Child Labor Laws, Matryoshka Dolls and Fart Jokes: A Review of Double Fine’s Stacking

Stacking is an adventure-puzzle game about the youngest child of a family of Industrial Revolution-era chimney sweeps fighting against the upper class. What separates this from other period pieces is every man, woman, child and beast is portrayed by a Russian stacking doll. How that design document was successfully pitched I may never know, but what resulted is one of the most original, entertaining and charming games I’ve ever played — possibly the best yet from developer Double Fine.

The protagonist is Charlie Blackmore, smallest of all dolls and considered unfit for even the most menial of labor. His objective is to rescue his family from a tyrannical industrialist, the Baron, and along the way aid others hurt by the Baron’s exploitative policies. The manner in which this plays out is far more entertaining than any historical sociology thesis would otherwise suggest. Charlie has a unique advantage: as the world’s smallest doll, he can stack into any other doll, thereby using whatever unique ability they possess. The abilities can range from single use (opening a door) to multi-purpose (flatulence).

The art style in Stacking is unique and polished — fitting, as it was one of Double Fine's art directors who led the project.

Stacking is exceptionally clever in its themes and story. There is no voice acting, and cutscenes play out like a silent movie. Though none of the dolls have any appendages and facial expressions are minimal, the animation is so superbly realized that it’s never a question of how a character is behaving or feels. Likewise, each doll is so meticulously detailed it’s easy to pick one apart from another even without distinctive silhouettes or physical cues. What is truly exceptional about the experience is how Double Fine takes such serious subject matter, including the plight of the working class and child labor, and handles it in a way that is both humorous and touching. It’s a testament to the design that Charlie can stack into a child doll whose ability is “Black Lung Cough” and an adult with the ability to “Fart,” yet the game never feels depressing or crass. More importantly, these abilities are useful in their own right.

The primary flaw in most adventure games is linearity. The stories and quests are designed in a storybook-style progression, never deviating from the narrative plotted out from the start. Stacking partially avoids this dilemma. Every quest has multiple solutions, every level has several optional quests (called “Hi-Jinks”) and a set of unique dolls for Charlie to find and stack into, some of which are required for quests and some not. For completionists, finishing the game with a ‘100%’ rating requires finding all of the above; finishing the narrative requires just a fraction. Early puzzles may only require one ability to solve but there are more complex ones later on requiring combinations. Despite a couple of the solutions seeming a bit obtuse, moving through the game never became a chore.

In a medium entrenched in annualized sequels and third-person cover-based shooters, Stacking is a game that is truly original — both in the story it tells and the way it tells it. Double Fine deserves praise not only for the creativity on display but how well constructed a display it is. Every stage oozes charm with a well defined art style and musical presence that creates a sense of place better than other titles featuring real locales and more human characters. Stacking is absolutely a game that deserves to be experienced, and may even inspire it’s own uprising against the gaming bourgeoise.

Recommended for:

• Adventure gamers and Double Fine fans who swoon for Tim Schafer
• An inspired, unique and evocative art style
• Marrying an interesting and underused period in gaming (Industrial Revolution) with a cheeky take on the plight of the proletariat

Stacking is published by THQ and developed by Double Fine Productions and is on sale now. It is available on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network. The version reviewed was on PSN, but the views from this review are relevant for the XBLA edition. It is available on XBLA for 1200 MS Points and PSN for $15.

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Billed as a digital palate cleanser of sorts, The UnderGarden is designed to be the anti-Call of Duty. With its rich colors, methodical pacing and mellow music, it’s clear that developer Artech Studios was trying to deliver something more along the lines of Flow or Zen Bound, where patience and relaxation are at the crux of the experience.

But unfortunately for The UnderGarden, that experience just ends up feeling like a one-sided exchange with the player coming up short. For a game that’s supposed to be about mellowing out and enjoying the ride, there were just too many technical, communicative and design-related problems for me to derive any enjoyment from playing the game. Despite its good intentions and lovely aesthetics, The UnderGarden is unfortunately more trouble than it’s probably worth.

While exploring the UnderGarden, you’ll bring flora to life and manipulate fruit and fauna to progress. But there’s a catch to all of this: The more objects that you’re actively moving, the slower your character moves. And because as you progress further into the game you’ll need to be manipulating more and more objects, the going gets slower and slower. This is ameliorated by a drag-and-release dash move, which the game fails to mention to the player in any way. Still, it’s rare that you’ll be moving in a straight line for very long, and the speed boost you get is comparable to what you’ll get from repeatedly clicking to swim around, so it ends up feeling a bit out of place.

The game’s use of color is pleasant, with a subdued, cool palette that springs to life in rich, neon tones. There’s a problem that arises from that, though: Because everything lights up when you pollinate it, it’s difficult sometimes to discern which plants are fruit-bearing and which ones aren’t. Because manipulating fruit is critical to solving puzzles, that created quite a few frustrating moments for me where I’d be circling through the level, trying to hunt down the one plant that produced the fruit I needed for the switch I was required to activate. An inconsistent camera compounds that frustration; viewing angles and zoom levels are sometimes problematic. Either the game will zoom out so far that you can’t see objects on the tops or bottoms of terrain or it’ll zoom in so close that you get disoriented.

The UnderGarden features dynamic music that generally works well, but it’s not seamless. When you encounter musicians — little creatures you carry and use to progress — they’ll each play accompaniment to the background music on their specific instruments. However, there are noticeable stutter points where their loops repeat, interrupting the flow of the experience. It’s nothing game-breaking, but it’s a shame that something as minor as a music loop couldn’t have been fixed for a game that’s so significantly focused on its ambience.

