Jersey Shore is invading everything, including gaming culture. Xbox Avatar users can now outfit themselves like characters from the MTV reality series, reports Shacknews.

For $2 you can have abs just like The Situation, or hair just like Snooki. Why you would want to look like this is another story.

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Hot chick on the cover? Check. Kind of resembles the Baroness from GI Joe? Double Check. Guns? Check – check her feet too, cause those high heels are packing heat too. Wait, what? From the get-go, you know this isn’t going to be a normal shooter. But just how far down the rabbit-hole does it go? Come with me for an interesting journey.

To be totally honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this game. On the surface, it looks like Devil May Cry and God of War thrown together, mixed in with a few of the more “respectable” character models from the Dead or Alive series for good measure. In other words, it had the potential for being something very entertaining, or something that felt like it’s been done to death a hundred times before, and that within minutes I would be turning off my Xbox and tossing the game and case back into the Give to Friends I Don’t Really Care About pile of games.

But along comes one of the most over-the-top, guns-blazing, unforgettable prologues I have every experienced in my 20 plus years of gaming. Without warning, you are thrown into what in most other games would be the lead-up battle to a boss fight, with seemingly endless wave after wave of enemies, just asking to be executed in the most over-the-top style you can imagine. Of course, at this point, you have had no proper introduction to the control system or special move-list, so you are basically pulling off random combos and incredibly well animated visceral executions without knowing how or why you are doing so. Did I mention that this was all happening on the face of a giant clock tower – as it is careening end over end down the face of mountain? Bayonetta is a game that reaches through the 4^th wall, grabs you by your face and screams “can you hear me now?” as loud as possible, while punching you repeatedly about the head and neck.

The art style for the game is very unique as well, which fits the over-the-top in-your-face atmosphere, from having still photo spreads for cutscenes (which are actually still images from a roll of film, interestingly enough) with the dialogue played over the images, to full out game-engine animated scenes mixed up to keep you on your toes. Bayonetta herself is apparently the last Witch on the planet, and has just woken up from a 500 year nap at the bottom of a lake, and is on a mission to find her memory and cause general havoc and chaos for the good guys – or bad guys, in this case. Every singles enemy in the game is an “angel”, replete with glowing halo’s over their heads, and your job is to eradicate them in the most awful and punishing ways possible. You even have the option of executing Punishment and Torture attacks, such as summoning an Iron Maiden to crush and destroy your enemies, or at later stages when you have improved your magic abilites, calling larger than life demons to eradicate all the enemies around you.

This just adds to the completely ridiculous, but incredibly enjoyable experience that Bayonetta actually is. Just when you think you’ve seen how crazy Sega let the dev team go with the game, along comes a disco-dance sequence in a graveyard, complete with Bayonetta looking into the camera and quipping that as long as music is playing, she might as well keeping dancing (!). The game continuously breaks the 4^th wall, drawing the player in with subtle references to past games, similar games, and even celebrities (if Joe Pesci hasn’t tried to sue yet, just call me a Wet Bandit).

Having the ability to collect magical items and then mix them together and create new and more powerful potions and spells is utterly engrossing, as only specific items will successfully mix with other items, and each time you try a new combination you are rewarded with a new in-game experience, as well as the ever-elusive Achievement Points. Even if you aren’t a fan of fetch-questing, most of the items are found in fairly mundane places, and are very easy to pick out of the back- and foregrounds. Don’t worry – this isn’t like finding all 240 of the Riddler’s puzzles in Arkham Asylum. These add more depth to the game, but aren’t completely necessary. The overabundance of easy-to-perform, entertaining and highly-stylized combo moves more than make up for magic spells.

From performing backflip executions, to planting your feet (or hands) and rotating the Left Stick to shoot surrounding enemies with your hands (or feet as the case may be) and having Bayonetta move like a ballerina through it all is a sight to be seen. There was obviously a lot of time and effort put into making the action of our heroine as silky-smooth as possible, and it shows; from her vixen-like slow walk to the way she can nimbly jump from one execution to a group execution, Bayonetta looks good. And the other character models throughout the game are nothing to sneeze at either – they might not have had as much time in the oven as Bayonetta did, but they look damn good.

While the sound effects in the game are probably considered standard fare for most shooters at this point, the soundtrack is what stands out in my mind as something that they really nailed. Having a booming orchestral sound during epic fights works just as well here as it does in key scenes if larger than life films- you can feel your pulse quicken in time with the music, which is of course timed with events in the game, and you feel completely immersed in the experience. Which is exactly what you want when you have to fight off a 100-foot Godzilla wannabe. You want your palms to be sweating just a bit, your pulse racing, and then you realize you have to take a breath cause you’ve been holding it for the last thirty seconds in anticipation of just how insane this battle actually is.

Unlike a lot of other games, the Normal mode is Bayonetta is actually set to “normal”, so you shouldn’t feel scared to start there, if you aren’t sure if Hard is really something you want to deal with. With properly balanced gameplay, collectability, customization of spells and magic, and incredible visuals and sound, Bayonetta is a great game that everyone needs to try. Its completely over-the-top, crazy, irreverent at times, but by far one of the most unique entertainment experiences to slide into my disc drive in months. It took what was fun about Dante, furious about Kratos, and threw in just enough comedy to create an amazing final product that you would be very sorry to miss out on.

Graphics: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay: 4/5

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To celebrate the launch of Xbox LIVE Block Party, Xbox Canada hosted the ultimate 80s throw back event featuring 80s celebrities and old school arcade games, even with the mullets. Check out the celebrity guests who made an appearance!

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Another big-budget Hollywood blockbuster. Another tie-in video game. But this one has James Cameron’s name on the box, so it can’t be that bad, right?

