After rushing through Batman Arkham Asylum to play this game, I was very excited to see where the gameplay and the storyline went afterwards. I was not disappointed. It has a great story and is very fun.

(WARNING: Spoiler Alert for those who haven’t played Arkham Asylum)

In this new adventure you play as the Dark Knight once again who has been wrongly thrust into Arkham City (A prison city full of criminals) as Bruce Wayne by Dr. Hugo Strange, who knows Batman’s identity. You soon run into you good friend The Joker, who manages to knock you out and infect you with his tainted blood. You learn that The Joker is dying from side effects from the titan formula he injected into himself in Arkham Asylum and has infected you, and thousands in Gotham City with his blood, and he needs you to find an antidote to save him, yourself, and Gotham City.

In Arkham City, the fighting system is familiar and pretty much the same as Arkham Asylum with a few upgrades here and there, and can change further depending on how you decide to level your character. Throughout the story line there are also some small sections that you are allowed to play as Catwoman, these are few and far between, however it is a fun and interesting way to play. Arkham City feels a lot less linear than Arkham Asylum and makes it like a sandbox game with open exploration of the city, and many side missions and Riddler trophies to keep you occupied.

The challenge modes are fun and you can play as multiple different characters (if you buy the character packs). After beating the game you also unlock a New Game Plus mode, which allows you to play the game again with all of the weapons and abilities you have unlocked, but also starting everything off at a significantly higher difficulty level. And it also shares Riddler trophies, so that you don’t have to find the ones you have already found.

The Graphics in the game are beautiful and if you have a 3D television it looks great too unlike many 3D titles. I have found myself gliding across the city just to look at it. Batman Arkham City also has a ton of Batman characters in it that I’m sure you were hoping to see in this game that you actually meet, unlike Arkham Asylum.

Batman Arkham City is everything a Batman game should be. You can also play it as a stand alone title and don’t really need to play Arkham Asylum to get the storyline, but I think it is good to do and will fill many plot questions you may have. Batman is a great game and will keep you occupied for hours, even after you have finished the game.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC, Steam

Rating: 5 out of 5 Cheezes

~Logan

“The Samantha Turner-Folsom Memorial Fund”

Just a reminder that the game comes out tonight at midnight for all of you Modern Warfare fans. Happy Gaming to all.

~Logan

I was skeptical about playing Sonic Generations. There hasn’t really been a good Sonic game since the Dreamcast. But this time around, the Sonic Team seems to have been listening to what the Sonic fans have been saying. Sonic was at his best as a side scroller, and the only Sonic game that was great in a 3D world was Sonic Adventure.

In Sonic Generations you play as our beloved blue hedgehog. It starts out as Sonic having a party when out of nowhere, a monster that can travel through space and time starts messing with Sonic’s world. Sonic soon realizes that with the break in time that he is now running side by side with himself from the past. Sonic and Sonic work together to find out what is going on and how to put their world back together.

The story is kind of cheesy, but it kind of always has been. The gameplay is fantastic and well thought out. Each level has 2 acts, like the original Sonic games. In Act 1 you well be the old Sonic and play the level as a side scroller, and in Act 2 you play as the newer Sonic, playing much like Sonic Adventure, with some aspects of the newer Sonic games. You can switch between Sonics and decide which Acts you would like to play first. You can also upgrade Sonics abilities in an ability shop which you purchase with rings you earn. The boss fights are creative and fun, and after playing a few Acts you have to unlock the boss fights by collecting keys that you obtain for beating challenges which appear after beating all of the Acts before the boss. The challenges are also very fun and creative.

I usually don’t bring up level design in my reviews but in this game it really deserves recognition. The level design is fantastic and making the same style level in two extremely different types of gameplay is really awesome and makes the game flow very well.

Sonic does suffer from some common Sonic game problems, but none of them are so bad that you stop playing. The biggest problem is the occasional time when you are going so fast that you end up flying in a weird direction and falling off of the map leading to your death, this used to only be a problem in the 3D games, however it does occasionally happen in the 2D version, which is weird because you are not supposed to be able to go anywhere beside left and right, which makes it weird when you fall and die in the background or foreground.

