.

Sometimes, however, I’m glad I have access to the original at any time because certain puzzles work best in that version. See, the fun experience of Secret comes through the point-and-click puzzle solving in addition to exploring the narrative. The remake, with its focus on the artistic scenery and characters, removes the screen space dedicated to the command interface and inventory in favor of a clumsier system of keys, to call for pop-up menus, and the mouse wheel, which scrolls through actions.  Particularly with timed-puzzles, I’d swap to the original so I could quickly click on actions, inventory items, and objects in the world.

Of course, in Secret, the player guides the main character, Guybrush Threepwood, through his mighty pirate adventures on Melee Island and inevitably to the climax at Monkey Island. Guybrush, initially motivated to prove himself as a pirate, takes on quests as he speaks to other pirates. As you have him explore, you’ll gather seemingly random items, such as a “rubber chicken with a pulley in the middle” or a map with dancing instructions to “Do the Monkey!” Each item, though, will fit perfectly as a puzzle piece when you perform the appropriate actions on them, including “Look at,” “Pull,” “Push,” “Use,” and others, wherever necessary.

The Secret of Monkey Island originally defined the very charm and humor of the puzzles inherent throughout the Monkey Island series, so I’ll definitely leave them for newcomers to experience firsthand. They’ll give you a chuckle in addition to a feeling of accomplishment, as their clever challenges require critical thinking, but make perfect sense when finally solved. The insult-based sword fighting, which also makes its first Monkey Island appearance here, especially provides a fine example where Secret mixes quick wit, action, and humor to the fullest extent.

The sharpest mind slices through any sword when it parries with puns.

Compared to the newest Tales of Monkey Island, Secret might put off newcomers with its greater difficulty, though its unintuitive action system, unfortunately, will drive them away. The game supplies several possible commands, such as those mentioned above, that felt entirely redundant. When I knew I needed a certain item to finish a puzzle, I merely ended up scrolling through each possible action until one worked. Newer Monkey Island games effectively improve and compound all such actions into a more streamlined “Use” action; Secret, however, preserves the old mechanic.

The remake can faithfully maintain aspects of the original to positive effect: it not only delivers the dialogue, but also renews it with full voice acting. Now, purists will say that spoken dialogue ruins players’ readings and imagination of the story. I must say, though, the same I said about the dialogue in Tales: Secret just wouldn’t feel like a Monkey Island game to me without Dominic Armato reprising his role and doing his readings for Guybrush. The intonations of voice actors, too, can make lines funnier than the imagination (or at least my imagination) can depict.

With updates to sound and graphics, The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition thus allows me to enjoy the game fresh, even in the context of high present day standards. Since it’s the first Monkey Island game, I’m glad I could finally experience its more earnest, pure humor and gameplay, as compared to the sequels.

Considering only the first chapter of Tales is currently available, I’d suggest playing Secret first for a better, fuller seven hour experience that also costs less and can run on just about any PC.

They must think the PC is some secondary platform: the hunchback who lives in the attic of the gaming house and subsists on the table scraps of his beloved console brothers.  Maybe they don’t want to spend the development time to make the port.  Maybe they just don’t care about little things like their PC fan base and extra sales.  It’s only money right? Who needs that?

This will look much cooler with a smooth framerate on the PC. Thanks LucasArts!

Before I go on to the elusive PC titles, I originally included one game in the article before good old LucasArts beat it to the publishing punch. At ComicCon on Friday, June 24th, they announced that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will indeed come to the PC in The Ultimate Sith Edition form, which also includes all the downloadable content released thus far on consoles as well as a brand new level.  This is great news: when I played it on the PS3, all its middleware, including Havok physics and “Digital Molecular Matter,” caused some frustrating framerate drops.  This game needs a PC to render and play it properly, and LucasArts ports it the right way with extra goodies. The publisher joins others that uphold their faith in the PC.

Such good news does not apply for the following games, so this article, unfortunately, still needs to exist.  Their PC versions remain locked in the attic.

Condemned 2: Bloodshot

I don’t get it. Condemned 2’s developer, Monolith, has always been a great PC developer.  Hell, the first Condemned released on the PC, so what’s the deal?  As a first-person action game, it would work best on the PC’s mouse and keyboard, which would make the combat controls all the more effective to beat up all those crazy hobos. And I need to beat me some hobos.  Plus the high resolution graphics of the PC version can only help to maintain its visceral brutality and fear. Perhaps I shouldn’t blame Monolith; it’s probably the game’s publisher, Sega’s fault. When was the last notable PC release from Sega?  Oh that’s right, it was three years ago, and it was Condemned.

The Darkness

Is precision tentacle aiming too much to ask for?

Starbreeze is another developer that has a good history with PC ports.  They brought two Riddick titles to the PC: Escape from Butcher Bay in 2004 and the sequel, Assault on Dark Athena, a few months ago. In 2007, they also made an interesting, narrative-rich first person shooter, The Darkness.  It’s good enough that it doesn’t seem like they pulled it out of their asses, but if the PC version is anywhere, it must still be shoved up there somewhere.  Again, the mouse and keyboard would only be too perfect for its shooting and demonic gameplay, so it’s still a mystery to me why The Darkness remains a ghost to the PC.

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2

Granted, this game would be a hard sell on the PC.  The whole core of the gameplay was clearly designed for dual analog controllers: move with one analog stick and shoot with the other. WASD keys just can’t cut it when escaping hundreds of enemies. The PC, however, combines high-res with small monitors to allow you to see all those enemies much more clearly than the 360 version’s 720p resolution that’s typically viewed on large TV screens. The highest scores, I theorize, could only be achieved with a 360 controller plugged into a PC, so Geometry Wars 2 deserves a PC release.

Halo 3

Some of us still hang on Halo 2’s cliff. Our fingers are slipping.

Of all the games on this list, I must admit Halo 3 is the only one I haven’t played.  And, of course, my reason is obvious: it’s not on the PC yet.  Both Halo and Halo 2 took a long time after their respective Xbox releases, but eventually did make it to the PC.  The Halo franchise’s slow methodical approach to first person shooting may be a bit anemic compared to most PC FPSs; no matter how developer Bungie may contort the gameplay to work with a controller, however, the mouse and keyboard will always handle it better.  Bungie is busy at the moment with Halo: ODST (which should also come to PC), though they outsourced development for the past ports anyway. Some of us still wait to “finish the fight” in Halo 3 on PC.  Make it happen, Microsoft.

