You can't die in the newest "Prince of Persia." You can't even fail, really.

It's a wrestling match between old-school sensibilities and new-school thinking, one where the outcome within yourself as a gamer can determine how much enjoyment there is to be had in the Prince's latest adventure.

But somewhere in this battle, regardless of what wins, is a pretty enjoyable experience.

This time, he's in the middle of a desolate kingdom being overrun by a dark god named Ahriman, who has found to way to break out of his ethereal jail in the depths of the kingdom's holy temple.

As a result, the once-green lands of the kingdom are crawling with trails and pools of dark, living slime called the Corruption, which is supposed to represent Ahriman's essence.

To top it all off, there are four "corrupted" lieutenants of Ahriman watching over the kingdom's polluted sections.

Luckily, you're not alone. Guiding you on your quest is Elika, a princess of the kingdom who is blessed with magical powers, including the ability to heal the lands infected by the Corruption. She's also the prime reason the Prince never has to worry about death.

As you bounce from land to land, hurtling past globs of dark slime and climbing up walls, you find that Elika might be the most clutch non-playable character ever created.
Miss a jump and fall? Elika swoops in to grab you and return you to solid ground. Starting to get sucked into a pool of Corruption? Chill out, Elika's got this.

It's like that with the game's retooled combat, which focuses on one-on-one duels instead of warding off throngs of foes. If the enemy knocks you down, you'll have to press the correct button to avoid a deathblow -- not like it matters, since failure to press said button merely means Elika forces off your attacker with magic, giving him time to heal.

There lies the issue faced by those weaned on death-rife action platformers like the earlier "Prince of Persia" chapters, "Mirror's Edge" or "Tomb Raider" -- if you can't die, what is there to fear from failure? Is this like Little League, where everyone is a winner no matter what? Is there a code to get ice cream on Live or PSN when the game is over?

It's easy to sarcastically ask yourself similar questions within the first hour of gameplay, but give it time -- there's plenty here to like while you're alive.

The first thing that comes to mind is the unique cel-shaded/scanner-like art style, which adds a dimension of cartoonish fantasy to the experience.

Each section of the land manages to maintain a personality of its own while still feeling like part of the kingdom. While some areas have a sense of former majesty, like the looming Tower of Ahriman, there are places like the Cauldron, which features a churning machine used by a Corrupted being known as The Alchemist.

Within these lands are examples of brilliant level design, bolstered by creative (and sometimes maddening) puzzles which cross impeccable timing with some critical thinking.
Adding to the gameplay are magical powers that can be acquired when you collect enough "light seeds," which are glowing balls of energy that pop up whenever you heal a section of the kingdom. As you progress, you'll pick up the abilty to jump great distances or even fly for a short period of time.

This combination of elements also constructs a special brand of difficulty. Sure, Elika is there to save you when you make a mistake, but she can't save you from the puzzles. Plus, she also doesn't save you from having to repeat a long, elaborate sequence of jumps or from getting tossed around by an invincible opponent, like the Corrupted being known as The Warrior.

Aside from the visual and gameplay elements, the interplay between Prince and Elika is entertaining, if not a little repetitive and cheesy. It's certainly not on the level of the dialogue of "Assassin's Creed," another Ubisoft title.

Among some of the issues I had with the game dealt with the somewhat dull, easy nature of the combat. You face each of the four Corrupted lieutenants several times in one section, and none of them do much to vary their attacks with each encounter. This turns battle into a tedious chore, and something that get prolonged with any mistake made.
I also wonder about the replay value, especially given the way the game ends. I won't spoil it, but other than the ability to collect more light seeds, unlock more material or break speed records, this stacks up more like a good one-and-done experience.

Overall, I'd say "Prince of Persia" is certainly worth carving out some time. It's certainly not going to kill you to see for yourself.

Prince of Persia
Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC
Rated T for Teen
Our rating: 7.5/10

"Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe" is not that kind of game. In fact, it doesn't even try.

Midway's newest fighting game is solely for the converted: The game should appeal to fighting-game fanatics and DC fanboys but not many others. There's simply not enough new or interesting to justify spending $60 on an experience this shallow.

The game's built-in audience will recognize the cast of characters. Ten "MK" warriors -- gaming veterans such as Liu Kang, Kitana, Shang Tsung and Sub Zero -- do battle with 10 stalwarts of DC comics, including Batman, Wonder Woman, Lex Luthor and Catwoman.

There's an opportunity for something we haven't seen before as the DC characters all get "Mortal Kombat's" patented fatality moves, but most prove a disappointment. The game tones down the creative carnage to preserve its Teen rating. It's just as well: The game feels pretty juvenile, anyway.

The action breaks down into Story Mode, which shoehorns a semi-coherent story into a series of fights; Arcade Mode, in which you pick a character from either universe and fight your way through a series of increasingly difficult adversaries; and online play, where those who spent hours and days playing the original "Mortal Kombat" games in an arcade can play one another (and they won't even have to beg their parents for more quarters).