To be fair, I had very low expectations for James Cameron’s Avatar – The Video Game. It immediately brought back horrific memories of playing through another movie tie-in videogame with a title as long as my forearm (Peter Jackson’s King Kong The Movie The Game). It has always amazed me that a videogame form of a film seems to need the suffix “The Game” tagged on to the end of the title, as if the general public wouldn’t be able to figure out that the product they are currently holding, which may say Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo on it, isn’t actually the film that’s currently in theatres, but a game based on said film. But I digress….

If you’re expecting any kind of spoilers about the movie from this game, you won’t find them. The game is set two years prior to the events of the film, and you play a forgettable character that really doesn’t matter. You have a wide range of choices at the start of the game as to your gender and race, but this has no affect on the rest of the game, as you soon become a nameless grunt stuck on both sides of the ensuing conflict on the planet of Pandora. The basic story is similar to that of the film in that the humans are on Pandora and the Na’vi don’t really appreciate them, but since this is a few years prior, things are a little less established, and the invading human force hasn’t set up such a large presence – at least, not yet.

Through the main arc of the game, you progress to fighting with the humans and then with the Na’vi, eventually allowing you to make moral choices as to which side of the conflict you feel more at home with. The problem with this is that the game makes it very hard to side with the technologically-inferior Na’vi, especially when you can pilot mech suits, use rocket launchers and flamethrowers when you’re human, and on the flipside use bows and arrows and command bees. Bees? Really? I think I know which side I’m going to be sticking with, thanks.

Graphically, I have to say that Ubisoft once again has done what I thought would’ve been impossible. They manage to actually portray a convincing representation of Pandora, and do it in a way that respects the original medium. The jungle is teeming with life, from smaller insects to some of the larger predators that you can actually hunt or tame, depending on which side of the fight you’re currently on. The draw-distances throughout that game are beautiful, and the entire world seems to just be going about its business, whether or not you’re tearing through the jungle guns blazing or simple walking down a path taking in the sights and sounds. Character details are decent, nothing earth-shaking, but they get the job done. Cutscenes are presented with the in-game engine, which I was impressed with, as Ubisoft avoided using any clips from the film, instead allowing you to become completely immersed in this unique view of Pandora without worrying about filtering out expectations that come with using images from the Hollywood counterpart.

Sound design is both fantastic and dismal at the same time, but for completely different reasons. The sounds of life and nature throughout the jungle, and the effects from the weapons and vehicles are all spot-on. You can stand in one spot in the jungle and just listen to the variety of sounds coming from all around you, none of which seem canned and repetitive. The downside is when it comes to voice-acting. The dialogue is very stiff, and the actors don’t have any emotion behind what they are saying, which sucks the life right out of every single encounter with them. You just know that each time you have to report back to your superior you’re in for a boring short lecture, which is just repeated in text form about a second after the finish speaking to you. It’s almost like the other characters in the game are just as bored as you will be when they send you on some of the side-missions.

Some of these amazing side-missions are: collecting five types of a plant, but since you don’t know what they look like, you basically follow your map to a field and walk around; fixing sonic emitters that “were tampered with”, even though your character is a signal specialist, and admittedly knows nothing about sonic emitters; and then controlling vehicles that handle like bathtubs with bars of soap for wheels to simply get from point A to point B, even though you could’ve simply walked there instead (but you have to use the vehicles, otherwise the mission won’t continue).

Avatar has a multiplayer mode, but it feels tacked on instead of a fully developed gameplay mode. You have basic game choices, like capture the flag and team deathmatch, but once again, you’re faced with the fact that the humans are just simply better equipped than the Na’vi, and nobody wants to be on the Blue team. I’m still waiting to find anyone else playing this online to get a good feel for the multiplayer portion. Anybody out there?

Overall, James Cameron’s Avatar – The Game is a decent attempt from Ubisoft to follow up on the surprise that their version of King Kong was back in 2006. But at this point in the game, people are expecting more from games, especially movie tie-ins. The story is definitely thought out, but bad acting, lopsided weapon balancing, and a potentially player-less online mode relegate this game to the rental column, and even then only if you’re a die-hard Avatar fan.

Graphics: 4/5

Gameplay: 3/5

Sound: 3/5

Replay: 1/5

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That’s right, this coming week your TV will transform into so much more with social networking, music, and movies come alive on your Xbox 360.  Facebook, Twitter, and Zune video will launch November 17th, on Xbox Live.

Most exciting is instant-on HD video from Zune to be available to Xbox 360 consoles. “We’re delivering some truly exciting social entertainment experiences to our members,” said Marc Whitten, Xbox Live general manager. “Xbox Live’s differentiator has always been our community, and we’ve already seen a tremendous response to these features in our public preview.”

As well, Xbox Live will be debuting a music games store specifically for games such as Lips, Guitar Hero, and Rock Band.

I am excited!

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The pig skin never looked so good

I’ve never been a huge fan of football (American football for those reading overseas). I never enjoyed playing it in the real world, I never enjoyed watching it. But playing it digitally was always a blast. My first Madden experience was on my original Gameboy in 1996, and would you believe it spoke? Like real audible words!

Now, before I dive into the game, I wanted to point something out. Madden 10 is not for someone who doesn’t understand the finer details of football. You can get by with basic knowledge, and with the help of the Madden quiz, practice, and the virtual trainer included in the title, you can pick it up very quickly. Just don’t expect to buy the game, read the manual and kick ass online.

