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Have you ever noticed how many reviews mention how much a game takes inspiration from another? It's no coincidence. The more cynical among us have argued that the majority of us have hit a brick wall in terms of ideas, and that we'll make them look like new ideas by making two ostensibly disparate ones and meshing them together. (That also applies to more than just video games.) When they say this, not all of them mean this in a bad way, even though some certainly use it and liken it to the downfall of our society. It's actually an indirect way of making something original, and that's good.

This is precisely what Darksiders represents, though I'm sure its looks have fooled quite a few gamers. When most of them saw the game, they assumed it would be another God of War-alike, given that they're so in-style these days. While it takes a little inspiration from that game, it actually uses another popular series for its main source of inspiration: The Legend of Zelda. This is actually quite good on the surface, since there aren't too many games that use that as inspiration. But once you get into the meat of the game, you'll realize that it goes quite a bit beyond inspiration.


Darksiders pits you in the rather large, muscular physique of War, the first of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. War is summoned to Earth, which is now in the midst of the chaos it's plunged into as armies of angels and demons have decided to make the planet their battlefield. There, War discovers, upon confronting Abbadon, that he's the only one to have arrived, and the seal hasn't been broken to summon the other Horsemen. The demon Straga then rises from below and kills Abbadon, and nearly kills War. But War is saved, so to speak, by the Charred Council.

The Council accuses War of bringing about the Apocalypse, and he is to be sentenced to death. That's until War demands that he be sent back to Earth to find the one actually responsible for bringing it about. But before he goes, the Council has a being called The Watcher, uh, watch over him every step he goes. The Watcher also has the power to kill War whenever he strays, or whenever he feels he strays, from his predetermined path. The Watcher also serves as a guide to tell you what to do next to advance the game. So he's kind of like this game's Navi, minus the high-pitched voice. It's here that War reawakens to a post-apocalyptic Earth, 100 years later.

Oh, and though you start the game with a plethora of powers, they're all stripped from you when you perish in the beginning. This is admittedly less Zelda and more Metroid.


Darksiders, like Zelda, has dungeons you need to explore for a specific purpose. Within these dungeons, you'll find items to help make it through them, and they'll also help in making your way around the game's overworld easier. Yeah, this all sounds pretty familiar. Well, the hearts thing notwithstanding.

There are also power-ups to collect as well, some that will extend you maximum health and wrath. Health is self-explanatory, but Wrath is used to utilize special powers to make fending off enemies a little easier. You'll only start with one, but more of them can be purchased with souls you obtain from enemies. Beating a boss will also net you a health boost, similar to...well, you know.

Yes, Darksiders actually lifts entire aspects of its game from Zelda. Sometimes quite shamelessly! Aside from the above, there are also plenty of parts that play homage to certain events that happened within many of the 3D Zelda games, especially The Ocarina of Time. And sometimes it's very, very blatant about it. Thankfully, this doesn't detract from the game's overall fun factor, and the quest itself is very enjoyable. Just don't be surprised if you constantly use the quote (or a variant of it): "This is just like that part in [whatever Zelda game]. Huh."


The game itself looks splendid and colorful, with a mix between cel-shading and CG. It's the perfect look for animating its comic book-inspired storyline. Though the story itself is enjoyable to watch in the well-directed cut scenes, it's rather predictable overall, barring literally a couple of twists. What helps sustain the story is the fantastic voice work. War is provided a voice by fan-favorite Liam O'Brien, while The Watcher features Mark Hamill doing a very close Joker impression. It also features the voice talents of Moon Bloodgood, Troy Baker, and Vernon Wells. Yes, that Vernon Wells.

Something that will bug the average gamer with Darksiders is the bizarre difficulty curve. From playing a lot of games throughout your life, you've probably become adjusted to them progressively becoming more difficult as you either become more powerful or begin to adjust to the mechanics and physics of the internal gaming world more. This game starts of a little tough, especially with the first dungeon and its boss (who, might I add, is an absolute pain), but it really doesn't get that much difficult. By the end of the game, you're too powerful for most and the enemies and all of the bosses. Some of them will actually struggle to get a hit on you, provided you've become attuned to the controls.


The world of Darksiders is pretty big, but how much time you spend in it depends on how much you're enjoying the game and how much you're willing to do. Feel free to run through the main quest in around 15 hours or so, but there a plenty of secret areas that you'll be able to access as you obtain more items from dungeons. If you want to find everything and explore everywhere, you can spend around 20 or more hours with the game.

What Darksiders takes its ideas from is precisely what makes it more appealing product. While its world may not be as appealing to some (depending on your perspective), it's a world that's open to much exploration, and rewards you with finding its secrets. It may not be as satisfying as a Zelda game, or even some of its other clones (like Okami, for instance), but it's still well worth your time. A stellar first effort from Vigil Games.

Anyone who likes puzzle games is always thrilled to find another one to play whenever a developer creates a new one, or decides to put a spin on an existing one to make it feel different. But really, this is never a good thing. You'll think back to the last time you found a new puzzle game to dig into, and remember how addicted you were to that one. And now it's happening all over again; your life and priorities are all at the whim of playing just one more game in something you can't put down. Well, that's just great.

And here we have a new one: Critter Crunch, a rather whimsical new puzzler from Capybara Games for Playstation Network and iPhone/iPod Touch. (Note: I reviewed the former.) This is the kind of game that takes a lot of cues from older puzzle games, and adds an interesting (and very hilarious) little twist. Said twist being, as you could have guessed, crunching critters. It all has to do with feeding the right critters to each other in order to make them pop and hopefully take their friends with them for chain combos. It's all very addictive, because once you po...oh, forget it.


