Next up from my Gamefly queue is Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the 360. Force Unleashed is pretty much a standard beat-em-up game dressed up in Star Wars clothing and was published by LucasArts in September 2008. You play the role of Darth Vader's sith apprentice, known in the game only by his codename "Starkiller". It is interesting to note that while the game was developed by LucasArts for the 360 and PS3 a total of 5 other developers worked on the game for other systems including PS2, Wii, PSP, DS, mobile versions, and others. The Metacritic rating for the 360 version is 73, with the other versions averaging around 70.

Pros: 

• Authentic Star Wars experience. LucasArts headed the development of this game and it is evident that they put a good deal of work into putting the Star Wars touch on it. There are many familiar characters making appearance and lots of lore references throughout the story. Much of the classic Star Wars music is featured throught the game as well and is worked nicely into combat and cinematic sequences. The storyline of Force Unleashed is also considered to be an official part of the Star Wars universe according to George Lucas and is meant to help bridge the timeline gap between Episodes 3 and 4.
• Graphics and audio. The game has fairly good character/environmental models and cutscenes. The texture work isn't the best but is passable. I found some of the environments to be striking but other to be fairly bland. The voice acting in the game is done really well and Vader and the Emperor sounded dead on even though the original actor's voices weren't used.
• Force Powers. The abilities your character has are fun to play around with and do a good job creating the feeling that your character is a powerful Force user. My favorites were force gripping someone and throwing them off of a ledge, while force choking someone and impaling them with a light saber worked as well -_-

Cons:

• Length. Force Unleashed is a very short game, somewhere in the range of 8 hours. I've read that the DLC adds a few hours, but it still clocks in under 10. The game has a lot of unlockables and seems like it was designed with multiple playthroughs in mind, but I found one run through was enough for me. This one point alone makes it hard for me to recommend to anyone, unless you can find it cheap or rent it.
• Combat. While I found the Force powers to be fun, the overall feel of the combat isn't good. The controls are OK but I found myself wrestling with things like hit detection and the camera. The melee combat isn't fluid and many basic enemy types can block your lightsaber attacks. I also found myself struggling with hit recovery time. When you are hit with an attack your character is generally knocked down and it takes a very long time to recover, to point sometimes that you only have a split second to react after getting up or you'll be knocked down again.
• Level design. The level design in Force Unleashed is generally uninspired and sometimes downright bad. There were many instances where one step off of a platform sent me plummeting to my death with no chance to recover and caused me to lose 5-10 minutes of gameplay. The camera generally makes it hard to see the pitfalls around you so sometimes you'll fall to your death and you never knew anything was there.
• Difficulty. The difficulty in this game is really poorly balanced. You'll spend most of your time tearing through groups of Stormtroopers with ease but the bosses at the end of the levels are like hitting a brick wall. They tend to spam unblockable attacks and will block 90% of what you throw their way. I had to turn the difficulty down to avoid becoming too frustrated with the game.

Conclusion:

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is a decent game, but it is evident while playing that it had much more potential. The mechanics of the game are average at best and the fact that it is Star Wars is what drags it out of the realm of mediocre and into the world of OK. If you can find it cheap then it is worth your time but otherwise I can't recommend buying it new off the shelf.

The Starcraft 2 closed beta is underway and Blizzard doesn't have it under any NDA protection, which means that there are tons of gameplay videos and information available. Here are the three best sources of replays with commentary that I've found so far:

HDStarcraft: This is my favorite source so far. He does commentary on his own games and is knowledgeable and entertaining. Check out his YouTube channel, and he also has a website here. Here is a sample video:







HuskyStarcraft: Husky tends to do some zany things but his replays are fun to watch as well. He also just started doing dual commentary with HDStarcraft which should be good. Check him out on YouTube or watch this sample video:

So I just signed up for Gamefly and the first game I put on my list was Batman: Arkham Asylum for the 360. I've heard great things about it but with all the great titles that have come out recently it never really made it on my list of games to buy. I'll keep my thoughts on it short and simple, and the TLDR version is this: find a way to play Batman AA sometime before this console generation runs it course!

Pros: 

• Great graphics. Batman AA uses the Unreal engine to it's greatest effect and is one of the best looking games I've seen on the 360. Character models and textures are exceedingly well done and the environments are very well crafted.
• Fluid combat and controls. Everything from the punches, jump kicks, and sleeper holds to the batarangs, grappling hooks, and explosives feel solid and well done. Combat is very fluid and the control scheme on the 360 controller is nicely laid out.
• Story. I'm not a Batman buff but I can tell the developers put a lot of thought and research into the Batman mythos while creating this game. There are a ton of references to the more obscure characters in the Batman universe and they did a good job of fleshing out the backstories of the main villains of the game. The plot of the game itself is well thought out with enough twists and turns to keep the pace exciting.
• Voices. Mark Hamill (yes that Mark Hamill) does an outstanding job as Joker. His performance is actually one of the best parts of the game and adds to it's atmosphere incredibly.

