The original Dead Space is one of my favorite games to be released this generation, for good reason. It was a unique IP with an the interesting concept. Strategic dismemberment. The best way to kill Dead Space’s grisly, blades-for-arms space monsters was to shoot their limbs off.

It was gory, violent, and a hell of a lot of fun. Coupled the dark, foreboding corridors of the Ishimura and deadly, upgradable arsenal of industrial tools, everything came together perfectly to form a spine-chilling, adrenaline-fueled ride like no other.

Dead Space 2 sets out to build on all of this and manages to improve just about everything in the process. On top of that adds online multiplayer.

This time around, Isaac Clark finds himself on Titan Station, the Sprawl, an enormous space station in orbit around Titan, a moon of Saturn. Essentially a city in space, the Sprawl is home to everything from schools to apartments to a morgue filled with frozen stasis chambers. In the end, the Sprawl is a much more interesting place to explore than original game’s dirty, industrial mining ship, The Ishimura.

While the story is slightly more engrossing than the original, it still falls short of greatness. There were times where I was genuinely interested in what was going to happen next, but for the majority of my playthrough, the story was little more than a reason to explore new areas of the Sprawl and fight new types of enemies.

Visceral didn’t change a whole lot with the core gameplay in Dead Space 2. Everything good about the first game is here. There are a few subtle tweaks and upgrades, the most impressive being the completely overhauled zero-gravity gameplay. Where the original Dead Space had you either magnetized to the floor or jumping from point A to point B in a straight line, Dead Space 2 puts you in full control, letting Isaac float freely through the environment.

The zero-g sections are what really pulled the game together for me. The lack of combat (for the most part) is made up for by the mechanical dangers of the Sprawl that can reduce you to a finely ground paste in the blink of an eye. The large, open scale of these sections contrasts the tight, claustrophobic corridors of the Sprawl. Going back and forth between the two adds a dose of variety and contributes to the already superb pacing.

Hands down, the coolest new toy at Isaac’s disposal is the revamped telekinesis powers. In Dead Space, you could TK items and crates in order to pick up out-of-reach items and move the occasional barricade. Now, once you’ve severed a limb from an enemy, you can use TK to pick it up and launch it into your foes, impaling them, and often staking them to walls. Imagine a cross between Fallout 3’s Railroad Rifle and the Gravity Gun from Half Life 2 and you’ve got the basic idea. It makes ammo conservation much easier as well, considering that one or two well placed shots from an upgraded plasma cutter can take an arm off, which can then be shot back at the enemy.

As scary as it is at times, Dead Space 2 is an action game first, and a survival horror game second. While ammo may not plentiful, it’s far from scarce, and with a bit of strategy and efficient use of the new telekinesis power, I only ran out of ammo a handful of times during my eight hours aboard the Sprawl. Most encounters can be solved with the good ol’ Plasma Cutter or Line Gun. A few new weapons are added to Isaac’s inventory, the most notable being the Javelin gun, which impales enemies with the primary fire, and electrifies the javelin with the alternate fire, frying any surrounding Necromorphs.

In addition to the excellent single player campaign is an online multiplayer mode that pits teams of humans versus teams of Necromorphs. The humans are trying to accomplish an objective, and the Necromorphs are trying to stop them. Other than having an interesting concept, I couldn’t help feeling like I’d already played a better version of this in other games. The atmospheric, dark vibe of Dead Space doesn’t mesh as well with online multiplayer as I had hoped. In the end, it’s a fun distraction between playthroughs, but little more.

Dead Space 2 is better than the original in just about every aspect. Between fun, rewarding gameplay and a dark, frightening atmosphere, it never fails to keep the player completely engrossed in Isaac’s battle for his own sanity. It is a frightening, intense, action-packed experience that any gamer with a strong stomach should appreciate.

I finished God of War III a couple of days ago and I have been trying to come to grips with the game. In many ways, it is the best in the series and in others it is the tiniest bit of a letdown.

If you were expecting a revolution in terms of gameplay you’ll be disappointed. You still don’t have control of the camera, you’ll still be doing quick time events, and you’ll still be abusing the Square, Square, Triangle combo.

Even with all that God of War III stands tall as an amazing game and a climactic conclusion to Kratos’ tale of revenge.

If there is one thing that distinguishes the GOW games, it is the sense of scale. Enemies that would be the final boss in most games are mini-bosses in GOW. Take the opening level of God of War II for example. You are doing battle with the Colossus of Rhodes. Think you versus an animated (and pissed off) Statue of Liberty to appreciate the scale of this battle.

God of War III takes these fights to almost ludicrous proportions. You are often fighting 30+ enemies on the back of a Titan that is scaling a mountain. You are fully in control, battling away during the kind of moments that other games relegate to cut-scenes. These awesome battle dwarf everything else on the market. The game is worth playing if only to witness the first unbelievable boss fight.

If you are an HDTV Guy, you need this game. This is the kind of game you throw in to show off your crazy awesome home theater. There is nothing else out there that can come close to the spectacle GOW III unleashes on your eyes. The game is just unbelievably gorgeous. The Kratos character model is particularly impressive. You can see the scars from his battles. GOW III and Uncharted 2 are neck-in-neck when it comes to the best looking games on the PS3.

