Normally, I would wander around and check out the world. I may not even talk to anyone before I kill someone or something. When I played Oblivion, I wandered into some random dungeon through what probably was a back door. I killed a bunch of guys I didn’t even know (they attacked me first, by the way), and ended up with some pretty cool equipment. Then I discovered there was a story.

With only three hours to play, I wanted to explore the story. If you have played Oblivion, wandering around the landscape is largely the same, except the graphics are pretty stunning…and oh, you can collect bugs along with the normal foraging for herbs and spices. However, it’s the story that sometimes gets lost in the mix of wandering around taking on side-quests in such a huge, open world.

It would seem that the first 45 minutes of the game is where you will be learning the ropes and building up your character a bit before you are turned loose into the open world. There is a story there, something about a dragon, but it was hard to catch on in such a limited time. I know there are dragons in the game, so nothing new there. After wandering around for a while running from wolves, seemingly weaponless, I bumped into some NPCs at a little cottage. Apparently I know one of the guys there, and he tells me to go to Riverwood to meet the Jarl.

So without a thought to check for a menu system (with a card in front of me that shows me what all the buttons do), I wandered around until I found Riverwood. In Riverwood, I bought a sword and found the Jarl; pretty easily actually. He tells me that one of his wizards is looking for a Dragon Stone, whatever that is. They need me to get it, and that’s good enough for me. So I set off on my way to retrieve the stone, which wasn’t far away. My sword didn’t auto-equip, so I opened the menu for the first time, and lo and behold, I already had a sword…and armor…and magick. So, I wasted my money, but at least I got to see how purchasing an item worked.

So, with my weapon in hand and donning my armor, I used the map to try to find the area the stone was hidden. It seemed I couldn’t find my way up there head on, so I wandered around the mountain where it seemed to be located. Along the way, I bumped into a giant. It killed me with one swing of his hammer, but he looked good doing it. My second attempt at finding the stone took me up a mountain trail. Soon I was in an amazing snow storm. I could see individual snowflakes! Truly stunning. Good thing I picked a Nord, because Nords have resistance to cold, and it was cold! Before I knew it, I arrived at my destination and facing off with some bandits. I dispatched them quickly and headed indoors.

Inside, I made my way through dungeon corridors. Bumping into some more bandits, I snuck up on one and laid an amazing shot on him. There was a cut-scene that showed me slicing the guy in half! Very cool stuff. I continued forward and at one turn, I saw a guy with his back to me. I tried to sneak up on him too, but as I did, he walked up to a lever on the floor and pulled it. Arrows shot out of the walls at him, killing him instantly. Poor sucker set off a trap! I figured out the puzzle that would keep me from getting pelted by the arrow trap and forged ahead. A deadly spider forced me to to use my magick.

The magick system is a little different from previous titles. For example, healing is not a one-shot casting. You cast it and you heal over time while casting it. You can heal more by continuing to hold down the magick button. After fishing around the menu a bit, I found that I not only had a healing spell, but a destructive spell too. I could cast fire, which should work great against a spider and his webs. Sadly, he killed me as I was setting to blast him away. On my second try, I realized that I was ready to level up! OK, so I missed that initially, but I was happy to get more powerful.

To level up, it asked me if I wanted more health, stamina or magick. After I chose stamina, I was taken to this screen with a circle of constellations, each one representing a perk I could upgrade. My flame magick was one of the choices, so I bumped that up a notch. My second try with the spider proved more fruitful, as I set the bad boy on fire and slashed at him with a sword I picked up off one of the bandits.

An NPC that was trapped by the spider forced me to make a moral decision. I won’t go into detail about that, but soon after, I was ambushed by some skeletal warriors. These weren’t random skeletal warriors, I had wandered into their crypt! Oops, sorry guys! Oh well, they didn’t accept my apology, and after several tries I finally destroyed them. One of them had a very nice axe that I procured. Another had a pretty sweet bow and some arrows. Soon, I was a walking armory and I leveled up again. I chose more stamina and more fire. Now I could cast fire with two hands if I wanted, and I did.

