Resident Evil 5

The Good

• Beautifully detailed graphics and character animations
• Having a partner enhances the fun and excitement while adding tension
• Real-time menu system keeps you immersed
• Plenty to do once you've beaten it.

The Bad

• Frustrating hurdles to leap when joining an online game
• Slow, deliberate movement and gunplay may not appeal to everyone
• Can't swap weapons with a human teammate online.

Thirteen years ago, Capcom helped revolutionize the action-adventure world with Resident Evil, a game that would define an entirely new genre dubbed "survival horror." In the years that followed, the series continued to build upon the standards set by the first game, until 2005, when Resident Evil 4 radically departed from its predecessors and broke new ground as a more action-oriented game. Resident Evil 5, the latest offering in the long-running series, expands on the action-heavy formula of its forerunner and is built from the ground up to support cooperative gameplay. Though it can no longer be considered a survival horror game, Resident Evil 5 manages to retain and effectively translate the most important aspect of that genre--tension--into its new mechanics, crafting a fun, collaborative experience that will keep you on your toes the entire time.

Hey Sheva, is there a vet around here? 'Cause these pythons are sick!

Ten years after the destruction of Raccoon City, former S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member Chris Redfield is an agent of the B.S.A.A. This paramilitary anti-bio-organic weapon organization travels the globe to seek out and destroy Umbrella's creations, which have fallen into the hands of terrorists following the collapse of the multinational pharmaceutical company. When Chris gets a tip that a known weapons dealer will be making a big deal in the remote African nation of Kijuju, he heads there to put a stop to it and learn what he can about the mysterious doomsday project known only as Uroboros. Chris is joined by Sheva Alomar, a local B.S.A.A. agent, and together they battle wave after wave of infected villagers, horribly mutated monsters, and even series archnemesis Albert Wesker.

The core combat mechanics haven't fundamentally changed since Resident Evil 4--the action still unfolds from an over-the-shoulder perspective, certain battles or cutscenes are accompanied by brief quick time events, and you still have to stop moving to fire your weapon (though you gain a bit more mobility thanks to your newfound ability to walk sideways). Resident Evil 5's slow movement and gunplay take some time to get used to, and folks expecting a run-and-gun game may find the action too sluggish for their tastes. Fortunately, this slowness isn't really an issue within the game, because enemies are deliberate with their attacks and are better handled with a cool head and steady aim.

Regardless of how similar the combat in Resident Evil 5 is to its predecessor, the addition of a second character makes encounters feel quite different. Teamwork is necessary to take down more-powerful enemies and bosses, and having someone there to watch your back goes a long way toward keeping you alive. Furthermore, there have been radical changes to the inventory management system. The immersion-breaking briefcase from the previous game is gone, and enemies no longer politely wait for you to rummage through your things because bringing up your armory doesn't pause the action. At any given time, you can store up to nine items per character, four of which are bound to the directions of the D pad for easy access. This new system works extremely well and successfully conveys a sense of urgency whenever you go through your gear. It's often necessary to trade items with your partner, and keeping track of who has what at all times is crucial, because rummaging through your things while a boss beats on you is painful.

It's tough to stay frosty in the sweltering heat, but Chris always manages to keep a cool head.

Sheva's artificial intelligence makes her a competent companion, though her degree of skill seems to rely more on her armaments than anything else--she is extremely good at using burst fire with a machine gun, for example, but tends to waste ammo when equipped with a handgun. That said, at no point does she feel like extra baggage that needs babysitting (unlike some of the series' previous companions), and she can hold her own in a fight. Sheva really shines when there's someone else controlling her. Resident Evil 5 supports both split-screen and online co-op play through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, and exploring Kijuju with a friend greatly enhances both the experience and the fun factor. Every game has the potential to go multiplayer, since split-screen is as simple to initiate as hitting Start on a second controller, and other online players can join in on a free-for-all or invite-only basis if your game session is set up to allow this from the get-go.

Star Ocean: The Last Hope Review

An addictive, strategic combat system makes Star Ocean: The Last Hope worth playing despite its cliche storyline and annoying characters.

The Good

• Incredibly fun and strategic combat system
• A variety of huge, beautiful environments to explore
• Simple, powerful crafting system
• Plenty to do and collect once you've finished the game.

The Bad

• Cliched story and characters
• Awful camera system
• Emotionless, doll-like characters are just plain creepy.

Since its advent nearly 13 years ago, the Star Ocean series has challenged the role-playing game norm with its real-time battles and sci-fi trappings. Despite what appeared to be the series' conclusion with the unconventional revelations seen in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time, it has returned in prequel form on the Xbox 360 with a newly overhauled and better-than-ever combat system. Though it features a weak, cliche story and characters you may want to launch out of the airlock, its fantastic and engaging battles, simple yet fun crafting system, and bevy of bonuses make Star Ocean: The Last Hope worth your time.

Get used to deadpan faces, as you'll be seeing them throughout the entire game...

In the latter half of the 21st century, humankind all but nukes itself into nonexistence, forcing the survivers on Earth to look to the stars for a new home. As Edge Maverick, a first-generation member of the Space Reconnaissance Force, you start off on your mission to explore the galaxy for a suitable new home and are drawn into a battle for the fate of the galaxy when you encounter a mysterious and destructive force that threatens all life. Of course, that's nothing that a can-do attitude, the support of your friends, hidden inner powers, and the occasional all-too-convenient plot twist can't handle as you race off to save the day. Sound familiar? Star Ocean: The Last Hope doesn't have a very original story, and its frequently ridiculous plot points and consistently dreadful dialogue don't help to make it any more memorable, especially when it forces half-hour-plus cutscenes on you with alarming frequency. Luckily, you can skip these epic events at any time (though oddly enough, they can't be paused) and read through condensed text synopses to make sure that you didn't miss anything too terribly important.

The formulaic nature of the story is further compounded by the cast of characters, themselves an off-the-shelf mixture of walking, talking space opera and anime cliches. You've got the hopelessly idealistic leading man, who is full of an infinite (and often misplaced) trust in others; the self-deprecating childhood-friend-slash-possible-love-interest; the emotionally repressed, scientifically minded space elf; the busty, scantily clad staff-wielding sorceress; the overly affectionate underaged cat girl; and more. Though the members of your misfit crew do undergo some fairly heavy changes as the game progresses--both as part of the standard narrative and in optional cutscenes and events--it's always in extremely predictable ways that ultimately fail to break them out of their original molds.

