Max Payne has always been an interesting series. To date, it’s still one of the only neo-noir titles to grace gaming, and it pioneered the “bullet-time” phenomenon, which previously was synonymous with The Matrix.

With the third iteration in the series, Rockstar (who have developed their first Max Payne game) has ditched the gritty New York scenery for a more lush tropical setting. But the real question is: does it pay off to have such a stark departure?

While the visuals may be different, the tone of the game is still very much Max Payne. The intro is pretty much a testament to how excellent the direction in this game can be, as Max reminisces about his family, and his trials and tribulations in a hotel room, drowning himself in bottle upon bottle of booze. The scene is straight out of a David Lynch film, in that it constantly shifts perspectives in a grimdark fashion, giving you the immediate sense that not all is well in Payne’s life.

Through the magic of voice over (which I’m generally not fond of, as it can tend to lead to lazy storytelling), you’ll learn about how Max feels about everyone around him — as you can expect, he doesn’t really like anyone, and tends to judge people at every turn. But despite how awesome some of these surreal scenes can be, while  Max Payne 3 quickly attempts to dazzle you with the hallucinatory sequences seen in the game’s intro, but they pretty much fade away in the second half of the game.

One of my favorite things about the Max Payne series is how amazing the story is, and how personal Max’s story is. In the first game you feel connected to Max’s family, and in the second, his girlfriend/love interest. In the third iteration, the entire point of the game is that Max has hit rock bottom.

While it’s enthralling at first, Max is a far cry from the sympathetic character he was in the first two games. It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with that: it’s just that the general noir tone and personal relationships help set the perfect tone for the first two games.

Max is pretty much on his own in this one (even if he has a companion along the way, mentally he is on his own), and depending on your preferences, it may make for the weakest game emotionally in the series. As far as the story goes, there are crosses and double-crosses, but it’s to the point of extreme predictability.

Anyone who hasn’t seen films like Man on Fire or Traffic may be surprised at the comings and goings of the criminal underworld, but if you watch lots of crime dramas, you won’t really be subject to any surprises. While the noir tone is sacrificed in favor of bright South American locales and bright filters, the general result is a much more visually impressive game.

But what would these new fancy locales be without some fancy new moves to complement them? Max still has his ol’ signature “slo-mo” bullet-time ability, as well as his classic shoot-dodge maneuver. You can also turn off assisted aiming in both single player and multiplayer (yes!) to make for a smoother, more classic experience.

Our old friend also has another ability up his sleeve: last man standing. This is kind of like the recover mechanic found in Gears of War, but it requires you to fatally wound your would-be killer right before you die. If you succeed, you pop one of your health pills and live to fight another die.

Difficulty wise, I’m pleased to say that Max Payne 3 pretty much does everything right. The difficulty ramps up fairly evenly as you progress through the game and learn how to utilize all of Max’s nuances, but it isn’t without it’s fair share of cheap sections.

Just like Uncharted 2, Max Payne 3 will occasionally throw a ton of enemies at you in a seemingly impossible situation, to the point of frustration. Enemies will just appear out of nowhere and blow your face off, occasionally seeing you back quite a ways away from your latest checkpoint. Considering how long and drawn out some firefights are, I’ve found myself losing around ten minutes of progress sometimes.

Arcade Mode is available for your perusal after you finish the game’s levels. The series favorite mode New York Minute returns, as well as a standard Score Attack mode. Think of these modes like Call of Duty‘s Spec Ops missions: they’re more action oriented versions of previous levels that allow you to max out your highest possible run.

While Score Attack mode is pretty much what you’d expect, and only truly fun when you’re comparing yourself against other people on your friend’s list, New York Minute is still just as fun as ever.

Multiplayer is a bit of a mixed bag, and many people will be quick  to ignore it. Thankfully, the varying difficulty levels of the campaign and Arcade mode should keep you busy longer than your average third person shooter.

You’ll find all of your standard Deathmatch modes here (including a Juggernaut mode), but Gang Wars is probably the highlight of the multiplayer experience. Through this mode, you’ll have to re-enact various scenarios from the campaign.

You can set up your own “crew” (which will evidently have some effect on GTAV), and put hits out on rival crews. Here’s hoping for some Zombie DLC, a la Red Dead Redemption. It’s not a genre-bending mechanic, but it’s still above and beyond when it comes to your typical multiplayer experience.

All in all Max Payne 3 doesn’t transcend the third person shooting genre, but it’s a damn fine game, and a solid entry in the Max Payne series. If you’re not the biggest fan of third person shooters, it won’t do anything to sway you, but the highs most definitely weigh out the lows in Max’s latest adventure.

This review was based on a retail copy of Max Payne 3 for the Xbox 360.

[Prototype] kind of just came out of nowhere. In a world full of serious sandbox games, the ability to play as infected anti-hero Alex Mercer allowed us to dip, dive, glide, and destroy more objects than any game since Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.