It’s possible some of these problems are hardware-related. In fact, this was originally going to be Aaron’s review, but he was unable to play the game more than a few minutes before it would crash. After corresponding with the developer, it emerged that there’s a known incompatibility with computers that have X-Fi sound cards. Because I’ve always been too cheap to pick up a sound card, I’ve been playing through the game without any crashes. But as I played more, I noticed the sound would cut out altogether for longer periods of time — nearly a full second at times. On the second level, the music died completely about halfway through, and nothing I did would bring it back.

The characters look cute at first glance, but they’re bland and even a little creepy. The musicians — monkey-like, infantile creatures — all have the same basic animation cycle. You’re able to customize your own avatar (a strange little spotted thing that looks like a cross between a scaly dolphin and a human baby) with unlockable colors, features, and so forth, but they don’t change the fact that the player character is largely devoid of expression. It smiles constantly and its tongue lolls about, and that’s cute, but that expression is unchanging. It’s the sort of thing that sticks out like a sore thumb when a bomb explodes next to it or it’s struck by an orb that siphons off its pollen. No matter what happens, it doesn’t change expression. It makes it really difficult to become attached to your character.

At its heart, it seems like The UnderGarden is trying to be a smooth, seamless experience that wants to evoke a mood rather than bark orders at the player. It’s a philosophy that resonates with me, and I think it’s a good concept in modern game design. However, The UnderGarden stumbles in attempting to build that sort of seamless experience of mood and feeling by failing to communicate exactly what’s expected of the player and what the player is capable of doing.

For example, the central hub world tracks your completion rating for each level, but it never explicitly states whether there’s a reward for blooming every single plant — a task that seems potentially very tedious. Without any indication of whether that’ll amount to any sort of explicit, tangible reward, what’s there to motivate the player to hug every wall and double-check every plant before moving on? That’s not to mention the other vague categories for completion. What happens if you find every special flower on a level? How do you unlock whatever the music note icon means? And try as I might, I just couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do with musicians. Was I supposed to carry them all to the end of the level? Can I bring them together at a specific point to make something happen? It wasn’t clear, and thanks to the game’s largely unhelpful built-in manual, I never figured it out.

As frustrating as the sparse in-game manual was, the lack of a full explanation of controls for PC players is just unacceptable. When the game first asked me to push the “boost” key, I had no idea what it was asking me. I checked the options screen and, as it turns out, the game doesn’t tell the player how to boost.  The only place you’ll see a “boost” button is on the Xbox 360 controller layout. Well, that’s helpful.

It’s probably pretty clear that I was kind of miffed with this game for the majority of the time I spent with it. However, I think it’s worth noting that once I plugged in a wired Xbox 360 controller, the game took on a significantly different feel. Rather than clicking repeatedly to gain momentum like I was playing a Diablo game — a control scheme that’s just baffling when paired with a game that’s supposed to be relaxing — I could simply tilt the left analog stick and press and release the A button to move around effortlessly. Of course, it didn’t do anything to assuage the grievances I have with the game’s structure and flow, but it certainly made the experience less frustrating to control.

What makes relatively wordless games like Braid, Flower and Limbo so successful is that they feature a subtle but clear means of informing the player of the game’s goals, boundaries and expectations. The UnderGarden is an example of a game that tries to sweep all those things under the rug and deliver a pure, immersive experience, but it just ends up throwing  the baby out with the bathwater. The result is a game that’s far more confusing to understand and frustrating to play than it needs to be.

The UnderGarden isn’t a bad game as a whole, nor is it a collection of bad ideas. It’s just an underdeveloped concept that fails to draw in the player with meaningful objectives or a compelling environment, and because of its fundamental problems it’s not something I feel comfortable recommending. Based on the time I spent using an Xbox 360 controller instead of a keyboard and mouse, it’s probable that the game could be more enjoyable on a console; regardless, the PC-specific problems were too serious and frustrating to deal with for me to be able to recommend this game to anyone.

Not Recommended for:

• Bland, monotonous gameplay that fails to immerse the player or build upon itself
• A general lack of polish, ranging from audio and art issues to an incomplete help and options section

The UnderGarden is published by Atari and developed by Artech Studios. It is available on PC and Xbox Live Arcade for $9.99/800  Microsoft Points. The publisher provided Silicon Sasquatch with a review copy.

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Recently, I’ve been making a push in my life to go vegetarian. There are a lot of reasons that I think it’s the right decision for me: I feel healthier, nothing has to die just so I can have a snack, and it lowers my environmental impact.

But nothing has driven me to despise meat as much as Super Meat Boy. I spent the better part of eight hours running a sprawling gauntlet stacked to the brim with deadly traps and implements of destruction, leaving a meat-stain behind with every step, jump, and gruesome death. Under my guidance, Meat Boy has been splattered, slashed, shredded, and vivisected a grand total of 1,431 times. It was pretty disgusting.

But that’s not to say it wasn’t fun; in fact, that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Thanks to its perfectly tuned controls, broad range of diverse levels and undeniable charm, Super Meat Boy is also one of the best platform games I’ve ever played.

Meat Boy leaves a permanent trail wherever he goes (or on whatever dismembers him) that serves a vital purpose: it shows the player everywhere they've been and helps emphasize dangers to avoid based on previous attempts

The game follows Meat Boy through more than 300 levels of finely tuned, run-and-jump action as he attempts to save his girlfriend, Bandage Girl, from Dr. Fetus, who is a fetus in a tuxedo-clad robot suit. So, uh, yeah.

These levels are split across eight worlds, six of which comprise the main game. Each level was designed to be brief and highly intuitive, and in that regard Team Meat succeeded admirably. A level is completed when Meat Boy reaches Bandage Girl by avoiding obstacles and solving relatively straightforward puzzles. Of course, just as Meat Boy is about to save her, Dr. Fetus whisks her away in classic Donkey Kong fashion.