If these experiences sound redundant, that's because they are. There are a few wrinkles to spice up the fights, but they don't require much finesse. Whereas the fights themselves require patience, timing and effective use of combos, the Free Fall Kombat, Klose Kombat and Test Your Might minigames require little more than button mashing.

One nice innovation to combat is the use of Kombat Rage. Performing power moves will increase your Rage meter, but taking damage in the most consistent way you'll build it up. When you use Rage, your attacks become more powerful and it becomes easier to break through opponent's blocks. The result is that even if you're getting smoked in a fight, intelligent use of Rage can keep you competitive.

The game's story manages to be modestly entertaining -- mostly by being sublimely campy (or is it kampy?). Every line is delivered with sledgehammer subtlety and is chock full of plot review. But at least one character seems to be in on the joke. Batman's old nemesis the Joker -- presented as a cross between Cesar Romero and Ace Ventura -- provides an occasional and welcome break from the rest of the game's forced gravitas.

The combined-universes story does serve the game well in its level design, though. You can fight in the Batcave, at the fortress of Captain Marvel and in many of the fantasy backdrops familiar to "Mortal Kombat" players. The intricate costumes of the "Mortal Kombat" fighters, which show damage as fights progress, also stand out as examples of nice design. Nothing makes you appreciate a hard-fought victory like seeing the cuts and gashes your fighter had to suffer to get there.

In the end though, "Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Universe" is about the fighting. If you like that, you'll probably find the game enjoyable and replayable. If you get bored with punch-kick-special-repeat, you'll get bored with the game and maybe build some rage that isn't measured on the screen.

Although there is a "cool" factor in a Batman-Superman fight or in seeing Scorpion bellow "Get over here!" as he reels in a superhero, it's not enough to build a game around. The game ends up feeling shallow to the point that you wonder if the designers thought players could be so distracted by the combined-universes gimmick and the female fighters' cleavage that they wouldn't notice that the game doesn't bring anything new to the table.

Maybe it's pointless to criticize a game so limited in ambition, but I could do without the condescension.

Score: 6 out of 10
Developer: Midway
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3
Rating: T for Teen

"Fallout 3" depicts the world at its worst. Anarchy has replaced a civilization devastated by nuclear war, and most survivors maintain only a tenuous grip on their sanity and humanity. Horrifyingly mutated animals and humans roam the wastes.

And when you're there, you'll want to stay as long as you possibly can.

As in "The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion," which was many reviewers' game of the year in 2006, "Fallout 3" shines in its rich character customization, wonderful design and near-limitless possibilities. The main quest centers on finding your dad, who left the safety of Vault 101 -- one of many refuges in which survivors of the war with China in 2077 took shelter -- for reasons unknown. When you emerge from the vault amid the dilapidated grandeur of the ruins of Washington, D.C., you can follow in his footsteps or just strike off exploring and create your own story. Your dad is a brilliant surgeon with the voice of Liam Neeson, after all: The man can take care of himself.

The sharply designed capital wasteland shows both sides of the world: a dead civilization and a semi-barbaric new one trying to establish itself on top of its predecessor. Raiders hide out in ruined Metro stations, and hardscrabble encampments made of scrap metal are built atop freeway overpasses. A city springs up on a prewar aircraft carrier. Even the Jefferson Memorial has been turned into a staging ground for a water-purification experiment. The whole capital has a "lived in" feel that must be experienced to be appreciated.

Once you're out there, there are almost no limits to where you can go. Ascend the tattered Washington Monument or take a swim in the irradiated waters of the Potomac. You're sure to find surprises and challenges along the way.

If some of this sounds like old news for those (like me) who poured dozens or hundreds of hours into "Oblivion," there are enough gameplay refinements and new features to keep it from feeling like -- as some feared -- "'Oblivion' with mutants."

One such innovation to combat is the Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System. A kind of hybrid of bullet-time and turn-based combat, VATS slows the action to allow you to lock on to specific parts of an enemy's body. That sledgehammer-swinging Super Mutant looks a lot less intimidating if his arm is crippled.

VATS strikes also allow other bonuses. Cripple a giant ant's antennae, and it'll go berserk, attacking anything it sees. Or use VATS with a grenade to take advantage of a moment when enemies are clumped together.

The enemy AI is generally impressive. Your opponents often attack in packs and use cover well. They can intuitively switch weapons, and they also know when the fight is lost. Severely wounded enemies will often try to flee. One member of a feared mercenary outfit even yelped "I don't get paid enough for this!" as he turned tail.

But not everyone you meet is trying to kill you. You'll need the game's cast of hundreds to repair weapons, buy and sell goods, and get quests. But they need you too. You can help them solve their problems and perhaps make life a little more bearable, or you can exploit situations for your own gain. Your interactions affect your karma, which measures how virtuous or evil you are and also determines how people react to you. I completed a quest to help the city of Megaton, and when I walk through it now, people often come up and give me useful presents. So much for virtue being its own reward.