Now, the tables have turned, as Alex is on the other side of the curtain, taking on a more villainous role. Sergeant James Heller is the protagonist now, freshly infected by Mercer and set to do his bidding.. While the story plays itself out, the real question is, from a gameplay perspective, can Heller really fill Mercer’s shoes?

Prototype 2 starts off with a pre-infected human James Heller, whose wife and daughter was just recently allegedly murdered by Alex Mercer. As you work your way through the intro that teaches you the basics of the controls, Mercer eventually infects you with his own virus, granting you powers, and pretty much setting up the rest of the game.

From there, the narrative takes a predictable turn. Is Mercer really to blame? Or does the fault lie with Blackwatch, the militaristic presence that’s essentially holding New York City hostage? Without spoiling anything, you won’t really care about any of this by the time the game is over — like the first title, the fun factor in this series lies with hardcore visceral action — not an award-winning touchy-feely epic.

P2 has a God of War feel to it, in terms of character motivations. What I mean by that is the character is not exactly a sympathetic figure. Heller is motivated by revenge, nothing more, and will leave a trail of unadulterated death in his wake.

James Heller may not be the king of cursing, but he’s up there in the Pantheon of Video Game Crudeness. Of course, I don’t really have an issue with this; it just exemplifies the dichotomy between Heller and Mercer, from a narrative standpoint. Whereas Mercer was kind of a silent badass, Heller will announce himself openly to enemies all the time, often times taunting them into a conflict.

Simply put, after a short hour, you won’t feel the slightest bit of sympathy for Heller, or be able to relate with him in any way. That said, the game is still an incredibly fun action romp, so I didn’t mind this setback personally: you just have to go in with the mindset that there will be blood, and lots of it.

Weapon-wise, Heller will have access to everything Mercer had, with one major addition: tendrils. Tendrils are basically infected tentacles that are a ton of fun to use. By holding down the attack button, Heller can use black-hole ability, which shoots your tendrils in every direction at a target, pulling in everything around it like a magnet (or…black hole!).

Besides your standard weapons, where Prototype 2‘s action really shines is the inclusion of a heap of new abilities, most notably the bi0-bomb. The cool thing about the bio-bomb is that it’s use is multifaceted. You can not only engage this ability at will, creating a bomb out of pretty much anything, but you can also execute it from stealth-mode to distract other enemies.

Heller also has the ability to instantly kill vehicles (after unlocking an ability), and summon infected Brawlers (basically big mutated apes) at will. The level-up system is also expanded upon quite a  bit, adding a perk system to the typical statistical increases found previously in the series.

Like most open world games, you have the ability to tackle story missions, side missions, or just go willy nilly about the town, gliding around to your heart’s content. Like Prototype, there are a number of side quests to find, like collectible blackboxes to locate (similar to Grand Theft Auto’s suitcases), research teams to kill, infected lairs to breach, Blackwatch soldiers to stalk, and so on.

This time, New York is divided into three districts: yellow, green, and red. Yellow is more of a shanty-esque district, Green is mostly free of infection but has a high militarized presence, and Red, Mercer’s home district, is basically completely infected. You can access each district via a helicopter “sky bridge” at set points on the map, just like a”flight path” in an MMO.

Even though it sounds like a fragmentation of the open world, I actually enjoyed the ability to run around in three distinctly different districts at will. In the original Prototype the city would change over time, which was cool fro m narrative standpoint, but ultimately if a particular area you liked romping around in was wrecked, you had to just deal with it. Here you can just high-tail it to a new area if you want to engage in a mass murder spree, or explore areas without much interruption.

If you buy the game new, you’ll have access to “RadNet”, which is basically a “Call of Duty Elite“-esque network for Prototype 2. Essentially, this is a collection of various challenges similar to the ones in Prototype 1, but a bit more varied in nature. One perfect example is the ability to “bowl for soldiers” after jumping down from the top of a skyscraper.

Like the first Prototype I didn’t really focus in on these, as they’re mostly forgettable. If you’re bonkers about completion however, RadNet adds quite a bit of content for you to work through in addition to everything else in the game.  It also allows you to unlock an Alex Mercer skin if you beat all of them, which is really cool (and draws comparisons to Ubisoft’s uPlay).

Similar to Prototype 1, if you aren’t the biggest action fan, you’re most likely going to find the sequel to be repetitive unless you heavily invest in the RadNet challenges. Likewise, the story is fairly by-the-book, which isn’t doing it any favors.

Thankfully, Prototype 2 does what it sets out to do: let the player live as an utter badass. At the end of the day, there are very few franchises that evoke a sense of power just like the Prototype series, and the sequel doesn’t disappoint: just don’t expect anything groundbreakingly new.

This review was based on a retail copy of Prototype 2 for the Xbox 360.

Yesterday we reported that DTP Entertainment AG was filing for insolvency, placing Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts in potential jeopardy. Fear not! Today, despite the publisher’s financial situation, Ronimo Games announced that Awesomenauts will launch as planned on PSN and XBLA.

