Test Your Might! -- Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe Preview

We're all familiar with the Marvel vs. Capcom line of fighting games, but did anyone ever expect to see Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe? Well regardless of what anyone expected, Midway is planning to deliver a fighting mash-up between their most popular cast of fatality-performing warriors and a group of tights-wearing heroes, and it's due to arrive this November.

I had the chance to play the game at Midway's Comic Con party in downtown San Diego, and regardless of the game's T rating and what some might call "unfitting" guest characters, MK vs. DC still feels very much like a Mortal Kombat game.

Members of the gaming press were treated to a preview build of the game that was limited to a handful of combatants and a few different levels to compete in. Scorpion, Sub-Zero, Sonya, and Shang Tsung made it on the MK side of things, and Batman, Superman, Catwoman, and the Flash were representing the DC Universe. Liu Kang, Kitana, Jax, Captain Marvel, the Joker, and the Green Lantern have also been confirmed as part of the final roster, but were unplayable at the event.

Before you even begin to play, you will notice that the game looks very good. The characters are rendered in great detail, making the two properties actually look like they belong in the same game with one another. Equally impressive background visuals, gradual costume damage, and very smooth character animations all add to the visual package.

But how does it play?

The game feels very similar to other recent Mortal Kombat games, but with a few welcome additions. First, the high/low punch/kick system has been done away with, and now each fighter simply has four striking attacks of any kind mapped to each of the controller's face buttons. Superman has three punches and a kick, while Batman has three kicks and a punch. The developers chose not to limit themselves, but instead to let the characters' individual fighting styles shine through in their basic attacks.

More dramatic alterations of the franchise's fight mechanics are the new "Klose Kombat" and "Free-fall Kombat," which involve sequences of specific, yet unprompted button presses leading up to character-specific super moves. When these segments begin, the player who initiates the attack must string together a custom combination of face button attacks, while the opposing player attempts to anticipate and counter them by preemptively matching the next button pressed by the attacker. The Free-fall Kombat includes a meter that builds up as players plummet from one level of the battle arena to the next, so long as their strikes are landing. When it is full, a quick tap of the right bumper unleashes a super-powered assault that inflicts heavy damage upon the enemy.

As for the more conventional portions of the contests, there doesn't seem to be a huge amount of variability to each character's technique, with few combos or long strings of attacks integrated into the flow of combat. "Pro moves" were interesting, however, allowing players to double up on their characters' special attacks with well-timed button taps. The effort is definitely apparent in all of the game's special moves, but the basic dance of combat could use some additional flair.

I didn't have the opportunity to play through the game's proposed story mode, where players' chosen characters must combat members of the opposing universe, who act as invaders of their own.

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe is scheduled to hit stores on November 4th in the U.S.

Pirates Could NOT Handle This -- N+ Preview

If you haven't had the pleasure of trying out the flash-turned-XBLA game N+, you can consider yourself at least slightly deprived. The game is a joy to play, thanks to its highly intuitive design and responsive, physics-based controls. Pretty soon, we'll all be taking that formula on the go, because SilverBirch studios is hard at work on a PSP (and DS, but I'm not here to talk about that one) version of the game.

I've had some time to run my super-agile, monochromatic ninja through a good chunk of the game's 200+ single-player levels, all the while taking care to avoid the body-splattering mines, turrets, missiles, drone bots, and any of the other dangers designed specifically to shorten a ninja's already-limited lifespan. What I've discovered from my adventures through these gauntlets is that N+ is one IP that seems tailor-made for handheld gaming systems.

The object of this platform/puzzle game is to complete many series of single-screen, two-dimensional stages by activating and escaping through each one's exit door. There is a smattering of gold thrown between all of the hazards that block your path, and the more you pick up, the better your score.

You can die an infinite number of times in N+, which is very fortunate because that little ninja will meet his end--in explosive, ragdoll fashion--a lot. The game is difficult in a good way, though, never setting you back further than to the beginning of the current level, never taking away any more than a second or two of playtime before starting you off again, and always making sure you stay addicted to playing.

