Don't expect the PS4 anytime soon.

• Next Xbox not coming out in 2012, Sony waiting on Microsoft before announcing PS4:  Microsoft’s French marketing manager Cedrick Delmas recently told French news website Le Point.fr that the next Xbox won’t be released in 2012, noting that “The cycle of the Xbox 360 is by no means complete.”  Meanwhile, in an interview with the same French website, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe’s Phillipe Cardon says that Sony will be the last to announce its next system.

-Nick’s take:  Games like Battlefield 3prove that current-gen consoles need to be replaced.  With the next Xbox not coming out until at least 2013 and Sony’s PS4 not being released until after the next Xbox, however, it looks like gamers will have to stick to their current systems for now.  Expect Microsoft to at least drop hints about the next Xbox at E3 in June.  All eyes will be on the release of Nintendo’s upcoming Wii U (slated for an end of 2012 release) to see if there is consumer demand for new consoles.

THQ had a very rough week.

• THQ had a very rough week:  After vowing to ditch the family game market in favor of pursuing core gamers with franchises such as Saint’s Row and WWE, THQ had a terrible week that went from bad to worse.  On Tuesday, THQ was issued a warning from the NASDAW global securities market that its stock had been valued at less than $1 for more than 30 days and was now facing a delisting if THQ’s stocks don’t rebound to $1 or more by July 23.  Then, early Wednesday morning, the head of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) Mobile Special Interest Group said that THQ had cut 170 employees.  That figure proved to be optimistic, however, as THQ noted later in the day that it had actually lain off 240 employees.  As a result, THQ CEO Brian Farrell will be taking a 50 percent pay cut.  Finally, on Thursday we learned that THQ had a horrible 2011 holiday quarter, with a total net loss of $55.9 million.  In a statement, Mr. Farrell noted that “Sales of the uDraw GameTablet and related software, and other titles in the kids, family and casual category were far weaker than anticipated, substantially reducing our financial results for the quarter.”

-Nick’s take:  Things weren’t all doom and gloom for THQ, as it was revealed that Saint’s Row the Third shipped 3.8 million copies so far and WWE ’12 has shipped more than 2 million copies.  Still, THQ is in trouble right now, and I’m not sure that focusing on the volatile hardcore market is the right way for THQ to rebound.  With solid franchises like Saint’s Row, Darksiders, and WWEunder its belt, however, maybe THQ can turn things around with a bit of luck and a new hit IP or two.

Bungie's website will no longer be updated with players' Halo data come March 31.

• Bungie.net ending Halo updates/features on March 31:  After Bungie officially handed the reins of the Halo franchise that it created to new Microsoft studio 343 Industries last year, fans could at least still go to Bungie.net for updated Halo player stats.  Come March 31, however, that will no longer be the case.  Bungie.net will still store all legacy Halo player data, however.  In addition to Halo player stats, the Bungie Pro service that gave hardcore players unlimited data storage for saving Halo videos and gametypes will no longer function starting March 31.  343 Industries—come March 31—will handle all updated Halo stats via its Halo franchise app, Halo Waypoint (available as a free download on Xbox Live).

 -Nick’s take:  This bit of news affects me personally, as Halo has been my favorite video game franchise ever since I first played Halo:  Combat Evolved back in 2001.  Bungie is working on what I believe to be an MMOFPS for next-gen consoles, so it’s understandable and expected that they would have to pass the burden of stat-tracking on to 343 at some point in time.  Halo seems to be in good hands at 343, but Bungie will always be the main reason Halo has been such a successful franchise.

Due to DRM, many PC/Mac Ubisoft games will be unplayable next week.

• DRM-equipped Ubisoft games to be unplayable on PC next week:  DRM (digital rights management) continues to be a hot-button topic in the PC gaming world.  Publishers and developers use DRM in an effort to combat piracy, while gamers argue that DRM doesn’t work and actually hurts legal customers of those games.  The anti-DRM crowd is getting another reason to hate DRM, as many of notorious DRM supporter Ubisoft’s PC and Mac DRM-equipped games—such as Might & Magic:  Heroes 6 and the Mac version of Assassin’s Creed—will be unavailable for play starting next Tuesday (February 7) due to server updates.  Ubisoft does not yet know when these games will become available for play again, either.

-Nick’s take:  Punishing legal video game purchasers is a big no-no, yet that’s exactly what DRM supporters like Ubisoft do.  It’s not like pirates haven’t already figured out how to crack the DRM and leak copies online before a game’s release, anyway.  This should be a wakeup call for Ubisoft; stop including invasive DRM in your games!

In Oklahoma, games with this sticker may soon be taxed.

• Oklahoma representative proposes new tax on violent video games:  Oklahoma state representative William Fourkiller wants to place a one-percent tax on any game rated “T” for Teen or higher by the ESRB.  The tax money would go towards programs aimed at preventing bullying and childhood obesity.

-Nick’s take:  “Violent video games contribute to some of our societal problems like obesity and bullying,” according to Mr. Fourkiller.  In other words, this tax is based upon one man’s opinion that is backed by very little (often contradictory) scientific data.  Preventing bullying and childhood obesity are noble goals, but they seem like red herrings meant to distract people from the shoddy science that is the very reason for this tax.  Taxing video games doesn’t make sense and always seems like a money grab, especially in this case where Teen rated games would be taxed.

New Sony president/CEO Kaz Hirai

• Kaz Hirai named president and CEO of Sony:  Current president of Sony Computer Entertainment International Kaz Hirai will replace current Sony president Howard Stringer as president and CEO of Sony on April 1.  Hirai was instrumental in launching the PS2 and PS3 for Sony, as well as infamous for giving the world the “Rrriiiidddge Racer!” meme at E3 a few years back.

-Nick’s take:   Congratulations to Mr. Hirai for his big promotion.  He’s been instrumental in the PlayStation brand’s success at Sony and will surely put video games near the top of Sony’s priorities going forward.

Platforms: 

Developer:  Bethesda Game Studios

Publisher:   Bethesda Softworks

Rating:  “M” for Mature

Written by Nick Cohen

Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim is probably the most talked-about game of 2011.  Amidst all of the hype for Call of Duty and Battlefield, Skyrim launched on November 11, 2011 (11-11-11, get it?) to heaps of critical praise and would go on to win numerous game of the year awards.  In my “Top 10 Games of 2011” list, however, the game only came in at #6, having been beaten by other RPGs such as Deus Ex:  Human Revolution (#4) and Dark Souls (#5).  Now that I’ve played much more of Skyrim, here are my thoughts.

The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim is a massive game.  It’s far and away the most epic game I’ve ever played in terms of size and scope.  Everything you’ve probably heard about this game’s impressive scale is true; there are literally hundreds and hundreds of hours of content in Skyrim.  I’ve put over 100 hours into the game so far, yet I feel as if I’ve barely scratched the surface of what the game has in store for me.

Besides the game’s massive scope, the main reason I believe that Skyrim took home so many game of the year awards is the huge number of “water cooler” moments.  “Water cooler” moments are those moments in a game that get people talking; think of Uncharted 2’s train sequence or Dead Space’s ending as examples of these.  Skyrim has more “water cooler” moments than perhaps any other game in history.  The first time you fight a dragon, that dungeon you stumble upon that plays host to a group of vampires, the first time you manage to barely take down a Giant; all of these moments (and many more) will get you talking/bragging to your friends.

