There hasn't been a good Sonic game since the Gamecube, but Sonic Generations looks to be finally breaking the downward spiral of the Sonic franchise. Most people are big fans of either the original Sonic games, the 2d side scrolling ones, or the Sonic Adventure games and Sonic Generations combines some of the best elements from both of those games. My impressions are based on the demo that is newly available on Xbox 360 and PS3. The demo only consists of two levels, which are both pretty short, but I commend the demo creators for choosing two levels that show the contrast in gameplay. One level exemplifies the original gameplay from the 2d Sonic games, while the other level shows off the fast and exciting 3d races from the Sonic Adventure games. Sonic Generations comes out on November 1st for PS3/Xbox 360 and sometime later for PC. It will be $50 for the console versions and I must lament the poor release date choice.

It seems like it was just yesterday when the last Humble Bundle was released on PC gamers doorsteps, but here is a brand new one already and it is only featuring one game, Voxatron. The proceeds will still be split between charity and the developers, depending on what you choose, and it is of course still pay what you will. The Humble Voxatron Bundle started today and has already made $138,000, very impressive. *They added today, November 1st, Blinding of Isaac and Blocks That Matter to the bundle, now making it even more impressive and enticing. Get on it!


Voxatron is described as an action adventure game that uses pixel based graphics to create a world that can be destroyed and rebuilt. It seems to be a shooter of some kind that currently has twenty levels, but you can download additional levels through the main website. Lexaloffle Games is developing Voxatron and promises to release a level editor with monster creations tools in the near future, all of which you will get with the Humble Bundle version. You will receive all future updates for the game and access to everything available, so you need not worry about the game being any different than if you pre-ordered it through the main website. Like many Indie games, this one intends to be $15 by the time it is released, so if you get it now for whatever you want you sure are saving quite a lot of money. Thanks for reading and check out the Humble Bundle website below, along with the website for Voxatron.
Main Website: http://www.humblebundle.com/
Voxatron Website: http://www.lexaloffle.com/voxatron.php

-Written by Sean Cargle

Tomorrow is Halloween here in the United States and to get ready for Halloween you should do some appropriate gaming. I am compiling a list of Halloween themed or scary games that should get you in the mood for Halloween. I will try to spread it out in order to cover PC and console games. It will be divided into games that actually have something to do with Halloween in them and then games that are scary. I have to add to all of this that pretty much every MMO out there does some kind of Halloween event, but I won't be including information on those.

This zombie HL2 Mod finally has a a release date of Halloween 2011. No More Room In Hell is a 8 player cooperative HL2 zombie mod that has been in the making since 2004. Your probably thinking that is one hell of a long time for a HL2 mod to be in the making, well it is and they obviously had many problems throughout development, but it is finally here. On Halloween they are releasing their beta to all. All you will need to play is Source SDK 2007 or TF2. This isn't just another zombie game though, it is actually worth your time and differentiates itself from the horde of ever growing zombie games.

No More Room In Hell's Unique Features
-8 player cooperative gameplay
-Inventory system
-Bullets and supplies must be rationed
-If you are bit you will get infected and turn against your allies
-Large levels full of objectives
-Head shots on zombies are key
-Large variety of weapons to use

I'll be doing a Halloween round-up post tomorrow, but this is a good game to be playing if you feel like playing something scary. It does have very old graphics with it being a half life 2 mod and all, but it still looks to provide some interesting and fun zombie experiences. Thanks for reading and watch the release trailer below.
Main Website: http://www.nomoreroominhell.com/

Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, is the sequel to the the game Zombie Apocalypse that came out in 2009 for XBLA. I did not even know that game existed in 2009, but it got pretty solid reviews from players and critics, averaging around 65-75% positive scores. Both of the games are old school dual stick shooters that have you fighting hordes of zombies throughout a campaign. The new one, Never Die Alone, has four player coop and a ten mission long campaign. You can play through the campaign alone with three A.I. taking control of the other three characters. There are four characters in total, all of which can level up attributes, and each one has different weapons plus special abilities. It came out on yesterday on the 28th for XBLA and PSN, costing $10. It is published by Konami and developed by Backbone Entertainment. 




Right off the bat Zombie Apocalypse will remind you Dead Nation or Nation Red, both of which provide similar gameplay and looks, but Zombie Apocalypse is focused making an enjoyable arcade style cooperative experience. Dead Nation on the other hand, probably the most popular zombie game on PSN, has a very dark and long campaign with a lot of customization and upgrades options. Zombie Apocalypse let's you upgrade stats like speed or damage, but it doesn't have any armor or items to find. Dead Nation and Zombie Apocalypse can be seen as opposites, they both have campaigns, they both use the same control style, they both have multiplayer, but their gameplay styles are opposites. Both games do track your score and have multipliers, multipliers that tank as soon as you get hit once by an enemy.