Developers and publishers keep such games as “console exclusives,” two dirty words for PC gamers. Don’t they consider what happens? They get me all hyped about their upcoming big release title, but then they immediately piss me off when they list the game’s platforms as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and nothing else.  I do own a PS3, so I did manage to play the games, but I shouldn’t have to “settle” for a console version when I prefer the PC. It’s almost an insult.

It’s better late than never, though, so come on developers!  Port these games.  My fellow PC gamers and I are your awaiting customers. We’ll pay you.

Guybrush Threepwood, the hero of the Monkey Island, indeed returns to gallantly rescue his wife Elaine from the clutches of his longtime arch nemesis, the undead pirate LeChuck.  Guybrush’s ship aligns with a cool backdrop on Elaine’s ship of a rather strange, green ritual involving LeChuck, a monkey, and a tied-up Elaine.  The rescue scene thus serves as a highly eventful and well-directed prologue to hook the player’s interest at the start of the adventure.  The rescue attempt goes awry, and instead of defeating LeChuck, Guybrush accidently—and humorously—infects his own hand with some bad LeChuck voodoo, blows up the ship, and then gets blasted onto Flotsam Island.

Guybrush’s voodoo hand puts the “punch” in “pun.”

Guybrush’s situation literally sucks, as Flotsam’s winds only gust inward and maroons all those on the island.  So for the rest of the 3 hours of story and gameplay for Chapter 1, the player must guide Guybrush to learn about the winds and solve puzzles to escape Flotsam and continue his rescue of Elaine.  Both the rescue scene and the first steps on Flotsam introduce the player to the third person point-and-click controls and puzzle solving.

Despite the game’s use of fixed camera angles to simulate the 2D nature of classic adventure games, the 3D world of Tales makes the traditional sole use of the mouse a bit awkward, especially since you have to hold down the left mouse button to direct a circular cursor around Guybrush to make him move.  Adventure games shouldn’t need WASD keys for movement, but they feel necessary to move easily in Tales; though, such controls aren’t a big deal since most 3D games these days use them.

Additionally, you can use the Flotsam overworld map to quickly move between areas.

Thankfully, mouse clicks work very well for the adventure-style gameplay: you can easily click on objects in the world to collect them or hear Guybrush’s comments on them, access collected items from the inventory on the right-hand side of the screen, combine two items when necessary, and then use them on objects or characters.  Guybrush further comments on items when you examine them in the inventory, and his hints effectively provide just enough information so you’ll never get terribly stuck while solving a puzzle.  At times, however, he does make solutions too obvious.

Without giving away any answers, most of the puzzles cleverly fit with the Monkey Island’s witty humor and puns, but the game does feature a few confusing instances involving seemingly unrelated actions that neither complement each other nor contribute to the comedy.

Guybrush progresses through the story and gathers information by chatting with the other marooned pirates on Flotsam.  Dominic Armato reprises his voice acting role as Guybrush, and his delivery provides the necessary nuances that make the writing especially funny and provide an essential Monkey Island feel.  Not to forget, the game properly uses the slapstick punches from Guybrush’s voodoo hand to add another hilarious layer of self-awareness towards Guybrush’s silly puns.

Besides the few aforementioned awkward tasks, the puzzles made sense in context with the story and with what Guybrush says to relevant characters.  You’ll need to perform three actions, for example, to make mighty pirate news for the reporter Nipperkin.  For most of the game, you can explore Flotsam and progress through the story at your own pace, while certain climactic moments, such as the ordeal with the doctor Marquis de Singe, who’s overly interested in Guybrush’s voodoo hand, vary the pacing and keep you on your toes.

Ew, porcelain…

While Telltale certainly emulates the writing style of Monkey Island, Tales’s graphics and art style unfortunately look too similar to other Telltale games.  We all know of Guybrush’s phobia, so it’s quite ironic that everything has the unappealing sheen of (please don’t tell Guybrush) porcelain!  I would’ve preferred cell-shaded textures, which would hearken back to the detailed, drawn sprites of The Curse of Monkey Island while still remaining simple enough, in terms of the technical graphics, for downloadable games.

Seasoned Monkey Island fans will appreciate the references and the upheld quality of the previous games.  If you’re new to the series, the excellent humor and clever puzzles will still give you a worthwhile experience.  As of this writing, the big issue is whether you’re willing to commit to the whole of Tales of Monkey Island, as purchasing the entire season remains the only way to play Chapter 1.  The game promises that your investment will pan out well, but if you’re unwilling to take a chance, hopefully Telltale will release each chapter individually.

At first, Prototype starts with a highly exciting action scene that gives the player the immediate gratification of a fully upgraded Alex with all of his freaky claw and tendril powers.  Through flashbacks, present-day Alex recounts his past eighteen days in Manhattan; he started with no memory, but with his newfound abilities, he could absorb people and inherit their memories.  Going on a destructive rampage, he’ll find the right people, and he’ll add to the “Web of Intrigue,” a collection of memories he’ll use to find and kill the man who turned him into a freak.

The Web of Intrigue cut scenes feature cool montages of photos, live actors, stylized designs, and voiceover narration, but so many memories spread across the story and the absorb-able people of New York that they cannot resolve into a coherent narrative whole.  By the end, I simply couldn’t make any sense of it or figure out why Alex finally decides to save New York from impending destruction, especially given his sociopathic nature for the entire game up to that point and after learning the secret of his origins.

Armored versions of Alex (left) and Dark Sector’s Hayden Tanno (right). Cut from the same…infection?

I would make some crack about Alex’s picture as listed in the dictionary under “antihero,” but the phrase “Alex Mercer is an antihero” is already under the word “understatement.”  He doesn’t take the side of the New York people increasingly plagued by an infection he helped spread nor does he take the side of the military and their quarantine.  He’s so amoral and psychotic with his actions that you cannot relate to him or care about him as the protagonist.  Prototype’s all: “Alex this” and “Mercer that,” and thus its best aspects, unfortunately, only revolve around Alex.