As the game evolved with technological advances and thanks to EA’s talented abilities, the graphics grew astronomically. From legs jittering, yards moving by slowly and other players moving frame by frame towards you to full motion captured pretty movements from all over the field, Madden 10′s attention to detail were just astronomical. The fluid movement in each player as they hurl forward, deke in a hundred different ways, and look around for openings give players an eerie feeling that they are actually controlling real people in some alternate universe of god-like power. The texture of grass, fans chompin hotdogs and tossing towels, and even the detail of each stadium; from the biggest effects like weather to the smallest details like seat arrangement. Madden 10 raised the bar yet again for graphical quality in a football game. Just as long as you don’t mind seeing freakishly odd shaped facial features of the players up close. My favourite graphical aspect? The shakey cam as players run for a touchdown. What I didn’t like graphically? The sponsored replays, granted it does make things more realistic, but for the amount I’m paying for a game I don’t want sponsored ads in my face. What’s next to increase the realism, commercials in between plays?

Sound wise, while Madden 10 boasts Hammond and Collinsworth’s commentary. I understand it’s hard to have good commentary in a game people will play for hours on end, over and over again. I just wasn’t feeling it. They tried, I feel the effort is there, but otherwise it just seemed a little unpolished, especially compared to the graphics. Again, the commentary at times sounds like it was just random words pieced together after the fact, not smooth and realistic in the forms of speaking to say the least. While the commentary is varied and often times customized and useful, after a while you begin to hear the same phrases and comments time and time again. In terms of the sound track, I would have to admit that while I first expected many frat anthems, after playing through and taking a look at what the game had to offer, I think this may have very well been my favourite sound track in a sporting video game. Music from 2Pac, Alice in Chains,Beastie Boys, Mastodon, System of a Down, and Nirvana, just to give fans out there a feel for what’s available. As always otherwise the smashes, tackles, and whistles all sound realistic and well done. EA is good with these kinds of noises by now.

In terms of gameplay, there is just so much depth and detail to every aspect of Madden 10 that I would be here for months writing about it all, and you for weeks reading and soaking it all in.  For the sake of both time and sanity I’ll just provide you with a rundown of ALL the modes of play and the feel of gameplay itself, and trust me, there’s a lot to discuss. To start off, let’s talk about what’s new and all the talk about Madden 10 over Madden ’09; Online franchise mode allows up and coming NFL manager types to take the franchise mode they loved, and play it online, much in the same way one could play it offline in ’09, this is again souped up with things like The Extra Point a little segment that summarizes what had happened in the week before. As well, aspects throughout the game have been somewhat tweaked (some times well, sometimes not so well) as the passing system and feel have been improved to new levels as well as the tackle system which provides gamers with new and more innovative ways to bring the pain to their competition. Other aspects new to the game also include more realistic gameplay including pile-ons, fumbles, and a somewhat slower – less arcade like speed to simulate real life. My favourite new feature in Madden 10 may have to be the small details they added in, like Superbowl patches to the jerseys during, well… The Superbowl. Actually playing the game gives a lot of power to the player, being able to tweak nearly every aspect of Madden and having access to so many plays, variables, and being able to alter all of these gives fans nearly endless possibilities… That is, IF you know what you are doing, which takes time, research, and practice for those new to the Madden world. For those that are new to the game, again, there are methods to get you up to speed, but for those who are seasoned pros – the difficulty levels are there for them. Personally, I found Madden 10 to be challenging, hard even, on the easy difficulty… But then again, I found NHL 10 to be just as hard, and I’m a bigger hockey fan than football. The control layout for Madden 10 has been perfected year after year, and from what I can remember from last year’s title, they have remained the same, an aspect myself (and I hope many others) appreciate. The controls are set up perfectly for this football romp and from controlling the QB to audibles, the flick of a joystick or click of a button is all that is needed to score that hail mary touchdown. Like I said before, there are A LOT of game modes and options; for an overall feel, check out our Madden ’09 review which can be found here, otherwise just play the game and see for yourself, I think you’d like it – especially if your a football fan.

Overall like most sports titles, lasting appeal is never an issue. You can play against computers over and over again, play against your friends until you go blue in the face. If you get too good for the game you can always up the difficulty, choose teams with lower stats, or play with one hand tied behind your back. Beat everyone you know, all the computer settings and used every team out there? Madden 10 boasts one of the best online modes available from single games to leagues to online franchise mode. While I enjoyed playing (and getting beaten severely) playing online, I did experience quite some lag while playing my opponent, both of us located in Canada, and both with broadband connections.

Madden 10 is exactly what you would expect from the leading football developers who launch a new title every year. Some new features, some improvements, some aspects that still need work (but mostly all improvements in themselves). If you’re a football fan you owe it to yourself to pick up Madden 10, if however you are on a budget and can’t afford a new title, Madden ’09 can still do what you need it to do and enjoy on a regular basis. You just won’t get the best of what’s available without Madden 10.

Graphics: 4.0 / 5.0
Gameplay 4.0 / 5.0
Sound 3.5 / 5.0
Lasting appeal 4.5 / 5.0

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Alright, time for another award winning comic!
I’ve been busy warping up Metroid Prime Trilogy and have spent close to 90 hours on the entire set. Well worth it if you ask me so expect my review to go up shortly after this comic!

We all know ODST hit stores nationwide so it’s obvious that I had to do a Halo comic.
Seems like no matter how bungie tries to promote the game, it just isn’t the same without ol’ 117. Not to say it’s a bad game just … we miss Master Chief.
As always click on the image for the full screen glory!

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Jordan had the opportunity recently to preview the latest big name from Bungie as he took out covenant scum with some of the best in Halo 3: ODST exclusively for the Xbox 360 out now. I guess dropping into hell feet first ain’t so bad.

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There are two things I have never done. 1) I have never gotten so into a sporting event that I yelled for (or at) a team or player. 2) I have never gotten so into a video game that I jumped up, yelled at the screen, and swore. NHL 10 for the Xbox 360 made me do both, and I have to admit, I liked it.

