World of Gaming

There's a ton of space butt to kick with your pimped-out fleet of starships, but be prepared to take a beating.

Having the means to build a fully customized fleet of massive starships armed to the teeth with the latest destructive technology and thrash your way across a string of pirate-infested galaxies should make for a killer time. For anyone who has grown up on a steady diet of Star Wars and Star Trek, epic space battles and grand tales of cosmic conflict make a mouth-watering premise for a portable role-playing game. As its name implies, Infinite Space is a vast and expansive sci-fi RPG that will send you rocketing into the furthest reaches of space to show scores of intergalactic baddies who's boss. Getting caught up in an armed struggle between warring planetary factions has its exciting moments. It's also a real struggle to enjoy at times, due to a number of substantial gameplay design issues that will gradually erode your enthusiasm until you're left wondering if the many frustrating hours you've sunk into the quest were a fair trade-off for the limited fun it yielded.


The game's young hero, Yuri, enthusiastically finds himself at the helm of his own starship with a ragtag team of unlikely companions after being exiled from his home planet for disobeying laws against space travel. Motivated by a drive to explore the depths of space and recover mysterious artifacts called epitaphs, the party sets out to do battle against dangerous space pirates and other unsavory forces in their search for the relics. They soon get sucked into the growing threat of war between planets and organizations. Yuri's leadership experience matures alongside the power of his armada. Having a hands-on role in deciding every aspect of the fleet's growth and operation is a big part of what makes Infinite Space so enticing. Your back-and-forth travels between dozens of planets and numerous solar systems inevitably unlock a staggering number of blueprints for new ship classes, weapon upgrades, and fascinating mods to boost your fleet with. With all those goodies to play around with, it's easy to get pleasantly lost in the task of assigning crews to posts with maximized efficiency, tinkering with the ship mods by dropping them into puzzle-like grids, and grinding for cash to spend on heavy-duty ships.

Charting a course through connecting routes between certain planets is the only way to navigate the cosmos, and the multilayered galaxy map in each system seems overly complicated at first glance. You can figure it out given some time and experimentation, but just when you get the hang of hopping between planets, the plot will send you to bigger galaxies with even more confusing networks to explore. Stopping at a planet lets you save your game, access the planet's facilities, and automatically replenish your fleet's health and fatigue levels. Beaming down to the surface, you can visit local taverns to chitchat with your own crew and non-player characters, pick up important blueprints at shops, and advance the story in some instances. Quite a bit of your time is unfortunately spent plotting routes on the minimalist galaxy interface, which leaves much to be desired. It's functional in a rickety, bare-bones sort of way. Other areas of the game are more impressive, but they're not without their own flaws.

The open space between most planets is filled with hidden enemy pirate fleets lying in wait to pounce on you. Real-time battles have you issuing split-second commands on a virtual control panel with quick stylus taps while you track the action of ships on the top screen. The slick interface mimics the bridge of your ship. Unleashing volleys of attacks triggers close-up scenes of the action showing your vessel unloading its barrage before offering a view of the enemy ship getting pummeled. Destroying opponents' ships yields a satisfying explosive sound as you watch them break apart. Engaging your flagship's forward and reverse thrusters helps you move in and out of range to fire on enemy ships. Meanwhile, you also have to pay close attention to a battle gauge that slowly fills, since it has to reach a certain point before you can issue attack commands. Which attacks you should use varies according to what your target is doing, because the effectiveness of specific attacks is greatly increased or decreased based on what move the enemy pulls out of its playbook at any given time. You need to constantly be on your toes, because a moment's hesitation can make all the difference between being vaporized and trekking onward to victory.

In the slightly less common instances where you duke it out in melee battles with your crew on planet surfaces or on board adversaries' ships, combat is very much a game of rock-paper-scissors. Selecting an attack that beats your enemy's attack lets you do damage without taking any for a short time, but things quickly go south if you start off on the wrong foot. Both sides attack at the same time, and there's a delay of a few seconds from the time you queue up an attack to the time it triggers. Opponents are also very good at anticipating your next move and countering it before you have a chance to react. These encounters are a lot less cohesive than the fleet battles, which makes them a lot less enjoyable. You can avoid them most of the time, but sometimes the plot shoehorns you into these fights.

Infinite Space's tough-love approach to battle and the way its progress structure plays out will be a major turnoff to some. Losing your flagship in fleet encounters or having your crew wiped out in melee at any point in any battle is an instant game over. While that alone isn't particularly devious, the game's story missions often throw you into several back-to-back heavy-duty fights in a row without a chance to repair your ship or recover your fatigue meter between them. Making it through to the other side of these encounter gauntlets with a sluggish, exhausted crew and a fleet that's being held together with chicken wire and spackle feels impossible at times. Of course, you can always go back and grind a bit to buy more powerful gear and pony up your fleet--except when you can't. There's at least one point in the story when, if you choose to proceed with the mission, you won't be able to go back until you beat it. If you aren't powerful enough to trounce the slew of baddies dumped on you or if you forgot to equip any crucial items, pray you didn't save your game after accepting the mission.