Despite these shortcomings, The Last Hope is a fun and engaging game thanks in great part to its deeply engrossing and highly addictive combat system; if the story is the heart of a Japanese RPG, then the battles are its soul, and Star Ocean's shines brightly. Monsters appear on the field, and once engaged, they're fought completely in real time with a party of up to four characters. You actively control one of your crew members and navigate him or her around a wide-open battlefield, dishing out damage at your own pace, while the others act according to basic AI routines that you've given them. At any time, you can switch over to manually control anyone who you have deployed, and you can even swap out active characters with reserve ones at your discretion. Every single character plays vastly differently, and it's fun and engaging to experiment with each character in order to find the play style and party combination that works best for you.

...except for in the odd scene like this, where unnaturally exaggerated expressions are the norm.

Though the battles can get frantic, they don’t all come down to button mashing, especially when you're taking on bosses. These major battles in The Last Hope often play out like simplified versions of encounters in an massively multiplayer game such as World of Warcraft. Each boss has a specific strategy that can be followed to take it out--though it's not necessary to follow these tactics if your party is powerful enough--and figuring them out during the fight will make your life a whole lot easier and dramatically reduce battle times. Another concept taken from online games is monster aggro, or aggression. Though enemies will wander around the battlefield, you can draw aggro from them with attacks or by using specialized skills for doing so, which is useful for pulling a monster off of your physically weaker magic-slingers to give them a chance to cast their powerful spells. Once you have aggro and the monster gears up for an attack, if you dodge out of the way with the right timing, you can break its line of sight on you, leaving it temporarily confused and open to special counterattacks called blindsides. Another powerful tool at your disposal is Rush mode, which can be activated once you've taken or dealt enough damage to grant you an array of bonuses and the ability to chain attacks together with other party members.

Perhaps the most interesting part of battle is the bonus board. By performing specific tasks in combat, such as defeating enemies using only skills or killing two monsters with one blow, you add a tile to this onscreen grid that grants you an extra reward at the end of battle based on your achievement. You can have up to 14 such bonus tiles active at any one time, and these carry over from fight to fight; by carefully manipulating the types of bonus tiles you have, you can customize extra rewards that are given after every single encounter. With this, you have the flexibility to power level your characters, grind for cash or skill points, minimize the number of restorative items that you need to use, or all of the above in any combination. It's possible to lose your bonus tiles, but if you exercise good judgment in combat, they shouldn't be too difficult to keep for as long as you like.

Every character plays vastly differently in combat, allowing you to pick a style best suited to you.

When not in battle, you're exploring a series of open, outdoor locations that range from beaches to deserts to snow-capped mountains and beyond, as well as the occasional puzzle-filled dungeon. These beautiful-but-dangerous environments often contain resource nodes that provide valuable plant life or raw materials if you've got a crew member who can harvest them. These supplies and others earned through battle (or bought from stores) are then used to fuel your research in the simple-but-powerful item creation system. By finding item formulas in your journey or forming research teams and thinking long and hard enough, you can invent recipes for new weapons, armor, items, and even decorations for your ship. Once you gain the right ally, you can further customize your equipment by synthesizing the properties of other items in your inventory to generate some truly powerful gear.

The Last Hope features some top-notch visuals in its huge, open, and highly detailed environments, its abundant cutscenes, and its anime-inspired character models, but it also has a few notable issues. Sadly, the game has only a handful of unique monster designs, and it palette-swaps and reuses them ad infinitum. It's also exceedingly difficult to play on an SDTV thanks to incredibly hard-to-read text and muddied graphics. Sometimes just looking around you is an exercise in frustration thanks to the awful camera system; it zooms in ridiculously close at times and doesn't seem to know what to do whenever you're in a narrow hallway or traveling down stairs or a steep decline. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about The Last Hope is that all of the game's characters have a doll-like, glossy-eyed dead look to them, further accentuated by their complete lack of human emotion or expression. Besides being creepy, this makes supposedly emotional scenes unintentionally hilarious or just plain awkward to watch.

The game’s frequently awful voice acting makes it even harder to connect with the characters. At its very best, The Last Hope's cast will make you groan. At its worse, they're absolutely unbearable. Anyone hoping to escape the lackluster dub will be disappointed to hear that the original Japanese audio is not preserved here, though you do have the option to turn off battle quips from individual characters. Celebrated composer Motoi Sakuraba returns to lend his talents to the Star Ocean series once again, and though the voice acting doesn't work, his soundtrack is perfectly suited to the various locales visited, situations faced, and battles fought.

To infinity and beyond!

When it's all said and done and you've finished the game, there's still plenty more to do. Besides offering two unlockable difficulty settings, there are tons of side quests to complete, items to create, recipes to discover, bonus dungeons to explore, and bunnies to race. The Last Hope also has Star Ocean: Till the End of Time’s coliseum system, which lets you sign up for solo or group fights to battle your way up the ladders for prizes. You can collect dozens of battle trophies for each character by performing specific tasks with them in combat. And if you actually are interested in the story, there are multiple endings to see based on the relationships that you form as Edge Maverick throughout the game.

If all you're looking for is a strong, narrative-driven role-playing adventure, Star Ocean: The Last Hope isn't going to do much to satisfy you. But despite its deficiencies in this area, its huge number of extras and its addictive, deeply strategic and tactical combat system make it a lot of fun.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin Review

This somewhat scary sequel is a solid shooter, but it can't keep pace with its lauded predecessor.

The Video Review

Alma's brings back the F.E.A.R in this video review for Project Origin.

Watch It Watch HD 520p

The Good

• Slow-motion shootouts are good, gory fun
• Mech sequences provide welcome variety
• Some cool, spooky imagery.

The Bad

• Story offers little mystery or suspense
• Cliched random scares and level design
• Multiplayer is drab and disappointing.

The image of a pasty-skinned, greasy-haired young girl has become an iconic image in horror films like The Ring, and the original F.E.A.R. introduced a similar figure with great success. Of course, that game gave its ghostly visions a chilling context, drawing you into the unnerving story of a paranormal prodigy named Alma and the horrific suffering to which she was subjected. F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin returns to this fertile universe, but rather than scrutinize even darker reaches of the soul, it merely skims the surface, offering up a series of eerie visions without delivering a good mystery to bind them together. The good news for shooter fans is that the bullet-blasting core of the experience is sound, propelling you forward with enough intensity to keep the single-player campaign engaging. Most of what's here has been done better before, but the unspectacular elements have been stitched into an enjoyably moody first-person shooter that relies on rock-solid mechanics rather than true inspiration.

scenes like these are common in F.E.A.R. 2.

