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Do you like waiting for things to happen? Well then you'll love this game. Your character needs to eat to restore their health? Looks like you need to spend the next 30 seconds cooking. By cooking I mean watching your character go through the motions of preparing food. You want to go on a story mission. Alright then, just go talk to one of the NPCs and get prepared to hold down the x button for the next 5 minutes as you and the NPC ride your horses to the mission. Just try not to run anyone over with your horse or go too far away from the NPC, otherwise you'll have the same 5 minute ride ahead of you again, no option to skip, the NPC delivering the same speech. How about running on ice? Do you like that, cause that's what moving around on foot kind of feels like. How about horribly contrived controls? The same button is used for getting on your horse as robbing a person on the street. That means that if you try to get on your horse, but a civilian is closer to you than your horse, you're going to jump the civilian. You now have the cops on you. Hope you weren't on a mission, cause you now have the intro horse ride to go through again. Do you like internet trolls? Then welcome to RDR2 online. Great idea in concept, but a complete waste of time. The controls in this game are not good enough for PvP to be any fun, yet that seems to be all the community is interested in. There are some PvE things available, but good luck getting a posse together for any of it. The most commendable thing about this game is the sheer scope and amount of work that went into it. They have definitely built an impressive world to inhabit. If Rockstar had taken the time to make movement feel good, work out a decent control scheme, edited out the majority of "simulation/waiting", and curated the online experience a bit better - this would be an amazing game. As is, this thing is like the pyramids if they were made of **** Impressive at first glance from a distance. But the closer you look and the more time you spend, it just stinks worse and worse.

I really wanted to like this game. I had heard so much positive talk from people whose opinion's usually line up with mine, but unfortunately this isn't the case. I like the animated bits and the voice work is good. The art style in general reminds me of a mix between 80's french cartoons with a side of anime. Looks and sounds great throughout. In fact, that's really the only reason I'm giving this game a 4. Without the care that was put into this game, it would've scored much lower. The problem with this game is the puzzles, which is very unfortunate for a puzzle game. When I used to visit my grandma's home when I was younger, there was nothing to do. No videogames, nothing on TV, and the parents were all talking about boring stuff. So in order to pass the time, I'd go through a book of 1,001 puzzles. The puzzles in Layton feel like they were ripped right out of one of those books. There's at least 150 different puzzles and none of them are very creative or original. Some of them are downright broken or explained so poorly that the only way you'll solve them is luck or by getting hints (4 hints are offered per puzzle, typically the last hint being the answer). If you're thinking about getting into the Layton series, make sure you check out the types of puzzles that you'll be faced with. I like puzzles, just not the generic back of a cereal box type of puzzle.