The voice acting is solid, if unspectacular, but the conversations seem more naturalistic than they did in "Oblivion," in which non-player characters often had a creepy, catatonic gaze during conversations. In "Fallout 3," their reactions and features are more recognizably human. The NPCs also talk to one another, which can provide some good information if you listen in but can also get repetitive. A character will sometimes have a conversation, walk away, and have an identical conversation with the next person they see.

"Fallout 3" also shines in its creativity with weapons. In addition to the standard arsenal of pistols, assault rifles and shotguns, you can wield the Fat Man, which launches a small nuclear projectile. Or, if you find the right schematics, you can also create your own weapons out of D.C.'s seemingly benign detritus. All it takes is a workbench, and you can turn tin cans into incredibly powerful Nuka-grenades. My favorite home-made weapon so far is the Shishkebab -- a flaming sword made of motorcycle parts and a lawnmower blade.

Just don't go into "Fallout 3" thinking the combat is going to be as smooth as "Halo" or "Call of Duty." The targeting can feel clunky, and if you take cover during a firefight, you'll sometimes find yourself shooting the barricade rather than the enemy you have your target on.

The strengths of "Fallout 3" lie in its roleplaying, not its running and gunning. The game's clever tutorial has you begin designing your character from your birth, when you choose your gender and physical appearance. You'll skip ahead a year to choose your attributes -- such as strength, intelligence and charisma -- with the help of a children's book. I think I spent more time at this stage than I think Bethesda intended -- it was way too much fun to run around the room on the wobbly legs of a toddler.

When you reach adolescence, you'll pick your skill set with a kind of high school exit exam (somewhat controversial even 270 years in the future). There are 13 specific skills, including science, lockpicking and explosives, that you'll build on as you progress in the game and gain experience.

One significant change from the "Elder Scrolls" series is in skill progression. Gone is the system in which you would advance only in the skills that you use. "Fallout 3" uses the more common system in which your experience points go into a pool that you can use on any skills you want. I preferred the "Elder Scrolls" system -- it always troubled me that you could gain experience points picking locks and spend the points on using missile launchers -- but I won't quibble over personal preferences.

For further character customization, Bethesda borrows the perk system from the previous "Fallout" PC games made by Black Isle Studios in the late 1990s. As you level up, you can choose from among several dozen perks. Some will allow for new dialogue options, some will protect you from radiation or bullets, and some will boost your skills. Or, if you feel the need for more gratuitous violence in your life, you can always choose Bloody Mess, which will make your enemies explode.

This level of customization makes a the game almost endlessly replayable. You'd be surprised how many ways there are to accomplish some quests, and the traits of your character -- whether a charismatic charmer, a shoot-first psycho or a shadowy sneak -- will have a lot to do with how you approach a task.

"Fallout 3" succeeds from a technical perspective as well. The framerate is consistently solid on my Xbox 360, and the visual glitches are relatively rare. Some characters do have the bad habit of walking into walls, but the game performs at a level that enhances the player's immersion.

Despite the expected arrival of a few more major games before the end of the year and the emergence of "Gears of War 2" this month, expect "Fallout 3" to be on a lot of short lists for game of the year. With a gigantic world to explore and downloadable content promised in the future, I expect to be coming back to it many more times.

Score: 9.5 out of 10
Rating: M for Mature
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Silicon Knights' magnum opus of Too Human has had a storied history that does not bear repeating in this review. If you've heard of the game, are something of an internet junkie, and frequent game sites, there's a good chance that you already know all of the ugliness that has surrounded the hype. I'll admit that I've read through some of the negativity and Denis Dyack's own interviews in explaining his position and to be honest, it got to a point where I became numb to the noise. I just wanted to play the game now that I've finally had a chance to, it's not that bad...but it's not that great, either.

When I hear things like "handshaking protocols" and "networked nodes" in the game, I can't help but think that someone may be studying for a Cisco course, that despite how unique this approach can feel it still relies on modern terminology to tell it. It's probably inescapable, until you look at what other RPGs, such as Arcanum or any number of JRPGs, have done in this regard by taking certain well known technologies or techniques and turning them around naming them into oddest things you may ever yet see. With those and other examples out in the wild, Too Human's distance from today's myths doesn't seem to have gone far enough which was somewhat disappointing, that ten thousand plus years later we would be using "handshaking protocols" all over again.

The story is a mixed bag with its own set of issues, most of which lie with some of the embarrassingly over-macho and cliched dialogue hampering the otherwise decent voice acting. Marine-type grunt? Check. Scared soldier looking for a verbal handout? Check. Leering evil person abusing the help? Check. It's all here. The manual helps to explain some of the characters and the world in general, but you'll still be left in the dark about a lot of things such as what exactly the "Pact of the Fallen" is or just where all of these machines are coming from. The good thing is that the music isn't half bad, so while you're busy trying to figure out a motive for why you want to invite yourself over to Valhalla, it will keep you company.

