Homefront For PS3

There's no genre in gaming more derivative than the first-person shooter. And as time passes, it's difficult to believe that much more can be done to make one FPS feel fresh or different from another. There are man-versus-the-world shooters, squad-based shooters, shooters that cover real-world wars and shooters that work off of fictional worlds. But every once in a while, something different emerges in the realm of the FPS.
Kaos Studios' upcoming game Homefront is all about story, which already separates it from most shooters that tend to rely heavily on trite, over-the-top action. Based on a somewhat obscure subgenre of fiction known as future history, Homefront tells an interesting (albeit far-fetched) story designed by John Milius, a name you may recognize from the classic Vietnam War movie Apocalypse Now, and the future history cult classic Red Dawn, both of which he penned. 

The core fiction of Homefront has proven to be contentious message board fodder since the reveal of the dramatic story trailer last year.

Moto GP 10/11 Updated Hands-On For PS3

If there were ever a sim racing game just dying to give you a hug, Moto GP 10/11 is it. The series has long been known as a destination for hardcore motorcycle enthusiasts, with its no-frills presentation and straightforward driving model. Sure, there has always been a bit of spectacle in those gaudy leathers and helmets, as well as the constant possibility of witnessing an assuredly awesome 10-bike pileup in the rain, but the racing itself has always been pretty geared toward, well, gearheads. Moto GP 10/11 can still be that game…but it doesn't have to be. It's the first game in the series to offer a suite of purely optional driving assists for you to tweak and fine-tune the experience to suit your own personal racing competence. After getting my first taste back in January of how these assists affect the experience, Capcom was kind enough to send us over an updated build so we could spend a little more time with the newly hug-friendly Moto GP. 

Having got a pretty good idea of how the various assists can have an impact on the experience in my last look at Moto GP 10/11, I decided to jump headfirst into career mode to see what sort of progression the game offers. The first thing I did was create a new racing team called "McShea Bikes" after GameSpot's resident motorcycle legend Tom McShea. (OK, so Tom doesn't really know anything about motorsports, but I did once sign him up for Truckin' magazine as a prank.) Next up, I created custom team branding with a sweet neon green and pink color scheme on both our racing leathers and bike liveries. Needless to say, the look of McShea Bikes has been a hit in the office.

With my team fully established, it was time to start racing. I went with the default medium assist level, which enables aids such as traction control, anti-wheelie, and auto weight transfer so you need only steer into corners rather than shift your weight around as well. Assists that are left disabled on medium, however, include auto-braking and auto-tucking for when you're gunning it on the straights. I'm by no means a motorcycle racing expert, but I was able to do pretty well with this difficulty level. I finished seventh in my first race in the Grand Prix of Qatar and then went on to nab first in my second race at Gran Premio de Espana.

Portal 2 Hands-On For PS3

"Say apple," Wheatley commands, surveying you with his twitchy blue eye. You go to speak, but end up jumping on the spot instead. "I don't want to alarm you," he starts, trying to keep his voice steady, "but you probably have brain damage. Not to worry, though. We'll probably be okay. I mean, you know, as long as nothing else goes wrong."

Plenty of things went wrong during our two-hour hands-on demo of Portal 2's single-player campaign at Valve's headquarters near Seattle. We made our way through the opening chapters of the game, before skipping ahead to a new section in the latter-part of the campaign. 

Portal 2's beginning is familiar enough: Chell, alone in a room. It's not the cold, sterile environment we've seen before; this new room is a vast improvement--carpeted floors, a wardrobe, a desk, potted plants, and even art. But something just doesn't feel right. The new AI caretaker is male, for one. His baritone voice breaks out over the loudspeakers, instructing you to move around and get used to your surroundings. If you're feeling up to it, he chirps, you can do some basic mental stimulation exercises by staring intently at the framed painting that hangs above your bed. Or, if that doesn't do it for you, he can always provide some classical music. You're just beginning to think about requesting Bach's Organ Concerto in G when you lose consciousness; you come to in the same room, although you barely recognize it now: vines creep along the walls, the carpet is a mushy brown color, and the desk and wardrobe have fallen into disuse and decay. And suddenly, there's Wheatley (brilliantly voiced by Stephen Merchant)--the neurotic caretaker of Aperture's 10,000 test subjects--telling you that the whole place is collapsing and you have to escape, now.