Tomorrow the game will be available for free for PlayStation Plus subscribers while everyone else will have to wait until Wednesday, May 2nd. Awesomenauts is a 2D MOBA-style game that has an “80s cartoon” aesthetic. It’s a May miracle!

For the longest time my only experience with the world of The Witcher was reading the occasional comic on Penny Arcade. But one day, console-owners rejoiced when developer CD Projekt RED announced they were bringing an expanded version of the acclaimed The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings to the Xbox 360.

This console version seemed like the perfect opportunity for those who missed out on the first two games to dive into the series, but did The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition survive its transition from PC to console?

Well, you know what they say about things that appear too good to be true…

For people new to the series, you play as the titular witcher: Geralt of Rivia. A witcher is a mutant whose job is to essentially slay monsters for gold. Because witchers aren’t entirely human, they’re looked at with distrust and sometimes outright hate from the populace at large even though they provide valuable services.

Despite being a monster hunter, by the time the game ended, Geralt hasn’t done that much monster slaying for profit. Instead, the player gets wrapped up in a nearly impenetrable plot tied together with poorly designed game mechanics. Those coming into the game looking for a simple hack n’ slash action RPG will be sorely disappointed.

If you try to fight that way, even in the game’s tutorial section, you will get destroyed. Despite being tweaked to accommodate an Xbox 360 controller, combat in The Witcher 2 is an overly complicated affair with severe balance issues. In the beginning of the game Geralt, the White Wolf, is weaker than a kitten, but by the end of the game you’re a walking murder factory able to eliminate foes with your blades, magical Signs, and a whole array of alchemical potions and traps. The crux of the problem is all of these tricks and traps are incredibly difficult to use.

The targeting system is incredibly finicky with Geralt sometimes hopping incredible distances between foes when the player wanted to fight the guy right in front of him. Also I found the camera controls to be too loose when aiming ranged weapons; even worse, there’s no option to adjust the sensitivity.

The game’s controls were unresponsive, sometimes requiring multiple button presses, especially when I’d try to cast a magical Sign or throw a bomb. All in all, the combat in The Witcher 2 evolved into something I dreaded to more of a minor chore by the end of the game. The Witcher 2 prides itself on telling a “gritty” and “mature” tale that you won’t find in other RPGs. Well its story certainly is gritty, but for those new to the series, it’s also completely impenetrable.

In this Enhanced Edition, the developers added several cutscenes to bridge this game with the first one that fail to do their job. There’s such a thing as starting a story in media res, but The Witcher 2 takes it to ridiculous extremes.

You start the game fighting alongside some king as he goes to reclaim his bastard children from some rebels. You don’t know any of the characters. You don’t know the kingdoms and the different powers. And you don’t know why Geralt should care about any of the people around him. When this king gets assassinated you’re supposed to instinctually know just how big of a deal it really is. The game tells you that redheaded Triss Merigold is important to Geralt, but I never felt any big connection between them because it never showed me their bond.

It didn’t help that both their voice-actors are laughable. Geralt’s in particular is especially flat and monotone. Both Mark Frost and Peter Egan do a good job with their roles though. Players new to the series will struggle trying to understand all the different terms and names while the game continues to reference past events like we know what it’s talking about. Geralt in particular is fascinated with something called the Wild Hunt, but it never makes an appearance in this game.

Everything is poorly explained and such a mess that by the end of the game, I’d stopped caring about anything other asking the game to point me in the direction of who I needed to stab next. When the developer has to include a conversation between the main character and antagonist with over ten different dialogue options, each of them long-winded, you know they dropped the ball when it comes to story.

The game does present the racial tensions between humans and non-humans, much like Lord of the Rings’ elves and dwarves, in a believable and nuanced (also “gritty” and “mature”) manner, and there are several choices you can make over the course of the game about who to support in this conflict that lead to radically different outcomes. However, none of them satisfy because of how the game loves to keep the player at a distance. The Witcher 2 feels like a game that actively works against the player rather than with them.

A lot of the game’s mechanics revolve around pure guesswork. The game loves to tell you what you’re supposed to do next in a quest, but most of the time these hints are so vague and the mini-map is so useless that you can spend up to a half hour wandering around trying to find a single quest marker. The same guessing approaching even applies to combat as well. Many of Geralt’s abilities are activated by mediating and drinking potions before combat. To be clear, you can’t swill down some strength enhancing brew mid-fight. Instead, the game expects you to guess when you’ll get into a fight and be preemptively prepared. Problem is, when you don’t know what type of monsters you’re going to be fighting, you might find yourself drinking an entirely wrong combination of potions.

Obviously the visuals aren’t as good as they are on PC, but they still are some of the best seen on the Xbox 360…when they’re not constantly plagued by clipping and texture pop-in. During dialogue scenes, every time the camera changes angles all of the textures have to reload even when the game is installed to your console’s hard drive (which the instruction manual strongly hints you should do).