The demo for Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone, let's you play two missions cooperatively or alone. The first mission has you going through linear streets as you fight off seemingly scripted waves of zombies. You can find a single survivor and save them, which will increase your score and also counts towards your mission objectives. Each map has optional objectives that you can achieve in order to earn you some points and cash. Cash is what you use to buy a level up for an attribute, but each attribute needs experience from killing zombies in order to be ready to level up. The game nails the arcade feeling, especially with all of the dumb phrases and dialogue that the characters yell out from to time. What it doesn't nail is being very deep. This game provides some pretty simple mechanics and requires you to work with all of the characters in order to survive, but it doesn't give you a lot to go for other than score and leveling up attributes. The combat itself is fairly simple as well seeing as how the only weapon choices you have are based on character and each character has their own weapons which cannot be changed. Each characters have their own special ability, like  a bait bomb or turret, but they don't seem to have any way to evolve either.


If you are looking for a zombie game with some fun simple cooperative gameplay then you would probably enjoy Zombie Apocalypse, but if you are looking for anything deeper or more intensive, like Left 4 Dead or Dead Nation, then you best look elsewhere. The demo is available on XBLA and PSN, so give those a shots if you feel even slightly interested in this game. If you want to see some reviews then I will leave some links below. Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.
Main Website: http://www.konami.com/games/zombie2

Reviews
IGN PS3 Review: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/121/1210635p1.html
Xbox Magazine Review: http://www.oxmonline.com/zombie-apocalypse-never-die-alone-review


*Images from: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2011/10/25/zombie-apocalypse-never-die-alone-infests-psn-today/

-Written by Sean Cargle

Amazingly, Dungeon Defenders already has new content out for Halloween and it is all free! Unfortunately for those of you who might have Dungeon Defenders for consoles this pack has only been released for PC, so far. Trendy Entertainment is trying to get it out to consoles as soon as they can, but it's more difficult for them to get it out to consoles then it is to get the content onto Steam. There are two different Halloween DLC's, one is four Halloween outfits for each class, while the other DLC is more significant. The second DLC includes a new Halloween themed mission that transforms the Ramparts level into something spooky yet colorful and exciting. It also add's eight Halloween styled weapons, plus four character skins that can be unlocked through gameplay. Between the two we have one new challenge mission and eight costumes ,four of which are given and four have to be unlocked. The tavern is also transformed into a Halloween themed tavern, which you can see in the trailer below. It is all free and all here three days before Halloween. Based on the Halloween trailer they seemed to have gotten the Halloween style down really well, I can't wait to go jump in and try it.


To download the two DLC you merely need to go to steam and go to the Dungeon Defenders store page then go to the DLC section and download the two packs. I will link the two steam pages below if you want to see more information on the DLC. Thanks for reading and if you don't already have Dungeon Defenders feel free to check out my recent review to get the gist of the game. It is currently $15 on Steam, XBLA and PSN, all of which have demos of DD available as well.
Mission Pack: http://store.steampowered.com/app/202521/?snr=1_5_9__405
Costume Pack: http://store.steampowered.com/app/202520/?snr=1_5_9__405

-Written by Sean Cargle

It's been two days since Battlefield 3 has been and many people have been wondering what is going on with their pre-order bonus of Back to Karkand, well they have finally released information and screens all about it. Sadly, the expansion pack isn't slated to release until December. It will feature the four Battlefield 2 maps remade: Strike at Karkand, Gulf of Oman, Wake Island and Sharqi Penisula. If I recall correctly, that gives us two ocean/island maps, one desert map and one forest one map. All in all that should add a good mix to the current eight maps in Battlefield 3.



On top of the maps the Back to Karkand expansion pack will provide new weapons, new vehicles, "a new persistence system where players complete assignments to earn rewards", new dog tags and new Xbox 360 achievements/PSN trophies. There are two new vehicles, a F35B jet and a BTR-90, which is an APC of some kind if I recall. The new weapons are: the MP5 (sub machine gun), PP-19 (assault rifle), L96AI (sniper rifle), L85 (modern british assault rifle), Famas (fully automatic assault rifle), Type 88 (sniper rifle), Jackhammer (shotgun), MG36 (light machine gun), Type 95 (light machine gun) and Type 97 (sub machine gun). You can full the full list and pictures here. The sad thing about those weapons is that they are all recycled from previous Battlefield games, possibly all of them from Battlefield 2 in particular which would indeed fit with the idea of the of the Back to Karkand expansion, but I can't help wanting to see some new or interesting weapons.



The Back to Karkand map pack looks pretty substantial and it should be popping around right around when people are started to getting bored of the current maps. The expansion pack will be free to everyone who has a limited edition of Battlefield 3, but they do not specify how much it will cost for those who have a different version. Thanks for reading and you can find the official post about it over at Battlefield 3 Blog, they also have three more screenshots over there as well.


-Written by Sean Cargle

Got my hands on Uncharted 3 yesterday thanks to the premium pass from the Uncharted 3D Live Theater Event, so I recorded fifteen minutes of it with my crappy camera. The segment from this video is from the early part of the game that shows how Drake got a hold of Francis Drake's ring, plus it shows the beginning of his partnership with Sully. The sound is a little tough to hear, crappy camera and all, but I hope you enjoy it. I left it fairly unedited so you could see all the stupid trouble I was having during the chase scene, many failures I did have. Will make up a gameplay montage later on once I get to some more action packed segments of the game. Be back with some real news later. Thanks for watching.
*Added some more footage from the Chateau level of Uncharted 3, the one that they have shown off many time in gameplay videos, except the footage is from different parts of the level.

