Welcome to the Japanese countryside! There are video games here, you just have to squint really hard to find them.

Whenever I’ve moved, one of the last things to get packed up has been my gaming console. Of course, my console has also often been the first thing unpacked once I’ve gotten moved in. Funny how that works. But this time, after moving to Japan in early August, all I’ve played since are iPhone games – until last weekend, I hadn’t picked up a real controller since arriving in the land of Nintendo and Sony.

What the hell happened? Well, a perfect storm of things for me, at least.

First: I didn’t want to bring my Xbox 360 with me to Japan. It’s old, is bound to break (again), and is region-locked. Most importantly, though, I would either have to pack it into my slim luggage allowance or ship it over separately, and neither are worth the trouble. Sometimes you have to be an adult and bring clothing, especially when there’s little chance to buy new threads. Okay, I did bring my Nintendo DS, but it’s now gathering Japanese dust instead of gathering American dust. I’ve got the itch to play games; what to do?

But I can wait. Maybe. I’ve gone two months without playing a game – and longer without playing anything new, frankly – and can afford to wait because real life and the gaming release schedule have allowed me to. I’m too busy getting out of the house and visiting my new friends to spend too much time playing games at the moment, which is good, because there haven’t been a ton of AAA titles coming out this summer. I bemoaned the lack of a year-round release schedule earlier in the year, but I’m quite glad for the break at the moment.

Soon the weather will turn nasty and, as a friend here in Japan said, people will begin to “hide under their kotatsu.” Unlike the U.S., most places in Japan aren’t centrally heated and have very poor insulation, which means you wear lots of sweaters indoors and a kotatsu, a table with a heated blanket. In short, people don’t want to head out and be social; perfect time to catch up on video games, then!

Postscript to the story? Last weekend was my birthday. With enough money and free time on the weekend to go buy a PS3, I broke down and picked one up — a 320 gb model, which now sits happily next to my TV and wireless router. It’s now set up to stream media from my computer, access my U.S. Netflix account, and make use of the Silicon Sasquatch staff PSN share. And I bought a pretty kick-ass game to go along with the system, too, one that I’m excited to write about soon.

After the long break, it’s good to be back.

I still don’t get Catherine. Even after a few solid hours spent learning the ropes of Atlus’ bizarre hodgepodge puzzle and dating-sim gameplay (think Q*Bert meets Tokimeki Memorial), I’m still unsure if this is a game I like. I’m compelled to keep playing, though, and that’s a success as far as I’m concerned.

But it’s not the puzzle-game aspects that have me hooked. The block-moving, tower-climbing action sequences that define the “game” part of Catherine are perfectly fine — controls are tight, difficulty ramps up at a good clip, pacing is appropriate — but to me, they’re just filler. The real fun of Catherine comes from the story that unfolds as you delve deeper into protagonist Vincent’s sordid love life. The choices you make through him are surprisingly revealing — not about Vincent, of course, but about you and everyone else who plays.

The first feature that stood out to me was the inclusion of a “would you rather?” minigame at the pinnacle of each climbing sequence. You’ll enter what resembles a church confessional and be presented with a question related to relationships and ethics, such as “Is marriage where life begins or where life ends?” It’s a loaded question, and the game is intentionally ambiguous about who the player is supposed to answer for: Am I speaking for the Vincent I intend to play, or am I personally casting my vote? Once you’ve made your choice, you’ll be able to see a pie-chart breakdown of how all other players voted. It’s reminiscent of L.A. Noire’s inclusion of social support features for its tricky interview sequences, where you can narrow down your choices by seeing how other players chose to answer and make your decision based on that. In this case, it’s a fun way to see how people feel about some relevant and sometimes-controversial questions we all face in life. But thanks to the anonymity we’re given through Catherine and the assumption that, well, it’s only a game, I’ve already seen some pretty interesting statistics.

When not climbing tower after tower, you’ll spend a lot of time in Catherine at your favorite bar, The Stray Sheep. In perhaps the most accurate depiction of the dive-bar experience yet conceived in a game, you’ll divide your time up between your bored-looking friends, the various other regulars, the lone arcade machine and — of course — your cell phone.

There’s a clever mechanic in the game where you’ll receive a text from somebody and have to compose a response. You’ll be able to cycle through options for each sentence until you’ve got a message that best expresses what you want to say. Maybe this is the sort of malady that only affects neurotic writers, but I found this design mechanic simultaneously brilliant and unnervingly similar to my own life. I’ll agonize over a text before sending it: Is the phrasing okay? Too many words? Is “love” too strong a word to use when asked if I’d like to go get some pizza? Catherine brilliantly captures this unique problem of modern communication. That’s not to say the impact of your choices seems all that revolutionary; as far as I can tell, Vincent’s actions only affect a binary good-or-evil morality meter, which just seems outdated to me in an era when we have the resources and technology to build games where the player’s choices can stray into ethical gray areas.

So far, the majority of those texts have been coming from Katherine, Vincent’s doting, long-time girlfriend. She’s not-so-subtly pushing for Vincent to face up to his fleeting mortality — dude’s in his thirties, after all — and settle down with her. And why wouldn’t he want to? They seem to get along fine, and she’s pretty, and…y’know. She’s that archetypal desirable-yet-undesired female.

The object of Vincent’s desire — or maybe lust would be more accurate — is Catherine. Katherine with a C. Which is to say that she’s exactly like Katherine except for those ways that she’s a polar opposite. Catherine is a decade younger than Vincent, flirtatious, bubbly and fun-loving. I’m only maybe a quarter through the game at this point, but if I had to hazard a guess I’d say she represents the fleeting temptations of youth. Katherine is the stolid, career-oriented rock in Vincent’s world, and Catherine is a youthful, spirited force of change.

It’s a dichotomy anyone can relate to once they’ve hit a certain age. At least, I know it resonates pretty deeply with me. I picked up and moved far away from the life I’d always had a few months ago, and ever since then I’ve been considering the what-ifs of that life I could have kept living. I’m currently leaning more towards the “responsible adult” end of the spectrum, with an engaging full-time job and this notion of a career-focused life starting to bubble up. But when I think about the pseudo-bohemian lifestyle I could have had in Portland, I have to wonder: What would I be like if I’d stayed?

But one question that has never faced gamers before will be an issue when looking at upgrading from one console to the next this go-around: What is going to happen to all the content I have on my current system?

This is the digital era. I have 85 gb of content stored to my Xbox 360′s hard drive and, while much of that is game installs, the rest is made up of the “arcade” games available on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, downloadable add-on content for games, and digital downloads of full retail games. Some of the downloaded games also have their own DLC, which strikes me as a real through-the-looking-glass sort of moment.