A little deeper into the dungeon I faced off with a skeletal mage. He was sucking my life force away, so I sent a fireball at him. I must say that the fireball spell kicks butt! It was simple and small ball of flame that flew to its target and exposed. Awesome. I pressed forward until I found the stone I was looking for. I went up to it and it said that I learned some strange word and it seemed like I had completed my task. After another no-so-surprising ambush, I pushed on.

It seemed I was now moving upwards towards the surface. After a few more battles, all of them pretty fun and tense, I found a large door with a puzzle. The puzzle was fairly easy and I had solved it as a Bethesda representative tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I needed help, and that there was a clue in my inventory. He realized I had just solved the puzzle and let me continue on my journey.

Soon I was on the surface again, and I quick-traveled back to Riverwood. After finding the Jarl again, and receiving some praise in the process, I was asked to defend the west tower from a dragon. Apparently my character has some limited experience in this sort of thing. Well, this sounded pretty intriguing, so I went off in search of the west tower. I didn’t actually have to search at all, as I was led there by a humble little unit of soldiers that seemed ready to fight a dragon.

Good thing they were ready, because as soon as we found the tower, we were attacked. The dragon was big, beautiful, and powerful. However, with my new bow and arrow that I had snagged from the newly re-dead skeleton in the dungeon, I plucked at it from above as my companions sniped and stabbed it from below. Soon it was slain and I leveled up again. After snagging some body parts from the dragon, the representative returned and said that I should just wander around some more as my time was running out.

So I did, and that concluded my three hours of play. Now to back-track a touch, I wanted to talk about the character creation process. As it turns out, you do not pick a class. This is not a bad thing, as you are going to shape your character by the way you play anyway. You can pick your race, and if you have played Oblivion, you will notice that there is nothing new here except how detailed each of the races are now. It’s hard to believe that this is the same system that released Oblivion. You will get to tweak your character’s facial features a bunch, so you can basically make your character look just about anyway you want. It’s slick, easy, a beautiful.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is every bit a sequel to Oblivion as it is a spiritual successor to Fallout 3. The combination is astounding and if my very limited time with the game is any indication, this is going to be one hell of a game.  The two greatest games this year are fixing to come out in November and they both have Sky in the title. Can you guess the other title? I thought so.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is due out on November 11, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Our demo began about 45 minutes into the game, akin to leaving the sewers in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Vault 101 in Fallout 3.  You are able to create and customize your character during this time but we were able to create our character right at the beginning of our demo.  Not much has changed in the character creation – you can choose your race, gender, and name – and from there, you can customize the look of your character as you could in previous games.  There are ten races to choose from – all the same races from Oblivion – and they look a lot more realistic than before.  One of the biggest differences in the character creation is that you will not have to choose a character class as you did in Oblivion.  In Skyrim, you can choose to mold and shape your character depending on how you want to play your game.  As you level up, you can focus on skills that you want to build up and ignore the ones you don’t. The choice is ultimately up to you.  I didn’t spend too much time on creating my character as I only had three hours to play the demo and I wanted to try and experience as much of the game as I possibly could during that timeframe.  I chose to be a female Nord (I played a Nord in Oblivion as well) and I started from there.

As soon as I entered the world of Skyrim, I was just completely sucked in.  I paused for a moment to just take a look around at my surroundings.  The graphics are amazing and the detail in the world makes it pop with life.  I immediately began collecting herbs and flowers – you can even collect bugs – as I knew I wanted to try out the alchemy system as soon as possible.    I had no active quests yet so I went to the world map and found the town of Riverwood nearby and set my destination marker.  I made my way, on foot, to the town and got there relatively unscathed.  I ran into a small pack of wolves and realized I didn’t have any weapons (I actually did, I just assumed that I didn’t have any).  I tried to fight them off with my fists but quickly took off running.  The town was pretty close by so I was safe from any danger at that point.