The cut scenes also waver between strong moments such as Loki's transformation into a cyber-god to embarrassing WTFs such as an escape where a character clad in armor except for his head manages to escape because the small army sent in to stop him apparently all miss his head with their rain of lead. It's not entirely without some surprises, however, such as how Idun's "Apples" of immortality are represented or what the giants of Ymir are in SK's vision by replacing mysticism with high science which occasionally works. It doesn't do much for characterizations or for caring about Baldur in general, but certain characters do have some intriguing facets to them such as Heimdall or Loki.

The player takes on the role of Baldur, the most "human" of ODIN's chosen Aesir, as he pursues his quest to destroy his enemies through four major dungeon areas. Mechanical "goblins" will be the most common fodder that he will be slaking his sword's thirst with, although a conspiracy quickly rises up from the shadows of his past to make him question his very existence. The first of a promised trilogy of titles, the game predictably ends with a surprising cliffhanger which easily sets up the next chapter. It's a pretty decent ending, worthy enough to reward the twelve hours I spent slagging enemies in the game for, but I only hope that the next chapter fixes the issues that nearly derailed the experience for me.

Picking a class is the first order of divine business and there are several to pick from, such as the stalwart Defender who can soak up plenty of damage while dealing out a bit of his own, the Commando whose ranged attacks keep the enemy at bay, or the jack-of-all-trades, the Champion. Each class has its own set of special skills lined up in a tree for the player to improve them with as they gain levels and if a mistake is made, they can be redone although the class you choose is locked in unless you decide to begin a new game. The skill trees have a variety of specials to them, such as allowing the spider module that Baldur can call up to act as a mine to blow up foes or set them on fire. There are also battle cries that can be improved that act as special buffs allowing Baldur to commit even more crushing damage on foes in the air or open them up for critical damage on the ground.

Silicon Knights have managed to translate the harried button mashing or mouse clicking inherent in hack 'n slashers like Gauntlet or Shining Force Neo into simply tilting the right analog stick at enemies and letting Baldur automatically deliver runic steel down his enemies' throats. That's all you really need to do: point the right analog stick at your enemies and watch him glide over to tear them up. Hey, running into enemies worked for Adol Christin at the beginning of his career.

Rise to Honor's martial arts action followed something of the same path, allowing players to kick and punch their way through the game using the right stick. In Too Human's case, Baldur will be gliding to each foe and instead of tapping out combinations, the player merely has to hold the stick towards the next victim. The more foes that he takes out, the better for his combo gauge tracking each kill. There are three levels of his combo gauge and the higher it is, the faster that Baldur will be able to zip over to his enemies and dispatch them. The combo meter also allows Baldur to use "ruiners" at the cost of one of these levels, special attacks that deal damage to foes within range.

When it really gets going, it's actually pretty exciting stuff to keep up with as foes start falling like dominoes on the battlefield with a mere flick of the stick, Baldur smashing through each one in turn, and then moving onto the next target. It's not as tangible a feeling as button mashing might be in taking a more active part in the melee, but it is satisfying on another level by distilling the manual labor out of the equation and allowing the player to get right down to the specifics as you try and keep up. As fun as it can be,it can get somewhat repetitive especially when the game throws a few cheap shots your way. When I first started out with Too Human, the first two areas of the game made me wonder why it didn't carry the subtitle "Missile Spam and Shockwave Attack Sweetness" because of the number of foes that resorted to these types of attacks. Baldur can do a rolling dodge that miraculously makes him impervious to damage, however, allowing him to escape and slide on over to take care of business.

Probably to offset the feeling that the gameplay might get stale, enemies can also be launched into the air with two taps of the stick allowing the player to jump up and pound away at them with another combination of blows. Not every foe can be launched like this such as the major bosses or particularly huge foes, but a number of "hero" type enemies bearing fun loving names along the lines of "He Whose Breath Smells of Week Old Pizza Digested in a Corpse" can be. Trolls, huge walking war machines, also require a subtle touch to take down. After a little pounding to strip off some of their armor and weapons, Baldur can hop atop them from behind and, using the left stick to balance him atop their shoulders, can strike with the death dealing blow. This can be fun to do, but the game also tends to cheat by making certain trolls indestructible until they are taken out in this way which can feel as if you are led by the nose to do what the designer wants you to.

Too Human also allows you to shoot it out with anything that has a trigger, although the aiming mechanics seem sloppy. Panning across a group of foes in order to specifically home in on one enemy is problematic, especially when the enemy chooses to rush you often. Guns definitely feel as if they take a backseat to much of the action which feels inclined towards players eager to get into it up close and personal, but they are useful for specifically targeting the weak points on larger foes where simply flailing away with a blade does nothing but raise your blood pressure.