I’m not sure who this version of The Witcher 2 is for. PC gamers have probably already played it, and all the extra content included in this port is available to them for free. Unless they want to use a 360 controller that badly, they have no reason to purchase this. New players, already at a disadvantage by starting a series midway through, will find themselves lost and confused by the messy, dense plot and poor exposition that assumes the player is incredibly familiar with the game’s world.

Poor player direction and feedback, a complicated combat system, and a backwards difficulty curve round out the experience. Despite all the additions and enhancements, The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition is an unsatisfying game that won’t appeal to series newcomers and never lives up to its own ambitions.

This review was based on a retail copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition for the Xbox 360

Gamer Limit gives The Witcher 2: Enhanced Edition a 4.5/10.

It may simply be coincidence that my birthday’s in May and Ronimo Games’ Awesomenauts is coming to PSN on May 1st, but I choose to believe it’s a sign from the universe…an awesome sign. Better still, PlayStation Plus subscribers can get it for free throughout the entire month.

Awesomenauts is what would emerge if you mixed eighties cartoons, platforming shooters, and MOBA games into a crazy, frantic blender. The game features 3 on 3 online and offline action with 6 different characters, upgrades, turrets, and bunch of other cool things. Awesomenauts will hit PSN on May 1st for $9.99 and XBLA on May 2nd for 800 Microsoft Space Dollars.

[PlayStation Blog]

Carl Franklin, a heavy hitter in Microsoft coding circles, claims to have had an “eureka!” moment with the development of GesturePak. This application and SDK is supposed to simplify the development of Kinect based software, especially around gesture recognition.

While GesturePak is focused on Kinect for Windows rather than XBox 360, we can think of at least one game that could have used some better gesture recognition, ahem.

“When Microsoft released the Kinect for Windows SDK beta last year, I tried to write an app to recognize a simple gesture. It was too complex,” Franklin says. “The SDK splits out a stream of joint data (X,Y, and Z axis data points for each of the 20 locations on your body that the Kinect tracks) at 30 frames per second. In order to recognize gestures you have to tack coordinates in space over periods of time, compensate for margin of error, and somehow determine that the user is actually moving deliberately the way you want them to.”

Did you get that? Essentially, Franklin alludes to the fact that programming to track motion is hard. Really hard. He set to remedy this with GesturePak.

Long story short, instead of having to program software to track the complex, fluid movements of human bodies, GesturePak allows developers to focus more on a series of individual poses. If the person progresses through these poses, their motion is recognized and the application, game, etc. recognizes it as a valid movement.

This means that organizations using Kinect say, in medicine, will have better responsive software. This is good, as I wouldn’t want to have my life hanging on by a thread as a doctor, trying to swipe through charts and x-rays, is cursing the screen for not recognizing his hand.

This also has one wishing that Kinect developers start using GesturePak or something similar for better Kinect games.

[source: franklins.net]

Resident Evil 6 was initially slated for a November 20th release, but it looks like the Gods have smiled upon us this day, as Capcom has announced a new October 2nd target. Also, more importantly, in light of this news Capcom has released a new trailer for the game, which highlights the real news here: Wesker Jr. will be a playable character in the game. Also, Leon and Chris engage in an epic battle for whatever reason — more news for this game can’t come soon enough!

Considering I played the Resident Evil 5 demo at least fifty times before I got my hands on the main game, it’s safe to say I’m pretty excited to play the July 3rd demo included with Dragon’s Dogma.

Some time ago, cult-creator Goichi Suda set out to create a “mature” game for the Kinect, — a feat that was only attempted by a few brave developers.

What do you get when you mix demonic elephants, a former major league baseball star, and a creepy carnival? One of the weirdest, flawed, and most enjoyable games on the Xbox Live Arcade.

The absolute first thing you have to get through your head is the fact that Diabolical Pitch is indeed a Suda game. By that, I mean the story is pretty much nonsensical, and is just a delivery system for weirdness, creepiness, and dark comedy. If you can’t stomach strange/foreign games, right off the bat I can tell you this Kinect romp isn’t for you.

Diabolic Pitch is fairly abrupt in it’s presentation, as it opens up with a less-than-a-minute intro that features a former professional pitcher who ends up in a dark demonic carnival after a career ending arm injury. Due to the mysterious demonic powers that be, our hero is granted a prosthetic arm capable of demonic pitching power, but there’s a big caveat — he has to fight his way past the demonic hordes to regain his former life.

Mechanics wise, the game is incredibly simple — all you have to do is stand in front of the Kinect, then pitch, catch, and kick. You can pitch pretty much as quickly as you want, but there is a fatigue gauge to keep you from potentially gaming the system somehow, or just wildly throwing without strategy.

Your pitches automatically lock onto the general area where you release your follow-through, which works well so long as the Kinect is perfectly calibrated and in the right place (which I’ll get to later). You use your dominant hand to throw (which you can set up before the game starts), but your other hand can be used to lock onto enemies for a more precise throwing option. Of course, in true Suda fashion, there are special “Diabolical Pitch” special moves that draw from the darkest depths of Dragon Ball Z, and each of them have their own specific hand maneuvers.

