If you haven’t heard of Mirror’s Edge, the first-person parkour fest from EA and DICE, you should really come out from under that rock you’ve been living under. Seriously, everybody can get behind jumping around on skyscrapers and giant construction equipment. Think Assassin’s Creed minus the knives and ancient architecture, with a slick monochrome aesthetic that makes the city appear almost too clean and perfect – something that stands in stark contrast to the abundant political corruption in the story.

What’s puzzling to many people (myself included) is that Mirror’s Edge achieved great review scores (averaging 79-81 on Metacritic, depending on platform), yet has somehow fallen by the wayside. Several representatives from both EA and DICE have expressed a love for the game and a desire to see a sequel, but so far nothing concrete has happened aside from hints at a second game during E3 2011. This is a sad scenario indeed, but it begs the question of why. With a cult following backing it up and people within the development and publishing companies both advocating it, why hasn’t a sequel already been made?

The obvious answer is that it didn’t sell well. Mirror’s Edge sold less than 150,000 copies during its first month on shelves, a relatively small number for a game that was supposed to kick start a new series for EA. With such low numbers, it’s no wonder EA decided a second game wasn’t worth backing. But why didn’t the game sell well? What was it that kept people from picking up an excellent title with high review scores and general praise from critics and players alike? What turned Mirror’s Edge into a sleeper hit?

First, its price was too high for the amount of content it had. I completed my first playthrough in only a few hours and given that fact, I’m glad I didn’t buy it on launch day. It certainly isn’t worth the full fifty bucks. This explains why initial sales were dismally low, whereas currently EA has recorded sales exceeding two million across all platforms (including the iOS adaptation). Mirror’s Edge just couldn’t get away with its own price tag.

Second, the game tried something relatively new – platforming from a first-person perspective. This was both a blessing and a curse. I can attest from personal experience that when the game was first released I was not motivated to buy it. I heard good things about it, but not enough good things, and the idea of a first-person platformer was too bizarre and overwhelmed any desire to try it out. Once I bought a copy last year on Steam for twenty bucks and was immediately hooked. I’ve done multiple full playthroughs since; something I can’t say about many other games. Preconceptions about game genres die hard sometimes. Mirror’s Edge sought to expand the borders of what games can do and be; unfortunately it did so at the cost of its own franchise integrity, at least in the short term, thanks to consumer bias about the limitations of the first-person camera.

Third and last, Mirror’s Edge used a controversial visual style. The starkly monochrome areas were beautifully minimalistic to me, but as we all know, there will always be those who favor ultra-realism over everything else. The cutscenes were another point of dissent; rather than using CG or live-action scenes to represent story moments, the development team chose to incorporate 2D animations. Personally, I felt that the choice was a good one – the animation was professionally done, always smooth, and matched the rest of the game’s aesthetic incredibly well. But some players disliked the choice of style. I’m sure we’ve all met a gamer at some point who refuses to play anything that isn’t gritty and dark. Visuals are a huge part of games and the impressions they give, and using an aesthetic that eschews any kind of realism is going to alienate a large portion of the market on the basis of graphics alone. This is especially so when the game’s basic mechanic is already questionable prior to purchase, and therefore isn’t doing anything to help overcome a bias against certain visual styles.

It’s been three years since Mirror’s Edge was first released. In that time, I sincerely hope EA and DICE have learned from the muted success of their innovative title, and are ready to put it back on the drawing board for a sequel. Keep the first-person parkour, keep the aesthetic, and lower the price of entry. More people will be likely to try something new if it’s not going to break their wallets. I would also like to see a more aggressive marketing campaign for Mirror’s Edge 2 should the sequel be made. People need to know that there’s more to gaming than gray-and-brown first-person shooters, and the first Mirror’s Edge had only a few vague ads that didn’t really push it as a unique and interesting title. It’s all about first impressions for the new generation of gamers.

There’s a lot of ground to cover before Mirror’s Edge 2 is allowed to see the light of day, but I have high hopes that it will be able to make the leap (pun intended) from a sleeper hit to an instant classic.

Last year, Sonic Colors showed me that 3D Sonic games could be fun again. Of course, this was the very same year that Sonic 4 dashed my hopes of a quality 2D Sonic experience. So when it was announced that the next game in the series would feature both styles of play, I was skeptical of SEGA’s ability to handle the classic stages.

It turns out they actually learned from their mistakes… well, most of them anyway. Sonic Generations, while not perfect, manages to be a rather successful blend of old and new Sonic gameplay that’s fun in spite of its shortcomings.

