The gameplay can mostly be described as Grand Theft Auto in ancient Japan — at least to the extent that you play a character and have a number of possibilities, can pick and chose your fights. Way of the Samurai features a truly open ended gameplay, where the choices you take will lead you in different paths — in all, there are a possible 15 endings to the game. While the game is open ended, the game world is not large by any means. There are only half a dozen or so locations and towns, which can all be explored in a few hours. The sandbox style is a great feature, but when the sandbox is very small, it really becomes pointless. Which is very much the case with Samurai 3.

You can start off anywhere you want, and your possibilities are open from the get go. You can talk to people, and chose to kill them immediately, which, of course will affect your game. The people you kill won’t be respawed for the remainder of the game, so chose your friends and enemies wisely. However, there are some flaws to the system, some will simply be replaced by another character, doing the same job, and unaware that the guy he replaced was cut in half by your sword. You can also kill the head of a clan, his bodyguards, and then rule the clan. However, that’s easier said that done (obviously). You can also do simpler tasks than killing, for instance, doing side gigs for people, delivering messages, finding items etc. This quickly gets boring, as your rewards are rarely worth the effort.

Combat wise, the game is somewhat awkward. It’s not a straight sword slashing game like Assassin’s Creed. Instead, it’s a ratings based combat, and the one who has better skill ratings, will usually win, no matter how good you are with the controller. It’s a strange mix with the worst from turn-based action and the worst from button mashing, and the result is really disappointing. As a game that’s based on sword fighting and Samurais, this is quite a big let down. Technically, the game looks dated, even though it’s the first time the series is featured on the Xbox 360 and PS3, and looks something that would pass as “gorgeous” on the Xbox, half a decade ago. Likewise, there are serious camera issues, which pop up at the worst times; during combat. While the game has a great premise and story, its execution is too poor to recommend to anyone, especially since there are so many great RPGs out there these days.

The Good:
Interesting concept
Good story

The Bad:
Bad execution
Horrendous visuals
Camera issues
Combat isn’t really skill based

Overall score: 4/10

The original Mario and Sonic at the Summer Olympic Games featured some known characters and a ton of mini games, some of which were quite fun, despite rather retarded controls at times. However, it was still fun and offered decent multiplayer gameplay for some folks in a living room, wiggling their remotes, and, as they’ll be happy to hear, the new game continues down the same path. This time though, it’s the Winter Olympics and it’s set in Vancouver in 2010. The range of mini games is impressive, a dozen of them, from skiing and showboarding, to hockey and bobsled. There’s even a curling game — which is quite a bit more fun that it seems (and definitely more fun that it appears in real life).

The gameplay involves a lot of wiggling with your Wii remote, but one overall factor plays in almost throughout all games; the feeling that it could have been better. The hockey game could have been great, but instead it’s simplistic and very easy, as with downhill skiing. The only mini game that seems to rise above the others, and quite surprisingly so, is Curling, which blends a perfect combination of controls and aiming, and can even get quite addictive. We don’t really feel any of that in the other mini games, which, sadly enough, seem like the developer didn’t put in enough effort, as the controls are pretty much the same: keep wriggling your remote and you’ll win. Or get across the finish line. As you play through the games, you earn coins which you can spend in a shot to improve your gear, get outfits and some custom icons for your gear, in case you need to pimp your snowboard.

Visually, the game resembles Wii Sports a lot, and most of other offerings by Nintendo. Not bad by any means, but certainly something that’s easy on the eye and geared towards the casual audience. This runs throughout the whole game — “casual” — every sense of it is too simplistic and seems to be intended for mom and pops and their little 4 year-old. Hardcore gamers will naturally be disappointed, as there isn’t enough challenge, and the controls are basically “waggle-waggle-waggle-pause-waggle-waggle-waggle”. Etc. It’s a great game if you have some casual gamer friends and looking for something to play with, besides chainsawing through the Gears of War campaign. But even then, the game could have been better, and could have offered something more than just cute characters and lots of snow.

The Good:
Easy to pick up and play
Casual audience will love it

The Bad:
Too easy
Controls are repetitive

Overall score: 6/10

While it’s okay with a cheap DLC, it seems a bit too early. We’re in the process of reviewing the game (review coming soon!), and we’ve already strolled through some 30 hours of gameplay. It’s not like the game is light on content as it is.

“So we have been trying something new in terms of the structure of the Wii version of the new Zelda game this time. I am really hopeful that people will be surprised with the changes we have implemented for this Wii version.”

