Gaming Industry News

Abe Vigoda's not dead, that bridge in Brooklyn isn't really for sale, and there isn't actually an Easter bunny or a tooth fairy. Oh, and that invite to the Halo 4 beta you just got? It's not real either, says 343 Industries' content editor David Ellis. That doesn't mean there won't be a beta, but there isn't one yet.

Santa Claus, though? Totally real.

Here’s another batch of reviews for your amusement. Please let me know if you agree or disagree.


Batman: Arkham City

This is a well-crafted game and is a lot of fun. Unfortunately, it is also very short. You can expect to beat the campaign in less than 10 hours if you don’t go for all the Riddler puzzles. That said, everything that was good in Arkham Asylum is back and improved. This is the best Batman game to date and the stealth gameplay and combat are excellent. The puzzle-solving with the Riddler challenges and this will be the majority of the game content due to the short campaign. I’d recommend this game as a rental.

Grade: B+


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

What else can be said about this series? Modern Warfare 3 is basically the same game as the predecessors with a new cooperative missions/survival mode in the place of Treyarch’s zombies. The campaign is very similar to the last few and closes the Soap/Price storyline. Nothing really stands out in it. The hardest difficulty isn’t too bad if you like to play these games that way. The multiplayer is also pretty similar to past games. If you like this series, this game will be like stepping into a pair of comfortable shoes. The most entertaining things for me were the cooperative modes. Survival is a blast. It is basically a horde mode with its own progression. The missions are smaller levels built for a coop challenge. As a whole, this is a good game, but not a groundbreaking one.

Grade: A-


Rage

What do you get when you take Fallout and add prettier graphics, better gunplay and cars, but take away most of the RPG elements? This game is what. I can’t stress enough that this game has beautiful graphics and very good gunplay but it really doesn’t excite me. If it allowed drop-in coop like Borderlands, I would give it an A, but the coop missions are separate from the campaign and are pretty limited. The game just seems to be missing anything compelling that I haven’t already seen or done before. I’d suggest waiting for Borderlands 2 or the next Fallout game if you’re on the fence.

Grade: B-


Rayman Origins

I absolutely love this game. It is a shame it was put out in the middle of the AAA title season and won’t get the sales it deserves. This game brings me back to playing Super Mario World or Sonic 2 for the first time. Awesome platforming, graphics, music and sound are in abundance in this game. I can’t recommend this game strongly enough. This is one of the better games of the year and it is nearly criminal that it will be so overlooked. This is one of the most fun games available for the Xbox 360 and a great game to share with your family, especially since it has 4-player local coop.

Grade: A+

We saw the new Gunzerker class in the Borderlands 2 teaser trailer released way back in August, and Gearbox has shared a little more information about just how the gun-wielding brute will work. The class is a dual-wielder of weapons, but can only bring out two guns for a limited amount of time, which means you'll have to make tough decisions about which guns to pull out and when. Combine an electric machine gun with a flaming shotgun to drop shields and do flame damage? Sure, why not!

There are three skill trees in the class: One has skills like "Yippe Ki Yay," which extend your berzerk mode when you make a kill. The second is more of a tank tree, with abilities that boost your heath and offer a taunt to drive enemies to attack you (instead of weaker teammates). Finally, there's a tree called "Gun Lust" that seems targeted more towards solo play, with vampiric attacks and special skills available, like one that grants more damage to the last bullet in a clip, or another that provides extra shots with no ammo cost.

Gearbox has also confirmed that the Siren class will return to the game, but says it won't necessarily be a phasewalker like last time. Instead, the gameplay will be "very, very different and very, very new," according to lead writer Anthony Burch. That sounds ... ominous, no? Maybe she'll take a tip from the Dragonborn and have some singing attacks.