Once the adventure gets under way, the quirky personalities of the anime-style characters do grow on you as the story develops and gets more intense. Unfortunately, figuring out where you need to go and what you need to do in order to get the plot moving along in some stretches of the game is painful. Sometimes you have to visit places and talk to characters multiple times in a row just to get the key morsel of information you need to proceed. The path forward is often unclear, and the result is that you'll wind up aimlessly clocking frequent-flyer miles throughout the galaxy without accomplishing much until you stumble on that one hot spot you missed.

Infinite Space is a decent game sci-fi fans will undoubtedly want to love, but its geeky glow loses some luster as the blemishes start to crop up. Upgrading your fleet, managing the detailed aspects of each ship, and decking them out with cool enhancements give the more tedious portions of the game some purpose. Whether it's enough to keep you enthralled through dozens of hours of space battles depends on how much patience you can muster.

Source: Gamespot.com

Updated visuals help Perfect Dark to wear its years well, but the outdated design could hamper your fun.

The original Perfect Dark is the poster child for games that were far too ambitious for their own good. Crammed full of more options and modes than the underpowered Nintendo 64 could reasonably handle, Perfect Dark was often hampered by a sluggish frame rate. In the 10 years since the game's original release, technology has caught up to developer Rare's original vision, making it possible to enjoy this sci-fi shooter without the need for a barf bag. The core elements in this remake have not received any overhaul, and though it clearly has some old-fashioned design choices, it's positively overflowing with vintage fun. For fans of modern shooters, it may be difficult to adjust to the directionless level layouts, vague objectives that can cause you to fail if you make one mistake, and rudimentary gunplay in which precision is noticeably lacking. But for anyone willing to adjust to its outdated nature, Perfect Dark is still a tense, rewarding, and frantic shooter that finally realizes its long-dormant potential.

The most notable improvement from the Nintendo 64 original to this Xbox Live Arcade update is the visuals. No one will confuse Perfect Dark with a brand-new shooter, but the textures and resolution have been beefed up, making your adventure through offices, secret government facilities, and alien spaceships at least look passable. The frame rate has seen the biggest improvement. The game runs smoothly even when explosions and gunfire are erupting throughout the battlefield, no matter how many players are competing at one time. Online play has also been implemented for every multiplayer mode, letting you show off your laptop gun skills against up to seven other players. Unfortunately, there is some lag online, but all of the offline play can be enjoyed without a hitch.

The animations and graphical oddities from the original release have remained untouched, though. There are still a number of visual quirks, such as characters speaking without moving their lips and guns clipping through doors, which reveal Perfect Dark's age. But the animations are well done, even though they haven't been updated in the slightest. If you shoot enemies in the leg, they will limp sadly around the level until you mercifully finish them off. You can shoot guns out of enemies' hands if your aim is true, or plug them in the shoulder if you just want to disable them. Hold your pistol at point-blank range, and you turn it on its side, clearly indicating your desire to perform a kill shot. These little touches go a long way toward making this game seem believable, even with a few silly maneuvers tossed in. It's hard not to laugh when a bad guy pulls off a slow-moving roll right in front of you or turns sideways to strike a model-like pose before firing. The animations give this game a lot of goofy charm.


The level design is not so endearing. The campaign is confusing and oddly paced, making it difficult to find a good rhythm as you fumble around looking for where to go next. There are locked doors, unused rooms, and dead ends everywhere you turn, and it can be disheartening to stumble around in a circle until you finally happen upon the correct door you just couldn't locate. Every level contains a number of objectives you must complete in order to reach the end, and if you make one mistake, you could find your mission abruptly terminated without any clear indication of how you were supposed to succeed. Oftentimes, you will fail a mission because a key piece of machinery was destroyed or a valuable witness kicked the bucket, and it's frustrating when you didn't even have anything to do with these minor tragedies.

For all the grief you suffer going through these levels the first time, they are quite satisfying upon a second visit. Once you understand the layout and objectives, it's a blast to run through as fast as possible, going directly from one point to the next without even bothering to murder anyone along the way. There is a tangible reward for clearing levels under a certain time (cheats you can use in single- and multiplayer), but there are bragging rights to consider as well. Your best times are recorded on the online leaderboard, and it's easy to get sucked into a race with a person you've never met from halfway around the world because he or she somehow beat the first level in under a minute. Furthermore, the different difficulty levels have added objectives. On the Agent setting, you may walk into a room that is unused, seemingly a pointless detour. But that same room on Perfect Agent may house a secret laboratory that must be destroyed. Even though levels are confusing the first time around, it's a lot of fun to replay them to try for high scores and figure out the many unique objectives.

