heychrisfox

Absolutely the best city-builder that has been released in decades. With minimalist mechanics, a beautiful aesthetic, some of the most challenging gameplay in the genre, and the horrific ethical implications that you're forced to encounter emergently as NPCs slowly starve or freeze due to your poor mismanagement is something so unique that it needs to be played to be understood.

A remarkable experience. This is one of the most intimate stories I've ever seen in any game. The atypical style of delivery, letting you wander freely through the house as you choose and uncover the story at your own pace offers a unique way to experience the story. Differentiating itself from similar games like Dear Esther which take you on a guided tour through a pretty landscape, Gone Home is able to drop you into a strange environment and unravel the story out of it like a tangled ball of yarn. It's certainly not a game for everyone. It's very quiet, and the narrative is very discreet. But beyond the people enthusing about it being a 90s time-capsule, or whining that it's not "scary," you have a stark, gorgeous, and solemn game that offers a touching, conflicted coming-of-age story that is worth appreciating for its subtlety and honesty in a way that few other games are able to capture.

Easily one of the best 8-bit styled albums ever. Anamanaguchi is unrivaled in their genre, and hearing such a retro sound makes me wish they could rerecord all the music for classic Nintendo games.

One of the most moving and evocative games in memory. They break through a lot of clichés that plague gaming, and do so with a raw, gritty, unforgiving storyline. The game is carried by Ellie, and Joel simply serves as a conduit for the unique action and atmosphere of the game. Beautiful, simply put.

An amazingly addictive game. There is so much depth, so much variety, and so much risk. You really want to succeed as you continue playing, but the game ramps up difficulty to higher and higher levels. One act of hubris, or one moment of bad luck, and you'll find your ship exploding into pieces. The variety of mechanics all balance themselves out fantastically, and the game never feels like it's getting dull, especially with the constant onslaught of the Rebel Army, which prods you into keeping pace and jumping into the next solar system. I would probably write even more compliments, but my ship is in Mantis territory, and I don't want to let my crew of five down.

A fascinating game that strikes solid on expectations. It's an interesting blend of more typical zombie games with a sandbox, turf management mechanic as seen in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. You can get very involved in the game very fast, and lose a lot of time to it constantly doing side-quests and exploring without the game ever getting dull. All this from an indie game is fantastic, and with the promise of changes and different successes/mistakes made in every playthru, there is a lot of potential for replay value.

A game of remarkable beauty, intriguing storyline, and so much potential just crushed by its own boring gameplay. This game is definitely worth the playthru, but sadly doesn't live up to the level of expectations it easily could have. Emphasizing the games uniqueness such as memory remixing, deep storytelling, or exploring of their vast, stunning, gritty world would have made this gem a diamond. Instead, because of the stale fisticuffs gameplay that has been tried a billion times before, and an emphasis on forcing players to travel through linear corridors like Final Fantasy XIII, you have a scuffed piece of silver: still nice to look at, but nothing special. All it needed was a little polish and a little extra care to go that extra mile and be truly unique. This, sadly, was not given.

A game of remarkable beauty, intriguing storyline, and so much potential just crushed by its own boring gameplay. This game is definitely worth the playthru, but sadly doesn't live up to the level of expectations it easily could have. Emphasizing the games uniqueness such as memory remixing, deep storytelling, or exploring of their vast, stunning, gritty world would have made this gem a diamond. Instead, because of the stale fisticuffs gameplay that has been tried a billion times before, and an emphasis on forcing players to travel through linear corridors like Final Fantasy XIII, you have a scuffed piece of silver: still nice to look at, but nothing special. All it needed was a little polish and a little extra care to go that extra mile and be truly unique. This, sadly, was not given.

Okay, so maybe Left 4 Dead doesn't have the deepest plot. But if you're not looking for anything particularly engaging and enthralling, and simply want to unload as many bullets as possible into fast moving targets who are hungry for you, Left 4 Dead is a great game, especially if you have some friends to help you survive through the bullet riddled repetition.