Then again, the game’s amazing moments aren’t its only “water cooler” moments; unfortunately, Skyrim may or may not resemble a car that has seen far too many miles of hard driving.  Glitches abound in my copy of the game; I’ve experienced everything from funny bugs such as mammoths floating in midair to game-crippling things such as numerous crashes and an entire dungeon that was plagued by the worst slowdown I’ve ever experienced in a video game.  I’ve also had an interesting quest become far less interesting due to bugs that caused it to not function properly, causing numerous resets and forcing me to scour message boards for answers.  The strangest thing about all this is that numerous people I’ve talked to have had no problems with the game whatsoever.  The PS3 version is reportedly the worst in terms of bugs, but playing any version is like playing a game of Russian roulette—you don’t know whether the game is going to work properly or whether it’s going to be nearly unplayable.

Skyrim's story revolves around the reemergence of dragons, not that you'll be paying any attention to the story.

When things are working right—as they have for me approximately 80% of the time—Skyrim can be an incredibly immersive experience.  Walking around just taking in the sights is a ton of fun, as are completing quests and fighting monsters.  The game has a solid RPG foundation that is both deep and incredibly accessible—even if you’ve never played an RPG before, I think you could understand the basics of how to play this game.

The thing that still gets me is that I’m not always having fun in Skyrim; the world is huge and there’s a ton of stuff to do, but I’m not fighting for my life every second like I am in Dark Souls or getting into amazing multiplayer matches on a consistent basis like I am in Battlefield 3.  The big question to ask yourself about Skyrim is this:  Would you rather have a ton of fun every single minute you play a game for 10-40 hours (depending on the game), or would you rather have 100 hours of exciting stuff to do counterbalanced by 100 hours of boredom?  If you answered “constant fun,” then Skyrim is still worthy of a look, but probably won’t be your game of the year (as it wasn’t mine).  If you answered “epic amount of good but not great gameplay,” then you should go out and buy Skyrim right now.

I’ve now put over 100 hours into my Xbox 360 copy of The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim.  Looking back at my “Top 10 Games of 2011” list, would I change Skyrim’s position?  Nope.  It’s a great game, but in a year like 2011 that was absolutely packed with great games, Skyrim is certainly not the best.  Of course, I still have tons to do and see in the game, so maybe things will change.  Keep checking back at GamingMoments.net for my full review sometime in the future.

1.  L. A. Noire:  I gave L. A. Noire a perfect “10″ review score earlier in the year and said that it was the best game I’d played up to that point in time.  I was fairly certain that something would topple it–Uncharted 3 or Skyrim, perhaps?–but nothing in the latter half of the year eclipsed L. A. Noire.  This is the game that, when I look back on the year, really sticks out for me.  It’s unlike any game I’ve ever played; there are action scenes, sure, but they’re not the main focus of the game.  In fact, players can skip over action scenes entirely after failing them a few times if they just want to experience the story and characters.  The main focus of L. A. Noire lies in actual detective work.  As detective Cole Phelps, you search for clues at crime scenes and then interrogate witnesses/suspects.  The whole process feels like an evolution of the old-school PC point-and-click adventure titles of the ’90s.  The now defunct Team Bondi’s amazing facial capture technology allows for real facial movement and expressions when interrogating people–it’s like you really are interrogating someone.  The entire thing is woven around a pitch-perfect recreation of 1947 Los Angeles, too.  Those expecting another Rockstar game along the lines of Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption are bound to be disappointed, but open your mind a bit to something new and you’ll have a unique experience you’ll never forget.

2.  Portal 2:  The original Portal released back in 2007 as a small part of Valve’s The Orange Box compilation.  The game was short and weird, so Valve wasn’t sure if Portal would be a success as a standalone release.  As we all know now, of course, Portal was a breakout success, outshining even Half-Life 2:  Episode Two and Team Fortress 2 as the best reason to own The Orange Box.  When Valve announced that Portal 2 was going to be a standalone full-priced release, many gamers were skeptical.  The first game was great, true, but it was also extremely short and didn’t exactly seem like a game that needed a sequel.  Thankfully, Portal 2 is an unquestionable success that outdoes its predecessor in every way.  Portal 2 is much longer than the first game and features even better puzzle design built around new gameplay mechanics, but that’s not what makes it such a standout game.  Instead, it’s the story that reveals much of Aperture Science’s history and the hilarious new characters that really make Portal 2 rise above many other games released this year.  The hilarious and treacherous Wheatley–deftly voiced by British comedian Stephen Merchant–alone is enough to earn Portal 2 the #2 spot on my list.

3.  Battlefield 3:  Ask most gamers about Battlefield 3 and they’ll most likely say something about the game’s graphics.  It’s true that Battlefield 3–especially on the PC–is the best-looking game I’ve ever seen.  However, it’s the large-scale online battles that truly make Battlefield 3 a must for any FPS fan.  You haven’t experienced anything quite like Battlefield 3‘s enormous 64 player battles that mix infantry and vehicles together with outstanding gameplay and the best audio/visual presentation around.  Call of Duty is downright boring next to the dynamic chaos that occurs all around you in Battlefield 3‘s biggest skirmishes.  Those seeking a tighter focus can play smaller infantry-only Team Deathmatch and Squad Rush modes, too, meaning there’s something here for every multiplayer FPS fan to get into.  The bland campaign and afterthought co-op are disappointments, for sure, but Battlefield 3‘s outstanding competitive multiplayer offerings more than make up for any of its deficiencies.

4.  Deus Ex:  Human Revolution:  When I sat down to write this list, I knew right away what my top three games would be.  Coming up with number four, however, was tricky.  I knew it’d be an RPG–but which RPG?  There were a ton of great RPGs this year, including the extraordinarily popular critic darling Skyrim.  Yet, the RPG that I had the most fun with this year–and one of only two I’ve finished so far–is definitely Deus Ex:  Human Revolution.  Deus Ex isn’t even a good RPG in many ways–its story is generic, its characters are uninteresting, and the voice acting is absolutely horrendous.  Yet, Deus Ex is a ton of fun and allows you to mold protagonist Adam Jensen any way you see fit.  Want to focus on sneaking around and hacking into computers?  Feel free to do so.  Want to go in guns blazing like Rambo?  I don’t recommend it, but you can if you’d like, particularly later in the game.  Want to talk your way out of most situations?  You can do that, too.  Deus Ex:  Human Revolution allows you to play the game however you’d like while having a lot of fun doing so–and isn’t that the main point of an RPG?

5.  Dark Souls:  ‘Oh, come on now Nick, this is getting absurd.  Another RPG beats  Skyrim?  And it’s a ridiculously hard RPG that only the most masochistic gamers are going to enjoy?  This list is utter nonsense and I’m done reading it.’  Wait, impatient reader, hear me out!  Skyrim will be next on this list, I promise.  Besides, Dark Souls is a better game than Skyrim.  Why?  Simple; Dark Souls is better-looking, more unique, more challenging, and ultimately, more fun to play.  Sure, it’s not as massive as Skyrim, but Dark Souls has a truly unique open world that is gorgeous to look at and features a smorgasbord of incredible environments to explore and creepily designed enemies to fight.  Just wait until you see the hideous bosses that await you in the depths of Dark Souls‘ deepest sewers, castles, and forests.  Dark Souls‘ Lordran is infinitely more creative and impressive to behold than Skyrim‘s generic Nordic-inspired world.  Better still, Dark Souls features easily the best combat in any RPG.  In fact, I’d go as far as to say that Dark Souls has combat that is on par–if not even better–than an action game like God of War or Devil May Cry.  The barrier to entry is extremely steep thanks to a merciless difficulty level and deep systems that aren’t explained anywhere in the game or in the game’s manual, but those who are brave enough to take up the challenge that Dark Souls provides will find the most creative and memorable RPG in years.