As fun as the campaign can be, Perfect Dark made its name on the multiplayer, and that is still the most fun aspect of this remake. The wealth of options is amazing. There are six different game modes, 16 maps, and 43 weapons. If you can't get enough players together, you can round out your matches with bots that come with their own personalities, from a pacifist who collects every gun but never fires, to a brawler who only punches. You can even go online with up to seven other players, which creates some insane situations, especially in explosive-heavy matches. Unfortunately, online play does suffer from a good amount of lag in every mode. There is still something to be said for playing split-screen, local multiplayer. This game was built with this setup in mind, and it's still rewarding to peek at your buddy's screen and see that you're lined up in the sights of his farsight or that he's laying down proximity mines in the adjacent doorway. Perfect Dark does not have many modern amenities. There are no persistent rewards, no way to record your matches, and there isn't even a jump button. But the excellent level design, cache of deadly weapons, and frantic match types make this almost as fun today as it was 10 years ago.


All that fun can't be realized until you can come to grips with the sometimes imperfect controls. Aiming is really finicky in Perfect Dark. There's no fine touch when aiming down the sights which makes it difficult to line up a headshot or nail an enemy right in the knee. This is especially noticeable when using a sniper rifle so those long-range weapons are all but pointless during intense action sequences. However, the controls still work well if you don't care about precision aiming. It's easy to slide around corners and blast enemies with a quick shot from your Cyclone, putting the emphasis on speedy gun duels rather than slow-paced wars of attrition. Perfect Dark does have control annoyances, but they're easy enough to get a handle on after a few minutes of playing.

Perfect Dark is jam-packed with content. Most console shooters have a campaign and a competitive mode, but Perfect Dark goes beyond even modern standards. Counter-Op offers a unique way to experience the campaign, giving one player control of the enemy AI as he tries to foil his friend's attempt to save the world. You can also play through Story mode cooperatively, which requires a strong emphasis on communication and careful planning because one wrong move can terminate the whole operation. Those two modes are limited to two players, but Challenge mode offers a chance for four players to team up against bots. These objective-based matches are exceedingly difficult but are so rewarding to plow through with some friends. Finally, there's a firing range that lets you not only hone your weapon skills, but earn medals based on your performance as well. Despite some outdated design decisions, this is still a fun and exciting shooter, and for only 800 Microsoft points, it's well worth going back to.

Source: Gamespot.com

Metro 2033 is a dark journey saturated with an enthralling atmosphere that will reward intrepid adventurers.

Beneath a frozen city ruined long ago by its own weapons of destruction, humankind clings to survival. In dirty overcrowded stations, women haggle for scraps at the market as old men mourn the world they lost and children run underfoot, knowing no life beyond their meager subterranean existence. The hardier souls stand at the gates, vigilant against the beastly offspring of Armageddon, while the bravest venture out into the tunnels to trade, scavenge, and scout the dark reaches of the man-made underground wilderness. This is the world of Metro 2033, where the oppressive atmosphere fills every corner and is so well cultivated that the relentless gloom can begin to wear you down. Yet your journey is a lengthy and intriguing one, full of dramatic moments and tense action. Particularly hectic encounters can stress the game's performance, but the richness of the environments more than makes up for any small hitches. The immersive world of Metro 2033 is not for the faint of heart, but those whose brave it will find a fresh and entertaining new adventure into the postapocalyptic future.

And make no mistake, this future is bleak. The aforementioned station-villages are dreary, but you'll come to regard them as welcome beacons of light in the pervasive darkness of the tunnels. As you venture away from the comforting firelight and busy soundscape of the crowded stations, you enter tunnels that echo with the howls of murderous beasts, where the only illumination is provided by glowing radioactive fungi or your own headlamp. Light, or lack thereof, plays a huge role in creating Metro 2033's engaging atmosphere. Passing through a dark, foggy tunnel can be harrowing, and entering the warm glow of an electric lamp can relieve the palpable tension, until you look down and see a freshly mutilated body at your feet. Grim scenes, inescapable shadows, and an omnipresent sense of desperation help create a powerful sense of gloom and doom. Though this world is not without hope, it is a dark one, and it can be overbearing at times. Soldiering on can be difficult, but sometimes all it takes is a worn out record player to lighten your spirits. Darkness can also be your ally, providing you have some night-vision goggles handy, allowing you to sneak past foes or position yourself for a silent kill. Lightscape is just as important as landscape in Metro 2033, because not only do they combine to create the rich subterranean atmosphere, but each is an important tactical consideration.

Though much of your adventure plays out in the subway, don't expect to see the same tunnels over and over again. Human outposts are cobbled together from scrap and salvage, but there's a big difference between a bandit settlement and an entrenched military outpost. Some areas you traverse belong to the beasts, as evidenced by chewed corpses and ominously narrow dirt tunnels. Still others belong to neither men nor mutants, and the eerie silence will make you wonder what has kept them away. And just when the endless tubes are becoming too oppressive, you strap on a gasmask and venture out onto the surface to pick your way through the frigid skeleton of Moscow. Thoughtful details make exploration tempting, as does the prospect of stumbling across a dead adventurer or ammo cache ripe for the looting. Metro 2033 rewards you for paying attention to the little things, not just with precious ammunition, but with thoughtful touches that make this dilapidated world truly come alive.


