Wow?

In fact, it’s already publicized decline from 324,000+ units in the first week, to under 72,000 in the second is the stuff of recent legend, and it’s third week decline to 42,000 weeks is the stuff of legend (even outsold by the 7-year old PSP), and has many wondering: Has the portable market really changed so much?

Tech contributor Tero Kuittinen at Forbes has no problem anwering echoing sentiment that Sony is in ‘Big Trouble’. “The pricing seems delusional in light of the Japanese response”, he states, insinuating that a price cut should be imminent. Seeing as many of the titles for the console are around the equivalent of $40, with first party titles like the new Uncharted coming in at around $50, I’d have to agree. In response to the increasing quality of $4.99 smartphone titles via iOS and Android, their plan is to offer a portable system with comparable prices to console games? Is this what Sony meant whe they said they would be keeping an eye on the smartphone/tablet market to gauge pricing of Vita titles?

Infinity Blade 2 on iOS. Increasing quality is NOT an understatement.

“Gouging” sounds more like it. Unlike the Japanese market, which is characteristically reluctant to change (and even less so from American products), the US landscape for portable gaming has changed drastically. Users have come to expect more from their devices, and coupled with the seemingly faster pace of our digital lives, need a device that can do everything for us..and be competent at running games. A device that plays games very well, and does everything else marginally well is acceptable for a home console, but not a portable one. In this writer’s opinion, the Vita is signing its death warrant early on as the original did, using tech edge as what looks to be a double-edged sword, especially now. Yes, people will pay the price for cutting edge, but even cutting edge has gotten drastically cheaper. The memo has been sent.

It does remain to be seen where the true success in this portable generation lies, but Japan has voted with their wallets and I can’t help but agree with Kuittinen’s article at this point. Saying the market has changed is one thing. Watching the 3DS’ rocky start and now this debacle only makes this mindset shine more. “The rot sets in first at the prehiphery” says Kuittinen , stating in conclusion that Nintendo’s success is assured (The 3DS has only just reached 4 million US units, surpassing sales of its predecessor in the same timeframe), but Sony will feel the blow to the portable market long before they do.

I think he’s absolutely right.

Source: Forbes: Sony in Big Trouble With PS Vita

Squad Teenage Angst

Most of us have played the amazing game that is Valkyria Chronicles (PS3) and if you haven’t, then something is obviously wrong with you. Regardless, if you didn’t pick up the original VC or beat it, you can still pick up VC2 and have a blast with it.

Given the decision to move Valkyria Chronicles from the PS3 to the PSP you would think that they would’ve downgraded the graphics so that it would be playable on the PSP, but this is not the case. The trademark “Watercolor” style has been kept for VC2 and everything from character movement to the cut scenes are equal to its predecessor.

The story starts off with a very detailed explanation of the events from the first game and what has happened in the two years leading up to VC2. You (or the main character of the game) are Avan Hardins. You join the Gallian Army and attend Lanseal Military Academy after you find out that your bigger brother Leon Hardins, a very well-known name at the academy has died. You’re in search of an answer as to why, also to stop the civil war that has been brewing since Archduchess Cordelia revealed she herself as a Darcsen and a new militia calling themselves The Rebellion have started to make moves. As deep as this story sounds, it’s actually not that deep at all. The story has potential but gets lost in a sea of teenage angst and drama. Acceptance and being who you are no matter what people think are the two main themes associated with the game.

The story was what made the first Valkyria Chronicles to begin with and taking the direction they took with VC2 was large disappointment to me but that shouldn’t stop you if you’re a diehard Valkryia Chronicles fan.

In Valkyria Chronicles 2, you will upgrade your armor, weapons, and classes as you would in the first game, but since there are new types of classes, there are new weapons and armor upgrades as well. Items now need materials to upgrade which you receive by defeating enemies and capturing bases. Special enemies like Ace enemies and enemies with a specially colored armor will give you different materials. This aspect of the game can get tedious as the game can easily become a grind fest for parts and materials.

There are more options to the tank upgrades now such as Body, Turret, Shoulder (example: Lamp to increase visibility during an night skirmish), Armor, Backpack (example: Constructor Arm to create bridges and ladders at marked locations on a map), Marking (example: Night Camo), and Stickers (different stickers have different attributes such as the Little Wing sticker which increases my HP by 5 and Rear Defence by 2). In addition, there’s also the introduction of a new type of tank class, the APC. The APC is used to carry up to 2 soldiers in it at a time. It doesn’t have very much in terms of fire power or armor, but it can move further than a regular tank could.