6.  The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim:  The popular choice for best game of the year, Skyrim needs no introduction.  Everybody knows what to expect heading into this game–a massive world, deep RPG systems, streamlined leveling, hundreds of hours worth of great gameplay, and dragons.  Skyrim is so massive that you can put 200 hours into it and still not have seen everything the game has to offer.  The combat is much improved over previous games in The Elder Scrolls series, too, having some sense of weight and allowing for dual-wielding of weapons and spells.  The flipside of all this–and the thing that nobody seems willing to admit–is that Skyrim can be downright boring.  In other games, I almost always have something fun to do.  In Skyrim, though, I spend an ungodly amount of time aimlessly wandering around and searching for something to explore.  I’ve spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 hours playing Skyrim so far, and at least 15 hours of that time has been spent either wandering the world in search of adventure or talking to the boring townsfolk that inhabit the game’s cities and villages in the hopes of picking up a new quest.  When Skyrim gets exciting, though, it gets really exciting; dragons swoop down out of nowhere and attack, frost trolls chase you up mountains, and a cave may be a secret vampire lair.  Skyrim is a game that is the very definition of the word ‘massive:’  I just wish it was also the very definition of the word ‘fun.’

7.  Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception:  This one really hurts me.  Seriously, the amount of emotional pain I feel over Uncharted 3 is downright depressing.  It’s not because Uncharted 3 is an emotionally downbeat game, either; the pain I feel is that of disappointment.  No other game in 2011 disappointed me as much as Uncharted 3 did, not even Crysis 2 (which didn’t make this list for a reason).  Uncharted 3‘s direct predecessor–the phenomenal Uncharted 2:  Among Thieves–is the closest thing I’ve ever experienced to a perfect game and probably the best game released last decade.  It really was this good; if you ask me what needed changing in Uncharted 2, I’d give you a blank stare for a couple minutes while eventually stumbling out with “….um, the final boss could have been better, I guess?”  Ask me what could have been better about Uncharted 3 and I’ll talk to you nonstop about frustrating enemy encounters and pathetic enemy A.I..  Remember the awesome-looking cruise ship level that Naughty Dog demoed at E3?  It’s not fun at all thanks to a bunch of combat scenarios that involve lots of heavily-armored enemies that require multiple magazines worth of ammo to take down and seemingly-endless waves of enemies in tight locations.  The cruise ship section isn’t the only part of the game that is this frustrating, either; the entire middle half of the game is this way.  The entire game suffers from what may well be the worst enemy A.I. I have ever seen–these morons run back and forth in straight lines in the open when tons of cover is right next to them, begging to be shot.  It’s a complete shame, too, as Uncharted 3 manages to look even better than the last game and has some of the best scenarios I’ve ever experienced in a game, including an amazing sequence where Drake wanders the desert and the best chase sequence in any entertainment medium.  The characters, dialogue, puzzles, climbing sections–all are top-notch and put every other game to shame.  When Uncharted 3 is firing on all cylinders, no other game can touch it in terms of spectacle and fun factor.  It’s a shame that the atrocious A.I. and extremely frustrating difficulty make this my least favorite Uncharted game.

8.  The Witcher 2:  Assassins of Kings:  The last RPG on this list–and the last one worth playing this year–The Witcher 2 is every PC fanboy’s dream come true.  Exclusive to the PC for now (an Xbox 360 port is supposedly coming next year), The Witcher 2 leverages the power of gaming PCs to produce stunning visuals with the best character models ever seen.  The lighting effects and environment design look great, too.  The game suffers a bit from being generic high fantasy–it’s The Lord of the Rings with more sex– and there are quite a few annoying bugs (every time I tried to play the dice poker minigame, the game would crash on me), but the characters and dialogue are well-written and feel real.  The combat is supposedly inspired by Demon’s Souls‘, but it’s not nearly as good or as challenging.  It’s fun, though, and extremely deep.  In fact, The Witcher 2 is easily the deepest RPG I’ve yet played–there’s no pointless streamlining here.  Alchemy, crafting, magic, combat, skill trees, dialogue choices, decisions that literally change the game you experience; it’s all extremely deep and obviously made for a PC audience who grew up with classic BioWare RPGs such as Bauldur’s Gate.  It’s a bit tough to get into, sure–the tutorial throws everything at you at once, and there’s barely any time to get adjusted before you’re fighting for your life–but this game isn’t Dark Souls and won’t require constant dying on your part once you get the hang of things.  If you want to experience the deepest RPG around and have a decent gaming PC, The Witcher 2 is what you’re looking for.

9.  Gears of War 3:  The final part of Epic’s fantastic trilogy, Gears of War 3 isn’t terribly innovative; instead, it improves upon what’s already in the franchise.  Thought the story and characters of the first two Gears games were boring and flat?  Not so with Gears 3–this game has the most touching and heartfelt moment I’ve experienced in a game this year.  Seriously.  The graphics are even better than in the last two games, making for one of the best-looking games you can buy.  The cooperative Horde 2.0, four-player co-op through the campaign, and new Beast modes provide the best co-operative gameplay of the year.  The competitive multiplayer is unbalanced and keeps the game from placing even higher on this list, but everything else the game does is topnotch.  Even if you weren’t a big fan of the previous Gears of War games, you owe it to yourself to play Gears of War 3.

10.  Rayman Origins:  The last slot on my list could have gone to any number of great games released this year, including Dead Space 2 and Mortal Kombat.  Instead, I chose to highlight the best game that’s going to get buried under the avalanche of huge holiday releases, Rayman Origins.  Rayman Origins is a beautiful 2D platformer that features extremely creative level design and gorgeous graphics.  It’s also challenging–just the way I like my platformers–and has great replay value thanks to four-player co-op and a huge amount of secrets to find.  The game’s a bit short to be a full-priced $60 release, but GameStop is now offering the game for sale at $30 brand new.  If you like games like New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Donkey Kong Country Returns, you’ll love Rayman Origins.

Hmm, that’s an interesting question.  I think that I can identify two distinct reasons why I’m having a better go at Dark Souls than I ever did with Demon’s Souls.  The main reason for this, I think, is that I’ve made a better character with better-allocated skill points.  You see, in Demon’s Souls I made the mistake of choosing a character class that I would normally do well with—the knight, basically the equivalent of a “tank” class in MMOs.  You know what I mean by this—a character with heavy armor and weapons that is as slow as a snail and meant to wade right into combat and hack away at enemies.  The trouble with this is that Demon’s Souls—and, by extension, Dark Souls—isn’t set up to be played this way.  I don’t care if you’re wearing armor made out of dragon scales—the enemies in these games will absolutely destroy you if you try to take them on headfirst.  You have to be able to block their attacks with a good shield and, if that fails, evade out of the way of their attacks.

The trouble with the knight class is that all that heavy armor weighs them down to the point where they can’t effectively dodge out of the way.  I’ve seen the slow roll evade practiced by knights described as the “fatty roll,” which is a pretty good descriptor.  The fatty roll is so slow that it’s next to impossible to evade attacks.  This made getting anywhere in Demon’s Souls nearly impossible for me.

To counter this, I picked the default Warrior class for Dark Souls.  Supposedly, the best way for n00bs to start out is with a ranged character, preferably a magic user.  That way, you can avoid getting close to enemies.  However, staying away and peppering enemies with spells or arrows just isn’t the way I like to play RPGs.  Give me a big sword and shield and let me wade into the fray!  Picking the warrior class has allowed me to do just that, but I’m also agile enough to quickly roll out of harm’s way should I need a breather.