After navigating a maze of collapsed walls thickly coated in overgrown vines and narrow passageways filled with debris, you come across the portal gun--as you knew you would--lying unceremoniously in a pile of rubbish. According to Wheatley, the only way you can escape Aperture is by going through the test chambers. Again. Judging by his crazed ramblings, he still doesn't know you're The One [i.e. The One Who Killed GlaDOS]; he thinks you're a misguided test subject with an embarrassingly low IQ. ("People with brain damage are the real heroes," he says soothingly as you shoot a portal into the wrong wall.)

The first few chambers are a cakewalk. You know the drill: pick up the cube, drop it on the big red button, open the door, and move on. The chambers are a bit rundown, but still functional. There's even some jazz music in the third or fourth chamber, to help distract you from all the shrubbery currently growing on Aperture's once-pristine walls. For a brief, existential moment, you catch a glimpse of yourself as you pass through a portal. You're the same long-limbed, ponytailed Chell, the young woman who once walked these halls in search of something moist and delicious. But you are not a test subject now--you're an escapee. At least, that's what you think. The difficulty level of these early chambers increases significantly with each one; by chamber five you're already using momentum and gravity to propel yourself into portals and working with two or three cubes at varying heights and platforms.

EA Sports MMA For PS3

Stepping into the mixed martial arts arena for the first time must be a daunting prospect for any newcomer, but you wouldn't know it looking at EA Sports MMA. A contender for the UFC Undisputed series' previously uncontested crown, EA Sports MMA steps into the ring with a swagger that belies its lack of experience, and gives a good account of itself at almost every opportunity. Its fighting style is so different from that of UFC Undisputed that there's no reason both games shouldn't be winners where your wallet is concerned, and although UFC Undisputed is ultimately the better fighter, EA Sports MMA doesn't disappoint and--assuming this game spawns a series--is definitely one to watch in the future. 

EA Sports MMA makes a good first impression with responsive, mostly intuitive controls that are reminiscent of those in last year's Fight Night Round 4. You move with the left analog stick and throw punches with the right, and the shoulder buttons are used to modify those controls to target the body rather than the head, to throw kicks or fakes instead of punches, and to block. Face buttons are used for clinches, sprawls, takedowns, submissions, and ground position changes. The choke submission system involves rotating the right stick in search of a sweet spot and takes some getting used to, but like the rest of the default controls, it works well. There's an option to play with a completely different controller setup that uses face buttons for punches and kicks, but it doesn't afford you the same level of control, and because you'll almost certainly want to use the superior default controls at some point, it's not recommended. Even if you're not familiar with the controls in recent Fight Night games, there's an MMA 101 option accessible from EA Sports MMA's main menu that does an excellent job of teaching you the basics, and there are also ample opportunities to familiarize yourself with the stand-up, clinch, and ground controls when you start out in Career mode.

Depending on how narcissistic you are, you might be disappointed with the level of customization that's available when you create your career fighter. There's support for EA Sports' Game Face technology, but regardless of whether you use your console's camera or photos uploaded to the EA website to put yourself in the game, the results are disappointing. Furthermore, there are no options to manually tweak the physical properties of heads and faces in the game; if you don't use Game Face, you're limited to choosing one of around 50 premade heads. You can play around with different hairstyles, eye colors, skin tones, and tattoos, but even these options are limited compared to those offered in other EA Sports games. Licensed clothing options, on the other hand, are excessive, and picking out a shirt from the 245 that are available is hardly worth the effort given that your fighter only wears a shirt briefly before or after fights. Scrolling through 160 different pairs of shorts isn't much fun either, especially when you're prompted to choose not only a primary pair, but also an alternate pair that--even when you're matched up with an opponent wearing identical gear--never comes into play. 

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars Review For PS3

I'm not one to generally gush about graphics, but LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars looks fantastic. Sure, it still has a LEGO aesthetic, which means that the characters and environments look blocky, but the lighting effects animation that have been implemented make this game the best the series has looked. Ever.

The core of LSW3 is the same as the other LEGO games. You still play as Star Wars characters, taking them through adventures that will be familiar to those with the subject matter (in this case the Clone Wars movie and animated series). Each level is full of items to collect, and to get through players will have to use a variety of characters' special abilities to overcome puzzles and enemies. It's a simple, fun experience that's been applied to several licenses like Batman and Indiana Jones, and it's always a ton of fun.