You can catch an enemy’s projectile by doing an actual catching motion, and kick an enemy by doing an actual kick — that’s really it. Throughout all of the game’s levels, you’re going to be fighting of droves of demonic enemies, meeting new derivatives and types every few levels or so. Thankfully, Diabolical Pitch is a blast to play. Your arm will literally tire as you make your way through demon after demon, and the special diabolical pitches themselves (while monotonous after a while) make you feel pretty powerful. While it’s basically a carnival game at it’s core, it’s exciting enough to keep you wanting for “one more game”.

So does all this motion control magic actually work? Well, most of the time. If your Kinect is perfectly aligned, you have enough room, you pick simple diabolical pitches, and you’re playing by yourself, it works well enough. The issues start when you put another player in the mix for the game’s coop mode (which sadly features the same levels from the single player campaign), or any of those other factors aren’t met. For instance, even in my fairly large basement, I had space issues with another player.

Often times we’d smack each other with pitches, or find it nearly impossible to pull off the “Dual Union Pitch” special moves. If the Kinect sensor is even just barely off, everyone goes downhill — even if you move slightly, the game constantly will drop into a menu state, giving you very little leeway to reposition (protip: put all of your remotes and controllers behind you, in case you need to reach them without interruption). From time to time if my sensor was moved, I’d even have issues with solo power pitches.

In terms of replay value, the game will probably last you a few hours (maybe a few more if you beat the game both SP and MP), and you’ll have the ability to unlock new moves, abilities, and powers with the game’s collectible card system. While there’s a decent amount of cards to collect, not everyone is going to want to grind the game over and over to earn enough coins to purchase them.

There really isn’t a whole lot to Diabolical Pitch — it’s over in a few hours, and every level functionally feels the same. Your mileage may vary, but personally, I had a ton of fun with it. While it doesn’t have nearly as much charm as the typical Grasshopper game, it is still enough to scratch that Kinect itch that’s been raw since Gunstringer.

38 Studios’ wasn’t kidding around when they said they were going to support Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning after its release. They already put out The Legend of Dead Kel last month, and now today they revealed the latest bit of content coming your way: The Teeth of Naros.

Read on for more information about the aforementioned Naros chompers.

According to the press release, this DLC pack will have players journeying to a new area called, you guessed it, the Teeth of Naros, which is “a harsh environment named after an ancient troll god.” And what’s a land without people to live in it? Or in this instance, a race of devout giants called the Kollossae.

Other details about The Teeth of Naros include the new floating city of Idylla, new quests and dungeons, three new Twists of Fate, and new shields, armor, and unique weapons.

The Teeth of Naros will hit Xbox Live, PSN, Origin, and Steam on April 17th, and it’ll run you $9.99 or the equivalent Microsoft  Monopoly Money amount.

[Source: EA]

Shortly following Tiger Woods’ first PGA Tour event win in more than two years, the newest installment of Tiger Woods PGA Tour was released. The past few years of this franchise has brought with it some of the best innovation in sports gaming. A sentiment that many hope stays true in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 and beyond.

Game mechanics like Focus and True-Aim have kept the games fresh and rewarding in years past. And while not all of them were gems – looking at you caddie – EA Sports keeps all of this in mind and does not rest on its laurels. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 successfully polishes its strengths, focuses on addressing its weaknesses, and provides enough new content to keep players entertained for hours on end.

One of the biggest issues in the Tiger Woods franchise has always been its difficulty level and its failure to properly scale. Prior to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 with the introduction of True-Aim, the higher difficulties still lacked that challenge many are looking for. While True-Aim was a welcomed addition, the game still lacked a proper difficulty scaling – one in which could only be addressed at its core game mechanic. And thus, Total Swing Control was born.

In years past, the swing mechanic had very few variables that shaped where and how the ball would move. This resulted in a very binary long and short game and is the main reason why Tiger Woods games became a bit mindless after dozens of hours. Total Swing Control completely redefines the way you play every inch of the golf course. The left stick movement now 100% shapes your shot. This not only fixes the difficulty scaling mentioned previously, but it also keeps you engaged and thinking every second. This results in a much more fun and rewarding experience.

The swing meter is gone and in its place is a swing arc. This arc is dynamically defined based on the lie of the ball, your stance, the strike you intend to put on the ball, whether you wish to draw or fade, etc. It is then up to you to match this arc with your left stick. As you pull back the left stick a new arc is drawn. If it is accurate, it will remain white; if not, a red line will be drawn.

Strike and Stance are now something that can be user controlled as well and works hand-in-hand with Total Swing Control. Any change in strike or stance will change the swing arc and is thus something you have to earn when attempting to execute. This fine grain control provides yet another element of strategy that continues to drive the franchise to complete realism.

In previous years, power was earned by spamming the A button if on 360 or the X button if on PS3. The more you pressed it during the backswing, the more power went into the shot. With Total Swing Control, power is now earned based on the swing. The more you hold down the left stick and the faster you bring it forward, the more overswing received and thus more power.

