More. That’s the key word when discussing Naughty Dog’s PS3 exclusive hit sequel Uncharted: Among Thieves.

He definitely works hard for his money!

They have given us more of everything we loved from Uncharted: Drake’s fortune. More witty commentary, more weapons, more items, more actions, more explosions, more girls, more modes of play, more… well, you get the idea.

Recently, this writer had eye surgery, and as such, I have had a hard time staring at screens for long periods of time while my eyes healed. Let me tell you, this title was so much fun to play and so hard to put down, that I very well could have destined myself blind in the future from eye strain, especially at a time when my eyes are at their weakest.

Normally I would choose my Xbox 360 over the PS3 due to control preference and number of friends online, however, Sony comes out with amazing exclusive titles from time to time that bring me back to the PS3 powerhouse. Titles like Uncharted: Drake’s fortune, Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet, and now, Uncharted: Among Thieves.

Among Thieves takes you behind the eyes of brilliant and ridiculously lucky treasure hunter Nathan Drake as he searches for the elusive lost fleet of Marco Polo and the Cintimani Stone, a giant sapphire said to be worth billions. Of course if you’ve played the first uncharted title, you know better to think this is all that is being searched for and all that you will find, but in order to not spoil the game for you all, I’ll leave it at that. Along the way you run into old friends like Victor Goddamned Sullivan and Elena Fisher as well as new characters who had a past with Nathan such as Harry Flynn and Chloe Frazer. Before I go any further in this review, the reason I point out characters so quickly is that Among Thieves has something so many other games lack, extremely detailed and relevant character depth. By the end of the game, nay, within the first hour of play, you feel like you personally know each character and have a strong emotional connection with them. When one gets hurt or goes missing, you feel for them, you share the same emotion Drake does. I will even admit that my eyes teared up and I was actually worried for a specific character at one point in the game, heaving a large sigh of relief when the dust settled.

Yes, the game is that beautiful. Those are in game graphics here!

Before we dive into the technical aspects of this review, I wanted to continue on the line of character and emotion. Among Thieves has almost every basis covered for being both a great game AND a great movie. Just like Drake’s Fortune did for me in the past, while playing you get so enthralled in the story that you actually wish it were a movie, everything from the great story filled with countless plot twists, to the witty commentary between characters with intelligent use of vocabulary as ‘Jerkweed’ and ‘Asswipe’ slipping from Drake’s educated lips. He even says on many accounts what I would be thinking at that exact moment at points where he is climbing high mountains he might utter, ‘Oh man, I am so tired of climbing sh*t’, or while in a pool he would shout out, ‘Marco… fish out of the water?’, or at moments where I would think how lucky Drake is as he is about the be crushed by flying train debris only to be saved by the first and only tunnel you spot for hundreds of miles, a comment would be made about it. The story itself is bigger and more epic than any other somewhat realistic (as in, not space or fantasy) story I have ever played, read, or even saw in a movie, even the scene swipes remind me of Indiana Jones and Star Wars.

I could go on and on about the story and character design, but then we would never get into the meat of the game’s mechanics, so if you want to go beyond what I have discussed so far, my only recommendation is to just go out and try the game yourself, I don’t think you’d be disappointed.

Graphically this could very well be the most beautiful game I have ever played. Sure, I may have said that with the first Uncharted title, but like I said at the beginning of this review, Naughty Dog has given us more of everything! Detail has reached an all new high with hair movements, clothing wrinkles and the amount of detail found in the environments. Not only do run down streets of Nepal have the most minuscule detail present (pictures of families in buildings as they collapse) but the sheer size of these environments are just amazing. Huge Tibetan temples as far as the eye can see encrusted in jewels and scripture kept me playing the game for at least an extra hour or two just because I was so blown away by what I saw that I had to explore every corner of every space provided. Weapon and item detail have also been boosted as you can see every gear and bolt of every gun being used in the flash of an eye. It goes beyond detail for Among Thieves, the lighting effects in terms of shadows, sun, and explosions are also top notch. There are so many examples I would love to share right now, but I feel like anything I say will ruin the plot, something I would never want to do to fans of Uncharted. So again, I will cut off my critique of graphics here by saying, play the game. Your eyes will thank you.

Audibly this is arguably the best sounding game I have ever played as well. Not only do the scores match the environment and mood extremely well, but they have also been improved in terms of how they were implemented versus Drake’s Fortune (In the first title, you would know when a gun fight would be coming up due to the score change). Often a good game’s mood can be dampened by the choice of music, and rarely does this reviewer find there to not be a single hiccup in musical tastes as Among Thieves hits each point perfectly. It’s not only the music that brings you deeper into the title but also the voice acting. With multiple languages available for both subtitles and dubbing, each character looks like their voices were made for their in game counterparts. Even though there are many different accents and dialects being used throughout the game, none of them seem outlandish or unrealistic. Heck, even the Australian voices sound authentic! Beyond the voice acting we are also given such details in how we hear our fan favourites speak depending on the scenario: on a train, it sounds like they’re on a train; in a cavern, you hear a slight echo; my personal favourite is at one point when Drake is holding a pen cap in his mouth, the muffles and whistles sound as if you were doing the exact same thing, extremely detailed and realistic. When my eyes were hurting from playing too much, it didn’t faze me too much to have to close my eyes and relax a little because the audical experience was more than enough to keep me thinking about this title through and through.