Most of the living things that you encounter on your journey are quite nasty. Winged fiends and quasi-yetis get very territorial, while loping, long-nosed beasts stage regular assaults on humans in most areas of the Metro. Theses hideous creatures are rendered in vibrant detail, and aiming down your sights into their livid, snarling faces will make you want to pull the trigger even sooner. As you travel the tunnels from station to station on your quest to deliver an important message, you have to fend off these fierce mutants who would like nothing more than to rip the flesh from your bones. Combat can be challenging, but you have a good array of weapons at your disposal. Powerful prewar weapons are rare and valuable, and clever postwar improvisations provide intriguing alternatives. Shooting mechanics are sharp and allow you to easily utilize your arsenal to slaughter your monstrous foes, and for every time that a creature keels over lamely from a killer revolver bullet, there will be two others that whip back from the impact of a headshot or tumble away from a satisfying shotgun blast.

In addition to the always enjoyable shotgun (which comes in two varieties), there are a few fun guns (like the pneumatic crossbow/revolver), and the action is usually solid enough to make combat enjoyable. Some of your fiercest enemies are your fellow men who are spurred to violence by ideology or desperation. Using stealth is a great way to get the drop on or just sneak by human enemies, and the quiet approach allows you to overhear some fascinating conversations that add interesting layers to the world. Movement mechanics are also solid, though even if you are careful to avoid making noise, shining light, and triggering traps, your movements may still alert the enemies for reasons unknown. Startled foes launch scrambled attacks that can showcase some pretty wonky AI, but for the most part you are dealing with competent foes that will vigorously try to put bullets in you. Hectic firefights can cause some slowdown, especially when a whole squad of enemies has just realized you are infiltrating their camp. How bad this is obviously depends on your system and what settings you are running, but even the worst lurches dissipate quickly, leaving you to continue fighting for your life.

The reason for all your under- and aboveground adventuring is established early on, but the vague urgency doesn't coalesce into a clear mission until much later. Though the narrative can be patchy, Metro 2033 fills in the blanks by slowly unveiling its rich, multifaceted world. Everywhere you go, from bustling stations to lonely tunnels, you will find clues that broaden and enrich your understanding. Eavesdropping on an enemy conversation will shed light on Metro mythology, while bioluminescent flora raises questions about postnuclear biology. You glean a lot of information from just paying attention, and through this observation you create a kind of patchwork, discovery-fueled narrative that eventually comes to an intriguing conclusion.


Metro 2033 is a well-paced shooter that will likely take you more than 10 hours to complete. It is punctuated by emotional and dramatic moments (a surprising encounter with a child, a few intense railcar sequences), though these aren't without their own idiosyncrasies (the immersion-busting "quickly tap E" prompt). The Metro and surface worlds are superbly detailed, and though how much of this detail you see depends on your system, rest assured that the game scales well and offers impressive visuals across different settings. The pervasive atmosphere fuels your whole experience, creating a grim, enthralling world that you feel compelled to explore. Metro 2033 is a very worthwhile game for anyone craving a uniquely rewarding journey into man's dark future.

Source: Gamespot.com

This expansion pack isn't as extraordinary as the original Dragon Age, but it's still immensely entertaining.

They say you can't go home again, but whoever coined that old adage apparently wasn't talking about the realm of Ferelden. Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening returns you to this familiar and fair fantasy world, where degenerate demons called darkspawn have ravaged the land. The forces of evil may still lurk, but fans of 2009's wonderful Dragon Age will settle easily into the game's first full expansion pack, which harbors few surprises but delivers all the loot-happy adventuring that they'd expect. Awakening is not as exceptional as the main game; its story and characters make little impression, which is a disappointment compared to Dragon Age's splendid yarn. But in spite of some story frustrations and scattered bugs, Awakening is more of a terrific thing. It isn't a groundbreaking expansion, but it's an entertaining one that reminds us that if it isn't broken, there's no need to fix it.

You begin Awakening by selecting a character, either by importing one from Dragon Age: Origins or by creating a new one, who will start at level 18. Whichever route you choose, you're immediately dropped outside the fortress of Warden's Keep, where darkspawn continue their assault in spite of the Grey Wardens' earlier triumphs. It's clear from the beginning, however, that these foes are not the usual expendable masses. You hear tales of a darkspawn that speaks, and soon thereafter you meet this growling beast. As the keep's commander, it's up to you to venture into the surrounding environs, searching for clues that may help you identify and stave off the forces behind the new threat.

This is a straightforward fable much like the original, though it does provide a few memorable threads. A damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't decision toward the end of the game is possibly the finest of these, and your choice has major effects on how your adventure plays out. Tension between siblings and a journey into the realm of spirits known as The Fade serve up some additional highlights. Yet in spite of a few quality moments, the story isn't as interesting as you'd expect. One of Dragon Age: Origins' most shocking moments illustrated the sacrifice Grey Wardens must be willing to make to join the order, and it underlined just how determined and self-possessed its members must be. In Awakening, the ritual is treated so casually that the Grey Wardens--and the Joining--no longer retain their edge. The story treats The Right of Conscription with a maddening degree of carelessness; what was once serious has become almost flippant.