What you’ve got here is some of the most well-designed platforming action this side of Super Mario, and there’s plenty of it to go around. In addition to a lengthy single-player mode, there are tougher versions of each level in what’s called the Dark World. However, Dark World versions are only unlocked when you beat a par time for each level. Most levels also have collectable bandages that are used to unlock additional characters. These characters — an ensemble cast from many of the best new indie games out there, including Commander Video from the Bit.Trip series, Alien Hominid and Tim from Braid — each control in a unique fashion and are generally fun to use. And the icing on the cake is an unlockable world dubbed “Teh Internets,” which is a repository for free new downloadable levels that Team Meat is committed to releasing on a regular basis. There’s already a pack of 20 levels available as of this writing, and they present a different sort of challenge from the rest of the game.

It’s impossible to overstate just how great of a job Super Meat Boy does at keeping the game flowing along. When your game is so fiendishly difficult that, on certain stages, dying hundreds of times isn’t unusual, you need to do everything in your power to keep the player from feeling frustrated and quitting. Fortunately, Meat Boy has an indomitable sense of progress that emerges from lots of little nuances and smart design choices.

First, there’s no penalty for dying: within moments of death, Meat Boy pops back into existence, meaning there’s only a fraction of a second between lives where the player’s not in control. This means less time wallowing over your mistakes and more emphasis on doing a better job. And the music, by Canabalt composer Danny Baranowsky, is up-tempo and well-suited to repeat listens. And although worlds have 20 standard stages, not every one needs to be completed to unlock the boss stage for the world. So even if you end up stuck on a particularly difficult level, it’s no problem to just move on to the next.

Essentially, Team Meat did just about everything conceivable to make a tough-as-nails video game accessible to as many people as possible, and they succeeded.

Super Meat Boy's warp zones are charming pastiches of old-school gaming that transport the player to 4- and 8-bit renditions of the game

If there’s one thing the average consumer has plucked from press releases and blog chatter, it’s that Super Meat Boy is a hard game. That’s an understatement. Yet for being so unflinchingly difficult — for example, the last level alone took me almost an hour — I never once got angry. (This is because Nick is a robot — Ed.) That’s because I was constantly reminded of two facts: The game was never at fault when I died, and each death taught me enough to remind me that I can do this. It might sound silly to talk about a game as an exercise in self-affirmation, but Super Meat Boy does a bang-up job at converting even the biggest slouch into a twitchy, speed-running platforming savant.

I can guess what sort of image just popped into your mind, but trust me, you want that to happen. It’s a good thing.

When I compare that to my experience with Ninja Gaiden (screaming and cursing), N+ (screaming and cursing at my co-op partners), or I Wanna Be the Guy (screaming and cursing at everything, because everything kills you in IWBTG), the difference is clear. Super Meat Boy does for the hardcore platformer what Mass Effect did for the American RPG: it refines it, streamlines it, and opens its doors to a massive new audience.

Yeah, Super Meat Boy is hard. When I think about it, it’s probably the most difficult game I’ve ever managed to finish. But with its clever sense of humor, impeccably designed levels and excellent pacing, it’s also a game that just about anybody ought to have a blast with. Just bear in mind that you’re gonna have to work a bit to make it through to the end — but as they say, nothing that’s worth doing is ever easy.

Recommended for:

• Fans of classic platform-based games like Super Mario Bros. — Super Meat Boy is tougher, but it’s a deeply rewarding experience
• Those battle-scarred, sequence-breaking platformer fanatics who thrive under the pressure of a ruthless challenge; the Dark World was designed to give your masochistic tendencies a run for their money
• Its massive suite of levels, winning charm, numerous clever nods to NES classics, and everything else that makes this game shine

Super Meat Boy is available on Xbox Live Arcade for $9.99/800 Microsoft Points for a limited time; after November 1, the price will rise to $14.99/1200 Microsoft Points. The reviewer purchased a copy for himself. He completed the regular world and about half of the dark world levels, earning seven of a possible 12 achievements.

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Captain Smiley has lost his touch. The superhero — a muscular, caped crime-fighter with a smiley face for a head and a talking, smart-ass, star-shaped sidekick named Star embedded in his chest — finds his comic being canceled after degenerating into an embarrassing commercial flop. In order to regain his former glory and pay his debts to the Twisted Pixel guys, who bust down the fourth wall with aplomb by bailing out Smiley’s debts, Captain Smiley is forced to guest-star in other comics to build up enough of a reputation and a financial base to relaunch his comic series.

Comic Jumper features a rich, vibrant presentation that’s bizarre, outlandish, hilarious, and wonderfully innovative. But unfortunately, actually playing the game is a whole other story.

Comic Jumper's levels are designed around frantic fight sequences with enemies approaching from all angles

As a reviewer, I try to avoid analyzing a game’s merits by breaking it down into its constituent parts: sound, graphics, etc. But Comic Jumper isn’t a typical game experience because it takes a pretty disappointing platformer/twin-stick shooter hybrid and dresses it up with piles of wit, personality and hilarity. And when all’s said and done, it does come out as a net positive — but not without some significant reservations.

Comic Jumper functions primarily as a platformer/shooter hybrid that takes place from a few distinct perspectives. Most of the game has the player controlling Captain Smiley in a two-dimensional plane, running from left to right while shooting countless swarms of enemies. In practice, it’s a little reminiscent of Contra in terms of the stop-start pacing, but there’s a bit of Geometry Wars-like strategy to how you’ll have to train your eyes both to follow your target to make sure your shots land while also moving Smiley to avoid danger. This sort of keen observation method becomes almost excruciatingly difficult to pull off in the manga-themed levels, where everything — including the background, characters, and bullets — is rendered in black and white. It’s a difficult skill to pick up for the post-arcade generation, and it’s certainly not something that anyone under 20 is going to be familiar with, but by the end of the game I finally got the hang of it.