Full copies of games you'd otherwise purchase at retail are available both on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. What happens with the next generation of systems, though?

These are games I’ve bought and, in the case of the digital versions of games also sold at retail, are indistinguishable from hard copies. Yet I’m worried. I’m worried that these games could be completely worthless or, at the least, feature-handicapped in the future should Microsoft (or Sony for PSN) decide to flip a switch and shut off some servers. In the case of the Xbox 360, though the detachable hard drive means it’s possible to take your content on the go, you can only make use of DLC and full versions of games if they’re authenticated by Xbox Live; if I want to take my hard drive to a friend’s and make use of my Rock Band library, their 360 must be plugged in.

The authentication and access to games isn’t just a worry in cases like that, but for more practical reasons as well. The 360 has proven itself to be a bit fragile; my current 360 is my fifth, and I’m hardly an edge case. If you suffer a Red Ring of Death or any other kind of 360-killing malady, you have to migrate your account from the old console to the new one’s serial number. While it’s an annoyance during the 360′s life span, what happens in another five years? If your old NES or Genesis or even PlayStation 2 died, you just buy a new one; the games were kept within a physical medium and plug right in without a problem. But what happens in five or 10 years when my 360 inevitably dies again and I have to track down a replacement? Will Xbox Live still allow me to do what it does now in 2011?

While content on the current console is a question, what about taking content on to the next generation? Though few games had DLC on the original Xbox, you could previously download it on the 360; now, though, since the original Xbox’s Xbox Live servers have gone offline, it’s left you high and dry. While I doubt people will want to buy new content, even for Xbox 360 games in the far-flung future, what about retrieving what you’ve already purchased? Plus, as established, content delivery digitally is a much bigger deal this generation; that will be important to keep in mind, but it’s still Microsoft or Sony’s ball to take and go home with.

I’ll admit it’s all speculation and worry at this point, but admit it: a best-case scenario where everything still works, like in PC gaming, is probably a pipe dream. This is the point where I shake my fists at PC gamers sitting up in the cloud on Steam at this moment. But this is an issue that will be wider than gaming within the next 10 years; seeing the gaming industry’s reaction is going to be fascinating and, potentially, vital to digital rights beyond our favorite little corner of the entertainment world.

Even if subsequent God of War games flop, Kratos could always make a lucrative career out of chiropractic work

After recently completing the fifth entry in the God of War series, Ready At Dawn Studios’ PSP title Ghost of Sparta, I find it difficult to believe the franchise is little more than five years old. God of War is now such a tent-pole first party franchise for Sony that Kratos is arguably as iconic as Halo’s Master Chief. Though games in the God of War series are usually released in March, they are essentially the summer blockbusters of video games — and to be honest, you’d likely be better off watching someone else play God of War III than trying to sit through a screening of the recent Clash of the Titans remake.

The God of War games are human id given audio-visual form. They have little depth but are overflowing with hyper-violent and sexualized set pieces, an evolution of trends started by games like Mortal Kombat in the early 1990s. The series was a natural progression for the original’s creative lead, David Jaffe, from his work on the Twisted Metal vehicular combat games.

Nick and I disagree on the merits of the God of War games. He prefers the eastern/Japanese approach to the character-action genre, such as Bayonetta, Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden. These series have more in-depth combat systems, but that is a trade-off for laughably terrible stories and voice acting. God of War games thrive because of their lavish production values, with each successive iteration attempting to out-do the others in terms of action, gore and the orgy minigame, a staple of the series.

At the conclusion of God of War III, Kratos’ deity-focused rage issues are wrapped up in about as tight of a bow as you could possibly hope for. This conclusion and the serviceable but unnecessary story provided by the PSP mid-quel now begs the question: Where does Sony take its best-selling franchise from here?

The critical and consumer reaction to Dante’s Inferno would suggest that simply moving on to new gods and myths and slathering them in blood and boobs isn’t enough to recapture lightning in a bottle. Creating more in-depth combat and puzzles might not be the solution either, as it risks reducing the series’ mainstream appeal. After all, a large factor of God of War’s allure is how incredibly easy it is to perform increasingly impressive and grotesque feats. While side-stories may work for the PSP, releasing one on a home console after the immensely epic finale of God of War III would likely only lead to diminishing returns in both sales and critical reception.

Kratos and Santa Monica Studios’ interpretation of mythical Greece has been taken about as far as it can go. What Ghost of Sparta shows is that, while the formula is still enjoyable, there is little that new set pieces or storylines can really add. It’s doubtful they would ever abandon such a cash cow, but it’s in the best interest of Sony Computer Entertainment America to take what they’ve learned creating the God of War games and apply them to something new.

In enough time, there could be more to say about God of War, or work could begin on the inevitable reboot (THE God of War). Franchising and minimalist iteration is such an enormous part of the games market but there are lessons to take from exhausted heroes. Ghost of Sparta is a fun game and worthy of the franchise, but the depth Ready At Dawn adds to Kratos’ pathos feels frivolous so late in the series. The Spartan functions as a paper-thin rage-puppet for the player, which is another reason continuing to embellish his story would only dilute the series’ impact. I hope the next game we see from Santa Monica Studios is as exciting, new and fresh for the PS3 as God of War was for the PS2 in 2005.

When was the last time you played an older console game? If it’s been a while, you may have forgotten about some of the headaches brought on by old game designs or technology. While there’s a certain charm to the gameplay and graphics of many older games, there are also definite problems. It’s here that we catalog those changes and remind you why progress is often for the best.

Recently, I fired up the good ol’ Sega Dreamcast. I wanted to throw down with Nick on some Virtua Tennis, but before we could get our serve and backhand action on, I had to do some searching. Yep — I had to find which memory card my Virtua Tennis save was on.

With the implementation of hard drives first on the original Xbox and now on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, the need for memory cards is reduced. And now that Xbox 360 consoles can move files on USB thumb-drives (a capability PS3s already had), there’s zero need for proprietary memory cards — and we are all the better for it.

Having to search through a small stack of memory cards to find the right file is just a pain in the ass. Moreover, in the PlayStation era, memory was an incredibly limited resource; some games would take up entire memory cards with save data. Other games would only allow you to have one save on a memory card, necessitating having multiple cards and swapping them around. Plus, they’re a tiny nightmare: easy to lose, never right where you left them, prone to losing saves and (in the case of Dreamcast VMUs) always whining for batteries. Back when I still gamed on my Dreamcast most often, I would have three or four VMUs plugged in at one time; of course all the batteries were dead (because the VMU batteries lasted about five minutes and were expensive) so I’d be greeted to a chorus of beeps whenever I powered the system on.