-Written by Sean Cargle

This film creator should work for some big game company, if not Blizzard themselves. Chris "Freespace" Ciocotisan is a little famous for his first Starcraft fan film, called First Contact. First Contact is a short animated Starcraft film about the Protoss and Terran. Even First Contact displays a level of graphical prowess that is rare in cinematic animators. On top of of that both the films show a high level of quality in voice acting, plot and action scenes. These videos are must watch videos for any fan of the Starcraft series, whether you are into the lore or not. Here is First Contact, but note that First Contact is older and not nearly as good as the newer film.

We haven't done anything on this side scrolling platformer based off H.G. Wells War of the Worlds, but you may have see it at various other places throughout the last year, like IGN or Gamespot. One of the most important aspects of The War of the Worlds is that it's narrated by Patrick Stewart, Professor Xavier himself. That should be all you need to know, but here's some more basic information if you need that kind of thing. The game just came out two days ago, on the 26th, for XBLA and PSN as a downloadable game. It has been getting some good reviews so far, generally giving the consensus that if you are a fan of the movies/books then you will likely enjoy this game. It is developed by Other Ocean Interactive, a unknown studio that has worked on a few games, but all small ones. I know little about it though, so let's go over some basics about it.



The gameplay of The War Of the Worlds is pretty dark looking, but it looks to have little combat and it is mostly about evading the invaders. The gameplay should also be pretty familiar to anyone who has played old classic platforming games like Prince of Persia or Out of This World. The graphics are pretty interesting, managing to create a war torn atmosphere, but one that makes you want to escape all of the death and devastation around you. The player starts out just running for his life, but eventually you do start fighting the invaders directly and the last areas of the game look to be inside one of their "ships". The game is set in London, in 1953, similar to one of the movies. The levels include places from the movie like Hyde Park and Paddington Station. There isn't a lot of information about gameplay or mechanics, but take a look at this video and see if you can't immerse yourself a little in the impressive atmosphere they have created in this level.

I recently heard the term AAA Indie game and Dungeon Defenders absolutely falls into that category. It is well made game that is full of content and the developers at Trendy Entertainment obviously know how to work the unreal engine to a great effect. It merges rpg and tower defense quite well, always giving you equipment and stats to upgrade throughout the game. I've been playing the game over the last week, managing to get in around thirty hours and four characters between level 15-30. You can play the game single player, but it is intended to be played cooperatively with up to three other players. The online system, Trendynet, works very well. It had some hiccups when it first started, but now it runs pretty smoothly and rarely do I experience any problems what so ever. It should also be noted that I have never experienced any kind of lag due to multiplayer. Your characters are sorted by if you play ranked or unranked online and you cannot trade, or interact, between the two sets of characters. There doesn't seem to be any reason to play unranked though, seeing as how ranked is the only way to earn achievements/trophies.


One of the major draws of this game is the content, because it has an impressive amount for an indie game. Dungeon Defenders lets you level your character to level 70, something that takes quite a long time, it also let's you share your loot with anyone, including your own characters. It has a decent amount of campaign levels, lasting you about 5-10 hours if you play them straight through, but there are four different difficulties and the higher difficulty the better the rewards. The levels play out by having you fight waves of enemies and all of the levels have different approaches for the enemies to take, meaning most levels require a different strategy, but many levels can be handled by barricading off areas. To successfully barricade off areas you will need to combine the strategies of different classes, but the Apprentice and Squire, the two easiest classes, can do a pretty good job with just their own towers. The four classes are the Squire (Knight), Apprentice (Mage), Monk and Huntress. For more information on the classes check out my post about them.

I could go on quite a while about the many aspects of this game, but I will spare you that and just tell you my likes and dislikes.

Gameplay
+Easy to learn combat system
+Deep customization and rpg options
+Great level design
+Challenges provide a nice change to gameplay
+Four classes are quite different
+Classes do actually pertain to their recommend difficulty
+Pet's are great stat boosters and fighting companions
+Difficulty scales to players
+Build units restrict the number of towers you can build, requiring you to think strategically
+The advanced classes must work with others
+Can play the game successfully alone, but not with every class
+Loot gets automatically divided, if no one wants it, between players at the end of a wave
+A decent variety of monsters to fight
+Inventory is easy to manage
+Tavern provides a place to test your skills without repercussions
-Combat is a little too simple
-More players equal more enemies, meaning waves can last a very long time
-Some camera issues
-Waves are not balanced;
    They are often quite easy until the very last wave, which is often punishingly difficult


Graphics
+Great environments
+Levels get continually more impressive through the campaign
+Graphical style is molded very well around the UT3 engine
+Impressive character models
+Impressive graphics in general for a downloadable game
-Animations can be a little stiff


Lasting Appeal
+Seventy levels to earn
+Items can be upgraded, saved, traded or passed on to new characters
+A massive variety of weapons and armor to collect
+Quite a few campaign levels, plus challenge levels
+Four different difficulties to conquer
+PVP Arena for fun
+New Content already on the way
+Four classes to master
-Classes earn all abilities by level 20



