By David Pilcher

Like killing zombies?  How about with anything you can get your hands on?  Would you like a game where you could take items and combine them with others to make new weapons?  Me too.  Dead Rising 2 lets you take anything (over 500 items) and combine them to kill the walking dead.  Nothing is better than strapping two chainsaws to a kayak paddle and letting the dismemberment begin.  You’ll find red doors (and several of them throughout the strip) where you can get away from the blood and gore and use duct tape to assemble your weapons of destruction.  Not sure what to combine for the most damage?  Don’t worry—there are hint cards sprinkled about and informative posters that can give you some ideas.

You’ll need a strong stomach for these combo weapons.  Adding construction nails to a baseball bat or to a propane canister delivers some gruesome results.  Think of what kind of blow you could deliver these evil creatures with your knife strapped to a boxing glove.  Oh the horror…

The other new addition to Dead Rising 2 is the ability to play co-op.  The only disturbing part about this is your friend, just like you, is the main character, Chuck Green.  So there you are playing with yourself, just dressed differently, killing the living dead.  In this co-op mode you will get some help fighting the worst of the undead.  Having your friend play along can be very beneficial and fun.

You can’t kill forever.  You’ve got a time limit just like in the original Dead Rising, pushing you through the mall.  Don’t worry—if you run out of time searching for upgrades, hint cards or working behind those red doors, you’ll keep all that experience and items when you start again.  Also, like the first game, you can use a gun.  Unlike the first, you’ll actually be able to move and shoot at the same time.  There are a variety of guns to choose from, but they wouldn’t be my first choice.  There’s plenty of killing to do with hundreds of other items.  And you’ll enjoy every bloody minute of it.

By the way, the original Dead Rising received 8.4/10 from 100 review sites.  That’s a good score.  Dead Rising 2 is due to be release on August 31st.

Popularity: 5% [?]

By Jess Bennett

With all the talk these days about hyper-connected communication, community building and social media, Microsoft’s Xbox LIVE has really cornered the market on true community collaboration.

Through the Xbox XNA Creator’s Club, individuals with programming and design skills can create and submit custom games for sale in the Xbox LIVE Indie Game catalog. Currently, more than 1,100 such games are available on Xbox LIVE in every genre and at a great, low price point (usually around $1).

Not an aspiring developer? Not a problem. The really cool thing about the indie game community is that it provides a catalog of affordable games that are wonderful distractions from monotonous level grinds; the perfection solution for reviving a flatlined Friday night party and a great way to pass the time between mainstream game releases.

So go on, join Xbox LIVE. Jump in and start checking out hundreds of user-created games for every taste. Here are my suggestions for a few games that will get you up to speed.

I MAED A GAM3 WITH ZOMB1ES IN IT!!!

Developer: Jamezila

Players: 1-4

Rating: 4.75/5 by 42,166 players

Our rating: 3.5

Zombies are certainly a hot commodity in the gaming world right now. This challenging stick shooter is one part Left for Dead, one part Asteroids. You rack up points by mowing down waves of the undead with up to three friends and the help of various weapon upgrades.

This game is currently the top rated game on Xbox LIVE Indie Arcade by community reviewers.

Avatar Ninja

Developer: Milkstone Studios

Players: 1

Rating: 4/5 by 1,109 players

Our rating: 2.75

This skill game puts your avatar through his or her paces in an ancient ninja training course, featuring water racing, killer traps and shurikens. The graphics are good, but the annoying rhythmic music will make it tough to for you to focus your reflexes on the task at hand.

If you’re digging the avatar action, you might also like Avatar Showdown and Avatar Boogie.

Soul

Developer: Kydos

Players: 1

Rating: 3.25/5 by 1,206 players

Our rating: 4.25

In Soul, your job is to courier a luminescent soul through the dingy but beautifully orchestrated halls of the hallowed hospital grounds and into heaven. The game is filled with the realistic and unobtrusive sounds of hospital goings on and the horrible growls of hell monsters that wish to devour the fragile vessel. Without your wits and dexterity, and a very subtle hand, the fate of one man’s soul is sure to be dark.

Of the games I played, Soul is by far the most professionally developed. The development team at Kydos definitely has a future in commercial game design.

The Impossible Game

Developer: FlukeDude

Players: 1

Rating: 4.25/5 by 8,546 players

Our rating: 2.25

The developers boast that it is “quite possibly the world’s hardest game.” Yep, impossible. So much so that it’s not much fun. In this perpetual side-scrolling platformer, you control a physics-bound orange cube. Your goal is to jump over spikes and jump onto blocks. The sadistic bastards who made this game even keep a running tally of how many “attempts” at the impossible you’ve made.