After a short exposition, F.E.A.R. 2 picks up where the original left off--with a bang. The city is in tatters, and as Michael Becket of Delta Force, it is up to you and your squadmates to capture the elusive Genevieve Aristide, president of the nefarious Armacham Technology Corporation. Too much description would risk spoiling the game's few surprises, which are better experienced than narrated, though as it happens, there are few enigmas to unravel. F.E.A.R. 2's story paints itself into a corner, offering very little new to players already familiar with the Project Origin referred to in the title, and nothing compelling enough to wrap newcomers into its fold. With Alma now a known quantity, paranormal secrecy has been replaced by a series of near-cliche bump-in-the-night scares and murky visions that do the unthinkable where a horror-themed game is concerned: They become predictable.

Because the pacing and story layout of the game can be a bit predictable at times, F.E.A.R. 2’s real scares come from its atmosphere--and this actually works, sometimes. Expect to jump out of your seat on occasion, when your flashlight flickers and ghostly visages surround you, or when staccato orchestral chords signal the emergence of abominations as they break free from their confining cells. Other attempts at scares just seem stale, given that the game's pacing and level design foreshadow these encounters, therefore emasculating the necessary sense of surprise. However, the excellent sound design is never to blame. A variety of creaks and groans gives ebb and flow to the sense of tension, and musical swells and increasingly hectic clatters and clangs will get your pulse pounding when needed. Unfortunately, the visuals don't paint a picture dour enough to match. Some areas are shrouded with moody environmental shadows, in which light and dark contrast to excellent effect. In other levels, the lack of ambient lighting and accompanying silhouettes are noticeable, and the surrounding frights just feel flaccid. F.E.A.R. 2 simply doesn't match its FPS peers from a technical perspective, so though it looks good, the simple textures, inconsistent shadows, and occasional clipping and other glitches detract from the atmosphere.

The level design also falls victim to a fair bit of predictability, though to F.E.A.R. 2's credit, you'll break away from the endless office corridors of the original and journey through a greater variety of environments. These areas are usually just as claustrophobic, but they won't often deliver that spine-tingling fear of the specters lurking beyond the reach of your flashlight. Trekking through the rubble of decaying city streets is a good change of pace, but the ultraconvenient manner in which the debris holds you to your narrow path is a familiar design ploy. Similarly, there's no more excitement to be found in F.E.A.R. 2's same-old subway than that of any other game. It's at its best when it leaves these stale tropes behind and builds on its roots as a corridor shooter, such as in a nail-biting sojourn through the halls of an elementary school that hides unspeakable horrors. Entering a dusky music classroom to find a hideous mutant pounding on the keys of a piano with abandon is a singular moment, and the ensuing battles are ripe and exhilarating reminders of the series' explosive origins.

There's no escape from the wrath of the assault rifle in reflex time.

Those same inhuman atrocities will spawn clones while emitting ear-splitting, disorienting roars, and others scurry about at super speeds--though as it happens, you've got a helpful skill at your disposal that helps manage nimble and sluggish foes alike. Like the protagonist of F.E.A.R., you can activate reflex time, which slows the action to a crawl and lets you battle your enemies in a bullet-time ballet. You've seen a similar mechanic a lot by now, but it's skillfully done here. Grenade explosions create impressive visual distortions, bullets leave an airstream in their wake, and spoken dialogue and sound effects grind to a muffled crawl. Landing headshots in reflex time is particularly enjoyable and gives F.E.A.R. 2's gruesome levels of violence a temporary starring role. Foes erupt in red gushers, staining the walls with blood and flailing around in their final moments, an effect made even more effective by robust (and occasionally oversensitive) rag-doll animations.

Your instruments of destruction aren't spectacular, but they're varied enough to make shooting a pleasure, even when the flow of time takes its normal path. The two shotguns are particular delights; they feel weighty and dispatch most enemies with a single bloody blast to the noggin. The hammerhead is another delight, filling your foes with neon barbs and potentially affixing them to the wall behind. However, shooter fans should consider playing at higher difficulty levels, given that F.E.A.R. 2 feels noticeably easier than its predecessor.

The AI can offer occasional challenges, particularly in levels featuring intersecting corridors in which human enemies will flank you, use cover effectively, and tumble to the side should they find themselves gazing down the barrel of your automatic shotgun. They will also tip over furniture or other objects and use them as cover (a trick you can use, though will likely never need). However, enemy behavior is inconsistent; a table-tipping guard may not follow through, running away from his improvised cover rather than ducking behind it. Some enemies will blindly fire from behind low obstacles but may also do so when in plain view. The best adversaries are those not governed by rules of human behavior, such as ethereal foes that take shape as you enter reflex time. And in some cases, your enemies are so visually elusive that you're better off finding a way out of the dark environs that spawn them.

The cool melee attacks of the first F.E.A.R. are gone, but other varied gameplay mechanics are here to fill the gaps. The most notable additions are a couple of armored-suit sequences in which you climb into a giant metal mech and riddle your attackers with machine-gun spray and rockets. These sequences aren't tough--you're a powerful death machine plowing down your weakling foes--but the mech controls nicely and you'll be treated to some impressive displays of environmental destruction and general chaos. You can move through these areas on foot if you like, so these levels do offer a bit of replay value, though you should take great pains to wreak fun robotic havoc when given the possibility. You'll also take control of the turret atop the squad's armored vehicle, but this weapon isn't all that enjoyable to use, and these bits feel like filler.

For the best bloodshed, zoom in.

F.E.A.R. 2's multiplayer component also feels like filler, and though we've come to expect online play from most of our shooters, there's nothing special about this suite of lackluster options. For fans of the original, the most notable omission is that of the slow-motion modes, which brought reflex time into an online arena and made for some clever and enjoyable showdowns. Without these modes, F.E.A.R. 2 feels a bit hollow online, serving up helpings of Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch, a couple of Conquest variants, Capture the Flag, and a mode called Failsafe that owes a large debt to Counter-Strike. The best of these is Armored Front, in which a player on each team can hop into one of those robotic exoskeletons while his or her teammates capture control points. Otherwise, the shooting mechanics don't translate as well to a multiplayer environment, and the by-the-numbers levels are unimpressive. You have the ability to customize your loadout and level up in ranked matches, but this just isn't enough to breathe life into the musty online play.