Closing Comments
Dungeon Defenders is a hard game not to like. You can be nit picky about all kinds of details, like the basic combat system or camera controls, but when you compare it to other $15 downloadable indie games then you can easily notice the great level of quality. The rpg elements and tower defense aspects all feel fresh, but familiar. Each class is different enough to make you want to try them all out, but it's easy to just pick one and try to get max them out. This game isn't for everyone though, if you don't like the repetitive qualities of tower defense games than you should stay away from this one, but if you like TD or rpg elements then you will likely enjoy the game. It has it demo out on XBLA, PSN and PC (Steam), so do check it out. Thanks for reading and I hope you give this game a chance, it offers so much for $15.

Violent Score: 9 (out of 10) 


-Written by Sean Cargle

With that proclamation I would like to present you some fairly new Skyrim footage from G4 on October 26th. It originally had commentary and lasted about six minutes, but everyone seems to hate the commentary so instead we have many videos of this floating around with music instead. This video shows off a lot of locations and gameplay, but it's not a walkthrough like the previous Skyrim videos that I posted. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be coming out on November 11th for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. I am excited for it, but I have restrained myself due to a lack of funds. I will be working on a review for Dungeon Defenders today and I should also be getting Uncharted 3 Drakes Deception today, so I will post some video of that if my camera doesn't decide to fail on me. Thanks for reading and without further ado here is the Skyrim video.

IndieRoyale is a website that will feature packs of PC indie games every so often, right now it looks like it's change about every fourteen days. It seems to be taking the idea from the popular Humble Indie Bundle, except none of the money goes to charity. The website is created by some of the creators of IndieGames.com and by Desura. As people buy the bundle the price will increase, so if you see a great bundle then you are better off nabbing it as soon as you can. For the steam versions the keys are currently delayed, but they will be coming sometime this week. Check out the four games below.

The Launch Bundle price is currently at $3.01
They only take Paypal though, unfortunately.

The Launch Bundle is offering these four games:
-A.R.E.S. Extinction Agenda 
For Steam and Desura
Website: http://ares.x10studio.com/


-Gemini Rue
For Desura Only
Website: http://www.wadjeteyegames.com/gemini-rue.html


-Sanctum
For Steam Only
Website:http://sanctumgame.com/


-Nimbus 
For Steam and Desura 
Website: http://blog.noumenongames.com/?cat=3


For every 10,000 copes sold they will give away one Sanctum DLC for free to all purchasers. This looks like a pretty good pack for anyone interesting in any of these games, plus there will be a new pack in fourteen days. The Launch Bundle ends in four days though, so get on it if you are interested, especially while the price is low. Thanks for reading and check it all out at the main website below.




-Written by Sean Cargle

Have you ever played this up and coming AAA indie FPS? Doubtful, but it did make an impression when it was first shown off by Zero Point Software. This is a FPS that involves space, aliens, great looking environments, and good voice acting. It currently has three demo versions out of, one of which is a shooting range, the other is a virtual display case that you can interact with and the third is a full obstacle course with a full story tied into it. The one I chose to try was the obstacle course, called Running Man. It has you go through the training of an Interstellar Marine, which is similar to the training of any soldier except in this they use a lot of robots, robots that get continually more difficult. They still have three more preview demo's planned to come out before the full game is released, but they are simply TBA with no information. One really cool feature about Interstellar Marines is that you can try everything for free, with no restriction, you just have to register, for free, on their website. It also all runs out of their website, similar to how Battlefield 3 does it, and keeps track of your progress. To see all the game modes, check out this page. It is all being developed in Unity, a well known game developing tool but one that has never been known to make high quality games like this.



Running Man is the newest "demo" to come out for the game and it was a little hard to stop playing. The shooting mechanics are solid, nothing special but certainly enjoyable for fans of FPS, and the story is well done. The story involves your trainer, whom you hear talking to you through some kind of earpiece or headset for most of the demo. You also hear some voice acting from some other characters, all of which together give you an idea of how Interstellar Marines are treated by their superiors. The demo takes you through a ten minute or so training grounds, one that you repeat a couple times. Each time you start the training grounds over it is harder, mostly just more robots to fight, but there are some new robots that they add into the mix. The training grounds take you through a bunch of different objective modes, from survival to control points, but it is pretty effective and difficult enough. You do have three weapons available to you, a silenced sub machine gun, a silenced scoped assault rifle and a full auto assault rifle. The design of everything is futuristic, but you can tell by this demo that it isn't up to the graphical standards of 2011 first person shooters, but for an indie game it is quite good. The Running Man demo was fun, but a bit repetitive and it ultimately just made me want to see how the real game will work.

