If you would have asked me if I thought that Two Worlds was going to get a sequel, I wouldn’t have laughed, I would have slapped you in the face. Unless someone announces a sequel to Ninjabread Man this is the most surprising and unlikely sequel ever.

So you can understand that it was with great fear and trepidation that I put the Two Worlds II disc in my PS3. I groaned as the first enemy I faced became stuck in a wall as he half heartedly swung his weapon at me. I made it through the first dungeon and then finally to my first town. I fumbled my way through the initial quests, fighting things like ostriches and poo flinging baboons.

Every time I found a new place to explore, I was murdered instantly. It is not a good sign when an open world game punishes you for exploring. Needless to say I was not happy with the first couple hours of the game.

The controls stumble right out of the gate. Everything feels loose and slightly off. For example, the button that you use to run is the same button you use to sneak, which is also the same button you use to block. This lead to several unfortunate situations where I was running into an enemies back rather than creeping up for some stabbing action. This control scheme makes about as much sense as putting gas and brake on the same pedal in your car.

The story seems like it was ripped out of “Generic Fantasy Novel IV: The Saga of Mediocrity”. The characters are not fleshed out (except for the random female characters that are literally fleshed out). At no point did I ever think to myself, “I hope these people don’t end up in a wood-chipper.” For all you writers out there, I hope that the bare minimum that you should shoot for is that I don’t want your characters to get thrown into a wood-chipper.

As for the combat, you have your basic attack and block, as well as special combat actions that are tied into the weapon type you are holding. These can be leveled up to devastating effect, but the hit detection is off just enough to not work when you really need it to. Most encounters involved whacking an enemy then running away so your health can recharge. I was beating monsters with a much higher level using this simple and completely not fun tactic.

So here we have all the makings of a bad game. Terrible combat, a mediocre story, and an open world that punishes you for exploring. However, there are some amazing things the game does have going for it. To start, the soundtrack is really well done. I also appreciate the high level of customization. You can upgrade your armor and weapons if your crafting skills are high enough. Upgrading weapons opens up slots where you can place powerful gems that enhance your equipment with magical properties. You can even make use of various dyes to change the color of items. The alchemy system allows you to mix and match various components to come up with your own unique potions that grant all sorts of different bonuses. I wound up with one that increased my jumping by 400%, making me look like a crazy person as I leaped over the heads of zombies.

Two Worlds II also features an interesting spell system, where you are able to mix and match cards to create new spells. So a wind card and a missile card will do something totally different than a wind card and a protection card. Though this section never really grabbed me like I was hoping, I can picture someone out there enjoying it. It just wasn’t for me. I found a couple of spells that worked and stuck with them.

My problem is that what does work is buried in a pile of mediocrity. If you were to ask me if I prefer a good combat system or potion mixing action, I’m going to pick combat every single time. With so many main gameplay elements that are pretty much broken, I would have preferred that they spent the time working on the combat.

I imagine that there is someone out there that will look past Two World II’s numerous failings and fall in love with the customization options. Two Worlds II is like the brand new puppy you get that immediately poops in your shoe and chews up the side of your couch. You might look past all that to love it, but there will be times where you have to put up with some crap. I am left feeling like the developers were too ambitious in their design. I prefer a respectable house with four walls, a roof, and working plumbing to a grand cathedral with missing doors, no roof, and overflowing toilets. At the most fundamental level a game needs to work for it to be fun.

In the end, I will say that if the jump from Two Worlds II to Two Worlds III is as big as the leap from the first game to the sequel, we might be looking at an all time classic.

iFun4all marketed Paper Wars as an attempt to create the worst game ever. This clever marketing gimmick was certainly effective at getting my attention, but does the game live up to the anti-hype?

Is it truly the worst game ever?

Paper Wars is a tower defense game where you are the tower. You control a tank/turret as waves of enemies march forward. The key strategy revolves around either charging  up your shot for a single massive explosion, or firing off quick, smaller bursts. Victory is a balancing act between the two.

You can’t spray the battlefield with explosions either. Since the shots have a travel time to them, you’ll need to line up your shots and aim for where enemies are going to be rather than where they are at.

There are bits and pieces of a story, but there really isn’t much to it other than “there are enemy soldiers that need to get exploded”.

There are three campaigns in Paper Wars; Classic, Winter Assault, and Cyber Wars. At first you can only play the Classic campaign, but ten victories there opens up Winter Assault. Ten victories in Winter Assault opens up Cyber Wars. Winter Assault limits the number of rockets you have at your disposal, and Cyber Wars gives you three different rocket types which do more damage to one of three different enemy types. But really, all the game modes boil down to “stop the advancing enemy soldiers”.