The other reason I’ve having an easier time with Dark Souls is that the bosses have been easier for me.  The first boss was really easy thanks to an effective trick—simply climb up onto a tower and use the new falling attack that does tons of damage on the Taurus Demon a few times and voila!  Easy victory.  The Moonlight Butterfly seemed tough at first, but once I figured out that I could hit it more effectively by two-handing my sword I made quick work of it.  It still wasn’t easy—one of its attacks hit me almost every time—but most of its attacks were easily dodged and the Moonlight Butterfly was completely defenseless at times.

That’s not to say that all enemies are easy.  The second boss encounter I faced—the Bell Gargoyles—was extremely challenging.  You see, at first there would be just one Gargoyle.  His attacks would do tremendous damage, but it was easy to roll of their way or block them and counterattack.  However, once the Gargoyle was down to about half health, another would fly in and start breathing fire that was impossible to block.  The fire was easy to avoid, true, but having to deal with it plus the other Gargoyle was almost unbearable.

This is the first Bell Gargoyle you fight. Another one enters the battle once you bring this one down to half health.

I spent hours trying to fruitlessly kill those darn Bell Gargoyles until I stumbled upon the weapon enhancement feature.  You see, Dark Souls doesn’t explain a lot of its systems (something I’ll get into more in-depth later).  I didn’t even know I could upgrade weapons at blacksmiths until I really dug into the menus.  For a fairly cheap amount of souls—the game’s currency—I could make my lowly sword into a powerful death-dealer.  All I needed to do was grind the enemies in the area for souls until I could upgrade it a few times.

Grinding didn’t take me long thanks to the abundance of enemies in the area.  Once I had enough souls to upgrade my sword to the point where I thought I was ready to tackle the Gargoyles—I upgraded my sword from doing 61 damage per swing to doing 106 damage per swing; a huge upgrade!—I made my way to the roof where the Gargoyles were. An epic fight ensued—it probably lasted a good 45 minutes—and it wasn’t easy.  One misstep could send me flying off the roof to my death or right into a Gargoyle’s flames, but my upgraded sword was tearing into their flesh with aplomb.  I had 10 Estus Flasks (healing potions) at the start of the fight thanks to a kindled bonfire, but I used them all in defeating the first Gargoyle.  After I defeated that one, it was down to a one-on-one fight between me—with half health and no Estus Flasks—and a Bell Gargoyle with about 25% health remaining.  I lured the Gargoyle into breathing fire—which causes it to stand in place for a long time—and went to work on his body with my upgraded sword.  I came very close to stepping off the edge at one point—what fun that would have been!—and I was sweating and could barely breathe, but I finally managed to kill it and ring the bell that signaled my victory.

The victory against the Bell Gargoyles gave me a sense of satisfaction that is completely unique to Dark Souls.  When I’d finally managed to defeat them and ring the bell after hours of getting my butt kicked, I felt like a gaming god.  Sure, blowing up a tank in Battlefield 3 or completing a sidequest in The Witcher 2 is rewarding, but Dark Souls’ boss fights are so tough that you feel unbeatable after defeating one.  Of course, this lasts for all of about 15 minutes, and then you run into a new area with enemies so tough that they beat you to a bloody pulp in mere seconds.

After beating three bosses, I ran into a guy that inducted me into a covenant (the benefits of being in this covenant aren’t entirely clear, I might add) and was then willing to sell me Miracles.  Miracles are spells that require a stat called Faith.  By spending 4,000 souls, I was able to buy a healing miracle that I hoped would help me out.  I leveled my Faith stat up to the required 12 and equipped the talisman necessary to cast miracles.  Instead of healing myself, however, I did nothing.  Huh?  I tried everything—equipping the talisman in my right hand, trying to select the healing spell in the menu—but nothing worked.  There is absolutely no mention in the manual or in the game itself of why this Miracle shouldn’t be working for me.  You see, Dark Souls is one of those games that make you figure out most of its systems—the tutorial teaches you very basic combat controls and nothing else.  If you don’t like experimenting and discovering how a game works on your own, Dark Souls is not the game for you.

So, that’s where I am now.  I’ve wasted a ton of souls buying a healing Miracle that I don’t know how to use and have come up against a brick wall in the form of the Capra Demon.  The Capra Demon is a boss in a new area called the Undead Burg.  The Undead Burg lies underneath the first area you explore and is filled with numerous quick-moving enemies that will make you bleed if you allow them to.  The Capra Demon seems like it’s not going to go down easily—stay tuned for journal entry #3 to see if I’ve managed to defeat the Capra Demon and make my way to a new area of Dark Souls.

The star of NBC’s show Chuck, Zachary Levi, was the host of the VGAs this year.  He proved to be a decent choice; he seemed to know what he was talking about and even cracked a few funny jokes.  Sure, his opening video sketch was terrible, but these things usually are, right?  At least Spike didn’t go with some completely random host like they sometimes have in the past.  Artist Deadmau5 was on hand–complete with goofy mouse headgear–to provide some techno music (I think it’s techno?) to fade to commercials with.

The first award of the night went to Batman:  Arkham City.  The game won for best action/adventure against stiff competition from the sequel to 2009′s game of the year, Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception.  Next up was a big reveal trailer for PS3 exclusive The Last of Us.  When I first heard of the game’s existence, I was praying it wasn’t just another zombie game.  Well, it is another zombie game…from developer Naughty Dog (the Uncharted series).  No actual gameplay footage or details were shown, but judging by the CG trailer, the game appears to be heavily inspired by the Will Smith movie I Am Legend.  The Last of Us seems to focus on survival in a world overrun by the undead (hence the movie similarities) and is being developed by one of the best video game developers in the world, but do we really need another zombie game?

Mass Effect 3 was announced as the winner of the viewer’s choice most anticipated game award (not BioShock Infinite?).  A new trailer was shown featuring in-game footage that focused on a Reaper–the giant alien/machine hybrids that are the main threat in the Mass Effect series–fighting a giant worm reminiscent of the sand worms from Dune.  The game looked action-packed, but Mass Effect 3 is supposed to be an RPG–where are the role-playing elements, BioWare?  BioWare also revealed its new project to be Command and Conquer Generals 2.  A very brief CG trailer was shown that revealed the game will use the Frostbite 2 engine that powers Battlefield 3 and that Generals 2 won’t be releasing until 2013.  No other details were announced.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6:  Patriots was also given a brief CG trailer with no gameplay footage.  I feel bad for anyone watching the VGAs just to see Rainbow 6 footage–what a complete letdown.  A new game that we got a much more intriguing glimpse of is Alan Wake’s American Nightmare, an upcoming downloadable Xbox Live Arcade game.  Incorrectly rumored to be named “Alan Wake:  Night Springs,” American Nightmare looks like a full-blown sequel to the underrated Xbox 360 exclusive horror/thriller Alan Wake, no matter what developer Remedy Entertainment has said.  If you haven’t played the original game, I suggest you do so; it plays like a Stephen King novel with third-person shooter gameplay.  Maybe American Nightmare won’t be as long or as in-depth as the original Alan Wake game, hence it not being called a direct sequel?  Regardless, I’m really excited about Alan Wake’s American Nightmare and was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the gameplay footage shown at the VGAs.