The key to winning at Critter Crunch is to successfully feed critters so that they pop in order to fill the belly of your Biggs, the cuddly, rotund creature in the lower section of the screen shots. The best way to get items to fill Biggs' belly is to chain many of the popping creatures together for big bonuses. That's also good for clearing the screen, as sometimes it will become cluttered if you're focusing on feeding and popping one at a time. You'll only start out with three creatures which go from smallest to largest, and the smaller ones feed on the larger ones. That's simple enough, but your situation will definitely become more complicated from there.

If you manage to create some good chain combos, Biggs' son, naturally a smaller version of your Biggs, will appear. When he decides to pop in on either side of the screen, you'll have to feed him quick before he becomes impatient and dissatisfied. This is not as easy as it sounds, as when this happens you'll have to be concerned with the critters constantly dropping down and feeding him as well. What makes it even worse is that the critters drop down faster while you're feeding him, making rushing to him a rather risky move, especially later in the game. If you're unable to feed him in time, which will unfortunately happen when you're within a few dangerous circumstances, he'll let out a squeal of dissatisfaction. It's cute enough to make you feel incredibly bad about not making it to him. Ouch.


In addition to that, you'll also have to be concerned with clearing the screen of as many critters as possible before you become overloaded. In later stages, this will become a big concern, as critters will drop down much faster than usual and in bigger arenas. It's incredibly easy to maintain when you first start playing; in fact, an erudite puzzle game player could do it as second nature. But the game gets more difficult pretty quickly.

And it's here when you discover that Critter Crunch is one of the most deceptively difficult puzzle games around. You'll be cruising along perfectly fine in the opening hours, perhaps wishing that it would become a little more difficult to keep things really interesting. And like a punch in the face, the game hits you with a plethora of obstacles and stipulations to make winning that much harder for you. It becomes a tad sadistic, admittedly, but it's still plenty of fun.

You'll spend most of your time in the Adventure mode, but there are also Puzzle and Survival modes to spend your time in. The Adventure mode consists of almost everything explained above, with a few surprises that won't be spoiled here. It's a rather lengthy quest broken up by a bizarre and hilarious story about a crazy explorer who makes it his itinerary to learn everything there is to know about the critters. It's a nice break, especially considering how intense some of the later matches can be. There are also some optional puzzle and survival levels included within the Adventure mode.


The puzzle levels entail you having a set number of turns to eliminate everything on screen with the items you have. Usually, the solution is as obtuse as it can possibly be, but it's actually pretty fun to figure out the solutions to them. And it's always rewarding when you can find them without some kind of guide available. Unlike the adventure levels, the puzzle ones are less intense, instead being quiet, methodical tests. The survival levels, however, are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. These require fulfilling certain conditions within a limited time frame. (Ex: Making eight combos in 45 seconds, which is damned hard.) You may spend around six to ten hours completing the Adventure Mode, but there's plenty of modes to make your play time much longer than that.

With this game being so cute, it makes excellent work of having a beautiful color palette. Everything is hand drawn, which makes its visuals stand out wonderfully on a high definition set. There isn't much in the way of animation with this being a game only $6.99, but that isn't to say there isn't any. Capybara did a great job making it look vibrant.


The game does have a few little problems, however. As said before, the difficulty does ramp up rather quickly. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but the fact that it ramps up so high that it becomes a little more reliant on luck rather than skill is. And that's even after the patch that reduced the difficulty a little. Not to say that didn't help, as the more difficult levels have been put off until much later. Also, when Biggs' son comes onto the screen after a successful eight-hit combo string, he makes the fact that he's there very obvious by allowing his face to pop into the side of the screen. But when he does this, it will obscure your view, making a portion of the screen hard to see. The later levels have large, sprawling puzzle screens that have you keep track of everything, and a mistake through no fault of your own can be pretty frustrating.

Fortunately, its flaws are minimal compared to the sheer amount of enjoyment it offers. If you decide to purchase it, you'll find Critter Crunch one of the most enjoyable and whimsical puzzlers this generation. Just, uh, try to pace yourself so you don't become too addicted.

There are about a bajillion reviews for the God of War games on the internet. Each. No one really needs another one, so I'd just like to give my thoughts on both God of War games on the collection. I played through the original God of War back in fall 2008, but this was my first time experiencing God of War II, and I had a great time playing both of them. And the God of War Collection is the best way to experience these games. Well, until the 3D version probably releases in a few years.

The God of War games involve a guy name Kratos, one of the angriest video game characters you'll ever come across, on a long, arduous quest for revenge and redemption. He also apparently has a habit for extreme violence and threesomes, with thankfully more focus on the former. He initially seems like a vapid character aimed squarely at the 18-34-year-old male crowd, but he does have a good reason for his methods.

(That isn't to say he's squarely aimed at the aforementioned crowd, though.)

The God of War Collection features both games upscaled to HD resolutions, and they both look excellent as a result. While the PS2 versions don't look too bad on an HDTV, these versions scaled up to 1080p are enough to make you wish for more of them. The framerate also runs at a constant 60fps. I'm sure some people are going to complain about the HUD and text being stretched as a result, but it still doesn't look too bad. I can think of a couple of other games that could use this much more than any of the God of War games do, which are also published by Sony (hint: Ico and Shadow of the Colossus).

The God of War games are basically the culmination of a plethora of ideas from numerous other great games and placing them into one product. The combat and combo system seem like Devil May Cry-lite. It's definitely not as tough or intimidating as a Devil May Cry game, nor is it as deep; but that doesn't mean it's not any fun. Like that game, the fun comes in stringing in the most hits in a stylish manner to not let your opponents out of the vacuum you've sucked them into to not give them a chance to get the upper hand.