Now THAT was a rockin' party.

An issue with the first Uncharted title was that it seemed much too planned out. You would climb a little, then walk into a much more open area with plenty of cover and ammo. Here you knew there was going to be a gun fight, rinse and repeat. In Among Thieves they did a much better job of not only making everything less obvious in terms of what would be happening next (they did a great job in this aspect), but they also changed up the types of gameplay as well, with more running scenarios (away from trucks, tanks, helicopters, falling buildings), boss fights, and now a very expanded stealth mode of play (hanging from ledges, hiding behind cover and so on). Add on new items such as shields and propane tanks, and you have a whole new level of gameplay to enjoy. Again, more of everything. If you though Drake’s Fortune had some epic battles, try fighting a helicopter from a building as it collapses… with you inside the building! More explosions, more near death experiences, more more more. Get the idea?

In terms of lasting appeal, Uncharted: Among Thieves has increased their offering drastically from the first title. With plenty of treasures to find in the oddest places (who leaves priceless artifacts on the back of a caboose?) and multiple difficulty levels, you already have more reasons to replay this great game. Add on the ability to buy special effects like sepia colour, fast forward mode, new skins, and special cheats and weapons give you even more replay value. Add on a nifty little Twitter feature to tell all your friends how good you are at this game and even more to play with. But after all this, I still feel like it’s all a little sliver of replay value compared to the newly introduced online multiplayer modes. oh, I didn’t mention that Uncharted 2: Among Thieves had a fully featured multiplayer option? And no, this isn’t just some slapped together death match mode we’re talking about here; Among Thieves provides a unique mash up of all the best multiplayer options in a set that will have you addicted to playing over and over again. The way character progression works in multiplayer is great, you earn money for each other player you kill, for each objective you accomplish, and for each award you are given (you get awards for killing people with your fists, throwing people off of ledges, killing people in a row, killing people who are killing people in a row, etc). and with this money, you can buy new skins, skills, taunts, and abilities – but only if your character is at a high enough level to unlock the ability to buy these options in the first place. So as a gamer you obviously want the best of the best (which can be abilities called boosts like better accuracy with a handgun, quicker reloads, extra grenades and so on); because of this, when you get to a certain level you want to play that little extra bit to get to the next milestone. This leads to MANY late nights playing online.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves provides two main forms of multiplayer action, competitive and cooperative. Competitive gives players 5 on 5 battles with game modes like your standard death match, elimination, plunder, turf war, king of the hill and chain reaction pitting heroes against villains. As well there are co-operative modes of play in which you work with a partner to play modes such as survival, gold rush, and standard co-op mode. Along with these online modes of play you have the choice and variety of 8 maps from the sanctuary, ice cave, lost city, train wreck, temple, village, plaza, and finally a blank stage mode to test out different aspects of the game. This multiplayer mode is definitely something that will bring you back to Uncharted time and time again.

Multiplayer mayhem, fast paced, high action, and not a lick of slow-down.

Overall Uncharted 2 was by far one of the best PlayStation 3 titles I have ever played, even one of the best video games I ever got to enjoy period, however there were a few negatives I had with the title. Nothing overly major, however they should be mentioned. First off a small annoyance is that random priceless treasures can be found in the most random places: The roof of a train, in the middle of a road, on the top ledge of a cavern that supposedly has never been seen by man before. Things like that just irk me. The second issue I had came with the multiplayer modes, yes I praised them continuously above, however, after playing for hours upon hours I grew stale with the few maps available; I figure this was done purposely so that new maps could be released in the future for further markup… or free! Finally the biggest problem I had throughout the game were glitches. While this was by far one of the most technical titles I have ever played and the vast majority of the game was glitch free; I did get frustrated when Drake would jump towards a ledge, glitch out and fall only to try again a moment later. Or getting stuck in a wall or snow bank while running for your life. While these only happened a few times throughout the game, I did notice them to occur more later on in the title as if the ending bit was rushed; more or less from the beginning of the Nepalese snowy mountains to right before the last area in the game is where I found most glitches. On a side note, not really a glitch but something I wish Naughty Dog and Sony included in Uncharted 2, a self play mode so that once you finished the game, you could just sit back and watch it as though it were a movie… because we all know it would be a fabulous movie!

Summary:

If you only buy one PS3 game this holiday season, I highly recommend you make it Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. It has everything you could want, great controls, great gameplay, replay-ability, great story, great dialog, great sound, great graphics, a long lasting single player mode, an ever expanding and fantastic multiplayer mode… jeeze, I can’t think of any reason not to play such an amazing game. Go out and buy it. If you don’t have a PS3, go buy it for a friend that does… and move in with them. This has been one of the most polished and impressive games I have ever had the pleasure of enjoying.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

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Welcome to GWAR into your home this October with Guitar Hero 5!

No tricks here folks just treats as Guitar Hero rolls out a fine month of DLC for Guitar Hero 5.