There are numerous power ups that pop up in the game. Some of them slow the enemies down, some cause explosions and some will give you another special attack. Using these power ups effectively (and before they are blown up) is the difference between an easy victory and a sure defeat. It is this frantic mix of planning and the simple joy of blowing stuff up that kept my interest.

While it does try to vary the action with the different modes and battle restrictions, it really all boils down to blowing up advancing hordes. I never felt like the game was truly deviating from the core concept. What was there was enough to keep me entertained, but I can’t help but wish they had added a little more to the mix.

Paper War’s unique visual style has all of the enemies crudely drawn on what looks like torn bits of paper. When they are damaged they fade like someone was messing with the opacity setting in Photoshop. When they die they will often leave behind massive amounts of blood.

The only real negative for me was the sound. I found it grating and annoying. I know this is probably what they were aiming for, but it doesn’t excuse the fact that after a couple of minutes with the game you’ll be taking the headphones off or hitting your TV’s mute button.

In the end, I enjoyed my time with Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder, it was definitely one of the best mini’s that I have played. So it looks like iFun4all needs to try a little harder if they want to make the worst game ever. For under $5 the game will most definitely keep you entertained.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on your opinion of “special” mouse-pads), the prequel does not come with inappropriate mouse-pads. According to Wingdamage scientists this immediately makes the game 92% less creepy.

Instead, the Limited Edition includes a 34-song soundtrack, a 48-page character data guide filled with artwork and stats of all playable characters and a special card box that holds decks of Agarest-themed playing cards and collectible skill cards. Record of Agarest War Zero will be released at an MSRP of $59.99 for the Limited Edition and $49.99 for the standard edition.

You can find more info on the game here.

Or you can pre-order it here.

The game stars Vincent, a young man in a relationship with the successful and pretty Katherine, who wakes up after a night of drinking with his friends to discover he is in bed with the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen, the titular Catherine.

As his anxiety grows, Vincent’s fears and doubts begin to manifest themselves as hideous monsters in his dreams. The player must battle through these horrors, facing tough moral choices. Should he be honest? Should he tell Katherine? Vincent finds that a stumble on the staircase of love can lead to a horrific and fatal plummet.

The game’s official website hasn’t launched yet, but you can go to atlus.com/faithful for more info, news, and insider info about all things Atlus.

Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder

“Striving to be the best at making worst game ‘everz’ isn’t by any means as easy as it looks,” said Fülöp Mészáros, a developer with iFun4All and one of the most world–renown Hungarian designers (out of two). “It took a team of true hacks, a deaf composer and an inexperienced graphic artist to create such a disaster, and we are pleasantly surprised by the nightmare that is the outcome. We just hope gamers will feel the same way and think that it’s a truly terrible game.”

Of course, gaming journalists are praising the game’s unique art style and intriguing take on Tower Defense. They have apparently failed horribly in their quest to make the worst game ‘everz.’ Paper Wars: Cannon Fodder is getting rave reviews as one of the top PSN Minis. Check it out on PSN for $4.99. With such a unique marketing gimmick you almost have to try it.

You can read more of the drunken European developer’s ramblings here.

Minecraft is being ported to iPhone, iPad, and Android phones. Expect the game to launch sometime this summer for the iPhone, followed in later 2011 with the Android release. The move to the iPhone and Android opens up the game to a whole new group of people and allows you to go nuts with blocks while you pretend to listen to your boss at the morning staff meeting.

Source: Gamasutra

Dr. Carmen Russoniello, Director of the Psychophysiology Lab and Biofeedback Clinic at ECU and the professor who oversaw the study says, “In my opinion the findings support the possibility of using prescribed casual video games for treating depression and anxiety as an adjunct to, or perhaps even a replacement for, standard therapies including medication.”

This means people suffering from depression and anxiety might be able to replace their expensive medications with some sweet Bejeweled action. A one time $10 purchase is certainly cheaper than prescription drugs.

As a long time Bejeweler, I have often found the game to be an excellent way to relax after a stressful day.

You can check out more about the study at ECU.edu and get all sorts of info on the methodology and findings.

The game might not approach the novel in terms of complexity or depth, but did the novel feature a boss fight on top of a speeding train? I think not.

If you are interested, you can play the game here.

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

After being framed for a crime he didn’t commit, Spider-Man has to fight to clear his name and save the city. To do this he’ll have to take on super villains that any Spidey fan will immediately recognize and appreciate, like Venom, the Rhino, Scorpion, and Carnage.

This is the premise of the original Playstation Spider-Man. No movie tie-in, just a super hero game for the sake of having a super hero game.

There are a number of secrets to find, costumes to unlock (some of which upgrade his abilities) and comics littered throughout the game.