In addition to the single-player challenges, N+ will also feature 100 cooperative and 50 competitive multiplayer levels, playable via a local ad hoc wireless connection. There will be a half-dozen different game types in this mode, such as Tag, Race, Domination (collecting gold reduces opponent's time), and others. These will really add to the core N+ experience by throwing that extra human element into the mix.

The biggest improvement to the portable version of N+, however, is the ability to connect to the internet and share the levels that you can create in the game's excellent level editor. The XBLA version of the game allowed players to build and play their own levels, but never to upload and download. This added functionality will undoubtedly expand the title's lifespan a thousandfold.

N+ plays great on the PSP, and the segmented nature of the game lends itself especially well to the portable platform. In only two week's time, this game will be hitting store shelves here in the US, and I can tell you right now that it belongs on most gamers' "to-buy" lists.

One Word Review | Soul Calibur

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at eight bit childhood (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Staccatoquipped

Best Of E3 2008

There was a lot to see at this year's E3 Media & Business Summit, and I did my best to scurry about the show floor, attend press events, meet with developers and publishers, and most importantly, play and see all of the upcoming videogames that the industry had to offer.

While there was indeed a certain amount of, shall we say, junk, on display at the show, there were also many, many highly impressive titles that I just can't wait to play more of in the future. It was difficult, but I've managed to compile a list of my favorites from E3 2008. Without further ado...

Best of Show:

LittleBigPlanet

Even with incredible games like Left 4 Dead, Resident Evil 5, and the ever-present Spore dotting the show floor in various states of playability, LBP stood out as the one that will not only be a joy to play, but will also increment the state of gaming toward wider adoption and integration into popular culture (and NOT by pretending to play virtual instruments while throwing frisbees to your virtual pet dog and cutting virtual vegetables on your virtual kitchen counter). This multiplayer "gaming 2.0" platformer is a combination of gameplay, creativity, social interaction, limitless possibility, and most of all, FUN, that is simply undeniable.

Best Console Game:

LittleBigPlanet
(see Best of Show)

Best PC Game:

Left 4 Dead

I love zombies, I love cooperative gameplay, I love intense action, and I love Valve Software. That combination pretty much seals the deal for my best PC game of E3 2008, Left 4 Dead. My hands-on time with this online shooter was one of the most enjoyable gaming sessions I had at the show, thanks to the nearly flawless Source engine and the unique interactivity between the game's players and the game itself. Hordes of enemies will always rain down on the group of survivors, but from that point the game unfolds based on the players themselves. My time was short with Left 4 Dead, but it certainly left an impression.

Best Handheld Game

???

I honestly didn't see enough to crown a victor in this category, so rather than make something up to sound important, I am bowing out of this one. No, I didn't get to play Resistance: Retribution.

Best Non-playable Demo

Gears of War 2

It's always difficult to crown a "best" game based on non-playable demonstrations. With your eyes and ears, one can only absorb a game's superficial presentation and conceptual makeup, rather than actually feeling how it all comes together. That being said, my choice for the best non-playable game of E3 goes to what was possibly the most visually stunning demonstration, layered on top of proven gameplay mechanics with a handful of added features and improvements.

Gears of War 2 looks incredible. The environments and scenarios I saw were some of the most impressive at the show, with dozens upon dozens of Locust on-screen, ranging from man-sized creatures to hulking behemoths. The flow of combat also seemed to be smoothed out a bit since the first Gears of War as I watched the COGs dip in and out of cover, taking out anything that posed a threat. Then there is multiplayer, which has been upgraded to support ten players at once over Xbox Live, and will be powered by an all-new matchmaking system. I'm ready for more Gears.

Antivirus -- Resident Evil 5 Preview

"Resident Evil...Five."

I don't know if Capcom's next entry into the long-running survival horror series opens with those words, but I do know that after playing the game in Capcom's suite on the second floor of the LA Convention Center last week, it's definitely one of my most anticipated phrases of the current console generation.