I’ve never been an emotional gamer, and I’ve never been that much into sports (then again, as a Canadian, I feel there’s a default certain level of national pride we all share with hockey), but when playing as the Toronto Maple leafs and winning 2-1 on game seven against Ottawa for the Stanley Cup and with less than 1 minute left in the third period you can’t help but get a little into it when Ottawa scores the tying goal with seconds left on the clock. Yes, I jumped up, yes my voice got loud and shrill, and yes I did say some things that would make a sailor blush. I think this was the most rewarding aspect of NHL 10, that after 17 past NHL titles, EA still has what it takes to make a casual hockey fan into a raving sports fanatic, and I didn’t see it coming.

Basically what’s new from last year to this beyond some new features such as playing the boards, first person fighting, and last ditch attempts at shots is the focus of the game, which now has a much stronger scope on the intensity and fierceness of playoffs and winning the Stanley cup.

For those new to video games, NHL 10 is a hockey simulator (more so than a game as each year passes) in which you are presented with a myriad of gaming options beyond just playing a game of hockey (oh Blades of Steel, how I miss you). How many game modes you ask? well there’s: Battle for the Cup Now Mode in which you are sent straight to the finals of the playoffs, Playoff Mode where you can take part in any type of post-season play from any of the leagues available (NHL, OHL and more), Season Mode in which you choose a league type customize your season preferences and decide if you want to take part in a fantasy draft with all new full roster control mode. We are also given one of my favourite features, Be A Pro Mode in which you create your own character and control only that player as he is drafted, trained and even sent back to the minors based on your personal performance. I found this mode to be extremely interesting as it seemed to be the most realistic, heck, if you get a penalty you have to sit in the box and watch from the side as you feel shame (Slapshots reference anyone?). Performance Tracker Mode shows off your hockey cards (bonuses and achievements… kind of), stats, and milestones related to your profile career. Tournament mode allows for 8 or 16 teams in a world tournament to see what country is the best, and apparently the Montreal Canadiens Centennial team is the one to beat. Create a Play mode allows you too… well, create a play, Practice mode gives you a minimal tutorial (sure it shows you how to play, but no matter how much I practice, I still suck at the game). Online play mode allows for multiple online variations of the game including league play, My NHL 10 mode allows you to create your own custom player, manage rosters, deal with media via the media hub, and more. My Pro mode allows you to go into the hockey shop and buy new equipment, track your performance, and edit attributes. Finally my favourite mode in the game, Be a GM Mode.

Rock'em Sock'em Hockey!

Now, as you can see, there are ALOT of ways to play NHL 10, and as my favourite is the new Be a GM Mode I guess you can decipher that I’m just not that good at the actual hockey playing. I can hold my own (in rookie mode), but for the life of me I rarely ever score goals. In comparison to other sports GM modes however, I found NHL 10′s to be lacking, aside from making trades with your Blackberries (the higher your rank, the more Blackberries you get to use) and drafting there really isn’t much more else involved, you can increase your employee stats but from what I found in the 5 years of being a GM, it doesn’t really make a difference. The good news though, is that if I become the GM of the Maple Leafs, they will win the Stanley Cup in 2014!

We’re not here to read all about the different modes and what I thought of them though, we’re here for hockey! so lets talk about how it actually plays out. The default controls are intuitive, left stick controls your skates, right controls your stick for easy deking and aiming shots. If it gets a little complicated there are many other control schemes to choose from, my alternative favourite being NHL ’94 mode with the only buttons being B to shoot (or check) and A to pass (or switch players), simple. Now otherwise the only other control schemes I think worth talking about in this review would be the wall play and fighting. Wall play if you have the puck and are near the wall push Y and you brace yourself against the wall so that you may kick the puck to a teammate. Alternatively if you are near someone doing just that, you can force a player onto the walls and steal the puck from them. Now fighting is by far my favourite part of actually playing the hockey game, first person fighting, after the whistle action, instigation, it’s all improved in such a way that you can fight almost whenever you want. When fighting you’re brought into first person mode: left stick moves your body, right stick aims your fists of fury; as well you can tug on your opponent’s jersey, perform upper cuts and if you want to chicken out, you can pull both shoulder buttons and turtle.

Graphically NHL 10 is superior to NHL ’09, but then again, isn’t that always the case? Smooth animations, motion captured skaters, reflections and now especially crowd interactions (banging on the windows, swinging team colours around during playoffs and whatnot). This is EA Sports, the annual NHL title, it’s got to be the best of the best, the most polished out there and as such it has a lot to live up to. I’m here to tell you that it does live up to it’s expectations, amazing realistic graphics and not a single glitch to be found.

Dragon Force just screams hockey anthem, doesn't it?

Music is another story. While NHL 10 has a number of big songs from the likes of Green Day, CKY, and Dragon Force; and they’re all great songs, I found they didn’t really mesh with the game. Especially when playing in non-hockey modes like Be a GM the heavy strong songs just keep playing over and over and while I enjoy the tunes, songs that pump you up for a game, kind of confuse you when negotiating a trade. Grunts and whistles are standard fair but what I feel most players are interested in would be the voice commentary? Is it annoying? Does it repeat often? Luckily the answer to both is no. As Gary Thorne and Bill Clement come back from NHL ’09, NHL 10 has similar banter from great voices in hockey and there are enough specific commentary calls to keep players interested in what they have to say time and time again.

Overall if your a fan of hockey games, you probably already own NHL 10, however, if you’re like me and haven’t really gotten into a hockey title since NHL ’99, this year is as good as any to dive back in due to the many options in terms of difficulty and control. However, I have to warn you, there is quite a steep learning curve for those new to the title, trust me, I’ve been playing for a while now and I still suck (yes, I guess it could be that I just overall suck but… let’s not go there). With a plethora of options, game modes, and online play (I was just invited to an online team for online league play) this title will keep you busy for a long long time… or at least until NHL 11 comes out. Hopefully then the GM mode will expand to something more in depth, more in line with other GM modes like Madden and other GM specific titles.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

P.S. I’ve never given a game Editor’s Choice before, congrats EA Sports!