Gameplay and controls are pretty spot on from the first Valkyria Chronicles. You have the same overhead view of the map and get to choose which character you want to use. You move, shoot, change weapons, and crouch exactly the same. I have found myself many times forgetting that I was playing on my PSP.

A few of the earlier missions only require you play on one map, but later missions require you to play across three or more maps and be strategic in your placing as you can only place a maximum of 6 units at one time. The maps are relatively not large at all, but many of the “Free” skirmishes tend to reuse the same maps and even though they may start you at a different point on the map, it can get repetitive.

The AI is not as ruthless as the first game, but it seems that their aim has vastly improved. Lancers and snipers seem to never miss. If your characters get knocked out, they don’t die like in Valkyria Chronicles. If one of your soldiers touches them before 3 rounds pass, you can reuse them in the same skirmish after 1 or 2 rounds. If an enemy gets to them first, they retreat and you’ll have to play 3 complete skirmishes before they can become available. If your tank’s HP hits zero, you have to go to R&D and repair it at a cost.

One item that was not previously seen in Valkyria Chronicles is the addition of Ad-hoc co-op and competitive multiplayer. I never had a chance to use these but from what I’ve read, 2 players can battle across more than a dozen maps in competitive modes of varying objectives,  or complete co-op campaigns with up to four player who can team up and participate in simultaneous attacks.

Overall

There’s so much replay value in this from trying to achieve “A” rankings in all the skirmishes to getting all the credits needed to change classes to trying to find all the Ace enemies, finding the blue prints to create new weapons and the additional EX missions after you beat the game.

My only issue is that you’re still rewarded for running through skirmishes as fast as you can but if you do that you’ll miss out on most of the Ace Soldiers (special soldiers who have rare items that you’ll need to create new weapons/armor) who are hidden throughout the maps.

The maps at times can be repetitive and the difficulty is a bit less challenging than the first game, but with such great game play, you can easily lose track of how many hours you put into the game.

I personally give this an 8.5/10. In the end, the game brings many new additions and doesn’t dumb down the game we love. It took everything from the first and improved upon it. Well, everything except the story that is.

It's so beautiful.

While Sony did previously say it would be available in the global market “starting” at the end of 2011, Sony’s highly anticipated follow up to the PlayStation Portable, the PlayStation Vita, will not make a state side launch by the end of this year. Japan will be receiving the Vita in time for the 2011 holidays. Sony now plans on pushing back the US/European release until some time in early 2012.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., Chairman Kaz Hirai stated to the press in Tokyo that the launch would not be accompanied by a lowered price, despite Nintendo’s recent price drop on the Nintendo 3DS.

“We packed so much into the device and made it very affordable,” Hirai said. “There is no need to lower the price just because somebody else that happens to be in the video game business decided that they were going to lower their price.”

Some see this delay as a good thing as it might give the Vita more time to acquire titles for it’s launch as the line up, as it stands right now, is pretty weak. I personally think that this delay is a bad idea financially for Sony, but then again, when does Sony ever think about what will work out in their favor.

The PS Vita will start at $249 for a WiFi only model, alongside a 3G-enabled version for $299. PS Vita games will run you $39.99.

What is it that makes Call of Duty such a winning formula? If we dissect the game down to the most basic levels of desire in the human psyche, we see that it’s simply “constant reward.” We like being told that we are doing well, that we are progressing. It’s no different than the hundreds of Facebook games out there. First person shooters that came before it, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Socom these are games that rewarded skill. If you died, you were out for the round. It made the player more careful and less likely to make foolish mistakes. Overall it instated teamwork to accomplish victory. There was no constant point score or ranking up. Victory was victory and defeat was defeat. A bit harsh maybe, but there was a certain unmatched fidelity to the adrenaline that it produced. Respawning instantly turns the event into little more than a run n gun marathon. Unfortunately, the casual player base is growing by the day and it is because of this game design that they are drawn in. The hardcore player base has little else where to turn. Everywhere you look a new Modern Warfare clone has popped up. Even the might Halo franchise essentially aped the design in the form of “Reach”. Personally, I have reason to believe that this momentum will not hold forever. Eventually, people will tire of this formula of easy reward.

