The Best And Worst Anime Games

Anime-based video games don't exactly have the best reputation. For decades now, players have had to slog through a seemingly endless stream of mediocre anime and manga titles that often serve as disservices to their typically solid animated series. Every once in a while, though, a rare diamond in the big-haired rough comes along to restore our faith in the genre and, in the process, reminding us of one the many reasons that we love Japan as much as we do.

To recognize this disparity, we've decided to compile—in no particular order—some of the greatest highs and most dishonorable lows that anime games have to offer. Please note that we've only chosen games based on pre-existing anime or manga, so kindly stifle your outrage when you don't see any Pokémon or Valkyria Chronicles titles—which only spawned anime after the games themselves were released—on the list. Also, no Hentai. Sorry, fellas.

The Best

Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 (PlayStation 2)

There is perhaps no franchise more responsible for anime's massive popularity over the years than Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series. With over 350 million copies of the manga sold worldwide, a handful of hit TV anime shows, and even a (regrettable) live-action movie adaptation to its name, it's no wonder that so many people across the globe instantly associate the word "anime" with Dragon Ball.

It makes sense then, that Goku, Vegeta, and company have seen no shortage of video game tie-ins over the course of their days. While the majority of the many DB titles have ranged from mediocre to horrid (more on that later), there have been a few moments of greatness, chief among them the third installment in the popular Budokai fighting game series.

While not anywhere near as technical as fighters like Street Fighter or Tekken, 2004's Budokai 3 is fast-paced, stylish, and just a hell of a lot of fun. With over 40 playable characters spanning the entirety of the anime's lifespan, a heaping of game modes, and improved combat mechanics, Budokai 3 is more than just fan service; it's a damn good fighter in its own right.

Naruto: Rise of a Ninja (Xbox 360)

If we're counting Japan-only releases, there's almost too many Naruto-based video games to count. Like most anime games, most of those aren't even worth mentioning, so it wasn't until Ubisoft Montreal took the reins for this 2008 Xbox 360 exclusive that Naruto truly earned his spot at the good games table.

Blending the RPG, fighting game, and platformer genres together, Rise of a Ninja is surprisingly deep and thoroughly enjoyable. It's gorgeous too, with a cel-shaded style that makes you feel like you're actually watching the Naruto TV show while you're playing. Add to that an excellent story mode which faithfully retells the anime's opening arcs, a solid multiplayer component, and an easy-to-learn but difficult-to-master control scheme, and you have yourself one of the best anime games on the market.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (Arcade, Wii)

We know, we know—this isn't purely an anime game, but it's close enough, and quite frankly it's just too good not to include here. Yes, this 2008 crossover brawler features such familiar Capcom faces as Ryu, Morrigan, and Viewtiful Joe, but characters such as Tekkaman, Polymar, and Gold Lightan—from the Yoshida brothers' famed animation company Tatsunoko Production—are equally essential to making this title as excellent as it is. Accessible to newcomers, yet rewarding to those who'd like to pick at its technical side, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is just about a must-buy for any Wii-owning fighting game fan.

Astro Boy: Omega Factor (Game Boy Advance)

Astro Boy is the granddaddy of all anime. First published as a manga in the early 1950's by the "God of Manga" himself, Osamu Tezuka, Astro Boy's success went a long way towards legitimizing the art form, helping to lay the foundation for the behemoth it has become today.

And while the half-nude boy robot has had a couple of stinkers in the video game space, 2004's Astro Boy: Omega Factor for the GBA is still recognized to this day as one of the best action games ever made for Nintendo's handheld. Charming enough for fans of all ages to pick up and play, Omega Factor boasted stunning visuals for its time, and offers a satisfying challenge, an engaging plot, and satisfying, old school beat-em-up gameplay. Most will agree: Omega Factor is worthy of the prestigious Astro Boy name.

Bleach: Dark Souls (Nintendo DS)

This 2008 handheld fighter (2007 in Japan) expands and improves upon its wonderful predecessor, Bleach: The Blade of Fate. The original Dark Souls is endlessly playable, and features, among other upgrades, 44 separate characters, a couple new game modes, added combos and move sets, and an amended Wi-fi battle mode that makes beating up your friends online easier than ever. Sure, it doesn't change all that much from The Blade of Fate, but then again, it doesn't really need to. Ichigo Kurosaki and company struck gold for the second straight time with this one.