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andPOP was given a special opportunity to have a look at EA NHL 10 which comes out very shortly. Jordan and Josh spoke with Patrick Kane and John Tavares about being on the cover, and also had a quick play of the game. What we can say is it’s the best EA NHL game yet!

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Less Than Meets The Eye

Normally, video game tie-ins to blockbuster movies suffer rush-to-release, loosely-based-on, terribly-voiced products. In all of these categories, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen excels. Once the disc starts spinning up, you get the standard “voice-over to bring you up to speed” cinematics. Which would be tolerable, except Peter Cullen sounds completely bored out of his mind, and is just waiting to see the recording light in the studio shut off so he can go home. Not the best way to get the player into the mood for what follows. Although, it is an honest measure of things to come.

From a technical standpoint, Revenge builds on the original Transformers game, itself a tie-in to the 2007 film. There were numerous issues with the original, from poor environment detailing, shoddy controls, boring missions and a general lack of feeling like you are controlling a 30 foot mechanical behemoth. In Revenge, you have much better looking character models, almost identical in scale and detail as their movie counterparts, and you have decent enough environments to play around in. The most inconvenient thing is that you are always forced to remain within the confines of a pre-determined “action zone”, and there is simply no way to escape it. See a neat skyline in the background of Shanghai? Forget it – you’re stuck in the same quarter-mile block of identical buildings, fighting identical looking robot drones.

Controls haven’t improved much either. In fact, they’ve taken a few evolutionary steps backwards from the original. You are now forced to use the right trigger to transform – and hold it down to remain transformed. This wouldn’t be such a big issue, except that this is also your acceleration function. So once you transform, you’re always moving. And if you want to brake? Well, don’t take your finger off the trigger, or else you change back to your robot form. Sure, you’re saying, that’s not so bad. Okay – but the same button also controls you’re primary weapon in robot mode. I lost track of the number of times I would fight to target an enemy, lock on, and then ….. change into a truck and drive straight into a wall. All the while taking potshots from enemies the camera refused to allow me to focus on.

Now, I’m all for head-scratching controls. But combined with boring, tedious, and worst of all, repetitive missions, it feels like the game was specifically designed so you would scream at the top of your lungs “Yes, I actually like the movie better!”. Escort missions where characters fail to appear where you need them, or appear and disappear once you arrive at their destination; Protection missions where your allies are completely useless and will head straight for new enemy fire while you are still attempting to recover from the last blitz of generated enemies; pointless race missions where you never feel like you can control your vehicle, mostly because when you need to take a quick turn, you’ll inadvertently transform into your robot mode.

Bumblebee, Flame on!

To add even more salt to this wound is the atrocious voice acting. Megatron and Optimus Prime are voiced fairly well, although both Peter Cullen and Frank Welker seem to have had a lot less fun with this round of studio time than the last outing. The rest of the Autobots and Decepticons however, leave a lot to be desired. For the most part it seems as if their volume controls were somehow lost during post-production, or their robotic sound effects modules are cranked past eleven. The human voice-overs are even less tolerable, which is good because they only show up every now and then.

Something very odd, and very off-putting, I found during the cutscenes between missions where your current leader will tally up your bonuses and mission objectives, was that Optimus Prime seemed to be a lot harder on his troops than Megatron ever was. I’m not afraid to say that I actually felt put down when I was told I needed to start finishing more secondary objectives or we would lose the war. And then I felt mad for the designers thinking that they could ever force people to keep playing this disaster of a game.

The only time this game has a chance to actually shine is in the multiplayer component. This is quite simply, the games most redeeming quality. It’s not amazing, but it’s much more fun to fight against actual people than the shoddy A.I., and the modes are all generally fun. There’s classic Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, along with a Transformers version of Capture the Flag, where you need to capture five pieces of the All-Spark. There’s also One Shall Stand mode, where the goal is to take out the other team’s leader; and Control Points, which is something very similar to what you find in Unreal Tournament III. Working together with other people to take down the enemy leader is actually quite a rewarding experience – as long as the game doesn’t freeze mid-session.

Don't forget the DLC packs for new Transformer skins.

Overall, I have to say that this is a game only the most die-hard of die-hard fans can enjoy. There are a number of unlockables, such as classic Generation 1 television episodes (S.O.S. Dinobots, Fire on the Mountain), as well as G1 single- and multi-player skins for some of the robots, and you can start accumulating enough points to unlock things within the first few missions. However, the presentation, controls, repetitiveness and general lack of polish simply make this another quick-release money-printing vehicle – wait until this one ends up in the bargain bin.

Gameplay: 2/5

Graphics: 3/5

Sound: 3/5

Replay: 2/5

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You’ve probably heard that an Xbox 360 Live update was coming, if you knew when or what it entailed is another story. We’re here to set the record straight by discussing a few of the new updates coming to Xbox Live this August 11th.

Avatar expansions

Your virtual character in the Xbox world will be getting a massive update with plenty to styalize and customize your character. The avatar marketplace will open to allow gamers to purcahse premium outfits and accessories.

New props allow your avatar to character items that bring custom animations to your friends channel page.

New brands such as Adidas, Quiksilver, and Roxy allow you to show off your brand awareness clout.

New styles such as Steampunk and Recessionista allow your characters to have themed outfits.

New awards for your avatar just by playing games such as ‘Splosion Man’.

As well, your favourite games from Halo to Star Wars will have themed avatar costumes and accessories to enjoy.