As in the previous Elder Scrolls games, you can interact with just about everything and you can take what you want.  Of course, be careful not to take what’s not yours or you could get yourself into a spot of trouble with the law.  Lock picking is a lot more like it is in Fallout 3, which is not the first time you will make the comparison between the two games.  Even though I picked a few locks and got threatened by the home owners, I refrained from stealing any items.  I did however, take almost everything else that I could get my grubby little hands on.  Upon finding an alchemy set, I tried out my potion making skills.  Each item has four properties which will be discovered as you alchemize things.  I created a few potions via trail and error – I also failed at making some potions as well.

Talking to the NPCs in the area will get you more familiar with the world and what is going on in it.  Some will offer you quests so it is beneficial to talk to pretty much everyone.  I was in search of weapons and armor (since I was too lame to realize that I actually had some already) so I found the blacksmith and immediately started talking to him.  He offered a few small tasks that basically introduce you to the blacksmithing processes in the game.  At a Blacksmith, you are able to forge your own weapons, armor, and jewelry (providing you have the right materials and the appropriate skill level) as well as improve your items.  As you go on, you will level up in smithing which will allow you to craft and improve more items as you achieve more experience.  After that, I roamed around some more – picking locks and talking to more people until I took on a quest that led me to another town called Whiterun.

Fully equipped with armor and weapons that I crafted and improved, I headed to the town of Whiterun.  On my way, I continued to collect more items for alchemy but now I was on the lookout for things to kill.  It wasn’t long until I was found by a small pack of wolves so I fought them off rather skillfully.  New to combat in Skyrim are finishing moves similar to those in Fallout 3.  I’m not sure what triggers these offhand as it didn’t happen every time I killed something (or someone) but nonetheless, they looked awesome.  Combat is relatively simple and you can pretty much customize the way your character will fight.  Use a shield and sword, use a two-handed weapon, dual wield swords, use a spell in one hand with a sword in the other, and once you gain the skill (or perk as they are called), you can even dual wield spells.  The combinations are almost endless.  Ranged combat seems to have gotten better as well.  I remember not really using the bows and arrows in Oblivion as often as it felt very clunky to me.  However, this is not the case in Skyrim.  I was able to kill a few enemies using ranged weapons and just in the few hours of playing, it will be something that you will need to learn to use effectively.  You can still choose to play the game in first-person or third- person with the click of a button and the game will allow you to customize your controls.  You can even hot-key your weapons for faster access.  During combat, I kept pressing down on the left thumbstick, which puts your character into stealth mode.   This is where the ability to customize the controls will come in most handy.

In Whiterun, I followed a side questline that led me to a group called the Companions and after completing a few quests, I was allowed to join their group.  Joining groups is a great help to your character as members of the group will offer to train you for a small price allowing you to level up certain skills a little faster than by traditionally leveling up.

The leveling up system has gotten quite an overhaul.  Since you no longer choose a character class, you are able to level up according to your play style.  You can choose your perks based on what kinds of weapons and armor you use down to the spells or schools of magic you want to use.  You will eventually cap out at level 50 but in Skyrim, you will level up faster in the beginning and slower as you gain higher levels.  Bethesda has been doing a lot to balance out the game so that while enemies will level up with you, facing a pack of rats at level 32 won’t mean certain death as it may have felt in previous games.  During the three hour demo, I managed to almost hit level 7 so you can see how fast your character will level up in a short amount of time.

The talent tree-styled level system is represented by a series of constellations.  Each proficiency within a perk is a star within the constellation shaded by ability for quicker identification.  They all require a certain amount of points to open up so you will want to explore the options in the tree if you want to plan out your character’s path.  I wanted to get the ability to dual cast (cast a spell from each hand at the same time) a destruction spell but I had to take the Destruction perk first, then take on the spell – Burning Touch.  I had to use that spell enough to level up my skill in Destruction Spells and then I would be able to take on the dual casting skill.