Legendary game designer Shigeru Miyamoto (The Legend of Zelda, Mario, Donkey Kong, Pikmin–how’s that for a resume?) walked on-stage to induct the Legend of Zelda series into the “Video Game Hall of Fame.”  I’m fairly certain that other video game halls of fame exist, but Zelda is apparently the first inductee into the VGA Hall of Fame (?).  Despite my confusion, it was great to see Miyamoto-san on-stage, especially in light of all of the rumors concerning his position at Nintendo this past week.  A trailer for open-world movie game The Amazing Spider-Man was next.  It….looked like a Spider-Man game.

Pro wrestler Hulk Hogan was on-hand to introduce a video package showcasing a whole bunch of awards that were quickly glossed over.  Among these,  Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception won for best PS3 game and best graphics–apparently, no one voting on these things has played Battlefield 3 on a decent computer yet.  In fact, Battlefield 3 also lost the coveted multiplayer game of the year award–seemingly a shoo-in for Battlefield 3–to….Portal 2?  What the…?  Rock band The Black Keys (who?) then performed a song.  The best part of the performance was the reaction shots of Miyamoto-san and actor/comedian Seth Green, who looked confused as to why a video game awards show had a rock band performing who have nothing to do with video games.

The 2011 Video Game Awards were broadcast live on Spike from 8-10 p.m. Eastern on 12/10/2011

Leggy ex-WWE Diva Stacy Keibler (I’m a big wrestling fan, so I know who these people are) was on stage next to show off a CG trailer for the upcoming game Transformers:  Fall of Cybertron.  The game is being billed as the sequel to last year’s third-person shooter Transformers:  War for Cybertron and is unrelated to the Michael Bay films.  Completing the VGA shutout of excellent first-person shooter Battlefield 3, Call of Duty:  Modern Warfare 3 took home the award for best shooter.  Look, I know that video game tastes are subjective, but Modern Warfare 3 is almost identical to Modern Warfare 2, whereas Battlefield 3 brings multiplayer shooters to a whole new level.  Battlefield 3 is generally considered to be the far-better game by those who’ve played it, especially the PC version; maybe it lost due to it’s polarizing campaign?

Infamous developer Cliff “CliffyB” Bleszinski (Gears of War) took the stage to show off Epic Games’ new IP Fortnite.  In stark contrast to the gory shooters like Gears of War and Unreal that Epic is best known for, Fortnite looks cartoony and less violent.  Epic didn’t share many concrete details about the game, but CliffyB made Fortnite sound similar to PC indie sensation Minecraft.  Next up was the oddly named Gamer God award, presented to Blizzard Entertainment.  A montage video showed off the developer’s many successful franchises–World of WarCraft, StarCraft, and Diablo.  A few members of Blizzard then took the stage to show off the stunning CG opening cinematic for Diablo III.  I was never a big fan of Diablo or Blizzard’s other franchises, but the Diablo III cinematic was stunning.

Stunning female video gamer/celebrity Felicia Day next went on-stage to show off an amazing trailer for Irrational’s highly-anticipated BioShock Infinite.  The game wowed critics at E3 with its amazing demo, and it wowed the VGA audience tonight, as well.  After BioShock Infinite, the publicly voted award for character of the year went to Mark Hamill’s gleefully sadistic portrayal of The Joker in Batman:  Arkham City.  I think the absolutely hilarious robot Wheatley from Valve’s first-person puzzle game Portal 2 (voiced by British comedian Stephen Merchant) should have taken the award, but The Joker’s win video showed a teaser for Arkham City‘s possible sequel, Batman:  Arkham World.  Is this merely a joke from developer Rocksteady Studios or a hint at what’s next for Batman?

The last–and biggest–award of the night was Game of the Year.  There were five nominees, all great games:  Batman:  Arkham City,  The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda:  Skyward Sword, Portal 2, and Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception.  Only one game could win the award, and Bethesda’s massive open world RPG The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim was that game.  While I haven’t played it yet, Skyrim has become an addiction for millions of gamers and has even managed to best big-name FPS games Call of Duty:  Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 in a number of key areas relating to popularity.  The game is selling like hotcakes at retailers and is the talk of the gaming world right now.  I predicted that Skyrim had the greatest chance of winning game of the year, but I also thought that Batman and Uncharted had legitimate shots, as well.

The VGAs wrapped up with a new look at the renamed Metal Gear Rising:  Revengeance.  Kojima Productions’ head honcho and namesake Hideo Kojima took the stage to awkwardly introduce the trailer.  Kojima-san doesn’t speak English very well and seemed nervous, but the trailer was awesome.  Developed by Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Shadows of the Damned, Vanquish), Metal Gear Rising is an extremely violent and over-the-top action game that seems to have shades of Tecmo’s Ninja Gaiden franchise.  I’m not a fan of previous Metal Gear Solid games, but Metal Gear Rising looks like a ton of fun.  It’s too bad that the Metal Gear Rising trailer leaked online hours before the VGAs started, as it was supposed to be the night’s biggest reveal.

Overall, I’d say the VGAs were a mixed bag this year.  I like Skyrim as Game of the Year, but why shut out Battlefield 3 and have celebrities that have nothing to do with gaming taking up so much air time?  A few stupid skits went on far too long, too; this time would have been better spent focusing on the smaller awards.  Some games’ reveals really disappointed, as well.  It could have been better, but the 2011 Video Game Awards also could have been much worse (as it has been in previous years).  If you haven’t seen it yet on TV, I’d say don’t bother–now that you’ve read my thoughts on the event, look up the reveal trailers online and skip all the filler stuff in-between.

*list of 2011 VGA (Video Game Awards) winners:

• Game of the Year:  The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim
• Studio of the Year:  Bethesda Game Studios (The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim)
• Best Xbox 360 Game:  Batman:  Arkham City
• Best PS3 Game:  Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception
• Best Wii Game:  The Legend of Zelda:  Skyward Sword
• Best PC Game:  Portal 2
• Best Handheld/Mobile Game:  Super Mario 3D Land
• Best Shooter:  Call of Duty:  Modern Warfare 3
• Best Action/Adventure Game:  Batman:  Arkham City
• Best RPG:  The Elder Scrolls V:  Skyrim
• Best Multiplayer:  Portal 2
• Best Individual Sports Game:  Fight Night Champion
• Best Team Sports Game:  NBA 2K12
• Best Driving Game:  Forza Motorsport 4
• Best Fighting Game:  Mortal Kombat
• Best Motion Game:  The Legend of Zelda:  Skyward Sword
• Best Independent Game:  Minecraft
• Best Adapted Video Game:  Batman:  Arkham City
• Best Song in a Game:  “Build that Wall (Zia’s Theme)” from Bastion
• Best Original Score:  Bastion
• Best Graphics:  Uncharted 3:  Drake’s Deception
• Best Performance by a Human Male:  Stephen Merchant as Wheatley in Portal 2
• Best Performance by a Human Female:  Ellen McLain as GlaDOS in Portal 2
• Best Downloadable Game:  Bastion
• Best DLC:  “Peer Review” for Portal 2
• Cover Athlete for EA Sports’ NFL Blitz:  Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens (public vote)
• Character of the Year:  The Joker in Batman:  Arkham City (public vote)
• Most Anticipated Game:  Mass Effect 3 (public vote)
• GameTrailers.com’s Trailer of the Year:  Assassin’s Creed:  Revelations E3 2011 Trailer

Platforms:  PS3, Xbox 360

Developer:  From Software

Publisher:  Namco Bandai Games

Rating:  “M” for Mature

Written by:  Nick Cohen

Platform played on:  Xbox 360

In lieu of an actual review of Dark Souls—I’m not sure I will ever be able to beat the game, which is necessary for a full review—I’m going to keep and update a journal of my time spent in Dark Souls.  I’ll give you my impressions of the game and also update you on my progress (or lack thereof) with each post.  Please note that spoilers lie ahead with each journal entry, as they’re necessary to tell you what I’ve been doing in the game.  I’m not sure how often I’ll update this journal, and some updates may not be too exciting since it’s likely that there will be periods of time where I’m not making any significant progress, but I will try my best to pump these out on a semi-regular basis for as long as I play Dark Souls.  Come join me on my ambitions adventure.