But it wouldn’t be a modern Sonic game without an attempt to explain why there are two Sonics revisiting levels of the past. And so silly tales of time travel and time eaters try their darndest to make you care about what’s happening. It all feels rather unnecessary, but it’s also fairly unintrusive, so each time a cutscene presents itself you’ll be back to playing the game before you know it.

The worlds of Generations are divided into three distinct eras starting with the SEGA Genesis and ending with the current console generation. At first, it seems like a brief setup with each Sonic only getting one Act per world (18 stages in total) with a boss capping off each era. But 90 challenge stages scattered throughout each world add much more longevity to the experience.

Anybody who played with the incredibly broken physics of Sonic 4 is undoubtedly wondering how classic Sonic controls. While it doesn’t feel exactly like playing the Genesis games, it does manage to feel surprisingly good. Momentum is actually kept properly without constant micromanagement and Sonic isn’t constantly unrolling his body to leave himself vulnerable; two huge problems with Sonic 4. It isn’t without its faults, though. Sonic takes an unusually long time to get up after being hit. But the controls do enough right to feel like a good approximation of the games everybody loves.

Modern Sonic plays about as good as he did in Sonic Colors (minus the powerups). That is to say he plays as well as the levels he inhabits. When it works, you get an exhilarating sense of speed while still having plenty of pathways to explore. But when it doesn’t, your clipping through the environment, getting the camera stuck behind an obstacle, or slowly walking backwards (involuntarily) down the side of a very tall building toward your death.

Sounds awful right? But just like with all aspects of the game, the good manages to outweigh the bad. These faults, though glaring when present, managed to happen pretty seldom in my extensive time with the game. Modern Sonic can still occasionally feel a little too automatic as the levels ping pong you around in a flashy display of speed. They didn’t reinvent his style of play. But it’s a further refinement of the previous games and there are usually enough branching paths and 2D sections mixed in to keep things entertaining.

Challenge stages have a surprising amount of enjoyable features, considering their optional nature. Some have you using the elemental shields from Sonic 3 to get past obstacles, even allowing you to unlock the shields as part of your customizable ability set for use in the main levels. Others have you calling in tails to help you fly through Chemical Plant or hitting buttons to toggle an array of walls and platforms in a psuedo-puzzle platformer stage. But they can’t all be good. With a full 90 challenge stages, there are some real stinkers, too.

Speaking of stinkers, the final boss of Sonic Generations is, by a wide margin, the lowest point in the game. It is a complete mess. It’s hard to believe it was ever playtested. The rest of the game’s bosses are generally decent, though a bit repetitive. If nothing else, they at least don’t reuse slight variations of the same fight over and over like Colors.

And of course, there’s the nostalgia. Ultimately, Sonic Generations is a celebration of the franchise and is jam packed with fan service. Aside from the stages themselves, there are plenty of remixes of classic and not so classic tunes, some of which are a real treat to hear (and some of which will at least give you a good laugh). You can also unlock extra artwork and music from across the franchise’s history that can be used in place of the default themes. Playing a level to Jet Grind Radio composer Hideki Naganuma’s Sonic Rush score certainly put a smile on my face.

Sometimes the choices of what to represent is a bit questionable. One of the worlds is taken from Sonic 2006 which is hated pretty unanimously and the rocket powerup used in the Planet Wisp stage is arguably one of Sonic Colors‘ least interesting items. But trips through stages such as the Chemical Plant (Sonic 2) and Speed Highway (Sonic Adventure) make up for these odd choices.

Aside from a few framerate issues in small sections of certain stages, Generations is delicious eye candy.  The modern version of Planet Wisp in particular is absolutely gorgeous as you make your way through the alien vegetation in the early part of the stage. No matter which version of Sonic you’re playing as, there’s always a lot to look at to the point where it can occasionally be distracting. But one thing it is definitely not is boring.

The same can be said about the game itself. Even after finishing off the main game, it still had its hooks in me. The brief nature of the challenge stages have a powerful “just one more” effect. I found playing through the main stages a second time arguably even more enjoyable as I had a better grasp of how to effectively navigate them as fast as possible or take more time to explore and find hidden red rings.

Sonic Generations may not be as creative as last year’s Sonic Colors. It doesn’t really have any new mechanics to spice things up and all the stages are reinterpretations of existing material. But what’s there manages to feel tighter than its 3D predecessors and the inclusion of 2D stages that actually work are a welcome change. Is it still flawed? Sure. But I’d be lying if said I didn’t have a damn fun time playing through it.

This review is based on the PlayStation 3 version of Sonic Generations provided to the reviewer by SEGA.