I guess one thing you can count on is that indie game developers aren’t afraid to provide incredibly difficult (albeit simply formatted) games for the most hardcore of gamers.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Singularity

PREVIEW – SINGULARITY

by David Pilcher

My boss called and asked me the other day if I wanted to review Singularity or Prince of Persia. After watching the videos on the net, I begged him to let me review Singularity. If you like FPS (First Person Shooter) games like I do, then you’d probably have done the same.

Nate is the main character in Singularity and an Air Force pilot. At the very beginning of the game he’s (scrambled) to fly over some “strange goings on” off the coast of Russia. Nate’s plane crashes and discovers the TMD – Time Manipulation Device. This immediately jumps you into the game where you manipulate time – not like a rewind or fast forward button, but you experience “time waves” and a place between 2010 and 1950 called the “null zone”. You’ll find people and actions in the null zone that are trapped, repeating their last moments in time over and over again. You will also manipulate time for objects and people in your environment in some really unique ways.

But some of your enemies can use time against you as well. The Zex can phase out of your reality and pop in and out in front of you. You can use the TMD or conventional weapons against them. There is a pulse function to your TMD that pulls the Zex back into your current time. Then you can age them to dust or revert them back to the original soldiers they were before they became the horrible Zex creatures.

Watch the videos online – you’ll get excited about this game. Really excited. This game is made by the Raven Software division of Activision. I wondered what games the Raven division had made lately? Here’s the recent short list:

Wolfenstein released August 2009. Average of 7.5 out of 10 – based on 52 reviews.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine released May 2009. Average of 7 out of 10 – based on 64 reviews

Quake 4 released November 2005. Average of 7.5 out of 10 on 78 reviews.

Raven Software has developed some titles that have done fairly well, and now Activision has boosted them up to the next Call of Duty: Black Ops project (according to several recent sources). Where do I think Singularity is going to rank on average among the fifty to seventy reviewers out there? My guess? 8 out 10. Based on what I’ve seen in the videos and a small handful of previews thus far, the basic gameplay of Singularity is going to be par for the FPS course. Claimed as a labor of love by Raven, the storyline looks better than their past games, and the manipulation of the environment using the “Singularity affect” looks awesome.

The game was originally going to be released in the fall of 2009, but it was pushed out to avoid an overlap with the all-impressive Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – another Activision game.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of the game could be the puzzle solving. The puzzles look interesting and challenging. They will heavily involve the TMD allowing you to pull useful objects from different time periods to help you.

Also, since this is a Raven FPS game, you’ll have some powerful weapons (considering both Wolfenstein and Quake 4 has some really cool guns), including a revolver called the E99, which allows you to manipulate your bullet’s path in midair.

What would I do? I’ve already reserved the game. I really want this to be a good game – everything I’ve seen thus far leads me to believe it will be.

Popularity: 17% [?]

metal-gear-solid-peace-walker

PREVIEW – METAL GEAR SOLID: PEACE WALKER

by David Pilcher

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is the PSP sequel to Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (Released November 2004 for the PS2 – 9.2 out of 10 based on 91 reviews – obviously an incredible game). This sequel features the return of Big Boss as the main character and the fantastic story line from the Metal Gear Solid series. I found out that demos of this game were given out in the Tokyo Game Show in 2009. I’m going to have to ask my boss if I can attend next year. . . you know, for the sake of research! Come on, Michael!

Attendees that received the demo have been raving about it. Kojima Productions at Komori always produce a superior game experience that is not only fun to control but tells a well-crafted story. And if you’ve got a friend with the game, you are both in luck – Co-op play! One Snake sneaks while the other Snake (your buddy) covers. It’s much more than just running in, guns blazing, with your friend.

What does Metal Gear have in store for us this time? I’m glad you asked. We follow Big Boss and his newly formed band of mercenaries, the Militaires Sans Frontieres (which means Soldiers without Borders), into battle in Costa Rica. You’ll be working through the main campaign to help a young teenage girl named Paz who’s been tortured by a local but powerful military group. While you’re taking down the enemy, you’ll also need to keep on eye on your Mother-base. You’ll assign different recruits to different parts of the base (or auto-assign them), but remember to keep enough recruits in the mess hall – your team has to eat to be happy. Seriously, they won’t perform as well and could even leave your team. Research and development is also critical for some nice weapon upgrades. But all these options at Mother-base cost money. You’ll have the option to send parties into battles you’ll never see, and they’ll come back with money and maybe a few new recruits. One of the really cool things you can do is trade staff members with friends. . . let’s see, “I’ll trade you my Alligator and Bluegill for your Killifish and Amanda. Yes, I said Amanda!! You want to trade or not? No, I don’t want Chico – you can keep Chico!”