Occasionally the game will zoom in a bit and Smiley will be relegated to melee attacks only. These are amusingly animated, but they play in an entirely one-dimensional fashion: you’ll either land a three-hit combo with the X button to knock an enemy out or press the A button to knock them back. In practice, each one of these encounters is indistinguishable from the rest, which seems like a missed opportunity.

Over-the-shoulder shooting sequences help break up the pace of the traditional side-scrolling elements, but they're also host to their own share of frustrations

There are also a few sequences where the action shifts to an over-the-shoulder perspective where you’ll sidestep and jump to avoid enemies while Smiley marches forward from encounter to encounter — again, similar to those base-invasion sequences from the NES version of Contra. While all of these modes function adequately well enough, they have a distinctly unsatisfying feel. For example: enemies generally seem like they should take fewer shots to kill, some enemy movement patterns are unforgivingly difficult to avoid, and the inability to restore Smiley’s health can lead to a sense of hopelessness, particularly because checkpoints are so uncommon.

I don’t want to blame a game for my own shortcomings as a gamer, but considering that I didn’t truly feel in control until I’d reached the six-hour mark, I think it’s fair to say that Comic Jumper could have benefited from an easier default difficulty or more checkpoints or weaker enemies, and ideally it would have included all three.

In all the time I’ve been playing games, I’ve never been as conflicted about recommending a game as I am with Comic Jumper. The starry eyed idealist in me wants to urge everyone reading this review to fork over their fifteen bucks without a moment’s hesitation to support a developer that has consistently taken huge risks and delivered games bursting with personality and originality. But when I look back at the majority of my time spent actually playing through Comic Jumper, most of the action was adequate at best and utterly maddening at worst. But when you weigh the good with the bad, Comic Jumper’s ribald attitude and the perfectly-paced banter between Captain Smiley and Star combine to make it worth the effort of actually playing through the game.

Each of the game's comic art styles is distinct, convincing, and bursting with inspiration — not to mention a healthy smattering of demented, wonderfully fucked-up humor

I think Twisted Pixel deserves to be commended for having the ambition to produce a game as substantial and varied as Comic Jumper; it’s a shame, then, that the core gameplay didn’t come together nearly as well as its sound design, art direction, writing, mission hub, full-motion video integration, unlockable bonus content, and even its stats screen.

If you’ll indulge me in a really terrible metaphor, Comic Jumper is like a sluggish, big-ass whale held aloft by a million tiny, dedicated birds. Despite the frustrating, sluggish, monotonous action at the core of Comic Jumper, it somehow keeps going thanks to the countless little careful touches that imbue the experience with genuine heart and laugh-out-loud humor — two essential qualities that are almost impossible to find in the average game.

Twisted Pixel has heart and intellect that any other world-class developer could only dream of. Once they figure out how to combine those qualities with a game that is just as enjoyable to play, they’ll be unstoppable. But at this point, Comic Jumper exists only as a moderate success — a mere glimpse at the substantial potential of one of the most inspired teams making games today.

Recommended for:

• Those who recognize just how rare and important it is when a game can actually make a player burst out laughing at regular intervals
• Excellent characterization and inspired interpretations of various comic worlds, all of which are as compelling as they are bizarre
• Fantastic production values, especially with regard to art and sound design, and plenty of Twisted Pixel’s trademark goofball full-motion video

Not Recommended for:

• Frustrating progression: each of the game modes feels underdeveloped and unwieldy, a problem exacerbated by an infrequent checkpoint system
• Gamers concerned first and foremost with the playability of a game; if you’re not digging the flavor of Comic Jumper’s presentation, you’re not going to find much redeeming value in how it plays, either

Comic Jumper is available on Xbox Live Arcade for 1200  ($15). A copy was provided for review by Twisted Pixel. The reviewer completed the game, earned 8 of a possible 12 achievements, played most of the challenge missions, unlocked most of the unlockables, and punched Star a grand total of 28 times.

Read our policy on reviews here.

The first thing you’ll see in Space Invaders Infinity Gene is a carbon copy of Space Invaders, the seminal 1978 black-and-white arcade classic. A swarm of aliens march in neat rows toward the bottom of the screen, where your tiny spaceship with its peashooter cannon fights to repel the alien invasion.

And then everything just goes crazy. The screen flashes to a blank white and this message appears:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”

— Charles Darwin

And just in case that message didn’t establish the game’s purpose clearly enough, it’s quickly followed by this proclamation:

“THE KING OF GAMES STRIKES BACK!”

And really, in a nutshell, that’s Space Invaders Infinity Gene. It’s an attempt to take one of the most important (and old) video games ever designed and to introduce change after change into the formula through a series of “evolutions.” It’s as fascinating to consider from an intellectual perspective as it is enjoyable to play.

Frankly, it’s surprising that Infinity Gene was ever made. Sure, Taito has made a few efforts to reboot the Space Invaders franchise before, but none of them has ever been as flagrantly bizarre as this one. That Taito was willing to take such a huge risk with arguably its most valuable intellectual property is something that I think deserves commendation, particularly because it resulted in a game that’s surprisingly relevant today. Considering that it’s the successor to a 32-year-old game makes it an even more fascinating case study.