The original developers of L4D are back with a new game and it's pretty damned good. Much like their previous game, the focus is on co-operative teamwork and is best experienced with friends. You can play with random people online, but this can be frustrating if you get stuck with people that refuse to use their mics or don't play their role. The basic premise is akin to Alien. You and your fellow hunters must track and dispose of an alien that is reeking havoc on a colony planet. You can play as one of 12 hunters who are separated into 4 unique classes. Assault - the damage dealer, medic - the healer, support - pretty self-explanatory, and the trapper who is responsible for tracking down the monster. Within each class there are 3 different characters, all with their own unique abilities. For example, one medic has a healing gun and must try and keep everyone alive. Another one lacks the healing gun but can revive fallen teammates that would otherwise be dead and have to wait 2 minutes to respawn. And the third healer has a healing grenade launcher instead of a beam which is weaker, but has an area of effect. And then of course there's the monsters. This is an asymmetrical game, 4 vs 1. The monster isn't controlled by AI but instead is controlled by an actual person. There are 3 monsters to choose from. Goliath, much like the tank in L4D. He's a big lumbering monster that's quite strong. Kraken, who can fly. And Wraith, the sneaky assassin. Each monster starts out rather weak and must avoid the hunters while also killing and eating wildlife. Eating wildlife increases your armor and will eventually allow you to evolve, or level up. You can evolve twice, getting stronger each time. Some wildlife will also provide you with temporary buffs, such as increased damage or more stamina. These buffs can also be picked up by the hunters, so make sure not to leave their bodies uneaten. The monsters each have four abilities that you can choose how you want to level. Maybe you'll just make 2 of your powers stronger, not even opening up your fourth ability. Or maybe you'll balance them all out to allow more variety in your attacks. There's a couple of different game modes. Hunt is the basic mode. In this mode, the hunters simply need to kill the monster. The hunter has more options. He can try to kill all the hunters, but if one survives and gets away for long enough, the dead hunters will respawn. Or if the monster gets to level 3, he can try and take out the hunters power station. The monster will be at it's strongest at this point, but the hunters will know exactly where he'll be. There's a campaign mode of a sort. Evac mode will go through 5 rounds. Some of those rounds will be the basic hunt mode and some of them will be either rescue or nest. The final round is always Evacuation. Nest and rescue are much alike but with each side switching roles. In nest the monster must defend his eggs. Rescue has the hunters finding human survivors and escorting them to dropships while the monster tries to kill them. And Evacuation has the hunters defending 3 power relays, one after the other against a stage 3 monster who now also has some level 1 minion goliaths. With each match, the winner will get an advantage in the next round. Maybe the monster will successfully defend his eggs. This will lead to his minions having more armor than normal. Although the focus of this game is online, there is a single player option that plays just like the online, but with bots filling in. The game is pretty light on story, but makes up for it with interesting character dialogue that fleshes out the hunters. And the atmosphere is great. Feels like a good sci-fi movie (like the previously mentioned Alien, though maybe not as serious or dark). Character progression is achieved through using a characters abilities. The game starts you with one monster and one hunter from each class. Progression doesn't take all that long though. If it's your primary goal, then you can unlock the next character in one or two round of the basic hunt mode. Progression also continues after unlocking characters by giving you more perks to choose from and slight improvements to your abilities. I was a huge fan of the L4D series and this game has a very similar feel. The winner isn't decided by who has the quickest reflexes but rather by using strategy (and teamwork if your playing as hunters). With all the different hunters, monsters, and perks - there's plenty of re-playability to be had. Plus there's 12 different maps to play on. And now for the required clarification on DLC. If you want every single piece of content currently available, it will cost you. However, all the DLC right now is purely cosmetic. There's a season pass, of course, which will provide new hunters, monsters and some skins. You are not required to buy it though. All new maps and game modes will be free.

You probably have a decent idea what Picross 3D is if you're looking at these reviews. In summary, it's a math/number based puzzle game. You're given a large cube which is made up of many smaller cubes. On some of the smaller cubes, there's a number. This number denotes how many of the cubes in the underlying column or row are part of the object that you're trying to uncover. As the game advances, some number will have a circle or a square around them. These symbols tell you if the the cubes in that given row are all together, in two chunks, or in more than two chunks. I love this type of game, and I like to think that I'm pretty good at them. Minesweeper is one of my favorite past-times. This game could've been up there, if not for a few fatal flaws. First off and most damaging is the inability to figure out some of the puzzles using only your math skills. For the most part you can figure out a puzzle using math, but far too often this is thrown out the window, and you're left to guess. This could easily have been fixed by having a "blocks left" counter, much like the "bombs remaining" counter in minesweeper. The next problem has more to do with the DS itself. The numbers and symbols can be rather difficult to read sometimes. This can easily be fixed by rotating the cube to a better angle, but when you're in the zone you might find yourself making a mistake that didn't look like a mistake from the angle you had been looking from. I'm playing on a standard DSi. This might not be a problem on a DSi XL. This is a great game for traveling, short or long distance. There's a nice quick-save feature so if you're halfway through a difficult puzzle but need to turn off your DS, you can do so without losing any progress. Lots of puzzles in this package, as well as a puzzle editor and more puzzles available online. If something had been done to make all the puzzles solvable without guess-work, I probably would've given this game a nine.

ALPHA build Do you like re-installing drivers, fiddling with anti-virus software, and searching through endless forums? Then go get this "game" right now. I put game in quotation marks because your chances of actually playing this seem slim. It's still in the alpha stage so some bugs are to be expected, however I was hoping the bugs would be in the game and not so bad that the game wont even start. I have managed to play this game. I played the free demo and enjoyed it. I enjoyed it so much that I eventually bought the game (and all further updates) for 8 dollars. I should've stuck with the free demo though since it actually worked. If you're interested in this game, get the free demo. Wait for the final build, unless troubleshooting brings you great joy. This is the only time I've ever given a game a score of zero. If it had worked at least as well as the free demo (or even started for that matter), it would've scored much higher. Maybe an 8.