It all starts with a Queens Of The Stone Age Pack featuring three tracks from their debut album, with Dave Grohl being featured on Avon you know it’s going to be a blast on drums. The week after that we get three tracks from Billy Squier with “The Stroke” which funny enough was the first Guitar Hero custom ever! Coming up next is Mike Patton’s favourite band Wolfmother featuring three tracks from their forthcoming album  Cosmic Egg.

The second most exciting pack of DLC in October would have to be The Classic Rock 2 Track Pack featuring another epic from Peter Frampton with  “Show Me The Way (live)”. Canadian rockers Triumph make their debut on plastic instruments with their hit “Lay It On The Line” which is sure to give guitarists a run for their money. Finishing it all off is a track from The J. Geils Band “Freezeframe” which is sure to make you go “Oh YEAH! That song.”

The most exciting announcement however is The All Hallows’ Eve track pack with the debut of GWAR’s “GOR GOR” so make sure you don’t wear your Sunday’s best when you sit down to play with all the blood and umm “GWAR juice” coming out of your screen. Adding to the Halloween spirit Marilyn Manson submits his smash hit “The Beautiful People” and we finally get an authentic horror-punk band with The Misfits “Astro Zombies” (let’s hope it’s the original with Danzig).

Downloadable Content – October 1

Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack

* “Mexicola”
* “Avon”
* “How to Handle a Rope”

Downloadable Content – October 8

Billy Squier Track Pack

* “The Stroke”
* “Everybody Wants You”
* “When She Comes To Me”

Downloadable Content – October 15

Wolfmother Track Pack

* “Pilgrim”
* “California Queen”
* “Cosmic Egg”

Downloadable Content – October 22

Classic Rock 2 Track Pack

* The J. Geils Band – “Freeze Frame”
* Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way (Live)”
* Triumph – “Lay It On The Line”

Downloadable Content – October 29

All Hallows’ Eve Track Pack

* GWAR – “Gor Gor”
* Marilyn Manson – “Beautiful People”
* The Misfits – “Astro Zombies”

http://guitarhero.com

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wait.. that princess sure looks familiar

Let Them Eat Cake!

This has been the year of downloadable games/content.  With tons of gems available and consoles finally becoming more network and online oriented, I challenge you to find anyone who has either a 360 or PS3 (maybe even select Wii owners) who has not splurged on any sort of downloadable game.  With full fledged disc based games now coming to your PSN or Live store (look up Burnout Paradise, Warhawk, or 360 games on demand service) the future is definitely download friendly!
One of these gems that I will review today is Titan Studios, Fat Princess exclusively for the PlayStation Network. It takes aspects of Tower defense and capture the flag/zones and feeds it a big piece of cake.

Gameplay
I will be very upfront about this, Fat Princess is a PSN game designed with online multiplayer in mind. That is not to say the game cannot be enjoyed single player-wise but the actual mechanics make sense and shine online. You have selections from your standard grunt, mage, priest, worker, and scout. Now you are in full control of one person and once you die you are re-spawned. You can get AI buddies to follow you and help you but let me stress this: you’re in control of your character only and offline that means tons of AI NPC s going about their business. These guys are helpful but no way near as if you had your friends by your side.

Often times controling the choke points in a map are key

Becoming any class is handled by picking up any hat outside the respected class’s barrack. Want to be a mage after storming your enemy castle? Find a mage hat and put it on, it’s honestly that simple and thus a much faster paced game.

To start things off you can design your base characters avatar, unlocking more as you progress with single player and multiplayer matches. This base avatar is among many that can pick up any hat within your fortress and become a certain class of warrior. Each of these classes can be upgraded in the course of a match and once proper combinations are used can create the strategy you need to win the match. You have eight sprawling maps to wreak havoc in, each with its own theme and music, a gladiator area to practice your combat in and a decent single player adventure that serves the purpose of outlining each mode of the game and showcasing its depth in strategy.

There are plenty of game modes as well, ranging from the standard invasion, death match, capture the princess, and a variation of hold the briefcase. These modes are self explanatory and with the exception of death match and invasion revolve around your Princess and the enemy princess. The goal is simple: lock the enemy princess in the dungeon and rescue yours so she can take her throne. In the process you are collecting resources via workers and pouring them into your outposts so you can upgrade your classes and other items.  Death match and invasion take the same resource and class building systems but give away any princess objective. Instead you have a re-spawn counter for death match and a counter for outposts taken for invasion. An odd mode thrown into the mix is soccer, which is basically a game of soccer using your class characters. This mode seems like an afterthought and though it is fun to try out lost its charm after a couple of matches.

The Pirate theme might just be hinting at something..

In the end, it’s the small touches this game adds that make such a tremendous difference. A good example is the potion that sits within your fortress ready to be unleashed at a swarm of enemy soldiers and can have a tide changing effect. Then there are the small innovations your worker can build, stuff like catapults for you to skip over great distances, ladders to infiltrate the enemy fortress, and small trampolines to take you to higher ground. These small invention hotspots are scattered across the map and placed ideally to make things easier. And believe me that’s not a bad thing, often times consoles get shafted with these smart strategy games however I found that Fat Princess is a good take on strategy style games since Battalion Wars 2 for Wii. By utilizing and simplifying things such as resource management and building zones, we are given a more core focus on combat strategy and territorial control.