Speaking of weapons, there's a ton of them that the game generates including a wide selection of fine armor and gear that Baldur can use to survive just a bit longer as well as change his look. Rune slots on most of the gear allow the player to customize them with a variety of effects and bonuses as they collect them and blueprints allow Baldur to forge powerful and unique toys. Rune charms bestow subtle bonuses that carry through the gameplay no matter what Baldur might be using or wearing, but certain conditions have to be unlocked before they can be useful. Everything is also level based which might put off players hoping to dive into battle with the newest Screaming Mattock of Undiluted Annihilation, but there are always a few exceptional pieces that are always within reach to keep the carrot dangling.

There's no difficulty level to really speak of, no "Epic" mode to work towards since the enemies in the game scale along with Baldur's level with only his weapons and skill tree to keep him ahead of the curve. Not every player is going to like this. It does keep the challenge consistent, but it can also feel as if some of the tweaks and bonuses that you earn for your character build won't mean much when the enemy is able to shrug off the damage and smile about it later on.

But just when you're speeding along from one machine to the next, Too Human's gameplay comes to a grinding halt with one of the most pretentious death scenes that I've ever seen in a recent game. When Baldur bites the big one, a cyber-Valkyrie comes down and takes him away in a sequence that lasts for nearly half a minute. I understand that it's supposed to be a part of this great cybersaga, but not being able to cancel or opt out of this is simply saying to the player that it's a lot more important than in helping to get them back into the game. I had my fill after the first time.

It's not hiding any kind of load sequence or anything that I can guess because when it had failed to work in one other instance, I started right back up seconds later as if Baldur were popped out of a Vita Chamber. At one point, I was convinced that the cyber-Valkyrie was a Pavlovian test to train me into playing better or to start over with another class. I would suggest reading the ingredients on a soup can or sitting next to a window so that you can watch the weather to give you something more constructive to do while waiting to, I don't know, actually play the game.

The menu system also seems to exist in a parallel dimension where time is slower than it is in our universe. You can almost hear the memory chips in the 360 crying out in wretched pain as you move from one category to the next. Given how often you will need to use it, it was annoying to work through, but far more preferable than the cyber-Valkyrie sequence. The auto-salvage system can be useful, but why can't it salvage cheap charms in addition to most everything else?

And then there's the camera. Since the right analog stick which had been traditionally used as a camera control doesn't work that way in Too Human, several presets are available to try and alleviate the pain of working with it. To some extent, it works out okay but it can still be frustrating to work with in simply trying to get a decent overview of a busy battlefield. You can stand still and look around, but even that doesn't work very well and you might set off a ruiner instead since part of the function shares the same button. Nice.

The level design is also something of a mixed bag, the worst one being the Ice Forest level with its multitude of repetitive platform areas stocked with plenty of missile and shockwave spam. Things only picked up later on aboard a titanic ship called Jormungand and the assault on Helheim itself with more creative encounters which was fortunate given how bland the Ice Forest turned out to be. There's also the all but useless cannon fodder that occasionally accompanies Baldur. These are the Red Shirts of Too Human, able to talk up a good game but turn out to be about as useful as a wet napkin in stopping a bullet. They'll die by the dozens, chatter more awful dialogue, and die some more or stand around and do nothing while everything targets you instead. Seeing more of these come in to replace the ones that died is supposed to be a cause for celebration in other titles where that help is actually useful, but in Too Human, I wanted to place bets to see how long they would live.

Multiplayer is also included allowing one other person to join up with you online to play through the campaign together, although it's strictly a mode where the two of you kill lots of stuff without the story. Players can also replay previous missions that they have gone through, jumping in at certain checkpoints or starting from the very beginning if they've finished the game and collect even more loot. They can even do this in the middle of the campaign, although the player would do well to keep in mind where exactly they saw the last "saving" prompt in order to get an idea of where the checkpoint for their return will be at. It's easy to jump out of the campaign, grind a bit in another area, and come back only to realize that you aren't where you were supposed to be because you had no idea where the checkpoint had last saved your progress at. You can manually save, but don't expect to get back to exactly where you had left off at. Other than that, there's not much else. Too Human is a hack 'n loot machine that won't stop unless you've had enough virtual goodies.

Too Human isn't a terrible game, but it does come with a large amount of baggage to slash and shoot through, the kind that you can't simply avoid and have to deal with in order to try and enjoy what it tries to bring to the feasting hall. I don't know if I'd even go so far as to call it Diablo or Titan Quest for the 360 since both of those titles didn't come packaged with a pretentious death scene. Despite the moments of fun that I had skating around as a cybergod, I wasn't looking forward to crossing Bifrost again just to experience them.

Saw this on 1up. Possibly my favorite picture of all time. Yes we can.

The beauty of Fable II is that it's as long or as short as the player wants it to be. Peter Molyneux has a reputation for trying to reach for the stars with his ideas, and this much-anticipated piece of work is full of them.