The Sims series makes its first venture in a new direction now that it was abandoned by Maxis. With EA at the helm, plenty of new and excellent features have been introduced. Your Sims now inhabit a cohesive town, free of loading screens. Furthermore, all your Sims age simultaneously, and the random-pairing ability of the game makes the Sims you are not playing go about their own lives; other Sims will marry, move in and out of houses (sometimes even leave the neighbourhood), and die, all with their own free will. The new moodlet feature makes the intricacies of the Sims shine even more detailed than ever. But the game seems to have lost something in the transition between companies. Something uniquely Maxis is absent. Objects that have been with the entire series since its inception now no longer exist, and some of the finer details on buyable objects or background storylines for the stock Sims that the game provides seem hollow and mute. The Sims 3 is distinctly different from The Sims 2, and takes a lot of getting used to. But if you can get used to the changes, then Sims 3 will delight you for hours on end with its addictive gameplay and in-depth customizational abilities.

Final Fantasy XIII takes the series in a new direction as it spearheads the famed series on the latest series of next-gen consoles. With mind-numbingly beautiful graphics and intense detail put into this release, Final Fantasy XIII looks phenomenal, and pushes the visual qualities of video games to an entirely new plateau. But the game falls short of perfection due to its two oddities: changes and length. New to the series is the absence of traiditional turn-based combat. Now, in battle, the player controls only one of the three characters allowed to participate in combat. Each character in the party is assigned a role - known as a paradigm - by the player before the battle, a role which dictates the sort of actions they make (healing, defense, offense, etc.). The player transitions between these paradigms mid-battle to form a flowing form of fighting. While some may appreciate this drastic change, others may be put off by the loss of the traditional turn-based aesthetic. Secondly, the length of this game is simply MASSIVE. Furthermore, with an emphasis on en medias res, the main plot points of the game aren't delivered until around 15 hours of gameplay as fast; the time spent leading up to this seems a little aimless at times, as if you're traveling forward (down the many linear corridors that the game puts you on) with little purpose or objective, except for maybe discovering what lies at the end of said corridors. But despite these somewhat majors issues with the game, Final Fantasy XIII is a respectable addition to the series. The story told is extremely engrossing once you've allowed yourself to be swayed by the fantastical world you're given to explore, and the characters - while sometimes a bit stiff - are all varied and interesting. The many homages the game serves toward Final Fantasy VII - an inspiration for this title in the series - are also quite noticable, and serve for a sense of nostalgia players of the classic will appreciate. And when you boil down to it, once you get a hang of the paradigm feature, the battles are extremely fun and offer a fast-paced version of the traditional turn-based model, allowing for a blend of action and strategy. While Final Fantasy XIII may not be perfect, it is worth the time for fans of the series.

Working as if it were the great-grandfather of Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Horse is based in the scenic dirtplot of Las Venturas right after the Spanish colonials got kicked out in favour of hicks with revolvers. Unlike Red Dead Revolver, the assumable precursor to this title by the Rockstar franchise, Red Dead Redemption places you in the shoes (or boots) of John Marston, criminal turned rancher who is forced by the puritanical US Government to go to the wild wild west to kill his ex-gang partners-in-crime, lest the government will kill John's family should he not comply. The sandbox world you're given is broad and bold, though a bit drab, considering it's cactus, rocks, and dirt almost as far as the eye can see. The sheer scope of the world, however, makes up for its lack of diversity; while the world feels big, it's not impossible to traverse it, and there are enough hunting side-quests and different minigames that allow you to explore the land at your leisure; furthermore, the desert atmosphere does carry a unique charm. The plot and characters all carry themselves with that cowboy swagger you'd expect to see in any Western, and deliver with clichés firmly lassoed and corralled in all the expected places with well acted and written dialogue. As for the gameplay, it handles excellently, with heated gun battles and horse race chases, though given this is the entire basis of the game, it at times gets a bit old and boring. While other quests such as collecting wild herbs and hunting wild animals exist, they never seem to balance the main missions, and nobody in their right mind could have thought that missions involving you herding cows could have been a good idea when the cows have the frequent habit of impaling themselves on trees, getting lost on railroad tracks in front of oncoming trains, or diving headfirst off cliffs. While Red Dead Redemption offers much exploration and a very well written plot, the substance seems a bit sparse. Many of the missions seem to exist simply for the sake of doing something, and it takes 10 minutes just to listen to the characters drone on about their lives before the mission even starts, before spending the next 10 minutes trotting alongside them as they whine about their woes to you until you reach your destination. The game is excellently written and a barrel of fun, but it all seems almost forced and meaningless in the end, leaving you with a feeling emptiness and expectations unfulfilled. Regardless, the game is definitely worth a play through, and won't leave you regretting your time. Except the time you spend herding cows.