A chorus of beeps is almost as annoying as trying to find where the save data is, for those wondering.

Having larger-capacity options built in provides greater options. With even as little as 20 gigabytes of storage, there’s never a need to worry about making space for game saves or patches; plus, with more space available all the time, there’s the possibility of downloading extra content to add on to games or demos to try games. With a hard drive in each PS3 and most Xbox 360s, this means developers have more room to play with — and whether that’s more songs for Rock Band, extra levels in games, or saving photos or other user-created in-game content, we benefit. And with USB thumb drive-based storage capability now in 360s along with PS3s, it’s a large enough chunk of memory to take those saves portably.

Sure, if your hard drive craps out you’re toast. Having more memory means more to lose. But the same has happened with memory cards over the years, and at least hard drives are a damn sight more useful.

I have incredibly mixed feelings about Formula 1 2010. On the one hand, this is the first Formula 1-based game on next-gen platforms since Sony’s F1 Championship Edition in 2006. As well, the game does an amazing job painting a portrait of the Formula 1 circus, from the glitz and glamor in the paddock to the thunder and thrills on the track. However, the game has a facade that is too easily broken; compounding the problem is that it feels unfinished in spots.

Reviewer’s Note: We will run an amendment article at a later date, once F1 2010 is patched to address the numerous issues with the game. As it stands right now, it feels unfinished and has numerous frustrating bugs, including one that corrupts save data; when, and how, these are addressed is a major issue surrounding the game right now.

F1 2010 uses interactive menus, placing various game mode options into the "real world" you would see as a Formula 1 driver.

Formula 1 racing is, much like soccer, a sport incredibly well known and followed outside of the United States; 400 million viewers tune in for each of the rounds of the championship, and the series has been run every year since 1950. I’ve watched almost every race since 1997, and know a ton about the history of F1. Considering my love of racing games too, I’m undoubtedly the game’s target audience. Each round in the championship is a carnival, as the racing series’ own video edits of races prove. Codemasters has thus provided a rich tapestry on which to build a virtual world and something of a storyline. Unlike a Forza Motorsport or a Gran Turismo game, each race acts as a piece in a greater narrative, instead of focusing solely on what happens on-track and what car you unlock.

Codemasters has tried to do something very different and innovative with the game’s structure. You’re launched directly into defining your career mode in the form of a press conference, including details like your driver’s name, nationality and how long a career you’re planning. Accessing the other menu options, like single-races, multiplayer modes and other options are done in the paddock next to your career teams’ transporters. If you played Codemasters’ DiRT games this may sound familiar — the large, popped-out text on screen is a style Codies has made their own, but it also helps to make the game feel more like a sports game instead of a Gran Turismo clone. Everything is laid out to make you become a Formula 1 driver, and immerse you in a virtual re-creation of something only 24 people on the planet each year get to experience.

Driving a Formula 1 car is hard enough; driving an F1 car in the rain? Exciting, to say the least.

As a driving game, F1 2010 is very solid. The game engine is an evolution of Codemasters’ previous racers, but with some serious tuning to suit the rigors of Formula 1 — like having 24 cars on the track at once. Driving an F1 car is incredibly difficult in real life, but similar to Forza Motorsport 3, the game tailors each difficulty level with a series of driving aids; these can also be adjusted individually. As a Formula 1 fan, the game manages to capture everything about F1 racing I’d expect — from your team engineer providing information updates and support, to the screaming V8 engines, to the incredible handling and stopping power. As I spend more and more time on the track, I find myself getting quicker because I’m able to push the limits of the car, and that is exactly how a Formula 1 game should behave. It may not be as one-to-one accurate as some PC racing simulators, but F1 2010′s on-track racing strikes an excellent balance — providing the right amount of fear and speed while remaining accessible but not punishing.

The worst of F1 2010's bugs corrupts your save data — and thus your single-player progress — if you advance through the menus wrong after certain circumstances. This has happened to me twice.

However, the game is far from flawless. It could have used another two or three months of development time before it was released; surely Codemasters must have been trying to meet a deadline to release the game in September, with a few rounds of the actual Formula 1 series left to run. I say this for two reasons: One, there are numerous bugs found when playing the game; and two, there is also a real issue of difficulty balance that could use tuning.

First, the bugs. The list of bugs both confirmed and unconfirmed in the game is lengthy. These range from the mildly annoying (AI cars not pitting or pitting too often in races) to the aggravating (the player’s car being unfairly held in the pit lane if you pit on the same lap as the AI) to the soul-crushing (corrupting save data, forcing the player to re-start their career; this has happened twice since I bought the game). While Codemasters is aware of the problems and working on a patch, there’s not a target release date, and many diehard racers I know are avoiding the career mode until the game is patched. While some bugs are only mildly annoying, their sheer abundance points to a title that looks undercooked.

The difficulty curve can be a bit off in the game; a Lotus shouldn't be leading the pack, regardless what's happened behind you.

More grating to me, personally, is the uneven difficulty curve. On the hardest two difficulty levels the AI is brutally fast, your starting car can feel terribly slow (especially the Lotus, Virgin and HRT, though this lack of speed is true to life) and the in-race penalties can feel overly punitive, especially if you’re trying to get to grips with the game’s physics. It’s hard not to be anything but a moving obstacle; moreover, it’s easy to ruin your race. This may be true to life — Formula 1 racing is far from easy — but it feels punishing and masochistic. Aaron and Nick can attest to the level of attention and focus completing a 17-lap race took from me…and that was in an effort where I finished 18th out of 24 cars. Punishment isn’t the only problem; by switching to the mid-pack Sauber-Ferrari and applying setups from this online forum, I can now routinely outpace the AI and win races by 30 seconds.

In short, Formula 1 2010 is long on ideas but falls short in the execution. As a diehard Formula 1 fan who remembers when Williams were good and Ferrari were lovable traditionalists who used V12s, I love the attention to detail that Codemasters has given the game, down to the grid girls in the paddock. However, it feels rushed. I have no doubt that F1 2011 will have solutions to many of the bugs and difficulty issues, but I’m not certain what a patch will be able to fix and when that will happen. When it works, it’s absolutely brilliant and is the Formula 1 game I always wanted, yet too often it stumbles into another bug or issue. I would love to be able to recommend this game to everyone, but without a demo and with so many issues, I can’t do that right now.