Well, it happened. We got a 3D Sonic game that’s actually pretty fun. Now that we’ve grabbed some sweet rings, saved an alien race of marketable creatures, and spouted off the cheesiest of dialogue, it’s time to pass the torch to you.

That’s right, we’re giving away our review copy of Sonic Colors (Wii) to one lucky reader. Just read the rules below and let us know your favorite color in the comments. It doesn’t have to be one of the colors represented in Sonic Colors. If “Puke Green” or “Neon Brown” is your favorite, go for it (you weirdo). A winner could be you!

Contest Rules:

1. Leave a comment below and tell us your favorite color
2. Limit one entry per person
3. All entries must be made by legal U.S. residents
4. Entries must be accepted by 5:00pm PST on Friday, December 17th. We will then randomly select one winner

Good luck! And don’t forget to check out our review!

"Sonic Colors gets rid of the stuff nobody asked for in the first place."

If you went back in time and asked me if I’d rather play yet another 3D Sonic or a new 2D Sonic on an HD console, I would have definitely chosen the latter. But here we are at the tail end of 2010. Both Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors have released and it’s the 3D entry I’ll be looking back on more fondly.

The premise is simple enough. Dr. Robotnik claims to have changed his ways and has created an amusement park in space to make up for his misdeeds. Of course, Robotnik is still evil afterall (even the characters themselves make light of his predictability) and it’s up to Sonic (with a little support on the sidelines from Tails) to put a stop to his diabolical plan.

The cutscenes definitely have a cheesy, Saturday morning cartoon vibe meant for a younger audience. Occasionally, there will be a mildly amusing line, but most of the dialogue is filled with groaners. In fact, one of the “gags” is literally based around the fact that one of the characters is annoying.

But Sonic Colors doesn’t force its story down your throat. In fact, the moment you select New Game, you will be playing the first stage without seeing so much as a single cutscene. And when the cutscenes do show up (which are very reasonable in both their frequency and length), you can easily skip them if you want.

Getting straight to the point is a common theme in Colors. There’s no hub world to wade through. Instead you’ll have an easily navigable map screen. You also won’t have the hassle of dealing with the crazy ideas nobody asked for. There are no werehogs or swords. Instead, you have speedy, but explorable stages… and lots of ‘em!

That isn’t to say Sonic Colors is devoid of gimmicks. That role is filled by the aliens known as “wisps” that temporarily grant Sonic special powers. The key difference is that the wisps actually serve to enhance the gameplay rather than get in the way of it.

Wisps range in both function and fun. The needle wisp, which allows you to stick to walls and perform dash rolls, as well as the surprisingly fast digging ability granted by the drill wisp, give you a very satisfying sense of freedom and speed. Not all abilities are as thrilling, though. For example, shooting into the sky with a rocket wisp can be useful for getting to high areas, but doesn’t exactly generate the same kind of excitement. Still, the wisps are enjoyable more often than not.

But you won’t have access to every wisp type right away. While playing stages, you’ll see empty slots floating where a wisp would be, had you unlocked it; a method of teasing the player, reminiscent of the colored exclamation blocks found in Super Mario World.  Unlocking wisps requires no special effort on your part, though. Simply progressing through the game will do the trick.

At first, you’ll really feel like you’re missing out on experiencing all that each stage has to offer. Scattered throughout each stage is five red rings needed for unlocking extra optional stages. Your first time through the game, particularly in the earlier stages, you just won’t have the necessary wisps required to access some of them. While it definitely gives you a reason to come back to stages, it results in them being significantly less interesting the first time around. Of course, as you progress and unlock more wisps, this problem shrinks until it disappears completely.

Stages are made up of a balanced (for the most part) mix of 2D platforming, free-roam 3D running, and 3D “Quick Step” running. There are also rare moments where, after hitting a large jump, you’ll need to keep tapping a button for Sonic to perform tricks while the announcer shouts positive reinforcement at you. It doesn’t come up often, but every time it did I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why is this here?” as it doesn’t add anything useful and just interrupts the flow of the experience for a bit. It’s far from being a deal breaker, but it’s an odd design choice none the less.

I found my enjoyment of Sonic Colors fluctuating as I jumped from level to level. Frankly, some stages are just better designed than others; striking that perfect balance between the slower, more precise 2D platforming segments and lightning fast 3D sections. Others rely too heavily on one or the other, even occasionally making use of a cheap death or two.

The boss design tends to be on the underwhelming side, especially when the game starts churning out slight variations on bosses you already fought. By a stark contrast, I found the final showdown very engaging. I only wish the other bosses came closer to that level of quality.