Shadow of the Colossus is arguably one of the greatest action-adventure games ever created. Developed by the esteemed and greatly hailed game developers, Team Ico, Shadow of the Colossus is the prequel to the developers famed first release, Ico. Set at an ambiguous time, likely several centuries before Ico, the game begins with a young boy on horseback with his questionably-alive lady friend. This girl was sacrificed in a village's ancient sacrificial ritual, but for reasons unknown, the unnamed protagonist (given the name The Wander by fans) is on a journey to take her to a forbidden land. When he arrives at a large castle in this forbidden land, he is greeted by Dormir, the resident god of the land. The protagonist asks the god to bring the girl back to life; Dormir agrees, but only if Wander first slays the sixteen giants that reside in the land. In actuality, the title is nothing more than a platforming-puzzle game. So what makes this such a pivotal game? The presentation. Team Ico has a special talent of storytelling and use of gameplay that in unparalleled. While the story of Shadow of the Colossus is deep and intricate, not a whole lot of the plot is in fact revealed. Much of the plot takes place before the events that you experience, and the ending is left very open-ended. You feel like you're experiencing something much greater than what appears before you, which offers a beautiful perspective on the story. The gameplay is all about destroying these giant 20+ story tall colossi, but you're free to roam the sandbox-styled landscape freely, and can enter these massive boss battles whenever you feel ready and prepared. The landscape is simply awe inspiring, and there is no danger to disturb your taking in the scenery. And when you do enter these battles, they are intense, and really give you the feeling that these colossi are indeed colossal. Shadow of the Colossus offers a completely unique experience, and is one of those few games that simply can't be missed.

Games that bring controversy with their releases are always intriguing releases, and Rule of Rose is no different. An independently developed game, published by Atlas in North America, Rule of Rose follows the story of Jennifer, a skittish young girl who - through a strange series of circumstances - finds herself in the 1930s English countryside, chasing a boy down a dirt road. This chase leads her to The Rose Garden Orphanage. But things take a turn for the bizarre: when she encounters a grave at the manor, she gets a horrible feeling, digging it up to reveal a coffin. She is then surprised from behind by some of the children, who push her into the coffin, and bury her alive. When she awakens, Jennifer finds herself in what appears to be a zeppelin. She is in the custody and care **** of children, mostly girls, who call themselves The Aristocrat Club; they demand that you pay the club tribute in the form of monthly gifts of their choosing, the penalty for which not making your offering is death. Thus, Jeniffer begins to wander the zeppelin, searching for gifts, and experiencing what seem to be extremely disjointed scenarios involving her and the Aristocrat Club. Gameplay is your run-of-the-mill survival horror sort, wandering around with small, blunt, or generally ineffective weapons while little imp creatures chase you around. This makes running the most appropriate option in most situations, as Jennifer isn't the most competent battler you've ever encountered, haphazardly swinging her weapons around. The scenery (either the dark and seemingly abandoned orphanage or the metallic and eerie zeppelin) is exceptionally creepy, and the mood is set very well, with a great accompanying soundtrack. But navigating these environments can become cumbersome to traverse, as many of the corridors look identical, and it's easy to get turned around, especially when weaving between imps. Furthermore, certain chapters can be long with infrequent save points, meaning if you take an unlucky blow to the head from Billy the goat-headed ugly who wants to nom on your innards, you'll have to start from your last save, which can be time-consuming and just plain taxing. But for all the game's faults, it is all brought together by its fabulous storyline. The Aristocrat Club is anything but, making Jennifer suffer through verbal degradation and hazing rituals. And with the surreal environment of the zeppelin, with seemingly no adults taking care of the children, the kids rule in a Lord of the Flies styled dominion. Each chapter of the story is prefaced with a hand-drawn childrens' book that provides an off-kilter summary of the coming chapter. The entire story comes across as a haunting and visceral 9-year old's worst nightmare, and while the story may seem very disjointed and confusing, it gives you enough plot points to keep you hungry to see how it all comes together. And while it seems like this resolution may never come, a calming denouement after the climax of the plot offers all the answers to the questions that were brought about. If anything, this very rare - and at times, controversial - and unique release may not be the best game you've ever played, but certainly one of the most intriguing, and worth your time.