They've also been popular for having numerous QTE sections. Sega's Shenmue may have been one of the first games to incorporate this into its gameplay (along with Dragon's Lair -- Thanks Drew), but it was God of War that made them popular. You know this because way too many games have featured QTE sections in their games to "enhance the experience," and few of them have done it as well as this game. The problem with a lot of other games that have done it is that they don't implement them in the game in any logical way. In the God of War games, they're activated by a specific button and then shown to you afterward in a way that it's not a surprise. The "Surprise QTEs! Weren't you ready!?" angle isn't all that fun.

There's also a fair bit of platforming too, though that mimicry isn't as good as what's found in the genre. This is something that you can especially tell in the last few hours of the first God of War game. One of the main complaints of the game stems from the numerous platforming sections at the end of the game. Couple this along with the game having a static camera and you can imagine how frustrating it can be. Even worse are the final sections pillars where taking one hit means you have to climb it over and over again. Climbing it takes a while too, making the sections more frustrating than fun.

Despite any of its misgivings, it's still well worth playing. One of the most initially interesting things about the second game would be to see how much of an improvement it would be over the second game, however massive or minimal. It turns out that it takes things to a much higher level.

The second game takes a lot of the content from the first game and enhances on it, like most sequels would. In addition to some of his staple chains, Kratos also gets some new weapons. He also has new moves to beef up his arsenal.

I talked about before that the first game felt like how a Castlevania should feel in 3D, and how the second game enhances that with swinging a la Super Castlevania IV. I neglected to mention how the second game actually starts you with a bunch of powers and then figures out a way to strip all of them all from you, which is a trick many Metroid games use. Symphony of the Night also used this with Alucard.

It's not exactly a problem, but something that was rather disappointing with the first game was the lack of boss battles. There were some lengthy epic fights that really showed how well the development team knew how to implement QTEs to benefit the gameplay rather than merely accompany it. A shame there were only three of them. Thankfully, the second game has a plethora of them to contend with, some of which are a nod to events from the first game.

God of War II is also has more consistently great moments than the first game, thanks to the aforementioned boss battles and some stricter pacing. This is quite an achievement, actually, given how the second game is also lengthier than the first one; about five hours longer at least. Sure, the game doesn't get quite as difficult as the first game does (which is good in a few cases), but it does maintain a consistent and logical level of challenge.

If you like the God of War games, I highly recommend playing the first two games back-to-back just to see how much of an improvement the second game is - and hopefully we'll see how much of an improvement the third game actually is when it releases in March. You know a game has to be doing something right when many other developers take its ideas to incorporate into their own game, the most blatant one being last week's release of Dante's Inferno. I'm sure God of War 3 will make a mockery of that, but I'm hoping Castlevania: Lords of Shadow gives its best shot.

Folklore's premise involves absorbing monsters - known as "Folks" in the game's context - and utilizing their attacks in battle as companions. This sounds familiar.

Many of us have the unfortunate ability of glancing over a premise to a game and writing it off because of its ostensible potential for being passé, and it could be the reason why Folkore slid right under the radar of way too many gamers; gamers who could have appreciated the merits of what it brings to the table. There's quite a bit more to it than being a monster collector; what really matters is what you do with them once you assemble them, which adds an interesting and intriguing layer of strategy to the game's overall design.

The story is also pretty good, and it takes place in our present world. Folklore tells the tale of a 22-year-old university student named Ellen, who mysteriously remembers very little about her past. She receives a letter from her mother instructing her to come to the village of Doolin (which actually exists), a sea side village in Ireland. The letter specifically instructs Ellen to meet her at the Cliff of Sidhe. When she arrives, she stumbles upon a mysterious figure within a cloak. While there, Ellen also stumbles upon the male protagonist of the game: Keats, 29-year-old a journalist who writes for an occult magazine known as "Unknown Realms" (which was part of this game's original name when it was originally announced. They found some use for it, apparently).


Keats is called to the scene when he receives a distress call from an unknown woman, which he presumes to be either Ellen or the mysterious figure in the cloak. As the two of them arrive on the scene, a fierce wind blows the figure off of the cliff, the figure landing on the shore of the beach. Ellen, distressed by all of the occurrences, faints, while Keats ponders how to piece everything together for the story he'll eventually write. He is a journalist, after all.

A lot of mysterious, unexplained events have occurred, so it will be up to the protagonists to figure out the meaning behind everything that's happened. This will entail travelling to the Netherworld, the realm of the dead. This place can only be accessed from within Doolin, and it's a fantastical place where mystical beings and creatures exist - some kind, others malignant. It's the latter, known as "folks," that you'll have to absorb to make them act on your command while you explore the areas of the Netherworld.

Folklore has an unusual way in how it presents its story, and your mileage may vary on how much you like or hate it. While it sometimes has the occasional cut scene similar to most games in the genre these days, in both in-game and CG form, this game presents most of its cinematic scenes in a comic book-like form (or, "manga" form, for you nerds). It...really doesn't work as much as the developers wanted it to, and it feels like something that would have had a bigger effect if it was, well, based on a comic. In a fantastical game like this, it feels a little out of place.


The manga sequence cut scene as described above is, sadly, an unfortunate representation of its low budget. It's a shame, too, because this is the kind of game that could have really shined if its production quality was higher. But that's not to say it doesn't shine regardless. In fact, its environments actually manage to shimmer because of its incredibly unique art style; a kind that you probably haven't seen in a video game all that much. The outfits are a mix of contemporary-style dress and fantasy-style clothing to match whichever environment it needs to. Your characters don mystical clothing whenever they venture to the netherworld. The designs help it stand out, and developer Game Republic actually managed to handle the low budget thing pretty well.