My three hour demo pretty much ended there and it left me hungry for more.  I didn’t touch on the main quest at all but I was able to do a little dungeon crawling in my Companion quests.  If you are at all familiar with the Elder Scrolls series, you will see that a lot of care has gone into the making of this game.  Bethesda took a lot of elements from Fallout 3 and Oblivion to create what is going to be a fantastic game that will keep you quite busy throughout this holiday season and for quite sometime after that.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out on November 11, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Two Tales Titles Being Updated and Re-Released

Since the release of Tales of Phantasia in 1995, the Tales series has spanned over 12 titles. From the Super Famicom to all the current gen consoles, Tales has seen them all, the classic Japanese RPG continues to thrive by giving the player the freedom to make the gameplay as deep or as simple as they would like. You can micro-manage each little detail, or play straight through the story. And now two of the stories, Tales of Graces F and Tales of the Abyss, are receiving a touch-up and are being released on new systems.

Tales of Graces has really been overhauled. So much so it is being called Tales of Graces F. Moving from the Wii to the PS3 has allowed the developer to really upgrade the graphics and include some new content as well. Most of what we saw in the demo was content from the original game, however we got to see a new cut-scene, which shows that they are including some new story development. There will also be some new Blast Calibers and character outfits. Another awesome addition is an epilogue called Lineage & Legacies that will add around 10 hours of gameplay and fill in some of the stories from the main game. There will also be drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer.

Tales of the Abyss is also receiving a port, this time from the PS2 to the Nintendo 3DS. Tales featured the Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System that was used in Tales of Symphonia (play this one if you have a Gamecube!). This version is more of a port than a remake. They have added a 3D effect that doesn’t do anything but spruce up the visuals a little. However, if you missed it the first time around and you own a 3DS, you may want to give this game a try as it is a great JRPG.

Inversion
Namco Bandai is working on the upcoming third person shooter, Inversion, due out in February of 2012.  We got a hands on preview of the game last week.  What makes this game stand out from other shooters is the ability to manipulate gravity.  You can use a device called a gravlink to command and manipulate gravity to your advantage.  You can use it to provide cover, to kill your enemies, and you can eevn use it to retrieve items like ammo.  The trick is that the enemies have this device as well and they can use it to do the same things to you.

Another cool thing about this game is that there are these patches of gravitational forces that manipulate particular areas allowing you and your foes to walk on walls and ceilings affording you a better vantage point to defeat your enemies.  There are even portions of the game where you will engage in weightless gameplay in zero gravity.

The game focuses around two police officers, the main character, David, and his partner, Leo.  The game can be played in single player mode with an AI partner as well as in co-op.  Multiplayer modes are also available however the specific modes have yet to be announced.  The game will support up to 16 players online.

I played through the short demo and it controls like Gears of War and, in fact, it uses a similar cover system.  There are no health packs to pick up, you regenerate it over time.  The weapons are pretty standard for a shooter but it is the gravity manipulation that really sets this game apart from some of the games on the market right now and I can see a lot of potential in the multiplayer.

Inversion is due out on February 7, 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ridge Racer Unbounded

Ridge Racer has been a popular arcade racing game since its debut in arcades in 1993 and made it’s first home console appearace shortly thereafter.  Namco Bandai is currently working on Ridge Racer Unbounded a new experience for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and marks its first appearance on the PC.  This is also the first time that Ridge Racer has not been released as a launch title.  Ridge Racer Unbounded stays true to the series and features no licensed vehicles and keeps the cars clean and damage free during races regardless of how many times you crash into a wall or building.  However, Ridge Racer Unbounded is just that…now you can destroy building and other obstacles on the course.  Destroying buildings will create shortcuts within the race so you will want to keep an eye out for them.

The game plays like a normal racing game and gives you indicators when a building can be crashed into and destroyed.  I suspect that many players will crash into anything and everything because they can.

Another cool feature of the game is the City and Track creator, which will allow you to create your own custom cities and tracks ready for racing and destruction.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is slated for a March 2012 release and will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi is the newest installment of DBZ fighting games that follows the story of the anime.  The 3D fighter allows players to control characters from the Dragon Ball Z franchise and introduces Hero Mode which will allow you to create your very own custom DBZ character using new and existing attributes to customize your character’s hair, clothing, voice, and attack moves.