While these mechanic changes work very well and greatly improve gameplay, one negative change is the removal of Focus. While I understand that this power mechanic change has a direct impact on Focus and how it would work, removing it is not the right answer. Focus brought about an element of strategy and aided the issue of people getting 30 under par in a round. With its removal, unfortunately, unrealistic scores in online tournaments and matches at the lower difficulties have returned.

Finally, for those worried, the caddie is finally out of your hair. The caddie system is more under the covers this year and suggestions from the caddie can be received by pressing the Y button on 360 or the Triangle button on PS3. As with last year though, the suggestions the caddie makes are still pretty hit or miss. Either way, it operates as a good guideline for beginners. For those hardcore players, thankfully it can be turned off this year.

One of the most addicting elements of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is the introduction of a coin system. Coins are rewarded based on your performance in any mode you participate in. Multipliers are given depending on difficulty as well as the performance of the Country Club you are in – something which will be discussed a bit later. You also receive coins for completing various objectives across all Tiger Woods games. The more Tiger Woods games you play to complete these objectives, the more coins you receive.

What you do with these coins is a more controversial topic however. Various packs can be purchased which contain pins. Up to three pins can be chosen prior to any match you play. These pins can alter your performance on a given course, power rating, overall stats, etc. While not necessary to complete any objectives or tournaments in the game, it does provide a slight advantage to those that either play a lot or, unfortunately, those that cough up some real life money. When it comes down to it though, skill will always reign supreme – no pay to win here thankfully.

Coins can also be used to buy 18-hole access to various downloadable content courses. While the 16 holes provided in the retail game are plenty, some may want to try out some of the 16 downloadable content courses. I feel it is a fantastic idea to allow players that don’t wish to pay for courses to be given another option. If you use your coins enough on a course and complete all the course mastery objectives, you receive unlimited playtime on that course.

While at first glance this might feel like a free-to-play structure, there is the same amount of courses as in years past, but now you can be rewarded for playing hours on end. To some this may feel like “typical EA” with their microtransactions and cash grabs but after playing this game for over 40 hours, I have come to realize that this in no way shapes or defines how the game plays. All pins and chance at unlimited access to courses are well within grasp if you put in the time. Be smart with your pins, play at higher difficulties, make your way into a good Country Club and you will soon find yourself making great headway in unlocking free, unlimited access to some of your favorite downloadable content courses.

So now you must be asking yourself, “What are these Country Clubs he is talking about?” Well, you can now join together with up to 24 people and show everyone else what you are made of. Once a Country Club is created, various objectives can be completed to make your way up the ranks. No matter who or what you play in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13, your performance always ties into your Country Club. Also, as mentioned previously, a coin multiplier is rewarded based on your Country Club level. This is an element that Tiger Woods has always been missing – a reason to actually tie yourself to the online world.

In addition to the leveling system you can also participate in various tournaments or matches against each other or other Country Clubs. This greatly operates as a stepping stone into the online world of Tiger Woods. It first can operate as a “semi-online” function and is not intimidating in the least. But as you play more and build a bond with the Country Club you are in, you will soon find yourself jumping into dozens of online matches and tournaments. Online has always been a dwindling element of Tiger Woods but this is undoubtedly the spark the franchise has needed for online modes.

The one mode that many find themselves spending the most time with each year is their created player career. Unfortunately, not much has changed here. You make your way from an amateur to a pro, pick up sponsors along the way, and, of course, spend your experience on various skill attributes.

One of the most notable changes in created player mode however is the fact that the control you have over your attributes is much more basic. In previous years you would spend experience points in subcategories of main skill attributes. This year, you only level up the main attributes. While this isn’t really a big issue, some may prefer that fine grain control that is now gone. Nonetheless, it simplifies things without having a large negative impact on the mode itself. Created player mode continues to be my mode of choice and is still a ton of fun.

The newest and most publicized mode in this years Tiger Woods is Legacy Challenge. From Tiger’s toddler years all the way into the future, various milestones in Tiger’s career were carefully chosen. Each of these milestones act as challenges that you can complete.

With up to ten hours of gameplay in this game mode, the experience ranges anywhere from downright bliss to unnecessarily frustrating. The frustrating element is not only because the game mode begins to become a bit long in the tooth but because the difficulty spikes really get to you. At one point you are doing simple putts and the next you are doing match play against an, at times, too good player. These weird difficulty spikes continue throughout the over 50 challenges. This is one mode that I enjoyed much more when played in smaller gaming sessions.

For those that are interested, yes there are in fact motion controls in this year’s Tiger Woods – be it on the 360 with the Kinect or the PS3 with the Move. The PlayStation Move controls are very similar to last years with a couple more fine tuned improvements in tracking. It is a much more realistic experience than that of the alternative in Kinect.