Those of you who have been following the game, watching the videos, and looking at screen shots can probably tell that Resident Evil 5 has a lot in common with its predecessor, Resident Evil 4. The game uses the same over-the-shoulder perspective that has become standard in more than half of the third-person action titles released since RE4, and focuses more on fast-paced, high-intensity combat than the methodical exploration and conflict avoidance of older Resident Evil games.

Also like Resident Evil 4, RE5 puts a member of the S.T.A.R.S. team (this time Chris Redfield) into a foreign environment flooded with enemies far more dangerous than lumbering zombies. This time the player is dumped into the heart of Africa--the birthplace of the Progenitor virus.

The demo at E3 proved that even in bright, outdoor environments, Resident Evil 5 still manages to keep players as jumpy as chipmunk on a caffeine high. Only moments after I began, the building my partner and I were hiding in was overrun by crazed, non-zombie locals who wanted nothing more than to see me lying in a pool of my own blood. These particular enemies didn't display any notably impressive tactical intelligence, but were fast, focused, armed, and...many. It seems that the enemy AI hasn't been perfected just yet, though, because the larger and more threatening executioner enemy became randomly stunned a number of times during the demo, making him an easy target for the lead I was ejecting into his face.

The game's controls are an updated version of Resident Evil 4's scheme, where the right trigger and left control stick aim (left trigger for the knife) and the A button fires. Context sensitive actions such as jumping through windows, climbing up ladders, and delivering stiff right crosses or size 13 boot stomps to the jaws of stunned or downed opponents are back for another go-around, while the pause screen-only equipment management is thankfully not. Now, players can switch weapons and use items without leaving the action via a pop-up item overlay. One of the biggest complaints about RE4 was the way players swapped weapons, so this is a welcome addition, but the necessity to press a button to select from the on-screen selection boxes may benefit from a slight re-tooling. It'd be far more intuitive to simply hold down the inventory button and release it while the desired item was highlighted. Capcom told us that the control scheme has not been finalized at this point, though, so there may be alterations and adjustments by the time we get the game home.

The game still plays very nicely, even eight months out from its March 15th release date. The gunplay is finely tuned and if the demo levels are any indicator, the environments will be incredibly detailed and interactive spaces. Enemies respond to specific wounds, falling to the ground when shot in the legs or holding their faces and wildly thrashing about when they take one in the mouth. When Chris is badly wounded, he will respond unfavorably, as well. Players' actions will be limited as he nears death, and the screen will darken and become slightly distorted until a first aid spray or green herb is used. I didn't have the opportunity to try out multiplayer during my time with Resident Evil 5, but this will likely be a very important part of the tag-team experience. Capcom promises local and online two-player cooperative play where one player controls Chris and the other controls Sheva, his femme fatale partner, in a jump in/jump out system that spans RE5's full story.

I'm very excited to play more Resident Evil 5, and expect nothing but good things to come of it. The visuals are stunning, the animations are already silky smooth, the audio sounds like it will be immersive and appropriate for the subject matter, and the gameplay is right where it needs to be. In the time it takes for the full game to hit store shelves, Resident Evil 5 should be polished to an incredible shine.

Supergood Or Superbad -- inFAMOUS Preview

If there's one thing the nation is obsessed with right now, it's superhero stories. From the X-Men to Spiderman to Superman to Batman, we just can't seem to get enough of these super-powered men and women in tights. While many videogame companies are capitalizing on this craze by re-creating the worlds of these preexisting characters, Sucker Punch is taking a different route with their third-person action game inFAMOUS -- they are creating a brand new, modern superhero origin story, and letting the gamer shape the star.

inFAMOUS tells the tale of Empire City, where a massive explosion leaves the urban center in shambles and effectively lawless from rioting and the elimination of the city's police force. Worse yet, the city is quarantined by the government, stranding the inhabitants in an unfamiliar and treacherous life.

At the game's outset, one resident, Cole, has been profoundly affected by the blast, gaining electricity-based superpowers for reasons unbeknown to him. The player assumes the role of that guy, and sets out to take on the evils of the city. While Sucker Punch does want the player to be able to play the game and shape the main protagonist as they see fit, the main plot will remain generally the same, with few radically divergent paths. Game director Nate Fox compared it to Mass Effect in that regard.

inFAMOUS has been heavily influenced by graphic novels (DMZ in particular), and makes use of gritty storyboard animation sequences to link gameplay portions of the game while moving the narrative forward. The graphic novel feel is very evident, and the artwork looks great.