BEST ENDING EVER!!!! OK, I'm just fooling around. But honestly, the ending isn't that horrible. You'll hear a lot of people complain about lack of options. This is somewhat true, but what do you expect? With the amount of choices made throughout the ME series, it would've taken individually customized endings for the thousands of different outcomes. But enough about all those whiny **** lets get to the review. If you've played the previous ME games, then you'll know pretty much what to expect when it comes to game play, graphics and sound. They're all top-notch. You'll likely run into all the characters you met in previous ME games, though your team will be made mostly of new people. The area where this installment detours is the story. Your goal in ME3 is to rally the troops for galactic war. Doesn't make for much of a story in its self, but rather offers various smaller stories as well as some closure to past stories. Will it leave you with some unanswered questions? Probably. The ME universe is simply too large for everything to be easily explained. And remember, this may be the end of Shepard's story line, but it's not the end of the ME universe. Also gone from ME is the tedious planet scanning found in ME2. Another addition of ME3 is the multiplayer. It's basically a horde mode. I had lots of fun with this and fortunately Bioware has shown a great deal of support with free DLC maps and characters. If you enjoy the combat in ME you'll enjoy this mode. If you enjoyed previous ME games, you'll enjoy this one. If you haven't played the previous games, than why are you reading this? And if you're one of those people that hated the ending (again, why are you reading this?), go pick up a book. Those things are nothing but story.

Is it possible to review episodic games on an episode by episode basis? I don't think so. No one is going to play this game without having played the previous ones. But that also means that if you've played the previous episodes, you know what the game is about and how it plays. So maybe it is possible. I'm confused. If you've played the previous games and enjoyed them, you'll probably like this one. If you haven't played this series before then what are you doing reading this review? Now lets try to review this specific episode, without spoilers. Ummm... O.K. That's not going to happen. It boils down to this. You're going to make decisions. Some will be tough. You'll become more/less attached to some characters and maybe even meet some new people, or not. If you're already into the series, I probably don't need to tell you what to do (buy it). If you're new to it, go read reviews for episode one. And in case your too lazy to do that, here's a summary. The Walking Dead videogame is your basic point and click style adventure that saw its heyday back in the late 80's and 90's. You wont be collecting "collectibles"(a plague on modern gaming) or shooting lots of zombies in the head. You're going to be exploring/searching, gathering info, and making split-second decisions. The decision making is actually one of the most important aspects. Unlike most games, your response will be timed and wont allow for you to think too hard or refer to a strategy guide. There's no going back. Decisions are final and you must live with the consequences. A great series. I just wish I didn't have to wait so long between episodes. Just imagine if they could release these episodes on a schedule like a TV show.

Amazing game. Shows that 2D still has plenty of juice left in it. I can't imagine what this game would be like in 3D. Probably a pile of **** The main reason being controls. No worries about camera issues or wonky 3D navigation. You hit left and jump, you jump to the left. Simple. I usually avoid stealth games. Too much waiting, just to be screwed over by sloppy controls. But his isn't an issue with Mark of the Ninja. Like I already said, the controls are spot on. There's some waiting required, but it isn't as much of an issue. I know that when the guard turns around and walks away, I'll be able to sneak up on him and take him out. No worries about the tip of my shoe crossing their line of sight and setting of a thousand alarms. Unlike most 2D games and even plenty of 3D "sandbox" games, there's plenty of ways to make your way through a level. Kill everyone who gets in your way? Distract them and sneak by? Or maybe kill everyone and string their bodies up on lampposts? It's up to you. Several different outfits and equipment are available for you to take on a level however you choose. Most levels (maybe all) can be beaten without ever being seen by the enemy. The graphics are well executed. This however is the main area that I have a problem with. The graphics are fine, but the style doesn't sit well with me. It's got one of those generic Saturday morning cartoon looks to it. Same style as the companies previous work, Shank. If this game had had a more serious look (anime, ninja scroll style?) , it may have gotten a perfect score. Could also use a few more execution animations as well. Lots of voice work in this and it's all good. A Japanese voiced, english sub-titled audio track would've been nice and made the whole thing feel more authentic. For the price, this is a must download title. Even at double the price, this would be a game worth checking out. Great game with plenty to do even after you've beaten the mission. New game + , all the different equipment/outfit combos, and three unique and inventive challenges per level. Probably the best downloadable title of the year.