Take the concept itself, which doesn't differ from the first title -- start off in the shoes of a young hero and shape his or her life and legend over the years with every action and decision you make. You can live like a bad-ass drifter or start a family (or several of them) and earn money as you travel. You don't even have to be good ... you can run around and be a greedy, murderous thug if you want.

All of this takes place in the fictional land of Albion, 500 years after the events of the first game. While you don't need to be in tune with the first game to fully appreciated the sequel, it does add a little bit of extra mythos as the story progresses.

Graphically, the game does a good job of conveying the sense of a wondrous fantasy world. Albion's full of quaint markets, humble villages, deadly ghost-filled swamps, raucous pirate towns and lush forests.

It's also full of quests. The main story (which I won't spoil too much) pits you against a power-hungry madman who fears his foreseen death at the hands of a hero. To that end, he tries to have you killed, but you manage to survive. This is when you start to build your path to revenge, which is where the multitude of quests factors in.

Each quest enables the player to craft practically every facet of his or her character's life. One of the game's best points is that is has so much for the player to do. Feel short on money? Grab a job with the blacksmith. Want more people to know your name? Try and hold a pose long enough to have a statue made.

Interpersonal relationships have a lot of dimensions here as well. For instance, you can flirt your way into a person's heart and marry them, regardless of gender -- Prop. 8 isn't an issue in Albion, apparently.

Eventually, you're going to have to fight people, so the re-tooled combat system makes the game feel a little more accommodating to the button-mashing action gamer. Anyone who's played God of War or Devil May Cry won't have much of a problem taking out scores of enemies with swords, guns and magic.

Perhaps the most adorable feature is your dog, who faithfully follows you around no matter where you go. You can give him a name, train him to do tricks (like seek out treasure) and he's a valuable battle companion. You don't have to maintain him like a Nintendog, but you end up getting attached to him as the "years" in the game pass you by.

I stuck mostly to the main quest, which seems very short by comparison to other games such as Mass Effect or Infinite Undiscovery. It also seemed to end a little too suddenly after doing a solid job of keeping the narrative moving.

Other issues I had were the lack of co-op at the time I got the game (to be patched later), as well as the occasional frustrating glitch or crash during battle. Overall, I'd say "Fable II" is certainly worth the time. But how much time you want to spend on it depends on you.

Fable II
Microsoft/Lionhead Studios
Xbox 360, PC
Score: 8.5/10

If you haven't seen this yet, here it is: The Guitar Hero: World Tour commercial featuring the above mentioned stars re-enacting the Tom Cruise 'Risky Business' scene. The Mamba is on the microphone.

There are some people still that think video games aren't mainstream. Riiight.

"NBA 2K9" seems to understand this, which is why it comes to us this season with an even stronger game than in years past.

There's a laundry list of new features in this game, but the one thing that stays with you is the overall on-court experience.

You get the full TV-style treatment the moment you fire up the first game, complete with video footage spotlighting a certain player on both teams, a look at the announce team and the starting lineups. You even get slow motion mini-replays in between quarters.
What really sticks out is the pure realism of the visuals, from the players to the crowd to the arena itself.

The player models are exquisite -- when you have the ability to actually READ some of the words on Allen Iverson's tattoos or count the stars on LeBron's ink, you know you've reached a special level of detail.

That kind of approach extends to the players' individual talents, as they play and move like their real-life counterparts.

Shawn Marion still has his drop-dead-ugly jumper, Dwight Howard destroys everyone under the rim, Kobe is practically unstoppable, while Chris Paul can toss perfect alley-oops to Tyson Chandler. It's especially fun to play with Paul, as the announcer and crowd unleash a "Wooooo!" cheer when he scores -- just like the real crowd in New Orleans. I also learned the value of now being able to change my shot in mid-air, so you can take it to the rack with a little more confidence.

All this realism extends to the strategic part of hoops as well, as players have the chance to run and perfect a number of set plays from the various playbooks of all of the NBA teams.

However, the price of all this realism is that the control scheme is one of the most complicated you'll find in any sports game.

If you've never played a 2K hoops game before, you'll be stuck trying to play a lot of run-and-gun as you attempt to learn the multitude of techniques used for post-up play, pick-and-rolls and even the difference between spin moves and hesitation dribbles. Basketball is meant to be a fluid game, but this Bible's worth of controls would probably scare off some people.

One more feature I wanted to mention was the ability to meet up with nine other ballers online for a nice game of virtual 5-on-5. There are few things better than setting up a cutting teammate for an easy bucket or playing a classic inside-outside game with your buddy in the post. It's hoops at its best.

It'd be easy to say this is the finest hoops title out there, but like I said before, it's also the most complex. Practice makes perfect.

NBA 2K9
2K Sports
Multiple platforms
Score: 9/10

Just for the hell of it, I decided to target some journeying women on the road to Bowerstone (one of the towns in Fable II) to see if my female character could dance, whistle, pose and fart her way into their hearts. One of them came away impressed and adoring (in a fan sort of way -- there's an info screen that indicated that she thought my character was just really cool).