The retail game aims to create a tactical first person experience that also has some high quality RPG elements, like a strong narrative story and character development. They want to make it a "realistic and unpredictable future", a future where first contact with aliens is inevitable and you will be at the forefront of it. They are focusing on creating the game for PC, but would like to branch it out to consoles if they are able to. The enviornments will be open ended and non linear, something that should be a huge challenge if they plan for the game to have a strong narrative. You will be able to play the game singleplayer or with up to three other players cooperatively. They have been working on this game for quite a long time, three or four years, and are being published by themselves through a method they are calling AAA Indie. I have a lot of hope for this game and I am always dying for great space games. It does not have a release date yet, but there may be a new demo out for it fairly soon since they seem to be release one a year and Running Man, the last one, was in 2010. Although, check out their newest tech demo linked below, it run's smoothly out of their website (without the need to register) and shows off some impressive lighting/environments. For more information head on over to the website and check it out. Thanks for reading.
Main Website: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/
Lighting Tech Demo: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/media-section/unity/

-Written by Sean Cargle

Not that anyone cares, because most people are playing Battlefield 3 or Dark Souls, but King Arthur's Gold has released a sizeable new update. It is "the largest update" they've ever done. If you have no idea what King Arthur's Gold is, then I refer you to my initial impressions from a while back.
If you have played the game you may have noticed that is it really enjoyable to build and create, but being a knight or archer isn't all that fun. Mainly due to arrow and bomb spamming. They have been thinking about this issue and have come up with workshops that allow you to create bombs and arrows for a price. There is now a currency in the game, something that applies to most of the new features and really changes how the game is played. They have also added unit counters, meaning that each time will now have a counter that determines how many lives they have left, making the game a death feel a little more painful. On top of all those new and exciting features are more new changes. We now have healing quarters, moveable catapults, bombs can now be used in catapults, tree climbing, pie menus (all of the options now show in a little pie menu), shield parachute gliding and "more". How they can possibly have more than that is crazy, but I appreciate the massive update. Check out this video to see an overview of the new update.


Now for some of the more specific updates. Archers now have three types of shots: a slow shot, a normal shot and a charged shot. Knights can, thank god, can no longer destroy stone and have to rely on builders. Speaking of builders, they are now more competent in combat with increased health and damage. The catapult no longer has a super long range, but it can now be moved to get it closer to enemy walls. Many of the controls have changed as well, pretty much everything relies on the pie menu's now. You can also now put many different things in a catapult to launch, but no corpses, damn. If you care to check out the very long update list head on over to the MODDB KAG page and check it out. Thanks for reading and I cannot wait to try out King Arthur's Gold now with all of this new/changed content.
King Arthurs' Gold MODDB Page
King Arthur's Gold Website: http://kagdev.tumblr.com/


-Written by Sean Cargle

Spent a chunk of the day playing BF3, singleplayer and multiplayer. Compiled some videos of my gameplay from each. The singleplayer missions is the second mission in the game, while the multiplayer is from various maps in the game. Check them out, I will be back later tonight with some more news.
*Update* Battlefield 3 has been having a lot of problems today with Punkbuster and Nvidia Graphic Cards, so if you don't have the game yet I recommend waiting a day or two till they start fixing everything. It does work for about 50-70% of the players, but it's still a lot of people who can't get the game working.
*10/26 Update* Added a new multiplayer video to the end, this one shows off different maps plus air combat.

The cooperative mode for Warhammer 40k Space Marine has been released for PS3 and PC today, Xbox 360 update to come later. The mode is called Exterminatus, an arena mode that puts you and three friends against unending waves of enemies. Your characters are persistent and everything from multiplayer carries over.  You may also complete unique challenges to get the team some extra points. All experience earned will carry count towards your multiplayer characters progression. There isn't a lot to this mode, but it is free and it is cooperative, but it's not cooperative campaign or missions like many were hoping for. Check out the release video below and for more information on it check out the main website.
More Exterminatus Information

Hopefully you caught my review of the Walking Dead Season 2 premiere last week, if not, then this whole review will be a massive spoiler for you. Here is a short recap for those who are inclined to read anyways, or can't remember the premiere all that well. Last week they opened the season by having the whole group of survivors trying to remain unscathed as their RV broke down in the middle of a freeway packed with empty vehicles...and zombies/walkers. It was a long episode, one that had some great acting from all of the major characters, but it was a episode that entirely left out Glenn. The other major complaint about the episode was the story, it made Shane and Andrea look like ungrateful assholes, something that they rectified a little bit in the second episode, Bloodletting.  It was a good episode, but not great and this second episode stepped it up a bit. Although, it left us with a crazy cliffhanger involving Carl getting shot by a hunter. The Walking Dead airs on AMC every Sunday at 9 pm PST and 6 pm EST.



Full Episode Spoilers Ahead
This episode introduces Hershel's farm, a place from the comic books that fans seemed excited about. I know why fans are excited about it, but so far the farm seems very unlike the farm from the comic book. Just like most of the similarities to the comic book, the farm seems to be an exact place from the comic book, but it has vastly different characters and storyline associated with it. We first see the farm as the hunter, Otis, who shot Carl leads them to it, claiming that there will be help there. Shane, Rick and Otis run for the farm as fast they can, with a limb and pale Carl dangling in Rick's arms. As soon as Rick get's to the house we get to meet Hershel, played by Scott Wilson, and his two daughters. His daughter Maggie, played by Lauren Cohan, shows herself to be a particularly strong character when she volunteers to go retrieve Lori, Rick's wife, so she can be with Carl. Hershel claims to be a doctor and immediately get's to work on trying to save Carl. This episode doesn't have a lot of action, but it sure has a lot of great acting and a lot of heart.