That is not to say that fresh ideas no longer exist in the game industry. Gems such as Murumasa, No More Heroes, Madworld (lots of Wii on that list…) showcase entirely unique design and visual style. Those are the games that we need to support. Clover Studios, responsible for Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and Godhand went out of business due to lack of support for titles, and rampant piracy. Platinum Games, responsible for Bayonetta, Madworld ,Vanquish and the upcoming Anarch Reigns is essentially the rebirth of Clover. Support them and there still might be hope for the true individual beauty that is the gaming industry. XBLA and indie games also are test beds for brilliant but offbeat ideas that haven’t “earned” full retail release. Just look at the breakthrough success of Minecraft which is still in beta.

Sound off if you too, want the originality of the industry to return!

Here’s a list of the five games featured on the PC or home consoles that would benefit from a conversion ton the handheld world. Some titles might be recent releases, while some are ancient in their own right. All five though would do the gaming world a service if they were readily available to take anywhere. I’ve discounted mobile phones in this top 5 list, as the main focus is on portable gaming units with an explicit focus upon gaming.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Arcade Game

While TMNT: The Arcade Game is pretty much an ancient title these days, its re-release on the XBox Live Arcade a few years ago gave younger gamers an opportunity to get their hands on one of the more addicting beat em up titles to have ever been released. Though the brevity of the overall game can be a somewhat downer for some, adding an extra person to the fold for subsequent completions adds to the overall experience considerably. It might not be the easiest thing in the world to find someone coincidentally playing TMNT: The Arcade Game on the same exact flight or same exact bus, but there are still numerous opportunities to unleash so turtle power on-the-go and enjoy every second of each play-through.

Champions of Norrath

One of the most engrossing action/RPG titles to have ever been released on a home console, Champions of Norrath is a near flawless description of the words “time sink.” Select one of several classes in male or female flavor, head into the world of Norrath and experience the addictive magic that the genre in general has always been capable of. Even those with no vested interest in the world of Norrath, players won’t feel lost by jumping directly into this one.  Probably the main thing that will keep players hooked in for a long, long time has to do with the fact that beating the game enables you to restart your experience at a higher difficulty, complete with your previously earned levels and loot. Take your already built and cared for avatar through the game once again, but with stronger mobs, higher quality loot and the same randomized dungeon system that ensures each subsequent dungeon layout will be different from the last. With that “just a few more minutes” aura, Champions of Norrath would make perfect sense for handheld gamers, and if it’s a morning commute to work, could accidentally leave the player missing their stops more often than not.

StarTropics

Reaching back in time for this one, StarTropics is the one first party developed title that has received almost no love from Nintendo since its initial release. We won’t even get into that somewhat bastardization of the series called the sequel; the initial title was the all-around classic definition of a video game classic. Mixing together a similar feel The Legend of Zelda’s gameplay with a more story centric experience, StarTropics rewarded gamers at every turn, from the fulfilling boss battles, to the puzzling points of the game that forced players to think a lot harder about the answers than most games of its era. Sure, having a main character wield a yo-yo as a weapon might seem like the most idiotic weapon you can give someone, but for some reason, it all made sense, especially when Mike’s sub weapons included baseball bats and a load of lit torches that have no plausible hiding place. As with The Legend of Zelda, each dungeon was an experience and a half, giving the player an urge to comb through the entire area to be sure that every item and enemy had been discovered. While the series lays dormant 20+ years later, a direct port to the Nintendo DS or 3DS, with no kind of tweaks, would offer newer gamers that never experienced this underrated masterpiece, a chance to take a game that’s hard to put down, some mileage on the road with them.

NBA Jam

With a release on the Nintendo Wii and subsequent stand alone releases on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, NBA Jam experienced a rebirth that’s rarely seen in gaming these days. While some franchises experimented with the shape of the wheel and gave it too much of an edge so to speak, NBA Jam took the same wheel and did little in the way of fine tuning its performance. The result was the classic feeling from the arcade titles of the 90′s, faithfully recreated with a fresh coat of paint and a handful of non evasive tweaks. Extra modes, better animation and a more enthusiastic commentator helped make NBA Jam a contender for “comeback kid of the year.” Yet EA Sports decided to forgo the handheld world. While a bulk of the fun is with playing alongside some friends, knocking down a seasons worth of games on a long plane ride, or take a few games at a time while on a bus ride would be satisfying as well. There’s an addiction quality to NBA Jam that can captivate a player for hours at a time, multiple times over, and capturing that magic in a portable unit would do wonders for both players and the publisher. The latest installment of NBA Jam can actually be found on the iPhone, albeit a stripped down shell, not to mention character movement on touch screen games on the iPhone tend to be fussy and off as a whole.