Dark Souls is hard.  It’s really, really hard.

Dark Souls is a game unlike any other, with the exception of its predecessor, Demon’s Souls.  Whereas most games nowadays are relatively easy compared to most games on the NES or even the original PlayStation, Dark Souls is actually harder than games on those classic consoles.  In my brief (roughly three hours) time spent playing Dark Souls so far, I’ve died countless times.  I’ve fell off cliffs, died twice in the game’s tutorial, been poisoned by rats, and been hit by exploding firebombs.  Yet, I still keep coming back for more.

You see, Dark Souls is extraordinarily tough, but it’s also a ton of fun and very rewarding.  When you die in this game, you know why, and it motivates you to do better next time.  A typical life in Dark Souls involves starting out at a bonfire—the game’s checkpoints.  These bonfires will heal you and restock your supply of Estus Flasks (re:  healing potions), but they will also respawn most enemies (only bosses don’t respawn).  You will walk for a few feet and get attacked by a swarm of enemies.  You will die.

You will respawn back at the bonfire with newfound knowledge of what lies ahead for you.  Maybe you will overcome this challenge; maybe you won’t.  If you don’t, you will respawn back at the bonfire and have to try all over again.  If you do conquer the challenge, you will continue on for a little bit until you run into a group of enemies or a trap that will kill you, forcing a respawn.  Things will continue on this way for a while until you eventually have the knowledge of what lies ahead and the skills needed to overcome the challenges necessary to encounter a boss.  The first time you encounter this boss, you will die.  Most likely, you will also die on the second attempt.  And the third.  It will probably take many failed attempts, but eventually you will defeat the boss and feel like the best gamer on the planet…that is, until you encounter the next challenge.

That’s how my first few hours with the game have been so far—I’ve died over and over again, but have managed to escape the tutorial area and defeat the first true boss (the Taurus Demon).  With each death, I’ve gained the knowledge necessary to progress a bit further—all it takes after that is good execution of a strategy to overcome the challenges.  My Warrior character (you customize your character before starting the game proper, choosing from a variety of classes with different stats) is outfitted with decent swords and a good shield, but he also lacks any arrows or magic spells.  This has forced me to attack each enemy up-close-and personal.

The Taurus Demon is the game's first boss. As a result, it only took me about 15-20 deaths to overcome.

Thankfully, the combat system in Dark Souls is topnotch.  Dark Souls may be an RPG, but the combat is better than in most action games.  There’s a certain weight to each sword strike that makes fighting both fun and strategic.  Since your attacks are generally pretty slow, you have to get good at blocking, evading, and countering.  You also have to know how to draw enemies away from each other—unlike in most games, if you’re attacked by three enemies up-close in Dark Souls you’re most likely dead.  Enemies will kill you in a few hits at most (plenty of enemies will kill you instantly), and some—like the giant rats and their ridiculously powerful poison—cause debilitating status effects.

Outside of the strategic combat, Dark Souls isn’t much of an RPG.  Your character has tons of stats to level up, weapons can break, and you can pull up menus that will make onlooker’s eyes pop with their complexity, but nothing except leveling up is mandatory.  That’s the thing; you can play Dark Souls almost like an action game if you want.  It will still be mercilessly tough and slow-paced, but you can choose to ignore most of the deeper RPG elements if you wish.  I often find myself forgetting that I’m playing an RPG simply because there’s barely any story and I almost never have to look at menus or stats.

Dark Souls looks fantastic, but there is a lot of slowdown at times.  The slowdown can certainly hinder you if you’re in a tough fight, but it’s usually not a big concern.  The music is excellent, particularly in the opening cinematic.  Speaking of which, I think Demon’s Souls’ opening was much better.  It’s a minor complaint, but Demon’s Souls had my favorite opening cutscene ever, whereas Dark Souls’ is merely decent.

As I progress further into the game, Dark Souls can only get more interesting…and much, much harder.  I’ve heard frightening tales of this game’s savage difficulty, but I look forward to overcoming all challenges the game throws at me.  Will I give up after trying and failing to defeat an early boss over the course of 50+ hours like I did in Demon’s Souls?  Or will I persevere and triumph in the face of incredible danger?  I’m not sure, but you should continue following my progress through this hellish world as I go deeper and deeper into Dark Souls to discover what else the game has up its sleeve.

Platforms: 

Developers:  Danger Close, DICE

Publisher:  Electronic Arts (EA)

Rating:  “M” for Mature

Review by Nick Cohen

Platform Reviewed on:  Xbox 360

A summer with very few major game releases is a great time to dip into your back catalog of videogames and play the games you haven’t yet had a chance to.  With the impending release of Battlefield 3 at the end of October, I decided that now would be a great time to crack open my Limited Edition copy of 2010’s Medal of Honor and see if EA has already made a legitimate Call of Duty contender.  The fact that I can now get into the Battlefield 3 beta two days earlier next month doesn’t hurt, either.  Is Medal of Honor a Call of Duty killer?  The short answer is no, but I did enjoy some aspects of Medal of Honor.

Medal of Honor is really two games in one; there’s a campaign and there’s multiplayer.  The two portions of gameplay vary wildly in quality thanks to two different developers (Danger Close and DICE, respectively), making for an uneven experience.  There is, however, one element that is in both portions of Medal of Honor—it’s darn fun to shoot guns in this game.

Medal of Honor undoubtedly features some of the best weapon firing sounds ever put into an FPS.  Every single gun sounds like it packs a major punch.  Supporting the great weapon sounds is a great feeling of power, weight, and realism when firing weapons.  When you shoot an enemy in the head with an assault rifle, you can almost feel the impact of bullet on flesh.  Medal of Honor absolutely nails what it feels like to fire powerful weaponry better than any other videogame I’ve played.  This is extremely important for a realistic modern military shooter, but the actual package built around the great core gameplay is often severely lacking.

As mentioned, Medal of Honor is really two different games in one.  I’ll begin with the first game:  the campaign.  Developed by recently-renamed internal EA studio Danger Close, Medal of Honor’s campaign runs on the Unreal Engine 3—the same engine that powers Gears of War.  This is strange, because Medal of Honor’s campaign is pretty darn ugly.  There’s a general level of fuzziness and jaggy textures that make the campaign look like it’s being played in high-definition on a PS2.  There are also plenty of visual bugs, like soldiers appearing out of nowhere right in front of you and floating corpses stuck in odd positions.  It’s not going to hurt your eyes, but the campaign doesn’t look like it was made for a major AAA FPS.  Instead, it looks like it was made by a smaller developer who didn’t have a lot of time for visual polishing.

Medal of Honor's campaign. It doesn't look this good in motion, trust me.

