Ten years after the destruction of Raccoon City, former S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member Chris Redfield is an agent of the B.S.A.A. This paramilitary anti-bio-organic weapons organization travels the globe to seek out and destroy Umbrella Corporation’s creations, which have fallen into the hands of terrorists following the collapse of the multinational pharmaceutical company. When Chris gets a tip that a known weapons dealer will be making a big deal in the remote African nation of Kijuju, he heads there to put a stop to it and learn what he can about the mysterious doomsday project known only as Uroboros. Chris is joined by Sheva Alomar, a local B.S.A.A. agent, and together they battle wave after wave of infected villagers, horribly mutated monsters, and even series archnemesis, Albert Wesker.

Resident Evil 5 - Front Box Cover

The core combat mechanics haven’t fundamentally changed since Resident Evil 4. The action still unfolds from an over-the-shoulder perspective, certain battles or cutscenes are accompanied by brief quick-time events, and you still have to stop moving to fire your weapon (though you gain a bit more mobility thanks to your newfound ability to walk sideways). Resident Evil 5′s slow movement and gunplay take some time to get used to, and folks expecting a run-and-gun game may find the action too sluggish for their tastes. Fortunately, this slowness isn’t really an issue within the game, because enemies are deliberate with their attacks and are better handled with a cool head and steady aim. The standard keyboard/mouse combo offers vastly superior aiming precision and control.

Regardless of how similar the combat in Resident Evil 5 is to its predecessor, the addition of a second character makes encounters feel quite different. Teamwork is necessary to take down more powerful enemies and bosses, and having someone to watch your back goes a long way toward keeping you alive. Furthermore, there have been radical changes made to the inventory management system. The immersion-breaking briefcase from the previous game is gone, and enemies no longer politely wait for you to rummage through your things because bringing up your armory doesn’t pause the action. Each character can store up to nine items, and as long as you properly organize your inventory using the simple click-and-drag interface, all of your items are only a single keystroke away, which offers an unprecedented level of accessibility to your gear. It’s often necessary to trade items with your partner, and keeping track of who has what at all times is crucial, especially during boss encounters.

Sheva’s artificial intelligence makes her a competent companion, though her degree of skill seems to rely more on her armaments than anything else. She is extremely good at using burst fire with a machine gun, for example, but she tends to waste ammo when equipped with a handgun. That said, at no point does she feel like extra baggage that needs babysitting (unlike some of the series’ previous companions), and she can hold her own in a fight. Sheva really shines when there’s someone else controlling her. Despite these conveniences, there are some frustrating hurdles that need to be leaped over before a partner can begin playing. Co-op isn’t Resident Evil 5 isn’t a survival horror game, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t learned a great deal from the genre. Tension is the central element of survival horror games, and in the past, tension has been conveyed by the gloomy settings, the sense of isolation, and the frustratingly clunky camera angles and controls. All RE5 does differently is convey this feeling through other outlets. Having a partner introduces new types of tension, because you’re forced to rely on each other’s support, find ways to manage both of your inventories during battles, and cover larger areas since enemies can appear from almost anywhere. Waves of enemies wax and wane with just the right frequency, and while the brightly lit environments make them less scary, they can be tough to deal with because they attack in large numbers and are smarter, faster, and stronger than their counterparts in previous games. Major encounters and boss fights are doled out with excellent pacing, and since you’re never sure what to expect around the corner, you have to remain vigilant.

Having two agents in the field lets you team them up to trade weapons or push dumpsters.

Having a partner to watch your back can save your life.

RE5 is one of the most visually stunning games available, and its huge variety of environments is meticulously detailed in every way. There are lots of large, open areas, and you’ll constantly be on the move through them since there are usually so many enemies. In-game cutscenes are top-notch (though sometimes a bit over-the-top), and Chris and Sheva are incredibly well animated, especially their faces. If you happen to have the right collection of equipment, you can also take advantage of Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology to experience Resident Evil 5 in stereoscopic 3D. The dialogue is often full of the trademark goofiness found in the series. The voice acting is competent, and when paired with the excellent facial expressions, it breathes a great deal of realism into the characters. Likewise, the fantastic orchestral soundtrack heightens the gameplay with everything from the low-key, ambient tracks that play during downtimes to the frantic, upbeat songs that accompany the massive boss battles.

Resident Evil 5 successfully builds on the foundation of its predecessor while taking a drastically different direction. Having a partner introduces new degrees of gameplay depth and dramatic tension that make the game much more exciting to play. Though the slower, more deliberate movement and shooting may not appeal to everyone, this sequel’s frequent large-scale battles and co-op play still offer a fun and exciting adventure.