Recommended for:

• Console-centric racing game fans looking for a fix ahead of Gran Turismo 5
• Formula 1 fans yearning for a good, modern, accessible F1 game
• Graphics junkies — the in-game graphics are incredible, and the menus are very well done

Not Recommended for:

• Anyone who expects the game to be bug-free as of right now
• Hardcore racing simulator fans who are masters of iRacing or Grand Prix Legends — F1 2010 will not be enough of a simulator for the super-hardcore if you expect it to equate to those games

Formula 1 2010 was developed and published by Codemasters. It is available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 for $59.99, and on Windows for $39.99 via retail and Steam. The reviewer played the game on multiple difficulty levels in career mode, single-race Grand Prix, Time Trial, and online for approximately 20 hours.

Extra special thanks to Something Awful goons for supplying PC screenshots of bugs and the F1 2010 menu system.

Read our policy on reviews here.

Another year is nearing its inevitable end, and we couldn’t be any happier about it. Although 2010 has already played host to a plethora of amazing and potentially award-winning video games, it’s not quite time to start hedging bets for the game of the year. Read on for our staff’s own list of noteworthy releases that you should be excited for.

Sid Meier’s Civilization V

September 21st — Windows

I’m a late bloomer when it comes to strategy games, and it pains me that it took me so long to understand what makes the Civilization series one of the most cherished in the history of video games. Even though I’ve had a variety of friends bursting to tell me all about their fantastic strategies and the hilarious anachronisms that have arisen in the matches they’ve played across the entire series, it took an iPhone port of Civilization Revolution to offer me a gentle enough learning curve to work up the confidence to take on the “real” series. A couple dozen hours later, and I think it’s safe to say that I’m a Civ 4 devotee.

But with some clever gameplay tweaks and some borrowed lessons from both Civ 4 and Revolution, Civ 5 looks like it’ll offer the best of both worlds: the depth and scale of classic Civ with the accessibility and streamlining of Revolution. Add in full Steam support and you’ve got a veritable crisis waiting to happen for law students, newlyweds, and anybody with the faintest hope of maintaining a regular sleep schedule. — Nick Cummings

Formula 1 2010

September 22nd — 360/PS3/Windows

This is a game that will probably not receive much hype in the United States. Developed by Codemasters and built on the engine that powers its other racing franchise, Dirt, this is the first Formula 1 game for Xbox 360 and the first for PS3 since 2007. Videos and preview coverage from Gamescom in Germany lead me to believe this will be a fast, fun and gorgeous title.

More importantly for fans of racing games it promises to do something more interesting with its career structure. The off-track politics, rumor mills and movements in real Formula 1 are almost as interesting as the on-track racing; Codemasters has tried to reproduce that for F1 2010. You start at a lower team, trying to meet low team standards — you’re not expected to win with the worst car on the grid — and advance from there. If you make it into a top team, you’ll then be expected to challenge for race wins and the championship. If the handling engine lives up to the promise, this could be the best racer since Forza 3. — Doug Bonham

NBA Elite 11

October 5th — 360/PS3

The sarcastic answer to the question of “Why NBA Elite 11, Doug?” would be, “Because it’s how I can play NBA Jam on next-gen consoles.” And that’s partially true — NBA Jam promises to be an excellent remake of one of my favorite sports games of all time, with nice graphical and roster updates. I’m sure it will become a multiplayer favorite soon enough.

However, that doesn’t take away from what Elite can become. This is the third EA Sports franchise to undergo a hard reboot in recent years, and the other two (NHL and FIFA) have become the high-water mark for their respective sports. Elite also happens to be developed by EA Vancouver, who is responsible for those other two series, and also features the producer who led the NHL revamp. I know that I play the hell out of sports games with franchise modes, and in a fall heavy on games but light on budget, if NBA Elite turns out well, I’ll get my money’s value — even before Jam is factored in. — Doug Bonham

Comic Jumper: The Adventures of Captain Smiley

October 6th — Xbox Live Arcade

Having made a name for itself with popular downloadable games like The Maw and ‘Splosion Man, Twisted Pixel is set to release its third original game — “original” being the key word in that phrase. Perhaps better than any other small developer, Twisted Pixel has infused more character and humor into its ten-dollar downloadable games than can be found in most big blockbuster titles. With Comic Jumper, Twisted Pixel seems determined to raise its bar for absurd hilarity to dizzying new heights.

The game stars Captain Smiley and his sidekick, a star-shaped thing embedded in his chest (who happens to be named Star). They’re tasked with battling the good captain’s arch-nemesis, Brad, across several iconic comic book styles, including the Silver Age, manga, fantasy and modern. Based on the short time I had with it at PAX, it seems like the Twisted Pixel folks are still thoroughly out of their minds — and that can only mean good things for their games. — Nick Cummings

Fallout: New Vegas

October 19th — 360/PS3/Windows

Fallout 3 was a revelation. Bethesda absolutely nailed the classic series’ transition from isometric 2D to awe-inspiring 3D. A game I spent a combined 150 hours playing across multiple characters says something of the quality of development. New Vegas may have been handed over to Obsidian, a studio with a spotty track record of delivering stable and worthwhile software, but it has Bethesda peering over its shoulder to (hopefully) keep the best parts of Fallout 3 alive in this full-fledged follow up. Don’t get me wrong: I thought Obsidian’s work on Knights of the Old Republic II was fantastic — the arguably better storyline made its mark and showed the team’s writing chops — and I can’t deny the positive critical reception of Neverwinter Nights 2 and its bevy of expansions. I’m only worried for the next installment of one of the best titles to come out this generation.

However, New Vegas has a lot going for it; be it the vivid neon Nevada landscape, the improved companion AI and significant gameplay additions like iron sight aiming and political affiliations with three different area factions. Considering I would have kept opening my wallet for extra Fallout 3 DLC until Fallout 4, I’ll go ahead and place my bets and take a chance on Fallout: New Vegas.

Now say it with me: Big money, no whammies. — Aaron Thayer

Fable III

October 26th — 360/Windows

Peter Molyneux, the head of Lionhead Studios and the lead designer for the Fable series, is nothing if not enthusiastic about his games. While many gamers had reason to chide Molyneux’s over-optimism after the first Fable, 2008’s Fable II was a different story. It might not have been perfect, but Fable II had a solid story and combat, and provided players with many ways to engage the game’s world.