You'll get the occasional heebie-jeebies from F.E.A.R. 2, but the magic of the first game hasn't been re-created here. It’s true that some of the changes in the new game seem like they were intended to address criticism of the first F.E.A.R.: tedious and claustrophobic environments, lack of enemy variety, and so on. Sadly, though these changes were made, the resulting sequel, while fun and well-crafted, seems to have lost sight of the strengths that made its predecessor so unique. Nevertheless, playing F.E.A.R. 2 is a worthwhile way to pass the time while we wait for the inevitable next installment.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Hands-On

X-Men Origins: Wolverine Hands-On

We slice, dice, pounce, and heal in Activision and Raven's upcoming Wolverine action game.

Interview

Get a glimpse at the design behind X-Men Origins: Wolverine in this interview.

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We've been anxious to get our hands on Raven Software's upcoming X-Men Origins: Wolverine game since getting the rundown on the promising game from our Australian compadres. As longtime comic-book fans, we've pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that Wolverine would likely always be neutered in some fashion as far as games were concerned. A slightly mental Canadian killing machine with a short temper, an indestructible metal skeleton with matching claws, and the ability to heal just about any wound doesn't fit into your standard game archetype. That said, Raven seems to be finding its way with its upcoming take on the mighty mutant. We had the chance to get our hands on a few levels of the Xbox 360 version of the game and were very happy with where Raven's going with the game.

Slice and dice anything and everything that gets in your way.

We had the chance to try out four levels--Jungle, Alkali, Spillway, and Agent Zero--that let us get a proper feel for the upcoming M-rated action game. As we noted in our last look, Raven isn't shying away from Wolvie's penchant for slicing, dicing, and general goring. The jungle level was, wait for it, set in a jungle filled with mercenary types eager to perforate everyone's favorite Canadian mutant. The level is essentially the start of the adventure and featured the expected tutorial messages to walk you through Wolverine's move list. Although the game features an experience and leveling system that will amp up your various attacks and abilities, we're pleased to report that Logan doesn't feel neutered at the start of the game. You'll be able to kick butt with a respectable amount of bad assery using normal and heavy attacks, grabs, and, what is easily our favorite move, the pounce attack. The level kicks off with a cinematic that shows our boy heading off to a mission in a helicopter that is eventually shot down. At that point you take control of Wolverine as he falls to the ground in a pseudo-skydiving sequence, sans parachute. Thankfully, if you're able to aim your fall properly, your landing will be cushioned by an unfortunate merc who definitely should have stayed in bed that day. Once you're on the ground, you'll guide the clawed Canuck through the jungle, slicing and dicing your way through the enemy forces like a hot knife through butter. The action varies from down-and-dirty combat--which finds you facing mobs of foes that you deal with by using attacks, grabs, throws, and the environment (such as throwable or exploding objects as well as unique kill spots)--to stealthier bits in which you sneak up behind unsuspecting saps and gut them up close and personal.

The level also let us try out the incredibly satisfying finishing moves that reward timed button presses with shudder-inducing cinematics of gory death. Aside from the basics, the game features dodge and counter systems to let you avoid or reverse attacks. As if that wasn't enough, Wolverine's healing factor and enhanced senses are used very smartly. The healing factor does what you'd expect and heals a fair amount of the damage that you receive, letting you go toe to toe with some heavily armed enemies. That said, there are some limits to how much it can save you, and an onscreen bar will let you know if you've taken too much damage and have to hide for a bit to heal up. Once your healing-factor bar is whittled down, your proper health starts to go rather quickly when you're attacked, which can lead to death if you're not careful. Wolverine's enhanced senses, triggered by hitting up on the D pad, show you the world through a blue filter and let you see useful areas to climb, direct you where to go next, and even let you spot hidden or cloaked enemies. Honestly, we can't go on enough about how well all of the systems capture Wolverine's abilities. Unlike other games that have taken a stab, pun intended, at capturing the mutant, this one doesn't feel like it has compromised much for the sake of a game formula.

As you take out enemies in the various creative ways that the game affords you, you'll earn experience that will enhance different attacks, abilities, and attributes for the surly antihero. In the work-in-progress version of the game that we played, this also meant that Wolvie would spontaneously sprout a spanking-clean tank top every time he leveled, which was a funny sight to see. Given how much punishment he takes, Wolverine's clothes take a pretty hefty beating. As much of a badass as Wolvie is, gaining levels is essential because the enemies that you face become smarter and much more powerful, and some even have superpowers, which forces you to fight smartly as the game progresses.

The Alkali level found our boy punching his way out of a military installation (which is something he seems to do awfully frequently) and facing off against assorted soldiers determined to keep him in. The level is a bit further into the game and showed off the enhanced combo attacks that Wolvie can do. We have to say that we were really pleased by the flexibility of the combat system and the different death-dealing options available to the creative player. Timed deflection of bullets and unique pounce combos are very cool things that we discovered while playing.

Mutant vs. Helicopter. Wolverine can take on just about anything.

The deflection mechanic is key for the Spillway level, which follows Wolverine as he tries to beat an oncoming rush of water by leaping onto moving jeeps that are also trying to get out of the rush of liquid. Pouncing your way from car to car is essential, but after a few cars your foes take to shooting rockets at you. Although the incoming projectiles are almost impossible to dodge, especially if you're in midpounce, you can clear your way through without much fuss if you wait until you're shot at and then simply deflect them back at your enemies. The timing on the deflection takes some getting used to, but it's a breeze once you master it.

The Agent Zero level plays a bit with the skydiving section that we saw at the start of the game and has you leaping in the air between moving helicopters. Though the concept is somewhat similar in spirit to the Spillway level, the gameplay is very different and fun. Once you make it onto a helicopter, you'll have to dodge gunfire from the pilots, who can pretty much guess what's coming once you land on their copter, and do enough damage to fell the vehicle. As the helicopter you're currently on goes down, you'll have to leap and control your fall to the next one. Pro tip for prospective players: avoid the rotors while landing, trust us. The last helicopter that you land on, with Agent Zero on it, changes up the mechanic some and has you shoving Wolvie's claws into the moving rotors to jack them up. The sequence is tricky but very satisfying when over.

As far as the story goes, the game has some ties to the movie but does its own thing in a number of places. The action is a mix of flashback and present-day events that follow chunks of Wolverine's unique life. Although we weren't able to get a full grip on what was going on because we jumped around a bit in the game for the various levels, suffice it to say that our boy has led a rough life. The dedicated CG cinematic sequences as well as the interactive cinematics in which you take control of Logan are looking quite good and should please comic and movie fans.