The game features a story mode and boss battles to fight agains AI or other players locally or online.  The game looks like it ripped right out of the anime and features chaotic fighting sequences.  Since this was my first time sitting down with the game (or any Dragon Ball Z title for that matter), there was a slight learning curve in terms of what to do and when but overall, the game is aimed towards a younger audience so it should be easy for most players to pick up and play.  I won the battle against one of the other previewers but I couldn’t honestly tell you how!

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi should be another fun fighter for fans of the series.  The game drops on October 25th, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja Impact

Coming to the PSP on October 18th, 2011, is the latest Naruto game, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja Impact.  Built on the Dynasty Warriors engine, the game strays from its usual fighting game style to an action adventure fighter where you take on multiple waves of multiple enemies.

The control scheme is the same as other Naruto games so fans of the series will have no problems making the transtion to the new game style.

The game will be available via the PlayStation Network as a download as well as a UMD disc available at game retailers on October 18th, 2011.

And why not? Let’s be honest, the market could use some more faces getting half the attention of the “leading brands.” The real question is how they plan to stand out. Sure, the game is visually distinct, and footage to date looks pretty fun, but how does it play? We recently got a chance to check out the game’s co-op mode for ourselves, and even ask the developers a few questions. There was a lot to take in, and our two missions just weren’t enough (I want to play more!), but what I could gather is that this game want the player to, more than anything else and more than competing titles, have a whole lot of fun doing everything it has to offer. For better and worse, it looks like they’ve succeeded.

Before even playing, we were all shown a training video that explained a bit of the game’s particulars, like an objective wheel where you can literally choose how you plan to help your team out, and a quick rundown of the different classes (Soldier, Medic, Engineer, and Operative) and their distinct special abilities. It also showed some familiar territory, like an experience system that helps unlock new abilities, perks, weapons, etc. This was a good little primer to get us in the frame of mind for this game. It really helped me, having been on a killstreak-focused Black Ops binge the past couple months. I was also informed that just watching those videos will give the player some experience points.

The first mission had us escorting a vehicle from point A to point B, and then covering that vehicle and holding off the AI-controlled enemy team once we got there. I was an Engineer through most of the mission, and expected my abilities to be used mainly on the vehicle. Not so. When we started, Media Director Richard Jolly pointed out that I could throw little stat boosts to my team mates, boosting their armor or damage for a short while. Each toss gave me experience points, too. And when we hit our first wave of resistance, I was surprised to see that I wasn’t necessarily weaker than a soldier with my firepower. I could take guys down with the best of them. I could actively contribute to the battle at hand AND help in my own way. Turns out all classes are this way. A soldier may be bigger on guns, but they were most welcome as the only class that could give out ammo and plant charges on walls to pave the way forward for us. Everyone has their role.

Shortly after a certain wall in our path was taken down, I got the itch to try a different class, and switched into an Operative at the team spawn’s command station. Almost immediately, I missed being able to be an instant help to my team mates. But a quick look at my objective wheel showed some closed off doors that only I could break open. So off I went, away from the action, and found a sealed off door that I was able to use a handy hacking device to unlock. No one was around, so I went for it… sort of. The tool didn’t work when I walked too far, so I had to hang close and feel even more vulnerable. I got it open, though, and thus offered a brand new path for my teammates to take. Because it was a completed objective, I also made bank on more experience points. My satisfaction didn’t last long, though. My team reached point B while I was hacking a door closer to point A. Whoops. I even learned that my former Engineerness could’ve helped set up the vehicle once it his point B. Right… so I stuck with Operative and noticed that I could scan a dead enemy and disguise myself as one of them! Sweet! To boot, I gained even more experience for just being disguised! But once at point B, victory involved shooting guys, so that disguise had to come off and I had to start blasting away. No problems there, though, because shooting people is ALWAYS great.