Desktop Dungeons

While I just recently reviewed this hidden gem, I’ve come to realize that, although the graphics might definitely become quint worthy, a Nintendo DS release could become one of the most addicting video games to ever become a handheld title. While my Internet was down for a few days before the review went up, I found myself hopelessly playing Desktop Dungeons repeatedly, with little pause or breaks taken. Even after unlocking a new mode or a new class, I found myself returning to the same classes and same game mode that I had just completed, just to see if I can best my previous outing. The best part about Desktop Dungeons is that at no point do any two games played feel remotely the same. It’s definitely a tall order to take what’s a free title with an unknown budget and incorporate it into a Nintendo DS release, but it might be an investment worth making. Once there’s a stronger following for the QCF Design team and a better awareness of this amazingly addicting title, it would be viable to pursue a release on a portable platform. Although literally losing 8 hours in the blink of an eye might be a bit hazardous to the health of  all gamers, but it’s the only drug worth the risk.

So what are some console or PC titles that you feel would benefit most from a handheld release? Post a comment below with your choices. I’m curious to see what else I could see myself wanting to play on the road!

"Half-Minute Hero, half-minute hopeless."

Having a solid premise to pitch your game idea is a non existent entity these days in the world of gaming. With so many sequels being belched out by companies the world over, having a fresh concept seems foreign, with a brilliant premise accompanying it all but drowned out completely. Wario Ware is a shining example of a structure and set up in which there’s flexibility and a thorough enjoyment throughout your experience. Dozens upon dozens of mini games with various methods of completing each one, all gave gamers a bit of a change up to how they played video games.

Say, I wonder what would happened if we infused the concept of fast paced gaming into a few genres that are reliant on time management, grinding and an all in all slower pace — like the RPG genre for one? There’s absolutely no chance that anyone could speed up an RPG, cut down on micro management, leveling and time investment and still make the experience not only enthralling, but plausible within conventional gaming practicality. How about the RTS genre as well? Oddly enough, someone out there actually did attempt this. The result was Half-Minute Hero — a quirky, imaginative concept, infused into a genre that you’d never think it would work for. To my surprise, it really doesn’t work.

Armageddon has been set to a timer! You have thirty seconds to vanquish the boss before he casts the doomsday spell upon the world. But thirty seconds seems like an absurdly limited amount of time to level grind, buy equipment, heal, grind more, buy more equipment, grind again and finally overthrow the boss, doesn’t it? Well thanks to the Time Godess, you can rewind time back to the thirty second mark, for a certain monetary price, which increases each subsequent attempt.

You can never say enough about the ambitious concept, and how brilliant it could be if it were delivered with a commendable success. Unfortunately, the rest of the package to Half-Minute Hero feels like it was left for the 31st second. The Time Goddess accelerates the rate of which you’ll gain experience and fight your battles, resulting in a half dozen level gains within a thirty second time period. The problem? Itemizing becomes an afterthought, the accelerated pace becomes immensely repetitive within three acts, and worst of all — you have absolutely no control of your character within the battles he fights. While it does seem implausible to have full control of your character within such a restricted time frame, being able to do more than use a healing herb during battle would have been ideal. Instead, you’ll come across random encounters in which your character will plow through 90% of the time, without much of a hassle, or fear of death from low health. Oh, and a side effect to accelerated leveling is that the Time Goddess reduces your level back down to one after each boss is defeated. While the speed of each battle will negate any sort of repetition from having to re-level your character, the repetition of the game in general will weigh heavily on you. There are three other gameplay modes that can be played through, but the RPG portion seems to be the more predominant one, as well as the fact that none of the four gameplay elements are really of any value.