Sure, my opinion of the game rates negatively so far, but I did have some fun with Prototype.  What makes the character of Alex deplorable simultaneously makes way for great gameplay.  When you fight as Alex, you can cause as much mayhem and destruction as you need without fear of petty restraints like “collateral damage” or “innocent lives.”  And Alex has no shortage of ways to deal with enemies during missions, such as using his own powers, firing weapons, and hijacking tanks and helicopters.  In particular, combos of attacks, powers, and absorption reveal meticulous animations for Alex with torrents of gratifying graphical blood, vein, and tendril effects.  The most powerful devastator attacks effectively clear all surrounding enemies in a mass of tendrils that protrude out of Alex, and yet they lose their appeal after the 50th time you fall back on them in sticky situations.  Unquestionably, the combat plays well and, at the very least, looks cool.

In addition to combat, Alex especially animates with incredibly fluid motions when he traverses the Manhattan cityscape.  He’ll run straight up and over building while the player simply holds down the run key.  Eventually, you’ll literally have him fly through the city as he jumps and glides past several buildings at once.  While I prefer a more methodically paced and thoughtful approach to le parkour or “free running,” like in Mirror’s Edge or inFamous, Prototype uses a brute force model, similar to Assassin’s Creed, to great effect.  Too many times, I had to run away quickly from near-death experiences in heated firefights, disguise myself as a soldier, and wait for enemies to lose me while my health recharges.  I almost thought I was playing the wrong game, or rather, a really bad stealth game.

Why hijack when he can fly? Because he can, and he’s a douche.

Killing enemies and completing missions provides evolution points to spend on upgrades for every aspect of Alex, including health, strength, speed, powers, and weapon handling.  The upgrade menu, with its 7 subsections and dozens of upgrade paths, will absolutely overwhelm you.  Many of the abilities here feel a bit redundant anyway (Alex doesn’t need a shield power and an armor power, for instance) so as long as you purchase and maintain your favorite powers, you’ll manage.

The overload of power options becomes a problem when Prototype expects too much from the player to use them effectively.  With the plethora of powers and the freedom to acquire them by choice, the responsibility falls on the player to account for them and control Alex to his full potential.  More often than not, I experienced awkward gameplay moments when Alex would take a heavy beating because of my indecision to use certain abilities towards a strategy.  Obviously, I don’t want the game to shove “Use this power here!” in my face, but missions that better facilitate the various powers would go a long way to train players and make them more aware of Alex’s abilities.

For as much as the 15 hours that Alex’s campaign has him explore the quarantined Manhattan, the city definitely gets the short end of the Prototype stick; the show’s all about Alex, after all.  So few real-life landmarks can actually identify the city that I never would have known it was New York had the game not explicitly named it.  The setting of an open-word game should have a character, or a presence, that reacts to your actions in the story and involvement in the world.  Prototype’s Manhattan, however, exists solely to spread out missions over various locales, while its citizens serve as mere health packs for Alex to absorb.

Devastators look cool at first, but you’ll tire of them eventually.

The skyline looks fabulous and bright at night, but overall, the bland, boxy graphics of the city pale in comparison to the effort placed on Alex, who’s the only thing that consistently looks good.  Collectible glowing orbs hide across the city, but are nearly impossible to find due to the bad pop-in and very short view distance for higher detailed textures and objects.  Graphics-wise, high-end PCs deserve more than Prototype’s max settings.

The most representative example of the quality of Prototype comes from its music, or lack thereof.  Playing in silence for most of the experience, the game only cues few barely noticeable atmospheric pieces during story missions.

Just as the music underwhelms, so, too, does it underscore an overall uninspired feeling within most of Prototype’s aspects.  Don’t get me wrong: Alex Mercer shows plenty of effort in his graphics, animations, and gameplay.  I tried most of his powers and varied the combat with interesting combinations of attacks.  But if you’re unwilling to devote the effort into making Alex unleash his true potential, the game will return just as little as you invest.  Everything fulfilling about the gameplay and the story comes from Alex, and certainly doesn’t come from the poor implementation of the open-world setting.  Everything you do within it, the destruction, the mayhem, hardly impacts the world; the workings of the military and the infected seem distant and separate from your choices as Alex, except when forced by the story.  Prototype is a mixed bag of inconsistent quality, and, like the aforementioned story, its parts cannot resolve into a thoroughly complete whole.

Sound familiar?  If Portal came to mind, don’t be surprised.  Developer Valve hired a team of DigiPen students in the past, which then brought us the critically-acclaimed Portal.  Well, DigiPen has done it again, as a new team of students follows its predecessor with Tag, a game that has the same spirit and idealistic indie vigor as Portal.

Billboards provide hints…

Tag drops the player in a cityscape with a very clean, whitewashed aesthetic similar to the test chambers of Portal.  As the player character, you wander the level initially empty-handed while the game introduces you to the awesome power of paint.  The city may be monochromatic, but bright, solid colors pop out here and there to please the eye, and not to forget, they grant you abilities.

The first few levels teach you about the colors: green lets you jump, red makes you sprint, and blue sticks you to any surface.  You won’t just rely on the established colored surfaces; you soon find a paint gun and paint cartridges for each of the three colors, so that you can use them at will to solve puzzles and move your way through to the giant paint blobs to pass each level.

Movement through the levels starts simply enough: you’ll only need one color at a time.  You have infinite paint and infinite water to erase painting mistakes.  Signs will show you step-by-step directions to make your next maneuver.  The game eases you into using the paint powers because it isn’t about über skill-based puzzles.

…and their colors are fair game.

Just have fun painting and exploring while listening to cool techno vibes of the exceptional soundtrack.  And the end of each level rewards you with a city made pretty and paint-blotched by the wake of your path.  The creators seem to share their development with the player by allowing you to literally erase and paint textures as you need them.

The sign believes in you. Jump!

No need to worry if you do thirst for elite platforming challenges: levels ramp up in difficulty and train you in more complex tricks.  In no time, you’ll use green to triangle-jump between two walls with ease.  You’ll combine red and green to accelerate and jump from building to building.

Billboards scatter across rooftops, like flashy ads in any city, and they provide subtle, intuitive hints for movement puzzles.  Signs are largely helpful and look good along the cityscape, yet at times they could use more appropriate placement.  The game isn’t about minute color management, so when a sign I need to stick to with blue paint also has green lettering that’ll launch me right off, it just makes for a counterintuitive blip amidst an overall unity of aesthetics, paint, and powers.