Come the next mission, we were all in the groove of the game and opted to go from Easy difficulty AI to Normal. Crazy, right? We were ready. Normal it was! And they certainly did up their game against us. Still we fought on. About here, Richard Ham, the Creative Director, came around to me and pointed out that as an Operative, I was the “most important” guy on my team since my choice skills were needed to complete the main objective. I had to reach their safe room and crack it open with my trusty hack tool I’d learned to use in the last mission. With a clever disguise, I made my way there completely unscathed. I hung back and watched the enemy team head off to fight the rest of my hard-working team. All but one. Jerk would NOT leave that safe, and I was warned that hacking the safe with him around would be a bit of a dead giveaway. So I gave him one to the face with my rifle butt. It took him to the floor and I thought “Hah!” for a only moment. He then got up and gunned me down! At this point, Ham told me that this game wasn’t about instant kill moves. The game always has an out. Prior to that, I had noticed I was able to sit tight and wait for a medic to come revive me after being gunned down. “Neat” I thought. Now if only I knew that earlier…

Eventually my team caught up to my covert shenanigans and burst into the safe room. April, a Medic, went clutch at this moment and healed the crap out of the team. Thanks to her, my pleas to everyone of “Don’t let them shoot me!” went fully answered. Everyone was able to hold off the enemy while I cracked the safe. Now holding the contents therein, we still had to get out. Couldn’t disguise myself anymore, so I had to just sit back and hope my team would clear my path. They almost did. I had to kick it out myself at the end, taking down the remaining few with my SMG and bolt for the finish. Normal difficulty? Psh…

The final stage of this mission involved escorting a wounded NPC from point A to point B (expect a lot of this). For this mission, I spent most the time noodling around in disguise and pointing out mines for my team mates so they’d be nice and highlighted on their HUDs. Another of my skills as an Operative. Aside from that, I tried fiddling with the game’s SMART navigation system, which lets you climb, scale, and slide around for a little added mobility. It was pretty cool, but I think I was missing some key components because while it helped get me around, I felt like a monkey with a broken foot half the time, not looking half as cool as some of the demo footage I’d seen (Note: I didn’t fiddle much with character customization, but there are Light, Medium, and Heavy body types which likely played a hand). That happened, and at some point I hijacked an enemy turret in their base and started unloading on a mess of dudes waiting for the cavalry to arrive. My score this mission was low, but I like to think I softened the dough for the real pulverizing. Going back to experience points, it’s worth pointing out that I still got a decent amount for pointing out those mines, and that April was a top scorer just for healing a whole lot.

Ham explained that all the experience points are intended to tell players that what they’re doing is right. He also mentioned that a medic who heals a lot will probably get more experience than someone who just kills a lot. The logic goes two ways: First, Ham described that taking down an opponent is a reward in itself, so they decided not to reward that with experience; Second, the system seems to be based more on just how much you’re contributing to the objective and your team than how badass you are with a gun. This philosophy fuels all of Brink, right down to their stat tracking, which does not list one’s Kill/Death ratio, which to many Halo or Call of Duty players is essentially your worth as a player. The end game score screen won’t even show how many kills you racked up. Honestly, the shifted approach sounded awesome. I love the idea of being able to see that I am a stealthy bastard, a great healer, or even a kill-hungry maniac, and not just how efficient I am at aiming. On top of that, it also lowers personal stress from wanting to look good all the time. I can just have fun while I learn the ropes, and get rewarded for exploring the deeper aspects of the game. This all sounds great, and I love game that’s just happy to see me have fun, and not necessarily win. It’s nice that a low rank on a final score only says “You could’ve helped more” instead of “You suck.”

HOWEVER, it’s possible that this focus on teamplay and this “you can do it” attitude will not jibe with players looking for a more strictly-competitive experience. It seems that the more stark environment of “N00B vs 1337” shooters is the way of the land right now, and the masses want kill counts and ratios. And while the action itself feels good and fluid, and SMART system adds a dimension to the play style and maneuvering, the maps we played were very focused on mission objectives, and not the arena combat one usually sees. We were told the game would launch with “14 missions” when asked about map count, so I am also led to believe that there won’t be much, if any, presence of Deathmatch-style layouts. I want to note that I’m not saying one mode is better or worse; both have their place and are fun in their own right. I just have difficulty imagining Brink stealing a whole lot of multiplayer fps thunder from the big names when its focus isn’t what the masses are flocking to.