The core of the experience is called “normal” mode, where you progress through 31 stages of increasing difficulty, length, and overall strangeness. What starts out as a two-bit homage to vintage arcade games rapidly evolves into an entirely different game, culminating in a wild, three-dimensional shooter. It’s a strange concept that the slow-and-steady approach of the original Space Invaders is thrown out the window in favor of twitch reflexes, rapid-fire attacks and a heavy emphasis on cautious positioning — those are the sort of things you’d expect from a Cave-developed shooter. But as is explicitly stated at the outset, the name of this game is change. And to my surprise, it’s one of the better shoot-’em-ups I’ve ever played.

Perspectives shift, enemies swarm, and weapons diversify

Progression is also handled in an interesting way. While beating one level opens up the next in sequence, there’s also a GENE meter that fills based on your score in each level. Fill that meter up and you’ll unlock something new: a new song or sound effect for the sound test mode, the option to increase your maximum number of lives, a new bonus stage, and so forth. But the most interesting thing you’ll unlock is a new ship, which basically amounts to a new style of play.

Each ship has its own unique weapon, such as a gun that automatically locks on to nearby enemies, a deployable black hole that sucks in enemy bullets, or a number of small drones called “options” that, just like in games like Gradius or Galaga, fire their own cannons whenever you attack. While not every weapon is balanced to be equally useful (I found the field-attack gun, which expands to fill the entire screen with your bullets, to be my weapon of choice,) each has its own applications and lends the game a much-needed sense of variety.

Besides the constantly-shifting perspective and visual effects, Infinity Gene also introduces clever new enemy ship patterns and boss fights at regular intervals. Each boss requires a distinct strategy in order to survive your encounter with it, which is a rarity in classic shooters like this. Across the board, they’re engaging and a fun, gratifying exercise in quick-thinking and manual dexterity. So really, while 31 levels might seem short when each takes a few minutes to complete, the trade-off is that each stage feels distinct from the rest and the experience never becomes stale. And fortunately, there are a number of ways to continue the experience long after you’ve completed normal mode.

Even the bosses are in a state of flux; this one builds more and more weapons onto itself until it's destroyed

Bonus stages unlock occasionally when you fill up the GENE meter. These are unusual levels that are kind of like deleted scenes from the main game mode experience. There’s also a challenge mode, which consists of 99 additional levels to complete for the hardcore shoot-’em-up fan. But the real standout is music mode, which takes music stored on your console and builds levels around the songs. In that sense, it’s reminiscent of Vib Ribbon.

To try out music mode, I ripped a copy of DJ Shadow’s The Private Press onto my PS3 and loaded up a few tracks in Infinity Gene. The result is a pretty cool experience where the beat is visualized in the background and enemy waves are generated based on the music. While your enjoyment may vary depending on your music selection, what I played felt like a fun, natural extension of the game.

There were a couple strange lag issues I encountered while playing through the game. Fortunately, these only occurred in the game’s menus and never while playing through levels, but they were consistent and significant enough that I think they ought to be mentioned. The first problem arose whenever I first loaded up normal mode after launching the game — it would seem to hang for about fifteen seconds before finally displaying the level select screen. But there was another consistent problem in the after-level score screen, where it’d flash the message to press any button to continue but nothing would happen for up to ten seconds. They’re minor gripes, and the game never once froze up completely, but they definitely interrupted the flow of the game.

Mutually assured destruction

I enjoyed playing through the different modes in Infinity Gene, but the broader experience is greater than the sum of its parts. It represents what’s sorely missing from so many game series that pump out iteration after dull iteration, fearful of taking risks that might disrupt sales figures or draw the ire of shareholders. Essentially, it’s proof that even the oldest games still have relevance, and with enough creativity and risk-taking, they can surprise us in ways we never expected.

The ending is clever and a little poignant, so I won’t spoil it here. But I thought I should mention this dedication that appears after the credits roll:

“To everyone who loves games
and Charles Darwin”

I’d say that makes for a pretty solid recommendation.

Recommended for:

• Everyone who loves games and Charles Darwin, naturally
• The fact that it stands as proof that innovation can be found within even the oldest games

Not Recommended for:

• Anyone who lacks the patience to conquer a challenging, occasionally frustrating, classic arcade game

Space Invaders Infinity Gene was developed by Taito and published by Square-Enix. It is available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network for $9.99. Additionally, an older version of the game is also available for iOS devices for $4.99 through the App Store. A copy was provided for review by Maverick PR. The reviewer played the game to completion on normal difficulty, finished about half of the available challenge levels and played almost every track from The Private Press in music mode, earning six of a possible twelve trophies.

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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

I vividly remember the first time I played Shank one year ago at the Penny Arcade Expo. It sticks out in my mind not because I was so impressed with its sense of style and good-natured, over-the-top violence, but because something about the game’s presentation tapped right into my old adolescent subconscious. After about thirty seconds of gameplay, I apparently forgot where I was and exclaimed the first thing that came to mind:

“This game is fucking ridiculous!”

To which a group of pre-teens looked at me incredulously and giggled while their father gave me a stern look. Oops.

Though it’s been a full year since I got my hands on Shank (and proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’m not fit to be a parent), those few extraordinary minutes were enough to convince me to buy it as soon as it was available for download. But five minutes of creative, celebratory violence doesn’t necessarily guarantee five hours of solid entertainment. Now that I’ve battled a frustrating control system, trudged through fight after protracted fight and experienced a muddled, relatively disappointing storyline, I’m left with a totally different verdict:

This game is fucking ridiculous…but it’s not all that much fun.
Shank is divided up into two discrete modes, comprising a single-player campaign — the real meat of Shank, if you will — and a brief co-operative campaign that functions as a prequel to the events of the main game. While each campaign has a few standout moments and some entertaining cinematics to tie the whole thing together, the same problems persist across the board.