The unfortunate aspect about not having many cut scenes doesn't come from the game needing to feel showy; it's just that it lessens the chances of hearing much of the voice acting, which is pretty good. Given how Folklore takes place in Ireland, the cast consists entirely of English and Irish actors. They all do a pretty good job, for the most part.

The music is also quite fascinating and diverse. The latter point isn't surprising, given how many music composers were involved with this game, which might answer the question as to where the budget went. Kenji Kawai of Ghost in the Shell and Vampire Princess Miyu makes a few contributions to the soundtrack (including the opening menu theme). Shinji Hosoe, Ayako Saso, Hiroto Saitoh, and Yuriko Mujoujima also contribute to the soundtrack. The soundtrack overall has a very cinematic feel, feeling inspired by movies close to the genre; most notably Danny Elfman's works.


The main gimmick for the game is collecting every kind of folk you come across. Each of the folks have an element that will assist you depending on what battle or path lies in your way. Some of them have different attributes as well; you can use a few for melee attacks, some for projectiles, some for gigantic explosions, among others. How well you fare in battles depends on how well you use each folk, which depends on what element your opponent is weak against. It's at this time that you realize how Folklore actually has a nice layer of strategy that it requires, which means it's not the button-masher it initially seems like.

It may not be a surprise that the game has monster collecting gimmick. Though Yoshiki Okamoto was responsible for overseeing the progress of the project, Folklore's creative director was Kouji "Cozy" Okada. You may know him, because he was instrumental in creating the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, and left Atlus for Game Republic about half a decade ago.


Folkore has a unique way in how you go about gathering your allies: When one of them is nearing defeat, their spirit will glow red, meaning you can absorb them. You do this by pulling their spirit out by using Sixaxis motions. Said motions depend on the monster you're fighting, and if some of them are a bit obtuse (and they will be), you can view a tutorial by pressing R3. What's great is that it uses the Sixaxis uniquely while not being too annoying about it. Well, initially, at least, because some of the more complex motions get a little annoying when you have to do them very often near the end of the game. Still, on a system where a lot of developers haven't the faintest as to how to use the Sixaxis in any meaningful way, this game represents a nice try.

It's not a surprise, but it's still a shame that Folklore is such an underrated little gem. Sure, Sony's insistence on leaving it $60 in America definitely isn't helping, but if you can find it for an affordable price (which isn't hard), you'll find one of the best action/RPG's on the console. And that's not just because there aren't a lot of them on a console, in a generation. Just try and find it cheaper than the aforementioned price.

Wait, was that the ending?  It can't be.  Wow.  Not only was this a short game, but it didn't feel like it should've ended that way.  I'll elaborate.

This game has been linked closely to Xenogears by both the creators and the fans.  Many of the people behind Xenogears played a part in the making of this game, and considering that it took most people between 80 and 100 hours to beat Xenogears, the 25 to 30 hours that it takes to beat Sands of Destruction seem like a gyp in comparison.  There don't seem to be any minigames either (none that I found, anyway), and any bonus side quests that exist are hard to find, since the game is largely linear.  It's so linear that the characters openly objected whenever I tried to go where I wasn't supposed to, to the point where they refused to take another step in that direction.  This applied to both areas that I wasn't allowed to explore yet and areas that I'd already been.  It's possible that there's a point or two where I could've gone back to explore further, but the game does a very good job at discouraging you from taking a break from the main story.

It's not like you'd have much opportunity to explore your surroundings anyway.  The world map is, as is the norm these days, a point and click interface.  With the lack of minigames and extra features, the majority of your time will be spent in battle anyway, and most of the rest of your time will be spent exploring the various dungeons scattered throughout the world.  Occasionally, you'll spend a few minutes in a town, but only long enough to purchase new weapons and armour, sometimes visit a smithy if one is available, and talk to the one important NPC in the entire city.

Those few minutes in town will mostly be taken up by the various plot events in the game, sometimes centered around the one important NPC.  True to the usual modus operandi of the developers, plot events can take a while to get through, but that's alright.  Only some of the scenes are voiced, and it seems random which ones are and which ones aren't.  Most of the voice actors seem like they were cast well, except for the occasional ham (one such character whose voice actor I didn't like was reduced to sand anyway, so it's all good), but overall, I had no objections with the voice work... that is, when I could actually hear it.  The music and spoken dialogue are not balanced well, and at some points, I could hardly hear what the characters were saying over the sudden swelling of music.  There is an option to change the levels of both in the settings, but gamers shouldn't have to do the developers' work for them.


Controls, like in Xenogears, are confined to the X and Y axes and their diagonals only.  The dungeons, however, seem designed for an analog stick or some other dynamic movement system, as opposed to the stiff movement present in this game.  There are times when your characters are forced to zig zag when taking curves, rather than just taking them naturally.  It doesn't help that the camera also moves a set number of degrees every time you move it, so you can't try to compensate for the movement system with the camera.  There is one thing to be grateful for: you don't have to make awkward jumps like in Xenogears.  It seems that they learned an important lesson from making that game.