Release: Sep 18, 2009

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Need For Speed: Shift - Front Box Cover

A fantastic racing game by they guys who made GTR2. Not as hardcore as that title, strikes just the right balance between sim and arcade. The cockpit is simply amazing, an extremely immersive and intense experience.

The graphics are the best I’ve seen in any racing game (may not surpass GT5 Prologue). Clean graphics with a great view distance, no blurriness beyond 20 feet. Excellent use of post processing techniques to simulate what it feels like when driving a race car at 100+ mph. The camera angle will shift as you go into turns or slam on the brakes to simulate your body movement.

Sound is equally amazing, you will hear every detail of the car, of the road, the car rattling likes it coming apart at high speeds, engine roaring and tires screeching that is so authentic you will feel like you are in the game.

Need For Speed: Shift - In Game Graphics

Has some bugs, didn’t identify my logitech dual action gamepad, had to input manually. Quick race feature seems to have some graphical bugs right now so I’m holding off on that.

Excellent racer, best in this particular class right now, hands down.

IGN gave it a Superb rating of 9/10.

Release: Sep 15, 2009

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DiRT 2 - Front Box Cover

There are a bunch of problems that basically make it a frustrating experience to drive, and a package that doesn’t offer a whole lot of reason to put in the time to progress in the first place.

Starting with the driving, which is easily the game’s most infuriating problem, each of the vehicles drive like they’re skidding on a surface of vegetable oil. They don’t take corners well, but at the same time you’re unable to power-slide around them like you can in the console versions, which just so happen to get this formula right (i.e. it’s fun). Here, you’ll have a hard time making turns at any decent speed, and trying to slide around the bend like you’d expect usually lands you in the gutter.

The tracks are littered with obstacles to run into. Do you like coming to a complete stop and then having to either reverse your way back onto the track or using the Reset Vehicle option? Neither do I. I’d be fine with these spots if you could avoid them, but the controls are so bad that it’s practically inevitable that you’ll find your front bumper making out with large rocks over and over again. Either that, or you drive so cautiously that the game gets even more boring.

The AI is complete crap. Not only is it unable to aggressively drive at all, but if it gets in front of you it will usually slow down to, oh, about 5mph in order to let you catch up. I understand that some developers want to use rubber-banding in order to keep you in the pack, but why would the cars basically slam on the brakes and wait for you to catch up? Come on, at least keep it somewhat interesting and make me work to catch up again.

The career mode is a mess. You can unlock cars, but you have no idea when you’ll do it and there’s no money to earn to manually buy what you want. Events and such are locked at the start, but you have no idea how many more races or medals or whatever it is that you need to earn to unlocked them.

In-Game Play

There’s a Challenge mode where you can partake in five different event types with four challenges in each (making for 20 unique events to beat), but most of them simply aren’t fun. The Air Time challenges, where you need to accumulate a certain total amount of air time in the time limit, is bogus because it’s best to just turn around and keep hitting the same ramps over and over. Oh, and also because your car has a tendency to roll forward in mid-air and then crash unless you take your foot off the gas when you jump.

The others aren’t too much more engaging. There’s a small minutia of fun to be had in some cases, but nothing here will grab your interest for more than probably 30 minutes in total. Challenges were a nice idea, but they could have been much better.

And really, that’s pretty much the entire game. You can race against four other people in Ad-Hoc mode, and there’s game sharing (which is nice), but DiRT 2 on the PSP boils down to little more than a poorly-driving game with a half-assed career mode and a boring Challenges toss-in.

IGN gave it a poor rating of 4.2/10 while Gamezone gave it a good rating of 8/10. I would personally go with the rating of IGN.

Release Date: September 8, 2009

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Batman: Arkham Asylum - Front Box Cover

The most compelling element in this Batman game is its seriousness. It’s not just a collection of cartoonish characters engaged in a battle of good and evil — the environments are all a little darker and the characters are a little more sinister than in previous game incarnations. The Joker has his share of menacing moments, and we actually felt the fear while playing though the trippy levels starring another popular Arkham patient, Scarecrow.

Batman’s known for having equal parts brawn and brains, and the game experience reflects that by deftly combining action sequences with exploration — not an easy balance to strike. The combat starts off simply, requiring a series of simple button mashes to activate the game’s free-flowing combat, where Batman delivers a steady stream of punishing kicks and blows until the fight ends, cueing a dramatic, slow-mo finishing move. You really get the sense that you’re kicking butt, as a superhero should. As the game progresses, the combat turns from an exercise in button-mashing to a more challenging affair, a welcome shift that requires strategic thinking, using a combo of hits, stun, counter and evasive moves (and even a quick Batarang flick) to survive.

