Breach

Have you ever wondered what Modern Warfare would be like if Treyarch developed it…10 years ago? Worry no longer; Atomic Games’ Breach realizes that hypothetical with what is best described as “Call of Duty meets Darkest of Days.” Breach is a strictly online affair. Atomic Games did not see fit to include even the half-baked bots found in similar titles such as Blacklight: Tango Down. That means that, like said games, in a month or two when everyone stops playing, your $15 purchase will be completely useless. There is also no split-screen support for those who still prefer to go the Goldeneye route with a room-full of friends. Breach features...

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de Blob 2

The free-spirited, color-absorbing, amorphous glob of goo is back in a much deserved sequel. The first game, which started out as a PC indie game, later became a sleeper hit for the Wii in 2008. Does this latest outing on all major consoles bring back the enjoyable, color-centric gameplay? De Blob 2 is, in truth, largely similar to its predecessor. The storyline continues with Blob reaching Prisma City where Papa Blanc, secretly Comrade Black from the first game in disguise, is up to no good, deploying his band of Inkies and attempting to rig the election in his favor. Needless to say, all of the color gets sucked out of everything and everyone,...

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Dragon Age II

Sitting down to play the upcoming demo for Dragon Age II, I had a certain sense of worry in the pit of my stomach. For me, Dragon Age: Origins, a fantastic and outstanding title, fell by the wayside to other major titles in 2009. So it was with a little trepidation I picked up the controller and started up the demo that players can turn on later this month. Good thing I did, because for half an hour I had more fun with this RPG than many others in the last few months. Dragon Age II’s demo starts out as a second hand story, the frame narrative that arches over the entirety of demo, if not the game. Hawke (male or female, and entirely customizable...

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DiRT 3

When a developer makes a sequel, usually one expects a return to the comfortable and expected. A good sequel builds on the foundation of its predecessors, while bringing new and fresh gameplay elements to gamers. A bad one? Well, it can alienate gamers if the game ignores what made the originals so successful, and it can leave a bad taste in the mouths of gamers if a sequel isn’t fresh enough. Walking that fine line is difficult. When Colin McRae: Dirt 2 launched in 2009, it was clear that Codemasters was taking the franchise in a more action-oriented fashion. Yes, while the game replicated the journey of a rally car driver from the rookie...

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Jurassic Park

When Telltale Games announced that they would be bringing adventure game adaptations of Back to the Future and Jurassic Park, fans of both the films and adventure games were left scratching their heads. How in the world would Telltale bring these franchises to fruition? After the fantastic Back to the Future, we were proven that the studio is more than capable of making a game feel like the lost sequel to that series, setting up a good situation for the dino action franchise. Taking place concurrent to the events of the first film, Jurassic Park deals with the lost genetic samples collected by the doomed Dennis, who was killed shortly after...

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Two Worlds II

Is it possible to talk about an open-world fantasy RPG without mentioning The Elder Scrolls series, particularly Oblivion? Ideally, Oblivion wouldn’t come up once in this review, but one of the primary goals of Two Worlds II is to brazenly dethrone Oblivion as the king of the genre, and as such the comparisons are openly invited. Two Worlds II simply isn’t as good as Oblivion. Despite a slightly different combat style and a third-person perspective, it’s virtually the same game but less polished; not very impressive considering Oblivion is nearly five years old. After creating your character (male only, sorry girls, and guys who like to...

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Dead Space 2

The necromorphs swarm through the halls and crevices of The Sprawl with relentless brutality, shredding the populace and reconstructing the mutilated remnants into an army of deadly carcasses. Isaac Clarke, engineer and rare survivor of the Aegis VII incident, wakes in the psychiatric facility of the orbital station. He’s disoriented and bound in a straightjacket with no recollection of the past three years, but the violence around him is all too familiar. The change in scenery, from starship to a massive city built into one of Saturn’s moons, affords Visceral Games a wealth of new possibilities. Dead Space 2 is home to a parade of stellar...

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Magicka

It could be said that Magicka is a large departure from the normal Paradox released title. The standard Paradox game often involves the grand strategy genre, so it’s refreshing that they have tackled the hack and slash genre. Although it suffered through a bumpy development and surprised the world with a stealth release, players can finally band together and experiment with a wide variety of spells. One look at Magicka and you might confuse it with a Diablo clone, but this could not be further from the truth. Unlike Diablo, Magicka’s appeal relies on its innovative spell system. Instead of running around and slashing your enemies, you have...

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World of WarCraft: Cataclysm

It has been six years since players first stepped into Azeroth, and still no MMO has come close to challenging the dominance of World of Warcraft (WOW). Blizzard works tirelessly to constantly improve the game at all levels. WOW has been through so many changes that it scarcely resembles its former self, but none have altered the experience as severely as Cataclysm. Although you can witness many of the changes via a patch, the expansion is the only way to try out the new races, professions, and endgame content. For veteran players, it is a necessary investment. There’s quite a bit of lore to read through, so suffice to say that a dragon of...

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Bulletstorm

From all of the pre-release hype you would think that Bulletstorm is the next triple-A franchise from Epic. Hyped to hell and back by one Mr. Cliff Bleszinski and developed by People Can Fly, the team behind Painkiller, Bulletstorm definitely feels like it should be the “next big thing.” It is certainly unique, rewarding players for smartly performing creative kills in a cartoonishly violent world. It’s childish and immature, and there is a sense of pride in that. Downright fun, gleeful and self-aware, yet some serious flaws keep Buletstorm from reaching its full potential. For all of the trailers showing off the creative and violent ways...

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Killzone 3

How ironic is it that we’re only the second month into the New Year and we’re already getting a game that’s contender for Best of the Year? Seriously, everything that could go right for Guerrilla Games’ Killzone 3 absolutely does, from the enthralling single-player campaign to the addictive multiplayer to the high-level presentation, which does wonders for the PlayStation 3 hardware. The game immediately follows up on the events that unfolded at the end of Killzone 2. With Radec and Visari wiped out, Sev and Rico, the remaining ISA agents, find themselves facing a slew of Helghast warships, loaded with soldiers that want to wipe out everything...

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam

New weapons, new maps, new vehicles, a few dozen songs, and a fresh coat of paint. These are the humble offerings of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, a multiplayer-only expansion to DICE’s hit FPS that kicks players into the wayback machine with four maps (soon five) based on the Vietnam war. Not to be confused with a simple map pack, the expansion sits on a different menu from the rest of the multiplayer offerings, jamming a significant wedge between the regular game and the new content. Some statistics are shared between the original and the expansion, such as the player’s rank and unlocked equipment. Fans should rest easy knowing that...

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