Ico runs in the same vein as Shadow of the Colossus, all titles of the cult classic churning development team, Team Ico. The plot is subtle, yet deep, and you get the feeling as Ico - our protagonist - saves the princess in need Yorda from the evil Queen of the Castle, that you're the part of something much larger than yourself and the characters on the screen. What is this castle? What is the backstory behind Ico, Yorda, the Queen, and the mysterious people who take Ico to the island? Many questions are left unanswered, which is the point: this is intricate, delicate storytelling at its finest; a plot that interweaves with Shadow of the Colossus. The visuals on screen are simply stunning, especially for such an early release for the PS2. The controls can be a bit cumbersome at times, but they're so simple, it's hard to gripe. The combat with the evil shadow beings varies from run-of-the-mill to dire and desperate swinging depending on the situation, and will thrill any player. And the entire game caries a strong sense of emptiness, loneliness, like you really are alone in a strange world, having to take care of yourself. Ico has become an artistic classic of the next-generation age. One can only claim they are a true gamer in contemporary times if they've added Ico as a notch on their belt.

The Bouncer is an odd, atypical sort of fighting game. Unlike its traditional brethren - Street Fighter, Tekken, Soul Calibur - The Bouncer assumes more of the feel of a RPG with the same traits as a fighting game. In fact, this game could be more akin to an old-school side-scrolling fighter from the days of yore if one has an open imagination. Nevertheless, Square's attempt at a trendy Japanese spiced fighter is a true sleeper, even when it was released. The graphics are fantastic considering when it was released, everything clean and well polished, with a similar feel in visuals to that of Square's Final Fantasy X. Combat is limited to only a handful of different attacks for each of the three playable characters in the story mode. However, these do not inhibit for some heated combat with multiple attackers at once. The story is short, and you can breeze through The Bouncer in speedy fashion. But there's a huge replay value, with lots of backstory told through the loading screen. Playing as each character offers a different perspective on the story, allowing for some conversations to be heard, while other details are left out for a separate playthrough with another character. And of course, there's a nifty multiplayer mode that allows you to control any of the characters you earn throughout your main-game adventures. A final nifty feature is the leveling system, giving the game an added feel of role-playing. Experience points are earned with each battle, allowing you to learn new attacks and improve your health/defense/power. You're forced to spend them wisely as you level up your characters. Though this is by no means a popular game, The Bouncer offers an unique take on a fighting game that few other games have attempted. It's worth it!

Katamari Forever, yet again, comes sweeping in (or rolling, rather) to build up another nation of followers on a PS3 exclusive release. The idea of this game was to pay homage to Katamari's previous incarnations, taking the favourite levels of fans, and mixing them up with new levels. More rolling action! Katamari veterans might be a little bored by this game. Again, this is essentially the "Best of Katamari." If you own and played every game, you'll quickly realize that half of Katamari Forever is just a recycling of the old. However, the game boasts a few new levels to pique your Katamari interests, along with all your favourite Cousins, and a blatantly weird J-Pop story as always. The graphics are absolutely phenomenal, and a feature allows for plays to switch the graphic styles from "classic," to cel-shading, wood, and others. An online leaderboard allows for competition on the big ol' internet, and of course there's room for some good ol' fashioned sit-down-with-your-buddy multiplayer fun. And let's not forget the music. As another tribute, all the old songs have been redone and remixed, with lots of electronic and 8-bit jubilant along with the expected bubblegum J-pop delightfulness. And c'mon, it's Katamari! This is one of the simplest, funnest games on the market these days, and it's all kinds of fun. Let it absorb you.