When it comes to actual gameplay, inFAMOUS will drop players into an open world where the population reacts to and remembers the choices they make and actions they carry out. Based on how someone plays, he or she may be loved or hated by each of the city's individual groups and subcultures. Players can rescue citizens or chalk their suffering up to collateral damage; they can kill their enemies or immobilize/incarcerate them. These are the types of choices that will make Cole become either famous or infamous.

Empire City will be fully explorable, not only via the streets and alleys, but also by climbing up and over buildings, billboards, telephone poles, etc. The team's motto has been, "If you see it and think you can climb it, you should be able to," so expect just as much freedom as in Assassin's Creed, but this time with the ability to use all of your combat abilities from any position -- on the ground or suspended from the side of a giant neon sign. There is even a "vertical duck-and-cover" system in place that allows players to do Gears of War style pop-shotting over the top of a building or around the side of a vertical column they happen to be holding onto. From what I saw in the demo, this gameplay mechanic could be very liberating to players who have felt that their combat has been restricted in the past.

Cole won't use traditional weapons in the game, however, because until the cataclysm that befell Empire City, he was simply an average Joe with no special training or experience. What he will use are a variety of electrical attacks that grow and branch off into different disciplines as the game progresses. The choices a player makes come into play here, as well, because certain play styles will only have access to certain types of powers. The example Nate used was focused vs. area effect attacks. A "bad" guy might not care who gets in the way of his lightning bolts, but a "good" guy would probably prefer more precise attacks.

The city itself plays an important role in the use of Cole's powers, too. Most of the structures in the urban landscape are electrically conductive, allowing players to creatively use powers in conjunction with the environment. Additionally, the city's electrical grid acts as a source of power for Cole. After prolonged use, he will essentially need to recharge himself, and depending on where he is in the city, that opportunity may or may not be available.

Cole will encounter super-powered enemies throughout the game, although the developers were not at liberty to discuss characters and story beyond the simple introduction given earlier. One comment Mr. Fox made during the demo was very interesting, though. When asked about multiplayer, he responded with a very suspicious, "There's nothing announced at this time."

Could we see some super-heroic multiplayer action when inFAMOUS hits the PlayStation 3 next spring? It's a possibility, but I look forward to trying more of this game with or without it.

Fast And Furious -- Sonic Unleashed Preview

It's been a while since I've seen a Sonic the Hedgehog game that actually sparked my interest, but at this year's E3, Sega has given me just that. Sonic Unleashed is the first game starring the blue, spiked speedster in years that may actually break the mascot's streak of less-than-impressive videogame appearances.

Sonic Unleashed actually plays like two separate games, thanks to the implementation of a day and night theme and Sonic's new "werehog" ailment. In the game's daytime levels, Sonic Unleashed plays with all the speed and acrobatics one would expect from a current generation interpretation of the franchise's 16-bit glory days, both from an over-the-shoulder perspective and a throwback side view. At night, the pace slows down, and the focus is more on combat and exploration in a third-person action platformer style.

Even during daytime levels, however, the player is not simply racing from point A to point B as quickly and superficially as possible. There are sections where Sonic must slow down in order to perform some more precision platforming actions before throttling up once again. In the demo I saw, one such area involved jumping across a series of revolving platforms while avoiding spiked logs and then up through the gaps in a vertically oriented set of rotating discs.

When Sonic is running his hardest, there is a new "quickstep" action that allows Sonic some freedom to move laterally along the path. The team has even added quick time events to break up any monotony that players might experience while blazing through the game. Don't worry about failure, though, because we've been assured that there will be plenty of checkpoints throughout these areas.

During the nighttime levels, Sonic is transformed into what the folks at Sega are calling a "werehog." These levels progress much more slowly, and appear to share many elements with action games like God of War. Sonic will engage in combat with his massive werehog claws in-between jumping, climbing, opening doors, and picking up rings. The face buttons will correspond to different attacks, making it apparent that Sonic Team was really interested in making these portions of the game different from the other style.