Luckily, your old ale-swilling pal Oghren will be there to remind you of the good old days. While you run into a couple of friends from your previous quests, the dwarf Oghren is the only party member from Dragon Age to cross over into Awakening. He's as funny as he ever was and a never-ending source of comic relief. His belching, cussing, womanizing ways always make for entertaining stories during your travels, and he's a great foil for Anders, a sarcastic mage who joins your party early on. You'll add four others to your party, including a warrior named Justice who proves that looks really can be deceiving, and a Dalish elf called Valenna who regrets the loss of her people's ancient myths and legends. Oghren is practically a legend, or at least he's one in his own mind, but none of your new cohorts are as unforgettable as old friends like Dragon Age's Alistair and Morrigan, let alone Oghren. There are no romances to undertake, and while giving gifts to your party members will lead to new dialogue options and other surprises, you aren't likely to get too caught up in their personal tales. So classic characters they aren't, but they are still appealing, in part due to the uniformly excellent voice acting that brings them to life.


What hasn't changed is the fantastic combat that made Dragon Age so much fun. It remains the same as you remember, letting you switch among party members at will, customize automated behaviors for those controlled by the AI, and switch from a third-person view to a more tactical overhead position at will. Battles are a total blast: colorful, intense, and occasionally challenging. Most basic conflicts aren't likely to give you much trouble, but several encounters will have you pausing to micromanage party members. One of them is an intense battle against several small dragons who have a good eye for seeking out your mages; another is the final boss fight, which is just as challenging as Dragon Age's last boss, but a lot more enjoyable. Some new enemies help liven up Awakening's standard battles, including heavily armored ogres and foes called the children, who have a nasty habit of taking your party members temporarily out of commission by leaping onto them. And of course, there are hordes of darkspawn to take aim at, along with familiar foes like desire demons and the like.

Luckily, you get new goodies to use along the way, including new types of weapon coatings and traps, along with stamina draughts to help refresh your warriors and rogues. More importantly, you get fun new spells and talents to tinker with, as well as two new specializations for each class. These elements don't have a dramatic effect on gameplay, but they don't need to; they're simply logical additions to the talent and spell trees that go along with the increase in level cap. But the new spells and talents are ever so fun to unleash, from the keeper's One With Nature defensive field to the spirit warrior's Fade Burst. There are also three new skills: runecrafting, vitality, and clarity. Runecrafting is the only active skill, letting you piece components together to make runes you can slot into your weapons and armor. Vitality and clarity are passive bonuses to health and stamina, respectively--an unimaginative addition but welcome all the same. These additions lead to greater combat flexibility and give you more flashy abilities to look forward to as you rise in levels.


Compared to the original Dragon Age: Origins, Awakening doesn't offer the same kind of outstanding value--$40 for under 20 hours of questing, as opposed to the 50-plus hours of the $50 main game. Yet the length is nothing to sneeze at, particularly when the questing is this involving. Your objectives are typical role-playing tropes--fetch a plant, kill some demons, seek out the apostate mages--but good quest writing gives them context, and improved art design makes some of the environments fun to explore. Awakening still looks like a typical fantasy game, and the forests and underground corridors look much the same as before. But a few of the new areas clearly received some artistic attention. A creepy marsh is one such location; an abandoned dwarven stronghold is another. Even a late-game trek down a series of winding stairways is a nice change of pace for the series and adds a welcome bit of environmental variety. Unfortunately, a few bugs let the visuals down here and there. We had a character's arm get stuck in an odd position and remain there for hours; at another point, initiating a conversation with a non-player character spawned a doppelganger that clipped in and out of its twin's body as it moved. These and other quirks might be small distractions, but they're common enough to be notable.

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening doesn't reach the high standards set by its illustrious precursor, but it's still a great game on its own terms. The combat and questing are as fun as they ever were and will keep you involved up until the very end, in spite of the uneven quality of the story and the characters that fill it. Oghren once said, "Misery, vomit, and malt liquor. Ah, reminds me of home." You know you've missed such delights too, and now's the time to head back.

Source: Gamespot.com

God of War III has been one of this generation’s most anticipated titles since the credits rolled on God of War II, and now the wait is finally over as PlayStation 3 owners everywhere can now continue Kratos’ epic journey of revenge and redemption by heading down to their local games shop and picking up a copy of the game.

And I'm going to venture a guess and say that there are plenty of you out there right now who are enjoying the brutal and gorgeous exploits of the fallen god slayer. So how are you finding it? Is it everything you ever wanted out of a GoW game? Anything you’re not digging at this point? Now’s your chance to make all of us who aren’t playing the game super jealous. Have at it. But please warn if you’re going to go spoiler happy.

Source: G4tv.com

Creation and cooperation are the hallmarks of this upcoming downloadable content for EA's action game.