The controls take some getting use to. Sonic’s jump can feel pretty hesitant in the slower sections. You have a double jump when there aren’t enemies to home in on, but it’s more about adding horizontal distance as the extra altitude it provides is pretty negligible. Sonic can also perform a wall jump, but it has to be one of the most rigid wall jumps I’ve ever experienced and is rather unpleasant to use as a result. Fortunately, after playing for awhile, these gripes become fairly easy to forgive, especially when Sonic gets up to speed.

But while the controls feel like they could use an extra layer of polish, the aesthetics are far from lacking. Seeing Sonic Colors for the first time at PAX actually made me forget it wasn’t on one of the HD consoles. The stage themes are no slouch either. Most of them are suitably catchy and have high production values.

There are two ways to look at Sonic Colors. Compared to other modern Sonic games, it’s simply fantastic and definitely one of the best 3D Sonic games out there (if not the best). But when compared to its contemporaries in the genre like Super Mario Galaxy 2, its weaker areas such as uneven controls and level design quality start to become more apparent. Even still, Sonic Colors is a big step in the right direction and is certainly an enjoyable platformer if you can forgive its shortcomings. It displays a winning formula that just needs a little more polish in its execution before attaining that “Must Have” status.

This review is based on a copy of the Wii version of Sonic Colors provided to us by SEGA.

"A very controversial entry in an established series."

I remember when Metroid Prime was first revealed. “An FPS? How dare they do this to my precious Metroid!” I exclaimed. I generally don’t like First Person Shooters save for the occasional local multiplayer. Fast forward to today. Metroid Prime is now among my favorite games.

It’s for this reason that I was less skeptical about Metroid: Other M going in. History gave me faith that a drastic change from what’s been established is not necessarily bad. Now that I’ve completed Other M, I can answer the question “Does this new take on Metroid reinvent it as successfully as Prime did?”

The short answer is “no”, but that doesn’t mean you should give the game a pass necessarily. Metroid: Other M does a few things better than Prime, but it makes a lot of missteps as well, resulting in an ambitious, but inferior game.

The most controversial change is the larger focus on story. It’s definitely a low point of the game, but isn’t as intrusive as the first hour or so of Other M would like you to believe. In fact, most of the game’s “2 hours of cutscenes” seemed to be at the beginning and end. The meat of Other M is far less story heavy, giving you plenty of time to actually play the game.

The real problem with the story is that it isn’t good. That isn’t to say it is devoid of neat ideas (there are a few near the end, though they’re borderline absurd), but any merit it would have had is ruined by its execution. Despite the cutscenes visual polish (ignoring the ugly, meat-faced male characters), the voice acting is all dull and the dialogue is absolutely horrible.

Then there’s the combat. When the girl who was previously saying lines like, “It pierced my heart,” puts a giant chameleon in a headlock and shoots him point blank in the face with a charged shot, it becomes hard to believe these two situations involve the same character.

As much as I love Metroid, I’ve never found combat to be its strong point. Other M actually has the potential to change that. It has a few rough edges, but killing enemies in Other M is fast, frantic, and most importantly, really fun.

Switching to first person is fast and works better than you’d think. Time actually slows down for a second when you switch, giving you more time to quickly aim a missile before dodging out of the way again. The auto-aim of your weapon outside of first person view works really well, too. There are often so many enemies at a time and everything moves so quickly that a manual lock-on system would likely have felt too clumsy.

"You pierced my heart. Prepare to die."

Aside from this, there are also some more cinematic moves. You can land on the heads of larger enemies, allowing you to stick your blaster right up to them for massive damage. You can also do a lethal strike on downed enemies. These animations are all different depending on the enemy and are quick enough to add a nice flourish without interrupting the action.

The combat’s biggest downfall is that the “sense dodge” is a bit too useful. Not only does a successful dodge instantly charge your weapon (which is a crucial part of the strategy), it also can be done continuously (given there is contextually something to dodge). If Other M gets a sequel, I’d like to see this ability inhibited a bit; perhaps with a slight delay before you can dodge again.

Enemies range from the familiar to bizarre new creatures and there’s no shortage of them. Even boss battles are plentiful. Besides the new monsters, you’ll fight obvious returning characters like Ridley as well as at least three very surprising returning bosses (one of which is an optional post-game boss) that have never appeared in more than one Metroid game until now. All three of these should put a smile on the face of long-time fans of the series.

"The cinematics, while visually impressive, are audio nightmares."