It does play well, however.  As mentioned, the core shooting gameplay is topnotch, and many of the levels are great.  The third level has you piloting an ATV from enemy camp to enemy camp, sneaking into each camp and trying to remain silent while you clear it of enemies.  In a later level, you are given an extremely powerful sniper rifle and must locate targets on a hillside, taking each one out with a gratifying headshot that pops their heads like watermelons.  Not all of the levels are equally great—the last level, in particular, has you facing off against endlessly respawning waves of generic enemies—but more levels are fun than are not fun.  I do wish that objectives had been more clear, though; I would sometimes get stuck and wander in circles because I missed the one line of dialogue explaining what I needed to do.  It’s too bad the campaign is over after only a few short hours, too; I was enjoying it.

The story is practically nonexistent.  There’s no overarching Call of Duty-style “bad guy” to defeat; this is a realistic tale of soldiers trying to survive in Afghanistan.  This works fine because Medal of Honor is going for a realistic feel.  You take control of a few characters, but one of the game’s flaws is that you don’t really have enough time to get to know any one of them because of the short length of the campaign and the fact that you bounce between characters so often.  If Medal of Honor’s campaign had been a couple hours longer, it may have been truly great.

In contrast to the mostly fun campaign, the multiplayer portion of Medal of Honor is a disaster.  Developed by DICE—the Swedish studio responsible for the excellent Battlefield series—Medal of Honor’s multiplayer is most easily summarized as a complete rip-off of Call of Duty.  The only major difference is that Call of Duty’s killstreaks have been replaced by scorechains, which are awarded for doing things such as killing enemies and capturing objectives.  It’s a good reward system, but the offensive scorechain rewards are too hard to use and ineffective.  Don’t expect to get many kills with mortar strikes and other offensive scorechains.

Medal of Honor's multiplayer may be pretty, but it's not fun.

Everything else in Medal of Honor’s multiplayer is exactly like Call of Duty, only worse.  There are no respawn timers in team deathmatch, but there aren’t any killcams, either, so snipers run amok.  There’s a persistent leveling system, but there aren’t enough things to unlock and they’re all unlocked in a linear progression.  There are only two respawn areas—one for each team—so you’ll often get killed by an enemy seconds after spawning, just like in Call of Duty.  I could go on and on, but you get the idea:  Medal of Honor’s multiplayer is like Call of Duty’s, but worse.

At least it looks fairly nice (unlike the campaign).  DICE is utilizing its acclaimed Frostbite engine in Medal of Honor’s multiplayer, so of course it looks good.  It doesn’t look as good as DICE’s own Battlefield:  Bad Company 2, but I’d say it looks a bit better than Call of Duty.  It’s just a shame that it doesn’t play well and won’t hold your attention as a result.  It doesn’t appear to have held anyone else’s attention, either; very few people are playing Medal of Honor online, making some game modes almost impossible to play.

Medal of Honor’s campaign is pretty good, but over too quickly.  The game’s multiplayer is a pathetic imitation of Call of Duty.  Put them together and you have a wildly inconsistent game, one that probably isn’t worth your time unless you’re bored like me and have nothing else to play.

Final score:  5/10

Breakdown:

Sound:  8 (The one area where Medal of Honor truly shines is in its sound design.  Guns all sound great–realistic and very powerful.  Dialogue is often drowned out by the gunfire, however.)

Storyline:  6 (The game features very little story.  You control a few U.S. soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan.  It’s realistic and all that was needed, but I wish you spent more time getting to know each character.)

Gameplay:  6 (The core shooting itself is fun.  The campaign, despite having some rough patches, is pretty good.  The multiplayer is atrocious.)

Graphics:  5 (The multiplayer runs on DICE’s Frostbite engine, meaning it looks pretty good.  The campaign runs on Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 but looks surprisingly unpolished and dated.  There are much better-looking shooters out there.)

Overall Fun Factor/Replay Value:  4 (The campaign is pretty fun…for the five hours it takes to beat it.  There’s a Tier 1 mode that increases the difficulty and makes it about completing the missions while timed, but it’s not enough to make you want to play through the game again.  The multiplayer is horrible; you’ll play it for an hour or two if you’re a masochist and then be done with it.)

Final Thoughts

            Medal of Honor really isn’t worth your time unless you absolutely need to play every military FPS out there and/or have exhausted every other game you own.  The campaign is good, but it’s too short to make it worth the purchase on its own.  The multiplayer is a waste of your time.  My recommendation is to stick to playing Call of Duty or Battlefield and forget that Medal of Honor exists.

Platforms: 

Developer:  Team Bondi

Publisher:  Rockstar Games

Rating:  “M” for Mature

Review by Nick Cohen

Platform Reviewed on:  Xbox 360

Every once in a while, a game comes out that is so wholly unique, so unlike anything else, that it immediately grabs your attention.  A lot of them are smaller indie games–games like Limbo or Journey.  While small indie studios making unique games is great, what’s even better is when a large publisher/developer thinks of a wholly unique idea for a videogame and then is actually allowed to develop it into a retail product.  L. A. Noire is such a game; one that is so unique and such a huge risk for publisher Rockstar Games and developer Team Bondi that it’s a big surprise the game has seen a release.  What’s even more surprising, however, is just how good L. A. Noire is—this is without a doubt the best game released so far this year.

L. A. Noire is set in 1947 Los Angeles and tells the story of LAPD detective Cole Phelps.  Phelps is a medal recipient in World War II who is trying to clean up the often dangerous streets of L.A.  He doesn’t make for the most intriguing protagonist right away—he’s no Niko Bellic or John Marston—but, as the game goes on, you learn a lot about Phelps…and not all of it is good.

Phelps’ stint as a detective begins as a lowly patrolman, but players will guide him through the more interesting traffic, homicide, vice, and arson desks.  The patrol missions are simply quick tutorials meant to ease the player into the setting and gameplay mechanics of L. A. Noire.  Once you reach the traffic desk, however, the game begins in earnest.  Each desk has a number of cases, some of which are as short as a half-hour and some of which can take up to two hours, depending on a player’s skill at finding clues and interrogating witnesses (more on those later).  Each case feels like it could be its own self-contained movie, but over the course of the roughly 20 hours or so it takes to complete a single play through of L. A. Noire, players will experience an overarching story that slowly unravels its twists and turns.

In most games like this, players are limited to shooting enemies and driving around the environment.  L. A. Noire, on the other hand, places the emphasis on doing actual police work.  Sure, there are action sequences (all of which can be skipped if the player fails enough times at them):  there are extremely basic Grand Theft Auto 4-style shootouts and fistfights, there are exciting car and on-foot chases, there are boring car tailing segments, and there are a few extremely frustrating ‘tail suspect X’ on-foot segments—thankfully, the latter only show up a few times during the game.  The actual meat of the gameplay, however, consists of three main elements—driving, scouring crime scenes for clues, and the incredible interrogations that are the hallmark of L. A. Noire.

Meet Cole Phelps, L. A. Noire's protagonist.

You can choose to spend a lot of your time in L. A. Noire driving around the city.  I say “choose” because you can have your partner drive you from location to location if you don’t want to do so yourself, but you’d be missing out on a lot of the game’s content.  While there aren’t a ton of side missions to keep players busy like in Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption, L. A. Noire does feature 40 short “street crimes”.  Street crimes are essentially short action sequences that you’ll pick up by answering your police radio while driving around the city.  They’re short and aren’t very varied, but they do earn you experience points that level Phelps up.  As you level up, you’ll unlock things like extra outfits or intuition points that can be used in interrogations and to help find clues.  There are also plenty of hidden/rare vehicles to find around Los Angeles, though they’re not much of an incentive to explore since your basic police cars work just fine as transportation.

