It has come to our attention that some people still haven’t picked up the excellent action/shooter, Vanquish. With all the great games 2010 has brought us thus far, it would be easy for people to forget to try Platinum’s new IP. But make no mistake, we will… stop that from happening.

We’re giving away a copy of Vanquish for the Playstation 3 to one lucky commenter. To prove to us that you’re man enough to take the game on, read the rules below and give us your best grunty, space marine line below. Examples from the game include “I’m gonna need a bigger gun!” and “This fight is for the men going home in pine boxes!” Just keep you’re lines PG (unlike the game) and make sure to grunt a lot while you type them.

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When Shinji Mikami first described how Vanquish would blend the third person shooter genre with the fast pace of an action game, my interest was immediately piqued. I loved the concept, but at the same time I had no idea how it could successfully be pulled off.

Amazingly enough, they found a way. Vanquish has all the normal concepts of a cover based shooter, but polished up to be incredibly smooth. They then added an insane sense of speed and mobility for both you and your enemies, creating a game that really evolves the genre into something truly special.

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When I first heard of Monday Night Combat, I awaited its release cautiously. I’m not saying that the game looked bad when it first came to my attention, but I wasn’t sure I could trust the folks at Uber Entertainment to deliver on such a bizarre concept.

As some one who has a difficult time playing a Call of Duty match type any more complicated then “SHOOT ALL THE DUDES”, I approached the supposed “Tower Defense Shooter” with cautious optimism.

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"ICED TO MEET YOU!"

Watching trailers of the original Lost Planet was what made me want an Xbox 360. When the game finally came out, it had its flaws, but I still loved it. When the sequel was revealed, I was very excited.

Lost Planet 2 takes place a decade after the original. This time around, the planets snowy regions have begun to melt, revealing jungles, deserts, and other areas. That’s both a good and a bad thing. On one hand, I really enjoyed the lonely ice planet of the first, but it is nice to have a little more variety in terrain this time around. You’ll even have some missions near the end that take place on a space station, complete with low gravity.

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Last May, I finally got around to finishing the original Mass Effect. This was mostly so I could do a write-up on the game for WingDamage.

Boy, am I ever glad I did. As I mentioned in that review, I was very interested to see how things were going to shake out in the sequel. Bioware had mentioned that you would be able to transfer your save file from the original game into Mass Effect 2. What I thought that meant was that your character would look the same and maybe a few key decisions would carry over. The reality blew my mind.

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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.

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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.

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"Gears of War + Jetpacks + Awesome = Dark Void"

Truth be told, “Dark Void” is a game that I was not following very closely. At a distant glance, it looked to be yet another third person shooter in a crowded market of first and third person shooters. To my surprise, Dark Void ended up being one of the funnest demoes I played at this year’s PAX.

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EA and Dice’s new third-person-shooter / MMOG, “Battlefield Heroes”, has finally opened to the public. It takes the basics of the Battlefield series and boils it down to a much more simplified version of the game.

Once you get past EA’s overblown login system, it is a simple matter of making a character and hopping into a random game.

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"Extreme Crotch Punch!"

Most of us that have been around video games for a long time can tell you: avoid almost any licensed or celebrity tie-in game (sports sometimes excluded) at all costs. So why would I throw down with the Xbox 360 shooter “50 Cent: Blood on the Sand” when I know it has a huge likelyhood of being a cash grab?

Two reasons.

First, I rented it instead of buying it.

Second, I heard it was actually pretty good.

Did it live up to the “actually pretty good” hype that I was promised? Read on to find out.

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