After finishing his tour of the nine circles of hell, you'd think that Dante, the poet-warrior who stars in EA's recently released action game Dante's Inferno, might want to take a rest, but as the saying goes, there is no rest for the wicked. In the upcoming Trials of St. Lucia downloadable content, Dante will once again be thrown into the fire, taking on wave after wave of hell's most horrible concoctions. Only this time, he'll have help. With the debut of the titular St. Lucia--an angelic, winged warrior who is a formidable fighter up close and at range--the Trials DLC will include co-op play as Dante and Lucia team up in a series of challenges created by EA developers and, eventually, the fans themselves. We recently tried out both the cooperative play and creation tools in the Trials of St. Lucia DLC during a visit to EA's Redwood Shores campus.

So, who is St. Lucia? She's the patron saint of the blind in Christian faith--a woman who, according to hagiographic texts, refused to marry a pagan suitor and subsequently was punished by having her eyes gouged out. In the game, however, Lucy (as she's colloquially known) is pure butt-kicker, from the point of her deadly scythe (this one presumably not stolen from Death) to the tips of her massive wings that allow her to briefly glide in the air. Though not as powerful as Dante in terms of melee combat, Lucia's ability to fly and to shoot formidable blasts of energy out of her eyeless sockets make her an effective ranged combatant.

Together, in co-op play, Dante and Lucy make a formidable pair throughout the more than 40 challenges that will be packed in with the Trials DLC. All are created by EA developers, many of whom worked on the original game, and these challenges offer a number of different play modes that weren't found in the original game. Of course, you can play through levels that will require you to kill everything onscreen, but there's more to do, including challenges that will test your reflexes and your discretion. For instance, one mode requires you to rack up a melee combo of a certain number of hits, and another asks you to kill only the monsters that have a mark above their head. Other modes include a "don't kill the prisoner" mode, where you're trying to save the life of a non-player character while destroying all the rest of hell's minions onscreen.

During the challenges you'll revisit some of the areas you encountered while touring the nine levels of hell from the original game, but there will be a handful of new levels, as well as two enemies you'll encounter that weren't in the original game--the Forest Siren and the Death Knight (both from the Dark Forest DLC released in early March). You'll be able to use all of this content and more to create challenges of your own using the built-in editor that will come with the Trials DLC.

The basics of challenge creation are straightforward: Choose a level; the number of waves you want in that level; the enemies, traps, and aids that will appear in each wave; and the type of mode rules you want each wave to follow. You can add up to six levels in a challenge, and as many as 12 waves per level. That can result in some lengthy challenges, especially when you start tossing in lots of enemies and conditions per wave. There are some restrictions in place, however, to prevent you from clogging the screen with blade babies. Each wave you create has an allotted budget that is slowly filled up with each enemy, trap, or aid you add. Once you've reached the maximum, you won't be able to add anything else to your challenge wave without first taking something away. In addition, any enemy, trap, or aid you add to your level must be placed in one of several predetermined spots on the level map.

Those restrictions aside, the creation tools have some flexibility for those who want to dive deeper into making their challenges more difficult. For instance, you can tweak the toughness and health level of any individual enemy. You can micromanage traps too, including the timing of when a trap springs and how much damage it causes when it strikes the player, among other variables. Before you save and publish your challenge, you'll be able to test it thoroughly thanks to easy-to-use testing tools that will let you play entire levels, single waves, or the entire challenge at any point.You can use these tools to create up to 100 challenges that you can then upload and share with other Trials players.

All challenges are rated for difficulty through an algorithm running under the hood that calculates things like the number of waves, different modes used, difficulty of enemies, and so on. The more difficult a challenge, the more points you'll earn for completing it, and all points you earn will go toward your online leaderboard score. You can even earn point multipliers by beating challenges five, 10, or more times. Those point milestones, as they're known in the game, are incentives to keep you coming back to play challenges over again, and a five-star rating system will let you rate the challenges of others.

As for our created challenge level, we were able to cobble together a series of challenges using both Lucy and Dante (you can create solo or cooperative levels and can combine Dante with Lucy, Dante with another Dante, or put two Lucys together). We tossed in a number of different modes, including one mode where the goal was to use only melee attacks against all enemies onscreen. However, because we tossed in some hell minions as enemies (who are impervious to physical attacks until you hit them with holy energy), we quickly discovered that we had broken our own level's rules. A quick edit or two was all that was needed to fix the problem, and before long we had a completed challenge that we affectionately dubbed "Hell-o World." Yes, we're probably going to hell for that pun.

You too will have your chance at eternal damnation and challenge creation when the Trials of St. Lucia DLC is released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on April 29.

Source: Gamespot.com

Mega Man once again returns to his 8-bit roots to deliver an entertaining old-school platformer. It's not as well-designed as its predecessor, but the challenge and creativity once again hearken back to the best days of Capcom's signature franchise.