Of course not all of these innovations are offensive, some smart defensive aspects such as feeding cake that’s scattered around the land to your opponents Princess which results in having her gain weight and thus taking more people and effort to carry her out of your dungeon.  So suddenly a lone infiltration mission may result in a hasty death.

In terms of classes you can choose from, the worker I found was the most essential in the beginning of each respective match. Solely responsible for all of the games upgrades and building some cool inventions. This class is more important to the game than you believe. The other respective classes to pick from include the warrior- spartan esq character with short range powerful attacks and the ability to use a shield, the mage-a wizard who can conjure up elemental spells of fire and icewhich in turn can either freeze enemies in their tracks or send them running aflamed, the priest -a..priest who can heal your team mates or deal out a large radius of charged holy damage, and the scout – the archer who is best suited for long range attacks and essential for retreats. Each class has its alternative attack that can be switched with the triangle button and can attack with the square. The carrying of items is handled with the circle button and jumping is as easy as pressing X. Besides that, small lock-on opportunities (for the worker only) are handled via the bumpers. It’s all so simple yet believe me, overwhelming and time consuming to get the desired strategy and plan that fits you.
For example you can have a couple of archers clear the way and gain control of a map choke point then send in a couple of warriors and workers to the front lines. Now you can have your warrior buddies fight off the hoards while your workers create ladders and trampolines; send in the mages to do heavy damage at the enemy gates and with the help of the priests and scouts make for a hasty retreat with the princess in possession. There is essentially no limitations to the amount of tactical strategy that is created with these classes working in tandem.

My only gripe is that the tutorial has one too many chapters that don’t fully connect and explain the relative actions that are available to you. Since it’s a download only, there are no instruction manuals to refer to. Thus, you sadly have to really play all the tutorials to get a basic understanding.
This is not the type of game you can just jump into if you haven’t seen how its foundations work but I would say play a couple of the single player campaign missions and you should have a good grasp on things. Overall it’s a tried and true game play with variations that make things interesting and defiantly fresh.

Graphics
The game retains a cell shaded design with tons of vibrant colors popping at you. Surprisingly, this is a T rated game and that is evident, the second you attack someone you are treated to some blood. The blood is cartoony but does create a visceral look as it’s spattered realistically across the map. This cutesy design choice is somewhat reminiscent of cartoons like Happy Tree Friends only less gory. It’s charming enough to get the mature gamers attention. The game runs smoothly with little to no hiccups (though depending on your online connection that could vary) and you’re treated to a pleasurable visual treat of great weapon effects and tons of carnage on screen.
The stylistic choice was a good move for Titan Studios since having 30 plus people online and going on a full fledged cartoony war feels so right.

Small touches like having support barriers and bolts rise up to create upgrade barracks of each class are going to make you smile. Add in some subtle water and foliage effects that don’t distract from the overall design and you have a game that as a total package is at first simple but both fresh and visually pleasing.

Cute stills tell a silly yet funny story

Sound
The sound design is fairly well done, with some good narrative voice work that sounds like John Cleese. This narrator will inform you of things like your castle being raided, outpost being conquered and other important information. Sure hearing someone saying “upgrade complete” a couple of times may get on your nerves, but the voice isn’t annoying enough to be muted. Your characters sound like little chipmunks with a warrior’s heart; it has its charm and is very appropriate. The sound work may get repetitive but it isn’t poorly done.  The music for each map is very appropriate too and often time creates the perfect vibe for a match. It’s not intense nor is it laid back, but a good orchestral arrangement that compliments the maps theme. My only gripe is the title music, which for some reason sounds like a sad haunting ballad that I believed just was the wrong choice.  With sword slashes, gun blasting, and explosions really taking advantage of your sub woofer, you’ll love some of the more intense battles sounds.

Replay
This is a downloadable game and as such, its replay is going to be judged by how much content and support is available. For its price Fat Princess already serves as a fine multiplayer and okay single player action. With unlockable sets for your avatars and other small bonuses, you have something tangible to unlock and are always rewarded along the progression of your game.  Trophy sets add to the achievement hoarders dream and with recent rumors of more downloadable content in the form of levels and skins, things are looking good. In the end all this replay means nothing if you plan on playing the game alone, you need friends to fully experience this game.

Verdict
To summarize, we have a fine PSN game that should make any castle crasher fan envious. It’s a great game and tons of fun. One word of caution though, since PSN owners rarely have any headsets it’s best recommended you and your friends do. I mean at this point, playing online without a headset is ridiculous but it’s been a huge problem on the PSN, despite the fact that the freedom to choose your own headset and connect it seems like such a great option. With more people buying and playing this game online we hope to see more people take advantage of the strategy that can be executed when you all are communicating with each other. Despite some learning spikes and lackluster singleplayer it is a solid effort, don’t let this title pass you by.