I freely admit that I was less than amused after I got my hands on Dead Rising 2. Given that I don't have a 360, I missed out on the first Dead Rising game, and hadn't really bothered to do any research on the game. I had always heard good things, however, so I thought I'd give the game a shot now that it was released for the PS3. Let's start off with saying that there are two types of zombie games out there. There are the dark, gritty, lonely sort. That would be your old school Resident Evil sort. You're stuck in a situation, surrounded by the walking dead, essentially screwed for supplies. You make due with what you find around you, and you survive it out; that's why it's called "survival-horror," after all. Then you have your OTHER type of zombie game. The type that sets you out in the field with thousands of zombies descending upon your delicious little body. Fortunately for you, you average, ordinary citizen, you are equipped with every sort of heavy ordinance and violent abomination of a weaponry that could be fathomed, and you use said weapons to hack, slash, shoot, and chainsaw your way through countless rotting delinquents that you encounter, as you can manage, ripping through flesh as if it were butter. That'd be your Left 4 Dead, and invariably, your Dead Rising. I was hopeful that Dead Rising 2 wouldn't take that route; however, I shouldn't have set Capcom to such a high bar of expectation. Let's sum up Dead Rising 2: you play Chuck Greene, prototypical tough, single dad, who lost his love in a previous zombie outbreak. Armageddon has been overcome, and now the world has reset itself to the land of debauchery and sin as it once was; now, Greene is performing on some ridiculous gameshow, "Terror Is Reality," whereupon the players get out their zombie-rage and slaughter "pet" zombies... with CHAINSAWS ON MOTORCYCLES, in the true American spirit of things. Then, lo and behold, someone screws the pooch and sets all those zombies out - WOE IS ME, we have another outbreak on our hands. The plot is essentially the worst D-level screenplay out of a bad zombie movie that was never made, obviously not made for very good reasons. Nobody speaks with any sense, realism, or sense of realism; everyone somehow manages to take everything that happens in stride (woops, well this all happened before! guess we gotta clean up a lot of blood and guts again). There's also this things about activists fighting for zombie's rights? They're played off to be completely insane in their beliefs, yet they're also supposed to be seen as the correct stance to have? Your guess is as good as mine there. Fighting is hardly a challenge, as a zombie can generally be taken down in a few swings, less with one of the aforementioned customed weapons. You can get overwhelmed now and then by the sheer number of zombies, but as long as you can down a cup of coffee or some orange juice, you may as well be the Incredible Hulk. The missions of the game play out over a 72-hour timeframe, in which you're free to roam around and do whatever you want sandbox-style, so long as you meet certain story objectives at specified times. There are oodles of side-quests in the zombie-infested world, along with more escort quests with old ladies who are just begging to get devoured than you'll ever want to complete. Any enemy still living amongst the undead will be vastly overpowered and much more difficult to kill, not to mention while you're still surrounded my numerous badies (don't get me started about the bit involving a live tiger). But most of your missions are either overtly sarcastic and intended for humour/time-killing's sake, or they're a story-mission, meaning they're so poorly written and over-acted that you'd probably prefer letting the zombies chew you up. And not to be a gripe, but whatever happened to autosave? I realize its invention has made the concept of manual saving almost mythical, but when it's quite easy to be killed by the infinite hordes of the