The game is set for a hopeful 2010 release. Very hopeful.

The story continues where the previous ended; Desmond, in today’s time, escapes from the complex that kidnapped him and captured his mind. This time he teams up with the good guys, and gets back in the seat in the machine that sends him back a few hundred years to Italy, during Leonardo da Vinci’s time, where he’ll play an assassin, in order to train himself the skills. We won’t go into detail of the story, but rest assured that it’s pretty well told and written, although the cut scenes and dialogue aren’t exactly top notch.

The gameplay is smoother than in the original game, feels more fluid and faster, especially the free-running, jumping and climbing around buildings. This is essential, since it’s a big part of Assassin’s Creed. Also, this time there are clear indicators that point you in the right direction, so you’re never lost on one of your missions. The missions in AC2 are certainly more varied than before, but the progress of how to approach and execute them remains largely the same. We wold have loved to see more variety there, taking cue from other assassin games, like Hitman.

Weapons are a plenty of, you can collect money and buy swords, hammers, knives, and lots of other gadgets (like clothes) at shops around town. However, the combat seems a bit slow and, dare we say, almost turn based at times, where a pack of enemies will attack you, but only one after another will actually fight you. Instead of surrounding and flanking — the obvious choices. The AI isn’t that great actually, your enemies are quite dumb and will remain frozen, swords drawn, and simply wait. To be killed. This doesn’t happen all the times, but too often for it to be noticed. Another thing that most might not consider a drawback, is that the game is very easy. Even on the most difficult setting, if you’ve played AC1, and if you’re just a bit good, you can complete Assassin’s Creed 2 without dying a single time. Or even being close to dying.

Visually the game still looks amazing, the city is beautifully rendered, the animations are top notch and there’s a great sense of good production quality throughout all aspects of the game. The missions can get too repetitive and there isn’t much new in terms of gameplay, but fans of Assassin’s Creed won’t be disappointed. However, if you didn’t like the previous game, there’s little chance that you’ll find what you’re looking for here. Still, it might serve as an interesting rental game.

The Good:
Beautiful visuals
Great animations
Great story
Lots of side quests

The Bad:
Enemy AI is dumb
Combat gets repetitive

Overall score: 8/10

The story in Left 4 Dead 2 (L4D 2) followed the same type of story and gameplay as its predecessor, the main campaign follows four survivors, played via online co-op with three other players, where the point is to escape through a maze and myriad of zombies of all kinds. It’s a style of gameplay where teamwork absolutely counts, in L4D 2, it counts even more. Don’t even think about going solo — you’ll be picked to your bones very quickly. The new campaign follows four new survivors, this time they seem to be more varied with better personality, however the AI is still lacking a bit behind, where they’ll often run in front of you, despite that it’s very clear that you’re shooting a very big gun right next to them. But this, of course, is gone when you play co-op — which you should, that’s the whole point, anyways.

The campaign spans around 5 diverse maps, which are are now part of the same overall story, in style of classic survivor zombie movies, music and games, this time, set in the South. Good stuff, really. On top of that, there’s a 2 player split screen mode, which also works online, so you can team up with a friend in your living room, and join two other players online.

The new game modes include Realism, which, as the name suggests, offer a lot more pain-in-the-ass-tense action that the regular mode, something L4D junkies will certainly enjoy. There’s a ton of new weapons too, which include melee weapons as well, but with the exception of melee weapons, the guns available don’t have a good feeling to them, often come across as toy guns, both in looks, sound and feels. Valve has made Half Life, Counter Strike Source and Day of Defeat; all of which had weapons that were pretty solid. But not Left 4 Dead and L4d 2, unfortunately. It also brings us to another area where the game lacks: visuals. The Source Engine, while doing great in Episode 2 (over two years ago), seems to be far less advanced in L4D 2, the textures are bland, the visuals treats are rarely there and the effects have also taken a step back. This might have something to do with the fact that it’s a co-op multiplayer game and the maps are large, but still, it feels very 2004-ish.

The new content in L4D 2 is good enough to justify a $50 purchase for the die hard fans, but for everyone else, there’s isn’t much new in addition to the original game. If you haven’t tried to survival horror co-op shooter, you might as well pick up the first game, which is sold at around half the price. The gameplay is 99% the same, actually 100% but I’m sure Valve has changed one bit somewhere. Probably.