Gameplay     4/5
Graphics       3/5
Sound            3/5
Replay          4/5

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Band Hero™ invites music and video game fans of all ages to log onto BandHero.com and immortalize themselves and/or their band within a mosaic tribute to the newest game in the Guitar Hero® family.  Submitted photos will populate the mosaic and enter the individual’s or group’s names into a weekly contest where randomly selected winners will score a Band Hero band kit for the platform of their choice and a Nintendo DS Lite band kit.  Head over to BandHero.com to learn more.

This November, Guitar Hero will be entering a game into the E10+ market this game is called Band Hero. Featuring chart-topping hits from favourite acts such as: No Doubt, Lily Allen, The All-American Rejects, Snow Patrol and Jackson 5 coupled with some of the biggest names in music as in-game artists and playable characters.

Band Hero seems to offer all of the  features of Guitar Hero 5 but for a more casual audience- a game the whole family can enjoy! Whether the songs from this game will export into Guitar Hero 5 is unknown at this time unfortunately which causes some less than desirable commentary from the rhythm game community.

Will Band Hero be able to go up against the strong brand recognition of Lego: Rock Band? I guess we’ll find out in November.

Known Track list:

1.)All-American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”
2.)Culture Club
3.)Fall Out Boy
4.)Jackson 5 – “ABC”
5.)Janet Jackson
6.)Jesse McCartney
7.)Lily Allen – “Take What You Take”
8.)Marvin Gaye
9.)Maroon 5
10.)No Doubt – “Just A Girl”
11.)Snow Patrol
12.)Taylor Swift – “Picture To Burn”
13.)The Go-Go’s
14.)The Killers
15.)The Turtles

Want to see the first reveal trailer for Band Hero? Click Here

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DICE annouced last week that players can now unlock the Time Trail mode in the recently released demo for Mirror’s Edge, available at the PlayStation Store and the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. To unlock the Time Trail mode, players must select Race > Play Time Trail in the main menu of the demo, and then enter a 16 number code.

The Time Trail mode challenges players to find the fastest routes through the city featured in the game. Players can also upload their best times to the Mirror’s Edge online leaderboards for others to compete against.

Mirror’s Edge will ship to retailers in North America on January 13 for the Playstation 3 and Xbix 360 and worldwide on January 16 for the PC

Mirror’s Edge shipped to retailers worldwide on Nov. 11thfor the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. It will ship to retailers in North America on January 13th and worldwide on January 16th, 2009 for the PC.

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On Thursday, 2K Sports announced that a free demo of its new NBA 2K9 is now available for download on the PlayStation Network, and was available on Xbox Live Marketplace on Friday morning. The demo will feature the past NBA season’s finals and play in a four minute quarter as the Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics at the TD Banknorth Garden in Boston, according to a press release from 2K Sports.

NBA 2K9 is rated E for Everyone, and will be available in retail stores on October 7 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2.

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This week, Midway announced the complete cast of character in its upcoming fighter game, Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe. The game is set for a November release, and will be supported by the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The character list is as follows:

Mortal Kombat:
Scorpion
Sub-Zero
Sonya
Jax
Shang Tsung
Liu Kang
Raiden
Kitana
Kano
Baraka
Shao Kahn

DC Universe:

Batman
Superman
Catwoman
Green Lantern
The Joker
Shazam
The Flash
Wonder Woman
Deathstroke
Lex Luthor
Darkseid

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Arcade-In-A-Box announced this week the release of their latest arcade controller, a combo Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 unit. This new unit allows gamers wide compatibility with consoles of any arcade stick currently on the market without the use of adapters.

The Combo Arcade Controller also features Windows PC capability and 100 per cent backward compatibility with PS2 and PSX games played on the PlayStation 3. The combo also has authentic arcade parts that are identical to those used on traditional arcade machines including Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Galaga.

The Arcade-In-A-Box will sell for $219, and a single system arcade panels with similar features and options can be purchased for $119.

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Today, EA Sports announced the availability of the demo version of the latest addition to their NHL franchise of hockey games. The new NHL 09 demo is now available on the PlayStation Network, and an Xbox Live demo will follow in early September.

The game features the new “Be A Pro” mode that will have players start in the AHL and work their way up into the NHL, with the ultimate goal of becoming an NHL legend. The new Performance Tracker will rate gamers’ skill in over 60 categories to inform them of exactly what parts of their game needs to be improved. NHL 09 will also introduce the online EA Sports Hockey League, where gamers can create a character online and join a team with friends or scout for players. Finally, the game will also feature the new Defensive Skill Stick, that allows players to use an improved poke check, sweep their stick 360 degrees to block passes, and lift an opponent’s stick when playing defense.

NHL 09 will ship to retailers September 9, and will be supported by the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 platforms.

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Today, Activision announced details of its upcoming Rapala’s Fishing Frenzy 2009, slated for a September 2008 release. The game will be supported on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.

The game will feature realistic simulations of rods and casting maneuvers, and will allow gamers to battle for trophies and catch more than 20 species of fish. Players will be able to compete in 14 Tournament Events and complete various objectives throughout the game. The PlayStation 3’s Sizaxis and Dualshock 3 Controls are utilized to take full advantage of motion sensing and vibration abilities during game play. Rapala’s Fishing Frenzy also allows players to ‘fish’ in over 500,000 acres of authentic fishing locations, such as Clear Lake California, Lake Okeechobee Florida, and the Potomac River in Maryland.