Unfortunately, the Kinect controls are extremely disappointing. The game menu controls are a bit frustrating at times and once in game, it is a simple swing mechanic. First, you face the Kinect which is a bit disorrienting given the fact that you are used to facing the course sideways when swinging. Controlling things like where you want to hit the ball, changing clubs, and spin are fantastic and work very well with voice commands as well. However, once you swing you will quickly realize just how little tracking the Kinect is doing. Whether you are on the hardest difficulty in the game, swinging is nothing more than making a swinging motion. No matter how bad it is, it will always be spot on. I was expecting much more out of the Kinect and have no intention to turn on the Kinect again for this game.

Overall, Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 is a great experience. The gameplay mechanics and modes introduced this year are a great step in the right direction. There is a lot of content in this year’s title but it is really hard to say whether it is worth the upgrade from Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12 to 13. If Total Swing Control, the coin system, Country Clubs, or Legacy Challenge is in any way appealing to you, then the answer is undoubtedly yes. If not, you can enjoy the annoying caddie from 12 because I sure don’t miss him.

This review was based on a retail copy of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 13 for the Xbox 360.

The Mistborn fantasy series by author Brandon Sanderson will be “lurching” its way onto PlayStation 3, Xbox 360,  PC, and Mac in fall 2013 courtesy of developer Little Orbit. Sanderson himself is writing the story for the game, titled Mistorn: Birthright, and it will be set several hundred years before the events of the books.

The game is set to be an action-RPG, and Mistborn‘s unique magic system based off metals lends itself well to an interactive medium. This won’t be Sanderson’s first time working with videogames as he did story development for iOS game Infinity Blade II and wrote the Infinity Blade: Awakening tie-in novella. According to the press release, players will “suit up as Fendin “Fiddle” Fathvell, an arrogant young nobleman who must quickly master his newfound Allomantic abilities before forces at work can destroy his entire family.”

[Source: Mistborn: Birthright]

While Ninja Gaiden III is not really up to par with the rest of the series, at times it is still a serviceable action game. Also, at least one of you out there will be playing it at some point in your life, so an achievement/trophy guide is probably going to be requested by someone, and I haven’t seen any yet.

So, without further ado, read on for help on the game’s achievements/trophies.

Falcon Dive

Learn the Falcon Dive.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression at the start of the game. You cannot miss it.

Sliding

Learn how to slide.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the beginning of the game. You cannot miss it.

Kunai Climb

Learn the Kunai Climb.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the beginning of the game. You cannot miss it.

Wall Run

Learn the Wall Run.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression a short while through level 2. You cannot miss it.

Flying Bird Flip

Learn the Flying Bird Flip.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the middle of the game. You cannot miss it.

Rope Crossing

Learn how to cross a rope.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the middle of the game. You cannot miss it.

Izuna Drop

Learn the Izuna Drop.

This combo is done by pressing X, Y, X, X, X, Y (pop-up then three slashes, then grab). On PS3 this is Square, Triangle, Square, Square Square, Triangle. You can obtain this accomplishment in multiplayer or single player.

Ultimate Technique

Learn the Ultimate Technique.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the beginning of the game. You cannot miss it.

Steel on Bone

Cut down 100 enemies with Steel on Bone attacks.

This is done by using normal attacks and then mashing the attack button when the camera zooms in. You learn this technique in-game and you will most likely obtain this achievement in the game’s story. You can obtain this accomplishment in multiplayer or single player.

I Got Your Back

Play a Co-op Ninja Trial with a partner.

You need to utilize the online pass, as the game doesn’t have local coop. Simply complete any Ninja Trial in online coop mode to unlock this. You can play the easiest challenge possible, just try and do it as soon as possible before the community is gone.

Initiation

Play a Clan Battle.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Simply compete in Ninja Battle and finish the round, win or lose.

Teamwork

Win 10 team battles.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Win ten team matches to unlock this in Clan battle.

One Against the World

Win a battle royale match.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Once you do so, you have to wait until you get a match that turns into an FFA at the end – win this FFA. An easy way to get kills in FFA is to use the ninpo blast into a group, or utilize ghost killing (instructions are two achievements below).

Shady

Perform a betrayal.

This one can be both hard to get the opportunity for and achieve. Keep doing contracts in multiplayer until you get the betrayal contract. Once you do, you have to press (left analog stick click – L3 and attack at the same time) — aim at your teammate to switch to the other side. You will either unlock this achievement immediately or after the match is over.

Sneaky

Perform a ghost kill.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Eventually you will unlock the ghost kill ability online. To use this ability, slowly walk by moving the analog stick slightly, then press heavy attack when you’re near an enemy to execute them.

An Honorable Death

Perform harakiri.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. You unlock this ability around level 25. When you’re near death, you can press “B” (Circle) to kill yourself, unlock the achievement/trophy, and deny a kill.

Snowfield

Play the Snowfield stage 10 times.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Simply play online on this level and complete the match ten times. Once you start paring down this and the other two level achievements, you can just quit/rejoin clan battles until you get the level you need.