Shank is steeped in a Robert Rodriguez-inspired Mexican aesthetic, chock-full of booze, babes and badasses. It’s offensive and unflinchingly politically incorrect, but in that tongue-in-cheek way that made Rodriguez’ El Mariachi trilogy so much fun. In fact, I’d always thought its gritty, gruesome atmosphere was perfectly suited for a video game adaptation. Unfortunately, that spirit fails to translate well to Shank, whose presentation comes across as awkward and inconsistent throughout.

Its cartoony visual style, with its bold lines and exaggerated proportions, leaves the characters looking kind of soft and almost cutesy (at least when they’re not gushing blood or missing extremities, anyway). That’s coupled with a story that’s vague and difficult to decipher, which makes the events of the game tough to care about. The result is a game that feels at odds with itself — at times funny, at others disgusting, with no real consistency to speak of.

The cast of the co-op mode, demonstrating the visual style of the game's animated cutscenes

Calling to mind great brawlers like Streets of Rage, Final Fight and Castle Crashers, Shank slices, saws, and shoots everything that stands in his two-dimensional path with bravado. Part of the game’s learning curve and long-term appeal comes from experimenting with the various weapons you come across and learning how to adjust your tactics based on the enemies and terrain at hand.

But the thrill of leaping onto bad dudes and creatively disemboweling them loses its appeal once the game’s control flaws become apparent. Dodging incoming attacks and canceling out of moves that you’ve begun to perform are tricky, if not downright impossible at times. Dodging feels clunky and imprecise when compared to something like Bayonetta or even Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and that can lead to a number of frustrating, unintentional deaths. It’s unclear to me whether the lack of a reliable defensive move set is intentional on the part of the developer or just something that didn’t get ironed out in playtesting, but it’s significantly detrimental to the experience either way.

Shank includes a variety of levels in both modes of play, including seedy strip clubs, dusty cityscapes and criminal hideouts in the jungle, but each level is relatively homogeneous in design. Shank runs to the right, fights a few enemies, and continues going to the right. Occasionally there are minor jumping puzzles where Shank has to shimmy, slide and swing across hazards, but these fail to change or increase in difficulty as the game progresses. As a result, they’re more of an inconvenience than a worthwhile addition to the gameplay.

An argument in favor of hormone-free meat

Each level is capped off with a boss fight against a lumbering, oversized powerhouse of a humanoid. While there are a few nuances to each battle, they all boil down to the same basic gameplan: dodge their attacks, wait for them to injure themselves, and then strike while they’re stunned. Lather, rinse, repeat.

The faults with Shank’s pacing and controls in the single-player mode carry over to the co-operative campaign, but the addition of some clever (and brutal) tag-team abilities helps compensate for inconsistent dodging and canceling abilities. While an online multiplayer mode would have been nice, there’s no question that playing an old-fashioned brawler is a lot more fun with a buddy sitting next to you.

Having another person to share the experience with made the co-operative campaign a great deal more enjoyable than the single-player campaign, but much of that might have to do with the fact that the co-op mode is significantly shorter. We managed to run it start-to-finish in just under 90 minutes, and even that felt a little bit long, especially given the game’s insistence on stretching each level out too long with few too many enemy encounters, then capping each level off with a nearly identical boss fight.

Shank is a perfect example of a great concept that fails to grow over time. After the first thirty minutes, you’ll have seen just about everything the game has to offer. It’s a shame, because those first thirty minutes are a whole lot of fun; however, once the repetitive nature of the game becomes apparent, you’ll probably end up feeling short-changed.

Recommended for:

• Ardent fans of Robert Rodriguez’ style of dirty, gritty Mexploitation films who are willing to overlook some frustrating gameplay elements in the interest of some raunchy, Grindhouse-esque fun

Not Recommended for:

• Hardcore brawler fans searching for the next high-quality beat-’em-up; a frustrating dodging and canceling system makes Shank difficult to recommend, especially with games like Castle Crashers and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game available on multiple platforms
• Friends who like playing games together — Shank’s multiplayer campaign is short and offline-only
• Repetitive enemy design and cookie-cutter boss fights
• Its awkward, cartoony art style, which clashes uncomfortably with the violence and depravity that define the game’s narrative

Shank is available on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade for $14.99/1200 Microsoft Points. The reviewer purchased a copy on PSN, completed the single-player mode on normal difficulty and also played through the co-operative multiplayer mode, earning eleven of twelve possible trophies.

Read our policy on reviews here.

Developers have come a long way since the abysmal, early dark ages of downloadable content. What started with overpriced horse armor has evolved into a product that can defy typical classification.

Is Case Zero a demo for Dead Rising 2? Yes. Is it a prelude DLC package that adds to the full game with character development and carry-over bonuses for the final retail product? Certainly. To the great chagrin of forum-goers and blog posters, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is but the tip of the iceberg for the industry, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the idea.

Welcome to the future of videogame demos. I hope the critics have developed adequate coping mechanisms.

From the looks of it, Chuck doesn't slow his truck down in school zones

Let me slow the hype train down a little bit now that you’re paying attention. Case Zero was a significant risk for Capcom and Blue Castle Games, the developer of Dead Rising 2. Gamers can act like an entitled bunch, and time after time the community’s bratty attitude coalesces when companies test the waters for the sake of higher profits. Even I was skeptical after the news broke that Dead Rising 2 wasn’t receiving a traditional demo; instead, the Xbox Live marketplace was going to play host to an exclusive campaign prior to the events of Dead Rising 2, and it would cost 400 Microsoft Points ($5).

It had finally happened: Some suit in a boardroom mustered the gall to charge console owners for a demo of an unproven product. I sympathized with the initial disdain, and it wouldn’t be until I played the trial of a so-called demo that my mind was changed.