There will, of course, be boss fights in the game. Sonic will encounter some of them during the day and others at night, again making for what I can only assume will be a well-rounded gameplay experience.

Sonic Unleashed will hit the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this November in the form that I saw at E3, with an independently developed version of the game coming to the Wii and PlayStation 2 around the same time.

Very Big Game -- LittleBigPlanet Preview

Coming into E3, LittleBigPlanet sat high on my list of most anticipated games for the show. After Sony's LBP "Breakout Event" and some hands-on time with the game, I can say with certainty that the hype is well-deserved.

LittleBigPlanet is an action platformer from developer Media Molecule that aims to take the "web 2.0" mentality and apply it to videogames via a piece of software centered around the player community and their interaction with one another.

The core gameplay is reminiscent of traditional platform games such as Donkey Kong Country, but with significant improvements for the current generation of consoles. Essentially 2 1/2-D, it is a side-scroller with just enough depth to the play field to greatly increase the possibilities for varied navigation of the game's environments. Physics play a huge part in the gameplay and level design, with nearly every structure being affected by weight, force, and momentum. Up to four players work cooperatively and in opposition to one another to complete levels that run vertically, horizontally, and every which way in between.

While the basic mechanics of LittleBigPlanet's play mode are enough to get gamers excited, it is the extensive customization and community features that push the title to the next level of "give me now."

Create mode gives players the power to build levels that rival those created by the game's developers. Any LittleBigPlanet user can adjust everything from the visual and audio components to the structural and procedural elements of the level. The background, color scheme, lighting, music, sound effects, platform construction, object motion patterns, and more are all determined by the person manning the controller. Manipulable gadgets and event triggers can be dropped into the levels for players to activate during play mode, and a variety of AI brains can be inserted into enemy machines to dictate those structures' behavior.

After creating a masterpiece in level design, or even a single object or sticker, the content can be "copyrighted," "hearted," sent to friends, or uploaded to the general pool of community submissions, where every other LittleBigPlanet user will then have access to it. Even photos taken in-game will automatically tag the PlayStation Network IDs of all characters in the photo.

The community portion of the game does not use traditional online lobbies, but operates on a social network-like tagging and search system. User-created levels are searchable by the tags left by other players, by author, by popularity, or by freshness to the servers. If you'd rather not be bothered with searching, the game will automatically present a collection of levels you might enjoy based on past "hearts," played levels, tags, etc., so you can jump right into the game from your pod, the game's hub area.

The extent to which a player contributes (sharing, tagging, commenting, and exploring new content) adds points to that person's overall LittleBigPlanet ranking, distinguishing him or her as an upstanding member of the LBP community. Trophies will also be a part of the game, providing added incentives and rewards to players.

Finally, Media Molecule technical director Alex Evans talked about the game's story mode, which is expected to last longer than 15 hours and feature huge boss characters with multiple forms, each requiring different strategies to conquer.

LittleBigPlanet is sure to impress gamers when it hits the PlayStation 3 this October. The combination of gaming, social networking, content creation, sharing, and the "two-point-oh" movement is going to leave a massive footprint on the gaming landscape. If you don't have a PS3 by the time this game comes out, here's your reason to finally buy one.

Fun Mother Flocker -- Flock Preview

Capcom had a little game called Flock on display at this year's E3, and I had the opportunity to stop by and try my hand at the charming physics-based animal herding puzzle game coming to Xbox Live Arcade, the PlayStation Network, and the PC later this year.

The premise of the game is simple: use your little flying saucer and its tools to direct a number of animals into the Mother Flocker spacecraft, earning points for meeting and/or exceeding your quotas and for performing other fun actions on your way to fulfilling those goals.

Simply chasing behind the sheep, chickens, and other animals will prod them along, but sometimes a little more effort will be required to either clear a path or otherwise make it possible for the animals to reach the Mother Flocker. A tractor beam can lift up boulders and other objects, which are then used to take out other obstacles or begin chain reactions, and another beam is used to flatten out high, impassable grass.