Disaster Report is a game that quietly came and went for most Americans. Boasting a major franchise in Japan, the entire appeal never seemed to catch on for those on the other side of the Pacific. However, despite some of the cheesier parts of this fledgling game that can bring down the playability for some, Disaster Report offers a truly unique experience. You play Keith Helm, a journalist heading toward his new job on Stiver Island, a manmade island out in some bay off the coast of Japan. On his way toward the centre of the city, however, the entire island is rocked by an earthquake originating from the island itself. Upon waking up, Keith must do his best to navigate the crippled city in an attempt to survive and be rescued. Gameplay is centered around the old-school styled survival-horror games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil, without all the zombies and bizarre creatures trying to take a bite out of you. Instead of fending off mutant creatures, you spend your time solving puzzles to go about navigating the destroyed landscape of Capital City. You encounter several other survivors along your journey, and you are charged with taking care of them. The main difficulty in your survival comes from the constant demand of water. You must consistently drink water to maintain your hydration meter - if you get too thirsty, you lose mobility, making you more prone to being squashed by falling debris or buildings during the constant aftershocks that rock the city. When those quakes do shake the city, your only essential defense is good ol' fashioned duck and cover; fail to duck, and you're likely to get covered in rubble. There are two modes of story to play, following one of two survivors throughout the city. You're free to follow Karen Morris to search for her puppy that she got separated from, or to aid Kelly Austin in finding her younger brother Jason, who got lost during the chaos of the quake. Karen seems a bit maniacal about finding her puppy, so Kelly seems to be the more sane option; however, both sides of the story offer a unique perspective on events, and different puzzles to solve, as well as different areas of the dilapidated island to navigate. There is hardly any music in the game, leaving you to the lonely trotting of the characters footsteps. Some of the sound is a bit shoddy, reflecting the meagerness of the game's development. However, when the quakes begin to rock the island, the sound brings everything to life; the sounds of twisting, turning metal, horrific pounds, and earth shaking rumbles really brings a lot of immersion to the game. Most of the dialogue between characters has voice over, and while it's not always the best acting you'll ever encounter, most is presented with a sense of authenticity and believability. It's not the best game. That much should be said from the start. It has major imperfections, between the visuals and quaint voice-acting. However, Disaster Report offers a unique blend of survival gaming that no other game has really ever matched. The story isn't the most fantastic, and gets a little silly at times (and excessively melodramatic near the end). Yet it remains solid, and enjoyable the whole way through; there is enough differentiation in the gameplay to keep players intrigued, and the ability to collect novelty compasses strewn about the city, and the challenge of unlocking all the different endings, the game boasts a slight replay value. The two difficulties offered are normal and hard - the only difference being that hard cuts your hydration bar by half, making things more cumbersome than difficult; on normal mode, your character is a camel in the Sahara, while on hard, Keith dehydrates faster than someone who just downed an entire salt shaker. Again, it's by no means perfect. But that certainly doesn't lower the intrigue in this hidden little gem. In this day and age of commercialism in the gaming industry, games that try to go against the grain are rare. Disaster Report is one of those rarities. Are such inventive, unique games always major successes? No, and Disaster Report is an example of such a game. But such experimentation with gaming should definitely be hailed. Thus, Disaster Report - though quaint - remains a fun, intriguing game that's worth a playthru or two by those dedicated PS2 users that remain fixated to their slowly outdated console.

To be perfectly fair, I'm new to the whole Killzone series. I've heard all the usual hype about it, and was finally intrigued after seeing some gameplay commentary via YouTube. "Why not?" I asked, and dove right in. The consensus is one of underwhelming. I didn't play with the fancy-pants features like PlayStation Move nor 3D blubbery, not that I'd ever want to - I doubt either feature would give me any sort of "enhanced gaming experience," as advertised, because when it comes down to it, the core gameplay and plot of the game should be the bit delivering an "enhanced gaming experience," not gimmicks. Killzone 3 drops you in the middle of an ongoing conflict between the ISA and brutal Helghast regime. And it begins with a direct defiance of orders within the military ranks. Your hotheaded buddy-pal gets the bright idea to cap some high ranking Helghast official, and while this is apparently a very serious action to have taken - a very bad action, at that - he gets little more than a stern talking to and an angry finger wagged in his face. This direct defiance of orders seems to be some sort of theme between the main duo involved in Killzone 3, leading to the worst organized military endeavour in the history of organized military. Your characters seem to do everything within their power to disobey their superiors, wandering around and causing unnecessary damage and risking the lives of tonnes of other soldiers. Granted, your characters are trying to do good - but after constantly spending the game neglecting their leaders, you'd wonder how they manage to get anything done. The plot carries out in a very fast paced manner, and while you don't need to be invested in the series to understand the goings-on, you might be left behind if you don't pay attention at least when the people talk. Fortunately, the plot is as thick as it needs to be, and this "without-crust" tale of gritty space-war adventures isn't too deep. The graphics are simply stunning, that is to be true. Everything is so vivid and powerful. Even though half of the game is spent in blown out city-centres of the Helghast stronghold, there is a strong sense of immersion. The blizzard levels in particular make you feel wrapped up in a snowstorm, making the firefights ever more intense. Sound is also of high quality, but these days - especially for games such as this, with enormously large budgets - that's no flashy feat. In the end, however, Killzone 3 isn't much to boast about. It's pretty, and the story is enough to perk an ear or two. But unless you're a huge fan of the Killzone series, you're not missing out on much. In the end, it's another tail of über-patriotic democracy-loving space marines trying to stomp out the threats of totalitarian dictatorships. Nothing you haven't seen before in dozens of other FPS games.

