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These games represent some of the highlights of their respectable genres, and both would be worthy additions to your library

• Streets of Rage 2™ - 400
  SoR2 is perhaps my personal favorite 2d side-scrolling beat ‘em’ up, I played through it several times back in the Mega Drive days and found it to be vastly superior to the first game in the series, SoR3 was a fine game, but was missing the spark that the first game held. SoR2 features 2 player online play for two player co-op and some of the best music from any Mega Drive game which makes for some popular remixes. I really enjoy playing SoR2, it’s a lot easier than I remember it being nearly 15 years ago.
• Super Puzzle Fighter™ II Turbo HD Remix - 800
  SPFII:THDR, wow even the abbreviation is a mouthful! Many people have been anticipating Game 2 for some time since it was announced four months ag, today it finally arrives. Game 2 turns out to be exactly what I was expecting, classic puzzlefighter with sharper graphics, my big issue with this is that the sharper graphics shouldn’t warrant a $10 price tag over the usual $5 for old games. However the game is still pretty good so should still be worth it

If you want the short and simple review here it is. This could quite possibly be the best game released this year and you should go out and buy it. Oh you already heard that, you would like some more details, OK. In fact the only people who I do not recommend buying this game is anyone about to go on a long flight over the ocean. The small percentage of readers that fit into that category should buy the game when you get back from your flight.

BioShock is a futuristic game that takes place in the 1960s. Yeah I know that is a contradiction in terms, but as I explain the plot of the game in more detail, you will understand why I describe the game in that manner. BioShock starts you out as a lone man in the 1960’s who unfortunately has a smoking habit, and is setting out on a flight across the ocean. Somewhere during the flight there are problems and the plane crashes conveniently close to this man made structure that is jetting up from the ocean. You find your way to this dark and ominous looking structure that resembles a light house, hop into a diving bell and from there the game shifts you into high gear and it is fast and furious from then on. The diving bell takes you down the bottom of the ocean where you are treated to your first view of the underwater city called Rapture. Rapture is a place of destroyed beauty (Hmm, where have I seen that before?) under water. In what I can only describe as a city that looks like Las Vegas only 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Rapture is a beautiful sight on the outside, but torn apart on the inside. The city is a vast place of bright lights and large buildings with walk way tubes connecting them to each other.

I really suggest you take a few seconds every so often when the action settles down to look around the environment. Look at the litter on the floor or read the signs on the walls. Very early in the game you realize that this was once a remarkable and beautiful city. Now torn apart by civil strife between factions of crazy people and large people encased in diving suits, the city is in shambles. You are now stranded at the bottom of ocean in very dark and scary place, with hordes of the insane running around trying to hack and shoot you to little bits.

But you are not alone you have one single friend with you at the bottom of the sea, a voice that guides you over a scratchy radio. Atlas is your one friend a guy helping you out so that you can help him get that which he holds dear. Like Obei Wan guiding Luke Skywalker on at the end of Star Wars, Atlas’s voice will guide you through most of the game. As the game progresses you are introduced to the Big Daddy and Little Sister characters in the game. The Big Daddy is the character that looks like the guy in the old diving suit. These characters are surprisingly fast and agile, very strong, and worst of all very tough. The amount of fire power that is required to take down one of these things is phenomenal. I found myself usually dying at least once during a fight with one these bad boys. The little sisters are these little girls that look to be about seven to nine years old. Nasty little creatures, they go around shoving syringes into dead body’s pulling out a substance called “Adam” and then drinking it. Let me tell you watching that could bring make the toughest guys go “Ewwwww”.

One of the main objectives of the game is to get this substance called “Adam”. Once you have collected enough of it you will be able to cash it in at vending machines, located through out the game, and purchase certain special abilities. From becoming a better safe cracker to hurling fire balls out of your hands, this Adam will be the key to leveling up your character throughout the game. Leveling up your character will be vitally important when it comes to handing out the hurt to the never ending mob of psychotics that are hell bent on killing you. Another rare commodity in the city of Rapture is the different Plasmids and Tonics scattered through out the city, and in different vending machines. Plasmids and Tonics allow you more special powers. If you do not find them lying around the city you can always buy them with the Adam you collect.