LEGO The Lord of the Rings Preview

System: Xbox 360, PC, PS3
Dev: TT Games
Pub: Warner Bros. Interactive
Release: Q3 2012
Players: 1-2
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p

by Josh Wirtanen

I've always loved the Lord of the Rings. What I haven't loved so much is the way Tolkien's beloved masterpiece gets treated in video game form. Sure, there are a few Lord of the Rings games that are truly exceptional, but for the most part, they don't generally rise above the curse of the licensed game.

So you can understand my hesitation as I approached the LEGO The Lord of the Rings demo at the Warner Bros. booth during E3 last month. I mean, the LEGO games have their own sorted history, with some truly amazing titles as well as some mediocre "me too" entries.

But, from what I saw at E3, LEGO The Lord of the Rings seems to be doing quite well for itself. You see, it's actually revamping a lot of the stuff that we grumpy game reviewers have been accusing of being stale and formulaic, though it's still keeping all of that LEGO charm we expect from TT Games.

Cheat Code Central (http://s.tt/1j5Qv)

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD Review

System: Xbox 360*, PS3, PC
Dev: Robomodo
Pub: Activision
Release: July 18, 2012
Players: 1-4
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Blood, Violence

Hawkin' It Up
by Josh Wirtanen

Tony Hawk is a living legend. And no, I don't mean because he invented a good portion of skateboarding as we know it (though I have to hand it to him, there's that). I say this because he has his name tied to perhaps the greatest extreme sports video game franchise on the planet, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.

Now, you might roll your eyes at this sentiment if you've played any of the more recent games that bear his namesake, but in the PSOne era, there was no bigger name in skateboard games. The original gave us a control scheme that actually felt good (perhaps the first PSOne-era extreme sports title to accomplish this feat), but the real peak of the series was THPS 2, which added the manual that let us string together absurdly long combos and rack up scores that were so big that it hurt our eyes just to look at them.

Now, the modern age has given rise to the HD remake, and while most of the games to get makeovers tend to be gems from the PS2 generation, I think we can all agree that the THPS series is very worthy of a triumphant return.

Well, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is here, and, for a downloadable title, it looks great. It's not the best-looking game on the market by any stretch of the imagination, but it at least makes itself worthy of the "HD" in its title. It's certainly a lot of fun getting to see these old levels (that are probably etched into our brains by now) re-imagined for modern-day consoles. And the blood splatter effects are deliciously juicy. (Those wipeouts hurt!)

Now, I have to admit here that I spent ungodly amounts of time playing the original THPS and THPS2 back in the day. While I didn't get to put in the hundreds of hours into THPS HD that I would have liked to, I can say with confidence that it plays exactly how I remember. It took me maybe five minutes before my brain and hands re-adjusted to the control scheme and my muscle memory kicked in.

What's most surprising about this is that they feel good. That's quite a statement to make about a PSOne-era title. I mean, try saying that about Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, or Final Fantasy VII. Somehow, in an era that hadn't really figured out how to make non-awkward controls, Tony Hawk managed to get things just right.

But perhaps that is nostalgia speaking—I mean, the game works really hard to trigger those nostalgia centers in our brains—but I don't think it's just that. I honestly feel like these are the perfect controls for a skateboarding game, and linking combos together for massive multipliers just feels right. It's like being home again after a decade-long vacation.

Okay, so I'm going to make one tiny complaint here before I move on. I played the game on Xbox 360, since it's not out yet on PS3, but I found myself itching to have a Sony-branded controller in my hand. We all know the 360's D-pad sucks, and, for those of us who played THPS on PSOne, the PS3 controller would make the experience feel so much more authentic. Still, I had absolutely no trouble adjusting.

Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC

System: Xbox 360*, PS3, PC
Dev: Codemasters Southam
Pub: Codemasters
Release: June 12, 2012
Players: 1-8 (Online)
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Mild Lyrics, Mild Violence

Calling All Motorheads

by Adam Dodd

DiRT Showdown is a dramatic departure from what fans have come to expect from the series. It's turned away from a focus on racing other cars in a frantic dash for the finish line to instead focus on destruction, and lots of it. It's a change that takes the series more in the direction of the Burnout games rather than the more simulation-focused titles like Forza and Gran Turismo. This series has never been afraid to try new things to mix up the formula a bit, but there's a very good chance this new direction will alienate some gamers.

For starters, this is more of a derby-style racer than anything else. Where most racers focus on populating their arsenal with the most luxurious and exotic cars in the world, Showdown offers a decent selection of licensed cars, but the majority of its garage consists of vehicles created for this game. With spectacle and destruction taking the spotlight and a group of unreal cars, it almost sounds as if Showdown is aiming for full-on over-the-top derby destruction. If that was the game's goal, it failed, more or less.

This game sits in the middle of sim racing and arcadey racing, with Forza and Gran Turismo on one end and Blur and Split/Second on the other. Obviously, you don't have guns or any other offensive capabilities on your car; instead you'll have to defeat your opponents by ramming them repeatedly with your vehicle, slamming them into other cars or into objects on the track.

This keeps the races from being as exciting as they could've been. The derby style is something that could've worked, but not in the modes that are available here. Instead of a King of the Hill mode you'd expect from a game like this, you're relegated to some modes that feel as if they were taken out of another game and modified a little to fit in here.

The available modes are divided into four categories: Racing, Demolition, Hoonigan, and Party. Racing is what it sounds like and includes the Race-Off mode, where eight cars race in a circuit peppered with jumps, barricades, and assorted other obstacles. Domination is arguably the most entertaining mode in this category, as it divides the map into four areas with players winning points depending on how they perform in each sector. The third mode is Elimination, and it's like Race-Off only with a timer that's on a cycle. Every time the timer reaches zero the car that's in last place gets eliminated. If you absolutely have to get your racing fix, these are totally an option, but they certainly aren't the reason to get this game. However, the next two categories are.

Demolition has four modes: Rampage, Knock Out, Hard Target, and 8-Ball. This is where things get a little more creative. In Rampage, eight cars duke it out in an arena with each player getting points for crashing into and/or destroying other cars. Knock Out tweaks Rampage a bit by raising the arena and rewarding bonus points for those who push their opponents off the platform. Hard Target pits all against a single car where the driver who survives the longest wins. The final mode, 8-Ball, is like Race-Off, only the circuits are littered with crossovers and intersections that give you the chance to get up close and personal with your opponents.

These modes certainly aren't as creative as they could've been, and there are minor quips to be had with each one, but overall they're pretty fun. My only major gripe with the Demolition modes, specifically the ones that have you crashing into other cars in an arena, is that there just aren't enough players in the games. Eight cars isn't enough to keep these modes interesting, especially since a startling majority of the time I invested in the two modes was spent searching for a target.

Hoonigan is a little different, and it really just feels like a challenge mode. In it are the Trick Rush, Head 2 Head, and Smash Hunter modes. Trick Rush has you completing tricks for points, Head 2 Head pits two drivers against each other as they try to out-trick each other, and Smash Hunter has you running down colored bricks as quickly as possible. None of these are very likely to add much to the overall experience unless you feel you need to hone your skills in a 1-on-1 match or test your reaction speed in the Smash Hunter mode. Special tracks with extra destructible objects, obstacles, ramps, and whatnot would've been a welcome addition to the trick-centric modes.

There's a bevy of racing modes that can be played online with up to eight players in the final category. Party is made up of three modes and is only available online: Smash & Grab, Transporter, and Speed Skirmish. These might also be my favorites. Smash & Grab has two teams racing to nab the other's loot and the only way to get the loot back is by ramming the opponent that has it. Transporter is a glorified Capture the Flag mode that's easily the weakest mode of the bunch, and Speed Skirmish has you driving through six checkpoints (in any order) to win. The multiplayer modes are a little more chaotic, and for the most part the modes offered here are immensely entertaining.