Rather than have you lose your powers, Samus decides not to use them until authorized by her old C.O., Adam. In the beginning, I didn’t mind too much. Sure, Power Bombs would vaporize everyone around me. I get that. But when you need authorization for the Varia Suit, Grapple Beam, Space Jump, and Gravity Suit, you really have to wonder what possible harm could come from any of these items. It comes off as moronic, not to mention that being told you can use something is not nearly as exciting as finding it for yourself.

Like Metroid Fusion, Other M‘s “Bottle Ship” feels more linear to traverse than the average Metroid. In fact, I’d argue that Other M is the most linear Metroid game to date. That isn’t to say there aren’t plenty of items to collect. In fact, I finished the game with a measly 41% completion initially.

The problem is that, while the individual rooms may still be full of secrets, branching pathways are very few and far between. One of the reasons my item collection was so low is that there is very little forced backtracking. Finding yourself in a room from earlier in the game, armed with new powers at your disposal is unfortunately a much rarer occurrence unless you really go out of your way.

The increased linearity combined with the way powers are dished out ruins some of the sense of wonder that exploring previous worlds provided so well. But what took away from the atmosphere the most for me was the music. Anime/Film composer, Kuniaki Haishima, fails to capture the spirit of Metroid in his soundtrack. Instead, we’re left with a combination of silence and forgettable ambiance, occasionally sprinkled with a theme from a previous game.

"Machines generate holograms in some rooms, making it appear like you're on a planet."

Added to the list of negatives are the forced scan sections. Occasionally, the action stops for you to play Where’s Waldo in first person view with the full 360-range of rotation. The problem is, you don’t know what Waldo is. I got stuck on some of these parts for longer than I’d care to admit, and often finding the right object to look at came completely by accident.

But it’s not all bad. Samus feels more mobile than she ever has before. Retro Studio’s take on Samus felt much slower than the classic games. Inversely, Other M makes Samus faster than ever. She can run at incredible speed, perform a hilarious amount of flips in a single jump (as it should be), and do a full 180 degree turn practically instantly.

As much as I love the Prime series, abilities like Space Jump and Screw Attack just didn’t work well in first person. Other M‘s execution of these abilities feels almost as good as the 2D games. Also, long forgotten abilities like the Speed Booster and Shine Spark make their triumphant 3D debut with great success.

Metroid: Other M get’s combat and mobility very, very right. Unfortunately, the story, level design, and a few odd design choices hold it back from being a consistently good game. The end result is uneven, but ripe with potential. If a sequel were to combine Other M‘s fast pace with Prime‘s superb level design and fix a few other issues (story, music, etc), we could have another must-have title on our hands. In the meantime, we have a pretty decent action game.

First I was pissed off, I was agonized. Kept thinking how much fun you were, but at 97 stars I died. But I spent so many nights thinking how you did me wrong, and I grew strong. I learned how to carry on. And now you’re back from outer space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. I should have changed that stupid lock. I should have made you leave your key. If I’d known for just one second you’d be back here with Yoshi.

Super Mario Galaxy, and really 3D Mario in general, is one of those weird games for me. While I’ve been a big Mario fan from my scrappy youth, Super Mario 64 just didn’t gel with me. It was fun, but awkward. And for every one thing about it I came to like, there was something else that wanted to prevent me from fully enjoying the game.

Apparently, Nintendo seems to feel there are a lot of people like me out there since, with Super Mario Galaxy, they’ve strived to pull in their Wii Sports and New Super Mario Bros.-loving expanded audience. They’ve done this by throwing in 2D oriented stage segments, by making spherical levels that are hard to get lost on, by making the camera better, and by making the controls simpler.

And that brings us to Super Mario Galaxy 2, Nintendo’s latest 3D Mario installment, and the first direct sequel to a 3D Mario released on the same system. To make a long story short, the game is very good, great even, and I have no need to convince Nintendo’s core gamers to go buy it.

But what if you’re part of Nintendo’s expanded audience? You guys should feel special, because Nintendo is really trying to reach out to you this time. But that doesn’t mean you’ll be running to pick up Galaxy 2.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 reaches out a great deal to the expanded audience, but this also makes the game rather schizophrenic. For example, the game boasts many more 2D stage segments, but is this supposed to be a 2D game or a 3D game? If they really want to push 2D, it’d be better for them to just make New Super Mario Bros. Wii 2.

They’ve also relegated selecting stages to a simple stage map instead of having players navigate a large hub area. Yet they still felt the need to include the Starship Mario hub anyway. One or the other, you guys. Other features to help out include hint videos and the Cosmic Guide, which you can let play a stage for you that you’re missing too frequently.