Animals can be lost to the hazards of the level very easily and in a variety of ways. Falling off the edges of the islands on which these collections take place, tumbling into random holes in the ground, getting eaten by vicious moles and other predators, etc. are all ways to diminish one's chances of meeting the animal quotas for a given level. The good part about that, though, is that the animations are funny, and that you are rarely in danger of losing too many of your herd because male and female animals can be mated on special blocks of land in order to replace lost creatures.

There will be other special abilities as well, such as brief flight for chickens or the propensity of male animals to follow females in a straight line (and avoid obstacles in the process). As the levels progress, the difficulty will increase, and the more players will need to rely on these sorts of skills -- and their own puzzle-solving abilities.

When all of the initial levels have been completed, the game has only just begun. The incorporated level editor and sharing system make for unlimited expansion to Flock, allowing players to download and try out the creations of other users anywhere the internet can find them.

To put it simply, what I saw of Flock looks like a fun-filled experience, and what I heard about the game promises to make it a lasting one. This modern-day lemmings will be available by holiday '08. Hopefully I'll be able to pull myself away from it more easily then than I could on the show floor this week.

Huntin' Season -- Deer Hunter Tournament

Atari was showing off a handful of games at E3 this year, one of which is a virtual outdoorsman's (is that an oxymoron?) dream. Deer Hunter Tournament is the next in a long line of sport hunting titles, due to arrive on the Xbox 360 from SouthLogic Studios in the fall of 2008.

The biggest addition this time around is what gives the game its name -- tournament servers. The developers have responded to past Deer Hunter message boards, on which players have been known to routinely set up competitions to bag the best of a certain animal in a specific area of the game. In Deer Hunter Tournament, this will be incorporated directly into the game.

Sponsored tournament servers are expected to be set up regularly throughout the game's lifespan, each with specific goals and even real-life prizes like gift certificates and outdoorsy products for the winners. The Atari representative demonstrating the game said that there will be in-game ads attached to the tournament servers, as well.

Each time a player goes out for a hunt, the environment will be instanced. Nobody is interested in hundreds of other people running around their hunting site while they're trying to be sneaky with the wildlife, so that's a definite plus for anyone who plans to participate.

When it comes to actual gameplay, players will have access to a handful of vehicles to get them closer to the animals and will be able to use different hunting strategies and pieces of equipment to improve their chances for success. Elk, moose, red stag, mule, deer, cape buffalo, caribou, cougar, wild boar, kudu, and grizzly bear will inevitably fall... in a bullet-time killshot cinematic.

Deer Hunter Tournament for the Xbox 360 will ship this fall for the reduced price of $39.99.

There Will Come Hard Bullets -- Fallout 3 Preview

I had the chance to meet with Bethesda Softworks on Tuesday at E3 for some hands-on time with the upcoming Fallout 3 for the Xbox 360, and although time was relatively short, I got a look at enough content to know that my eager anticipation for the title is certainly warranted.

For those of you who don't already know, Fallout 3 is a first/third-person shooter set in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC. Details regarding the story are scant as of yet, however, as our friends at Bethesda would prefer not to spoil the experience for gamers.

The game world itself appears to be quite vast, and is expected to be 50-80% the size of Oblivion's enormous map. Decorating the lightly rolling landscapes of the demo were the remains of urban and suburban infrastructure, ranging from relatively intact buildings to mostly dilapidated ones to fully blown-out and utterly destroyed husks of former architecture. Overall, the visual representation of the city and surrounding area really communicates the post-apocalyptic feeling that the team was aiming for.

Combat was at the forefront of my demo time with Fallout 3. I encountered spiders, wolf-type creatures, and a small squad of bandits on my way to the lone town situated in the middle of the desolate landscape. Judging from what I saw, if you're satisfied with first- or third-person real-time shooting and melee combat, then Fallout 3 has you covered. The controls are responsive and the action can heat up quickly. Players can hotkey any weapon, piece of armor, or consumable item to the cardinal directions of the d-pad, also. This is all well and good, but for Fallout fans or anyone seeking something a little more complex, there is V.A.T.S. mode.