But the other, a noblewoman, was ready to marry her. My character was thisclose to pulling it off, but there was just one problem -- the ring my character was carrying around wasn't good enough for her.

Fear not, my sword-swinging, rifle-carrying, eyepatch-wearing heroine. Albion's a big place.

With games like Fallout 3, Gears of War 2 and LittleBigPlanet highlighting my calendar, I wasn't sure if I was even going to be able to make time for Fable 2, the much-hyped sequel from Peter Molyneux's Lionhead Studios. I spent a few hours poking around the fictional land of Albion, and here's some mental notes I took.

- OK, I know that online co-op isn't available yet, so I can't speak to that. However, I'm trying to figure out if I'm annoyed or intrigued by the floating orbs. The orbs represent your friends playing the game online -- all you have to do is interact with the orb and your buddies can jump into your game (or you into theirs). The problem is, they can sometimes be an eyesore. I had one of my "friends" practically floating over my face while I was trying to forge a sword for some extra cheddar. That sucked.

- If you've played God of War, then you'll have no issues slicing through people in Fable II's tweaked combat system. I built a female character dressed in crimson wearing an eyepatch, and there's something quite satisfying about mauling a group of bandits with some who looks like that. It's like the badass commander I made in Mass Effect with a scar over her eye who really didn't have any problems killing the last of an ancient alien race. I'll make sure my character falls somewhere in the "chaotic good" category, with some evil deeds mixed in. Let's see how that works.

- I need to play with the dog more. He's helped me find treasure, he's really easy to train, and I enjoy the fact that I have an unlimited supply of little rubber balls to play fetch with him. Just to be sure, I wanted to see what would happen if I tossed a ball (by mistake) over a cliff. The answer? Nothing. Nice to know that I can't kill my dog via raging stupidity.

- Albion is huge. Thank goodness for the shortcuts on the maps.

- I like Albion's general look, which was apparently inspired by forest scenery in martial arts movies. I always think adventure environments should carry a sense of wonder, and Albion has certainly done that.

- Maybe it's my self-diagnosed ADD kicking in, but I get really annoyed when a bunch of citizens start talking to me all at once. I'm one of those people that likes to listen to every conversation, mainly for fear of missing something important, if not entertaining.

- I could spend all day chopping wood and hammering steel to make money in the game. It's strangely addicting.

What's even cooler, part of the money goes to charity. You can check out more info on this mod here. The current bid (last I checked) was about $10,000.

It's got some pretty Flash elements to it. Check it out.

You can count on any work of space horror to boast some time-tested elements: An abandoned experimental ship, a frightened crew sent to check it out and massive death and dismemberment as said crew is taken apart by whatever creature, virus or mystic force is left on board. And, of course, a lot of this happens in extremely poor lighting.

What I like about Dead Space is that it doesn't run from these elements. Rather, it embraces them and weaves them together with such skillful efficiency that it enables the player to fully enjoy other important things, like story and atmosphere. It's a tense, frighteningly exciting experience that can easily be called one of the best of the year.

You play Issac Clarke, a member of a repair team sent to the massive starship Ishimura to fix its communications problems. Long story short, all the lights are off on the outside, you and your team end up crash-landing on the ship, then you eventually find out that everyone on board has been mutated into monstrous creatures and raging nutcases. Naturally, you'll want to try and get off the ship.

The story, though slightly predictable for extreme sci-fi buffs, is a cool mix of horror, religion and a dash of personal tragedy. It serves as the undercurrent for the game's creepy atmosphere.

You can tell the designers had fun working with this brand of terror, devising ways to screw with the psyches of players. The ship's empty halls rattle with the sounds of the creatures running through the vents. Metal randomly crashes and clanks in the distance, while a blanket of shrieking and quivering violin riffs always seem to play at the right moments.

Then, there's the gore. There is unmerciful bloodletting in this game, which actually adds to the tension. Issac himself has plenty of weaponry he can use to take apart the creatures he encounters (which the game encourages), such as plasma cutter or a weapon that shoots out buzzsaws. The more limbs you cut off, the more damage you do, and there will be many instances where the limbs will fly.

One of basic fears people have in a survival horror game isn't just dying, it's dying horribly. Consider your fears confirmed as far as this game goes. One nasty monster with bony blades for arms not only impaled Issac, but also cut off all his arms and legs before deciding he didn't need a head anymore. You can also get crushed by some of the ship's larger machines or get splattered by a malfunctioning anti-gravity panel. This all adds to the feeling of perpetual danger throughout the game.

Among the cooler elements in the gameplay is the concept of zero gravity. Much like Prey did its best to alter perspectives by having people walk on walls and ceilings, players are going to enter certain areas where they have to physically "jump" on walls and ceilings to get to certain doors.

Of course, the mutated freaks also find their way into these rooms, which leads to some intriguing moments in terms of sound and visual appeal. Nothing quite beats the thrill of seeing corpses of your own making floating around in a zero-g environment.