I have vague memories of the original Xcom. I remember that it was very difficult, yet I came back again and again. With the new Xcom, I don't find it anywhere near as difficult (mind you, I'm playing on normal difficulty), but I return to it like a junkie to heroin. The graphics are average, the story is almost non-existent, and there's nothing in the sound/music to write home about. But the game-play. That's what so many developers have forgotten about. I don't need 300 guns, 20 outfits, crazy new mechanics, lens flares, or DLC map-packs. Just give me good game-play. Each battle feels like a chess match. You'll find yourself planning out moves ahead of time, trying to guess what your opponent will do. Deciding whether to go for the kill and risk a high ranking soldier, or play it safe and fall back to cover. How many medpaks are left? Do I have any smoke-grenades? And these are important decisions. Soldiers will rank up and gain skills. But if they die on the battlefield, they're gone forever. This especially hurts if you've decided to name all your soldiers after people you know (You can customize their name, nickname, and appearance). Plus you're going to need high ranking soldiers if you plan to beat the game, which isn't guaranteed. This is something else that modern games are often missing. The ability to fail. In between battles, you'll need to do some resource management. Spend money on satellites and increase your monthly funding? Spend it on equipment research? Buy new gear for your team? Train new soldiers? All of them are necessary, but not all of them can be done at once. Real-time strategy games are few and far between on the Xbox, so if you enjoy RTS, pick this up immediately. Everyone else should give this a try first before considering buying.

I love Capcom. Street Fighter is a great series as is Resident Evil (I haven't played #6 yet, so maybe I should say that it WAS a good series). But sometimes they're just a bit too Japanese. By that I mean that things aren't treated seriously. Dressing up in funny outfits, zombies slipping in vomit, placing funny masks on zombies, etc... These are not scenarios that go through my mind when thinking about a zombie apocalypse. And the camera. What's with Japanese people obsessing over photography? I actually enjoy the picture taking, though the zombie snap-shot skill again breaks down ones ability to take things seriously (you grab a zombie and take a picture of yourselves). Some improvements have been made since DR1. Three save slots instead of one being a helpful addition. Co-op is nice. The controls seem to be a bit more responsive. And sandbox mode is definitely appreciated. The story is still poorly executed. It requires far too much suspension of disbelief. For some reason no one really cares about the zombie outbreak. They've all been contained and... used in a game show? But then someone destroyed there barriers and the zombie are loose in a shopping mall/amusement park? And once again you're given time constraints as to when missions will begin and when the military will arrive (72 hours for the military to show up? What is this, hurricane Katrina?). Which brings up yet another problem. It's an open world type of game, yet you have to be at a certain place at certain times. Finish a mission early? Hope you enjoy running around for a few hours. Or maybe you'll try to do a side mission in your spare time. Too bad for you if that mission is far away from the beginning of the next mission. And forget about quick travel, you'll need to get to where you're going on foot, or maybe a vehicle if you're lucky. If you enjoyed previous DR games you'll probably like this one. From what I hear, this game is almost exactly like DR2 (same story, same setting) but with a different lead character and some other additions. If you're familiar with the series and didn't enjoy it, then there's nothing here that will change your mind. And for people completely unfamiliar with the series, rent it first or buy it if it's in the bargain bin and you've run out of other games to play.

Have you played the first Borderlands? Did you enjoy it? If you did play it and enjoy it, chances are that you'll enjoy this too. If you played the first one and didn't enjoy it, then stay far away from this game. Now lets get to a review for people that are new to the series. Borderlands 2 looks good. There's plenty of character customization. It controls well, although shooting with any sort of accuracy is impossible until you level up a few times. The first couple of hours will feel like you have a vibrator attached to all your guns. And the guns. There's so many of them. Too many to tell you the truth. And that's one of the main problems. A shooter should be about shooting, not inventory management and comparing statistics. I miss the days when there were no more than 10 guns in a game. Looking for a good story? Look elsewhere. Like the first Borderlands, you'll find yourself doing non-stop fetch quests. I assume they have something to do with the story, but I couldn't be bothered to care. Something about vaults and vault-hunters. Some guy named Handsome Jack that wants to hog all the glory and riches for himself and sets out to stop you. Not sure where you and your party came from, but who cares. There's loot to be found. In summary, if you enjoyed the first Borderlands then you'll like this one as much, maybe a little bit more. If you didn't like the first one, stay away. This is pretty much more of the same. If you're new to the series, I'd suggest renting first.