Cons: 

• Ending. The ending is a bit awkward but I came away feeling that was a minor dip in an otherwise awesome game.
• Voices. I know I listed the Joker's voice work as being a plus but I found that the performance for Batman was a bit lack luster and Harley Quinn's voice was just flat out annoying at times. Here again however, I found the voices to be tolerable and probably only seeming to lack quality when measured against how great the rest of the game is.

Conclusion:

I highly recommend this game. It ranks right up there with the best games of this console generation and if you don't take my word for it just look at the multiple Game of the Year awards it has won and the universally great reviews it has garnered. It is available for 360, PS3, and PC and costs $39 used for consoles at Gamestop these days.

I'm finally getting around to delving into the world of podcasts and I've found a few videogame related shows that I'd like to share:

Rebel FM at eat-sleep-game.com: I've found that the three regulars on the show are very knowledgeable when it comes to gaming and games of past and present and their commentary has been witty and entertaining. Games of all genres and platforms are discussed on this show with emphasis generally placed on console games.

Active Time Babble (ATB) at 1up.com: This show is one of the many found at 1up.com and focuses very heavily on RPG titles. In fact they're so into RPGs that their last show was a two hour discussion focusing on Roguelikes o_o Again with this show I find the hosts to be very knowledgeable about gaming and the discussions are easy to listen to as well.

RPS Podcast at rockpapershotgun.com: Two guys with British accents talking about PC gaming. Here again the hosts know what they're talking about when it comes to gaming and their discussions are pretty entertaining.

So if you have any free time during your commute or at work or wherever just download any of these podcasts and put them on your mp3 player of choice to take care of your gaming urges. If you are interested in finding other podcasts some other ones to check out are the shows at 1up.com, giantbomb.com, and Major Nelson's show.

There are a number of free resources out there to get you through anything that ME2 will throw your way. The best thing about the internet is that people will put tons of work into the smallest things for little to no praise and for free -_- I feel sorry for those guys that pick up a $20 strategy guide every time a new games comes out.

GameFAQs.com: This is a great free guide site for any game that comes out on any platform. The ME2 section delivers as usual.

Video Guides: Sometimes written guides aren't enough to get you through certain sections. There are many walkthrough videos available on sites like YouTube. Check out the EvilChicken Media channel for a plethora of ME2 videos (and other games as well).

Wikis:  I never really understood where people get the time to update wiki sites, but somehow it always gets done. Check out the wikia.com Mass Effect 2 site for tons of information and resources. Be aware that this particular wiki combines Mass Effect 1 and 2 into one site.

These three categories should get through any areas of ME2 that you may have issues with. Have fun, ME2 is definitely worth delving in to.

Mass Effect 2 came out last Tuesday and I find myself a week later having completed a full play through, clocking in at 37 hours. As I try to think of how to describe the experience a few things come to mind... deep immersion, outstanding audio and visuals, and the best dialogue sequences I've seen in a game to date.

Immersion: There are a number of different elements that work together in ME2 that almost seamlessly draw you into the game. Storytelling, voice work, and visuals all combine to make you feel like you are in Shepard's boots deciding the fate of the universe yourself. The end result is that while being drawn in the game it eventually becomes a story about you. I have a feeling that Bioware worked very hard at this aspect of the game and I believe they pulled it off as close to perfect as current gaming technology allows.

Audio and Visuals:  I should start off by saying that ME2 by far has the best voice work in any video game I've played yet. NPC personalities shine mainly due to the great voice casting and performances. An additional bonus is that any NPC in ME2 that was in the original is being voiced by the same actor. This is another area that I think Bioware worked very hard on and they definitely hit their mark. The spacey ambient techno tracks throughout the game add nice flourishes of personality and the driving battle music draws you right into the action.

ME2 has really awesome visuals. Levels designs and environments are supremely detailed and there are points where you just have to stop and admire the incredibly high level of talent that went into creating this game. Character models have awesome detail and Shepard's textures and facial expressions are particularly well done. I should note that Bioware specifically worked on facial expressions and eye movements for this game and it really payed off.

Dialogue: The writing for the character dialogue throughout the game is very well done and Bioware's implementation of their conversation system makes it shine. ME2 is ultimately a story about you and your crew members with a small framework of the main plot built around it. They did an excellent job developing the backstories of your potential crew members and how you eventually handle them is completely up to you. If five different people you know play this game I'd bet that everyone one of them makes five different sets of choices and the story would end differently for each one of them.

I'll cut off my thoughts on ME2 here. The game tailors itself to each individual so it is hard to talk about it other then in broad terms. Almost all gamers should find ME2 accessible since Bioware worked hard on streamlining the RPG elements of the game to make it a sleeker experience overall. The best thing about the game is that if you don't take the story seriously and blow past the recommendations it throws your way you will find yourself disappointed in the end and wishing you had done things differently, just like in real life.