It would've been nice to control the movement through the touch screen instead, because then it might've been a little easier, but there was absolutely no touch screen support present in this game.  It was like playing a PSP game, but with two screens instead of one.  In fact, it would be easy to throw away the dungeon maps on the top screen and just port the game to the PSP, if not for the battle system requiring both screens.  It's probably possible, though, to port it to the PSP without losing any of the dynamics of the battle system.  Square made flying enemies out of reach of normal attacks in Final Fantasy VII, but didn't offer any alternatives other than equipping long range attack weapons and using magic.  They did, however, show this all on one screen.  The same could be done with this game, except better, since a character has two different sets of attacks depending on whether an enemy is on the top or the bottom screen, so if ported to the PSP, a flying enemy should suffice to signify a "top screen enemy".

Speaking of the battle system, it will be confusing at first.  It seems like, the way it's set up, timed button presses are important.  They are, but only to a point.  To chain together your attacks, you do have to select your next attack right after the previous one ends, or else you lose out on a large chain bonus to your CP; CP are points you can spend to level up your various attacks and spells.  Also, you can only have up to six BP in a turn; BP are the points used to determine how many times you can attack.  Confused yet?  There's more: your first critical hit on the enemy will add one BP to your total for your turn, and ten consecutive hits upon the enemy will add another BP.  Your various skills can hit more than once, and once you've earned enough CP, you can level up your skills and set them up in chains to get the most out of your BP, so it's not like you're at a complete disadvantage.  Certain characters, though, are worse off than others.  While your best characters can set up a chain of 12 hits on one BP, there's another character that can only go up to 7.  This wouldn't be too bad, if the developers had stopped there.  Apparently, certain characters can have their morale affected by the story, rendering them suddenly useless in battle.  Ordinarily, a character receives 2 BP at the start of their turn, which is more than enough to make up for a deficiency in hits.  But a depressed character becomes less effective in battle and only receives 1 BP at the start of their turn.  If the character only has a chain that hits 7 times, then they'd better hope they can crit on their first turn, or else they're going to be pretty useless against a boss.  There is nothing you can do to change this, either.  The developers have apparently decided that certain characters must be rendered completely useless during certain sequences in the game.  It does help that sometimes, characters will have high morale and therefore receive 3 BP; it doesn't help that the Quip system adds an extra layer of luck into the battle system.  Occasionally, your character will spout a line that somehow affects the outcome of battle.  Either they'll gain an extra BP, or they'll boost their defense.  At the end of battle, gold or experience may be doubled.  And so on.  There's no way to increase how often these quips activate, and it seems like each quip has its own frequency associated with it: an experience doubling quip will definitely not activate nearly as often as a gold doubling quip, for example.


Regular enemies in battle aren't too bad.  Bosses, on the other hand, can be hell if given a chance.  They possess skills that are mysterious and apparently boost their stats and abilities.  This seems to extend to their BP, which is on a hidden meter and I swear it goes to eleven.  Occasionally, bosses will suddenly draw upon an infinite pool of BP to completely fill their meter up, spam skills that delay your characters enough that you'll die before you can take another turn, and in extreme cases, they'll start hitting characters one at a time and keep going until they kill the character (which should ordinarily end their turn), then will move on to the next character until you've suffered a complete party wipe, often from as much as full health, especially if you've just healed everyone.  The only thing I can think of is that maybe the speed boosting skills that bosses use can stack, but there's no indication that this is the case.

When it comes to music, the game seems to straddle the line between modern full orchestral compositions and old school style tunes that you can actually make out.  Although you might not end up humming the songs from the game, they do have tunes you can hum.  Although I know that Yasunori Mitsuda composed some of the music for this game, it seems like he's long over his Celtic period, so I only partially recognized his style.  In a way, it helped to distance myself from any expectations I would've had for the music.

To further the comparison with Xenogears, I would say that the music was a little more light hearted this time around, especially near the beginning.  But then again, there was a lot less Man Vs. Everyone in this game, and although the theme of the game is world destruction, the story treats it with a more romantic angle than most would.  Although you fought a bunch of enemies that were oppressing your race, none of them really stood out as a big bad, so there wasn't an epic feel to the game either.  The majority of the game was spent in a Man Vs. Himself mindset, kind of like if Fei from Xenogears was allowed to be angsty about Id for the entire game.  The main character, Kyrie, finds out in the first hour or so that he's a weapon meant to destroy the world.  He's activated by a mysterious bell during a confrontation, and his power goes out of control and reduces the nearby landscape and all the people within to sand.  From there, he is forced to join an organization whose goal is to destroy the world, and finds himself nursing a crush on his female companion.  The character that ends up being the bad guy is subtle and doesn't really count since he's not visibly hounding you during the game.  He doesn't lift his hand against you, nor does he send any minions to kill you.  In fact, while most RPGs put your characters on the defensive for the majority of the game, Sands of Destruction breaks the mold by having your characters seek out and kill most of the powerful enemies present in the world.  Also unlike most games, recurring villains are very scarce.  There was only one that I could recall, and you dispatch him for good about a third of the way into the game.

When it comes to graphics, the designers went with the style they employed in Xenogears, placing low-detail sprites in a 3-D environment.  If I didn't know better, I'd suspect that these sprites were leftover from Xenogears, since they're about the same quality.  Although I've seen better on the DS, the graphics do get the job done, especially since most of the game is spent in a rather drab, sandy world anyway with four continents themed after the seasons.  I guess if the winter continent is perpetually winter and the summer continent is perpetually summer, then the autumn and spring continents are always autumn and spring?  However that works.  Meanwhile, you sail around the world (presumably, since it's point and click) in a ship that somehow sails upon the sand.  And this is no ordinary sand.  It's sand that magically will not clog engines, unless it's required by the plot that it does.