Trinity Souls Of Zill O'll Review For PS3

The problem with games like TRINITY: Souls of Zill O’ll starts at the foundation. A title seemingly comprised entirely in jibberish may cause potential buyers to stay away, wary of this strange code. When deciphered, it spells out “obtuse hack and slash JRPG” in bold, flowery font- the same font that often accompanies cheap wedding invitations, or a twelve-year-old anglophile’s first MySpace page- brought to you exclusively on the PS3 by Omega Force and Tecmo Koei. Behind the unnecessary trappings and the identity crisis lie many more questions (including the reason for using cruise control on the game’s title) and there don’t seem to be any obvious answers: why couldn’t Omega Force just let this game be good?

It begins without a preface. The main screen is bare bones and unwelcoming, giving off the impression the game couldn’t care less if you played it or not- it’s completely content to spend eternity collecting dust on your shelf while it carves its feelings into its wrists with mom’s Venus razor to the musical stylings of The Cure.  It does not care enough to set the stage or even welcome you to the suspension of disbelief. You are thrust, ass first, into a tutorial. At once, you are given control of all three characters, which I only recognized because I’d taken the time to ogle at the cover art while I was on the phone. There are no names or reasons for being. Our triumvirate of heroes arrives, center screen, to face off against a man who is obviously evil because he has a deep voice and wears only half a mask. If that doesn’t scream “malevolent mastermind” at you, then you’ve missed out on the last century of dramatic fiction. I think we call it “cliché” now. What follows is a slapdash attempt at acclimatizing the player to this world. The swords are swordy and the magic is mystical. These abilities are mapped to three buttons and can be combined to form combos.  Blind mashing often substitutes for a detailed battle strategy.

Tales from Space: About a Blob Review For PS3

A formless blob of goo isn't the most likely protagonist for a game that involves a lot of running and jumping, but when said blob comes from space, well, all bets are off. In Tales from Space: About a Blob, you control a gelatinous orb that is trying to escape captivity and leave a cartoonish version of Earth. This blob's basic locomotive capabilities are augmented by a few neat powers that are responsible for most of the game's appeal. You can absorb sundry items to increase your gooey mass and spit them back out again to vanquish foes and remove obstacles. Your range of motion is significantly increased once you gain the power of magnetism, and turning yourself into a rechargeable battery opens up new navigational challenges. Yet, even with a full complement of abilities, you probably won't have much trouble figuring out how to proceed. About a Blob is more platformer than puzzler, and challenge-seekers will have to adopt a collect-'em-all mentality or a yearning for online leaderboard fame if they want to find satisfaction here. Though this adventure may not strain your reflexes, stump your brain, or stimulate your imagination, it still offers a good amount of mild-mannered platforming fun.

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Review For PS3

We can’t think of any game that we’ve consistently played on-and-off for the last 12 years as we have StarCraft. Few games have the longevity or indeed depth to command that weight of commitment – but then, this is StarCraft; possibly the most lauded and highly regarded multiplayer RTS of all time. Nor can we think of any other game able to garner the kind of cult status it holds with hardcore RTS fans, or in places like Korea. Our expectation of StarCraft II was, and is, rather high.

We start with this preamble, because having played the beta to Blizzard’s long awaited sequel, StarCraft II, we’re never going to play the beloved original again – in multiplayer form at least - the seminal long-lived RTS is looking like it has finally been surpassed.

We all knew that Blizzard would create a StarCraft sequel eventually, but the RTS landscape has changed remarkably in the twelve-year interim. With the RTS genre under fire for being overly complex in an age where ‘accessibility’ is an industry byword (even genre stalwart C&C has totally shifted away from traditional base-building mechanics – with mixed results), the biggest question was whether Blizzard would change its formula along with the rest. But the Irvine-based developer has always marched to the beat of its own drum. ‘To thine own self be true’ and ‘it’ll be done when it’s done’ are arguably Blizzard mantras – and it has become the most successful developer in the world following them.

Arcania: Gothic 4 Review For PS3

As a gamer that doesn't traditionally follow PC titles (besides my timeless affair with StarCraft), I was unfamiliar with the Gothic series. This European role-playing game franchise features a nameless hero who fought all sorts of evil. The games let players slay monsters, seek out quests, cast magic and tackle all the classic RPG tasks that we know and love. But the Gothic games haven't been as popular here in the United States as they have been in Europe. The new developers of the Gothic legacy,Spellbound, are hoping that will change with Arcania: Gothic IV, the latest in the series. 