Through out the game you come across different machines in the game, most of them can be hacked to give you better deals on in game items or turned to assist you in wiping out the crazies coming after you. How you hack is one of the best features in the game. You are presented with a screen full of gray squares with an entrance tub starting at one side and an exit tube ending on the other side of the screen. It is your job to connect the two with different combination of connecting pieces to make sure that the fluid flows straight through. Now here is where it can get tough. You have about a two to three second head start before the fluid starts to flow. In time you have to keep ahead of the fluid, if the fluid ever reaches the end before you are fully connected to the exit you get shocked and have to start over. Fortunately there are automatic hacking tools spread through out the game or you can build one of your own if you collect all the right pieces. This makes for a pleasant break in the game so that you are not constantly from bludgeoning crazy masked people trying to kill you. Another interesting aspect of the game is the U-Vent feature. This allows you to collect items off of bodies or items just lying around on the floor, take them to this machine and you can build useful in game items.

For a change let’s talk about the negative aspects of the game first. There is no multiplayer. It is kind of a shame that you will probably only get to enjoy the beautiful graphics a few times. I can see playing this game through and being a nice guy then the ultimate bad guy then playing through on the different difficulty levels but really I can not see many gamers wanting to keep playing through the game more then three or four times so soak up that beauty right away. The last thing is toward the end I was getting ready for the game to end. Maybe it was just me dying a bunch, or just basic concept of going and gathering components to build this certain item then getting ingredients for a chemical compound so that you can progress in the game but toward the end I was ready for the game to end. Some critics have stated that the game frequently froze up on them, I did not have this problem in fact the game never froze on me once.

OK no sense in dwelling on the negative with a great game like BioShock, games like Pimp My Ride and WarTech obviously were made for dwelling on the negative! This is a game that is hard to fit into one category. Is BioShock a First Person Shooter, or an Action RPG? I am not sure but it is a beautiful blend of both. The leveling up system is not so complex that you have to worry about doing tons of online research about each upgrade available to you. The combat system in the game is very immersive and one can easily get lost in the blur of combat. If you are not careful you can get focused on one opponent and end up catching the wrong end of a metal pipe to the back of the head by opponents flanking around you. Most of the weapons start out looking like your standard World War II weapons but after a few weapon upgrades it will be hard to distinguish them from some futuristic weapon.

The graphics are beautiful; honestly the graphics are the best of any 360 game I have seen so far. The initial cut scene at the beginning of the game is terrifying, like I said earlier if you are going to be doing any air travel soon you may want to wait until afterwards to play this game.

The dialog has got that cool retro 1950’s style, with one of the chief bad guys always calling you “kid”, or referring to one of the main female characters as a “Dame”. The evil minors called Splicers seem to have a very small vocabulary each different type seems to repeat the same three to four phrases over and over again. One small note about the dialog is there are quite a few naughty words used. Not that it is terrible but by the end of the game hearing the phrase “Nurse, help me find my patient” for the two hundredth time starts to wear on your nerves. In this age of Next Generation Consoles I kind of expect some more immersive features of game play. Having sound clips that are perhaps related to the circumstances, area, and events that are happening would really add that extra WOW factor. Any one who does not want little ones to pick up some bad language, may want to keep a close eye on the volume knob.

While the story does get a little over the top, with rewriting DNA and genes and living under the sea, it is done really well. The story is so addictive and compelling that you can easily find yourself loosing track of time inside this game trying to get to the next story line to see what happens next.

The achievements are also set up perfectly. As you complete each level the game gives you an Achievement. With most levels, normal game play you will unlock an Achievement for some activity you have completed. You may have to make a concentrated effort to get a couple of Achievements but none of them are really difficult to obtain. If this is something that you hold dear, then I say to all the GamerScore whores like myself, find a list of the achievements somewhere on the internet so that you can be prepare to adapt your gameplay to meet the requirements.

This is one of those games that I am very comfortable recommending that people buy. This is one of those few times that I would say you probably do not have to rent this game before you buy it. Although if there is even the slightest doubt in your mind try the Demo that is on Xbox LIVE, chances are you will be hooked and going out and buying this game to help feed your new addiction, an addiction called BioShock. I just hope that 2K finds a way to continue the story and give us some extra content. I would be really pleased if they found a way to continue the story in the same way they did with Oblivion.

Check out what Charlie’s review of BioShock

Today only Amazon.com are selling Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox360 for $25.99, reduced from $39.99 with free shipping.