Guardian of the Village

Play the Hidden Village stage 10 times.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Simply play online on this level and complete the match ten times. Once you start paring down this and the other two level achievements, you can just quit/rejoin clan battles until you get the level you need.

Observer

Play the Watchtower stage 10 times.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Simply play online on this level and complete the match ten times. Once you start paring down this and the other two level achievements, you can just quit/rejoin clan battles until you get the level you need.

The Spice of Life

Get 10 customization parts.

You need to utilize the online pass to play online. Simply play clan battles and you will unlock this in a very short amount of time — you may not even notice the unlock.

Walking Dictionary

Get 100 kanji.

You earn kanji through multiplayer and Ninja Trials. Play a combination of ninja trials and clan battles to earn kanji, and earn this achievement/trophy. Do well in clan battles to have a higher chance of unlocking kanji.

Inferno

Learned Ninpo.

This achievement is unlocked through normal story progression near the beginning of the game. You cannot miss it.

Steel on Steel – THROUGH - Mentor

Destroyed the Steel Spider – THROUGH - Cleared the game on Hard.

All of these secret achievements are unlocked through normal story progression. If you play your first playthrough on Hard, you will unlock the Hero and Normal achievements as well. During each level, one achievement is earned at the mid-way point, and one is unlocked at the end after a boss fight.

Master Ninja

Cleared the game on Master Ninja.

Beat the game on Master Ninja to unlock this achievement/trophy. In order to obtain Master Ninja difficulty, you must beat the game. Other than the DLC difficulty, this is the hardest mode in the game.

Initiate

Cleared 10 Acolyte Trials.

You do not need the online pass to unlock this, as you can do it solo. Clear the 10 total Acolyte Trials to unlock this. You can also do this through online coop, however, please note the final achievement on this list before you do so (if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement).

Veteran

Cleared 10 Mentor Trials.

You do not need the online pass to unlock this, as you can do it solo. Clear the 10 total Mentor Trials to unlock this. You can also do this through online coop, however, please note the final achievement on this list before you do so (if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement).

Prestige

Cleared 5 Leader Trials.

You do not need the online pass to unlock this, as you can do it solo. Clear the 10 total Leader Trials to unlock this. You can also do this through online coop, however, please note the final achievement on this list before you do so (if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement).

Overlord

Cleared 5 Master Ninja Trials.

You do not need the online pass to unlock this, as you can do it solo. Clear the 10 total Master Ninja Trials to unlock this. You can also do this through online coop, however, please note the final achievement on this list before you do so (if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement).

Ultimate Ninja

Cleared 3 Ultimate Ninja Trials.

You do not need the online pass to unlock this, as you can do it solo. Clear the 10 total Ultimate Ninja Trials to unlock this. You can also do this through online coop, however, please note the final achievement on this list before you do so (if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement).

Master of the Katana

Raised the katana to level 10.

When Ninja Gaiden III was released, it only had the katana available — more weapons have shipped via DLC. Each weapon in Ninja Gaiden has a weapon level, outside of single player. Complete trials or clan battles to level up your weapon slowly but steadily. Clan battles level up the katana higher.

Hayabusa Style Grand Master

Reached level 50.

You can earn levels through solo play, trial coop play, or clan battles. This is simply a grind achievement and there is no way around it.

Lone Ninja

Cleared 10 Solo Ninja Trials.

Unlock this achievement by finishing ten ninja trials by yourself. This achievement is glitched at launch: if you clear a trial in coop before you do it solo, it will not count towards the final achievement). To avoid this issue, complete the ten easiest trials immediately.

DLC

Legendary Ninja

Clear the story on the Ultimate Ninja play style and Ultimate Ninja Trials 4 & 5.

This achievement/trophy is unlocked through normal story progression on the Highest DLC difficulty setting and the required trials. The difficulty is free DLC.

Bloodied Talons

Defeat 100 opponents in Clan Battles with the Metal Claws.

Unfortunately you must buy this DLC (Claws separate, or DLC Pack #1) to obtain this achievement/trophy. Simply equip the claws online, and grind multiplayer matches until you earn this achievement. You don’t have to earn them with any special parameters in mind — just grind it.

Grim Reaper

Defeat 100 opponents in Clan Battles with the Great Scythe.

Unfortunately you must buy this DLC  (Scythe separate, or DLC Pack #2) to obtain this achievement/trophy. Simply equip the scythe online, and grind multiplayer matches until you earn this achievement. Ghost killing works well for this. You don’t have to earn them with any special parameters in mind — just grind it.

Warrior

Clear all Ninja Trials included in Ninja Pack 1.

Unfortunately you must buy this DLC (Trials separate, or DLC Pack #1) to obtain this achievement/trophy. There are twenty trials in this pack, and they are as follows – Acolyte 11-15; Leader 6-10; Mentor 11-15; Master 6-10.

Sage

Clear all Ninja Trials included in Ninja Pack 2.

Unfortunately you must buy this DLC (Trials separate, or DLC Pack #2) to obtain this achievement/trophy.