Right off the bat we see some amazing displays of emotion from Rick and Shane, both of whom share a parental attachment to Carl. Everything about Shane in this episode makes up for all of his complaining and plotting from What Lies Ahead. He is there at Rick's side telling him what he needs to hear and bringing him face to face with reality. The best moment between the two is right after Rick get's out of the "operating room". Andrew Lincoln, Rick, shows truly excellent acting with his display of misery, despair and panic in this moment. His sadness is so strong and evident that you can easily empathize with his situation, it also makes it easier to sympathize with Shane who has to keep his friend strong. Once Rick leaves the room he looks ready to lose it, but Shane brings out the best of himself and tells Rick that he must be strong, resolute and stay at the house for his son. Shane volunteers to go get needed medical supplies, showing his devotion to his friend and his hidden responsibility to Carl.  At the end of this scene we see Shane and Otis, who is played by Pruitt Taylor Vince, heading off to the high school in order to get some supplies for Hershel so that he may perform surgery on Carl to get out the bullet fragments.



There is also a minor scene with Dale and T-Dog, where we learn that T-Dog's cut is seriously infected. A little later on we get a scene where T-Dog is acting rebellious, telling Dale about how they should leave everyone behind and how everyone doesn't respect them. Dale doesn't buy any of it and questions T-Dog enough to realize that he is out of his mind, but why? because he has a serious fever from his infection. This scene was very ironic sense it reflected the attitudes of Shane and Andrea from the first episode, except in this case it was because T-Dog was losing it because of a fever. It makes Andrea and Shane's complaints and plans from the first episode even more ridiculous.

The two scenes of action come from Andrea, Shane and Otis. Andrea is traveling through the woods with Daryl, Lori, Glenn and Carol. They are still searching for Carol's daughter, but are on their way back to the RV because the night is coming. Andrea, making her look careless again, wonders right by a tree with a zombie behind it. The moment is terrifying, yet predictable , but her savior was unpredictable. Maggie, who was coming to get Lori, comes out of the woods on her horse, with a baseball bat in hand and smacks the zombie to the ground. Then she promptly retrieve's Lori and heads back to the farm, while the rest of the group continue to the RV to spread the news about the farm. By everything that I've heard, Andrea is supposed, based on the comic, to be a strong character like Maggie is, but so far she is barely tolerable in the show.


At the very end of the episode we see the predicament that Shane and Otis have gotten themselves into, what kind of predicament? Oh just a hundred walkers chasing them, when they have their heavy packs of medical supplies on their back. Before that last scene we also have some excellent moments between Lori, played by Sarah Wayne Callies, and Rick, not only showing her strength, but showing how well they both respond to each other. The acting between the two regarding Carl is fantastic, but we should not forget how great Carl's acting is as well, especially for a young kid. Chandler Rigg's does a great job making himself display the kind of pain and anguish that someone would show when they are having a bullet fragment taken out of them without anesthesia or pain killers.



This was a great episode, but mainly because of the acting and ending. We leave this episode having an excellent idea of what we are going to see next week and it is going to be crazy. Otis and Shane locked behind a gate with walkers breaking through the thin gate holding them at bay. It may be a bit of a cliffhanger, but it forces the next episode to be a lot more action based. Let's hope the next episode delivers on all fronts. Thanks for reading and be back with more tomorrow.

Violent Score: 9 (out of 10) 


-Written by Sean Cargle

We have a promising WWII turn based strategy game in our midst, a PC indie game called Unity of Command. It feels similar to the great Hearts of Iron series, except it has a much more colorful look to it.



This WWII turn based game is complex looking, but also very fresh and interesting. I was never able to get much into Hearts of Iron, due to it's vast complexity and difficulty, but Unity of Command looks to offer a similar level of complexity without the super steep learning curve. This game focuses its battles on Russians vs Germans. The developers, 2x2 Games, claim that the  gameplay claims to be fast, smooth, and easy to learn. They are trying to recreate historical battles and accurate armies. You move units on the map using hexes, much like Hearts of Iron, except each map is either a historical or fictional scenario. The map will have a weather system that changes realistically from hex to hex. You will also have a supply line, one that enemies can sabotage and also enemy supply lines that you may attack.  Supply lines will allow you to encircle enemies and break through enemy lines. Everything is managed through a campaign map that gives you an overview of all of the scenarios, plus some context for each scenario. You will also be able to play Unity of Command through multiplayer, on top of the hefty 20+ scenario single player campaigns. They game will also be open to the modding community.


Unity of Command has a release date of November 15,2011. Probably because they just made a publishing deal with Matrix Games, so it's looking pretty good for them. They just finished taking sign up for a closed beta, but I'm sure more opportunities to try out the game will crop up in the future. Thanks for reading and to check out more information look to the product page or main website.
Matrix Games Product Page 
Main Website: http://unityofcommand.net/


-Written by Sean Cargle

What is this cartoonish looking PC indie game?