By the time I was a few hours into this game, it was clear that, although there were some similarities to earlier games made by the same team, I was playing something completely new and different.  Although there were a few missteps (sound balance needing work, occasional unfair advantage of bosses in battle, initially confusing battle system, too linear story), I would say this was an enjoyable 30 hours.  Take the above criticisms with a grain of salt.  Chances are, anyone who plays this game will enjoy their experience as much as I did.

Screens stolen shamelessly from RPGamer.com

You can't blame some of the more cynical people who like any form of entertainment for disliking sequels. After all, they've become the foundation various industries are based on. But it's a practice that's easier to dislike more than usual these days thanks to more and more of them being made to play it a little too safe. But sometimes, it's worth it to give them a free pass; developers have the potential to make another game in the franchise (because everything is a franchise these days) that's even more superlative than the original title. One that refines the ideas found in the previous game; or games.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the games that epitomizes the idea that sequels are perfectly OK as long as the resulting product contains elements to better the franchise. Sometimes significantly. Not to say that it will make it too hard to go back to Uncharted: Drake's Fortune for another replay, but the sequel really does a great job of bringing to light the pacing (it slows up around half of the way through) and predictability (oh, why here's a big room. I wonder what's going to happen in here...?) issues it actually had. Needless to say, the sequel is the original's undoing, but more in a Spider-Man movie rather than X-Men movie style.

You can really tell that Naughty Dog listened to fans when it came to refining Uncharted 2. An aspect that makes the experience enthralling from start to finish is its sheer unpredictability factor. Uncharted had a problem where every time you walked into a large, sprawling area full of cover, you knew that the entire situation would result in a hail of gunfire. In this sense, the second game is much more unpredictable and has tighter pacing. You'd be surprised at how much more this one feels like an adventure in usurping pre-established video game conventions with its set pieces.

Said set pieces are also much more involving and intense this time around. Rarely does the same type of skirmish play out multiple times, as this game forces the player to use the environment a lot more. Sometimes, the environment can act as a hindrance from allowing you to complete your task of focusing your complete attention on taking out the opposition. Not to say this is a problem. In fact, it's the exact opposite, as it gives a new dynamic to the combat itself. Also, don't be surprised if you find that you can predict where some of the skirmishes will take place.

The gunfights themselves are also more intense because of the enemy A.I.'s actions. In Drake's Fortune, the enemies were mostly smart about how they wanted to take you out, but some of them occasionally got the bright idea of trying to shoot you while standing in a wide open space, which is pretty much an invite to shoot them for an easy target. That rarely happens this time around, as your targets will use much smarter tactics to work together and stick behind the cover to try and bring you out of hiding. Usually with a grenade. Though there will still be a few times when a regular opponent will come to try and attack you headfirst while you're wielding a shotgun, but those instances are surprisingly minimal. This is also not helpful for them since your more devastating melee attacks are much easier to perform than in the first game.

Unlike the first game, this one also has some stealth sections. And they're surprisingly good! Usually, when a game whose expertise isn't stealth, the sections involving that will be arbitrary and frustrating experiences due to the controls not being designed around that (see The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Beyond Good & Evil for good examples). But here, they're actually well designed whenever they come up, and you can also choose to eliminate your enemies silently if you don't feel like, or don't have enough ammo to, engage in a gun fight.

You'll also occasionally have help when fighting a bunch of enemies. While your companions are nowhere near as effective as you - they'll never use anything other than a pistol, never melee attack, and never use grenades -- they can still hold their own. And, unlike you, they can't die in battle (they'll only be stunned temporarily by explosions), so they'll be there for the long run.

The story is also very well told, and definitely bests the first game's in making it feel even more Indiana Jones-inspired than it was originally. This time around, Nathan Drake, along with new character Chloe Frazer and other returning companions, are out to find the secrets to what befell the lost fleet of Marco Polo. There is definitely treasure involved, which is the logical explanation as to why there are a bunch of other guys chasing you down for it.

Something that helps with the game's vivacity is how the characters interact in and out of cut scenes. There's always been a looming fear of the uncanny valley in newer games for a while, but this game manages to avoid it due to how well the characters emote through animation and voice. The voice acting present outside of cut scenes also really makes you feel like you're part of an adventure. You might be surprised with how much this immerses you in the game; it actually does a better job at this than the first game.

Speaking of the voice talent, it's exceptionally good and well delivered. Though Nolan North has received far, far more exposure since the time he voiced Drake in the first game, this is still where he fits best. (Not to say the guy isn't capable of vocal range.) Anyone who voiced specific characters in the first game returns for this game, and Australian actress Claudia Black (of Farscape fame) does a great job as Chloe. The story itself is right on the same level as a fun-yet-suspenseful action movie. Yeah, it's totally brainless, but who needs that when the resulting work is perfectly enjoyable?

The music is also pretty good, whenever it decides to play - or if you can even hear it amidst the ensuing chaos - or even if it decides to grab a few of its tracks from Drake's Fortune. Similar to the story, the soundtrack is on par with your usual action movie; it's pleasant to listen to, but it knows when to become more upbeat. There's a track to match every situation, and it helps in making exploration and puzzles a memorable experience.

Better pacing means there's a good balance of every element the game offers - that's adventuring, exposition, and shooting. This means that if anyone labels this as a shooter, you shouldn't listen to that person (which people who should know better have been saying). It's during all of these elements that you realize how good this game looks. As of right now, it's seriously the best looking console game on the market, perhaps besting Metal Gear Solid 4. I'm sure that victory won't last long, though.

Uncharted 2 is, more or less, exactly what fans Uncharted and Naughty Dog in general wanted. It's also precisely what a sequel should be: something that doesn't undo what the original achieved (like Naughty Dog's last franchise), and it's something that not only refines the mechanics established in the franchise, but enhances them so that any developer who intends to make an adventure game should take note. It definitely deserves the accolade it's received this year, and if you own a PS3...well, you've already played it, right?