Most importantly, though, it was incredibly fun and had very well-designed emotional moments. Fable III’s concept of rising to power, overthrowing the government and then having to deliver on promises is incredibly novel, and it also looks to provide more of the challenging aspects that made Fable II memorable. It may not provide the emotional impact that Molyneux is promising, but I’m looking forward to seeing how close the final game is to Molyneux’s pie-in-the-sky vision. — Doug Bonham

I don’t understand why a vocal minority of gamers has been allowed to cast such a dark pall over the entire Fable series. Some people are just incapable of looking past Molyneux’s boasts to accept the core product for what it has always been: inventive, imaginative and interactive. Countless designers make overblown claims about their projects, but sitting at the top of this entitled-gamer negativity pile is the work of Peter Molyneux. Oh well: I don’t buy into it. Unfounded criticism won’t, for me at least, detract from the great likelihood that the third Fable title will be a substantial improvement over the last one — and you can quote me on that.

If the Lionhead team was capable of making me care about a virtual canine in 2008, I can only salivate at what they will do in 2010 with an entire royal hierarchy and political undercurrent at my fingertips. With additional polish seen in the improved graphics, tweaked combat, an upgraded dog companion and a less-cluttered menu interface, a throng of issues keeping Fable from becoming an even more exciting experience have been handled. Honestly, I’m so eager that common economic sense has failed; Fable III might just be the one special edition package I purchase this year. — Aaron Thayer

Rock Band 3 & Dance Central

October 26th (RB3), November 4th (Dance Central) — 360/DS/PS3/Wii (RB3), 360 with Kinect (Dance Central)

Harmonix is serving up a double-header of games this fall, beginning with what might be the closest a game can get to simulating a real-life band experience. Rock Band 3 is bringing a bajillion small tweaks to the formula I’m so intimately familiar with, but the biggest changes have to do with the new instrument lineup. For the first time, keyboards will be playable thanks to a new keytar-like peripheral. But that wouldn’t be exciting if it weren’t for the addition of the game’s pro modes. Essentially, the pro modes attempt to bring the game as close as possible to playing real instruments by differentiating between tom and cymbal hits on the drums, mapping out a full two octaves of playable notes on the keyboard, and even integrating support for a real Squier guitar as a controller. And with the option to plug in any MIDI-compatible instruments you might have on hand, the lines between game and actual music practice really begin to blur.

But as much as Rock Band 3 is about refining an established concept, Dance Central appears to be all about introducing a brand-new one. By accurately tracking a player’s movements and limb positions, Dance Central is designed to get anybody dancing — provided they have the guts to step up and give it a shot. A highly intuitive interface helps the player to visualize dance moves quickly, and by highlighting body parts that aren’t matching the current step, it also allows for fast and easy self-correction in my experience. It seems like a surefire hit for parties, but whether it’ll be enough to sell Kinect to the skeptics remains to be seen. — Nick Cummings

LittleBigPlanet 2

November 16th — PS3

To be honest, the first LittleBigPlanet bored me. I didn’t have a great time because I was thrown into the hectic four-person multiplayer with no previous training, and I had to cope with what I still feel is an awkward use of physics-based jumping. A platformer that can’t jump well isn’t much of a platformer at all.

But I’m no curmudgeon: Charm exudes from Media Molecule’s brainchild — it’s cute and cuddly, but it also encourages cunning and cutthroat co-operative play. This is what I’d call a “smart” game. If players use their brains and imagination, an entirely new world will open up to them. The “Play, Create, Share” tagline is a marketing tool, sure, but it’s also a real concept, and LittleBigPlanet 2 is evolving the already impressive design tools present in the first to embolden the control available to creative types.

As a new PlayStation 3 owner, it behooves me to support exclusive titles that go beyond the requisite elements of more blood, more violence and more banality. Looks like I’ll have to shell-out some cash for more controllers. — Aaron Thayer

This is basically what PAX looks like, except with more neckbeards, less politics, and a sea of iPhones

I couldn’t go to PAX 10. Neither could Doug. But Nick’s there! He’s also Internet famous now, thanks to his picture being taken at a Rock Band 3 event last night and then posted to Twitter. I can only hope that in his new-found celebrity, Nick Cummings won’t forget the little guy. And by “forget the little guy” I mean I hope he invites us to really rad pool parties in Hollywood.

OK. I won’t feel so bad about jumping right into the backlog now that my introduction is complete.

Let’s do this.

Doug:

I have no idea why there's a Pickle Man in Dragon Quest IX, but Square-Enix's marketing department has just made me extremely interested in the game

I feel like bowing deeply at the waist in appreciation to Nick for strongly suggesting I get Dragon Quest IX. I suppose it was only a matter of time; or, perhaps, I’ve finally stumbled upon something I like. But after 9 years of studying Japanese language and culture, it would only make sense to actually really dig into a JRPG, right? I’m not totally inexperienced — hello, Dreamcast fanboy favorite Skies of Arcadia — but games like FF7 have never really caught me.

Seriously, though — this game is good. Yes, it’s certainly a Dragon Quest-ass Dragon Quest game — you fight slimes, you grind levels, and the character designs are by DragonBall creator Akira Toriyama. No wonder the Japanese gaming public bought roughly 3 million copies at launch last year. I’m not terribly far, but the world that’s been created is captivating for both young and old gamers in the way the best Pixar or Disney films are; the religious overtones (and the Real Big Question I have regarding that) might go over kids’ heads, but they still understand you are on a quest and need to do things. I’m glad I have reason to pack my DS along.

Adding to that is the copy of another Japanese RPG-ish thing, The World Ends With You, that I borrowed from Nick. This does such a good job of crystallizing contemporary Japanese tastes and trends (not necessarily down to particulars, but in how the Tokyo culture deals with them), and combines the aesthetic with an interesting story and combat. DQIX is going to be hard to displace, but this will try.

Of course, there’s been more time in NCAA 11, Tiger Woods (picked up last year’s game because I needed a golf fix), and Red Dead Redemption. I’ve almost finished the latter; hopefully that is wrapped up in a day or two. Pardon me while I go fight some more slimes, though.

Nick:

Shank is upset at Nick's lack of enthusiasm toward his tale of revenge…and mega uber reaming

PAX begins in less than a day, and I’m already starting to worry about the long lines, the people with poor personal hygiene, and the overstimulating frenzy of the exhibition hall. But as exhausting as PAX inevitably is, it’s invariably a hell of a lot of fun. So while I expect my next Backlog contribution will involve the new and unreleased games and technologies I’m hoping to check out over the weekend, this entry is mostly about wrapping up some loose ends.

I finally completed the God of War Collection last week after months of on-again, off-again play sessions. While I’d played the original around the time it came out in 2005, this was my first opportunity to get more than a few hours into the sequel. Five years later, the same strengths and weaknesses have stuck with those games. While the combat is relatively good (although maybe not as refined or technical as I would have liked) and the puzzles are clever, the writing is just so damn stupid that I could barely stomach it. I haven’t played God of War 3 yet, but I’m eager to see whether they gave the script a little more substance for the finale; after all, haven’t games like Uncharted 2 raised the bar across the board for quality of writing in games?