"Yes, that is Kratos between his fingers"

However, the game is not without its flaws. The double jump-glide move is almost completely broken. I cannot tell you the number of times that I plummeted to my death when the controls failed me on a jump. I found ways around it, but it was a major annoyance. I did not have this problem at all in the other games. It might seem like a small gripe, but you do a lot of jumping and when it is broken it is annoying. It seems strange that the jumping is so broken, because the rest of the game is so polished.

I was also let down by the story. Without giving anything away. The story wasn’t bad, just more convoluted than it needed to be. Your ultimate objective is completely clear, but your methods of accomplishing it are confusing. Part of the problem is the backtracking. You’ll see a few of the same areas several times.  Also, there is a point in the story where Kratos goes from “I don’t care about anything but revenge” to out of nowhere, “I care.” It felt out of place with everything that had come before and didn’t feel natural at all.

Getting back to the good stuff; The combat is even more brutal than ever. You’ll be ripping people in half and snapping necks right out of the gate. If you thought Kratos was a bad man before, just wait until you see the way he finishes off some of his enemies. These cringe inducing moments are on the verge of being too much. Remember that scene in GOW II where he repeatedly slammed the door on the guys head? There are at least five of those kind of moments in GOW III, where the violence is taken to the next level.

"Fighting monsters on the back of a Titan"

The controls are just as fluid as ever. A rookie can pick up the controller and just by mashing on the buttons will pull off amazing moves. A savvy veteran will string these amazing moves together with strategic dodging and parrying to create a flowing dance of death. You can get through the game on easy, tearing through your enemies and feeling like the baddest dude around, or you can study up and take on the harder difficulties where you have to dodge and use your blocks.

The maximum number of onscreen enemies has been increased from 15 to 50, which is even more impressive when you look up from the 50 guys you’re busy eviscerating and realize that your are riding on the back of a titan.

For me though, the best addition to the combat is the weapons. In previous entries in the series, every weapon besides the chains sucked. In GOW3 the other weapons that you acquire are not only useful, they are actually fun and you can switch between them on the fly. For the first time I found myself relying on weapons other than the one you start out with.

Unlike other games in the series, magic is now tied to which weapon you are using. So the Claws of Hades give you a different attack than the Nemesis Whip. Figuring out how to best take advantage of each weapons strengths and corresponding magic is vital to success.

You can also use items for the first time in the series. Their use is governed by a bar that automatically refills. For the most part the items are really only useful in predetermined sections, but I did end up using the bow a lot. Having a ranged attack that could keep a combo multiplier going came in handy on more than one occasion.

All in all it was a grand finale to one of the best series in gaming. God of War III flirts with perfection, but falls just short with a failed double-jump. However, if you own a PS3 I highly recommend giving this one a whirl.

There are few games as unique and downright strange as the original “Ecco the Dolphin”. It was really hard, it had a very eerie atmosphere and most of all, it had an insanely weird story. “Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future”, the fourth and final title in the Ecco series, manages to retain all of the difficulty and eeriness of the original series and makes a perfect transition from 2d to 3d.

The visuals are nothing short of awe inspiring, and like nothing else on the Dreamcast. The ocean world is rendered so beautifully, I found myself getting sidetracked from my current objective because it is just so much fun to swim around and look at things. It’s all in the details. Like the tiny barnacles on the back of an enormous humpback whale, or the little specks of sand that are stirred up when Ecco skims the ocean floor.

The story is all kinds of strange. It’s the 30th century, 500 years after dolphins revealed their sentience to humans and dolphins and Humans have decided to co-exist and explore space. At some point, a mysterious foe called “The Foe” decided to destroy Earth, and Ecco is one of the guardian dolphins that must protect the planet. The Foe goes back in time, and takes the Noble Traits of ambition, intelligence, compassion and humility from the dolphins. Each trait was bound to a glowing globe and scattered across the planet, and Ecco must find all of the globes in order to save the future. It was interesting to see how the future changes as each trait is restored.

For example, without any of the traits, the dolphins become mindless animals and humans eventually become extinct, but once the dolphins have Intelligence and Ambition (without any of the other traits) they become aggressive, driving the humans from the sea and conquering all other sea life. It isn’t until all of the Noble Traits are restored that the future can be restored and the Foe is Defeated.

Ecco the Dolphin’s gameplay made the perfect transition from 2d to 3d. A few moves, like a quick 180 degree turn, have been added to make it easier to get around, but altogether, Defender of the Future plays almost exactly like the Genesis versions of Ecco.

Another feature Defender of the future shares with its 2d counterparts is an unforgiving level of difficulty. The puzzles are so difficult I found myself taking wild guesses at the solution until I stumbled onto it, or often had to resort to a FAQ.

The combat is no easier. Most enemies can take some big chunks out of your health bar, and there are a lot of hazards in the environment. On top of all this, Ecco needs to come to the surface for air every 60 seconds or so, adding another level of complexity to the puzzles.

If you liked the original Ecco games, I highly suggest dusting off the ‘ol Dreamcast and giving Defender of the Future a try.