In terms of the game's look, the visuals are coming together greatly, with Wolvie looking very much like Hugh Jackman. This is especially true in the sweet cinematics done by Blur, the same group responsible for the movies in the original Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The environments and effects are all looking very sharp. We like the effects used for his enhanced-senses vision, and we can't go on enough about the inventive displays of gore, especially the finishers. The lovefest also extends to the way that the game shows off Logan's healing factor. Raven is using a procedural effect for how it displays on his body; you'll see him get progressively perforated, even to the point where there's some decent-sized holes in his skin that you can see through, exposing the adamantium skeleton. Once he starts to heal, the various wounds and holes will slowly close, shifting to gashes, then bruises, and then returning to normal. Not only does it look cool, but it also nails the way that his abilities have been shown in the comics. Key to our enjoyment of all of this has been the game's frame rate, which is fast and smooth. There's nothing worse than getting your killing groove on only to be brought to an awkward stutter by a choppy frame rate. That said, there are definitely some issues with the game's camera, which, if you go on a pouncing and killing frenzy, can make it tough to follow the action.

Those guys will be in for a surprise.

The audio is coming along well and serves as a good complement to the action. You'll hear plenty of satisfying snikts and claw effects as you go about your business. The same is true for weapon fire and ambient effects, such as grown men dying and some shouting of orders tossed in. The game's score definitely has a sweeping feel to it in spots, which is perfect for setting tone and harkens to the film. Hugh Jackman is on hand to voice Wolverine, which helps give the game that extra layer of cred.

Based on what we played, X-Men Origins: Wolverine is the closest that we've ever seen a game come to delivering the Wolverine experience that we've wanted. The combat is brutal and fast, and his powers are represented authentically. Although we're hoping that the problematic camera can be tightened up, the sheer fun of gutting fools is there. Movie and comic-book fans will most definitely want to check out Wolverine when it ships this May for the Nintendo DS, PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PSP, and Wii in time with the movie. Look for more on the game in the coming months.

Super Bowl Sim, Plus First Madden 2010 Details

Quite the Super Bowl, huh? I honestly had given up on that game about midway through the third quarter, only to be pleasantly surprised with a Cardinals comeback and a great Steelers win. It wasn't the best Super Bowl of recent years but it was entertaining and turned into tightly contested game. My prediction from Friday wasn't that far off the mark, as it turned out.

And speaking of predictions, while I normally avoid "Madden sim" stories like the plague, this year's EA Sports-run Super Bowl simulation with Madden NFL 09 turned out to be pretty darn accurate. Check out these numbers

•Ben Roethlisberger
Sim: 21/28 for 286 yards
Real game: 21/30 for 256 yards

•Kurt Warner
Sim: 27/38 for241 yards
Real game: 31/43 for 377 yards

•Santonio Holmes
Sim: 8 catches for 131 yards
Real game: 9 catches for 131 yards

•Larry Fitzgerald
Sim: 9 catches for 105 yards
Real game: 7 catches for 127 yards

•Score at Halftime
Sim: 21-7 Steelers
Real game: 17-7 Steelers

•Final Score
Sim: 28-24 Steelers
Real game: 27-23

Nice job, fake football game!

Of course, the real Madden news out of Super Bowl XLIII was the halftime posting of the first details on Madden NFL 10 on the EA Sports blog. In the post, Ian Cummings, lead designer on Madden NFL 10shows off a new technology that will make its way into the game, and into other EA Sports games this year: procedural awareness. As I understand it, PA allows for an in-game character to accurately follow something--a ball, a defender, a receiver--in a way that doesn't require canned animations; instead, it's generated on the fly by the game engine. As Cummings defines it:

"Alright, so what's Procedural Awareness in a nutshell? 'The ability to procedurally manipulate the spine, neck, head, and eyes on a player in the game; and also add layers of emotion/attitudes on top of those manipulations'."

There's no in-game footage of Madden NFL 10 using the PA system yet, but there is a pretty cool tech demo that shows a rough quarterback model turning his gaze to four illuminated objects in sequence. At one point, as the object is moved by a mouse cursor, the QB's head moves accordingly left, right, up, and down. It's pretty easy to expand that out to how a virtual Ben Roethlisberger might follow his receivers along their routes, running through his progressions until the player choose someone to throw to. As Cummings says in the blog:

"This is definitely pretty cool stuff…we can tune how fast the player switches between different targets, and then also how he behaves when he locks on and follows a target. You can already envision this being used by DB's and WR's when the ball is thrown, QB's as they go through progressions, safeties as they drop in zone, and obviously many more cases. In terms of visual fidelity, PA is also a major step up from any other normal IK head tracking solution."

A second video on the page shows a more fleshed out model of Dwyane Wade following objects, complete with eye blinking and realistic-looking neck movement. A third shows a video of ways to use the PA system to generate facial animations procedurally, which seems like it be a handy way to add more emotion to a sports sim (like after a DB gets burned by a speedy wideout) but also seems like it has uses in many other game genres as well.

So, a bit of a tech demo for our first look at the game and it's only the beginning of our six-month wait until the next version of Madden. In the meantime, I'd suggest EA thinks about changing the name of the game. What, after all, is wrong with 'Madden NFL 2010'?

What do you think of Procedural Awareness and how do you think it can be implemented in Madden to improve this year's game?

Sony should build the next Xbox

We all know that being being a console manufacturer is a capital intensive business. The fact that there are only three companies currently in the business shows just how much of an investment it takes. Now that the world is dealing with a massive economic downturn the cost must pinch that much more. At the turn of the year we had plenty of stories about how the video game industry is recession proof. That belief appeared to be borne out by record breaking sales over the past Holiday season. All three platform holders, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo have boasted about their performance recently. Recession? What recession, seemed to be the message sent out by the sales figures. However, fast-forward a few weeks and the picture seems to have changed somewhat. Both Microsoft and Sony are talking about massive lay-offs and/or closure of entire divisions. Hardly the actions of recession proof companies.

Meanwhile, despite a recently disclosed drop in profits the money is still pouring in for Nintendo. The foreseeable future looks assured for Nintendo as both the Wii and DS continue to set sales records and three-year old software like Mario Kart DS still riding high in the charts. In truth, it appears that Nintendo are the only recession proof company in the industry. Now lets assume that Sony wants back on top of the industry and Microsoft want to get there for the first time. What would they have to do to achieve this? Remember that with both companies so far behind and only falling further, it would have to be something very drastic. I think, and here comes the crazy bit, that Sony should build a new console in partnership with Microsoft. With the combined expertise of both companies, what could go wrong? Well quite a lot probably but lets ignore that for now. The division of work would be the most important decision, so who would do what exactly?