The last things I wanted to mention were the visuals, which turns what could have been a drab environment into the intergalactic equivalent of a haunted house. The Ishimura is a gigantic ship, and Issac finds himself traveling everywhere from the engine room to the chillingly eerie crew deck, which is littered with candles and pervaded by someone singing a tune that sounds like "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." That not what I want to hear when I've been fighting screaming monsters for 13 hours.

Dead Space got a lot of buzz at E3, and it should get plenty of recognition now, even in the crowded holiday field of games. It's been called gaming's answer to "Aliens" and "Event Horizon," and influences from both of those movies can be found here. If you're looking for some extra horror this Halloween, this is a game you want.

Score: 9.5/10

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Information:

Dead Space
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platforms: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Rated: M for Mature

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Ontario, CA (Grassroots Newswire) October 8, 2008 -- There was once a time
when video games were dominated and mastered by the male gender, with only the occasional token female joining the club. But evolution has led the virtual world into uncharted territory as a new generation of "geeks" has emerged.

According to the Entertainment Software Association's 2008 report, over 40
percent of "gamers" are women, and today, women 18 years or older represent a significantly greater portion of the game-playing population (33 percent) than boys age 17 or younger (18 percent).

The multitude of games with themes that women are more interested in may be fueling the trend, says Tom McMahon, CEO of Play N Trade, one of the largest video game franchises.

"Games such as American Idol, Guitar Hero, The Sims and even Tomb Raider are appealing to females and so the market is changing. We've seen firsthand how both girls and women are gaining interest in video games and making up a big part of our customer base," McMahon said.

Play N Trade is meeting the demands of those new customers by increasing their inventory in stores to accommodate the female gamers' selection. Store employees and staff are also educating them on what types of games they may like that are new to the market and they can try that in the store before they buy. Some of the company's tournaments are now being geared towards the females.

And with the trend comes more video game blogs and Web sites dominated by girl gamers, as well as marketing campaigns directed specifically to females - something that was once an anomaly in the industry.

In addition to being consumers, as the number of "female gamers" grows and
widely accepted games develop, the motivation for women to become more dominant in career fields such as video game development and programming becomes a possibility, McMahon said.

"It's very exciting to see women getting involved and becoming gamers. It opens up a whole new world of concepts: they are force driving and reshaping the gaming industry," McMahon said. "It'll be interesting to see how things unfold with this new trend."
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Lego Batman, developed by Traveller's Tales, deftly feeds off the momentum created by the recent Christopher Nolan films while paying cute, comical homage to the entire mythos surrounding the Caped Crusader. What you get is a romp fit for Batman fans of all degrees.

While the Lego Star Wars and Lego Indiana Jones games were essentially goofy-but-faithful remakes of the movies, the story of Lego Batman is entirely original. All of the inmates of Arkham Asylum -- Joker, Poison Ivy, Two-Face, Scarecrow -- have managed to escape, and it's up to Batman and Robin to round them all up.

The highlight of any Lego game is the simple, user-friendly gameplay, and that still hasn't changed. Batman and Robin use their supreme hand-to-hand fighting skills to bash their enemies into scattered pieces most of the time, but players also get to use Batarangs and grappling hooks to traverse the multitude of creative obstacles they come across.

The Batarang mechanic is especially cool, functioning a little like a Robotech missile-lock system, where you can "trace" the path of the Batarang to strike multiple targets. You can also "build" a variety of funny items like ice cream trucks, balloon cannons and mini-areas where you can change costume.

One of the more enjoyable aspects of the game is the gadgetry, where our heroes can don different "tech suits" equipped with different abilities. For instance, Robin can wear a suit which lets him walk on walls, while Bats can get a suit which lets him set bombs, or a "sonic" suit which lets him shatter glass.

Of course, you're also get command of the various Batman vehicles, such as the Batmobile (the one from the Tim Burton movies, not the tumbler), which comes equipped with machine guns and a tow cable.

Another cool twist in the game is the ability to play as villains, complete with their own missions of treachery. While one of Batman's missions might be to protect Commissioner Gordon, the mission for the Joker and Harley Quinn would be to kidnap him. Each of the villains has their own unique attacks, like the Joker's joy buzzer of death.

Other parts of the Batman universe that are in the game are the Batcave, which serves as your mission hub level, and Arkham Asylum, which serves as the hub level for the villains.

The only small gripes I have with this game deal with rare spells of tediousness, where I feel live I've been doing nothing but bashing enemies for hours. You'll also get the occasional moment where you're not quite sure where to go or what to do with a puzzle. You never really "die" in the game, which is good, considering there's a lot of platforming here.

Other than being the best-looking Lego game out there, Lego Batman might be also the most complete. There's more than enough action and subtle comedy to be enjoyed by multiple players, and it should be more than enough to satisfy even the darkest of the Dark Knight's followers.

Score: 8.5/10