Direct Download Xbox 360 titles

I’m not sure what EB games and Gamestop will be doing this coming year as coming August 11th, you have almost no reason to venture into these stores and drop cash for games. The reason is due to Games on Demand.

Launching globally with 30 Xbox 360 titles for direct download straight to your Xbox 360 hard drve. Gamers will be able to purchase these games either with their credit cards (thanks to PayPal), or through MS points.

With new titles being released every tuesday and available for download 24/7, theres no reason to ever leave your house again! Canada’s starting line-up includes:

Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft)
LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga (LucasArts)
Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft)
BioShock (2K Games)
Mass Effect (Microsoft Game Studios)
ridge racer 6 (Namco)
Burnout Paradise (EA)
Meet The Robinsons (Disney)
Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis (Rockstar Games)
Call of Duty® 2 (Activision)
MX vs. ATV Untamed (THQ)
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (SEGA)
Viva Piñata 2: Trouble in Paradise (Microsoft Game Studios)
Need for Speed Carbon (EA)
TEST DRIVE: UNLIMITED (Atari)
Fight Night Round 3 (EA)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted (EA)
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (2K Games/Bethesda Softworks)
Prey (2K Games)
Viva Piñata (Microsoft Game Studios)

Movie growth

Netflix is expanding their services on Xbox (sorry, NOT AVAILABLE IN CANADA) with a number of new features due to the overwheleming sucess of movie streaming on consoles (game consoles are the most popular devices for bringing web-based video to the TV). New features such as the ability to update your Nexflix queue from your couch and the choice to watch with friends having your avatars in the front row via Xbox LIVE Movie Parties.

Other new features include the ability to organize your Xbox dashboard as you see fit and search for whatever you need, Xbox Live Marketplace user ratings, and much more! Time for more Xbox for this gamer.

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Jenn had the opportunity to take the brand new G-Force video game for a spin on the Xbox 360 in 3D! While enjoying this guinea pig infested preview we spoke with THE G-Force expert about 3D functionality, Jerry Bruckheimer, the plot behind this game and much more.

Taking Control of team lead Darwin and his surveillance spy Mooch, you are the last line of defense against appliances turned evil robots bent on death, destruction and the end of civilization as we know it. Don’t worry, it’s a Disney game / movie… in 3D!

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2K Sports has announced NBA 2K10: Draft Combine, a download only game for basketball fans to have some fun with the pre-season. The game drops in September for Xbox (400 points) and PS3 ($4.99).

NBA 2K10: Draft Combine will allow fans to create their own custom player with the utmost detail and, for the first time in the NBA 2K series, begin their career by experiencing the on-court life of an NBA hopeful going through the NBA Draft Combine at the world-renowned, ATTACK Athletics gym in Chicago.

We’ve got some screenshots from the game.

[Show as slideshow]

Features of NBA 2K10: Draft Combine include:

• Building custom players by working with a mentor, the 2K Insider, and increasing their NBA stock through a variety of challenging basketball drills and 5-on-5 games.
• Over 300 different signature customizations, including player-specific shooting animations, dunk and dribble packages and more to allow each created player to have his own unique personal style.
• Ability to strengthen all parts of the created player’s game with a variety of drills, such as shooting, post offense and defense, attacking the basket, dribbling, challenging shots, boxing out for rebounds and more to progress through the NBA Draft Combine.
• Organized games that will allow players to gain valuable skill points and offer a variety of specific in-game objectives that will need to be accomplished in order to gain them. At the end of each game, a full analysis will be available for gamers to review their player’s performance and strategize their further improvement.
• All players created in NBA 2K10: Draft Combine will wear a special patch on their uniform throughout the rest of that player’s career to denote that they have completed the NBA Draft Combine.
• Online leaderboards to track the highest ranking custom built players, and where a player stacks up against the competition.
• Opportunity to unlock special achievements on Xbox 360 and trophies for PLAYSTATION 3 system.
• Fans can take their custom built players from NBA 2K10: Draft Combine and use them in the all-new My Player career mode in NBA 2K10 launching this fall, allowing them to continue their journey of becoming an NBA legend.

More information is available on the 2K Sports web site.

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The latest title in the Forza Motorsport series introduces a slightly different selection of vehicles than what we’ve seen before – and your parents probably wish they had one.

Yes, SUV’s and luxury cars are the autos of the day in FM3, with such land-yachts as the Porsche Cayenne or the BMW M5.  As with all racing games, the tried-and-true template stands with plenty of… racing.  The XBox 360 title also features a wealth of customization for all vehicles involved.  Perhaps child-locks or kiddie seats for the SUV’s are in store.  Who knows?

I, for one, am anxiously awaiting Forza Motorsport 4: The Moped Edition. Yay Vespa!

Cheers.

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This review marks a number of firsts for andPOP. It’s the first time I’m reviewing a Disney title, it’s the first game I get to play and write about before the official launch date, and it’s the first game I’ve ever reviewed… in 3D! That’s right, today I’ll be reviewing, nay, PREVIEWING Disney’s G-Force video game on the PlayStation 3; talking about what I liked, what bugged me, and all the interesting cute little things guinea pigs do that now freak me out when I see them in real life. With the movie comes out this Wednesday on July 22^nd, and the game being released July 24, this is your first look into the inner workings of a super secret group of spy rodents.

Following (but expanding on) the story line of the movie, G-Force has you taking the roles of Darwin (guinea pig) the commander of G-Force and his infiltration comrade Mooch (house fly). Throughout the game you progress as the movie progresses, however, in this rendition, you take an active role in saving the world as you interact with other members of G-Force. Beginning with a training level to show you how to make best use of Darwin and Mooch, you are taken through a fairly basic tutorial that looks like it’s been ripped right out the pages of Portal, while the level design is simple and pretty, I feel like this short training session was not nearly enough to prepare you for world savings and robot fightings.