With every passing generation, it seems like there's one genre that lacks the prevalence it had during the previous generation. For fans of that specific genre, it can be a little difficult to cope with, especially if many of your greatest memories in gaming are formed by it.

It's a little late at this point to say that the platforming genre has fallen from grace in terms of popularity and quality. That's not to say there aren't any coming out at all - and it's still more prevalent than the anime-style adventure genre (in the spirit of games like Tail Concerto, Mega Man Legends, and Steambot Chronicles), which is almost nonexistent - but for a genre that used to be the most popular around, it's a shame to see that developers aren't interested in making too many of them anymore.

But every now and then, you get good examples of the genre like Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, even if it isn't the most straightforward platformer in the genre. The Ratchet & Clank franchise has been accused of abandoning its platforming roots on PS2 and engaging in more of a platforming/shooter hybrid. And that is completely true. But that's not saying ToD doesn't have its fair share of platforming; in fact, it's what you'll be doing for about 60% of the game.

(P.S. The best example of the genre would be Super Mario Galaxy. But you knew that.)

The ostensibly appreciable aspect of ToD is that it's a return to form for the franchise. It's probably an expected one, too, as developer Insomniac Games referred to the previous title, Ratchet: Deadlocked, as an "experiment" for the franchise. Deadlocked's basic intent was to take the Tournament battle sequences from the previous two games in the franchise at the time (that's Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal; yeah, they have some pretty clever names) and build a game around it. The game also decided to change the controls and make them similar to a third-person shooter. The results? A dull imitation of what came before it. The Ratchet & Clank games specialize in variety, and Deadlocked had absolutely none of that. It's a pretty telling sign when the developer barely refers to its story as canon.

For those of you who have played a Ratchet & Clank game before ToD will strike you as very familiar territory (Deadlocked notwithstanding). Perhaps too familiar! You're given the same techniques you had in the last game from the very beginning, from double jumping to Clank's helicopter gliding leap. Shooting is also done the same way it was in the previous games, allowing you the option to strafe and jump from left to right while locked to a singular position; this will help if there are a lot of enemies approaching from the front, which happens very often. You can also melee attack with Ratchet's wrench for enemies that are a little too close.

But what distinguishes every Ratchet game is the weapons you're given. This is something that changes throughout every game, but they're mainly enhancements of similar weapons from previous games. The best aspect of this is that Insomniac realized what worked for what the game's design called for, which gives the game a good sense of balance. Things start out easy, but there are parts where the game will challenge you; still, it's never unfairly difficult. As you fight more enemies, your HP level will increase, and your weapons will become stronger the more you use them - though the maximum level is five for the latter.


There are times where you'll also have to play as Clank, who also plays similar to how he did in previous games. However, he's been given quite a few new techniques, due to the special powers he's been given. Said powers also make for a bizarrely hilarious subplot.

ToD looks pretty amazing, though admittedly less so now than it did in 2007. There are areas where you'd think it was just one of the PS2 games upscaled to an HD resolution, but when you get a close look at the animation, you realize how much work Insomniac put into this. The work isn't quite on par with the best CG animated movies, but it's certainly a good effort. There's also a lot happening in the background in most of the levels, with numerous cars flying past and explosions by the dozens. That's more of a marvel than the animation itself, but it can be a distraction if you're not careful.

ToD may have a good story, but the best part of it isn't the actual tale it events - which itself focuses more on the back story of the main character, Ratchet, than any previous game has. All of the Ratchet & Clank games are known for being very humorous, and being rife with references to works within popular culture. The game takes place in outer space, so that should give you an indication of a few of its references. Whether you'll get them all depends on how much of a geek you are.

The story itself is also complemented by some phenomenal voice acting. James Arnold Taylor (who also voiced Tidus in Final Fantasy X) is a perfect fit for Ratchet, more so than he's been in any of the previous titles. The always-excellent David Kaye provides Clank's voice. Newcomer Talwyn comes with Tara Strong voicing her, and also does a great job.

ToD is familiar territory for fans of the franchise, but in a way, that works against it. That sometimes gives it a feeling that its game design is stuck in the last generation of consoles, though thankfully not as much as Devil May Cry 4. Designs of the levels themselves feel very similar to ones found in the PS2 games. The good thing is that the Ratchet & Clank games also contained some of the most fun examples of level design seen in a PS2 platformer, and ToD is thankfully no exception. Also, the game being familiar means that if you didn't like the previous games, expect to have the same reaction here.

Anyone hankering for a 3D platformer this generation would do best to pick up this (and its sequel, A Crack in Time, apparently). It's nothing that will blow your mind, but it's not like that's something you'll always need to have or should expect from every game you pick up. ToD is plenty of fun for its 10-15 hour duration, and there's plenty of replay value for collecting and leveling up every weapon, or collecting all of the hidden bonuses the game offers. Just don't go in expecting the game of the year or anything.

If you ever needed a word to quickly sum up the entirety of the package that Tekken 6 offers, that word would be: Confounding.

Not to say that it's a bad game at all. No, Tekken 6 is at its best when all it involves is its core fighting mechanics. If you've been following the game at all, you've probably heard about how enjoyable of a fighting game it is, and how it's been the most popular arcade game in Japan for nearly two years - that's including the original Tekken 6 arcade release and the refined Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, the latter of which is what the home console iteration is based on. The game is not the problem; the problem is almost everything else.