I Sonic has had a bad run over these last few years since he went 3D to keep up with his rival, Mario. Sadly the 3D games tend to slip beneath mediocrity and end up like Sonic the Hedgehog for the Xbox 360. I would suggest trying the demo from the market place before spending $30 on this. Also, wasn’t this game on offer at Amazon for $20, just a couple of months ago?

Ok BioShock fans. If you really love the game, and the music, the score that is, well than today is your lucky day. The folks at 2K games are giving the score to the game away free via download here! Good stuff, no?

Source: 2K Games

2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today the upcoming release of an exclusive EP remixed by Moby and Oscar The Punk for its highly anticipated BioShock video game. The CD will be bundled with the GameStop and EB Canada exclusive Limited Edition version of BioShock when the title launches on August 21st for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows®. The CD is also available as a pre-sale gift-with-purchase from video game retailer, Game Crazy.

The three remixed tracks on the CD include Beyond the Sea, God Bless the Child and Wild Little Sisters, variations of which appear in their original format in the game. Music luminaries Moby and Oscar The Punk have joined forces to remix them with the game’s atmosphere in mind.

“While these classic songs from the 40’s and 50’s evoke a happier time, they take on an eerie aesthetic in BioShock’s decaying art deco-designed underwater city of Rapture,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K Games. “Moby and Oscar The Punk have captured that disparity with these remixes and added a new spin to these indelible classics.”

Fans of the game and the music will be able to obtain the CD as part of the Limited Edition version of BioShock, which also contains a figurine of one of the game’s hulking “Big Daddy” creatures, exclusive packaging and a behind-the-scenes DVD.

Developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, BioShock is a “genetically-enhanced” first person shooter set in Rapture, an underwater art deco-inspired utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, players have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. To survive, players can turn everything they encounter into a weapon, biologically modify their body with plasmids, hack devices and security systems, upgrade weapons, craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques. No encounter ever plays out the same and no two gamers will play BioShock the same way.

BioShock is rated “M” for Mature by the ESRB, and will be available on August 21st in North America and August 24th in Europe. For more information, visit the BioShock website at: www.BioShockGame.com, and the BioShock community site at www.TheCultofRapture.com.

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I’m really liking these two games a week bundles we’ve been getting, I could get used to this.

• Space Giraffe - 400
  Today’s bargain game is Space Giraffe, which at it’s core is an updated version of Tempest which appeared in the arcades in the great year of 1980. This updated release follows the same ‘lines’ as the original but has been updated with graphics that make it look more like a media visualisation than a video game, this may be unsurprising considering the developers previous work but it does make things a little distracting. For your $5 you get a game that feels as frantic as Geometry wars but the distractions make the game borderline unplayable. I did have fun with the game but you’ve really got to keep your concentration going and beware “The Eyes of Allard“
• Street Trace:NYC™ - 800
  I didn’t have too high hopes for Street Trac:NYC, and on the whole the game met my expectations. For video-game vets, you can pretty much sum up the game by just looking at a screen-shot or two and the game plays exactly as you’d expect. In fairness I have only played the demo so I can’t write about how cool the levels can become or how good the power-ups get. From the demo I surmised that this is a very generic futuristic, hover-board, combat game and that thought scares me

Today only Amazon.com are selling Eragon for the Xbox 360 at $29.99, reduced from $59.99 with free shipping.

A top deal for those of you who are still on the fence about whether to pick up what is usually a $60 game. 50% off is a great deal for this.

Today Stockers all across North America are desperately try to keep BioShock on the store shelves. But with all the hype of last weeks premature release by several stores, it looks like keeping this game on store shelves may require allot of extra work and lots of inventory. Last week there were reports of copies of BioShock going for as high as $159 on EBay. With all the hype surrounding this game on the Internet, and the great reviews this is sure to be a huge seller. European gamers will have to wait until August 24th to get their feet wet in this game.