Well it seems to be a strategy, action and adventure game all tied into one. It all focuses on your catapult. You build it, upgrade it, modify it's projectiles and then you use it to complete quests around the world map. The game is full of destructible buildings and objects to destroy with your catapult. The game has a campaign, a campaign where you find jobs and earn gold in order to upgrade or buy new catapults. There is also a keep/home base that you can upgrade and build throughout the game. It is a keep that will get attacked throughout the game and looks to be easy to customize. The game also have a fishing system, one that seems to be a little complicated, thankfully, and relies on skill/items instead of random chances. On top of everything already mentioned, there is also a crafting system that uses fish and items to create upgrades. You see the game through an overworld map, which is fairly old school looking. You can find secret items throughout the world using a tool called the Retrievo 9000, a small item that you launch out to collect hidden items. The last feature for this game will be a Colosseum mode that will allow you to fight for gold and prizes.



Take all of these little features of Catapult for Hire and you get a surprisingly fun looking artillery based game. The game is not out yet, nor does it have a release date, but I will be keeping my eyes on this little indie game. It is being developed by Tyrone Henrie and being published by Indiepub. I should note that it plans to be published for PC, Mac and Mobile devices. Thanks for reading and check out the main website, plus a gameplay video, below.
Main Website: http://www.catapultforhire.com/


-Written by Sean Cargle

The Need for Speed series is all about racing, but they focus on keeping the games fun and graphically impressive, but shy away from realism. The newest Need for Speed game, The Run, seems to meet both of those goals, letting players participate in a high speed race across the United States. While the game controls with a smooth arcade feel, the goals of each race are unique but don't stray too far from normal racing parameters. This game uses the Frostbyte engine, the same engine as Battlefield 3, but they obviously utilize it different and it looks a bit different. The graphics do look gorgeous on this engine though and its great to see the engine running on something so entirely different. This is another Electronic Arts game, so it's not surprising actually that they have use of that engine. The game comes out on November 15th and it is available on far too many platforms; PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and 3DS. It will be $60 for PS3/Xbox 360, $50 for PC/Wii and $40 for the 3DS.

Apparently there are police in the game, but not in the demo

The first demo level, Desert Hills, gives you the premise of the game before starting the race; you are racing across the United States against many other drivers in order to win a million dollars. After each level it will tell you what rank you are among all the racers depending on how well you do in the race. The two levels in the demo are quite different and I applaud the demo designers for not showing two levels that are the same mode or design. The Desert Hills map is not too far into the game and the course layout is pretty much how you would guess. It is a desert track, lots of sharp turns, steep hills, dirt roads and traffic. The first thing I noticed about the game was the traffic, rarely these days do racing games have other non racing cars populate the world. The traffic makes the game more difficult and makes you want to be a little more careful about what side of the road you are on. Other than the gorgeous views the track was pretty typical, but it was well made and shorter than I would have liked.

In this game you have an afterburner on every car and it is done very well. The boost from the afterburner feels right and sounds excellent, making you feel like you might lose control yet also giving you sense of extreme speed. Desert Hills has you racing eight other drivers and all it asks you to do is get to number one by the time the level ends, but like I previously mentioned the map is quite short and it wasn't that easy. Your car also can be destroyed, as can others. The damage model is good and while it's not the best I've seen it certainly is better than the way it works in Forza 4. Destruction merely sets you back ten or twenty seconds. The second map is called Independence Pass and it is farther into the game.This map is one versus one, racing only other driver through a snowy pass. A snowy pass that has planned demolitions set all over the route, demolitions intended to cause avalanches and clear rocks away. So, throughout this whole level you are driving on a tiny snow covered mountain road all the while explosions are going off. The best part of this level was when I thought the falling rocks and snow where just for show, but then I got nailed head on by a large boulder and it instantly totaled my car. This was a really fun level, but also too short for my liking, just like the demo itself.




If I were a rich man, Ya ha deedle deedle, bubba bubba deedle deedle dum... just kidding. Anyways, if I had an unfathomable amount of wealth then I would certainly get this game just to see how it all works out in the long run. It has gorgeous graphics, enjoyable smooth controls and an emphasis on fun, not realism. Need for Speed The Run does come out after most of the big November games, so maybe check it out once it goes on sale. There currently is a demo for PS3 and Xbox 360, but I must warn that it requires you to have an EA account, damn EA. There online intrusions get them a mark on our newest poll from me, but if you feel so inclined do check out the short demo, it is interesting and gorgeous at the least. Thanks for reading and be back with more later tonight or tomorrow. 
Official Website: http://www.needforspeed.com/therun


-Written by Sean Cargle

Orcs Must Die! is the best indie game I have played so far this year.  Developed by Robot Entertainment, Orcs Must Die! brings a unique twist to your typical tower defense games.  The title pretty much says it all, you are an arrogant battle mage set out to defend your realm from the onslaught of angry orcs.  After your master dies it's up to this less than likely hero to save mankind from the green skins.  The story is nothing to rave about, but highlight of this this game is the arsenal of traps and weapons they give you to take take down the orcs.