Hitting the right bumper pauses the action and lets the player target individual body parts, each of which displays the player's probability of making successful contact. Each attack performed in V.A.T.S. mode consumes a bit of AP, and results in a short but sweet animation of your character assaulting his enemy. When a targeted attack doesn't kill an opponent, there is also a chance that it will cripple the body part in question and have a significant impact on the rest of the encounter. V.A.T.S. really captures the feeling of the old Fallout games, although I couldn't target my enemies' eyes every time.

I had to hurry up and get to town if I wanted to see any of the game's dialog within my allotted time, so I hightailed it to Megaton and visited with some NPCs. The system looks similar to the Elder Scrolls and old Fallout games, with many options in the tree and the ability to use your character's skills to your advantage. There is nothing terribly revolutionary here, but it definitely looks like players will be able to cultivate the character personality of their choice using the appropriate dialog selections.

Character customization plays an important roll in Fallout 3. Fans of previous Fallout games will be happy to learn that the game retains many of the specific design elements of earlier titles in that area. Each character will have the familiar basic statistics of strength, perception, endurance, charisma, intelligence, agility, and luck, as well as a long list of skills that can be leveled up independently in order to shape the individual play style of each character. From energy weapons, small guns, melee combat, and explosives to science, sneak, speech, and medicine, there are plenty of skills that players can focus on. Lastly, perks are back. They grant players bonuses to certain skills or provide other benefits like faster leveling or increased damage to certain types of enemies.

And that's about all I had the time to see in the world of Fallout 3. The game is scheduled for a simultaneous release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this fall.

One Word Review | Oregon Trail

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at eight bit childhood (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Perilous

Ever Closer -- Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath Review

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath is the follow-up (expansion) to last year's Tiberium Wars, in which our anti-hero, Kane, suffered bitter defeat at the hands of his enemies. Now he's back for a little bit of revenge, and he's got the Nod army, a brand new console RTS control scheme, and some hilarious live acting behind him.

Anyone who is familiar with real-time strategy games knows the basic premise behind Kane's Wrath: choose a faction, harvest resources, build structures designed for the production of other units, spawn your army, set defenses, and destroy your enemies. Very little has been done to expand upon the basic RTS formula, so gamers should be aware that this is essentially more of the same.

Don't be discouraged, though, because Kane's Wrath does address what has been the greatest detriment to the genre with a brand new and improved control scheme for the Xbox 360 version of the game. EA calls it the "command stick" system, where all of the player's commands are set up in a radial interface that can be easily accessed at any time with a simple pull of the right trigger. From there, the left stick directs the selection to any of the large icons, which each come with descriptions of that particular command's function. Compared to other console RTS, this method of control is very streamlined.

In the heat of battle, it is possible to forget all of the praise you may want to shower upon the game, however, as a few issues arise time and time again. Selection of units can be very simple if you want to a) select all units on the screen, b) select all units of one type, or c) select an individual unit. It gets trickier when you want to divide a section of your army into chunks and send them off to perform different tasks. Rather than an adjustable selection box or lasso to grab a portion of the units on the screen, one must highlight a single unit and then touch each and every desired addition to that particular squad.

Luckily, there is a relatively simple method for saving grouped units, but if you plan to group vehicles with infantry, be prepared to either have your faster units pull out so far ahead of the rest that they are defeated before the second wave comes, or manually rally the entire group to a safe position not quite within range of your intended target and wait for everyone to catch up before actually making your move. It would be far better if the game moved all units at the same rate when commanded in a group.

The inability to jump quickly to a specific portion of the map instead of flying over the entire battlefield is also a bit of a downer, especially when your forces are under attack and it would be most beneficial to attend to them as quickly as possible. Yes, commands can be issued via the wheel interface from any field of view, but if you don't know which units need instruction, then it does little good. Players will constantly be notified of enemy sightings and attacks, only to waste time unsuccessfully searching the map for said confrontation.