The controls alternate between shooter and action which allow for great gunplay control and close quarters maneuvers. There are three control schemes to choose from – those set up like Metal Gear Solid 4, a control set like Monster Hunter, or you can have the same control set as Metal Gear Portable Ops. You choose when you set up your game. Try out each control set at the very beginning to see what you like.

Did you get that reference to the co-op aspects of this game? If you just play this great game by yourself you’ll have a fantastic time. But playing this game in co-op mode with one other person makes it even better – up to two players during all missions and up to four (yes four!) to help you take down those nasty bosses. Boss fights are brutal, but with a partner, it’s much easier (and with four, forget about it). If one member dies, your buddy can help by simply (or by zig-zagging through gun fire) pressing the D pad to resuscitate his fallen friend. If you’re running low on health – no problem! You can share hit points!

This game is a must have for any PSP owner who enjoys a good action game. If you aren’t familiar with the Metal Gear Solid series, then I suggest you get out from under that rock and pick this one up. You’ll be glad you did.

Popularity: 13% [?]

P Is For Predictable

P Is For Predictable
By Jess Bennett

Everyone’s favorite pixeled prince is back in Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, sequel to Sands of Time. And this time around he’s a roguish movie tie-in a la Jake Gyllenhaal (no complaints here). There’s just one problem. The game is more Cirque du Soleil than merciless massacring.

Sure, this platformer’s layout is exquisite and the astounding acrobatics fit like a familiar old pair of shoes. But, maybe that’s the problem. It’s all a bit too familiar. And the movie tie-in makes it that much more comfortable. Perhaps the spark is gone from our relationship?

You begin the game in your brother’s castle, which, unsurprisingly, is under siege. An army of sand has attacked and ultimately your brother Malik unleashes a seriously devastating, ancient force of evil in the hopes of saving his people. This backfires and you’re left to clean up the grit and grime. You’ll quickly discover that the enemies are easily dispatched, so it’s kind of a shame you don’t have a vacuum.

The Prince is up to his usual wall-running, pillar-scaling, palace-throttling shenanigans, and the gameplay and controls are essentially identical to Sands of Time. But, there are some new tricks, too, including the oft-demoed water freezing ability, which adds an interesting dimension to the puzzle solving, as you can freeze and unfreeze water in midair. Forgotten Sands is more linear than its recent brethren, but that’s actually one of its more endearing qualities as each level builds nicely to the climax.

Bottom line? Forgotten Sands is great for longtime series supporters who wish that Sands of Time had been longer…but there’s not much new material here.

Popularity: 6% [?]

By Jess Bennett

Alan Wake

ALAN WAKE: After six long years in development, Remedy (creators of the Max Payne series) will bring psychological thriller Alan Wake to Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 18.

Bestselling insomniac author Alan Wake is trapped in a waking nightmare of his own construct. The plans for his next novel are literally coming to life, putting the author through his terrifying paces as he searches for answers and his missing wife Alice. He’s even finding pages from a novel he has not yet written as he progresses through a landscape riddled with ax-swinging, shadowy enemies.

It’s not just a matter of emptying rounds of ammo into these “Taken,” the afflicted townspeople turned-enemies in Alan Wake. The Taken are essentially invincible under cover of darkness and the only way to weaken their defenses is to illuminate them with any light source you can get your hands on. That means you’re in constant search of ammo and weapons, as well as darkness-disintegrating tools (flashlights, flares and other sources of light). Plus, you need to be on the lookout for batteries to power these beams or your weapons will become useless. This lethal dance between light and dark haunts your entire journey.

You won’t just banish the light from around human enemies. Local wildlife and even inanimate objects are susceptible to whatever frenzy has taken over the town, adding to the eerie pace of the story. You never know who – or what – will rise up against you as you amble through the seemingly idyllic town.

What it lacks in run of the mill gore and guts it more than makes up for in twisting, riveting storytelling, Suspense is truly redefined in this game. Writer/creator Sam Lake cites LOST and Twin Peaks among the influences for the charming town of Bright Falls, and characters from Stephen King’s stable of author-protagonists have clearly helped to sculpt our hero.

The game has a distinct cinematic vibe; from the pulsating score and voice talent to the picturesque landscape and sleek visuals. Between searching for answers to lift the shrouds of mystery and doing your best to stay alive, you’ll find that Alan Wake is a masterpiece in almost every sense.