As an action / espionage / adventure title, you are presented with times where you must sneak by lumbering humans, utilize your partner mooch to by-pass defense system (you can access Mooch for a limited time whenever you like by pushing up on the D-pad), upgrade yourself and your weapons, and cause general havoc throughout different parts of the game. What I enjoyed most about G-Force was the variation in gameplay you got to deploy throughout, as different obstacles and objectives gave you new and interesting methods of progressing to your goal.

While you have many different styles of gameplay to enjoy in G-Force, I felt that in order to include all these variants made the controls way too complex, especially considering this game is intended for children, the target demographic of the movie. I think the main reason I find the controls confusing is because not only does every button do something, but as well, depending on the context you are in these buttons can do something else. The best example of this is the X button, while walking it will let you jump, push it again and you double jump, push it a third time and you hover, push jump again and you use your rocket boost. As well, if you push jump while targeting a bad guy, you dive and roll. There are a number of techniques like this that you acquire throughout the game. Beyond this every direction of the D-pad gives you access to a tool such as your hints radar, Mooch, or heat-sensor vision while every face button changes your weapon equipped. The shoulder buttons allow you to attack, target, or scurry across the floor; really there is a lot to do with your controller and in the heat of battle it can get a little flustering. On the flipside, the reason you have so many buttons do so many things is because you have that many weapons, gadgets, and tools at your disposal. Weapons and items such as Mooch, heat-sensor vision, hint PDA, Electro-whip, Plasma gun, scanner, Nanohacker, Saberlizer (That allows you to weaponize every day appliances yourself) and much much more. One thing to note as well when talking about the controls behind this game is that there is no motion sensitive gameplay utilizing the PS3 controller; I would take this as a good thing as a) the controls are confusing enough, and b) I have yet to play a PlayStation 3 game that made good use of such a feature.

The sound in G-force is as expected, but done well. Action packed generic music; zappers, snapping, and appliance related sound effects sound as realistic as I guess we could assume them to sound, as the ambient noise that comes from action and infiltration fill the air I feel that at least, they are appropriate as they are used in the game. The voice acting is decent as well, while I don’t really know what rodents mouths would look like when talking, I take it as them actually speaking in the game, spot on and when talking through their voice communications, the radio-ish distant sound works well. Voice acting is another story however, while Disney was able to keep some of the voice actors in the movie for the game (namely the main character Darwin played by Sam Rockwel, G-force friend Zach Galifanakis, and Saber himself Bill Nighy), a lot of the more unique voices are absent. I guess Will Arnett, Nicholas Cage, Penelope Cruz, Steve Buscemi, and Tracy Morgan had conflicting schedules. Instead, similar sounding voice actors were used in their place but these I feel were hit and miss as I could not really tell the scope of these voice actors in the film based on trailers alone. For the most part I enjoyed the voices used but in some instances a faux Tracy Morgan just doesn’t do it for me.

Oh Mr. Pink, when are you going to make the leap into gaming?

Here’s the part I assume most of you are most interested in, the graphics. As a current generation game based on a movie which boasts it’s fantastic computer graphics, you would assume G-Force to look great, and it does! From little guinea pig hairs and whiskers, to Mooch buzzing around your head, the modeling of the rodents used in this game are extremely detailed. I wish the same could be said however for the humans roaming around the game as they seem to be a little less rendered than your average first year PlayStation 2 title. Luckily, you do not interact with humans very often as your main enemies are appliances that have been transformed into killing machines (almost exactly like the kitchen appliances at the beginning of the Transformers 2 movie). One thing I enjoyed about the Saber branded appliances however was that with each one introduced, their entire model name complete with number was shown (as if you could purchase these appliances in catalogues) as well, utilizing your scanner, you have the option of discovering each enemy’s weakness and exploiting them during your attack. Overall I think the graphics used in G-Force the video game weren’t exactly up to par with the movie (that took millions to produce) but were still pretty slick for a PlayStation 3 title with all the particle effects used and whatnot… what? That’s not the big thing you were interested in? Ohhhhh, you want to hear about the 3D? Well, let me tell you all about it, gather around children. As the first console 3D game, I was a little worried as to how it would work out because, to be honest, I always had a hard time seeing 3D in movies (like Monsters Vs. Aliens, Up, and Ice Age 3) but to my surprise G-Force came with two paper blue and red 3D glasses, like the old school ones instead of the new polarised technology. Now, the 3D-ness of G-Force can be turned on and off whenever you like in the options menu, which not only do I think is a fantastic idea for those who get headaches easily, but also extremely useful if you have more than two people in the room watching the game. I find the 3D welcome, but a mixed bag of usefulness from time to time. Mooch, your whip, and the jetpack will actually pop out and look amazing; but other times such as during some cutscenes and menus it is very hard to see what’s going on or what you are choosing. The most prominent example of this issue is if you are playing in 3D and your hint screen tells you to push a certain direction on the D-pad to activate a new ability, every direction looks the same in these 3D glasses and you cannot tell what direction the screen is telling you to push. Reading text in general while in 3D mode I find is also quite challenging. Overall however, the introduction of 3D into G-Force did not in any way make the game harder to play or control and in the end I think is quite amazing in short bursts, I don’t think I could play the entire span in 3D alone.