Sonic Generations is the best Sonic game I have played in a long time. Sometimes the game can be frustrating, but it is the good kind of frustrating. The kind you would get while playing the original games, the kind that creates more determination and makes your victory that much better. Sonic Generations is a great game and well worth picking up if you are a Sonic fan old or new, especially at a release price that is $10 cheaper then the typical release price on the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, Nintendo 3DS (may not have the same rating), PC

Rating: 4 out of 5 Cheezes

~Logan

Before I played Batman Arkham City, I thought I should play Arkham Asylum which I had passed up when it originally had come out. Batman Arkham Asylum was very fun and I am very glad that I gave this game a try before jumping right into Arkham City.

In Batman Arkham City, you are the legendary Dark Knight. You have just busted The Joker and stopped him once again from reeking havoc on Gotham City, but you are concerned because you think it was a little to easy this time around. Fortunately for the gamer, Batman was right, and while bringing Joker to his cell in Arkham, Joker breaks out and takes Arkham Asylum for his own. You later find out why and need to stop Joker from accomplishing the big thing that I will not mention. I don’t want to give any spoilers away here, although it will probably come up during my Arkham City review. The story is really fun and you do end up running into some memorable characters (and some not so memorable).

The Gameplay is really fun, but at times can feel a little repetitive. However, right around the time you start feeling that way you will gain a new ability that will usually keep you going, along with wanting to finish the good storyline. You recover a quite a few abilities including the Batarang, a foam explosive, a Batman style lip-line gun and more. Batman also levels in this game and gets experience for completing missions, along with beating bad guys and finding the tons of Hidden items like Riddler trophies and other secrets in this game. Every level you can upgrade a weapon or your personal abilities.

I do have a few negative comments for this game as well. The gameplay can start feeling really stale after awhile. The fighting mechanics are fun, but repetitive. You unlock limited new combos, and when you do, often times you will find yourself forgetting to do them because you are bombarded by 12 enemies, or you keep trying and end up doing worse than you would fighting normally. The game is also very linear, only giving off a false illusion of freedom by adding a ton of hidden items in every nook and cranny.

Overall, Batman Arkham Asylum, is a great game. It is worth a try, especially if you plan on playing Arkham City. Plus, with the release of a new Batman game, it is nice and cheap right now.

Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Rating: 4 out of 5 Cheezes

~Logan

Stay tuned for my Arkham City review, its coming soon and is looking good. It also has already solved some of my Arkham Asylum issues.

Lonesome Road is the fourth DLC for Fallout: New Vegas. Lonesome Road is a good download to fill in some holes in the New Vegas story. It has decent gameplay and an interesting new character, as well as revisiting a previous robotic companion.

In lonesome road you find your companion ED-E (slightly upgraded) who most people have most likely run into already playing New Vegas. ED-E has some baggage from the past and you learn more of where he came from. While you continue on your journey, a man only known to you as Courier 6 starts broadcasting through ED-E and convinces you to come find him so you can answer some of your unanswered question. Along the road you learn more about Courier 6, the Courier who was originally supposed to carry the platinum chip, and learn the effects your actions have had along the lonesome road.

The story for Lonesome Road is good and fills you in on questions you may have had about your own backstory and how you tie into a bigger picture. The gameplay is fun but leaves a lot to be desired, especially since the Old World Blues DLC before it was so good. Lonesome Road is just that, you do not meet many characters at all along the road other than Courier 6, and the gameplay is extremely linear, which is very odd for Fallout. There are some new enemies which are fun and challenging. Like the other DLC, it also comes with more achievements, and some new interesting weapons.

Overall, Lonesome Road is great for story but leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to gameplay. If you are interested into delving deeper into your story then this is well worth the money, but might leave you feeling a little shorted otherwise.