It’s finally the year 201X, and the notion of a brand-new 8-bit style Mega Man isn’t quite the novelty it used to be. Realizing that the reinvention of a 20+ year-old formula is very much off the table, the folks at Inti Creates have instead focused on designing levels that up the ante from Mega Man 9 – the first of Capcom’s “neo-retro” Mega Man titles. But with so much energy having been devoted to level design, certain other elements have suffered, and that is ultimately what keeps Mega Man 10 from reaching the rarefied air of its predecessor.


Another Mega Challenge

In the last years of Mega Man’s 8-bit platforming dynasty, level design truly suffered. As time went on, the challenging platforming that served as a series hallmark gave way to long hallways devoid of foes, robbing the series of any semblance of challenge. That’s definitely not the case in Mega Man 10 though, where every stage has some sort of unique challenge to differentiate it from the rest.

Inti Creates has once again designed stages that are difficult but fair, taking care to avoid recycling challenges in favor of new and interesting obstacles. Standout moments include the excellent Solar Man level, which forced me to carefully navigate a host of fireballs and multiplying enemies to the tune of the game’s best music. Pump Man’s unique use of bubbles and Nitro Man’s constant vehicle attacks mark two other great highlights. None of these elements are particularly new, but Inti Creates has implemented them in such a way that I had to constantly be on the lookout for obstacles that were often as useful as they were dangerous – a hallmark of good level design.

Moving into the later levels, I encountered quite a few pleasant surprises, including a mini-boss that definitely hearkened back to the first three Mega Man games. Credit goes to Inti Creates for ensuring that the stages never feel predictable, even as they revisit the well-worn electric, fire and ice tropes from previous games.

Weapon of Choice



As usual, Mega Man’s robots yield weapons that follow certain conventions -- shields, rebounds and wall-traveling powers all making encore appearances. Although Mega Man 9 distinguished itself by ensuring that each and every weapon had a use outside of battle -- sometimes more than one use -- Mega Man 10’s weapons are often watered-down or even outright useless. Take the Bubble Shield, for example, a tool that ditches the invulnerability to one-shot enemies -- which made Mega Man 9’s Jewel Shield so useful -- for a barrier that steadily degrades with each attack. It’s an interesting idea, but after having it fail on me one too many times in Solar Man’s stage, I ditched it and never looked back.

Other weapons play out more as missed opportunities. In Strike Man’s stage, for instance, there’s a mini-boss whose head can only be reached by riding his hand up and attacking. The ability to use the wall-riding Wheel Cutter would have made for a nice reward, but it’s far too limited. The shot from the attack travels up walls, but stops at the ceiling, which neuters its usefulness. Other weapons are either simple variations on the default weapon, or are simply too difficult to use, Electric Sheep's weapon being the worst offender. Shots from his "Electric Wool" attack take more than a second to float upward and are easy to cancel before they launch their lightning bolt, making the attack next to useless in battle. After the outstanding weapon design that characterized Mega Man 9, the watered-down powers in the sequel are a disappointment.


The Neo-Retro Sequel

Beyond trying to keep the design relatively fresh, Mega Man 10 also tries to be somewhat more accessible than its predecessor, and it’s relatively successful thanks to the new easy mode. At times, hardcore fans will find it too easy, but it’s generally able to simplify things without sacrificing the intricacies of the well-mapped level design. The inclusion of Proto Man, meanwhile, comes off as a somewhat sneakier attempt to make the series more accessible, since he’s really only a vessel for select powers like the charge shot and the slide. Veteran players probably won’t want to use him except as a novelty.


Inti Creates’ task in creating a sequel to the excellent Mega Man 9 is an unenviable one. With no way to forge into new territory due to medium constraints (you can only stretch 8-bit so far), they must instead deliver on the expectation of high-quality level design, unique robots and interesting weapons. Mega Man 10 falls short of its predecessor in a couple of those regards, but it’s still a far sight better than many of the mediocre to awful sequels that have represented the franchise of the years. If you love 8-bit era Mega Man classics, Mega Man 10 definitely belongs in your collection.

Source: G4tv.com

Limbo is a hostile place to be in as we gingerly try to find our way through this twisted world.

Limbo is a concept that began six years ago and recently won awards for visual and technical excellence at the 2010 Game Developers Choice Awards. This striking black-and-white puzzle platformer is a tense and sometimes heart-pounding journey into a strange world where a young boy searches desperately for his sister. The game seems innocent enough at first, as you begin the game in a forest and the only sounds are the shuffling of your feet and the distant howl of the wind. The difficulty ramps up though, and the world is not as isolated as it seems.

As the boy, you're nothing but a silhouette with two bright white eyes that stand out against the misty background. Like a traditional platformer, you're moving from left to right most of the time and you use the A button to jump and the X button to pull objects. What's interesting is that the game isn't split into levels, so there are no load screens after you start the game. There are frequent checkpoints in case you die, and you'll likely die quite often, but it's forgiving because you're never bumped back very far. The game is broken into chapters from the main menu, so after you've completed a portion of the game, you can jump around the different areas. But as you're playing Limbo, it's like a never-ending dream...or nightmare.