All told, Tag doesn’t have a story to narrate its levels, although it does provides an enjoyable, yet short experience.  I wouldn’t expect, or even want, a full-length game based on Tag; it would drag out a concept that needs no more than 30 minutes to explore while still remaining fresh and fun.   I do, however, want to see what else the creators have to offer.  So if you’re Valve or any other interested developer, please hire the fine students who made Tag.  I definitely want to see more games from them.

You can download Tag: The Power of Paint for free. Take a half hour to play it, and let’s paint the town red!

When the elevator doors open, you arrive at what appears to be a masquerade ball.  A rumpus melody of enthusiastic trumpets plays over a scene of partygoers chattering and waiters serving drinks.  You’re greeted by a sign of The Saturday Club that intuitively teaches you the controls within the context and diegesis of the game world.  Using very brief instructions from a small note you hold, you go about playing a peculiar game of espionage.

Use WASD to move, sir. Champagne?

As you carry out the instructions, the first detail you notice comes from the simplicity of the graphics and the game engine.  The people look like a makeshift combination of cubes.  They buzz with speech reminiscent of the adults in a Charlie Brown cartoon show.  The balcony of the party overlooks low-res Brazilian mountains and jungle pasted onto a cubic skybox.

It is the old Quake II engine after all, but what it lacks in technology, it more than makes up in art style.  The bright solid colors of the setting make the otherwise dull polygons brim with life and shimmering light bloom.  The blocky people have smug, but cute little faces.  And the security guards comically follow you with suspicious eyes as if part of some overall tongue-in-cheek spy joke.  Despite Gravity Bone’s cryptic story, every detail constructs a charming and plausible world.  Who cares about the logical leaps and plot assumptions?  Let me just enjoy this setting and play the adventure.

Don’t look at me…I’m as confused as you.

So let’s get to the mission then.  The adventure gameplay is just as simple and quirky as the presentation.  The note you hold from some obscure contracting company leads you to a hidden area with further instructions and items to carry out your mission.  For example, you will freeze locks with pressurized Freon and then break them with a ball-peen hammer to unlock doors.  The gameplay mainly serves to propel you through the spy story, even though you’re not quite sure what to make of what exactly you’re doing.

Perhaps the “need to know basis” of information lends itself to interpretation: the culmination of the life of your playable character as a spy has some significance.  Or simply the exciting scripted chase sequence and well-composed cinematic event at the end just lend themselves to enjoyable entertainment.  Either way, Gravity Bone is a fun pint-sized adventure with great direction and narrative that nearly overdoes itself with ostentatious presentation.  You couldn’t ask for more from such a tight-knit package.

Have 20 minutes of time to spare? Download Gravity Bone for free from Blendo Games.  Let the life of a spy flash before your eyes.  And hey, when it’s over, go ahead and play it again.

Don’t want to lose friends? Stress test!

So you want to regain the respect of your online buddies. You want to be sure you never again die in a zombie apocalypse. And you never want your PC to BSOD again. If you want your PC and your PC gaming life back in order, what you must do is stress test your machine.

Most are quick to blame Windows or faulty drivers for their hard times. But what if you already diligently take care of your software and make sure it’s all up-to-date? Some of you will go insane trying to solve your software issues. Some of you will even turn to Apple in your desperation. Before you do something crazy, you should know that there’s a whole other world that could just as well cause your problems: the world of hardware. Stress testing will root out the problems in your hardware. If anything, it will at least rule out your hardware as the problem, so you can go back to blaming the software.

No PC is 100% stable. That kind of reassurance is reserved only for error-checking (ECC) and military-grade hardware. It is possible, however, for your PC to run stably enough for your purposes. In fact, even if you can boot and run Windows just fine, even if you’ve never seen a BSOD, your hardware can still have a few subtle errors that you can iron out.

Today’s PC games will stress your systems to the limit, so if your hardware is faulty or not up to specifications, you’ll likely see glitches or corrupt textures in-game. Or worse still, your PC will just plain crash. Unstable hardware is not only bad for you: your friends can die from a Tank you didn’t kill, for instance. More seriously, distributed computing programs, such as Folding@Home, will also stress your system, so if you use them on an unstable PC, you’ll only send back error-filled data. Don’t want to stress test to see if you’re sending errors? Fine. It’s only cancer they’re trying cure.

Games and distributed computing programs will stress your overall system; errors can then crop up on unstable hardware, but they won’t help you narrow down the problem to any one component. The following programs in this article will stress test specific components; they’ll test the most important parts for us gamers: the RAM, the CPU, and the GPU.

Don’t like cancer? Stress test!

RAM

The Diagnostics Tool works as a quick way to find RAM errors.

Most RAM modules are already stress tested by their manufacturers, especially if they come from brand-name memory manufacturers like OCZ, Corsair, or Crucial. Because of this, most modules should run without errors. Data on RAM can get written onto the hard drive, which, over time, can grow and result in software problems and corrupt Windows files. RAM stress tests are then definitely worthwhile to carry out for yourself, especially if you overclock the RAM past manufacturer specifications.

First, try testing the RAM using Windows Memory Diagnostics Tool. If you use Vista, type “Memory Diagnostics Tool” in the Search bar of the Start Menu to find and run it. If you use an earlier version of Windows, you can download the Memory Diagnostics Tool from Microsoft. Windows’s memory tool doesn’t test your RAM very thoroughly, but it should find errors on most unstable modules.

For a more thorough RAM test, use either Memtest86 or Memtest86+. The test downloads as an .ISO image that you can then burn onto a CD or DVD. Make sure your motherboard’s BIOS is set to boot from a CD, so that Memtest will automatically boot and run its tests. Memtest will run through a series of nine tests for your RAM. Normally, a single pass through all of its tests will uncover RAM errors, but some errors will only appear after long-term testing. Memtest will cycle through all of its tests indefinitely until you stop it. Test it for several hours overnight if necessary until you feel comfortable about your RAM’s stability.

Memtest usually finds errors quickly.

But run the test for several hours to be certain.