BioShock is a “genetically enhanced” first-person shooter that lets players do things never before possible in the genre. Gamers enter the game as a castaway in Rapture, an underwater utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified “splicers” and deadly security systems, players have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. No encounter ever plays out the same and no two gamers will play BioShock the same way. “With the release of BioShock, we are redefining the shooter experience by providing players with the freedom to decide how to proceed and which actions to take,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. “The teams at 2K Boston and 2K Australia have captured the essence of this underwater world and brought it to vivid life in the art design and open-ended storyline. Welcome to Rapture.” In the decaying art deco underwater city of Rapture, players can turn everything they encounter into a weapon, biologically modify their body with plasmids, hack devices and security systems, upgrade weapons, craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques. “The development team has been working on BioShock for years to push the limits in every way possible, so we are excited for gamers to finally experience BioShock as we’ve always imagined it,” said Ken Levine, President and Creative Director of 2K Boston. “We delivered on our promise of bringing gamers a unique and enriching first-person shooter experience that not only challenges their capacity to adapt and survive, but tests their values and commitment to the inhabitants of Rapture.”

BioShock’s features include:

• Biologically modify your body with plasmids which are genetic augmentations that empower you with dozens of fantastic abilities including: send Electrobolts storming from your fingertips, unleash a swarm of hornets hatched from the veins of your arms, or strategically turn enemies against one another with irritants.
• Take control of your world by hacking devices and systems: reprogram enemy security bots into personal bodyguards, modify vending machines to change prices, and transform machine gun security turrets into powerless pieces of metal.
• Upgrade your weapons at Power-to-the-People stations located through Rapture: craft variants of ammo and plasmids by picking up materials in the city to modify them at U-Invent kiosks.
• Turn everything into a weapon: the environment, your body, fire and water, and even your worst enemies. BioShock’s free form combat options allow gameplay scenarios to be approached with a variety of weapons, active and passive plasmids, environmental objects utilization, exploitation of political alliances, or a combination of techniques. Find your style but know when to adapt.
• Explore an incredible and unique art deco world hidden deep under the ocean, vividly illustrated with realistic water effects and truly next generation graphics.
• Make meaningful and mature decisions that culminate in the ultimate question: Do you exploit the innocent survivors of Rapture to save yourself…or risk it all to become their savior?

For more information, visit the BioShock website, and the community site.

You are Jackie Estacado, a hitman for the Franchetti crime family. On your 21st birthday a timeless force known as ‘The Darkness’ awakens within you. You can wreak havoc on your enemies with the powers it bestows. But you’ll quickly learn that The Darkness has a will of its own. (2K’s box description)

:: This review may contain spoilers ::

When The Darkness was initially released, a second game “Overlord” was released at the same time. Both games immediately interested me, however I was not about to shell out the cash for both games, but ultimately I decided to pickup The Darkness.

Single Player:

Right from the beginning of the game, I became confused. I hadn’t familiarized myself with the back-story, and was disappointed when I realized I didn’t start off with any of the Darkness powers. The game starts off as any first-person shooter often does. In this case you are a hitman for a Mob family and something goes wrong… on your 21st birthday, your uncle Paulie turns on you.

For those individuals who have not played the game, I will spare the details of the story, however throughout the game Jackie is thrown into a constant struggle of trying to control The Darkness that is empowering him. The game entertains the player with good graphics, and ample firefights. The pace of the game is good all the way through the end, and the ambient sound and music do a good job at immersing the player into the game. Controls feel natural and easy to navigate.

Never-the-less, despite this games good qualities, it is not without its faults. Initially it takes some time to figure out where to go and how to get there. Using the Subway system to get where you want to go can become burdensome, especially when you are faced with repetitive cut-scenes while the game loads. Playing the game I ran into a couple situations where I would back my character into a corner, or duck in between a phone booth and bus stop for cover, and my character would get stuck and I was unable to move. This would result in some frustration and a restart to the last checkpoint. I also had some difficulties with the side quests. I have heard complaints from other players as well, that they were unable to collect rewards from characters they completed side quests for. I too had this problem.

Despite the issues I ran across, the team at 2K did a great job with the story of The Darkness. I understand that The Darkness was inspired by a comic book series. While I am not a reader or collector of comic books, after playing the game, I am interested in reading the graphic story the comics may offer. I enjoyed the game and while I still would like to play Overlord, I’m glad I chose The Darkness first.

Multi Player:

The Darkness also contains an online component. The online matches I participated in were of the standard deathmatch variety, however the match did have a unique component that made the game a little different. The Darkness multiplayer has what is called ‘Shape-Shifter’ mode. This allows the player to play as a darkling or as a human. There are also Team Deathmatch, Capture the flag, Last Darkling, and Last Human game types.