Puzzles involve figuring out what to do with the objects in your environment, whether it's pulling a switch to raise the water level or using a rope to pull down a log. Timing can be crucial as well because you can fall into plenty of traps. New mechanics will be introduced as you progress through the game. For example, we came across a glow worm that attached itself to our head, which forced us to continuously move in one direction and the only controls we had were to walk slow or walk fast. By moving under a light, the worm will fizzle and have a fit, forcing you to switch directions. At one point, we got caught in a spider's web, and when the spider returned, it spun a silk cocoon around us. We were able to get away, but because we were shrouded in the spider's silk, our moves were limited to little baby jumps until we got the web off. Our demo started off in a dark, creepy, and painfully still forest but jumped into a later level that was more industrial, with large gears, levers, and switches. The grating sound of grinding gears and saws were enough to keep us tense and focused on staying alive.

The atmosphere stands out the most, and the highlights of the game are the visuals and sound design. As you jog through the dismal landscape, leaping over bear traps and chasms, it sounds and feels as though you are truly alone--at least up until you come across silhouettes of other people who have created elaborate traps to stop you. But even then, they scurry away before you even get a chance to get close, and you're left with nothing but your wits and basic abilities to make it out alive. Giant spiders with grotesquely long legs will impale you if you aren't careful, and bear traps will snap you into pieces like a thin cracker. Even though you're nothing but a silhouette, the various creative death animations can be gruesome to watch. Impaling yourself on a branch, falling onto a circular saw, or getting squashed on a conveyer belt are just some of the painful ways to go. But what comes after that is what will make you squirm, whether it's seeing the leftover black goop on the machines or watching the boy's head fly off in the opposite direction of his legs.

Every once in awhile, we came across a fluttering butterfly and for one brief moment, an image of a young girl, which reminded us of why we were going through all these dangerous hoops in the first place. There is no narration, no voices, and very minimal music, so it truly feels like you're navigating through a gloomy painting taking one careful step at a time. Limbo is set to be released sometime this summer on the Xbox Live Arcade Marketplace. We'll be sure to update you with more information as soon as it becomes available.

Source: Gamespot.com

We head back to the Normandy and meet a new companion in our look at this upcoming DLC.

BioWare's downloadable content plans for Mass Effect 2 continue to roll on, with the Firewalker pack arriving in late March free of charge for Cerberus Network members. But there's even more content scheduled after that, this time as a paid download. Kasumi's Stolen Memory will land sometime in April, and we got the lowdown from a BioWare rep at GDC 2010 on what gamers can expect from the newly announced DLC.

Kasumi's Stolen Memory will add a new companion to your roster, as well as a few new abilities and weapons. The aforementioned companion is Kasumi, a female master thief that Cerberus recruits, and like all companions, she'll come with her own loyalty mission. If you don't want to know any more, you should look away now, because we'll be going into some spoiler territory from here on in.

When you purchase the download, you'll naturally get a message from Cerberus in-game asking you to pick up your new companion from the Citadel. Once there, you'll first run across Kasumi in the form of a holo ad--it seems like the careful thief wants to check that you're who you say you are before she agrees to join your crew. Once you prove you're Shepard, Kasumi fills you in on a little mission she wants you to help her out on. It seems like the thief needs to infiltrate the home of the crime lord Donovan Hock and retrieve an important piece of electronic memory he stole from Kasumi's partner. Luckily, Hock is about to throw a party, which will give Shepard and Kasumi the perfect excuse to infiltrate the normally heavily guarded house.

This is where the DLC gets a little bit like True Lies. Kasumi's plan is for Shepard--wearing his best formal gear--to pose as one of Hock's business associates and mingle with the crowd to try to find the crime lord's hidden vault. Since the other guests are bringing extravagant gifts for their host, Shepard and Kasumi also come up with a present--a life-sized statue of Saren, filled to the brim with hidden weapons. In our hands-off demo, Shepard was able to infiltrate the party easily, accompanied by an invisible (thanks to a cloaking device) Kasumi.

The mission doesn’t stop once you somehow ascertain the location of the vault, however. After finding the entrance, Shepard and Kasumi find that the vault has a three-pronged security system: voice lock, password, and DNA sample. Our demo rep skipped us past exactly how you're supposed to find all three "keys," but we're guessing you'll need to somehow find them at Hock's party.

The next scene we were shown was inside Hock's vault, where there seemed to be plenty of precious historical items, including several from Earth's history (one particular piece evokes a funny Planet of the Apes reference from Kasumi). You'll soon find the data you're looking for, but when you do, a gigantic hologram of Hock's face appears. It seems that he wanted you to get into the vault all along, as he'd been unable to crack the data box and needed Kasumi's assistance to do so. From here, it's all action as Hock's numerous guards flood in to try to stop you. You'll now finally get to see how Kasumi fares in combat--as a thief, she has a special shadow strike ability. Activate this, and Kasumi will cloak, only to reappear behind an enemy and do a one-hit kill backstab. This firefight also showcased a new weapon, a flashbang grenade that can temporarily blind opponents.

Source: Gamespot.com