If either Memtest or the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool finds any errors at all, even if they only find a single error, your RAM is unstable. If you overclocked your RAM past manufacturer specifications, you’ll need to continue adjusting your speeds and your voltages until the RAM can run without errors (Overclocking is risky. Only adjust voltages if you know what you are doing.). Be sure to run the tests with all of your hardware on standards settings in the BIOS to make sure they can run stably even before you overclock. If you are not overclocking then your RAM may be damaged. Try running the tests on only a single module at a time to isolate bad RAM sticks. If you only have one module to start, replace the RAM with modules from another PC to determine whether your RAM causes the errors.

Problems should not have persisted past this point. Problems past this point mean that other hardware parts contain faults as well, and if those faults are advanced enough to affect a test specifically meant to stress RAM, consider adjusting BIOS settings or replacing your Motherboard or CPU. Remember that PCs from mainstream manufacturers like Dell or HP normally have BIOS settings locked, so in such cases you’ll need to contact their customer support. Hopefully your issues won’t appear this serious, as such replacements will burn a terribly unexpected hole in your wallet.

CPU

Like RAM, the CPU is integral to system stability and especially important in the long term since it can build software errors and send corrupt data to the hard drive. Also like RAM, chip manufacturers, including Intel and AMD, stress test their chips to make sure they run up to specifications. Unlike RAM, however, CPUs are much more variable in design: every single chip has unique properties, and even two chips of the same model can require different settings to run properly. Stress testing your CPU is absolutely necessary whether or not you overclock its speed or adjust its voltages.

Mersenne’s Prime95 is a distributed computing program designed to use CPUs to calculate very large prime numbers. Since it stresses all CPU cores to 100% load, it effectively works for us, especially since Mersenne kindly programmed a “Torture Test” mode specifically for stress testing.

Choose “Just Stress Testing”.

Select “Small FFTs” to only test your CPU. The number of threads equals your CPU’s core count.

According to Mersenne, Prime95 will find errors on unstable hardware within minutes. Some errors can take hours to uncover, so Mersenne suggests stress testing for a period of “somewhere between 6 and 24 hours.” Pick a time that you’re likely to leave your computer running and stress it for that period of time. It also doesn’t hurt to overshoot: if you’re paranoid like I am, you’ll test for 10 or more hours even though you’ll probably never leave your PC on for that long normally.

If the test does find errors within the testing time, it’s up to you whether you want to actually fix your problem. Obviously, if you regularly experience serious crashes, you’ll want to adjust CPU BIOS settings to fix the problem, even if you aren’t overclocking. Your motherboard’s automatic settings will usually suffice, but if you do get errors, you should manually input voltage settings for your CPU until errors disappear. Remember, every chip is different, which is why the manufacturer will usually give you a safe voltage range for the CPU instead of a hard number. Raise voltage within this range until it runs stable. If you reach the maximum safe voltage level and instability persists, the CPU is probably defective and needs replacement.

If your CPU runs several hours without any errors, it will likely run error-free during any given similar period of time. Again, there’s no guarantee of 100% stability, as the test will probably find errors on your CPU eventually no matter what, though it will likely take weeks of continuous testing.

Failure! Your CPU is not stable.

You may have never experienced a crash before, and yet Prime95 could still find an error. In this case, according to Mersenne, “if you are comfortable with a small risk of an occasional system crash then feel free to live a little dangerously!” It’s up to you ignore errors, especially if you overclock and if you prefer it quick and sloppy. Or you can work on it until it can perform long and safely. I’m sure that’s how she likes it. “She” is your PC, of course. Yes…that’s what I meant.

CPU and RAM

If you need thoroughness in your testing, you can use Prime95 to test your CPU and RAM again as well as at the same time.

Choose “Custom” and fill in the proper amount of RAM.

Run another torture test with custom settings. When you fill in the RAM amount, make sure not to put the total MB of all your RAM. Windows need memory to run itself, so it will send all extra data to the Page File on the hard drive. You can tell if you input too high of a number if the test is not using 100% of all your CPU cores. Leave Windows about 15% to 20% of your RAM to function and dedicate the rest to Prime95. Run the stress test for the same amount you chose for the CPU-only test.

Success! Your PC is stable.

Typically, the test shouldn’t find errors if the individual CPU and RAM tests already passed. If it does find errors, the FSB and memory controller on the motherboard are likely at fault. Note that only Intel chips made before the Core i7 models require a traditional memory controller to cause these problems, so you shouldn’t experience such problems with AMD or Core i7 processors. The memory controller on the northbridge chip on the motherboard handles the flow of data between the RAM and CPU, and runs at the speed of the FSB. Adjust the FSB and the northbridge voltage settings until errors disappear.

GPU

The video card comes as the easiest of the bunch to test and the least threatening to your data. Unlike the RAM or the CPU, the GPU won’t likely cause the long-term damage of corrupt data written onto the hard drive, as data on the video card only works towards rendering graphics. GPU problems are nevertheless still important for us PC gamers. Once you’ve already determined all your other hardware runs with stability, you can run graphical tests and isolate the problems on your GPU. Simply test it by playing PC games. If the game crashes or you see graphical artifacts and corruption, the GPU is the likely culprit. Try either backing off on overclocked settings, replace the video card altogether, or just live with the artifacts.

Conclusion

If your PC passed all the above tests, it should run rock solid stable. If you did find errors, hopefully you can fix the errors through adjustment of BIOS settings without needing to purchase new hardware. To note, only change voltage settings if you know what you are doing. To fix errors related to insufficient voltage settings, be sure to research your hardware thoroughly. Too little voltage will result in instability. Too much voltage will cause more damage than that you’re trying to fix.

The next time you see your friends, they’ll expect you not to crash. They can actually depend on you take down that Tank. And hey, maybe they’ll even respect you. Good luck.

In this latest release, actor Vin Diesel reprises his role as the ambiguously amoral anti-hero, Richard B. Riddick, in two full-length games. The first is a remake of the 2004 Xbox and PC hit Escape from Butcher Bay. This original movie tie-in game oversaw Riddick’s incarceration and escape from the triple-max prison, Butcher Bay.

Starbreeze enhanced the graphics with improved textures, depth of field blur, motion blur, film grain, and other current-generation effects to make the dark prison all the more daunting and impressive. For those who didn’t play the Developer’s Cut of Butcher Bay, this updated version also includes its extra content and bonus riot guard mission. The remake gives you an excuse to play through the excellent Escape from Butcher Bay a second time. Or, if you’re like me, it’ll be your fourth.