Assassin’s Creed III Preview

Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC

System: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Dev: Ubisoft Montreal
Pub: Ubisoft
Release: October 30, 2012
Players: 1
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p

You Want A Revolution?
by Robert VerBruggen

By now, you've no doubt heard that the Assassin's Creed franchise will be returning with a new numbered entry come the holidays. It's the next step for the world's most popular blend of historical fiction, science fiction, stealth, open world gameplay, and hidden blades, so here's a quick roundup of what we know about it thus far.

First of all, the Animus will be dropping you off in a completely different setting this time around. The plot still revolves around the war between the Assassins and the Templars, but several hundred years have passed, and the action has crossed the Atlantic to the New World. Leonardo da Vinci is long since dead and buried, but a new cast of historical figures will emerge to fill this gaping hole in the Assassin's Creed soul: Rumors have included a staggering number of Revolutionary War-era figures, including everyone from the obvious (George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson) to some less prominent figures you might not remember from high school history (British general Charles Lee, famed American soldier Israel Putnam, British marine John Pitcairn). Despite its highly, er, Da Vinci Code-esque take on history, Assassin's Creed has always tried to capture the personalities of important people, and the third entry will sit firmly in this tradition.

It will also feature a painstaking attention to visual detail. Boston, New York, Lexington, and Concord will be explorable, and Philadelphia will make an appearance as well. However, aside from basic landmarks, they won't be recognizable. These cities have changed immensely since the Revolution, and while it's not clear whether the developers recreated the colonial cities place-by-place, they did make sure to capture the overall look they had, in addition to all the major landmarks. In terms of sheer size, AC3 will be an enormous improvement over the previous games in the series, which themselves were not exactly small in scale.

The Animus will transport you into the body of your ancestor Connor Kenway, who's half-English, half-Mohawk –his birth name is Ratohnhaké:ton—and becomes attracted to the fight for justice when his tribe is massacred. Kenway is an Assassin, of course, and his heritage combines with the game's fiction to create an odd pattern of conflicts and loyalties: Kenway doesn't seem to be a fan of white settlers regardless of whether they're American or British, but he likes the idea of fighting British tyranny, and his loyalty to the Assassins probably trumps all else. While the story of Kenway's childhood is a part of the tale, the game itself covers the three decades following the Revolutionary War. In terms of personality, Kenway offers a more even-keeled hero than did the loud-mouthed, arrogant Ezio.

The new setting inspires various much-needed changes to the gameplay. While the franchise has long been synonymous with the act of running across rooftops in densely populated cities, AC3 will put players on the American frontier in about one-third of the missions. In the wilderness, the seasons will matter like never before. You'll need to carefully make your way through deep snow in the winter, for example, and the free-running style of movement has been adapted to make it more suitable for rock- and tree-climbing as opposed to building-scaling. (Even the controls for running are different: The right trigger/A button "Assassin's Claw" grip has been replaced by a single button.)

Also, British soldiers are highly trained, and their weaponry and professional behavior will be a marked contrast with the old city guards. Muskets are incredibly deadly when fired in groups at a single target, so don't expect to walk in front of a line of British soldiers without paying the price—but if you get in close enough, they'll be forced to switch to their bayonets. Also, Revolution-era guns took forever to reload, so don't plan on spraying lead like Rambo.

There will be other updates as well. A major focus for the developers has been to make the world feel more alive—people on the street will each have their own tasks to accomplish, and each new mission will be given to you in the form of a scene. You'll no longer approach a mission-giver who's just standing around waiting for you. The frontier has also received a lot of attention, and it will be filled with wildlife to hunt and settlements to explore.

The basic mechanisms of combat have reportedly been overhauled as well. Two-handed combat is new to the series, and new ways to kill will include ropes, tomahawks, bows and arrows, and even a dart on a string. The button configuration will be a little different, there will be new combos, and the camera system has been tweaked.

While Assassin's Creed has never slacked in the graphics department, you can expect new things visually as well. The game is built from an entirely new engine called Anvil Next, and the developers have been working on AC3 for three years, reworking every little detail—they've said they want to ship Assassin's Creed 3.5, not just a "first draft" of a new game. Supposedly, the new engine can handle several thousand characters on the screen at once (the old engine could handle 100), a feature that will come in handy when the time comes to depict massive battles. AC3 will even feature acting performances developed via motion capture, a la L.A. Noire.