I also sank an hour into Shank‘s local co-op campaign. I haven’t played much of the single-player game yet, but the co-operative mode has been a pretty good experience all around. I get the sense the game could have been a little better balanced in terms of how many times you have to stab the average thug before he’s down, and timing windows on bosses could have been a little more generous. I realize those are time-honored traditions of the beat-’em-up genre, but when I look at games like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim, they have enough little tweaks to the formula to avoid feeling like outdated concepts at their core. As it stands, Shank is certainly a pretty good-looking game, but it looks like the same amount of care just wasn’t given to the actual play experience.

And if you’re going to PAX, be sure to look me up! I’m hoping to see everything I can on the show floor and to attend a number of panels, but if I were a betting man, I’d look for me at the Harmonix booth. I’ll probably be spending an unhealthy amount of time on mastering the moves to Salt ‘n Pepa’s “Push It” in Dance Central.

Aaron:

What? A Team Ninja game that doesn't cause anger-fueled heart palpitations? Sweet!

Honestly, I’ve been playing far too many games this week to feel good about myself.

Now that I’m back home I realize I want to play catch up and delve into all of the fantastic titles I’ve missed out on. And, as a new PlayStation 3 owner, I’ve had to go back into the PlayStation Network vault and acquire more than a few of the service’s best games. Oh, and Metroid: Other M came out Tuesday. It’s pretty damn great, and that’s coming from a fair-weather Metroid fan.

So instead of trying to dress up this week’s block of prose with fancy impressions about what I’m liking or disliking so far, I’ll go ahead and gaudily disgorge my giant list of videogame preoccupations and be done with it. My criticisms (and, by extension, my witticisms) will have to wait until next week.

The List

Shank
Dead Rising 2: Case Zero
Flower
FlOw
Limbo
The PixelJunk series(Eden, Monsters and Shooter)
Monkey Island 2 Special Edition
Everyday Shooter
Noby Noby Boy
Metroid: Other M

What, exactly, is going on in Bayonetta?

That question has weighed heavily on me throughout the last few months, from the moment I launched the game to the present day, where I find myself in the middle of my third playthrough. And, frankly, that question is a big part of why this review has taken weeks to write.

While I’m still not convinced I’ve distilled the core theme or purpose of Bayonetta, I am confident it can be defined in just a few ways:

• Bayonetta is a stylish, fast-paced action game
• Bayonetta is a dynamic, fluid and intricate combat game
• Bayonetta is a hypersexualized and exploitative commentary on the role of women in games

If you’re considering buying a copy, it’s my firm belief that almost anybody is guaranteed dozens of hours of great entertainment with Bayonetta. Although it might simply look like a prettied-up rehash of a modern character-action game like Devil May Cry or God of War, a few minutes with a controller in hand will prove otherwise. Like Guitar Hero and Wii Sports, it’s the sort of experience where the main appeal rests in the actual, tactile feeling the game evokes; it’s one of those things that can’t be described, but you know it when you experience it. In this case, the player is treated to a surprisingly natural and empowering sense of control over the protagonist that steadily grows in complexity and escalates in lunacy throughout the game’s dozen-plus levels. It’s a wild ride that’s simultaneously brilliant and befuddling, and it’s required literature for anyone with a taste for adrenaline.

One of Bayonetta's signature torture attacks is the ability to summon a guillotine with a snap of her fingers, doling out swift, Dickensian justice to countless angels

It requires the hard work of a lot of people to make a fully fledged, sixty-dollar videogame like Bayonetta. And while it’s not my intention to sideline the creative input and effort of the entire team at Platinum Games and publisher Sega, Bayonetta bears the unmistakable mark of its director, Hideki Kamiya.

Even among the enthusiast gaming crowd, Kamiya might not be a household name like Miyamoto or Kojima. But if you’ve played some of the top-rated games of the past decade or so, chances are you’ve played a few of the games he’s had a hand in from Capcom and the now-defunct Clover studio. His directorial credits, including Resident Evil 2, Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry and Okami, run the gamut of game design between high-tension survival horror, engrossing action-adventures and fast-paced stylized action-fighting hybrids. Although Kamiya’s games have been both blockbusters and commercial flops, they all received glowing reviews from nearly every game critic upon release.

After Clover was dissolved by Capcom in early 2007, Kamiya went on to join Platinum Games. And now, almost three years later, Kamiya has reemerged with his first new title under the Platinum label: Bayonetta.

A couple of creative vehicle-based sequences are thrown into the mix, including an over-the-top motorcycle chase and a clever tribute to Sega's Space Harrier

Bayonetta doesn’t bring any major revelations to the character-action genre. Instead, it focuses on refining the elements that worked best in its predecessors and removing the half-baked ideas that held them back from perfection. The result is a straightforward, mostly linear journey through a number of distinct levels (with a small amount of requisite backtracking thrown in for good measure) punctuated with a steady series of distinct confrontations.

Fortunately, Platinum’s decision to stick close to the feel and structure of the Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God of War series doesn’t leave the game feeling stale. In fact, it makes it easier for genre veterans to slide right in and get down to discovering what makes Bayonetta distinctive: its style and fine-tuned game design.

Each level is a guided journey through beautiful set pieces punctuated by a dozen or so distinct confrontations. These fights, despite only being composed of a couple dozen enemy types, never feel repetitive, thanks in large part to the careful balancing of each encounter. A battle can last as long as ten seconds and no longer than a couple minutes, which helps keep the tempo at a fast pace.

Fights are fast, involved, and almost overwhelmingly flashy. With the game’s bold use of color and rhythm, it calls to mind the sort of imagery and physical sensation that often comes with games like Treasure’s twitchy and unparalleled Gunstar Heroes and Sin and Punishment. And while fluid animations and flashy effects are vital to any modern character-action game, they’re merely par for the course; any game from Devil May Cry to Dante’s Inferno is filled to the brim with these components. But what the competition lacks is something that can’t be seen — it has to be felt.

Bayonetta's skillset is perfect for dispatching more than a few enemies at a time, enabling her to gracefully move from angel to angel without a moment's hesitation

Simply put, controlling Bayonetta is a joy. She moves with an exaggerated grace and ease, transitioning from move to move with a surprising fluidity that creates the illusion that she’s anticipating the moves you’re performing. Her body language evokes a sense of glee at violently dispatching her creepy, inhuman adversaries, and it fosters a delightfully politically incorrect overtone throughout the game: you’re not working for the forces of good, but you’re sure as hell not the bad guy.