The Good:
Still fun gameplay
Interesting campaign
Nice audio and soundtrack

The Bad:
Looks dated
Some AI issues
No gameplay improvements

Overall score: 8/10

Hollywood usually takes most of the slack when it comes to criticism for lack of originality, but in fact, the video game industry is even worse at creating original content, it’s a world dominated by franchises of every kind, from sports to action games, publishers and developers are usually taking the easy and safe way: sequels. And spin offs. And remakes. Etc.

We’ve compiled a list of top 10 original games that are scheduled for release for 2010 — and it was quite a challenge: out of the 130 games confirmed for 2010 by major publishers and developers, we found 19 that were original. Just 19.

10: Brink (Spring 2010)

Brink, an FPS developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, centers around a two sides: Resistance and Security, and is a team based multiplayer shooter much like Quake Wars, which was also developed by Splash Damage. It looks promising as a multiplayer game, as it’s story based, much like Quake Wars, where one battle takes place over several maps, with a story connecting everything together.

9: Alpha Protocol (Spring 2010)

Alpha Protocol, developed by Obsidian Entertainment — developers of Star Wars: KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 — is a third person action RPG where the player assumes the role of Michael Thorton, a CIA agent who’s been betrayed and must not only fight his way through enemies, but also uncover the conspiracy that set him up.

8: Singularity (Q2 2010)

While time travel is a known concept in games, albeit underused, it’s still something that is difficult to fit in wiht the overall storyline, and the time feature never seems to be used properly. In Singularity, the player will have control over a TMD (Time Manipulation Device), a “weapon” which will be used to solve puzzles, for instance, if a door is locked, instead of looking for the key, you use the TMD and speed up time for the lock only, which will rust, and voila, door opened! Or use it on an enemy and watch him turn into a skeleton. The concept certainly seems intriguing, and offers some truly original puzzles.

7: Dante’s Inferno (February 9, 2010)

Dante’s Inferno has already caused a lot of controversy, from the fake E3 2009 protest, to gameplay elements where players can slay children. The gritty, hell based game is loosely based on the actual Inferno by Dante in The Divine Comedy, and the player assumes the role of Dante, who has to fight his way though monsters and demons in the 9 circles of hell, and decide whether he’ll be good and spare some (like children) or go reckless. It definitely looks as one of the darkest games of 2010.

6: MAG (January 26, 2010)

MAG (Massive Action Game) is a PS3 online FPS multiplayer who’s main feature is a massive 256 player online matches, with 128 players per team, divided into 8-player squads, 4 squads into a platoon, and 4 platoons into a company. With 256 players on the map, MAG is set to deliver some of the most intense and frantic combat yet, and will offer detailed stats and rankings, where higher ranked players will be able to command the battle and give orders to individual squads and platoons.

5: LA Noire (Q3 2010)

LA Noire, an open ended adventure game set in a recreated 1940s Los Angeles, which players can freely roam around, and chose to solve a number of murders around the city. The game has a great feeling of classic noir films based in LA, like LA Confidential, The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown, and draws inspiration from such works as well.

4: Rage (Q4 2010)

It’s been a while since Id Software has made an original game — actually, the last original game Id Software made was Quake, back in 1996. Id finally shows something new with Rage, a fusion between a first person shooter and a racing game set in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max styled world. It’s built with the all new Id Tech 5 engine, and shows very promising visuals, to say the least.

3: Heavy Rain (Q2 2010)

Heavy Rain has been on the radar since it was originally showcased at E3 2006, and will be released almost four years later, in Q2 2010. The gorgeous looking game centers around a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”, and players assume roles of different characters who try and solve the murders. It’s one of the most stylish and atmospheric games to come out in 2010.

2: Alan Wake (Q2 2010)

What Heavy Rain is for the PS3, Alan Wake is for the Xbox 360. Developed by Remedy, Alan Wake is a psychological thriller inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks and Stephen King novels, where players assume the role of Alan Wake, a writer who seeks refuge at a quiet place where he can write his next novel (much like Stephen Kings “Misery“). However, when his wife vanishes, it’s up to him to get her back.

1: APB (March 2010)

APB is not only the most original MMO game to his the stores in 2010, it’s also the most original game overall. It’s the classic cops vs. robbers gameplay, but on a massive scale, with endless customizations and options, tons of missions and weapons. Created by David Jones, the original creator for GTA, APB is hailed as everything he wanted to do wince he made GTA, and while originally trying to pitch and sell APB to Rockstar as GTA Online, it’s good that APB is on its own now, we need a great, original game. And an MMO that’s not fantasy based.