Supposedly, there are plenty of other new features that haven't been made public yet. There will be multiplayer, but we don't know what kind. There will be some new version of the "Brotherhood" mechanism to help you attack enemies, but it's not clear what that will look like. And so on.

Assassin's Creed games are always worth getting excited over, but this one promises to be a step forward in a way that the last two games simply weren't. This won't feel like a DLC pack for Assassin's Creed II. It will feel like it deserves the number after its name.

By Robert VerBruggen Contributing Writer Date: May 24, 2012

Game Features: 

As a Native American assassin, eliminate your enemies with guns, bows, tomahawks, and more!

From bustling city streets to the chaotic battlefields, play a critical role in the most legendary events of the American Revolution including the Battle of Bunker Hill and Great Fire of New York.

Experience the truth behind the most gruesome war in history: the American Revolution.

Introducing the Anvil Next game engine, the stunning new technology that will revolutionize gaming with powerful graphics, lifelike animations, immersive combat, and advanced physics.

Weekly Rant – Cheap Gaming Tricks

At what point in the evolution of video games did blockbusters stop being complete packages and become mere sections of a pie? Before we get any new game nowadays, there are confirmations from developers about extra content coming after the game's launch. And what about games that are exclusive to specific platforms, or bundles and pre-order bonuses we can only get at specific stores?

Call me old-fashioned, but it was nice to live in the days before the digital age, when there wasn't this massive demand for more content, more features, more for your dollar. It was also nice when those game producers hadn't yet caught on to this craving, or at least hadn't realized its moneymaking potential.

So have we become lazier because of technology? I'd have to say yes, but I can't be too hard on this trend because, like everyone else, I have benefitted from easily accessible digital content. Recent reports indicate that a large percent of gamers still prefer to purchase physical copies of games, but that certainly doesn't mean that they're completely unplugged. How many serious gamers can claim they've never had an Xbox LIVE or PSN account, or have never downloaded mods or purchased digital games? There's nothing wrong with any of this; the problem lies with publishers that exploit our online addiction to fill their pockets.

You can expect that, at preliminary design meetings when developers and publishers get together, they discuss the entire game's story, and then throw out ideas for extra content. Maybe they even have their story thinly sliced and arranged in such a way that we think it's a perfectly cooked gaming soufflé. Only after purchasing it do we realize it was a little deflated.

Take Mortal Kombat, for example. Those who purchased the console version at launch felt like the content was fair enough for the price. Then four extra characters were revealed. And then came the Klassic Skins Pack. Soon we had a Komplete Edition with even more stuff. Then the Vita version came out—with all the previous content, as well as new minigames and an exclusive 150-mission tower—for twenty bucks less than the original. Now, granted DLC content is optional, but can you honestly tell me that after all the extra post-release content emerged, the poor sap who purchased the original doesn't feel a little cheated?

It's not just the games either, as game systems aren't always fully featured on the first try. Nintendo is the most notorious for this with their handheld devices. Granted, newer versions have upgraded specs, but I remember purchasing my DS Phat on day one, then later upgrading to the sleek DS Lite. More features and a better interface had me trade in that one for a DSi. The only reason I didn't purchase the DSi XL was because I knew the 3DS wasn't that far off. I've got my 3DS now, but wait, here comes the 3DS XL. Seriously?

Finally, there are those extra peripherals that extend the functionality of a system. Some are cheap plastic manipulations like the Wii Sports Mega Pack, but then there are things like Kinect and Move, with games that absolutely require them. I have yet to personally find a game interesting enough to justify the purchase of either, but there might be one in development right now. After justifying the purchase to my wife, I wouldn't think twice about handing over my credit card to the store clerk.

Those of us who live for the controller find it extremely hard to repress the urge to rush out when a new release or new system hits the store shelves. Those bigwig executives know this, and they're laughing at us from on high while sipping their brandy and smoking Cubans.