Armed to the teeth with traps, weaponry and magic gives you a verity of ways to play each level.  As you progress, you get more traps and items to use against the orcs.  In each level you are given a set number of slots to select which traps and items you want to use.  You also have a starting amount of currency to spend on your initial traps and talent points.  As you kill the oncoming orcs you gain more currency and can place down traps during or in between each wave.  Later in the game Weavers are introduced to give you talent trees for either upgrading traps, magic or melee combat.

If it doesn't sound very complex, that's because it isn't.  The game is pretty straight forward and adds enough options during gameplay to keep it fun and addicting.  You are guaranteed to find the most brutal and hilarious ways to slaughter thousands of orcs.  There are also leader boards to compete with your friends and others online.  The only thing that would have put this game over the top is a co-op mode. 


Presentation - 9 (Menus are easy to navigate, graphics and level design are fantastic)

Graphics - 9 (Very colorful and vibrant, trap effects and magic look great!)

Sound - 7 (This game is full of cheesy one liners and it sounds like one of the developers might have intoxicated when doing the script.  The power metal saves it all!)

Gameplay - 10 (With so many options in fighting and the simplicity of setting up traps, this game is very user friendly)

Violent Score - 9 (out of 10)

Surely a game that revolves around robbing banks with your buddies can only be a good thing right? Maybe. This first person shooter has a lot going for it, but it certainly isn't going for realism. Payday The Heist just came out for PS3/PSN and PC (steam only), it is a downloadable game that costs $20. It definitely tries to recreate an epic experience that is based on great bank robbery movies, like Heat, but it's direction is far different.With Payday they are trying to make an arcade like FPS experience, one that isn't that easy and is lengthy, deep and fun.  They also have a large focus on four person cooperative gameplay, but the singleplayer AI does a pretty good job following you around. Although, the AI teammates do not actually help you with any objectives, they just cover you and follow you around. The game is made by Overkill Software, a new studio that is already working on another game called Storm.



I played through the one level on the PSN demo three times, twice online and once solo. Online is very easy to jump into, but very chaotic right off the bat. There isn't a tutorial in the demo, so you spend half the time trying to figure out what the controls are and what you should be doing. There are four characters, each of which can be specially equipped with different guns and traits/abilities. At the start you only have one choice for everything, but this game has persistent leveling, meaning you gain "experience" (money) and level up. By leveling up you get access to new weapons, traits, items and abilities. Each weapon you use also can be leveled up, which will unlock things like more ammo, better aim and presumably some attachments later on. There are six levels in the retail game, each of which seems huge in size and lengthy. The demo level, depending on how expedient you are, runs around 15-30 minutes, but it isn't the whole level. Each level has the robbery and then the escape. I appreciate online in this because it has actual servers that you can select and join, it doesn't do the whole matchmaking system like so many games these days and as a long PC gamer I appreciate little user friendly touches like that.



The demo level is a large bank, one that a vault, offices, an upstairs and a main floor. One cool feature is that the you can set up your team around the bank before attacking, giving you the option to begin the robbery at any time, but guards can see your guns and ruin the surprise. Each character starts with a silenced pistol and an assault rifle. The normal guards just require a pistol, or a fist, to adequately fight them, but later on swat and special police will come with automatic machine guns, shotguns and sub machine guns. There are civilians all over the bank, all of which can get rescued by the police if you leave them unattended, and they are a bit hard to deal with. I often found myself pausing to fire if I couldn't determine an enemy from far, seeing as how the security guards and many civilians have white shirts. If you gun down civilians then you lose time, although I'm not sure if it's taking time away from the assault timer or adding it to how long some objectives take. You can zip tie civilians and use them as hostages, which will make the swat teams stay back a bit, otherwise they just poor in through windows, doors and skylights. There are police assaults which are fierce attacks that only last a short period of time. They tend to come at you with cops from all areas of the bank; elevators/skylights/doors, and they can very tough to handle if you get separated from the other bank robbers. The level has you do several time consuming activities, like burning through the floor above the vault and unlocking the door to the vault area, but the game keeps you busy with extra objectives, hostages and police assaults.

I can see Payday The Heist being a very fun game to play with some friends, especially if you don't mind it being so unrealistic, but I wouldn't recommend it for singleplayer. Singleplayer can be fun the first tiem around, but doing all the objectives by yourself feels less satisfying than playing with real people. The demo is pretty big in size (1-2 gigs), but check it out on Steam or PSN. The persistant elements  huge levels and interesting gameplay should keep you busy for a long time if you enjoy the game. The FPS aspects feel weak to me, but every other aspect of the game is pretty attractive for a downloadable cooperative FPS. I have to appreciate the unique features like; getting arrested by cops and having your teammates trade a hostage to get you back, or the way police assaults feel very dynamic by how they use whatever means are available to them, or how ammo isn't overly plentiful and you can't just waste every shot. If you feel up for robbing a bank, look no further than Payday The Heist, it delivers that to you. Thanks for reading and if anyone tries it let me know what you think.
Official Website: http://www.overkillsoftware.com/payday/
Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/24240/


-Written by Sean Cargle