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2K just announced that its Top Spin 3 tennis video game for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii has gone gold overseas. The video game will be available in North America at major retailers June 24, 2008.

Top Spin 3 holds to be the most authentic tennis video game available, and offers features such as high-quality graphics, specialized controls and expansive online offerings. Top Spin 3 allows users to choose from a wide selection of top-ranked professional tennis players for their video game experience, such as Andy Roddick, Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova. Players have control over every aspect of their character, including a face sculptor editor, customizable swing animations, hairstyles, tattoos and grunts.

The Top Sprin 2 features new Evolutionary Visuals that show the intensity of the simulated game, as the characters sweat, show fatigue and get grass and clay stains as the match progresses. For the more competitive player, Top Spin 3 allows users to create matches online and compete against friends or other ranked players around the world in singles and doubles matches at a variety of levels.

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Rainbow Studios comes at us with another title in their alternative racing series. Their first on the Playstation 3, MX vs. ATV Untamed takes the best features of past titles and expands upon them with new vehicles and modes of play. Untamed touts itself as the comprehensive racing title with everything for every type of player, and believe me, there is plenty to explore and keep you busy in this game.

Depending on your style of racing and your experience, Untamed provides players with a multitude of playing options, difficulties and customization options to make your racing experience as optimal as possible. You also get your choice of racing vehicles from bikes, ATV’s, and ORV sport buggies, to trophy trucks, monster trucks and more. In fact, there is even an option that lets racers choose whatever vehicle they want and race against each other in an all out road war ala Motorstorm. There are also many race types to chose from, including split screen, LAN, and online game modes. You can make your choice of quick races, create a custom event or take part in tournaments. As well, there are a number of mini-games to play online such as graffiti, tag, ice hockey (only available in split screen mode), and my personal favourite, snake (think Tron).

The controls in the game are fairly simple compared to other racing titles out there. Additions to the basic package include a clutch, a stunt modifier (for ATV’s and bikes), a scrub / whip feature, power slides, and a multitude of different camera views to choose from. You can also link different tricks together for bonus points that equate to bonus money. These tricks are performed by combining the triangle, circle and R1 buttons with directions while in the air or on a straightaway to prevent you from flying off your ride. Tack on the optional Sixaxis motion sensor and you’ve got tilt action off road steering. The controls are pretty fast and react well to the slightest touch. However, if you’re looking for a realistic racing simulator, this is not the title for you.

Presented in 720p, Untamed does look fairly nice. The menu is sharp, edgy, and modern, but at the same time, feels very simple and boring. Some aspects of this game appear very realistic and detailed. Mud, tracks, and signs that can be ripped at the specific location your ATV flies into it all look great. However everything else in this game graphically seems lacking compared to something like Motorstorm. The track layouts are interesting and provide an entertaining racing experience. They are, however, sparse in terms of detail and extra additions such as people and buildings. When racing as a larger vehicle the crashes are nothing more than a car flipping on its back and staying there for a second (kind of like a robo-turtle). The smaller vehicles such as ATV’s and bikes are where you can express your sadistic side. When flipping out or messing up a stunt, the bodies fly farther then a Happy Gilmore shot. When racing against multiple people, there is real satisfaction in running over your opponent’s lifeless body before it magically disappears back into the race. The graphics get the job done but could have been so much more. In a racing game, I expect a graphical experience that lets me feel how fast I am racing. This feeling was lacking in MX vs. ATV Untamed.

In terms of how this game sounds, the revving engines and mud splatters of all the various vehicles are all present and sound as realistic as any other racing game out there. The real surprise came from the sound track. In fact, while writing this review I actually have the game playing with my monitor off just to listen to the music. Consisting of mostly punk rock, as well as some hip hop, Untamed offers hit singles from bands such as Bad Religion, Disturbed, Mudvayne, Nickelback, Pennywise, The Used, and NoFX. While Untamed is an alternative racing title, it still doesn’t feel punk enough to have all these punk tracks. When racing, the music sounds great, but it always feels out of place and unwelcome in the middle of a muddy race.

So, MX vs. ATV Untamed isn’t the best game out there, but it is not a bad game either. Untamed provides players with much more to do then most other racing games in the sheer amount of racing options, customization options, mini-games and unlockable items to make your racer and vehicle exactly what you want it to be. Playing alone, with a friend, or online, there are enough racing types to keep even the shortest attention spans happy for a long time. The hardest part is finding an opponent online. Either there is a big issue with MX vs. ATV Untamed’s online package, or no one is playing this game online at all.

Rainbow Studios takes another step forward in their favourite franchise. While some aspects of this title might not exactly be considered revolutionary, they do provide the average player with a little more than the average racer. If you’re a fan of MX racing and like a little variety, pick this title up. Maybe I’ll eventually have more than one person to play with online!