Looking at Half-Minute Hero will present you with some abnormalities as well. The clean, rather cheerful 8-bit character models and game world fits with the theme of the game rather well. It really does feel like you’re playing an 8 bit title, with music that doesn’t fit well at all. The major time stoppage with the graphics comes with the putrid close ups of various avatars you’ll come across. Imagine playing Mario Paint, creating one of the rather elementary multi-part character designs, and placing them onto your white canvas. Now imagine enlarging those creating to about eight times the regular size. That pile of problematic pixelated pain should represent exactly how much of an eyesore these blown up images are. There’s nothing charming, cutesy no reminiscent of the 8 bit generation about them; they represent more of a tongue-in-cheek style, which doesn’t hold up well. Sticking to the admirable 2D world without those blown up avatars would have worked to 30H’s advantage.

While the music does feel a bit out of place, the overly whimsical tone and pacing of each song is actually enjoyable. Does it fit to the pace of a thirty second mission to save the world from destruction within a game world that isn’t taking its self too seriously? Not really no, but for what it is, it’s rather engaging. No matter which gameplay portion you do play, you’ll end up with the same concept, the same amount of luster, the same bit of hectic gameplay. None of the four segments manages to stand out for all the right reasons.

The main thing that will prevent the player from investing more than several minutes at a time with 30H is based off of how redundant the experience is. The uniqueness of it all quickly drops down to the bottom of the hourglass, leaving you with more of the same until the time you finally decide to turn off 30H. Being unique and having a fresh premise is a novel and commendable thing, but if you cannot deliver what feels more like a half-baked XNA community title, you need to take the time to further flesh out the execution of your title. Definitely not an abhorrent game by any stretch of the imagination, but one best played when a copy can be located for under $10.

Rating: 5.5

"The most gruesome aspects ends up being its mechanics."

Manhunt was an experience that was best described as a murder simulator. It seemed like the game was built off of killing everyone in your way, in the most gruesome and grotesque manners. Rockstar saw fit to release a sequel a few years later in Manhunt 2. The look is vastly more detailed, wit a much grimier feel to it, as well as an overall stronger visual showing, while the audio contains an admirably performed voice acting line up, with enough creditable sound effects to your every action. Each kill you perform has been censored quite a bit, with a lot of the more stomach turning moments not being seen clearly. The three biggest issues with Manhunt 2 have to do with connectivity, mechanics and combat. For the latter, the PSP control scheme feels extremely clunky and convoluted. While everything is mapped out in the best way imaginable, the execution of any move just feels wrong. The lack of a cohesive camera control will come into play often enough, stopping your progression to a halt on occasions, because you’re afraid to move any farther without being spotted. Getting spotted means you’ll have to deal with some of the same flimsy and poorly developed close quarter combat in gaming. Finally, at no point does Manhunt 2 grab you and pull you in. You’re just going through the motions of annoying controls, poor close quarter combat and tamed executions. Manhunt 2 thankfully doesn’t feel like a murder simulation, like the first title did, but sadly it doesn’t feel like a game worth investing your time in.

While Manhunt 2 clearly looks better than the first title, there's no real connection to the game at any point, leaving you no reason to continue playing.

Rating: 4.9

Today’s focus will be on Justice League Heroes.

Executing an Action RPG with a comic book license can be difficult. With such a loot centric genre, how would you apply this to the DC Comic franchise, and still make it plausible? One way of doing it is by creating gear that isn’t visually present on your character, but giving them some sort of stat boost. Marvel Ultimate Alliance and X-Men Legends too this route and managed to deliver a worthwhile experience, without over-saturating the player with items. So could it be possible to replicate the same success with Justice League Heroes?

Definitely. It’s a shame the rest of the game should have been caught in Zero Hour.

Lets tackle the most glaring fault of all – the AI as a whole. This is a two part problem — first part being the inane, no real competence AI provided by your adversaries. There’s nothing tactical nor intelligent about the way they come at you. They just do. Literally. On top of that, the damage output by any enemy or obstruction in your path is absurd. Damage calculations need to be readjusted, as it’s often unfair that even the most minor of minions can take down someone like Superman without breaking much of a sweat.