I might as well just say it; Sony make better hardware than Microsoft. That statement is hard to argue against for several reasons. Not least among them is the reliability of a console and the PlayStation 3 (PS3) is certainly a more reliable machine than the Xbox 360. The Red Ring of Death (RRoD) is a problem that has plagued the 360 since it's launch in 2005 and it is only recently with the Jasper configuration that Microsoft has gotten on top of it. The PS3 also runs quieter than the 360, which is nice considering it is likely housed in your living room. Coupled with greater reliability and quieter running is the fact that it is more fully featured (built-in WiFi) and more advanced than the 360. The PS3 launched with the then cutting-edge Blu-ray drive as standard, while the 360 is stuck with the tried and trusted (some would say limited) DVD format. When it comes to graphical and processing power it is more difficult to declare a clear cut winner. I could talk ad nauseam about Cell Processors or Tri-Core Xenon Processors but there seems no point. More technically minded people than myself have argued this point at length and have not yet come up with a definitive answer. I am going to side with the PS3 for one simple reason, Killzone 2. This game is without doubt the best looking game on any console at the moment and the 360 does not have a game of comparable graphical quality. Finally, the design of the console itself is a more subjective issue but I believe that the PS3 is an infinitely more appealing design than that of the 360. It is just a sleeker, sexier looking machine.

At this point I'm pretty sure you are all think this article is nothing more than the ramblings of a rabid Sony fanboy but it isn't. Microsoft would have an equally vital role to play in the alliance – marketing and online services. Microsoft have done a remarkable job of marketing the 360, they really do seem to have their finger on the pulse of this gaming generation. As a perfect example, look at the way they handled the RRoD debacle. They emerged from the issue virtually unscathed in terms of sales. How many other companies could handle such a situation so well? They also know how to properly support a game, via marketing and turn a release into a full blown event. The release of Halo 3, was guaranteed to be big but with the might of the Microsoft machine behind it it became a phenomenon. Compare that release to the one that Sony is currently orchestrating for Killzone 2, the most important PS3 release this year. No contest here really. We should be seeing Killzone 2 everywhere we look at the moment but we don't. With some of the Microsoft magic, this game would get the launch it deserves and needs to become a blockbuster.

There is also the issue of the way that Sony is perceived. Either fairly or unfairly they appear to have developed a reputation for being arrogant towards both developers and consumers. They may have abused their position of dominance during the PSOne and PS2 era by not being as accommodating towards developers as perhaps they could have been. Meanwhile Microsoft have gone out of their way to listen to and please developers by making the platform easy to develop on. As a result, the consensus seems to be that 360 is the preferred development platform. There are also charming public utterances such as, “for consumers to think to themselves 'I will work more hours to buy one'”. This comment from Ken Kutaragi regarding the high-price point of the PS3 at launch does little for the public perception of Sony. For this reason, Microsoft would play the main role in selling the console, while Sony would concentrate on building a console to match expectations. As a nice little added bonus for Microsoft they would save themselves a small fortune by retiring the money-hat they use to bribe developers to secure exclusive content over Sony.

Okay, time for a little reality check. I am aware, as I am sure you are too that none of what you have been reading is ever likely to happen. This article is merely intended as an exercise in thinking outside the box for two reasons. How can both companies provide more value to the consumer and genuinely compete with Nintendo for top spot, all in a very tough economic climate? Crazy as it sounds, I do believe that it could work, certainly it would be beneficial to the consumer. Among the many benefits would be piece of mind when choosing a console as there would be no need to worry about platform exclusive games and/or DLC. One question remains, what would they call such a machine?

Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard Hands-On

We take on 2D Nazis and androgynous JRPG bosses in our hands-on look at this satirical action game from Vicious Cycle.

Hazard Returns

Brian Ekberg takes a brief look forward to Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard.

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At any given point in Eat Lead: The Return of Matt Hazard, the titular star of this tongue-in-cheek action game from developers Vicious Cycle might find himself squaring off against any of the following enemies: Mobsters, zombies, cowboys, space marines, 2D Nazis, and even Japanese role-playing game bosses. One part action game and several parts game-industry lampoon vehicle, Eat Lead is nothing if not unique. We had a chance to spend some hands-on time with an updated build of the game recently to see how far it's come since our previous look in October of last year.

The setup for Eat Lead revolves around Hazard, a fictional action-game star who racked up a string of hits across multiple platforms in the '80s and '90s. After a few disappointing bombs, Matt Hazard retired, only to take up his career as a two-fisted badass at the beginning of Eat Lead after getting an offer to star in a brand-new action game from megapublisher Marathon Megasoft. Traversing the eight levels that make up Eat Lead, Hazard soon discovers that the game is rigged and that the levels he's making his way through are trying to delete him…permanently.

If Matt Hazard isn't blasting 2D Nazis…

From that premise, Eat Lead takes the idea of poking fun at video games and runs with it, with levels that change in appearance and makeup on a dime, enemies that start out as soldiers only to transform into zombies, and boss battles that are memorable to say the least. It's tough to know what to expect from one area to the next in Eat Lead, and there are more than a few chuckle-worthy moments as a result.

Consider the sixth level of the game, which we got to play during the demo. After a brief intro movie that featured some back-and-forth between Hazard and his companion QA (who can hack into the game's levels and help him along the way), Hazard begins the level outside of a warehouse, surrounded by crates, forklifts, and trucks. These objects serve as perfect cover for Hazard, and you can use the cover system by pressing the A button on the Xbox 360 controller. Pressing the B button will cross Hazard over to a nearby cover point, if available, and you can aim your cursor and press the Y button to sprint to a specific point of cover.

Safely behind cover, we first took out the bad guys that were in the level using a pistol. It wasn't long before we picked up a machine gun and, once the level was cleared, we moved into the warehouse. We found more bad guys inside, only these looked completely different from the enemies we fought outside, considering their garish armor and their use of what appeared to be water guns. As it turned out, these guys were holdover enemies from an ill-fated, kid-friendly water-gun shooter from Hazard's 64-bit days. As silly as it sounds to be taking up arms with a water gun, it got the job done against these clowns, so we went with it.

Now, naturally, you don't spend an entire level fighting bad guys with squirt guns. Any game called "Eat Lead" better have an assortment of weaponry to choose from and, indeed, we played with submachine guns, sniper rifles, even laser blasters. Blasting enemies doesn't technically kill them; these are virtual bad guys, after all. Instead, Hazard can absorb a defeated enemy's code. If he builds up enough code, you can add a temporary ice or fire damage modifier to whichever weapon you're carrying.