Graphics: 2.5 / 5.0
Gameplay 3.0 / 5.0
Sound 3.5 / 5.0
Replay value 3.0 / 5.0

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What has one eye, smells like Magic the Gathering, and can be played against anyone around the world? Sony Computer Entertainment Studios Japan’s The Eye of Judgment, a trading card with a twist. Utilizing the new Sony Eye camera for the Playstation 3, players can collect and trade cards, create decks and play against a friend, a computer or anyone around the world online in a card duel with visual battles taking place on your screen.

When I first saw this title set up on a small table in the corner of a Sony preview show it piqued my curiosity. Sitting there in between a couple of couches and a TV set was a mat with a 3×3 grid on it, a plastic stand with the Sony Eye camera perched on top and different cards placed in different directions on the mat. What I saw on screen was totally different-ice guards throwing projectile shards at a flaming dragon and that dragon in turn melting the guards. Unfortunately, by this point my mind had been blown and I collapsed onto the couch. A few minutes later, I regained consciousness and began to explore this contraption. Included with the title are the mat (a piece of cloth with a grid, spaces for your deck, graveyard and the camera to stand), the stand (4 tubes, and 3 pieces of plastic to hold the camera which are easy to assemble and come with instructions), the Playstation Eye (a high quality USB camera with a widescreen option and built in microphone), starter deck (30 playing cards, and 4 cards used to perform different procedures in game to begin your battling career), a booster pack (8 random cards to change your deck up), and the game disc.

Basically you set up the camera overlooking your mat, and you take turns with your opponent placing cards, either spells or creatures, on the mat. You start off the game with five cards each, and every turn you receive two mana. Mana is the magical force that allows you to cast spells and play creatures. You may play as many spells or actions as you like per turn, but once you play a creature, it performs its action if it can, and your turn ends. Use spells and creatures to defeat other creatures with the objective to gain grid spaces. You win the game when you control five spaces or lose when you run out of cards in your deck or your opponent controls five spaces. You also regain one mana when a creature of yours is killed. The rules go further with specific spaces having different elements to the benefit or detriment of your creatures as well as a locking mechanism which doesn’t open until at least four creatures are on the mat. Creatures battle based on direction, attack style, strength, health, counter-attack style, element, and ability. If this all seems overwhelming or confusing, the disc comes complete with a very thorough tutorial system that includes everything from how to set up the game to a demo of two awkward adolescents playing the game. I must warn you though, the tutorial can last up to two hours if you want to learn everything and after about twenty minutes, you may want to just shut it off due to repetitive music and dull vocal instructions. I feel it would have been more helpful to have a written instruction manual so players could learn how to play at their own pace.

The camera itself is very cool. Using the many options for The Eye of Judgment, you can change the frequency of the camera, input the type of lighting your room has to help with card recognition and sensitivity and even tell the game what side of the mat you have your camera standing on. If you have another friend with a Playstation 3 you can use the eye to have video chats with them anywhere around the world. On top of all this, if you would like, you could download a little video editing program for free off of the Sony store and create your own movies using the camera.

The concept of the game is really cool. Each card has a special hieroglyphic code on the top and bottom of the card, the Eye reads the code on the card and the creature appears in full 3D on the screen. If you wish to take a closer look at the creatures, there is a profile option in the game, where as you toss cards onto the mat, the creature will pop up on screen. From here, you can carry the card around the mat, higher or lower in relation to the camera and your creature will follow with your hand on screen. You can even interact with your creatures by swatting at them and seeing the little critters try to bite your fingers on screen. The game also includes a little mini-battle option where you place up to four cards on the screen at the same time, press X to have them ‘duel’ and the strongest of the creatures will emerge victorious. Perhaps this game type is a little useless, but still pretty darn cool to see these pieces of paper take life on their own.

Another mode of play is the impressive online battle system. Beginning by registering your deck for online play by scanning in your cards in the deck builder option; this shows the game you actually own these cards. From here you enter the online system where you chose your alliance, see your honor points, rank and title and create or join a game to battle anyone from around the world. The online play mode works a little differently than offline to counter cheaters. The game draws cards for you, telling you what cards you have in your hand, you then fish these cards out of your deck and play with them. You never see your opponent through the camera and they never see you, although you do get the option of chatting through use of USB keyboard or the Eye’s built in microphone. The biggest issue with online play is that of cheating. Yes, the game tells you what cards you draw so you cannot cheat that way, but what’s to stop a player from going online, downloading card pictures and printing them out for use in the game? Offline, your opponent could see you using slips of printer paper to fight, but online with no camera interaction, how is your opponent to know if your cheating or not? I have read articles stating that Sony’s cards hold special codes that cannot be reproduced by scanning and printing cards, but I have also read articles and seen video proof that this can easily be done. The only silver lining I found was that when I searched for scanned cards online myself, I could not find a site providing these pictures.

When these cards come to life, not only is it in vibrant colour and full polygonal 3D, but the animation is fluid and the graphics crisp. When a gang of monsters attack, they don’t always attack the same way twice and there’s always one or two monsters acting differently. The spell animations are fast and flowing and with the Eye’s quick recognition speed, the game can be fast and furious with no feeling of lag, trouble reading cards or choppiness. On an HDTV the edges are clean and the detail in creature and spell animation is amazingly clear with supported 720P. The audio is also very well thought out and clean, for the most part. Each creature has their own battle call, attack sound effects, and grunts. As well, each menu has its own music. The music used in game is full of hard metal guitar shredding and, while it sounds very strong and fast, adding to the pace of the game, there is only one piece of music played over and over again. The exception is when your opponent controls 4 squares-then the music gets harder and faster, adding to the overall intensity.