At the conclusion of each encounter, the player is scored on how well they performed. Ratings on time, style and damage provide the player with a heads-up on what their strengths and weaknesses were without lending a sense of punishment for not doing well. Winning the fight is still winning the fight, and the game doesn’t dwell on any individual encounter longer than a few seconds after the fact before you’re running headlong into the next. It’s a rare instance where scoring is a uniformly positive experience for the player as opposed to something like Grand Theft Auto’s The Ballad of Gay Tony, where the parameters for scoring well are withheld until the end of the mission and scores are often significantly lower than the player anticipates.

Bayonetta bears the mark of a well-polished game thanks to a number of small but significant features that are so obvious in retrospect that it’s puzzling why nobody thought to include them before. Loading screens are fully interactive and display a move list at all times, allowing the player to practice a handful of moves and to warm up for the next major fight. The game’s level selection feature allows the player to return to any level on any difficulty at any time, meaning there’s no penalty for going back to revisit a particular sequence or to stock up on halos, the game’s currency. Besides being a less-than-subtle nod to Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog series, these halos also function as a currency that can be spent at the Gates of Hell, a bar operated by a sunglasses-wearing, sinister merchant named Rodin. Halos can be spent to learn new moves, acquire new equipment and stock up on resources, a process that requires multiple playthroughs to complete but yields rewards ranging from near-vital combat abilities to bizarre costumes for Bayonetta to wear.

An integral part of Bayonetta’s appeal is its tongue-in-cheek, self-referential humor. A number of acknowledgments to Kamiya’s past games are slipped in as clever asides; for instance, at one point early in the game, Bayonetta spouts a one-liner that’s nearly identical to Viewtiful Joe’s catchphrase (“Henshin a-go-go, baby!”). At times, Bayonetta seems acutely aware of the fact that she is starring in a game and flirts with breaking the fourth wall on a few occasions by commenting on her present situation as though speaking directly to the player. Rodin also does this whenever you stop in at the Gates of Hell for some upgrades: “Hey, check this out: ‘What are ya buyin‘?’ Heh heh. Heard that in a game once.”

Bayonetta’s story involves two warring clans, the Lumen Sages and Umbra Witches, who maintained balance for thousands of years until they went to war and the Lumen Sages influenced humans to instigate witch hunts. You’re the last of the witches and you’re out to understand what happened and kill anything that crosses your path. As a narrative, it amounts to nothing more than your typical black-and-white, good-versus-evil dichotomy, but the game clearly isn’t concerned with sending a strong message about the importance of balance or anything heavy-handed like that. It’s simply a premise that attempts to justify the over-the-top action and violence that define Bayonetta, and while it usually ends up feeling utterly ridiculous with its pervasive sexual themes, it did more to keep me interested than to deter me from finishing the game.

Of course, that same imagery of a woman who flaunts her exaggerated curves and strips naked every few moments with reckless abandon inevitably leads to some tough questions about gender stereotypes and exploitation. Perhaps the most pertinent question is: Is Bayonetta misogynistic?

That question isn’t one I can answer on a universal scale, but it is undeniable that Bayonetta is filled with provocative imagery and classic examples of male and female gender role stereotypes. What I can do is assess what I’ve observed in playing the game several times and explain how I came to my own conclusion.

The best place to start is with the character of Bayonetta herself. She doesn’t look like a realistic human being: she’s impossibly tall, her feminine features are intensely exaggerated, and she’s usually half-naked. Her hair is the focal point of much of her power, which — aside from being symbolically significant — also acts as her sole source of clothing. In the heat of battle, Bayonetta’s hair is flying in all directions, meaning the vast majority of her body is exposed. As the player — and as a heterosexual male — I found this discomforting. There’s a concept in gender studies (which I’ll admit I only have a cursory understanding of) that relates to the idea of the male gaze, a common theme in all kinds literature where women are placed in situations where they are exposed and ignorant of what’s around them while a male character observes in secrecy. The most famous example of this in film is Psycho, where Norman Bates watches as a woman undresses and is then murdered in the shower.

Bayonetta’s nudity isn’t confined to combat, either. The opening scene depicts her shedding her clothing on highly suggestive regions while moaning at an increasingly high pitch. Really, how many ways that can be interpreted? It’s utterly ridiculous. If anyone else had been in the room, I’d have been mortified to be seen playing the game.

So yes, Bayonetta is absolutely a hypersexualized experience. But is it misogynistic?

Bayonetta's hair-based outfit temporarily leaves her body to summon terrifying hair demon things, rendering her virtually naked in the process. If that sounds too weird on paper, you might want to just skip this game.

I think anyone with a conscience would be entitled to say so; there’s certainly enough evidence indicating as such. But personally, I don’t think it’s misogynistic at all. I think Bayonetta is empowering to women if only because she seems so acutely aware of constantly being the object of observation by male characters — and how she uses that advantage to deliver a swift and brutal death to anyone who stands in her way. Whenever a male character, such as Luka, makes a comment objectifying her, he’s always immediately punished for it or made to look the fool by her. She is in control of every situation, and the only instance in which control is taken away from her is when her friend — another witch — comes to save her.

Bayonetta is fully aware that she’s a sexual stereotype, and she uses that knowledge playfully as a weapon before brutally murdering her enemies. But it’s also undeniable that these overtly sexist images have weight to them, and as a result not everyone will have the same interpretation I do. I believe you’re entitled to interpret the game however you like, and it’s important that you’re aware of what’s involved in Bayonetta before you purchase it. Fortunately, there’s a demo available for just that purpose. But I do hope everybody reading this will give the game a shot and draw their own conclusions. After all, no matter what else you call it, Bayonetta is simply the best game of its kind. It delivers a much-needed shot of adrenaline to the character action genre, and it’s absolutely one of the finest games of the year.

Bayonetta does more than preserve Hideki Kamiya’s reputation for crafting the greatest games the action/adventure genre has to offer: It elevates him and the team at Platinum Games to the absolute highest echelon of game development.

Bayonetta was developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega.  It retails for a suggested $59.99 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The reviewer completed two full playthroughs and part of a third on the Xbox 360 version of the game and unlocked 41 of 50 achievements.