Like the neon bad guys who were susceptible to water blasts, many of the enemies have unique traits that you'll discover as you go. In the level that we played, we also ran into space marines reminiscent of a certain visor-wearing, heavily armored, combat-evolved hero. Conventional weaponry didn't really do much to them but, if you managed to snag a laser pistol, you could take them down with relative ease. Our favorite garden-variety enemies were the 2D Nazis, patterned after something out of the original Castle Wolfenstein. Blasting these flat-planed bad guys was easy…until they turned sideways, at which point they effectively disappeared from view until they decided to face you again.

…he's facing off against Japanese RPG bosses.

By far the highlight of the level that we played was the final boss battle, in which Hazard takes on a final boss, known as Altos Tratus, who had the creepily androgynous look of, well, practically every Japanese role-playing game enemy ever made. Better than the boss's look, though, was his speech, or rather the lack of it. To get through Tratus' long-winded prefight speech, the frustrated Hazard has to page through multiple screens of text, and the occasional puzzling ellipses. Though the boss battle was in real time, Tratus plays like a turn-based boss in true RPG style--and defeating him was a matter of figuring out which attack he would do next, blasting him for as much damage as possible, and preventing him from healing himself.

Though the concept in Eat Lead is solid--with loving nods to everything from JRPGs to Super Mario Bros.--there were a few rough areas that we hope get attention before the game is released. Melee attacks, which you pull off in close quarters by pressing the X button, didn't have much oomph to them and seemed pretty ineffective as well. In addition, though Hazard's movements into and out of cover seemed smooth, he feels fairly stiff to us when running and shooting; a bit more responsiveness in the controls would be a welcome addition. If the gameplay manages to live up to Eat Lead's satirical metaplot, it has a good chance at finding success. The game is due on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in early March.

Afro Samurai Review

This gory, gorgeous action game has plenty of flaws, but it will still satisfy your thirst for blood.

The Video Review

Kevin VanOrd slices and dices his way through this review for Afro Samurai. (Video Contains Mature Content)

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The Good

• Brutal, satisfying combat
• Great art design
• Awesome music
• Some really fun setpiece battles.

The Bad

• Bad platforming sections
• Inconsistent pace leads to occasional monotony
• Inferior camera can't be customized.

Nariko in Heavenly Sword. Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII. And now Afro Samurai. These are the characters that you remember for their remarkable hairstyles, though Namco Bandai's newest hack-and-slash action game offers more than just a curly coif that reaches for the heavens. It is an entertaining and thoroughly gory offering that contrasts sumptuous environments and crisp cel-shaded characters with shocking sights of slow-motion dismemberment. In Afro Samurai, you'll chop ninjas in half and watch their disembodied torsos drag themselves along by the arms until they collapse in a pool of blood. Sights like these make for some wickedly satisfying combat, though in other areas, the game falls noticeably short of the standards set by genre predecessors such as Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry. Clumsy platforming and pacing inconsistencies keep Afro Samurai from reaching its potential, but the entertaining combat and dedication to its subject matter keep it from being just another forgettable button masher.

Afro's enemies don't just shed blood--they positively gush it.

If you're familiar with the Afro Samurai anime, you'll undoubtedly enjoy experiencing the events depicted in the series, as well as several that aren't. If you're new to the franchise, the most important thing to know is this: You are a big-haired, cigarette-chomping dude who knows a thing or two about blades. This is a revenge tale, and as Afro, the wearer of the Number Two headband, you're out to defeat your father's killer--the current Number One. Even if you're not familiar with every character (the neurotic, potty-mouthed Ninja Ninja; the demure Okiku), the game's vibe has a way of pulling you in. Split-screen sequences in and out of combat embrace the game's anime theme; a fantastic hip-hop soundtrack tinged with Far Eastern harmonies enhances every slice and dice; and energetic voice acting from Samuel L. Jackson and other recognizable talents lends humor and gravitas in turn. Afro neophytes may not be drawn in by the plot, but they'll find it hard to escape the lush but violent atmosphere.

At the forefront of this vibe is Afro Samurai's combat, which cribs from most games of its type. You can issue weak and strong attacks, kick your enemies around, and string these three basic moves into a variety of combos. You'll spill a lot of blood using these simple actions, but if you really want to punish your acrobatic foes, it's better to enter focus mode and watch the guts fly. With a pull of the trigger, you can slow down time, adjust your blade's trajectory a bit, and lop heads, digits, or entire limbs off of your smack-talking enemies. You have to charge up focus mode by landing combos, but you will never go without the ability for long, and the resulting mix of old-fashioned button mashing and focus-powered slaughter is satisfying and fun. A few other moves help mix things up, such as sprint attacks, parrying, and bullet deflection (tricky to time properly but well worth the trouble). As long as you're facing a typical crowd of ninjas and a miniboss or two, it's all a drippy delight.

Once you're outside of combat (an all too frequent occurrence), Afro Samurai trips over its own feet, thanks largely to unpleasant platforming mechanics. The inelegant jumping sections are easy to stomach in small doses, but they're strung into long and frustrating sequences late in the game--one of which you have to repeat if you die at the hands of the boss that appears afterward. You can wall-run here and there, and leap up and grab certain ledges, but as a rule, you can perform these moves only when the game wants you to, and they're purely for getting from one spot to the next. You can't string them into combat moves a la Ninja Gaiden, and rough animations make these acrobatics look as awkward as they feel.

Swordplay, a sunset, and a warm splatter of blood--what more could a samurai ask for?

This leaves the burden of entertainment purely on the combat, and it's usually up to the task. At its best, Afro Samurai keeps pushing you forward, throwing a few different types of foes at you and tossing in various objectives, such as throwing foes into an electrical apparatus or flipping a switch here and there. A few set-piece battles are also a total blast, particularly an exhilarating freefall sequence that might leave you breathless. A couple of boss battles are good fun as well, such as one versus an endlessly self-cloning rival, and the easy but moody final boss battle. Some levels, such as a protracted fight versus Kuma, are lighter on combat but succeed thanks to pensive ambience, entertaining scriptwriting, and pure artistic splendor.