Arcania is scheduled to hit both the PC and the 360 on October 12th, with a PlayStation 3 version to launch some time after. The developers at Spellbound hope to address a lot of the issues with previous Gothic games and refresh the brand name. This includes refining the combat system, highlighting a new main character, and more. As with many tragically short RPG previews, I could only play Arcania for so long before my time was up. But from what I saw, this could make loot collectors happy.

Gray Matter Review For PS3

It's been a while since we last heard from Jane Jensen, game designer behind the critically acclaimed Gabriel Knight series. Gray Matter has been in development for nearly eight years now, several of which has been spent in limbo as the project was passed from one developer to the next: undoubtedly some uncertainty was cast over the viability of a console port as well as the increasingly niche genre that this type of point-and-click adventure occupies in a burgeoning casual market.

There might still be room for doubt over the frequency of other such projects in the future, but even if the money men can't recognise a worthy investment when they see it, point-and-click fans will certainly stump up the cash for a Gray Matter sequel.

Set in modern-day Oxford, sassy American Samantha Everett finds herself stranded at an odd mansion after taking a wrong turn in a thunderstorm. It turns out it's the home of recluse neurobiologist Professor David Styles, who ropes Sam into being his assistant for his strange experiments in exchange for board, lodging and a weekly allowance. It initially sounds like easy money for the resourceful lass, but against her better instincts Sam takes him up on his offer even after sensing that something is terribly amiss here...

Dead Rising 2 For PS3

In the world of Dead Rising 2, there's an activist organization known as CURE that pushes for the humane treatment of the living impaired. If only CURE realized just how much fun it can be to maim, behead, or otherwise massacre hordes of brain-craving zombies. Very little has changed since the release of Dead Rising more than four years ago, but the most important thing that has stayed the same is the thrill of being set loose in a town overrun by mindless monsters. Slice your way through these moaning monsters to save survivors, dispose of dangerous psychopaths, and uncover the terrible truth that could change everything. Unfortunately, along with the good elements that made the original game a beloved hit come the same quirks that will cause you to occasionally stumble. Frequent load screens break up the fine pacing, control blemishes make precision difficult, and the driving controls are lousy. But the core of this game is so outrageously, savagely entertaining that it's easy to look past these missteps. Dead Rising 2 is a unique and engaging experience that is difficult to pull away from and eminently replayable.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed had its share of flaws, but it still provided a healthy dose of saber-slicing, Force-flinging action that made it fun to destroy the Wookiees, Jawas, and stormtroopers that got in your way. The Force Unleashed II provides similar delights on occasion, but overall, this sequel is less enjoyable, less varied, and shorter than the game that came before it. The art design, while less diverse than that of the original, is still impressive, and the story, while less emotionally convincing, is still dotted with poignant moments. But the frustrations of the original haven't been improved in any meaningful ways, and an incredibly bland final boss battle brings a decent action game to a limp conclusion. In many ways, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is more of the same, which might be fine for Star Wars fans looking for a new excursion into the stars. But it has none of the spark or diversity of the first game, and a handful of extraordinary cinematic moments aren't enough to compensate.

The story is The Force Unleashed II's first notable element. On the watery planet of Kamino, Darth Vader hovers over a familiar figure. It looks to be Starkiller, the original game's leading man and Vader's unauthorized apprentice. But is it really Starkiller--the one said to have sacrificed himself for the Rebellion? Thus, you step into this man's shoes and begin your search for the truth, not to mention the search for Juno Eclipse, Starkiller's former pilot and lover. Excellent voice acting and facial animations give cutscenes emotional impact, and a sequence near the end of the game in which you are plagued by visions is a great touch that melds storytelling with gameplay. It's unfortunate that a lengthy central stretch that focuses on the combat needs of the Rebellion brings the narrative to a halt. In general, you spend less time getting to know Starkiller (or is it Starkiller?) and the supporting cast this time around, so the story arc isn't as fulfilling as it might have been. Yet while the sequel may not boast a story as substantial as The Force Unleashed's, it's both fitting and fulfilling. This is in part because it harks back to the original Star Wars trilogy, in which the action was not gratuitous but was granted context by human emotion and complicated relationships.