If you've ever dipped your hand into the Tekken pool before, this game will instantly feel familiar to you, aside from a few new additions to the fighting system to not make the game feel like a rehash. If the aforementioned "dipping" requires playing the console versions, you're probably aware of Namco's penchant for not being content with leaving just the main fighting game for console owners to enjoy. Since Tekken 3, Namco's added a bunch of modes to increase the value of the home console version. Some of them are good fun, like Tekken Bowl and Tekken Ball, while some are just exercises in frustration, like...well everything else. Unfortunately, Tekken 6 has none of the former, and too much of the latter.


This is a fighting game, and you'll probably (hopefully) want to spend most of your time with the actual fighting, and that's where Tekken 6 is at its best. There are plenty of single player modes that you'd expect to be here, like (an admittedly very short) Arcade Mode, Time Attack, Survival, Team Battle, and a Practice Mode to brush up your skills against a dummy. There's also a Ghost Battle mode to fight the ghosts of tournament players, and if you get sick of the amount of them there, you can feel free to download the Ghost data of online players.

But the majority of the fun is, of course, to be had with another human player, which most people - unless you live in Japan - will have to find online. The netcode in the game now fortunately isn't the one that existed in it when the game launched; the one where lag was prevalent even when your opponent was only a state away. The current version of it, which was patched in on Thanksgiving Day, is actually very workable. Of course, this depends on the connections you'll find. A five bar match is almost comparable to an offline bout, while four bars is only slightly worse. A three bar match will have a little input lag, but it's still workable. You'll want to avoid anything below that, though, as it will be unplayable because of both input and on-screen lag. Overall, it handles better than Street Fighter IV online, but keep in mind that Street Fighter is a bit more lag friendly than Tekken.


As much as you'll want to immediately jump online to play some of the competition, the game's structure will unfortunately prevent that for some players. When Tekken 3 released back in 1998, it came with a mode called Tekken Force, a side-scrolling beat 'em up mode with fighting game controls. After playing it, the mode was certifiable proof that fighting game controls seriously don't work in a side-scrolling environment at all. You'd think Namco would get the message after throwing it on us once (Tekken 3 required you to play the mode to unlock the very bizarre Dr. Boskonovitch), but no, as Tekken 4 also had it, as well as 5. And, as you'd expect, Tekken 6 has it as well in the form of the story-driven Scenario Campaign mode. And, as you'd expect, it's an absolute exercise in frustration.

The Scenario Campaign takes you through the adventures of the Swedish Super Saiyan-inspired Lars Alexaanderson and his robotic companion Alisa Boskonovitch (who happens to be the robotic daughter of the man mentioned above). The two of them will be responsible for stopping the former protagonist Jin Kazama from plunging the world further into war and seeking to revive the ultimate evil, Azazel. The campaign will involve you beating up mindless drones and finding items and equipment that you can use to increase the stats for your characters. You can also use the equipment for the characters themselves, if you're planning on maining them. Nice ideas, but it's the execution that's the problem.


Trying to hit your opponents with a combo is a problem with mechanics that are meant to be used against one opponent. And things get really frustrating when you're surrounded by a ton of opposition, and at least one of them knows precisely when to hit you when you're trying to attack. It feels like it represents some of the worst brawlers of the early 90s in its cheapness, which might have been excusable back then, but times and standards have changed. The worst thing is that if you want to see all of the character endings, you have to play this mode. Unlike previous games where you could see them if you played a few matches to arcade mode, Tekken 6 are unlocked when you go through one-on-one fights in the campaign's Arena mode; and to unlock the characters to play them, you'll have to beat them at the end of the levels in the campaign. Also, if you want to customize your character's outfits for all to see online, you have to play suffer through this mode.

And that's because the equipment and extra outfits for customizing individual characters is hilariously expensive. For instance, I wanted to customize my Lili with a different shirt, pants, and hair style, along with a few other minimal details for her to stand out. The shirt cost around $400,000, and the pants around $650,000. The pony-tail hair-style? $1.5 million. They can't be serious. And you can forget raising that kind of money with the other modes. A battle online or in a Ghost battle will only get you around $6,000 to $8,000 per fight, depending on the ranking of your opponent; which means a hell of a lot of grinding. Meanwhile, completing a level in the scenario campaign will get you $80,000 to $3 million on average. Yeah, you can tell which one Namco would like you to play. Confounding indeed.

It's a real shame that the overall package is so frustrating, because as a fighting game, it's one of the best in the genre this generation. Tekken 6 enhances the fighting of the original game by adding something called bounding, which gives another opportunity for you to juggle your opponent to make some big combos. It does make an already juggle-happy game even more juggle happy, sure, but it also adds a new layer of depth. These combos aren't easy to perform, especially depending on the character you're using and the learning curve they'll require.


And speaking of characters, there's 40 of them at your disposal here. Many of them are returning, but six are new to Tekken 6. Most of them play pretty differently, with some of them being easier to learn (Paul, Lili, Bob) and some being a little tougher to get a grasp on (The Mishimas, Julia, King). It's where Tekken is at its finest, and it's what Namco Bandai's focus should have been on. A shame it wasn't, which was especially evident when the online was in shambles upon release.

There may be a lot of frustration in this review, but I actually like Tekken 6 quite a bit. But that mainly goes for the competitive aspect of it. It's everything else that's the problem. I'm glad they fixed the online - though it was a bit too late as its sales undoubtedly suffered due to poor word of mouth. I sincerely hope that Namco Bandai learns from their mistakes with this one and realizes that no fans like having a half-assed brawler forced upon them. It kind of detracts from the overall experience. But I sincerely recommend it for anyone looking for a fighting game right now.