It's good, okay. OKAY? Are you happy? I'm admitting it, it's good. I used to rag on COD gamers for the absolutely low quality of story and gaming that their games provide. Campaigns that were almost silly in nature, almost obsessive amounts of high-tech military ordinance, and some of the most obnoxious gamers on the planet. Then I finally picked it up. OKAY, alright, it's good. Are you done making fun of me? Don't get me wrong - most of what I've already mentioned applies. The campaign of Black Ops - while intriguing - is really dumbly written, and a bore, exploring uninteresting hypothetical conspiracy theories that have been gone over ten-thousand times before. Furthermore, there are no "black ops" in Black Ops. the term itself, black ops, harkens to devious military operations performed in secret. Something about an all-out helicopter assault on a battleship in the Gulf of Mexico doesn't strike me as very secretive, nor does blasting out the Vietcong with The Rolling Stones blaring from your in-chopper headsets. Yes, I am being serious - that is how ridiculously cliché Black Ops manages to reach. However, the game is very polished, the sound is very good - as to be expected. But the appeal is absolutely the online multiplayer. As said, yes, it brings out some of the lowest of the low from all walks of life to the same table to combat each other. You'll spend much of your time listening to people name-call and teabag each other. Does this lower the quality of the multiplayer? Absolutely not. As much as it dreads me to admit, Black Ops has undoubtedly some of the most competitive multiplayer experience offered in any game on the market to date, far usurping the competitiveness seen in the Halo franchise. The ranking and prestige system is very well designed, customization features allow for very different and varied gameplay, everything is fast paced and competitive, and it can constantly draw you back for a match or two. It's good. And I'm done complimenting Black Ops. RAGH, damn you EA. You won me over. Now quit being so ****

Essentially, the plot boils down to North Korea vs. USA. North Korea, in the near future, begins intensifying its nuclear arms management, and eventually threatens South Korea to the point of annexation and unification, leading to the formation of the Greater Korean Republic. This radical change of hands in the Far East goes unopposed as the rest of the world deals with severe problem involving the global economy: peak oil is reached, forcing a surge in international gas prices. The United States and allies are forced to retreat from military actions in the Middle East, causing a surge of territorial clashes between middle-eastern governments, both over land, values, and oil. In the US, things become dire as gas prices rise and oil quantities dwindle, leaving the US military and government paralyzed to do anything but try to take care of itself via the National Guard. All the while, the Greater Korean Republic strengthens its totalitarian hold on East Asia, claiming territory on the mainland, then invading Japan unopposed by allied coalitions. Before long, the KPA invades the US mainland in its crippled state, dominating the western coast and heartland, irradiating the Mississippi River, and ousting the American government entirely. You play as... some guy. I honestly can't remember his name, but it's something underdramatic and anglo-saxon; you don't even have the opportunity to see your character in so much as a mirror, and your mute self has no definition whatsoever - quite boring, I must say. What is known is that you're a pilot in Montrose, Colorado, post-occupation, and caught up in a KPA roundup of American citizens for the war-effort. You're fortunately sprung my Resistance leaders, and then join in a clandestine effort to reclaim San Francisco from Korean hands in cahoots with a still active cell of the US Army. Gameplay is very much like a theme-park-rollercoaster-ride. Go here, get on this vehicle, oh now you're not there anymore, pick up that gun, look out bullets, oh geez a grenade, crawl here, shoot that, et. al. It's all very simplistic, and nothing you haven't encountered before in any FPS. And let it be said that the Guerrilla (or extra-hard) difficulty mode is the most frustrating thing you will ever play thru, as enemies only aim at you, and seem to have superhuman accuracy and damaging abilities (the game is best played on Normal or Hard). The graphics are lovely, but what game doesn't have lovely graphics these days? The sound is actually quite fascinating, and it felt like quite a bit of time was spent into some of its nuances. There's one scene in particular where you can look on as Montrose is gunned down and bombed out by Korean helicopters, and the explosions and gunfire in the distance is quite haunting. The real appeal to this game is definitively its campaign mode. With the same writer as the award winning films Apocalypse Now and Red Dawn, the plotline delivered is outstandingly well conceived, and is actually extremely eerie how plausible this Korean takeover is, if give the thought under the game's circumstances. A wealth of backstory is delivered through collectable news clippings, which is a bit of a downside. However, the game is extremely well conceived, written, acted, and delivered, with excellent use of juxtaposition, so the plentiful action throughout the game never seems too overwhelming. At times, the game pushes on modes of cliché a bit too strongly; however, these downsides are forgivable for the dense backstory and the relief in an FPS from the fusillade of space marines cluttering up the gaming market. One of my favourite features in the whole game was Goliath, an automated ATV with a mounted turret and RPG-launcher. You use it in several scenes, and it gives you a strong feeling of superiority whenever you're in control of such a wickedly cool piece of futuristic military hardware, given the option of controlling the rockets at whichever targets you choose. The only downside of the great campaign is its shortness. While this speedy game seems like an eternity on extra-hard difficulty, it's a mere breeze on any other mode. I enjoy how the game never really repeats itself and stays exciting throughout. But by the time it ends, you may feel a little put off by its length, and craving more. Although, I'm sure there are bound to be new incarnations of this game in the future... way to plan out those sequels, there, THQ.