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The game's art design is the other standout facet. On the world of Cato Neimodia, a rich color palette of gold, orange, and red makes an opulent palace come alive. In the final hour, the lights of looming edifices punctuate the murk. As in the first game, striking lighting and painted textures give many of your surroundings a warm, lush look. It's unfortunate that the drawn-out middle section squanders The Force Unleashed II's good looks as much as it squanders the story. The hangars and hallways capture the Imperial vibe, but the lack of diversity will have you missing the temple on Coruscant, the junkyards of Raxus Prime, and the fungal jungles of Felucia--all beautiful and prominent locations featured in the first game. A visit to an important planet in the Star Wars canon may have you excited to explore its humid regions, but there's little gameplay here, and you end up flying away to far less interesting places. A great deal of artistry went into making these locales leap off the screen, and it's regrettable that many of them are so similar that one bleeds right into the next.

The lack of variety extends beyond the game's environments. While The Force Unleashed featured Jawas, Wookies, Felucian skullblades, Rodian rippers, drones, scrap creatures, and more (in addition to the expected troops and walkers), this sequel relies heavily on the same few enemies, repeated over and over again. Armed with your dual sabers and some of the same basic Force powers of the original, you leave behind a trail of stormtroopers, AT-ST walkers, and other trooper and walker variants. You do so by slashing them with your dual lightsabers, zapping them with Force lightning, flinging them back with Force push, and using Force grip to fling objects and enemies around. The powerful physics are still impressive to behold as you toss around barrels and grab TIE fighters out of the air, as is using Force repulse to clear away a crowd of menacing robotic spiders. However, like in the original, the targeting is still imprecise, though less maddeningly so. You can now lock the camera on to a particular enemy, but this pointless addition is of absolutely no help. You still grab objects other than those you intend, and you still fling junk in directions other than that of your target. And as before, the camera might insist on an unhelpful view in linear environments, of which there are more in this outing.

The Force Unleashed II adds a few new abilities to your repertoire. One is Force sense, which is a guidance system that directs you to your objective and negates the need for a map. Another is mind trick, which confuses humanoid enemies and causes them to attack their comrades. However, neither skill is as game changing as the grapple, in which the camera zooms in while you get a good look at the powerful attack. This is cool the first few times, but the same few canned animations lose their edge quickly. This move's other drawback is that it too often works as a win button, allowing you to dash around and exterminate your humanoid foes without much resistance.

You can simply avoid the move if you want a greater challenge, but if you stick to standard tactics, you might get frustrated. The game tries to vary the combat by mixing up enemies in different combinations, making for annoying battles in which you face acolytes resistant to Force powers and heavy troopers resistant to lightsaber attacks at once, all while a robot spews flames at you or a couple of walkers fire missiles at you. It's nice that you can deflect those missiles or grab and fling them back, but when you're dealing with a half-dozen other enemies that might temporarily stun you on top of the ranged attacks, you stop feeling like a powerful Jedi, and the combat stops being fun. That's especially true when you want to grab an incoming rocket in the heat of battle and seize some meaningless object instead.

There are a few thrilling set-piece sections to enjoy, such as those in which you hurtle toward the ground, avoiding debris or Force pushing it out of the way. Boss fights, on the other hand, don't have the same driving momentum. A boss battle versus a hulking monstrosity is frustrating due to a limited camera, invisible walls, and unpredictable collision detection. It also drags on and on, which makes it seem like it was meant to pad the campaign's five-hour length. (Luckily, this same fight ends with a fantastic cinematic tour de force that makes the tedium almost worth it.) The final encounter is similarly protracted and perhaps the blandest chore in the game. This battle is unthinkably easy, having you perform the same exact actions over and over again for upward of 10 minutes and never requiring you to mix up techniques. It comes directly after an overlong and boring platforming sequence that dissolves any tension the game may have accumulated to this point. It's a disappointing end to a game that never reaches its potential.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II has many of the same qualities of its predecessor, but it doesn't really improve on them, and in many ways, it's not as good. That's unfortunate because the core combat is fun. It's a thrill to fling your foes into dangerous Force fields and to zap jumptroopers with lightning and watch them uncontrollably zip around. And while the story isn't as affecting as the original's, great voice acting and cinematics help it make an impression nonetheless. Yet with less enjoyable boss battles, less environmental variety, and more enemy repetition, this sequel is a missed opportunity. Perhaps you can't get enough Force Unleashed; in that case, you could always return to the game wearing one of the unlockable costumes or try out some of the unlockable challenge rooms, which are timed combat scenarios of disparate quality. But Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II is too predictable to inspire extended play time. Rather, it may inspire you to return to the superior original.