In between brawls, Batman uses his special Bat-vision goggles (the game calls it “investigative mode”) to drive the story forward. Turn on the investigative mode to track someone’s trail by scanning in a related chemical compound or spot objects that might be impossible to see otherwise, including enemies in another room, weak walls, hidden grates (Batman crawls through vents often in the game) and special collectibles. At times, it’s almost too easy to overly rely on this investigative mode, especially anticipating enemies around a corner. It’s not necessarily a ‘bad’ thing, but it can take away some of the element of surprise.

Investigate Mode

The game is also built around a lite upgrade system. Score points by defeating goons, finding collectibles and completing missions, then use them to upgrade Bat’s health, combat, gadgets or maneuvers. Some upgrades will give Batman access to parts of the island or make him stronger, but there are not really enough options to create a truly customized experience. Toward the end of the game, the upgrades start to seem arbitrary. If we’re going to do all the work to get the points, we’d like to feel like we’re really getting rewarded for them, even as we near the end of the game.

Joker

If there’s any Dark Knight game worth going bats over, this is it.

Release Date: September 15, 2009 (USA)

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G-Force - Front Box Cover

For the majority of this 10-hour-plus game, you play as Darwin, the field leader of G-Force. There is a surprising amount of story interspersed with the action; unfortunately, it’s not very interesting or humorous.

When you aren’t stuck in overly long cutscenes detailing the fate of these adaptable rodents, you run around large 3D environments, using your jetpack to reach otherwise inaccessible objects and cracking your trusty whip to take down all attackers. Combat was the highlight of the console versions, taking advantage of a diverse array of enemies and some lethal guns to keep the fighting fast and fresh. But with your guns unceremoniously stripped away in this portable edition, the wild and wooly combat loses its exhilarating appeal. You need only mash the square button to take down most attackers, and though Darwin flips and spins with style, the lack of different tactics or weapons to play around with quickly drags these parts down. As you get deeper into the game, the appliances develop more advanced combat techniques, but this only replaces the monotony with frustration. Flying blenders are equipped with fast-moving missiles, and when you get surrounded by these adversaries, the game borders on cheap. Darwin has no long-range weapons and limited combat mobility, so trying to fight your way out of a room with projectile-slinging enemies is aggravating.

At least the platforming is a lot more interesting. Much of the game has you hopping across precariously placed cardboard boxes or gliding up to cramped air ducts, and the smooth controls make it fun to just run around the environments. There are plenty of hidden passageways with collectible discs, and though your only reward for finding these items is unlockable concept art, it’s still satisfying to try to uncover all the secret nooks. Because you have a jetpack on your back at all times, your jumps have impressive lift, and you can even use this boost on the ground for a speedy dash. The obstacles are also situated to take full advantage of your jumping prowess.

The hacking minigames give you access to the most novel aspect of the game–the ability to control those rampaging appliances yourself. During certain sections, you must command a razor-shooting paper shredder, an ice-melting microwave, and other useful tools, which provide the moments of variety G-Force desperately needs. Although there is little challenge in these sections, it’s a lot of fun flying around as the devilish blenders that have tormented you so often and using their missiles to take down a horde of intelligent machines. Savor these moments because there aren’t any other cool sections to break up the jump-and-whip action. There no boss battles in any part of the game.

Hacking Minigame

G-Force is able to stay interesting because the platforming mechanics are so well done, but a little more variety would have gone a long way.

Gamespot gave it a fair rating of 6.5 while IGN gave it a decent rating of 7.4.

Release Date: July 21, 2009

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DiRT 2 – Front Box Cover

As the sequel to the acclaimed racer of 2007, DiRT 2 is set to take off-road racing games to a new level, with benchmark tech, thrilling new race types, big event atmosphere, stunning locations, a new breed of off-roading heroes and a peerless line-up of super-charged speed machines. Promising a thrilling race experience and an extreme sports attitude that borrows from snowboarding and skateboarding culture, DiRT 2 will take players on a World Tour to diverse and challenging real-world environments to compete in contemporary off-road events. Specifically selected to deliver aggressive and fast paced racing, DiRT 2′s garage will house a best-in-class collection of officially licensed rally cars and off-road vehicles; covering seven vehicle classes and players will be given the keys to powerful machines right from the off.

Release Date: September 8, 2009

DiRT 2 - In Game

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