Having said that, I do want this game to succeed. I want it to find its niche, and to take its slice of the pie, much like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has. I love that Splash Damage didn’t throw their hat in the same ring as everyone else and opted to offer an honest and actual alternative to what’s out and popular. The best thing I can say about it is I want to play it more, and I don’t want to wait until May to do it.

The game features hack n’ slash gameplay with a unique and twisted storyline.  While the game is a single player game, it does take on some co-op gaming elements as Heinrich and Gretchen will have to work together.  Since Heinrich is immortal, he will not die.  Gretchen, however, can die so you will need to protect her during combat.  Heinrich can hold Gretchen in his arms at any time which will regenerate her health.  While Heinrich cannot die, he can be seriously maimed which can slow him down giving the enemies an opportunity to go after and kill Gretchen.

The game also feature finishing kills that when pulled off properly will summon execution devices like the Guillotine to finish off enemies similar to those seen in Bayonetta.

The recreation of 17^th century Europe looks marvelous in the game and I can’t wait to see more of it.  There is no comment at this time regarding DLC.  The game is split into levels or chapters that can be played over and over with the scores uploaded to Leaderboards for added replay value.

Knight’s Contract is rated M for Mature and will be available sometime in 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

This is a great game to play in local co-op as well as online co-op.  While in co-op, there are a lot of things to do that will require the cooperation of both players.  With the multitude of control schemes, the game ends up being a mix between an FPS and a rail shooter.  It still IS a rail shooter at heart but you will get to do things like control the ships and destroy virtually anything in the game.

On top of all the different game modes, there are also other versions of the game including Time Crisis 4: Arcade Version and Deadstorm Pirates where you can take the helm of a massive pirate ship and battle on the open seas!

There looks to be a lot of replay value to the game as you can play it with the regular controller and again with MOVE.  Fans of the Time Crisis series may want to keep their eyes on this one!

Time Crisis: Razing Storm is rated T for Teen and will be out on October 19, 2010 exclusively for the PS3.

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The game uses a cell shaded art style and during combat sequences, the background mutes to a black and white so that you can focus on the bloody red mess of carnage that you leave in your wake.  The cut scenes are done in a more realistic fashion, but after seeing the game, it was a good idea to make the change to a more comic/cell shaded look as during combat the screen get splattered with blood!

Splatterhouse pulls no punches and leaves no stone unturned.  You can lose body parts if you don’t manage your health properly but you can regenerate the arm and use the one you lost as a weapon!  The main idea to combat is to spill as much blood as possible as it is blood that drives the Terror Mask.  Blood can also regenerate your health and lost limbs.  Regenerating your health will also kill enemies and the more that are around the faster you can regain your health.

The early boss battles start out small but as you progress, they will get larger and larger – a la Shadow of the Colossus!

Along with spilling as much blood as possible, which will allow you to upgrade your moves and abilities, there is another entertaining collectable in the game.  Rick’s girlfriend will leave pieces of photographs of herself for you to find and collect.   This is one collectable that I can guarantee that everyone who picks up this game will want to collect as they are nude photos of Rick’s girlfriend!  And she is a pretty smoking; hot blonde with very nice ta-tas!

As you play through the game, you will also be able to unlock the original versions of the game including the Japanese version, never released in the US.

The game is single player only with no multiplayer or co-op.

Splatterhouse is rated M for Mature and will be available this fall for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

The game features a lush and green apocalyptic America where Nature has taken over the cities.  They game’s designers were inspired by the recent History Channel TV series, “Life After People” which shows what would happen to our world should people cease to exist.  They propose that if no one if around to maintain the buildings and roads, that Nature would simply take over and claim the land as her own.  Not only do they need to worry about Nature, but they also need to worry about the mechs that have taken over the areas making their journey even more dangerous.

The game primarily a single player experience however there is a focus on co-op elements with the AI of Trip’s character.  There are things that you will need to do together in order to continue on as well as protect her from harm.  The combat system consists of a combination of melee attacks, blocks, and takedowns that can disarm an enemy, rip them apart, or completely destroy with one fatal blow.  The game controlled a bit loose but once I got accustomed to the control, it was easy and fun.  Monkey gets his name for being able to easily get around hard to get to places giving the game a Prince of Persia feel to it.  Monkey controls easily and makes some of the moves look effortless.

