Shawn Wallbaum

cool stuff happens in the future. "Army of Two" for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 shows that the buddy genre is alive and well. Published by Electronic Arts (EA) and using the Unreal 3 Engine, this third-person shooter is a nice change from all the first-person shooters out there. The story is about two fictionalized military contractors who are more or less mercenaries and are given missions that take place in different parts of the world, spanning from the years 1993 to 2009. In an age of macho, testosterone-inducing shooters, this game seems to top them all. Throw in some swearing and over-the-top blood theatrics followed by air guitar antics, and guys might worship this game.
 
Still, it's a complex game that co-op fans will appreciate as one of the best multi-player games of its generation. Despite its cartoon action elements, "Army of Two" is more a thinking man's game. Those who play strategically will be rewarded with more money and glory. The game takes the basic idea of shooting alongside a friend and adds welcome complexity. What makes the game work is what's called the Aggro system. Essentially, the more attention you create for yourself, the more Aggro you have. This helps your partner become somewhat invisible and free to move about. Switching the Aggro back and forth between the partners helps you progress through levels.

It’s time to get smashed. Nintendo has heard the cries of gamers and released the highly anticipated "Super Smash Bros. Brawl." In collaboration with Japanese game makers Game Arts and Sora Ltd., Nintendo has come up with yet another reason to buy a Wii (if you can find one). This game features an updated roster, improved fighting system, a bucket load of more content than its Nintendo 64 and GameCube predecessors and a fully-fleshed out single-player mode with online play.

 Gamers and fans of the "Smash Bros." games who are worried about too much change in this game can rest assured; the game you loved on the 64 and GameCube is very much back but with a polished facelift and a lot more layers. The game looks and sounds like its predecessors, and yet it provides a completely different visual and audio experience.

It's that time of year again. And if you love baseball and own one of the major video game consoles, then it's time to "play ball."
"Major League Baseball 2K8", or "MLB 2K8", for short is an improvement over last year's game. When the 2K6 version of this game came out, it had a lot of issues that were hard to get past, but when the 2K7 was released it addressed a lot of those issues and fans were for the most part pleased.
On the outside, New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes grabs the game cover, pushing aside last year's cover boy, Derek Jeter. But announcers Jon Miller and Joe Morgan return. Inside, "2K8" features refined gameplay, and fixes some of the problems from the last title. Developer Krush Games went all out and included the following changes for "2K8": 90 playable, real-life minor league baseball teams and players, player trading cards, a new pitching scheme - in which the pitch type is chosen with the analog stick - and a revamped analog batting system. A new throwing system and other changes that make this a better game.

It’s okay to shoot, they’re only endangered on their home planet. The "Turok" franchise has been quiet over the last few years. The last offering, "Turok Evolution" didn't quite live up to the original game. Still, developers Touchstone and Propaganda Games haven't given up hope that there is something left in the Turok series. While this game is an improvement from the last one, Turok's latest adventure leaves much to be desired.
As in the original, you play as Turok, a Native American and member of an elite squad of soldiers. Turok's spaceship crash-lands on a jungle-covered planet where he finds time to blast apart some dinosaurs.

Forget everything you ever thought about guys in dorky glasses.The Orange box is a collection of five fantastic first-person shooter
games and is priced around 60 bucks for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and
PC. Valve, the games' publisher, blends the older "Half Life 2" with
some new content and delivers a great collection of games. Even though
the PS3 edition is quite good, it runs noticeably slower than its Xbox
360 counterpart and the PC version runs best on a higher-end PC system.
It
starts with "Half Life 2," which despite its age looks stunning and
showcases magnificent environments like rippling water, has a ton of
action and gives some of the newer games a run for their money on the
physics side. As the protagonist, Gordon Freeman, you don't just play
to find out what happens, you also experiment. There are chain
reactions with exploding barrels, splintering wood and zombie slaughter
all unfolding while you're skimming across the water on a hovercraft.
If you've played this game before, then there's nothing new here. The
uninitiated, however, will find a treasure chest while exploring this
game on the newer game consoles.

The clear cut number one in ’07It seems like game publishers don't make original games anymore, just
sequels to hit games, and Capcom is no exception. Its latest release
"Devil May Cry 4" is the third sequel to the hit game Capcom released
on the Playststion 2 back in 2001. The original was a forerunner in the
extreme combat genre and a predecessor to hugely popular games like
"God of War" and "Blood Will Tell." While the concept may not be
revolutionary, "Devil 4" is largely up to the task of reinventing the
genre that it helped to establish.

They just don't make video games like this anymore…thankfully.Back in the early 1980s after the Atari 2600 system was released, other
companies wanted to cash in on the video game craze and one such
company was Coleco. Considered a second-generation game system, the
ColecoVision was released at the end of 1982 with 12 arcade-quality
titles. The system was sold with a licensed version of Nintendo's
"Donkey Kong," and helped beat its main rival, the Atari 5200, which
also provided more advanced, arcade-quality games, but was ultimately
less successful than the ColecoVision. The system sold more than a
million units in its first year and more than seven million during its
lifetime. 

Bio-Ware returns to the role-playing format with the excellent “Mass Effect.” When BioWare made "Star Wars: Knights of the Republic" and "Jade" for
the original Xbox system, they made a lot of gamers happy. They put
some time and effort into it, and the result was great RPG storytelling
that made Microsoft a major "player" in the console wars. Now BioWare
is taking its turn on the Xbox 360 with "Mass Effect." The game
publisher is so confident about the game that it plans a trilogy. In
the meantime, it's providing downloads to bridge the gap between game
releases.
As with BioWare's other RPG titles, you have the option of
playing as a man or woman. The decision influences your interaction
with other characters and enables you to customize the character's
appearance. You also have limited control of two other characters that
will help you along.

Only the Wii can get away with a game about sleeping…Way back in the old days, 1996 to be exact, Sega released a game for the Sega Saturn called "Nights into Dreams." This game was from the same makers of the "Sonic the Hedgehog" series and was a bestseller for the Saturn. Unique in its game play, there was a strong demand for a sequel and at one point there was one on the drawing board for the Sega Dreamcast. Due to Sega's problems developing game systems, a "Nights" sequel was put on hold. After a decade, the game has finally arrived.

"Nights: Journey of Dreams" is a Nintendo Wii exclusive that makes use of the Wii's motion-sensing controller. The story is a lot like the original "Nights" game and takes place in the dream world of Nightopiam, a land under a threat from the nightmare beings of Nightmaren. The game is presented through the dreams of the game's two protagonists, Helen Cartwright and William Taylor. The player becomes Nights, a jester-like character with a child's personality that can morph genders depending on the player's interpretation.