Overall the Multi Player was enjoyable, but dont expect this to be a major contender to Halo 2.

I don’t like to give my game reviews a numerical score simply for the reason that one person’s 7.5 may be another’s 5. I do however like to rate games on their value and tell you whether or not a game is worth spending your money on. I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing The Darkness. So much in fact I will likely hang on to the game. I can see myself pulling this one off the shelf and playing through the game again.

Bottom-line, would I recommend running out and spending $60 on this game? Perhaps not. I did however enjoy the game and with multiplayer and all of the side quests available within the game, it does have good replay value. For $45 or less, yes, I would recommend the purchase. Give yourself some time to get lost with The Darkness, I’m sure you will find it as enjoyable as I did.

When I first saw screen shots of this title it really intrigued me. And now I can tell you after drooling, it is my own personal nightmare, in a good way of course. Before I get into the guts(pun) of the game, let me warn you that this game is the most gruesome, bloody; hell, it makes “Gears of War” look like Alice in Wonderland. Shall we begin?

You are a passenger on an airplane over the ocean, which is specified as the Atlantic in the year 1960. Your plane out of nowhere rips apart(ala “Lost”) and you find yourself swimming to this pedestal jutting out of the water. You swim to it, as, well where else is there to go, certainly the plane has made it’s final stop.

Now I’m not going to try and spoil it, but it’s kind of hard to explain the environment, and what to expect out of this game without some morsels to give you an idea. So now you’re warned.

Let me spell some things out right now so you know what kind of game this is, then I’ll feed you a little story. This is not an open-ended game, ie. you can’t go everywhere. It’s between a rail, and puzzle shooter. So it’s “Resident Evil 4″ with MAJOR modifications. There is nomulti player over XBOX Live, however the case I received did mention downloadable content, so that is something to look forward to.

The game makes you “use” your environment. After you have been exploring the city of “Rapture” you come to a point where you must re-write your DNA using a method of injecting “Plasmids”. So the first one is electricity, no really, you can shoot electricity out of your hands, kind of like the Emperor in “Jedi”. To give you an example of using theenvironment , say there are 3 people in a pool of water(did I mention it takes place underwater?”) well shoot some electricity into the water and you fry all three of them, very cool.

This is a fantastic game, download the demo for sure, even for those skeptical. This game has a lot of potential with future downloadable content. The only thing holding it back is multi player or even co-op, but then it wouldn’t be YOUR story. Another nugget is you get a new experience every time, the game is not the same experience for everyone. There are different paths and ways to kill people that work in many ways.

This is a must game, so make sure you get your copy on the 21st, this is not for the faint of heart.

And the Final Score is 9.2 out of 10.

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Another two games this week, another Sega retro game and a new puzzle game

• Ecco The Dolphin - 400
  I quite enjoyed this game 15 years ago when it was first released, but time hasn’t been good to old Ecco, the once great Genesis graphics look bland and unattractive. The gameplay is quite difficult and frustrating, levels seem unimaginative, the whole experience is pretty lame. If you are a true fan of Ecco then you already know that you want this game, plus you get achievement points for less than the Wii port
• Hexic 2 - 800
  I’ll admit to quite liking the Hexic games, sometimes it’s nice to just chill and play a game you can just zone out to. Hexic 2 improves on the first game by providing different game modes. The multiplayer is fun also as surprisingly there are precious few multiplayer puzzle games available on the arcade

Capcom has confirmed that Leipzig Games Convention will mark the global debut of Devil May Cry 4 for the Microsoft Xbox 360. Visitors will get hands on play time with both the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 version of the game. Players will be able to try their hand as Nero, a knight in the Order of Maken, an ancient sect that worships Sparda the devil warrior who saved mankind.

“Devil May Cry is one of Capcom’s key brands, “commented Michael Pattison, Senior Marketing Director, CE Europe, “and Leipzig Games Convention provides an excellent opportunity for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers to get hands on experience of the latest addition in the series that defines stylish action.”

I am guessing that I am not the only one waiting to see more about this game. Many of us remember when Capcom announced that Devil May Cry was coming to the Xbox 360, some very dedicated Playstation fans started a petition to keep the series exclusive to the Playstation 3. But we all know how that turned out. Devil May Cry 4 is due out Winter of 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PS3. With a PC version due out some time after that.

Via Press Release