Top: Escape from Butcher Bay. Bottom: Assault on Dark Athena.

The second included game is the feature presentation, Assault on Dark Athena. As a sequel to Butcher Bay, the game takes place directly after Riddick’s escape from the prison only to have him captured by the mercenary ship Dark Athena. Of course, Riddick wants nothing more than to get the hell off the ship, but he’ll need to, well, assault the Dark Athena. Meanwhile, the ship’s threatening captain, Revas, and her army of mercs and mindless drones relentlessly hunt Riddick to collect the bounty on his head.

They’ll hunt, but they’ll hardly find him as he constantly eludes them. As a first-person stealth game, Dark Athena has you control Riddick under the veil of darkness. Hide in the shadows or shoot out all of the lights to gain an advantage over unaware mercs. You can also use Riddick’s unique eyeshine ability from the very beginning to see in the dark and turn it into a bright world of possibilities.

The first-person stealth combat works very effectively and gives you a satisfying, yet masochistic feeling as you successfully eliminate guards one by one. They know you’re around and they search with their flashlights, but you creep in the darkness, sneak right up behind them, and watch as Riddick fluidly grapples the foes with swift killing strokes.

If an enemy discovers you nearby, don’t worry; the close combat system also offers some visceral, bloody fun. The combat hasn’t changed much since Butcher Bay, as Riddick still attacks in four directions. But now he can do easier counters in addition to cool finishing maneuvers, and the openings for such moves are clearly marked by the spread of Riddick’s palms or the shine of his weapons. Each of Riddick’s shivs, clubs, or his choice favorites, the ulaks, has several meticulously-animated killing motions that help keep the combat as exciting to experience as it is to play.

If an armed enemy discovers you from far away, that’s where the game starts to break down. The mercs or drones can shoot you with pinpoint precision, yet when Riddick picks up any of their pistols, assault rifles, carbines, or shotguns, he just sucks at firing accurately. Perhaps the torment of the hundreds of men he’s murdered has finally started giving him nervous shakes, as he seems his weakest when he holds a gun. Sorry Riddick, but there’s nothing more frustrating than when a merc finds you with his flashlight, you’re blinded because you’re using the eyeshine, and you can’t return fire because of the terrible gunplay.

The game takes every opportunity to show off Vin Diesel.

There are, however, a few redeeming shooting sequences. The ship’s gravity core room twists the shooting with interesting results: you must fight the pull of gravity to shoot mercs who then get sucked into the core. In other instances, Riddick turns the drones against their merc masters from remote control stations. The player can just sit back and burn through a near endless supply of drones to blast through mercs and safely open passages. Dark Athena’s drone levels, as well as the single mech level, help vary the pacing and highlight exciting, fast action in a game that’s normally about strategic and methodical stealth.

To aid in his escape, Riddick enlists the help of the Dark Athena’s prisoners, which highlights the conversation and quest systems that make up some of my favorite aspects of the whole experience. While these aspects became important parts of the gameplay and narrative of Butcher Bay, Dark Athena, sadly, has far fewer instances of them. Nevertheless, characters reflect subtle nuances of emotions in their facial and body expressions that create highly realistic conversations; their movements and expressions are much more dynamic than in the comparable face-to-face, stand-still conversations of Mass Effect, though to Mass Effect’s credit, Dark Athena’s are much less non-linear. Riddick’s brutish charm shines through in dialogue perfectly voiced by Vin Diesel, and reflects Diesel’s surprisingly good voiceover talent. I especially appreciated Riddick’s occasional monologues as Diesel’s gruff voice sets a tone for dark heroics.

Conversations are unparalleled in emotion, but sparse.

Weirdly enough, the game also has a multiplayer mode that feels unnecessary as an addition to the strong double feature of single player campaigns. Riddick’s movements work in single player, but they animate as if he were shackled or constipated when seen from afar in a multiplayer setting.

Despite the subpar shooting, the masterful stealth, immersive close combat, cinematic conversations and quests, and the Riddick universe setting make Assault on Dark Athena nothing short of fantastic for me. I must realize, though, that since I played Butcher Bay four times, Dark Athena can put me in Riddick’s shoes and I already understand his capabilities. Players that prefer shooting over stealth will definitely not be comfortable. The inclusion of two full games may represent a fantastic value; however, unless you are a Riddick fan or a stealth aficionado like I am, you may want to pass on Assault on Dark Athena.

As a simple strategy game, Plants vs. Zombies features the defense of a valiant variety of lawn plants against an onslaught of shambling zombies.  PopCap once again harnesses the power and depth of the left mouse button:  as the gardener, you simply click on plants and strategically place them on your lawn to block the zombies from entering your home to eat your tasty brains.  Solar power from the sun and from Sunflowers generates the points you’ll use to grow plants.  Physically clicking to collect sun points also adds an extra layer of interactivity that further involves you in an active lawn defense.

Successful defense progresses you through the levels of the main Adventure mode.  You’ll not only see increasingly tougher zombies, like those wearing protective road cones and buckets, but you’ll also defend against “huge waves” of zombies in greater numbers.

A solid defense keeps the horde at bay.

With the level progression, you soon accumulate so many plant types that they outgrow your limited available slots for plant choices.  The Adventure takes you to lawns and rooftop battles with pools, nighttime, and fog, and each scenario requires experimentation with water plants, nighttime Puff-shrooms, and catapulting Cabbage-pults respectively.  The slot limitation itself also forces you to experiment with different combinations of plants to form different strategies, but at least your choices seldom lead to outright failure. 

The experience is easy enough that it’ll reward you for testing strategic theories: you might invest in cheap single-use plants like the exploding Cherry Bombs and the brutish Squashes or try an expensive long-term defense of Pea Shooters and Repeaters.  In any case, the huge zombie waves act as the climactic, exciting moments in each level; they’ll test your strategy as you frantically perform last-minute gardening; and you’ll feel utterly satisfied when your strategy passes the onslaught.

What’s a PopCap game without puzzles?

The overall strategy may appear too easy for a worthwhile experience, but the charm of PopCap makes the game highly unique and quite addicting.  Despite the simple 2D graphics, the pretty color palette, extensive animations, and quirky sounds imbue the plants, and even the zombies, with life and personality.  There’s nothing more satisfying than when a plant successfully lops off a zombie’s head with a cute “pop” while the headless zombie continues to shamble aimlessly.  I especially love the all-too-familiar Dancing Zombie, whose debut is as fun to defend against as it is to watch.