LOST PLANET 2: I recently got my hands on Lost Planet 2 (you can check the demo out now on Xbox Live and Playstation 3). The action picks up ten years after the conclusion of the original and, while the handle of the gameplay will be relatively familiar, the environment is definitely heating up.
Gone is the blinding white expanse. Thanks to terraforming activities, the landscape of E.D.N. III now includes lush jungle, ocean sprawls and, yes, even a desert (I’d say that’s some pretty rapid terraforming).

Capcom’s developers definitely haven’t lost their touch when it comes to extreme boss fights. I handled both the interior and exterior of a giant akrid salamander quite aptly thanks to familiar Vital Suits and gattling guns. Much of the same weaponry is on hand this time around with just the right balance of upgrade. But there are also some new additions. It seems the new, more hospitable climate has made the akrids anything but. The new environment acts as a steroid for the akrid. They’re definitely bigger and angrier in round two.

You’ll create your own snow pirate to take on this six-chapter romp. As you progress, each chapter enfolds around your choices, making the storytelling more streamlined and immersive than its predecessor. Best of all, there’s no “going it alone” in LP2, there’s always a team suiting up with you, whether it is the computer controlled company of AI companions or a mix of real life friends. The company will be welcome relief against akrid and the waves of humanoid enemies that permeate some of the game maps.

All told, Lost Planet 2 takes the best elements from the original and super-sizes them – bigger mechs, bigger weapons and even more massive alien ass-kicking.

Lost Planet 2 is coming to Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on May 11. Once you conquer the solo campaign, jump on for Capcom’s ambitious 4-player online co-op and 16-player versus missions. There are hours and hours of gameplay ripe for the exploding here.

Popularity: 7% [?]

By Jess Bennett

NIER

NIER: I imagine that sometimes game developers are sitting around talking about a perfectly mid-grade action adventure game they’re developing when someone throws a monkey wrench in the works. Something along the lines of:

“Know what would be awesome? It would be awesome if we added some farming.”

Let me bottom-line this game for you – there is both a Bloody Fist of Death that ricochets out of our hero during battle and … farming.  Oh, and also fishing. Don’t get me wrong, I do love a little variety but this game looks like full-blown schizophrenia.

The game follows the epic journey of (father) Nier to (daughter) Yonah, who is on a desperate quest to find a cure for the black scrawl disease she’s contracted. He’s helped along the way by a group of allies that includes a smart-mouthed talking grimoire and a hermaphrodite. He’s going to slice and dice his way through battles, but he’s also going to strike up conversations with townsfolk and upgrade his magic powers JRPG-style.
Where a game like Mass Effect seamlessly combines live action with RPG sensibility, Nier’s piecemeal Frankenstein approach seems unfocused. Not to mention that the promos show off dark, horror-infused art but, from what I can tell, the gameplay falls way short of delivering. The story has promise but only because Square Enix’s deliberate, twisty writers are at the helm.

In several interviews development reps have repeatedly admonished those who would define this game by action-adventure standards. Somebody’s trying to have his cake and eat it too, I think.

Nier will be released in North America on April 27. With the tepid reviews my guess is that this game will grab some early action-RPG diehards but will ultimately live and die by how well the storytelling makes up for the scattered game play.

Popularity: 5% [?]

By Jess Bennett

Red Dead Redemption

One part Wyatt Earp, one part Grand Theft Auto, Rockstar’s upcoming Red Dead Redemption promises to bring all the heat, stench and dread of the Wild West to your living room.

You are protagonist John Marston, a former outlaw facing an uncertain future. Once at the forefront of a train-robbing, murderous band of outlaws, you’re now tasked with cleaning up the great wide wilderness and bringing law and order to the unruly, far-from-civilized civilization. Hey, what goes around comes around, eh?

America’s great frontier is about as you’d imagine it – riddled with badass compadres, bloodthirsty revenge, buxom women and gritty shootouts. For those who enjoyed the nuances of city life in Liberty City, expect the same sprawling landscapes and almost overwhelming areas of exploration here in New Austin. The one thing you’ll learn early on is this isn’t a chapter from John Wayne’s days in the Technicolor saddle. The world of Red Dead Redemption is a gritty and grim.

Definitely plan to become tangled up in the compelling characters. From the brash-tongued harsh mistress Bonnie MacFarlane to a particularly disturbing immigrant worker named Zhou, the rowdy cast of characters you encounter is as iconic as it is disarming. You’ll find that even the wildlife can turn deadly in the blink of an eye. Make sure you keep your wits about you.