And there are many, many confrontations in this expansion. There are 13 missions in the main campaign, and the new Kane's Challenge mode offers a series of 10 missions for each of the three main factions and the six new sub-factions, for a total of 90 additional skirmishes. After that, there is multiplayer, which consists of regular mano y mano contests, capture the flag, king of the hill, capture and hold, and siege matches. There are over 50 maps to choose from, including new ones that have been released in patches for the PC version of the game.

Command & Conquer 3: Kane's Wrath is as good an adaptation of classic RTS action to a home console as I've seen, but still makes it painfully obvious that there are far better ways to control the construction and command of complex virtual armies. As for the live acting segments, they never fail to amuse me. I'm unsure whether that's a good or a bad thing, though -- it's like laughing at a horror flick that was actually meant to be terrifying.

One Word Review | Final Fantasy 7

This is One Word Review, a concept that I shamelessly lifted from my friend Creighton over at eight bit childhood (it's okay, he said I could). The idea behind OWR, as we like to call it, is that videogames are so often rated, reviewed, and discussed to exhaustion that it is sometimes a relief to read a succinct, definitive description of a game--a single word that sums up the most prominent characteristics of the gaming experience. That's the idea, so here goes:

Pivotal

Second Chances: The Virtual Time Machine

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that, at one point or another, everyone has wanted a second chance at something. It may have been simple, like a mulligan on the 18th hole of last weekend's golf outing, or it may have been something far more consequential, like another chance with your ex-girlfriend from years ago. In any case, it is usually something irreversible and lost to the past.

But what if we had that second chance? What if we had the power to go back and take another shot whenever we felt we could have done better? Speaking for myself, I know that I would certainly try many things a second, third, and even fourth time -- maybe more.

Now imagine retaining all of the knowledge gained with each subsequent trip through the Wayback machine. Imagine knowing all of the answers to your organic chemistry test, or when that fastball was coming straight down the middle of the plate. Imagine knowing, in advance, exactly how each and every situation would play out, and then being able to construct the perfect outcome just by changing your own actions.

Nobody has that gift in real life, of course, but there is a place where we all possess the power to control time and to have our coveted second chances.

That place is the world of videogames.

In the videogame world we play characters who have goals, encounter obstacles, succeed...and fail. These fictional personalities are forever toiling, yet never endangered as they are strung along like puppets through their pre-defined and carefully designed virtual existence. In the end, they can't fail, because their fate has already been sealed.

It's the unseen character in every work of interactive entertainment -- the player -- who really fails and succeeds. This burden can only be borne in the real world, and while the player himself is bound by the rules of reality, he maintains the ability to manipulate the virtual world from afar. Virtual history is infinitely rewritable with the power of the reset/reload button -- with the power of the second chance.

It is taken for granted how such a concept turns what is normally considered simple entertainment into a nearly supernatural experience. Individuals seek this sort of redemption on a daily basis, even going so far as to beg forgiveness for their earthly actions from insubstantial deities or specious intermediaries. In videogames, you can reverse the consequences of your own mistakes. When you can do that, you have essentially become your own god.

Fear plays a part in playtime motivation, just as in real life. There is always a moderate fear of failure whenever someone is faced with any challenge, but videogames offer comfort in the fact that the player is ultimately in control. A videogame never becomes completely insurmountable, and there is no point where a game can no longer be played -- prior portions of the game do not simply vanish once they pass. The worst case scenario is starting fresh from the beginning, not tossing the game in the trash.

Videogames always give you a second chance.

Rumble | Marvel Versus Capcom

The universe of Marvel Comics has been waging war against Capcom's stable of virtual warriors for over 10 years now. What better combatants, then, to feature in a Game Crush rumble than these two opposing forces?

The unforgiving arena that is Google Trends has finally played host to the ultimate battle between the two realms, and here are the results:

The Japanese giant, Capcom, is your winner of today's rumble. No Hollywood muscle shined through in this fight, no matter how many Marvel Comics movies have been made.

Our next Rumble will be the equally mashed-up match-up of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Comics. Keep your eyes peeled to see that contest in the near future.