If we all were all financially careful, we'd wait a few months—or even a year—and make the purchase after the price drops. But most of us won't do that, because the withdrawal would be too much to handle. So we're stuck buying our toys right away, while the patient gamers brag about their "Komplete" editions with all the trimmings at the same or an even lower price.

I guess if you need a little morale boost, just tell yourself, "Gaming's not the most expensive hobby I could have."

By Sean Engemann Contributing Writer Date: July 23, 2012

PC RESIDENT EVIL

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City Review

Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC

System: PC, PS3*, Xbox 360
Dev: Slant Six Games
Pub: Capcom
Release: March 20, 2012
Players: 1-4 (Online)
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

Unfixed, Unpolished, Undead
by Angelo M. D'Argenio

When I first played Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City at last year's E3, I admit that I wasn't impressed. I liked the idea of a four-player co-op shooter based in the Resident Evil universe, but the game suffered from stiff controls and obscure mission objectives, making it a chore to play. The enemies were either a pushover or impossible to defeat, the game engine glitched like crazy, and nothing about it gave me that feeling of Resident Evil tenseness that defined the survival horror genre. Instead, all I got was frustration. But this was almost a year ago, and I was confident that Capcom would fix up the game before it hit shelves in 2012.

My optimism has turned to disappointment.

Not only have the controls barely changed from the demo version, but the game itself seems even more glitchy than before. It just feels unfinished, like Capcom didn't put a whole lot of effort into it. But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start with the first big flaw: the story.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City puts you in the shoes of a crack security force working for Umbrella Corporation during the events of Resident Evil 2 and a bit of 3. It's your job to wipe out all evidence of the Raccoon City outbreak and eliminate any survivors that might be able to tie it back to Umbrella.

The problem with "interquels" like this is that it's hard for players to actually care about what is going on. Sure, you get to see Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield as they relive events of Resident Evil's past, but you barely get to interact with them. Since this crack security team never really showed up in other Resident Evil games, you essentially have no real impact on the story. Capcom built this game up as an opportunity to "rewrite Resident Evil," but even that isn't all that compelling. Remember, you are the bad guys here. If you succeed in rewriting history, then the conclusion is that nothing happens. Leon never survives; the zombie outbreak is contained, blah blah blah. It's like you are actively on a mission to make the Resident Evil story more boring. That's a shame, because the plot of Resident Evil has never had a problem with being compelling.

Then there's the gameplay, which completely misses the point of Resident Evil's "survival horror" style. While you were well-armed in past Resident Evil games, you always felt like the zombies and other Bio-Organic Weapons were a threat. You were constantly afraid of death, even while you peppered your undead foes with a shotgun. The threat of finding a Licker or a Regenerator or a Spaniard with an axe kept you on your toes and gave you a feeling of accomplishment when the smoke cleared and the corpses of your enemies littered the ground.

That's not the case in Operation Raccoon City. Your guns are extremely powerful and ammo flows like water. You can essentially just hammer on the fire button and Rambo your way through each level. Each of the six different classes is overpowered in its own right, with skills that do all sorts of wacky things, from giving you more ammo to actually controlling the zombie hordes. This should make the game more fun, but it actually doesn't. Instead, it just makes the enemies feel inconsequential. Eventually, you'll face off with U.S. Spec Ops (i.e. the good guys) in your missions as well, and, at this point, the zombies become nothing more than an annoyance, interrupting you in the middle of your gunfights.

It's not just enemy A.I. that's annoying either. Your A.I. teammates are just plain stupid. They will run out into plain sight and get themselves shot up any chance they get. They love running in front of your firing path in the middle of a fight, and they will never ever kill an enemy that's targeting you. They will also never heal you when you need it. Instead, they will just wander through the levels with you, acting as dead weight and stepping on mines that you previously avoided easily.

Then there's the competitive multiplayer, which really shows off the weaknesses of the game's engine. Guns here are powerful but extremely inaccurate. You'll find that you can't pick off your enemies at a distance through skilled shooting reliably. Instead, it's a lot better to run right at them, guns blazing. Only, this isn't even that great of a strategy since the characters handle so sluggishly. Characters are so slow that strafing is nearly impossible, so you are left hammering out melee attacks and hoping your opponent dies first. All the while, the zombies continue to nip at your heel, so every kill and death you have feels entirely random.