Super Mario Galaxy 2 also boasts a load of new content and abilities, the most notable of which is Yoshi, who can eat up most enemies with a simple point and click of the remote. He can also hover a short distance, and gain new abilities by eating special berries, such as turning into a balloon or shining light to reveal hidden platforms.

Mario also has his own new power-ups. With the rock power-up, Mario can turn into a madly spinning boulder that’s a little hard to steer, but can smash through crowds of enemies and other objects. The cloud power-up, one of the most prevalent new abilities in the game, lets Mario create cloud platforms beneath him to reach new areas. Additionally, all the power-ups from the original Galaxy return too, except for the Ice Flower.

But as the game is roughly the same length as the original Galaxy, this content is spread rather thinly. See, the game has loads of stuff from the original Galaxy, but loads of new stuff on top. This means you won’t be seeing the new stuff very often. Many power-ups don’t appear in more than two or three stages. And what’s really unfortunate is that they’re always there as a means of completing the stage, and not so much to let you play around. I would have loved if they would let you take any power-up or Yoshi into any stage just to have fun and see what you can do.

For the dedicated completionist, there are 48 total unique stages, an improvement over the number the original Galaxy offered, and 120 total stars to get (though only 70 are necessary to beat the game). But it won’t end there, as collecting all 120 stars opens up more challenges in the available stages. So the game does give you a lot to do, even though it tends to bottleneck the means of letting you do it.

For the first time in a 3D Mario game, I pushed myself to get all the stars. And as fun as the game is in a lot of parts, I didn’t feel joyful at the end of it all, but relieved; like I’d taken care of an awful chore, and I just don’t like when games leave me that way. Fortunately, getting all of the stars isn’t a prerequisite to clearing the game, and I doubt I’ll ever try it again!

For you core Mario fans, you’re not even reading this review; you’re playing Galaxy 2 still right now.  And to you expanded audience types, hey, feel appreciated that Nintendo loves you so much. Nevertheless, this game is still no 2D Mario, even when it tries to be. Just keep that in mind.

“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.

Looking back on 1996 a few tumultuous events may come to mind, ranging from the controversial accusations and trial of O.J. Simpson, to finding out our favorite cycling champion was inflicted with a treacherous testicle tumor. But more importantly, at least in the eyes of a (at the time) four year old child, 1996 was the dawning of a new generation of gaming with the launch of the largely successful Nintendo 64. Only 2 games were available with the launch of this console, and only one of them was able to hold my interest every time I visited my cousins brand new ‘super-system’. I’m talking about, of course, Super Mario 64.

Why was I so intrigued by this super sequel? Nintendo’s new machine enabled the shaping of a 3 dimensional world. That’s right, all the goomba pouncing, fireball throwin’, mushroom eating action was due, but this time it was REAL. Or so I thought. As it turned out this game was almost nothing like the older iterations, lacking the classic powerups I longed for. Not a single mushroom exists in this game, aside from the green 1-up mushrooms littered across the 15 completely unique cartoon landscapes. So what makes it Mario?

As in the previous entries of this series, Bowser has kidnapped the princess and no one in the kingdom is man enough to take on the giant turtle/dinosaur beast. Which is why our favorite middle-aged, overweight plumber is fooled into taking on this daunting task with the empty promise of a home made cake. As Mario arrives at the castle he’s greeted by Toad, who explains bowser has occupied the castle and stolen the 120 power stars that apparently give some kind of power to the castle. Mario’s only hope for delicious baked goods is only logical… He must jump headfirst into every painting in the castle, teleporting him to far off magical lands, and retrieve the stars bowser scattered until he’s acquired enough to power the doors leading to the koopa king.

Although the exclusion of favorite powerups from the more classic cartridges was a disappointment, this game brings all sorts of new tricks to help mario maneuver as he makes his likely frightening plunge into the 3rd dimension. Some of these include the double jump, which is performed by timing a second jump immediately after landing, the more tricky triple jump, performed the same way, and the wall jump, which allows mario to climb as far as your good sense of timing allows. Along with new jumps are some new powerups which come in the form of hats this time round. There’s the red winged flight cap, allowing mario to soar (without a running start), the green metal cap which turns our hero into solid iron, making him completely invulnerable as well as super heavy, and the blue invisible cap, letting Mario walk through thin walls and enemies without taking damage.

Fancy jumps and powerups are just a fraction of what this game has to offer, however. The game plays as a finely tuned platforming adventure, and as with any good Mario game, is riddled with secret areas and shortcuts. The C-buttons allow the player to adjust the camera, which prevents a fixed 3d camera from ruining the core gameplay that this series is so well known for. After spending a few minutes adjusting to the idea, anyone who’s played through one of the 2d predecessors to this will see how this is, in a lot of ways, still a side-scrolling platformer.