Then there’s the issue with your partners AI routine. Boy, oh boy….where does one begin with this? Sheva from Resident Evil 5 has the single most asinine partner AI in this current console generation. The Uncanny X-Men on the NES has an AI that literally breaks the game, thanks to its inability to follow elementary routines. Justice League Heroes combines the worst of both worlds, and give you an AI routine that’s not only abhorrent, but pretty much hilarious. They cannot open doors. If you walk through a doorway and the door closes before they make it through, you’ll witness them walking into the door non stop, totally halting your progress, as you need both characters to be in the same portion of the screen in order for the game to advance. You have to literally open the door up for them. They will not avoid any deadly obstructions that lay in font of them, walking through it and either becoming severely injured, or even knocked out completely. They barely even help you against any foes on screen. Bar none, Justice League Heroes take the cake for the most broken partner AI that I have ever witnessed.

Not pictured -- your AI partner completely breaking the experience.

Everything else is a step up, but then again, when you’re already in the basement, you can’t go anywhere else but up. The graphics are not bad, but at the same time, don’t really have much of a life to them. Everything looks the way it should, but nothing stands out, despite its sue of the DC Comics license. Definitely not an eyesore like Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel, but not a world of imagination, like Champions of Norrath. The audio has no semblance of life to it, offering bland music with sound effects that, while they are fitting, have no power or poise to them. Control wise, everything functions without much of a hitch, unless you’re the AI, then you’re pretty much screwed. Being able to “purchase” alternate costumes was a novel idea, especially since they did provider some stat changes here and there. This was a manageable way of working loot into the game, without it being considered loot, or having weapons that do not fit into the characters arsenal.

The unfortunate truth to Justice League Heroes is that it was a sloppily constructed title. The AI issues, along with the difficulty woes cripple anything worthwhile. But then again, there’s really nothing worthwhile about the experience as a whole. The Marvel universe has been better represented in this genre than DC Comics has, and having the minds and engine behind such titles as Dark Alliance and Champions of Norrath work on a franchise with this much potential, it’s hard not to consider it completely squandered.

Who Won The Battle Of….

Visuals: TIE – Champions of Norrath & Champions: Return to Arms

The attention to detail might have cost both titles in terms of a stuttering frame rate when the action gets hot and heavy, but outside that blemish, both games look quite detailed. Environments and character alike hold a plentiful amount of detail, with no sloppiness to them whatsoever.

Audio: TIE – Champions of Norrath & The Bard’s Tale

The moody musical score and passable voice acting of Champions of Norrath could not totally surpass the whimsical voice acting and charming enough audio package that The Bard’s Tale provides. Both games will offer some pleasant auditory experiences.

Gameplay: Champions of Norrath

Without prior knowledge of the Everquest universe, Champions of Norrath is engaging enough, and structured in such a way that you’ll grow quite an appreciation for what it offers you. While not the most challenging of the seven titles featured this week, unlike its sequel, you won’t encounter frequent bouts of unbalanced difficulty portions.

Replay Value: Champions of Norrath

The loot, classes, areas, bosses visuals and gameplay are just too well constructed for you not to play through them well after you’ve completed your first journey. It’s a shame that the online portion never took off, as that may have even further strengthened the replay value.

Justice League Heroes Rating: 3.0

Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel Rating: 5.1

The Bard’s Tale Rating: 7.4

Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance Rating: 7.5

Champions: Return to Arms Rating: 7.6

Baldurs Gate: Dark Alliance 2 Rating: 7.7

….And Your Winner of This Comparison Series Is….

Champions of Norrath Rating: 8.7

Final Notes

The genre has plenty of options for gamers to choose from. While you don’t need a working knowledge of the Everquest lore (especially since some aspects are changed up a bit), having any semblance of it helps immerse you even further into the experience of Champions of Norrath. Without any prior knowledge, the gameplay, core mechanics, variety of loot and overall structure far and away sets the bar high for the genre. While its sequel failed to garner as much appreciation, it’s still well worth the time invested into it, as with the Dark Alliance franchise. The Bard’s Tale manages to charm players with its witty dialog and solid gameplay foundation, making it a definite must play. But the thing you need to keep in mind is to stay far, far away from Justice League Heroes and its embarrassingly piss poor AI, as well as the bland, uninviting world of Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel. There are many more games within this genre, but five of the seven reviewed this week deserve your attention, and combined, they have the ability to keep it for a couple hundred hours.

The gorgeous visuals are almost as drop dead as Arthur will be when playing even five minutes of Ultimate Ghosts 'n Goblins.

Rating: 7.0

Kratos -- pretty damn sweet, but thankfully not as big of a bastard as Yoda was.

Rating: 7.3