Recommended for:

• Fans of fast-paced fighting and action games who seek a genuine visceral thrill in a game
• Hideki Kamiya devotees who appreciate his trademark bizarre style and high standard of polish
• Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden and God of War fans looking for a fresh take on a tired genre
• Anyone doubting the creativity and craftsmanship of the Japanese games industry in recent years — Bayonetta proves there’s at least one studio out there with serious chops

Not Recommended for:

• Anyone offended by the ostensibly sexist imagery and rampant violence that characterize the game’s image; my theory is the game is consciously using an exploitative style to convey a positive message about female heroes in videogames, but your interpretation may vary

Read our policy on reviews here.

Sony came back in a big way in 2009. The PlayStation 3 had an unmatched first-party line up of titles that included Killzone 2, Infamous and Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time. While the console’s most successful title was Game of the Year award winner Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, the latest Ratchet & Clank was no slouch. If it wasn’t for Nathan Drake’s amazing sophomore adventure, A Crack in Time would have been the exclusive selling point for the platform last year.

The Galaxy's worst superhero, Captain Qwark, returns as the primary source of comic relief

Insomniac Games’ sixth Ratchet & Clank title, and third on the PS3, is a rarity. Platformers are an endangered species in this generation of consoles, and high-quality ones are even more difficult to find — especially in HD. In an age where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was the best-selling game of 2009 and made $1 billion dollars as a result, it’s a relief to see a high-budget title that you won’t have to turn off when the kids are around. The sci-fi epic is notable for being one of the most humorous and quality family friendly titles in some time. Good writing and voice acting have only recently been prioritized in major titles, and the writers and voice actors in A Crack in Time do a great job of being engaging and witty without ever talking down to the audience or going over anyone’s head. And fortunately, the story is never sacrificed for humor.

Similar to the recently released Mass Effect 2, A Crack in Time has plot callbacks that are recognizable to fans but not distracting to newcomers; typically they are brief yet humorous mentions of previous Ratchet co-stars and their current whereabouts in the R&C universe. We also get a few peeks at the backstage antics of the series’ comic relief character, Captain Qwark. One of the game’s highlights is the weaponized bodyguard Mr. Zurkon, who utters lines of typical action movie bravado. After picking up health, the hovering robot will exclaim, “Ha! Mr. Zurkon requires no nanotech to survive! Mr. Zurkon lives on fear!”

Site editor Aaron Thayer attempts to restrain Tyler after edits to his first draft

A Crack in Time’s story doesn’t punish those new to the franchise thanks to a brief prologue that acts as a story recap, narrated by the aforementioned Captain Qwark. The plot is surprisingly deep for the franchise, dealing with time travel in ways I’d sooner expect from an episode of Lost. However, the more complex story is unnecessary: Unlike other games that sacrifice their design for some semblance of realism, A Crack in Time doesn’t need to rationalize its experience with a better storyline because such things aren’t crucial to the game’s earnest, simple fun. There’s no sense to be applied to the level design, no explanation for why there are ammo crates strewn about, no reason why platforms are hovering where they are and no cause for a quest-giver to choose that one quest’s location. The only explanation for these design choices is because they make the game more fun, and thus won’t distract from the player’s enjoyment. A Crack in Time’s level design is so highly polished that it’s difficult to think twice as to the whys of what you’re doing, because the whats are so much fun.

Ratchet & Clank’s gameplay has always hinged on its arsenal, and A Crack in Time is no exception. New to the series are three “Constructo-Mod” weapons that can be altered significantly with mods found in the environment. Unfortunately most of the weapons aren’t exactly original, consisting of variations on series staples such as the Groovitron (a disco ball that inspires your enemies to dance instead of fight). Though to Insomniac’s credit, the weapon roster is extremely balanced. The amount of experience gained from combat has been perfected in A Crack in Time, and you’ll likely finish leveling your last weapon during the final battle.

Clank uses recordings of previous actions to solve A Crack in Time's new, and complex, puzzles

In another addition to the series, Clank has been given his own time-based puzzle segments à la a three-dimensional Braid. Clank’s puzzles are the most original aspects of A Crack in Time, and the most enjoyable. Some of the later challenge rooms are the best time I’ve had solving puzzles in a current-gen game since Portal. They force you to constantly keep track of which actions your Clank doppelgängers are carrying out. Clank’s sections are exceptional because they test a player’s abilities beyond combat and navigation, and I hope to see more of Clank’s challenge rooms if Insomniac puts out any DLC for the game.

What’s most remarkable about A Crack in Time is how so many different pieces manage to fit together without any of them feeling out of place. The classic Ratchet gameplay is streamlined so well that it’ll be difficult for Insomniac to develop another title without some sort of reinvention of the franchise to avoid feeling derivative, if another game is even made. There’s been speculation this may be Insomniac’s last venture into the Ratchet & Clank universe. If A Crack in Time truly is the swan song for the Lombax and his robot companion, the pair are definitely going out on a high note.

General Azimuth plays a large role in the game as the second-to-last Lombax in the galaxy, and a mentor to Ratchet

Fifteen years ago, Pixar’s Toy Story lead the way in computer-generated animation, and the question on many gamers’ minds afterward was: “When will games look as good as this?” A Crack in Time is undoubtedly the closest videogame yet to meeting that lofty goal. The gameplay animation is stunningly smooth, running at a constant 60 frames per second. The cutscenes are also some of the best I’ve ever seen, and are completely devoid of the compression issues common in other games this generation (likely thanks to the additional storage of a Blu-ray disc). The opening scene alone, which shows off The Great Clock environment, is amazing. And while the animated 3D smoothness of A Crack in Time is impressive, my favorite cutscenes were, ironically, the 2D GrummelNet intro videos for each of the weapons you acquire. If you’ve never played a Ratchet & Clank title, there isn’t a better place to start than A Crack in Time; It’s the apex of the series’ art design, storytelling and gameplay.

Gamers have been looking forward to Sony’s comeback since the launch of the PlayStation 3 and the rocky road that followed. Last year was a return to form for the company’s PlayStation line, driven by the streamlined PS3 Slim, and a robust software library. In particular, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time stands out for maintaining the best elements of a dated genre while innovating in ways few could have expected, or even paid attention to.

Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time was developed by Insomniac Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The game is available for a suggested retail price of $59.99 exclusively on the PlayStation 3. The reviewer purchased the game himself, and played the campaign to completion twice before writing this review.

Recommended for:

• Gamers starved for solid platformers
• Anyone looking for a deep, family-friendly title
• Those who need to justify their PS3 ownership beyond Uncharted 2 and Blu-rays
• You liked the idea of Blinx: The Time Sweeper…just not how it played

Not Recommended for:

• You just can’t get enough of those bald space marines
• Anyone looking for significantly new weapons to the R&C series
• People interested in online multiplayer
• You actually enjoyed the gameplay of Blinx: The Time Sweeper

Read our policy on reviews here.