Just a quick camera tweak and tada, suddenly a complicated series of maneuvers becomes much simpler.

After making your way through caves, snowy mountain peaks, volcanoes, a sunken ship, the inner workings of a clock and, yes, a ghost house, you’re asked to confront Bowser for the last time. The Bowser battles this time consist of bum rushing his tail and throwing him into conveniently placed sea-mines around the edge of the arena.

After the final battle, the princess greets Mario outside of the castle, gives him a peck on the nose, and fails to deliver any cake. When she turns to enter the castle she mentions her intention of baking a cake, but it was supposed to have already been made. After playing Portal, I’ve decided that anyone will do anything for cake, so she’s been stringing Mario along for years with empty promises such as this.

Why did I Choose this game?

Like I mentioned before, when this game came out I was only 4 years old. My hands could barely hold the seemingly humongous Nintendo 64 controller, and there was no way I was earning enough stars to beat this game. As time went on I ran into another opportunity to play through this game when a friend of mine let me borrow his copy.

Overjoyed, I raced through, skipping anything I deemed unnecessary for my minimal completion. After returning it, I realized I should’ve taken my time to earn all 120 stars, but it was too late. So when I was offered the opportunity to review this, I was ecstatic. I jumped at the opportunity to right what I had wronged, playing through a final time to earn all 120 stars! Woo-hoo!

Does this game stand the test of time?

In a word, yes. At no point playing this game did I say, “you know, if this was slightly different at this part it would be a lot better”. I’m not sure about you, but most games coming out nowadays are chalked full of moments like that. This game is classic, like fine wine its age just brings excellence, and I encourage each and every one of you reading this to go re-play it right now.

If you haven’t played it in the first place, it is now considered mandatory.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is one of the big Playstation exclusives this holiday season and as such has received all kinds of hype. Even my mom, who doesn’t follow games at all has seen enough commercials to ask me about it. Sony and developer Naughty Dog have high hopes for Uncharted 2. The game even made WingDamage.com’s distinguish list of anticipated games.

Let’s get the gushing out of the way. Uncharted is a roller coaster thrill ride. It feels like an awesome Hollywood blockbuster movie. The game moves from awesome set piece to awesome set piece, pausing just long enough to get you to laugh before throwing another huge action sequence at you.

If you consider yourself a gamer you need to see and experience the train level. Drake makes his way over, through and around a speeding train while an attack chopper tries to murder him. This is just one of several moments throughout Uncharted 2 that distinguish it from other games.

One of the main reasons the game works so well is the protagonist Nathan Drake. He is genuinely likable and funny without feeling like Naughty Dog was trying too hard. Even when he is acting a little shady you find yourself pulling for him. The other characters also work well and add little touches of humor to the proceedings. The story takes you from Turkey to Tibet to mythical locales, and each one is gorgeously rendered.

The game is beautiful, and I don’t just mean in a ‘wow that game has a really high poly count or super nifty textures’ sort of way. Uncharted 2 is beautiful in the way a sunset is beautiful. The game takes you to all sorts of exotic locales and the views are simply stunning. This is one of, if not the best looking game I have ever seen. What really sets the game apart is the animation. Drake braces himself against walls, he slips, he stumbles, he moves more realistically than just about any other game character out there. There are a few moments when you’ll see the game take a little skip to make sure you grab the ledge but these are more for gameplay purposes.

Uncharted 2 can best be summed up as Tomb Raider meets Gears of War meets Metal Gear Solid meets Steven Spielberg circa 1981 (the year Raiders came out). I know that’s a lot of meets, but it really does blend together all these disparate styles. You want to sneak around and take out guards silently? The game lets you do that. You want to go all guns a-blazing? The game let’s you do that too. Unlike a lot of games that try to cram different style of gameplay together, Uncharted 2 executes each style to perfection.

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune seemed to be broken up into platforming parts, then shooting parts, then some more platforming. Uncharted 2 does a better job of integrating the two segments together. At one point I was hanging off the side of a billboard trying to shoot hordes of machine gun toting bad guys.

My only complaint is that sometimes it is tough to figure out what Drake can grab onto versus what is background textures. I plummeted to my death a couple of times because what looked to me like a handhold was actually just a path to doom. It is frustrating when you are in the platforming zone, then suddenly plummet to your death because the game decides that you can’t hold those particular bricks.