PC MAX PAYNE

x Payne 3 Review

Xbox 360 | PS3 | PC

System: PC, PS3, Xbox 360*
Dev: Rockstar Vancouver
Pub: Rockstar Games
Release: May 15, 2012
Players: 1-26
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content, Use of Drugs and Alcohol

Purgatory Is Worse Than Hell
by Josh Engen

Those of you who made it through Max Payne 2 (and happen to possess a particularly well-focused memory) might recollect a hint of optimism in our hero's closing line: "I had a dream of my wife. She was dead. But it was alright."

Well, nine years later, life has proven to be far less sunny than Max Payne might have hoped for. But in a franchise whose primary gameplay mechanic is a tortured metaphor for lost time, we certainly can't expect our protagonist to have recovered from his past.

Actually, Max's pain actually seems to have grown deeper over the last decade. He's has traded his Detective's shield and crappy New York City apartment for a private security job and an even crappier apartment in São Paulo. Payne spends his days playing babysitter to the socialite family of industrialist Rodrigo Branco, and spends his nights downing pills and drunkenly stumbling into a bed that makes a wooden sound when he collapses.

His new digs are the product of an old Police Academy friend named Raul, who thought it would be a slick way for Max to take a Brazilian vacation. But when Branco's trophy wife is kidnapped by an army of ski mask-wearing, AK47-toting goons, Max's vacation is evidently over in favor of yet another damsel in distress story.

Thematically speaking, Rockstar Games is really playing to their strengths; some might even say that they've found an interesting storytelling niche. While developers like Bethesda are focusing on spells and dragons, and companies like Activision are preoccupied with military-based narratives, Rockstar places their characters into a universe that borders on our own. Sure, it's darker and more disheveled than most suburban white kids are used to, but they've managed to blend the storytelling of L.A. Noire with the composition of Grand Theft Auto to shape Payne's particular purgatory. But even as we're becoming reacquainted with the franchise, it's immediately clear that this is an entirely new game.

When Max Payne showed up on the scene in 2001, the gaming masses were quick to latch onto Rockstar's newfangled Bullet Time mechanic. However, as with most good ideas, developers managed to quickly overuse the feature, turning it into an industry cliché and relegating it to the same category as most Law and Order episodes.

And this was my biggest worry when I sat down to play the game. See, even though the Max Payne franchise practically has a responsibility to utilize Bullet Time, they also need to create an experience that's altogether different from the dozens of copycat titles that have surfaced over the last decade; just because you invented something doesn't mean you're exempted from the stereotype. Just ask U2.

But Max Payne has certainly aged well. Even after a decade off the job, the Detective still has enough finesse to casually place round after round into the forehead of any approaching enemies. If anything, it feels like he's been practicing.

In fact, in the first two titles, the transition between bullet time and standard time always involved a bit of clumsiness. Players were constantly forced to reacclimatize themselves to their surroundings before reengaging their enemies. But in Max Payne 3, the process is silky smooth. There's a bit of video lag from time to time, and the auto-aim mechanic always manages to lock onto the most inconvenient enemy. But you really shouldn't be using auto-aim anyway, so hopefully that'll teach you to turn it off, cheater.

The transition actually seems to downplay the Bullet Time mechanic, and this is a good thing. The Max Payne empire may have been built on a singular atypical effect, but Rockstar Games has managed to find ways to make it feel like just another feature. This allows players to focus on the game as a whole rather than reliving what made the original great. (Are you taking notes, Duke Nukem?)

And, whereas the original beat us over the head with its distinct lack of subtlety, Max Payne 3 manages to do just the opposite. In fact, subtleties are the name of the game in Max Payne 3. Players won't find themselves being screamed at by a drill sergeant or having to diffuse a suitcase nuke. This story is told in the twitch of Max's hand as he unscrews a bottle and the broken frame on his coffee table that contains a beer-soaked picture of his deceased family.

owever, and I hate to say this, subtleties don't make the transition to multiplayer. It's not that the multiplayer component isn't fun; it is. It's just that the lighthearted pandemonium of the multiplayer seems to undermine the tone of the rest of the game. Though, even though I had my reservations, I still managed to spend several hours addictedly glued to a multiplayer game. So you should probably just ignore me.