The voice acting is surprisingly good with most of the actors from Spider-Man The Animated Series reprising their roles. However, like many games on the original Playstation, the graphics look terrible now. I can’t think of anything scarier than the Black Cat’s character model in this game.

The combat is very simple. Square is your punch and circle is your kick. Spider-Man also has several special moves he can pull off with his webbing. You can create web gloves which do double punching damage, trap enemies in a web, or even create a web dome which protects you for a brief time. I found that webbing up my fists and mashing on the square button got me through 99% of the fights.

Fans of old Spider-Man cartoons will recognize the web swinging. Instead of attaching his webs to buildings like in the recent movies, Spidey seems to have the ability to attach his webs to thin air. There were a couple of times where I plummeted to my death because the game decided that the air I was trying to swing on didn’t work for some reason.

Why did I pick this game?

It might seem strange these days, but there was a time when super heroes like Spider-Man weren’t starring in blockbuster movies every summer. There were super hero games, but they mostly involved walking to the right and punching people in the head or jumping on platforms and then punching people in the head.

Spider-Man was really the first video game that actually made you feel like a super hero, like you were Spider-Man. All of his spider powers were there; swinging on webs, climbing up walls… it is even narrated by the one and only Stan Lee.

How does it hold up with time?

When it was released, Spider-Man was a revelation. It proved that video games could actually capture the feel of being a super hero. Unfortunately, the game has not aged well at all. Even if you can get past the laughable PS1 graphics and the simplistic combat, there are two glaring problems that will have you yanking out your hair in frustration. First off, the game’s camera feels as though it is actively trying to cause your death. The other problem was annoying 10 years ago when the game first came out and time has only exacerbated it. Spider-Man can go wherever a spider can right? So if you walk up to a wall Spidey will attempt to climb it even if you were just trying to get out of the way of a charging Rhino and you didn’t mean to try to walk up the wall.

There are some games that I play for Friday Old Games just to make fun of. But there are others that I genuinely remember as being awesome. Playing through Spider-Man left me a little sad. As much as I enjoyed it 10 years ago, Spider-Man is one of those games that just feels painful to play now. There isn’t much to it that isn’t done better by a shinier, prettier newer game.

“Friday Old Games” is a series of articles in which we review a game from the older generations of consoles, share why we picked it, and whether or not it holds up with time.

“It has been 50 years since the nuclear disaster. The sport of sprint racing is now a ruthless battle between armed cars. These races take place on tracks built in the ruins of the dangerous nuclear zone known only as the BADLANDS. This is sprint racing gone BAD! It’s all-out war on the track as players blast away at the drones (and each other) to finish first! Players shoot playfield targets for extra points and bonus missiles!” -Badlands Manual

Badlands is a top down racing game set 50 years after a nuclear disaster. Sprint racing is now a ruthless battle set in a post apocalyptic wasteland. As the games manual eloquently puts it, “This is sprint racing gone BAD!” Three cars race on a single screen track, dodging obstacles like mines, retractable barricades, and oil slicks.

There are wrenches that you can pick up to purchase power ups in the shop at the end of each race. You can purchase better tires, turbo, a higher top speed, or missiles that you can use on the other cars. These missiles are the biggest addition to the series. Shooting another other car with a missile causes it to blow up forcing the other player to wait for a replacement car to get airlifted on to the track.

The tracks are interesting, especially for a game from the late 80′s. There are twists, jumps, and figure eights.

The key to success is in powering up your vehicle. Coming in first and collecting wrenches mean the difference between first and last place. It could be rough if your buddy managed to get completely souped up and you were stuck with the stock car from the beginning. He would be sliding around turns perfectly and lapping you as you chugged along running into walls and exploding over and over.

Why did I pick this game?

I was always a huge sucker for the Sprint series; Badlands is the spiritual successor to those titles. My cousins and I have wasted days of our lives playing Sprint games both at home and at the old nickel arcade that was down the block from their house.

However, I didn’t even realize this game existed until recently, and even then it was a case of me trying it because the start up screen art is amazing.

How does it hold up with time?

It takes a second to adjust the switches in my brain for top down racing. The mechanics are just something that modern video games no longer employ. But there is something to be said for the simple, timeless pleasure of blowing your friends up. You can play single player, but this is a game that was meant to be played with a couple of buddies. Blowing each other up or causing each other to miss a tight turn will probably never get old for me.

However, some of you have grown up in a post Gran Turismo and Burnout world, so top down racing will seem strange and foreign to you. You’ll probably turn left when you meant to turn right and end up getting blown up. But if you can persevere through the initial learning curve, you’ll find a very gem of a game.

This review is based on the edition of Badlands found in Midway Arcade Treasures 3 for the Xbox.