Case Zero manages to succeed under an enormous amount of scrutiny. Every second the game is working to prove Capcom’s experiment on several levels: it persuades gamers to buy Dead Rising 2; it demonstrates that $5 is a legitimate price for downloadable content that many will consider superfluous; and it serves as a well-funded study that developers can analyze to decide if paid demos might become a viable business strategy. Despite its limited scope, Case Zero does an admirable job of converting skepticism into belief.

Chuck Greene fights for his life to keep the last remaining Justin Bieber concert ticket from rabid fans

The three-hour plot is extremely basic. A stripped-down small town on the outskirts of Las Vegas serves as the focal point for players’ introduction to Chuck Greene, a badass motocross racer with an infected daughter and little patience for the undead. The game is still Dead Rising, but it plays better than before. Melee hits connect the way you expect them to, and firing guns isn’t something to avoid in the sequel — it’s actually fun.

I was surprised to find that I don’t miss the original game’s photography element. Frank West, as fantastic as he was, won’t be missed (although he has covered wars [y'know]). Combining weapons in ways that would make Tim “The Tool-Man” Taylor blush is a better gimmick for the series than picture-taking. A handful of combo cards — playing card parodies that show which items are required to make a weapon — are available to collect, and the amount of demented weaponry in Case Zero alone makes me eager to see the full game’s arsenal.

However, there are still survivors to rescue and countdown timers to obsess over. I hoped the developers would alter or remove these aspects from the sequel, but it doesn’t appear that way. At least the survivors display a modicum of intelligence this time: during three playthroughs of the game, I rarely had a survivor get stopped and chewed on by a zombie — they will actually weave in-and-out of crowds and kill with their weapons.

How progressive of you, Capcom!

Everything people love or hate about the Dead Rising series is present in Case Zero; the zombie bees, the bowling ball kills, the day-to-day survival, the painful dialogue, the leveling system and the lack of a run button. Once again this is a game that will be as fun as people make it, an interesting concept that encourages players to craft a unique experience from numerous separate ingredients. I won’t say that Case Zero signifies a drastic change to the series that some will have wanted, but for me it proves Blue Castle Games has done an acceptable job of maintaining the spirit of Dead Rising while gussying up a few of its most glaring blemishes.

But I’m not really reviewing the game, am I? I’m reviewing the concept Case Zero is trailblazing.

So, this is my case for Dead Rising 2: Case Zero. Buy it. We gamers should encourage these types of projects, even if we have to pay for them. Where’s the harm in funding the development community to craft worthwhile demonstrations of upcoming games? I’d rather fork over $5 than waste $60.

Recommended for:

• Hesitant gamers not sure what to make of Dead Rising 2
• Series fans salivating for more wacky zombie mayhem
• Anyone with 400 Microsoft Points stagnating in their account: Even if you don’t want to get Dead Rising 2, Case Zero will provide hours of cheap entertainment

Not Recommended for:

• Dead Rising nay-sayers
• Those who prefer their action titles to have fluid controls — Case Zero is reminiscent of early Resident Evil titles’ blocky movements
• If micromanaging survivors, medicine for your daughter, weapon crafting, door-unlocking and item hunting in a limited time frame makes you anxious

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is available for a suggested retail price of 400  ($5) exclusively in the Xbox Live Arcade marketplace. The reviewer purchased the game himself and beat its story mode thrice before writing this review. He never put Chuck in a dress, if it matters.

Read our policy on reviews here.

While our Top 10 Games of 2009 deserve attention for their overall excellence, we can’t neglect this year’s other fantastic games — titles that just missed the final cut. Be it their charm or presentation, our Honorable Mentions were simply hard to forget. We now present a five-part series of articles, one from each member of the Silicon Sasquatch staff. Today, Aaron brings us our penultimate installment in this series with his list of honorable mentions.

The Maw

January — Xbox Live Arcade, Windows

Twisted Pixel Games knows how to have fun with its projects. Instead of filling a crowded gaming market with more of the same, Twisted Pixel created The Maw — a wonderfully original title that made me laugh without needing a single complete sentence of dialog. The Pixar-like scenario of an alien (Frank) teaming up and becoming friends with an insatiably hungry purple blob (Maw) made for a refreshingly heartfelt downloadable game. Little things like watching Maw express emotions — panic when it was burned, pain when it ate a bad creature and fear when it hid behind Frank — were fantastic visual treats, and demonstrated the development team’s knack for working in a cartoon style. While the game’s controls and light platforming segments were average, watching Maw grow to the size of a planet by the end made up for the less-impressive aspects. Charm makes all the difference in an industry that has resorted to provoking reactions through gore and realistic graphics.

Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II

February — Windows

If it’s a real time strategy game, I’ve more than likely played it. At one time I enjoyed only RTS titles; incessant in my collection of resources and conscription of soldiers, I would double click and hotkey my adolescent nights away. So I might be a habitual RTS player, but I’m ready to break tradition and openly thank Relic Entertainment for its innovative and decidedly non-traditional Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War II. Instead of micromanaging a base, the game granted intimate control over a squad of four unique (and upgradeable) characters. Dawn of War II is still a strategy-intensive game played in real time, but it feels more like a merger of Relic’s light squad mechanics from Company of Heroes with the intensity of a cover shooter like Gears of War. The RTS die-hards and Dawn of War I fans were somewhat upset by the big changes to a tried-and-true genre, but I’ll take innovation over stagnation any day.

The Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition

July — Xbox Live Arcade, Windows

It’s a good thing I first experienced the Secret of Monkey Island in its Special Edition form. While I’m confident the original would still have captivated me with its self-referential humor and sharp wit, it was simply brilliant to discover such a timeless story intact underneath the drastic makeover. I might not have grown up playing any of the classic LucasArts adventure titles, but I’m happy the genre is experiencing a period of revivalthanks in part to Telltale Games’ work on the Sam and Max and Tales of Monkey Island episodes. The Special Edition’s updated art was gorgeous, and fit with the series’ style in the opinion of a Monkey Island newcomer like me. The numerous jokes, gags and one-liners are relevant 19 years later, and the characters are memorable enough that I hope Monkey Island 2: LeChuck’s Revenge gets the same fresh coat of paint that Secret did.

Battlefield 1943

July — Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network

DICE won’t win any awards for shrinking the Battlefield formula into a petite downloadable package, but that doesn’t mean 1943 was anything less than a solid summer distraction. The concept of ground, sea and air forces clashing over control points to keep decreasing the enemy’s reinforcements is still the best option for multiplayer chaos. Other games’ online deathmatch modes have their limits, so I gladly accepted Battlefield 1943′s break from the monotony to laugh maniacally while I flew numerous Japanese Zeros into hapless Sherman tanks. And sure, the game had a meager selection of four maps (which as of this writing are still the only available maps), but at the end of the day I felt my money was well spent. DICE might be guilty of milking its franchises a bit, but it says something about the team’s capabilities and the strength of the core Battlefield product that I can continue to purchase the same game indefinitely and have an absolute blast, each and every time.

Torchlight

October — Windows

Is it unethical that I decided Torchlight would be one of my honorable mentions long before I even played the full game? Sometimes a demo is all you need, and Torchlight dug itself into my brain the moment I loaded its trial-sized world. Now that I own the full Torchlight experience, I feel much better about giving it a spot on my list. Call Torchlight Diablo Lite, but don’t say it isn’t addictive and well-designed. The art direction alone is worth the price of admission. Diablo may still be the boss in the world of isometric action RPGs, but Torchlight deserves recognition for its lighthearted attempt at being different in a sea of familiarity — and because it proves that, as far as gameplay is concerned, an expanded color palette won’t ruin Diablo III.

Why hello there, future purchase

What a week it’s been. The inaugural Gamescom in Cologne, Germany opened on Wednesday and guess what: Sony kindly unveiled the new PlayStation 3 Slim. Media outlets weren’t exactly surprised by the announcement, but I think we’re all glad the rumor mill has finally ceased its incessant turning about the damn console. Looks like I finally need to go get a PS3.

Oh, and a little event in Anaheim, California called BlizzCon flung its +10 Doors of Nerd Barricading open to the (literally) unwashed masses of Blizzard fanatics today, and so far we’ve already been made privy to the next World of Warcraft expansion, a new Diablo III class and StarCraft II being confirmed for release in 2010.

You know, as a gamer I like it when these big gaming-related events run back-to-back with one another. The ESA might as well wedge E3 2010 between next year’s Gamescom and BlizzCon to mentally and physically destroy every games journalist in existence. That could be Silicon Sasquatch‘s in!

An image so good it makes the prequels look half-decent

Aaron:

For some odd reason I’ve devoted a large amount of my gaming time this week to Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. I’m under the deluded notion that I can reach 100% completion in the game without going insane. It’s not a particularly hard title, it’s just tedious…incredibly tedious. Still, I have to hand it to Traveller’s Tales for making what’s overall a fun and goofy title. Just don’t ruin the experience by trying to do what I’m doing.

Other non-block-themed bytes I consumed this week were Fallout 3′s Point Lookout and Mothership Zeta — mostly for review purposes. Go ahead and check out each write-up for my impressions of Bethesda’s final two post-nuclear roleplaying simulator DLCs. Now, to be completely honest, I’m glad to wash my hands of the game. Hundreds of hours sunk into one title (that’s not an MMO) makes you feel way too involved. Strange, I know. I’m ready for Fallout: New Vegas, though. Get to it, Obsidian Entertainment!

Next on my gaming queue: Halo Wars, Shadow Complex, Batman: Arkham Asylum (which is getting many glowing reviews) and…more Lego Star Wars.

Doug's local sports pride is fantastic. But why are they called the Vikings anyway? Vikings usually burned and pillaged, I recall.

Doug:

This week has been busy — class Monday, finishing homework, quizzes and team projects for accounting on Wednesday, then a test in Finance on Tuesday, more class Wednesday, being social (bars, basketball and more bars) and finalizing some back-end paperwork stuff for grad school. I haven’t fired my 360 up since…maybe Monday. All I’ve done gaming-wise is play with the NCAA 10 TeamBuilder — it’s super powerful and, being the kind of person to toil over minor details regarding team jerseys, it’s right up my alley.

Above is a photo for the work-in-progress team I’ve created; the fun part will be editing the roster from head to toe. Thankfully, you can now do that through a web browser instead of on a console.

Nathan Drake/The Prince takes flight in Shadow Complex for Xbox Live Arcade

Nick:

With this scorched-earth Oregon summer winding to a pleasantly breezy conclusion, my gaming backlog is finally getting the attention it deserves. Having made my way through the wonderfully crass House of the Dead: Overkill and Namco’s doting recreation of PlayStation platforming classic Klonoa, I’ve almost finished clearing out my GameFly queue. I hope to finish Killzone 2 and Punch-Out!! this weekend.

Of course, that all depends on whether I can release my vice grip on Shadow Complex. Chair Entertainment created a game that went right for my Achilles’ Heel: side-scrolling, Metroid-style adventures. While I’m not convinced it’s the greatest game of its kind, it’s a pleasant surprise and a nice homage to some of the finest games ever made.

And hey, it’s always nice to hear Nolan North playing another character who looks an awful lot like Nathan Drake; maybe it’ll hold me over until Uncharted 2 struts in and dictates how I live my life for the next few months.