As far as the controls go, if you've ever played a third-person shooter, you're probably ready to go. Some of the buttons that are typically allocated for grenades and hand-to-hand combat have been co-opted for the Bullet Time mechanic, but it's an easy switch to make. You utilize the slow-down controls so often that they become part of your repertoire quickly.

I should also mention, just to cover my bases, that this is not a Rockstar Game in the same way that Grand Theft Auto or Red Dead Redemption is. Players are strapped to a fairly linear storyline that lasts between 15 and 70 hours, depending on how frequently you use bullet time. However, the narrative has Rockstar's stamp all over it. There's a nouveau kind of interactive storytelling happening in Max Payne 3 that could only really be told by the people who brought you GTA and L.A. Noir.

The cutscenes, while possibly too numerous, are seamlessly integrated into the overall narrative in a way that often makes you forget when it's time to take control of your character. This, coupled with a graphical universe that undoubtedly pushes the limits of this generation of consoles, creates an immersive experience that will give titles like Uncharted a run for their money.

he Amazing Spider-Man Review

Xbox 360 | PS3

System: PS3*, Xbox 360
Dev: Beenox
Pub: Activision
Release: June 26, 2012
Players: 1
Screen Resolution: 480p-1080p	ESRB

A Spider Without A Web
by Matt Walker

Spider-Man is sort of my Achilles' heel. Next to another superhero fond of blue and red, (I wrote all about him a week ago), Spider-Man has been a favorite of mine for years. The only difference between the red-and-blue-clad heroes is that Spider-Man has had several games of awesomeness while Superman has not.

The Amazing Spider-Man, the most recent Spidey game, has longtime fans contemplating two major facets of this title before even tearing open the shrink wrap—one of these is working against the game while the other is its favor. In the game's favor is the return of the much beloved free-roam; against it is the stigma of being a tie-in game to the soon-to-be-rebooted Spider-Man film franchise.

Beenox did a very smart thing with setting the game after the movie. By doing so, we actually have a double-edged sword. No, the developers weren't tied to just the movie plotline, but how much would they be allowed to reveal about the movie before it even hit theaters? The answer is a dauntingly massive SPOILER ALERT. Seriously, you will know a lot more about the movie after the first ten minutes of this game than you will after carefully examining each and every movie trailer.

This is regrettably where the story is both fascinatingly imaginative and disappointingly bland. In order to keep things close to the vest and in line with the movie, it plays out that Spidey must face down some of his weakest villains in comic history. (While many love the Scorpion and Rhino, how many of you can tell me who Vermin or Iguana are? That's what I thought.) Nevertheless, they are able to tie all of the gene-splicing animal amalgamation of the film into the game without much effort. Hell, there is even Black Cat, who, as any fan knows, is more for the eye-candy than anything else.

Therefore, aside from the spoilers, the storyline is somewhat drab. Mix this with the voice actors and you may find yourself caring about the story less and less, just wanting to get to the action. This is not to say the voice work is awful or anything; it's just that none of the actors from the film reprise their roles (and there's really no excuse for this in today's industry.)

The combat plays heavily on the dreams of how Spider-Man fans have always wanted to control Spidey. Taking a large chapter out of Arkham Asylum's combat structure, The Amazing Spider-Man has an attack/reversal/takedown system, and it makes so much sense here. After all, Spider-Man actually has the squiggly lines pop above his head to warn him about impending attacks, whereas Batman's warnings can only be best described as aroma vapors pouring from under his mask.

Also like Batman, Spidey has stealth attacks this time around. Crawling in the shadows and taking enemies down while hidden is just as much fun with Spider-Man as it is with Batman, if not a little more so. Spidey has the option of auto retreat or "web retreat," which basically lets you get back into hiding with the push of a button. Sure, it feels like cheating, but this doesn't stop it from being fun.