Platform: Fallout: New Vegas for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC

Rating: 3 out of 5 Cheezes

~Logan

The list of Nintendo handhelds able to download this game are:

• Nintendo DSi (Nintendo DSi Shop)
• Nintendo DSiXL (Nintendo DSi Shop)
• Nintendo 3DS (Nintendo eShop)

~Logan

Dead Island was a happy surprise. I purchased this game largely out of peer pressure because I thought this was just going to be another one of the the countless zombie games out there. I couldn’t have been happier with bending to peer pressure on this game, most of the time it lets me down but Dead Island is one of the best games I have played in a long time.

The storyline of dead island is easy to overlook if you play multiplayer. So if you want to experience all sides of this game you should keep one character for an individual run through. In Dead Island you are one of four people, all of which have different backgrounds and specialties. You travel together with three others who are immune to the zombie virus, trying to find your way off of the infected island of Banoi, helping people along the way. I really don’t want to give much more than that because of potential spoilers. However, the story is slightly bland, but in this game there is so much more than story that keeps you engaged.

Dead Island has a fantastic mix of game mechanics that will remind you of games like Borderlands and Fallout 3. This, melded with the always fun multiplayer zombie hack and slash, make Dead Island a masterpiece, and one of the best new games of the year. The missions work very much like Borderlands and Fallout, where you have a main mission to complete at all times, but by running into people you can unlock side missions. There is also a unique leveling system that reminds me of some Final Fantasy grid leveling systems. Each character has unique abilities and the further you go down a certain grid the more abilities your character can unlock. You will also discover a vast amount of weapons that you can upgrade by finding blueprints. This upgrading reminds me a lot of Bioshock and Alone in the Dark. Like many RPG’s, Dead Island also has a New Game+ type thing after you beat the game that allows you to keep your level, all upgrades, and all weapons, while starting your game from the beginning. This is all without mentioning that the game gets exponentially better the more friends you are playing with. Dead Island managed to take all of the best qualities from a variety of fantastic games and mold them into one super game.

However, with all of the praise I have been giving this game, there are some flaws that irritate me, but never enough to make me stop playing or ranting about how great this game is. Unfortunately, Dead Island also managed to take a horrible aspect of games like Fallout 3. The game has a lot of weird glitches in it that become very irritating, and I found that some of these issues disappear on the Xbox 360 if you download it to the hard drive. However, I know that the PS3 and Steam have been having a lot of issues as well. But none of these issues seem to be stopping anyone from playing the game. A lot of people are also upset about not having the pre-order download content, but they currently postponed releasing these to work on the glitches in the game, which I think is good, and I am willing to wait awhile to have a more solid gaming experience.

Dead Island is one of the best games I have played in awhile and I would consider it a must buy for most gamers. If it wasn’t for the odd glitches within the game, Dead Island would be getting a perfect score. If you haven’t experienced this title then treat yourself and check it out.

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, Steam, PC

Rating: 5 out of 5 (when glitches are repaired), 4 out of 5 Now

~Logan

Magic the Gathering- Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 was a great game and since it came out I have played it a lot. But after you complete and unlock everything in the game you lose interest and don’t really play it. The expansion fixes this problem for awhile and adds some more great playtime into this game, as well as adding some features I had wanted in the game originally.

The expansion adds a new tab to the end of the rest of the game modes. This tab includes 6 one on one matches. The first 3 are the new opponents normal decks, and after beating these opponents you unlock their decks. The second 3 are like their revenge decks.

The expansion also includes a whole new complete grid for Archenemy. I was the most excite for this because this time you are the archenemy. It also allows you to play online as the archenemy. Within this grid there are more challenges to conquer as well.

This expansion also offers a few new achievements, which like the first set, are very easy to obtain. You get three new decks that each have 20 cards to unlock, and each previous deck gets an additional 4 cards to unlock (bringing those deck up to 20).

Overall this expansion did a very good job and finally added the human archenemy which I had wanted from the beginning, if you like Magic and already own the game, this expansion is a must have, however it may not last long if you do not plan on unlocking all cards for all decks like I do.

Platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, Steam

Rating: 4 out of 5 Cheezes

~Logan