Separated at death.

In addition to the Adventure, extra unlockable modes add to the replay value.  Survival mode tests your best strategies against the toughest zombie hordes.  Minigames and Puzzles provide nice changes of pace, as little experiences like Wall-nut bowling and Vasebreaker differentiate the gameplay.  It even includes a Zen Garden to fulfill a basic need for tranquility and build discipline through plant care.  Within my four days of play as of this writing, I have already spent more than 15 hours with the game, and I will likely spend countless more hours replaying the Adventure and exploring the extras.

Plants vs. Zombies is another fantastic and whimsical hit from PopCap.  The initially simple strategy of Adventure mode combines with a comical, unlikely battle between Mother Nature and the undead to create a highly addictive experience.  Download it now from Steam or PopCap’s website and practice your gardening skills for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Valve released Left 4 Dead during last year’s holiday season.  It soon became one of the best game releases for all of 2008.  And since then, I have played the cooperative zombie shooter almost religiously.

Left 4 Dead is a cooperative first-person shooter that has up to four players work together in an arduous journey to find a rescue vehicle that will save them from the zombie apocalypse.

The game originally contained four scenarios where the survivors can escape in the end, but surely some were just not as lucky.  Thinking about it reflects a sick pessimism, but I can assume that some survivors only found dead ends for their hope of rescue.

Literally speaking, Left 4 Dead’s newly released Survival downloadable content gives new meaning to “dead end.”  In the new Survival Mode, the four survivors meet their greatest endurance test for their lives.  Certain points in the levels of Campaign Mode required the survivors to clear an obstruction in their path, open a door, or call a rescue vehicle, but they would then also trigger a “crescendo” event, or a huge horde of rabid infected.  Survival Mode places the survivors in these same levels and the hordes certainly do come, but this time the path never opens.  Rescue will not arrive.

Any of the given Survival levels starts out with the calm before the storm.  The survivors have as much time as they need to prepare.  At first glance, they appear to have found the ultimate anti-zombie stash complete with weapons and ammunition that lie all over the place.  They even start off with the second-tier guns and can take their pick of the sniper, auto-shotgun, or assault rifle.  They also can plan to hold fort and hunker down by setting up several flammable gas cans and explosive propane tanks in strategic positions.

In the standard Campaign mode, the abundance of weapons would clearly make survival a breeze, but in Survival mode, none of it makes a difference.  The tragic irony definitely doesn’t go unnoticed: in “Survival” mode, as the game says, “It doesn’t end well.”

After the initial setup, the survivors confidently trigger the horde.  Sure there’ll be dozens of zombies, a few lashing Smokers, pouncing Hunters, vomiting Boomers, and the intermittent hulking Tank, but it’ll be manageable right?  For the first few minutes, their comfort starts to wane as the horde grows increasingly aggressive.  The few occasional boss infected attacks multiply as the Smokers, Hunters, and Boomers attack from all sides.

That’s okay.  They can throw everything they have at them and pull through.

But the horde is relentless.  One Tank becomes two.  Ammo grows increasingly scarce.  A survivor dies.  Boss infected attack with the horde.  Two Tanks become three.  The scream of the horde is deafening.  Two more survivors die.  The last man standing holds out for 30 seconds more then finally gives in to the oncoming waves and the turning tide.

The timer wasn’t our ally.

Death awaits you in the end, but even knowing that makes every living moment exhilarating.  Every time you play, you can hold out bit longer to try to break your record survival time.  Every minute becomes a milestone.  So far, I’ve not been able to survive longer than 20 minutes.  And on the new Survival-only map, The Last Stand, holding out for more than ten is a miracle.

Man, The Last Stand is almost too perfect as a Survival map.  You’ll start off together with your survivor mates–in the engine room, perhaps–and will fight that horde.  Soon, though, you’ll find yourself on top of the light house; you’ll give your last adrenaline-pumped effort and then die alone.

In addition to nihilistic fun of Survival, the two Campaign maps of Dead Air and Death Toll are now available in Versus mode.  Finally I’m not limited to only two Versus campaigns, and I’ll be sure to spend countless more hours finding new survivor-versus-zombie tactics on the new maps.

Whether you’ve been playing as adamantly as I or you’ve taken a break from the game, the new Left 4 Dead content will renew your zombie-killing addiction.  What was a phenomenal game of last year remains just as awesome this year.  More amazing still, the new content is absolutely free, so go download it right now.

Braid contains a relatively brief three hour experience. Just like a sonnet, however, its concise nature makes every seemingly minute part all the more vital to its overall purpose. The cohesive whole culminates from masterful authorship that meticulously tunes all internal parts to achieve harmony and unity. In such a way, Braid tries to achieve artistic quality. Each of its elements brim with meaning, and the inherent subtleties lend themselves to deep interpretation.

As a platformer and puzzle game, Braid initially seems to rely heavily on the conventions of traditional 2D sidescrollers. Tim, the main character, must walk from the left side of each level to the right side. He solves puzzles to gain access to later levels. He must save the princess.

Tim’s adventures, however, go beyond the scope of platforming conventions and beyond the boundaries of time itself. He can rewind time, but, moreover, he relentlessly and recklessly exploits impossible time contradictions that will enable him to find his beloved princess.

Braid bases its gameplay on traditions, but doesn’t let them off the hook without some amusing satire. Braid definitely pokes fun at a certain popular plumber’s game.

Too bad, Mar…I mean Tim.

Even the levels themselves parody traditional game expectations, as they throw out the mandatory order and linear progress between levels. Tim can walk past just about any puzzle, reach the level’s end, and proceed to the next level. Later worlds of levels only unlock, however, after he solves all puzzles to collect puzzle pieces found throughout currently available levels. If a particular puzzle stumps you, the game flexibly allows you to save it for later, so you can intuitively solve them at your own pace.

The sonnet of Braid’s levels set a pacing and flow with metrical rhythm and rhyme. An in-depth analysis of Braid would contain too many spoilers, so just pay close attention to the repetition of certain levels and the dramatic changes to the solutions of their puzzles. The tone shifts along with cycle of levels. Paradoxes compound to cause deterioration, but simultaneously build towards Tim’s ultimate goal.