But as brutally beautiful as the combat is, it can't support the weight of some inconsistent pacing and the less appealing boss fights. In some levels, you'll wander around without encountering enemies for far too long; in a few others, nonstop waves of enemies will make you scream for variety that never comes. These issues come to a head in the penultimate level: The combat, normally a head rush, gets a bit tedious, the platforming takes center stage, and a few broken checkpoints might force you to replay sequences that you've already plowed through. The boss fights afterward aren't much of an improvement, spamming some cheap moves rather than providing a true challenge. The camera certainly doesn't help matters; it isn't completely broken, but it has a tendency to get hung up behind objects in the smaller combat areas or jitter around if you move it into certain positions. A related oddity is the lack of camera customization. You can adjust the Y-axis settings but not the X axis, which means that you are forced to deal with inverted camera settings when moving it from side to side. If you prefer standard settings, this frustration will simply exacerbate the other camera issues.

Nevertheless, Afro Samurai is an appealing game, and its visual style and pulsing soundtrack drives this success. The art style doesn't rely on simple cel-shading, but rather infuses this familiar technique with soft colors, muted lighting, and crosshatched textures. It's a unique look, and the gushers of rust-hued blood contrast nicely with the gently lit environments. When you enter focus mode, most of the environmental color washes away, making the gruesome cleaving of a bare-breasted ninja a bloody sight to behold. Jittery animations and other technical flaws can get in the way--particularly in the PlayStation 3 version, which suffers from minor but noticeable frame-rate drops, especially during split-screen incidents--but these rarely detract from the appealing visual design. Likewise, the occasionally lackluster sound effects can't detract from a superb hip-hop soundtrack (inspired by, as opposed to composed by, rapper RZA) and fantastic, lively voice-overs.

These manufactured monstrosities lead to violet violence.

Its flaws are noticeable, but Afro Samurai is ultimately a lot of fun. It isn't the next action classic, but it embraces its subject matter with vigor and delivers equally dynamic combat in spades. You can squeeze a good seven hours of enjoyment out of the experience the first time around, and hidden items and ensuing unlockables may drive you to return, if the fun and ferocious combat isn't reason enough. In other words, it's a problematic but ultimately worthwhile reason to don the Number Two headband and see that justice is done--and that Justice is done in.

The Maw Review

Average gameplay and an unforgettable main character merge in this short but endearing adventure.

The Good

• Bursting with charm
• Great visual and sound design
• Lighthearted humor and puzzles are good for all ages.

The Bad

• Gameplay isn't very engaging
• Short, with little replay value.

How long can a game's wily charms carry an experience before its cracks begin to show? In the case of The Maw, the answer is for the entirety of the few hours that the game lasts. However, that doesn't mean that you should dismiss this amusing extraterrestrial adventure as overly saccharine fluff. It will keep you giggling for the few hours that it lasts, but like most sweet morsels, the pleasant feeling dissipates when the sugar leaves your system, and you’ll find your palette struggling to remembering the taste.

The only thing Maw fears is fear itself. Also, birds.

The titular Maw is a voracious, globular alien, and you are Frank, his antlike companion. As captives on a giant spacecraft, you make an instant friendly connection, only to get stranded when the ship crashes on an unfamiliar planet. Nevertheless, your relationship with Maw isn't really a friendship; he's more of a bulbous pit bull, and you lead him around on a leash to help him scarf up his next meal. He starts at a nicely manageable size, but eventually Maw will tower over you, though he remains a loyal companion throughout. That's a good thing, too, because his razor-sharp teeth slice through any number of bizarre beasts, and he'll chomp them with glee, emitting eager grunts while scanning the environment with his giant, bulging eye. Though you can summon Maw to your side by calling out his name (and Frank's vocal pleas are one of many delightful sonic touches), there is no spoken dialogue. But Maw is so physically expressive, with his lively green tongue and keen enthusiasm, that he'll immediately win you over.

Thus Maw is your trusty pet, and the game is essentially an alien-care simulator. Your companion is a hungry devil, and he'll chomp down various creatures on his endless quest to grow larger and larger. But though you can lead a Maw to a gloober, you can't make him eat, so you'll need to attach your electric leash to him and direct him to the local grub, or pick up the edible creatures and throw them directly into his impatient mouth. Some of these extraterrestrials are more than just exotic eats, though, and will transfer some of their attributes to Maw when digested. Downing a temperamental alien peacock turns Maw into a laser-spewing monstrosity; gnawing on a floating puff-tor lets you grab on to Maw and leap wide distances.

Your goal is always to reach the end of the level by fattening up Maw and using his stolen skills to solve a few light environmental puzzles. This may mean using the puff-tor power to float upward on wind streams, fooling a giant horned beetle into charging toward a pulsing force field, or breathing fire into clumps of flora to reveal the hidden fauna within. As Frank, you also have a few skills of your own. For example, you can use the leash to grab and fling some creatures and rocks, and you can dodge turret fire with a well-timed button press. These disparate abilities are brimming with possibilities, yet though some of the puzzles are clever, most are incredibly simple, and you'll deal with just a single Maw transformation on every level.

The ensuing gameplay is mildly amusing but rarely compelling, showcasing plenty of hilarious Maw behavior at the expense of rewarding interaction. In one level, you hop onto Maw and shoot down turrets and space invaders with his laser-spouting eyes, but you can't die and you can't aim with any precision, so you simply wander around and blast away, scarfing up the alien cadavers that you leave behind. In another, you hold on to Maw as he stampedes toward barriers, but imprecise controls and too many moments without player interaction let the wind out of the game's sails. A few blah levels could be easier to overlook if The Maw were a longer experience, but it will take most players around three hours or so to complete. Some rewards and hidden areas may tempt you to return to the levels, and online leaderboards might inspire you to gun for faster completion times and such, but when you complete the game, chances are that you'll be done for good.

Maw signals that he's ready to move on.

The gameplay may be forgettable, but Maw certainly isn't, and developer Twisted Pixel deserves kudos for its colorful and hysterical character designs. Frank looks like a refugee from Pixar's A Bug's Life, but his faithful purple friend is hysterically distinctive. In one uproarious scene, Maw flees in terror from a deceptively beautiful loofer, and the fear on his toothy face is absolutely priceless. He's simultaneously adorable and menacing, a charismatic companion who just happens to eat adorable creatures for sustenance. Kids in particular will get a kick out of him, and the simple puzzles and straightforward controls ensure younger players an adventure free of frustration.

It sounds like a lot to ask 800 points ($10) for a game that won't take up much of your time, but here is a case in which a journey is worth taking purely on the basis of its burgeoning wit and personality. The gameplay doesn't have much bite, but the strong-jawed Maw is a great new character who deserves his starring role.