The biggest surprise was the multiplayer. Matches were fast and fun. They play out like a faster paced Gears of War match with players lobbing grenades, taking cover and rolling around trying to shoot. The biggest difference is in the games verticality. Characters can jump up on ledges and shimmy to new locations which changes up strategies when you have to think in three dimensions. My favorite match type was Survival, where your team tries to survive wave after wave of steadily tougher enemies.

There is some talk circulating out amongst the interwebs that the Uncharted franchise is going to be made into a Hollywood blockbuster. I seriously doubt that any movie could really capture the intensity and fun of this game. When you play this game you will understand. This is my number one contender for game of the year right now. This is more than just a game, this is an experience. If you own a PS3 you need to play this game.

We all have those games that we miss the first time around. With the busy release schedule of modern gaming, no one has time to play everything. That is why we at WingDamage present to you “Fashionably Late Reviews“. This is our series on games from the current generation of consoles that we may have missed on their initial release, but have gone back to experience now.

Ratchet and Clank is a series that is known for it’s charming characters, odd-ball sense of humor, and over the top weapons. While I was aware of all this going in, I had never experienced it for myself. I think I had always confused them for those other two similarly named mascots, Jak and Daxter (a decent series in it’s own right).

On Dave‘s recommendation, I decided to finally give the series a chance. When I recently finished Uncharted, I realized Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction was the other PS3 exclusive that I was near the end of, but had not yet finished.

The fact that I was able to pick up right back where I had left off several months ago says a lot about how easy this game is to pick up and play. Right out of the gate, you get a good feeling of who these characters are and how visually interesting their world is. I’ve heard the game described as a Pixar film you play and I can’t say that description is far off.

When it comes to storytelling and humor in games, I am a stickler. Most of the time, games that attempt humor fall flat. Not only is the writing in Tools quick witted and genuinely funny in the old Warner Brothers cartoon sort of way, but the voice acting is top notch. To have humor in your dialog work, it’s all about the timing. This is one of the few games to pull that off.

It is also graphically stunning; part two of the Pixar comparison people like to make. Insomniac really used the cartoony style of the series to highlight just how vibrant and imaginative you can be with your games on Sony’s hardware.

Tools of Destruction is a platformer/shooter hybrid which has you exploring strange alien worlds. You, as Ratchet, are trying to discover clues as to what befell his race, the Lombaxes. This is another area where the performances shined through, making the strange alien creatures of the Ratchet and Clank universe come to life in a believable way.

While the platforming is competent, the fall speed on the normal jumps seemed a little faster than I was anticipating. It took a little time for me to get used to, but the jumps were made easy enough that it wasn’t a source of frustration. The game’s main focus is on combat and the platforming works well enough that you can focus on the enemies in front of you. There are no pixel perfect jump requirements here.

Throughout the course of your adventure, you collect an arsenal composed of a wide variety of strange weapons and gadgets that help you defeat your enemies. These range from a simple energy pistol to the much more elaborate nano-swarm (a swarm of nano-robots that attack enemies within a certain radius).

You can purchase upgrades for all your weapons giving them more ammo, higher amounts of damage against enemies, and even increase the radius of attack. They also level up through use, which encourages you to not stick with only one or two of the ridiculously large assortment of firearms. This really made me think differently about which weapons I was using in each situation. I normally play pretty conservatively with my ammo in shooters, but Tools does a great job of rewarding you for breaking out of that shell.

There are also a lot of gadgets that are fun to play around with like the Disco Ball, which makes all the enemies dance (even bosses), and Mr. Zurkon, an ornery robot companion that fights alongside you for a limited time.

There are also a few segments where you use the SIXAXIS to control Ratchet as he freefalls, or Clank as he glides. These worked pretty well and are less offensive that most games’ use of the PS3 motion control scheme. Other gameplay elements include controlling a rocket bike called the “Gyro-cycle” and a space combat rail shooter.

As the story unfolds, you also take control of Clank in special sections of the game designed just for him. Here he is assisted by the Zoni, a mysterious alien race that seems to know a little too much about Clank. These sections focus on the game’s platforming elements and also involve solving puzzles. While I do prefer the regular gameplay, these alternative sections were not completely horrible like they are in many 3D platformers that feel the need to “mix it up”.

The main storyline has you play a few rounds in the Arena, but there are many optional challenges in that section of the game. Completion of the main game also unlocks a special challenge mode. This is a “new game plus” situation where you get to keep all your upgrades and play through again against harder foes. On the second play-through, there is an added combo system so you can earn more bolts (the games currency) and finish maxing out your weapons.

Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is an easy recommendation for any PS3 owner. It is fast paced, funny, and all ages can enjoy the goofy characters and stunning animation.