To solve puzzles, Tim must not only manipulate time, but also break it. Additionally, each of the six worlds contains different time properties that work on top of Tim’s time-rewinding base. You’ll encounter enemies and items impervious to changes in time. Sometimes time will tie directly to your movement. You’ll even work with your double, or your imprint left in time. The game combines time elements to create intricate knots of time puzzles, but it encourages you to use some creative clumsiness, which can surprisingly work more effectively than even your best puzzle solving logic.

Tim literally solves puzzles

Tim can rewind time no matter what happens, and even death cannot stop him. He simply uses death to create improbable paradoxes that solve impossible puzzles. Death is not an end, it is merely a means.

The lack of death deceptively creates an illusion of easiness. The challenge of the puzzles doesn’t derive from the frustration of failure or death, but from the actual nature of the puzzles themselves. Their extreme challenge, though, really creates a double-blind deception that masks a subtle simplicity: you could spend hours finding the precise way to reach a key needed to open a door to a puzzle piece, but then realize the solution takes about ten seconds to perform.

Tim’s foolhardy venture through the six various worlds constructs a narrative with overtones of joy, determination, and remorse. The impressionist influence of Van Gogh perfectly sustains Braid’s emotional breadth of whimsy and gloom. Despite the apparent simplicity of 2D graphics, the stunning amounts of layering, post-processing, and shading creates a gorgeous art style that makes every frame a fresco.

Your Doppelganger, your death, your friend

The music also heightens the emotional variety to create a euphonious soundtrack that supports Braid’s elation and elegy. “Undercurrent,” the track for final level, is an absolutely ingenious composition that plays both backwards and forwards to perfectly match the level’s duality.

The emotion and the gameplay combine to create a fantastic narrative that unfolds along with Tim’s time manipulations to find the princess, but some on-screen text also reveals the backstory. Like solving a puzzle, the narrative unveils information that the player then pieces together for a continuous story. The normal and alternate endings feel satisfying though they both reveal the shocking inevitabilities of time travel. Make sure to replay the game to find the secrets that unlock the alternate end; the effort truly supports a worthy outcome.

Every piece of the Braid puzzle resolves into a phenomenal whole. Every line of the poem speaks towards a voice previously unheard. I’m not sure whether the future will remember Braid for its complexity and meaning, but I can sincerely say that Braid is a masterpiece of an artistic game.

I just saw someone playing Crysis at its highest graphics settings on a crappy, low-end laptop.  What if I then told you that you could play Crysis on a Mac?  Why, you’d think I had gone insane; I certainly thought I was.  But at this year’s Game Developers Conference, a newly announced “cloud computing” service, called OnLive, proves that such gaming miracles can happen.

Crysis’s amazing graphics demand extremely high-end PC hardware to run at high resolutions and smooth framerates, correct?  It certainly does, and such hardware also costs a few thousand dollars.

Any given hardcore PC gamer will buy that expensive hardware, carefully and methodically assemble their PC, and then continue to meticulously maintain their computer all so they could play games, such as Crysis, at the highest level of performance with the best graphics.  PC gaming as a whole not only revels in the enjoyment of software, but also in the craft and appreciation of PC hardware.  As a PC gamer myself, I feel satisfied knowing that my choices of specific hardware directly results with fantastic game performance and enjoyable game experiences.

I’m sad to say, my friends, that gamers like us are a dying breed.  Most mainstream gamers just don’t have the time and the knowledge to worry about hardware to play PC games.  On the other hand, with game consoles they don’t need to worry about hardware, so they can just focus on the games.  The lack of hardware appreciation by gamers didn’t kill PC gaming, but the majority of the market share and money remains with the consoles.

No, the utter destruction of PC gaming as we now know it, with its enjoyment of infinite hardware customization, will not die because of the consoles, but with “cloud computing.”  A gamer need only have three things to use a cloud computing service like OnLive: a computer with a keyboard/mouse or controller; a TV or monitor; and a high speed internet connection.  Cloud computing has gamers play their games exclusively over their internet connection: player input goes to a server in the “cloud,” the server does all the game rendering and calculations, and the resulting game video feed goes back to the player.  Cloud computing services thus become the equivalent of the best possible computer to handle all games, while users’ personal computers, and even game consoles, become obsolete as gaming machines.

In a sense, though, some aspects of PC gaming will still live on in the future when cloud computing becomes the standard.  Gamers will always have access to the best hardware as services like OnLive periodically upgrade their servers.  As consumers, we benefit since we no longer have to pay for hardware upgrades every few years, and we can better spend our money on games.  While cloud computing effectively “consolizes” computer gaming by making computers the most uniform, yet best hardware available for developers to make their games, the traditional game console method of committing to set hardware for several years will also disappear.

No longer will we have to wait several years for newer graphical effects in PC games while consumers take their time adopting new compatible hardware.  In fact, the move to cloud computing itself will initially cause a huge graphical leap in games, as game developers will instantly have the best graphical hardware at their fingertips.  “Minimum” and “recommended” specifications for PC games will become irrelevant, especially since developers can rest assured knowing that their customer base already can support the latest graphical effects that they wish to implement.

Whether or not you decide to like cloud computing, this service for games inevitably will happen.  The games industry will support the method with the greatest profit potential, and publishers will love cloud computing’s ability to fight piracy, destroy the used games market, circumvent retail outlets, and gain market share.

Meet the future

Because OnLive is so ahead of its time, issues will initially arise with its implementation of cloud computing.  Since the entire game experience passes through the internet, latency or lag may occur, which can ruin some games, especially multiplayer games involving several people’s compounding lag.  These days, too, market penetration of high speed internet simply hasn’t spread wide enough for gaming to solely rely on cloud computing.  In the future, speeds and internet adoption will grow sufficiently to solve these problems, but it’s not like PCs and consoles will suddenly disappear next year or even in the next 5 years.

With OnLive as the first of its kind, suddenly every gamer can play on their PC easily without the burden of upgrading hardware.  Moreover, the high-end PC gaming experience that we know today can even play on a Mac or TV-attached console.  I will undoubtedly miss the customization that we PC gamers enjoy, but I must say the prospect of constant exposure to exponentially increasing hardware and graphics towards the inspiration and supplementation of new gameplay experiences feels truly exciting.