Source: gamespot.com

Call of Duty: Black Ops

When a franchise consistently delivers massively popular, high-quality games, each new entry in the series comes laden with expectation. Call of Duty: Black Ops has some big shoes to fill, but it does so admirably. The engrossing campaign is chock-full of exciting, varied gameplay and drips with intrigue and intensity. The excellent multiplayer boasts some invigorating new features, and the new combat training mode finally gives novices a way to enjoy the competitive action without suffering the slings and arrows of outrageously skilled veterans. Cooperative zombie killing and video editing tools help make Black Ops the most robustly featured game in the franchise, and though you may have expected it to be the case, this is undoubtedly one of the best shooters of the year.

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The single-player campaign is set largely during the 1960s and takes you to Cold War hot spots like Cuba, Russia, and Vietnam. You are an elite covert operative, and your globe-trotting adventures form pieces of a puzzle--a puzzle that your mysterious captors are trying to put together by interrogating you. Each excursion into the field is a memory, and these missions slowly come together to build momentum as each interrogation cutscene puts another piece of the puzzle in place. It's not a very original mechanic, but it gives a coherent context to the action, and a few strong characters and dramatic moments give the story some genuine intrigue. The blurry edges of your consciousness conceal information that must come to light, and the erratic visual effects and eerie audio echoes that accompany your interrogations sometimes bleed into your mission memories, which creates a great tone of uncertainty that plays out in surprising and satisfying ways.

Your interrogation-fueled flashbacks are not beholden to the linear flow of time, allowing your missions cover a wide variety of geography and gameplay. A dramatic breakout from a brutal Soviet prison is one early highlight, and later missions feature frontline conflicts, urban firefights, and mountainous incursions. The environments are richly detailed, and though the campaign is not without a few technical hiccups (like occasionally problematic checkpoint markers and the odd teleporting ally), these moments aren't likely to hinder your enjoyment. In addition to the on-foot action, you use a number of vehicles to achieve your objectives. Some put you in the gunner's seat while others put you behind the wheel, and though the vehicle handling is unremarkable, the thrill of blowing stuff up and speeding through hostile terrain is undeniable. The core running-and-gunning mechanics remain as exciting as ever, and the gameplay variety throughout the campaign keeps the action moving at a great clip.

Call of Duty points also enable two cool new mechanics, the first of which is contracts. These are like the many multiplayer challenges that reward you with experience points for completing combat goals, only you have to pay to complete them. If you do so within the allotted time period, you receive a tidy payout. For example, if you pay 50 points for the stab-a-guy-in-the-back contract and make good, you'll earn 100 points for your troubles. If time expires before you get stabby, you're out 50 points. Tougher contracts cost more, but they also have bigger payouts (get five headshots without dying, cost: 250 points; payout: 3,500 points and 3,500 experience). You can have up to three contracts active at a time across three different categories, and the available contracts change regularly, potentially ensuring a good amount of variety as the weeks pass. Contracts offer a nicely incentivized version of challenges and can give you something fun to strive for if you get in a rut, but don't expect these small gambles to make you rich.

Call of Duty points also enable two cool new mechanics, the first of which is contracts. These are like the many multiplayer challenges that reward you with experience points for completing combat goals, only you have to pay to complete them. If you do so within the allotted time period, you receive a tidy payout. For example, if you pay 50 points for the stab-a-guy-in-the-back contract and make good, you'll earn 100 points for your troubles. If time expires before you get stabby, you're out 50 points. Tougher contracts cost more, but they also have bigger payouts (get five headshots without dying, cost: 250 points; payout: 3,500 points and 3,500 experience). You can have up to three contracts active at a time across three different categories, and the available contracts change regularly, potentially ensuring a good amount of variety as the weeks pass. Contracts offer a nicely incentivized version of challenges and can give you something fun to strive for if you get in a rut, but don't expect these small gambles to make you rich.