There are plenty of collectables and upgrades to be found and the game offers roughly between 9 and 12 hours of gameplay.

The game also features the outstanding voice talents of Andy Serkis, best know for his roles in Lord of the Rings as Gollum and in King Kong.  The characters facial expressions are extremely emotive and captures every nuance of emotion.  The story, while based loosely on “Journey to the West” is an original one from novelist and screenwriter, Alex Garland, best know for The Beach and 28 Days Later.

There is some DLC planned for later this year but no details have been released at the time of our demo.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is rated T for Teen and is available now for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

You can play with up to 4 players locally – there is no online play at this time.  In Quest Mode, you traverse a 3D model of the Earth and discover hot spots which contain themed episodes with questions and mini-games.  You can face off head-to-head in the card battle stat attack mode in just one of many mini-games in Quest Mode.  Quiz Mode features Memory Test, Observation, Odd One Out, Higher or Lower, Fast Focus, Anagrams, True or False, and many more.

We did have a chance to play the game and I could have played all day long!  It’s a lot of fun to play with others and I’m sure I will clock many hours in the game on my own as well!

The game will retail for $29.95 – well worth the price for not only what will be a fun but highly educational video game.

Nat Geo Challenge! Wild Life is due for a November 2010 release and will be rated E for Everyone.  The game will be available on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and the Nintendo Wii.

One of the first things you will notice is the dropping of the iconic Tomb Raider name and the change in gameplay style from the action adventure platformer to more of an isometric platformer with a top down view.  It is also a downloadable title that focuses quite heavily on co-op gameplay.  This was very exciting as finally I can play one of my favorite franchises with my favorite gamer, Norm!

This is a big change for the series and may offer a nice stepping stone into the next next-generation Lara Croft.  This also may attract new fans to the series as well as possibly alienate some of the hardcore fans that have been with Lara since the beginning in the mid 90s.  Either way, the game looks like it will be a lot of fun.

You can choose to play the game in local or online co-op where you can choose to play as Lara or Totec, a 2000 year old Mayan warrior awakened when Lara finds the Temple of Light and the Mirror of Smoke.  Totec had defeated an ancient spirit named Xolotl by entombing the spirit and himself in the Temple of Light along with the artifact, Mirror of Smoke.  Lara finds the artifact, awakening them both.  Mercenaries are hot on Lara’s tail and they steal the artifact when Xototl kills the mercs and runs off with the artifact.  Totec blames Lara but knows he must work together with her to get it back and defeat Xolotl again.

Lara is armed with her iconic dual Desert Eagles and her grappling hook.  Totec will be able to use a shield and spears to help Lara solve puzzles.  The weapons are similar to Robotron, you aim with the control stick and shoot.  While playing in co-op mode, Lara will be able to use Totec’s shield for cover so she can access certain areas.  Totec can hold the shield over his head to allow Lara to jump on top granting her access to areas otherwise out of her reach.  Totec can use his spears to create a ladder for Lara to be able to climb higher places as well.  While playing the single player version of the game, Lara will be able to use the spears to get to places and the puzzles are tailored to fit a single player scenario.  This was done specifically so that the player would not get frustrated by having to rely on the AI.  There is more than one way to solve the puzzles in the game giving players the freedom to choose their own solutions.

Along with the default weapons, Lara and Totec will be able to pick up other weapons like machine guns and rifles.  Default weapons like spears and the Desert Eagles will have unlimited ammo while the other weapons will be limited so you will need to keep an eye on your supply.  There are medkits in the levels as well, but these can only be picked up when the player needs health.

The single player campaign is expected to feature about eight to ten hours of gameplay and the multiplayer mode around six to eight hours depending on the level of teamwork.  You can play the game cooperatively or competitively since the game does features a scoring system.

To Tomb Raider fans, fear not as this is just the start of a new brand and this game will not affect the development of Tomb Raider 9.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light is scheduled for a mid 2010 release as a downloadable title only for PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network.  The game will cost $15 and the PC download will be available on Steam.