The real reason to drive around Los Angeles is to take in all of the meticulously recreated sights of the city.  You’ll discover tons of historic landmarks—such as the Hollywoodland sign (remember, this is 1947) and the Hall of Records—in exactly the spot you’d expect them to be.  You’ll also have a blast just cruising the streets and taking in the sights—the city exudes a ton of period-correct atmosphere and everything looks beautiful, despite the pop-up and graphical glitches that sometimes break the illusion.  Cruising down Vine Street or taking in the sights and sounds of the downtown area are some of the greatest thrills to be had in L. A. Noire.  Let your partner drive you everywhere and you’re missing out on a lot of what makes the game so great.

Of course, driving isn’t all you do in L. A. Noire.  You’ll do a lot of poking around crime scenes for clues that will help you in your investigation.  This is sure to be the most divisive element of L. A. Noire for many people, but I thoroughly enjoyed them.  You’ll spend most of your time during these sequences walking around and inspecting every object you come across.  By default, controller rumble and musical chimes kick in to let you know when you’ve walked over or near something of interest, though these can be disabled for those who so choose.  It’s a bit too easy to find every clue at a crime scene right away—especially since the music swells and then fades away once you’ve found every noteworthy clue—but the alternative is to spend hours looking for tiny objects on the screen, basically turning the whole ordeal into a glorified pixel hunt.  You can use an intuition point to highlight all clues at a crime scene, but I recommend saving them for the tougher interrogations unless you’re really stuck.

Once you find something of interest, you can have Phelps inspect whatever it is more closely.  If it’s a dead body, you can check the face, arms, and shirt/jacket pockets for clues using the right-analog stick to rotate the selected body part.  If it’s something like a can or a note, you can press A on the 360 controller to inspect the object further.  If you’re trying to find a particular detail on a larger clue, you have to move the right analog stick around until the controller shakes, at which point you hold the analog stick in the required direction until Phelps inspects the detail more closely.  It’s all very simple and engrossing, though Phelps’ animations can look a bit wooden as he bends over to look at a few objects on the ground and points at each until you decide which one to inspect more closely. A lot of times, you’ll just find something that isn’t helpful, which may or may not be indicated by a quip from Phelps.

The third and final major aspect of L. A. Noire’s gameplay is the interrogations.  The interrogations are the most impressive aspect of L. A. Noire and a huge part of why the game is so amazing.  You’ll be interrogating a witness/suspect whose face isn’t animated in the traditional sense; rather, each face belongs to an actual human being whom Team Bondi has recorded using innovative motion capture technology.  Each subtle movement and facial expression of the actor has found its way into the game, meaning you’ll be studying a freakishly-real character’s face in the hope of determining whether they’re lying to you or not.

Interrogations can be very intense in L. A. Noire.

You have a notebook that keeps track of all the clues you’ve found at crime scenes or coerced out of other suspects/witnesses.  This notebook also contains a list of questions you can ask each person during an interview.  You select a question, Phelps asks it, then the witness/suspect responds and it’s up to you whether to believe what that person says or not based upon that person’s face, the clues you’ve found, and your own instincts.  If you do believe what he/she has said, you select “Truth” and that person responds in an appropriate manner.  Select “Doubt” if you don’t believe what that person has told you and you’ll get a response in a similar way.  If you guessed correctly, the person may give up an important clue; if not, that person won’t give you anything and may even end the interrogation.  The last possible choice is to select “Lie,” in which case you have to choose the correct clue from your notebook that proves the person was lying.  If you select the wrong one, you won’t get anything out of that person.

Interrogations may sound simple, but they’re often extremely tough.  A little girl may not be hard to coerce information out of, but real-life mob boss Mickey Cohen certainly isn’t going to give up information so easily.  It doesn’t help that the game is sometimes unclear as to what you’re supposed to be responding to.  A person’s response to a question may be long and detailed, and then you’ll have to accuse that person of lying based upon an unclear element of that response.  It can be a little frustrating to think you’re accusing someone of lying about one thing only to have Phelps accuse him/her of lying based upon another piece of dialogue entirely.  If you get stuck, you can always use an intuition point to either remove a wrong selection or ask the Rockstar community (the latter requiring an Internet connection), but these intuition points never regenerate and you don’t get a ton of them, so they are best used wisely.

L. A. Noire represents a landmark achievement in videogame design.  Never before has a game made players feel like they’re doing actual police work instead of just shooting everything in sight.  The game’s innovative facial capture technology and Team Bondi’s incredibly detailed recreation of 1947 Los Angeles combine with innovative gameplay to create a game unlike any other.  While it won’t be for everyone, L. A. Noire is an innovative and incredibly fun game that represents a huge risk for Rockstar and Team Bondi.  What better way is there to reward them for their creativity and willingness to take risks than by purchasing L. A. Noire?  If you do, you’ll quickly discover that L. A. Noire is the best game of the year so far and one of the best games in years.  Don’t miss it.

Final score:  10/10

Breakdown:

Sound:  8 (The voice acting is superb and there are a ton of licensed music tracks from the 1940s.  Not all voice-acting is equally top notch, though, and the constant sound of police sirens can get on your nerves after a while.)

Storyline:  9 (While not immediately engrossing, the story is anchored by a cast of interesting support characters and reveals its depth slowly over time as the game unfolds.  There are plenty of twists to keep players interested in Cole Phelps’ rise through the LAPD.)

Gameplay:  10 (L. A. Noire is considerably slower-paced than most action games, but its three core elements—driving, searching for clues, and the amazing interrogations—provide a wholly unique and extremely entertaining gameplay package.  You’ve never played anything like L. A. Noire before.)

Graphics:  8 (Team Bondi’s amazing facial capture software means that people’s faces emote just like they do in real life, even if the rest of the character models aren’t as impressive.  The city of 1947 Los Angeles is extremely detailed—no expense was spared in recreating the city.  A black-and-white filter is available for those who prefer the visual style of early 20^th century noire films.  A few visual glitches, some stiff animations, and pop-up detract from the immersion somewhat.)

Overall Fun Factor/Replay Value:  9 (It won’t be for everyone, but those who get sucked into     L. A. Noire’s world won’t want to leave.  There’s no multiplayer, but 40 optional street crimes, hidden vehicles, and landmarks help add to the main game’s roughly 20 hours of playtime.)

Final Thoughts

If reading this review still hasn’t convinced you to buy L. A. Noire, you should at least rent it to see if it’s right for you.  L. A. Noire won’t be for everyone due to its slow pace and unique gameplay, but those who are at all interested in it for any reason are going to fall in love.  After playing through it, all I wanted to do was spend more time in the game’s world.  You won’t be able to stop thinking about it long after you put down the controller.  L. A. Noire is a great example of why more large publishers/developers need to take creative risks.  It’s the best game yet released in 2011.

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Be prepared to die… a lot.

Limbo isn’t a particularly long game, the first time I played it I ended up beating it in a single session, but every second of this puzzle based platformer radiates pure joy (Despite the overall gloomy atmosphere of the entire game) and really deserves to be shared with every gamer possible, so I’m glad that PS3 and PC gamers will have the opportunity to enjoy the wonder and frustration that is Limbo.

Ratings systems frequently give away upcoming game announcements, as it did with Limbo for the PS3. In this case Sony Computer Entertainment Korea submitted a rating and it was quickly picked up by gaming news.

“Limbo is production for Steam and PSN, and is coming very soon,” Playdead CEO and co-founder Dino Patti told Edge. “I can’t elaborate more at this moment, but we will have more details soon.”

Keep a weather eye on the horizon PS3 and PC owners, Limbo will be heading your way shortly.