Source: gamespot.com

Fallout: New Vegas review

Fallout: New Vegas is all about more. There's more to do in New Vegas than in Fallout 3, its superb predecessor; there's more complexity to its gameplay mechanics; and sadly, there are far more bugs than you should expect from a modern role-playing game. Fallout: New Vegas' familiar rhythm will delight fans of the series, and the huge world, expansive quests, and hidden pleasures will have you itching to see what other joys you might uncover. However, as time wears on, the constant glitches invade almost every element of the game and eventually grow wearisome. This role-playing adventure is both more impressively intricate and more damaged than any major RPG in recent memory. Don't let the bugs frighten you away, however: New Vegas' nooks and crannies are bursting with postapocalyptic treasures waiting to be dusted off and admired by intrepid explorers as long as they are willing to stand firm in the face of technical frustrations.

This latest trip into the desolate American landscape possesses many of the same elements that made Fallout 3 such a successful role-playing game, but its story doesn't boast as many memorable moments. The large-scale combat scenarios are less epic, and the surprises are less dramatic than Fallout 3's mid-game reverie. Nevertheless, the main tale provides a solid skeleton from which to hang a dumbfounding number of tasks and stand-alone parables. Many of these quests are lengthy, and great dialogue and good voice acting will invite you to learn more about the characters, as well as keep you wondering about what will happen next. A society of ghouls with pie-in-the-sky aspirations is creepy enough to make you squirm, yet blind devotion to their dreams still inspires empathy. Socialites in formal attire run a casino known for its creative menu choices, and if you play your cards right, you might get to make a menu alteration of your own. You investigate the disappearance of a sharp-tongued wife in one town and bring star-crossed lovers together in another. Some of the most fascinating occurrences are the wittier ones. During one quest, a robot with a specialized skill and a gut-busting name might offer a service that surely no game character has ever offered before. A poet in an unlikely place mumbles aloud his difficulties in finding the right rhymes. Like with Fallout 3, the greatest delights aren't in the central storyline but on its periphery.

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While the tale isn't as evocative as it might have been, the way it blossoms as you advance, giving you any number of ways to proceed, is extraordinary. The choices you make might lead to a dramatically different experience from another player's experience. The same is true of many supplementary quests. There's a ton of flexibility in how you might approach certain tasks. Maybe you'll fend off the robots defending a long-forgotten museum, but you might also steal an identification card that allows you to walk around (mostly) unharmed. You might provide a drug addict his fix, but if your speech skill is high enough, you can convince him to get on the straight and narrow. One lovelorn fellow will try to send you on a scavenger hunt for spare parts, but a high science skill means you can recommend another schematic and avoid the job altogether. However, there are certain cases in which the game funnels you down a specific path that might come as a shock if you prefer peaceful ends but are forced into a combat scenario with a single viable solution. And in certain cases, the quests just aren't designed particularly well. Searching for a key in a vault overrun with vegetation can turn into a major hassle. Avoiding an artillery bombardment isn't fun in the least and feels out of place given the measured pace at which you move. And an optional quest in which you hop from one computer terminal to another to isolate a virus leads to frustrating trial-and-error guesswork.

Large personalities give an edge to your undertakings. A mysterious man known as Mr. House presides over both the Strip, as well as your own adventures, and his singular focus on fulfilling his needs looms dramatically over the later hours of your escapades. The leader of a Roman-inspired legion is also an ominous presence and a violent counterpoint to the upright and learned leader of the Brotherhood of Steel's local contingent. A ghoulish prostitute, a potty-mouthed head waiter, and a wealthy-but-desperate father all make an impression in spite of their very minor roles. You might even find an interesting kindred spirit to accompany you. As with Fallout 3, you can bring a companion along with you; this is handy not only in combat, but it also gives you an extra inventory for dumping detritus. Interacting with your companion is simple, thanks to a wheel that lets you choose behaviors for your fellow traveler. You can only have one at a time, but you'll encounter multiple individuals willing to join you, and they all make interesting and funny quips when you interact with them. They also open up different quest opportunities, giving you a chance to learn more about what makes them tick.

Fallout: New Vegas' major addition is that of faction favor. You establish a reputation with various towns and organizations by doing them favors or annoying them in some way or another. Which factions you align with has both subtle and profound consequences. If you're liked, a random somebody might run up to you bearing minor gifts, such as an iguana on a stick. (Mmm, tasty.) Or if you've gained a more violent reputation, a mugger might accost you with violent intentions, only to run off when he recognizes you. It's a pleasure to hear random citizens remark on how they feel about you as you pass by, even if the canned comments repeat a bit too often. (It's sometimes bizarre to hear two characters standing side by side deliver the same line, spoken by the same voice actor.)

Source: gamespot.com