Now for the rest of the review that didn’t really fit in anywhere else. The instruction manual that came with G-Force was abysmal; I find more often as time goes on that companies stop using instruction manuals as well… manuals for instruction and rather as promotional pieces. I say this because I went through G-Force’s instruction manual a number of times looking for instruction on saving, controls, gameplay mechanics, screenshot explanations… anything that I would like to know before diving into the game and I could not find any. Instead there were just instructions on how to turn on the system and the rest of the manual was just an explanation of the characters, weapons, story, and levels. Playing through the game you collect health, ammo, chips, and silver and gold discs. Chips are a form of currency you use to purchase upgrades and new weapons, upgrades and weapons you unlock with gold and silver discs. In order to purchase these weapons and upgrades you must find a Saber branded vending machine. Two things about these vending machines, 1) you cannot see what you are selecting in the vending machine menu in 3-D mode, and 2) if these are machines… why aren’t they transforming and attacking you like every other machine in the game? Silver discs that provide upgrades are hidden (along with extra lives) throughout the game in strategically placed spots so for the completionist gamers out there, you have a little extra something to look out for while playing through G-Force. Maps showing the location of these silver discs can also be purchased at vending machines.

Overall I was impressed with G-Force, while it is not my type of game, I thoroughly enjoyed the graphics, control, gameplay, and innovations found within, and I know I’m not the only one that enjoyed it as you all will see soon enough when Jenn’s video interview and demo of G-force is published in the near future. One thing I have to ask though, is how vicious flesh tearing waffle irons get into the heating vents of an office building…

Gameplay: 4.5/5

Graphics: 4/5

Sound: 3/5

Replay Value: 2.5/5

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Whether you’re part of the UNSC or the Covenant, it’s time to shape up and ship out with this new downloadable add-on for the ever popular (best selling RTS game of current consoles) Halo Wars real-time strategy game. Microsoft and Robot Entertainment are expanding the battlefield this coming July 21st by adding four new multiplayer maps that highlight key turning points in the UNSC / Covenant war.

The “Historic Battle” add on will run you 800 MS points on Xbox Live and as mentioned above, will be available July 21st. Continue after the break for details of the four new maps as well as four new achievements.

Barrens (1v1 map): Harsh terrain guide troops into killing zones. Whomever weilds the Forerunner artifacts are the best bet to win the battle.

Blood River (1v1 map): Take over bases on cliff edges that overlook the blood soaked river below. Soliders battle over the two narrow crossings are perhaps the reason the river will forever run red.

Glacial Ravine (3v3 map): Snow covered mountains form natural barriers that split the land in half. Control of the two energy walls often determine the outcome of war.

Memorial Basin (2v2 map): High grounds in the middle of the map offer good cover for infantry. Otherwise it’s hunting season in an open field surrounding it.

The four achievements (worth a total of 100 points) include:

Tour coming through: Hot drop 50 squads to your Covenant leader in a single game on Memorial Basin (30 points).

Never leave a man behind: Finish a game with 5000 net resources contributed to your teammates on Barrens (15 points).

Drain Cleaner: Kill 20 enemy squads with a continuous Covenant leader power on Memorial Basin (30 points).

Killjoy: Disrupt 5 active leader powers in a single game on Blood River (25 points).

Kind of weird that no achievements have been annouced for the Glacial Ravine level, but otherwise this seems like a fantastic reason to dust off Halo Wars and give it another go either online or against the computer.

Master Chief out.

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Coming out this Wednesday, two of my favourite aspects of the late 80′s and early 90′s are coming back with titles on Xbox Live Arcade. The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition and Madballs in… Babo Invasion are both going to be unleashed on an unsuspecting public in a couple of days.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition originally released in 1990 is back for another go with all new HD graphics, a remastered music score and complete voice work to bring this wacky and entertaining classic into the hearts of a new generation to love, enjoy, and obsess over. Published and developed by LucasArts, this title will run you 800 MS points, is rated E10+ and will have your swashbuckling humor bell a-ringing!

Now, if your like me, you might remember Madballs; Madball toys, Madball cartoons, Madball cardgames… then one day, they all just disapeared… these small ball like creatures just up and left our planet. Well, they’re back, and they’re taking the world by storm. With the ability to play solo, 4 player online co-op, or 16 player battle arenas, Madballs will bring you back to your youth and not question why these balls are so mad. Complete with map creation and the ability to use your Xbox live avatar, Madballs in… Babo Invasion will cost you 1200 MS points and is also rated E10+.

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That’s right boys and girls, men and women; My favourite (and quite possibly some of yours as well) arcade fighter Marvel vs. Capcom 2 has finally decided on a solid date to release their awesomeness to the downloadable console world. Only July 29th, 2009 players from AROUND THE WORLD will have the opportunity to pit the Hulk against Ryu, Spiderman against Megaman and pretty much have one of the most out-there battles I can think of pitting… well, Marvel characters vs. Capcom characters… part 2.

As mentioned above, the release date to download Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on Xbox Live Arcade is July 29th globally and will set you back 1,200 MS points. This release is part of Microsoft’s “Summer of Arcade” promotion and I don’t know about you but I plan on getting alot of online play out of this title when it finally lands.

Unfortunately there is still no date for the release of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 for the PlayStation Network, however we are told it is coming soon.

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I’m not usually one to post about upcoming song releases for music games, but this month’s Lips (for Xbox 360) song releases really got my blood flowing. Some great songs like Get The Party Started by P!ink, Shut Up by the Black Eyed Peas, and my personal favourite, Baby Got Back by Sir Mix-a-Lot will be released for your singing pleasuring throughout the month of July

Available July 3:

Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-a-Lot

The Next Movement – The Roots

Shut Up – The Black Eyed Peas

Available July 10:

Get The Party Started – P!nk

Don’t Let Me Get Me – P!nk

So What – P!nk

Available July 17:

Just So You Know – Jesse McCartney

Hey Mama – The Black Eyed Peas

Can I Get Get Get – Junior Senior

Just a heads up though, Can I Get Get Get will not be available in Sweden, Finland, and Norway… I’m not sure why though.

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