Worried about turn of the century weaponry not measuring up to your slaughtering standards? Worry not. The array of revolvers, lassos, muskets and even early machine guns won’t disappoint. Prepare to rope, wrangle and wrestle your way through hours of good deeds gone far from unpunished.

The game was recently pushed back to May 18 in the U.S., but it’s going to be well worth the wait.

Popularity: 49% [?]

Final Fantasy XIII

By Jess Bennett

After a mere three and a half years of anticipation, Square Enix will ship the English language version of Final Fantasy XIII to America’s controller-ready hands on March 9. It’s been dubbed a true system-seller and a blockbuster. Thousands of fanboy pages and posts, whole sites even, have been dedicated to deconstructing the game’s slowly unfolding details. Every tiny tidbit of news that the publisher had trickled to its fans we’ve sucked down and thirsted for more. All of this anticipation might make you wonder if expectations will be met.

Spoiler alert: they will be.

If this is your first foray into Final Fantasy, first of all, where have you been? Second, while the stories of Final Fantasy never intertwine (except in FFX and FFX2), you’ll be missing the evolution of gaming greatness if you’ve never tangled with Sephiroth, never ridden a chocobo, or never flown in an airship with a rag tag bunch of misfit warriors and a moogle.

If you’re like me, you grew up with this RPG series. Each new installment has marked a moment in time on the ambling path of platform progression, from the NES to this new release on PS3 and Xbox 360. When you first witness the cinematic Shangri-la that is the opening movie, you’ll know you’re home.

In fact, let me know if this sounds familiar to you:

The people of a perpetually peaceful world are irrevocably jarred when the prosperity of their existence becomes endangered… a corrupt governmental entity threatens death or worse…a resistance comes to arms…the journey for justice and truth unfolds… kick-ass battles ensue… good and evil never seemed so uncertain.

Sounds familiar right? Let’s see.

The Story
The action happens in both the floating, high-tech paradise city of Cocoon and the Jurassic realm of Pulse far below.
The fal’Cie; godlike, mechanical entities at the center of Cocoon’s theocracy, are selecting citizens of Cocoon as I’Cie; people who are marked for a “greater purpose.” I’Cie have a choice: they can follow the path to their “Focus” and become permanently transformed into magical crystals, or they can take what’s behind door number two and head down the path of failure, which comes complete with a fate worse than death. Not great options at all.
Enter a resistance group, Team Nora, whose actions indomitably intersect with the will of our lovely leading lady, Lightning. Through a series of events the characters are transformed into I’Cie and seek retribution. Ladies and gentleman, looks like have ourselves a story of Final Fantasy proportions!

The Gameplay
Final Fantasy XIII features diverse, visually stunning and playable characters. Lightning is said to be designed as a female version of FF’s arguably most prolific character, Cloud Strife (FFVII). The graphics are breathtaking, both during the in-game action and in the CG. The detail in the movement, the character features and the various locations is lush and meticulous.

As we saw in FFXII, enemies are visible on screen and there are no random encounters. The Active Time Battle system (ATB) has been entirely rejuvenated with activity moving so fast it can, at times, feel like the real thing. The ATB gauge is segmented so that you can chain powerful attacks together into combos that annihilate your enemies. In your usual team of three, you’ll control the party leader, but for legions of FF fans, you’ll have to summon more battle strategy than ever.

The leveling system in FFXIII has you playing with paradigms; party member setups that can be aggressive, defensive, healing and places in between. You’ll also be working with six job classes, including ravager (spell casters), saboteur (debuffers), synergist (buffers), commando (melee attack), medic (healers) and sentinel (defenders). You can swap in different paradigms at a moment’s notice depending on the way the current battle is playing out.

Players will customize characters with the Crystarium System, something we can only compare to the sphere grid in FFX. The focus of your growth is less on levels and more on skills and attributes. Final Fantasy veterans will appreciate the lack of endless quests to acquire new summons. Each I’Cie character comes complete with his or her own powerful Eidolon to summon, including some familiar faces (Shiva, Bahamut, and Odin). Whether you’re punishing enemies atop your Eidolon in gestalt mode, or fighting alongside it, you’re about to see some of the most spectacular fighting ever served up by an RPG.

If you take your time, dig in and do FFXIII’s rich gameplay the justice it deserves- you’ve got a wondrous 50 or so hours ahead of you on the main plotline.

And if you’re looking for me on March 9 and the days following, I think you’ll know where I’ll be.

Popularity: 13% [?]