Without a doubt, Dinner Date is one of the oddest games around. Less a game, but not exactly a movie, this game offers a unique experience by exploring the subconscious mind of Julian, who is at home, waiting for a pretty girl to show up at his flat for a candlelight dinner. You literally play Julian's subconscious. Through a series of quicktime events, you play through Julian's evening while awaiting his date. Everything is experienced through first person perspective, and all of the actions available are extremely subtle. To be entirely true, there's not a whole lot to this game. It's like reading an audiobook written by Kafka or something. Now, I'm not calling this game good. This game is flawed from the start. With interaction being incredibly minimal and an extremely short story, this game is likely to alienate many players. You can't change the story, nor can you directly change Julian's actions. There is always one way to play, and most of your time is spent - frankly - killing time as Julian monologues to himself. The accessibility to this game is extremely limited, and it is likely to deter most anyone who is willing to give it a shot. However, it's a unique experience, to be true. This is innovative, since it's never really been done before. And while this game isn't going to win a lot of praise for poorly executed innovation, it deserves praise for at least giving it a go. It's like watching an extremely short independent film that you're allowed to progress along - you are the key factor - and the story cannot be unless you influence it. Unique, again, but certainly not mindblowing. But let's give this game its due and proper. The score is fantastic, a moody piano the whole way through, which heightens your emotions, and definitely raises tension. The graphics are extremely well done, especially for such a small company, and the sound is incredible (although the eating sounds can be a bit unnerving). This game is almost 100% plot via dialogue, and reads portrays itself like an existentialist, post-modern piece of fiction. You get to see all the nervous flaws, unfortunate realities, and sad truths of Julian's mind. And while nearly any game can replicate this if they tried, this is a game that is able to start a deeper discussion on its story. Why is Julian's date late? Why does Julian deal with himself in the way that he does while waiting for her? Why does he carry many of his opinions, and why does he seem to self-deprecate? Also, for fans of Qwants, also known as Dinosaur Comics, there's a nod toward your favourite webcomic on Julian's fridge. Dinner Date is a big thinker's game. It's all about Julian thinking, and if you play, you'll most certainly think as well. You have to approach this game as less of a video game in the traditional sense, and more an interactive movie. The developers even suggest taking this game with a glass of wine, so there's some food for thought. Dinner Date is a nice novelty. But remember, the immersion - while deeply - is also very hollow, and with no replay value beyond re-experiencing the story, this game will likely bore you. The trade-off is a unique game, for cheap, with an excellent story and intricately thought out design. Whether you enjoy this or not rests on how opened you are to linear, and odd games.

Don't you dare count this game out just because it's for phones. This is a sweepingly fun game. It takes the absolute essential mechanics of a sim game, and makes them the most interesting and fun little ongoing puzzles you can imagine. It's all budgeting and planning, and hiring cool guys to get the job done. Everything is in cutesy retro graphics for a nostalgia feel, and that fact that you're making games seems like an inside meta-joke. You can even watch as the generations of consoles pass by, all with little humorous names. This is an amazing experience!

Do you like to scare the pants off yourself? You have found the perfect game for you. The minimalist design of this game, with extremely simple mechanics, makes Slender and extremely horrifying experience. With no method of defending yourself from Slenderman, and the overarching objective to collect 8 pages in the forest directs your objectives. The game is able to increase tension and horror by layering abstract sounds, and the increasing difficulty toward the last few pages raises the stakes very quickly. This is worth a play, and besides, it's free! A very solid horror game.