If you had told me 6 months ago that come fall I'd be singing the praises of a Need for Speed game. I'd have said you were out of your damned mind.  The series had always held a lukewarm interest for me at best, and completely lost me when they made the switch to street racing more than half a decade ago.  But then something happened.  Their attitude ...shifted.  Their direction ... shifted.  Last month EA released the appropriately titled Need for Speed: Shift, and the title couldn't have been more apt.

Unlike the last 6 or so iterations of the Need for Speed franchise that focused on urban locales and shady situations, Shift brings the NFS name onto real world tracks with real world drivers.  In essence, this is EA's attempt to play with the big boys.  Working their own niche as they have for the past few years is one thing, but Shift boldly calls out the big names in real world racing with it's new direction.  There's no doubt that this is EA's attempt to create a third-party answer to major racing franchises like Forza and Gran Turismo, but does the game deliver on it's promise to hold it's own in the face of such storied competition?  Short answer, "ish."  Long answer, "not really, but..."

During a boundary pushing period of gaming, with high concepts finding their way to downloadable services and full-scale games like Fallout 3 and Grand Theft Auto IV creating entirely open-ended worlds, it's rare that any game of note does not attempt to incorporate some measure of "open-endedness".  At the very least it makes for a great looking bullet-point on the back of the box.  But there's nothing wrong with linear gameplay and game structure, and Uncharted 2 proves the point with an exclamation mark.  There's plenty of treasure here, and we're not just talking collectibles.

Back in 2006, comic book aficionados let out a celebratory squee with the release of Marvel Ultimate Alliance.  The game was the culmination of several past successes from Raven Software (X-Men Legends, X-Men Legends II) infused with the promise of playing as the entire Marvel Universe.  And while impossible to cram everybody into the game, the original Ultimate Alliance took a real kitchen sink approach that made sure fans everywhere were satisified.  Now, 3 years later, Ultimate Alliance is back.  But with new deveoper Vicarious Visions at the helm, can Ultimate Alliance 2 repeat the series success, or does it suffer from an "under new management" crisis of quality?

When it comes to The Guild, as with most things in life, I'm the proverbial last man to the party.  Despite having been nagged by all my friends over the past few years to check out what this web show had to offer, I just never found the time or had the motivation.  On a whim I decided I'd snag the recently released The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2 and see if I could figure out what all the fuss was about.  Have you ever have one of those moments where you're embarrased you didn't listen to your friends earlier?  The Guild has totally turned into one of those for me.

Sick of the same old platformer characters?  I've got nothing against Sonic, Mario, and their cohorts, but I just need something fresh once in a while.  And that's what the wonderful world of imports is for.  I decided to check out Go! Go! Ackman 2 for the Super Famicom.  While I was sometimes facepalming with frustration, I had a great time with the game.

Hit the link for the full review.

Save

As far as retail releases of shoot 'em ups go, it's been slim pickin's this generation, at least in the West.  This summer though, the Xbox 360 got the fantastic compilation of Raiden Fighters.  Following up on Raiden Fighters Aces' success is Raiden IV, which has been in Japanese arcades for over two years and on Japanese 360s for nearly a year.  Hit the link to find out if the fourth installment of the classic shooter series lives up to the Raiden name.

A lot of people are going to try and tell you that ODST is simply another chapter in the Halo 3 saga, and in a lot of ways they’re right.  But while ODST doesn’t bring much new to the table in terms of visual impact or game mechanics, there are two key components that help set ODST apart from it’s predecessors and make this an experience all its own.

Winning several Best of E3 Awards, and even a highly regarded BBPS Halfie, Scribblenauts was screaming with potential.  It’s finally been released upon the masses, and it’s ingenious premise of writing something and having it show up is ours for the taking.  Want to make God fight a T-Rex while Keyboard Cat watches on?  No problem.  But does the cuteness and imagination translate into a good game?

Well, not exactly...

A little less than a year ago, Hidden Path Entertainment released the tower defense game Defense Grid: The Awakening on the PC and we were very pleased with what they had to offer, praising its polish, creativity and style.  Now Hidden Path has released Defense Grid on Xbox Live Arcade, offering the non-PC gamer a chance at taking on the oncoming alien hordes for only 800 MS points ($10).

To be honest, I haven’t had a lot of experience with the tower defense genre, so when given the opportunity to review Defense Grid: The Awakening I was a little wary of whether or not I would be able to give it a fair and comprehensive review.  I’m not good with strategy games.  My attention span doesn’t do well with cohesive planning or thought-out utilization of resources.  I usually need to blow stuff up…and like, RIGHT NOW.  Generally the most strategy I can wrap my wayward brain around is in sports games, and even then, Madden is generally too much of a think-piece for me.  Because of this I thought I’d download the demo for Defense Grid: The Awakening before checking out the full version.  After about 10 minutes of playing the demo I was hooked.  Put me in Sarge!  I’m ready to fight!...er…write!

You’re a soldier in the battle of Little Big Horn.  It’s the last few moments and things are looking grim.  You’ve been shot, left straggling on the ground with only a pistol to defend yourself.  Custer on the hill above you has just been made a pincushion by a few hundred arrows.  The end it would seem is drawing near.  And then a big techno bubble appears and a Halo-looking dude steps out and brings you to the future.

Wait..  wha??