The overall feel of the game is one reminiscent of a mix between Magic the Gathering, Yugioh, and the card game played in Playstation One’s Final Fantasy 8. I must state before you go out and buy this game that it is not for everyone, and chances are if you want to win games and not resort to foul play, you will probably have to spend some extra cash on theme decks and booster packs at local game or hobby stores. If you are into collectible card games and are looking to buy the Eye camera for the Playstation 3, then The Eye of Judgment is the perfect title to pick up. As a game with no story, no end, plenty of people to play against anywhere in the world, an unlockable ‘campaign mode’, and with updates and expansion pack opportunities, the Eye of Judgment shows no traces of slowing down any time soon.

Graphics: 4.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 5.0 / 5.0
Sound 3.5 / 5.0
Replay value 5.0 / 5.0

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PS3 launch title, Resistance: Fall of Man is Insomniac Games’ attempt at getting everyone excited for the future of the Playstation 3, a sign of things to come. If this is just a glimpse of what this machine has to offer, then the gaming community is in for an amazing future.

Insomniac, know for such games as Ratchet & Clank, created this FPS (first person shooter) not only to expand their genre base, but also to showcase the capabilities of this machine right off the bat. The difference between this game and the slew of other recent FPS’s is that this company did their research and tried to gather the best aspects of all others of the same genre out there and put it all into this ultimate launch title.

The game takes place in the 1950’s. WWII never happened and instead a monster race known only as the Chimera (not to be mistaken for the Greek mythological creature made up of different animals) have invaded and taken over Russia, Asia and eventually the UK. You play as Nathan Hale, an average American soldier sent into England to battle off the Chimera scourge and liberate the world from this unknown terror.

With creative weaponry (alongside the average wartime arsenal), extremely enjoyable artificial intelligence (the Chimera will actually fall back and reform their strategy depending on how you proceed), and co-op mode (offline only); if you were to buy only one FPS at launch time, this would be it.

The graphics in this game are what you would expect from a next generation launch title, pretty and shiny… for the most part. The weapon and character designs are out of this world (no pun intended) with such detail that one could spend an hour easily just admiring every little facial movement and bullet effect. At a constant 30 frames per second, there is never a skip or a stutter no matter how much carnage and mayhem are on screen. Any number of AI players battling, tanks rolling by and planes crashing overhead will not slow this beast down. That being said, the environment, although it gets the job done, does not really impress the player as one can shoot a tube off a Chimera’s back with satisfaction, yet a grenade will barely move a lid off a garbage can or a corpse on a table. This game supports HD output at a decent 720p, which although makes it look great, is not as impressive as other shooters on the market today.

In terms of sound, it is again what one would expect from a great shooter – explosions and screams from every direction. With a good sound system, the player can actually hear the bullets whizzing by Hale’s head and the ground shake as a tank pulls by. The voice acting when available (Hale is the strong, silent type), is acceptable and in sync with the mouth movements. As with most games where cinematic presence is not as crucial as game play or control, the music suffers. It is what it is, generic war music that pipes up at especially critical moments that serve more as a warning then to set the mood. Not that this is bad, just not particularly memorable. Resistance is presented in THX so don’t forget to plug in that big subwoofer, turn the volume up and let the noise of war take over.

Control is a key factor for high speed first person action, and Insomniac knows when to be creative and when to keep it simple. The controller set up for Resistance is very similar to most other FPS and are just as tight and quick as the rest. What was interesting about Resistance was the ways in which they chose to manipulate the PS3’s Sixaxis motion sensor. At certain occurrences in the game you must shake the controller in your hands to do certain actions such as putting out a fire on your back or freeing yourself from a deadly Chimerian love hug.

The length of this game is quite substantial, netting around 12 hours from start to finish. On top of the story duration there are also extras to unlock and secrets to find throughout the campaign mode giving you plenty of reasons to play again and again. Perhaps a second time through with a friend in the offline co-op mode might make things more interesting. The most impressive aspect of this game was the online multi-playing action. At a constant speed with no signs of lag, up to 40 players can play together (or against each other) at the same time as either the evil Chimera or the brave Americans, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.

In the end, however, it’s all about fun, and Resistance: Fall of Man delivers on that front. There are a few negative aspects of the game, the biggest being the lack of interactive environment. It just seems odd that one can see bullet blurs as they whiz by, but cannot shoot a single hole in the wall of a building. The story and character development themselves are a bit fuzzy and not too deep, but again, this game is about fun and a good story is hard to find in a first person shooter. If you’re looking for a fun pick up and play game or a staple for multiplayer mayhem, Resistance: Fall of Man is the way to go.

Graphics: 4.0/5.0
Gameplay: 4.5/5.0
Sound: 4.0/5.0
Replay Value: 5.0/5.0

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