Actual in-game screenshot. Notice the health bar in the top left corner.

BioShock Infinite is set in 1912, and you assume the role of a character named Booker DeWitt. From the beginning, it’s revealed the he has been sent to Columbia (the floating city) to retrieve a girl named Elizabeth, in order to pay off a debt. The opening scene is very similar to BioShock, in that Booker ends up at a lighthouse and is given a care package containing some necessary objects for his quest. Before long, Booker makes his way to Columbia, and it becomes immediately clear that it is a very different city. And not just that it’s floating high above the earth, most noticeably, its inhabitants worship its founder as if he were a god; Comstock, or The Prophet, as he’s known to most.

Having completed my first play-through nearly a month ago, it’s taken me this long to form a proper opinion and really wrap my head around the events of BioShock Infinite. Its story is deep and quite complex, and one that will likely resonate differently, depending on how much the player absorbs and comprehends. Having played BioShock, I went into Infinite fully expecting a twist at some point, and it felt as if Irrational knew this would be the case for many people, and took steps to ensure there would still be some shocking moments. It was clear to me, right from the opening scene, that things aren’t what they seem, and that a second play-through would likely reveal a fair amount of foreshadowing. I simply took in as much as I could, and put the pieces together along the way. Thankfully, just about everything was addressed and concluded by the time the credits rolled, although the last 15-20 minutes left me scratching my head initially.

The skyhook is meant for transportation, but does a great job rearranging faces.

Once the game opens up and allows the player freedom to explore the city, things quickly take a turn for the worse, and after a rather gruesome scene, the guns come out and Booker is in the crosshairs. As you would expect, Infinite sticks to the BioShock combo in terms of combat. The usual arsenal of guns are at your disposal, along with spells that range from shooting electricity bolts, to lobbing fire bombs, to possessing enemies and turrets, and more. The spells compliment the guns nicely, or maybe it’s the other way around? For instance, you can zap enemies with electricity, then shoot them and their heads will explode… every, single, time. There are achievements tied to weapon and spell use, so I found myself constantly changing up my go-to weapons in order to nab them. Surprisingly, I enjoyed using all of them, and didn’t feel hindered by constantly switching it up.

Elizabeth. It’s pretty clear that she’s at the centre of, well, everything. But it’s not clear what role she plays, or why she’s so important. All Booker knows, is that he has to leave Columbia with her. The moment when Booker and Elizabeth are first together, a text prompt appears letting the player know that Elizabeth can take care of herself, which was a huge relief. I really didn’t want to have to babysit this broad for the bulk of the game, and that certainly was not the case. In fact, Elizabeth is pretty damn useful! She can pick locks, open safes, find money for you, and even restock your ammo, health, and salts (used for powers) as they’re depleted in combat scenarios.

There isn’t much that needs to be said about the visuals. The environments are absolutely stunning, and character animation is very good. Especially as far as Elizabeth is concerned. Her face is very expressive, and can be utterly heartbreaking at times. The music sets the mood perfectly, and is quite different from what I’ve come to expect from blockbuster titles. There’s no full orchestral score here. Most songs are performed by only a handful of instruments, but they truly fit the era. There’s a little Easter egg about half way through the game, which was one of my favourite moments, where Booker stumbles upon a guitar propped up against a chair. Once the player interacts with it, Booker sits down and begins to play, while Elizabeth accompanies him. The song she sings is echoed through-out the game several times.

I likely spent 15 hours on my first play through, as I was keeping an eye out for the collectible items and scouring every corner for loot. Although I haven’t returned to it since completing the story a few weeks ago, I have no intentions on selling BioShock Infinite or trading it in. I will definitely be playing it again, and have a feeling I’ll enjoy it just as much, if not more the second time through. The bar that BioShock set back in 2007 has indeed been raised.

Tomb Raider wastes no time in getting down to business. With very little initial setup, Lara is shipwrecked on an island and finds herself fighting for survival. She appears weak and tired, and downright terrified early on. The player is eased into the game’s exploration and combat mechanics by directing you to waypoints, and teaching you how to use a bow on helpless forest animals. Lara’s goal is to rescue her friends and leave the island, but of course, that’s easier said than done. Along the way, Lara is put through the ringer, both physically and emotionally. She’s forced to make tough choices, face extreme conditions, and accept great loss while continuing to move forward, all in the name of survival.

Difficulty progresses quite smoothly, although it never gets overly challenging. Especially when it comes to solving some of the game’s few puzzles. Unlike previous Tomb Raider games, this time around you spend very little time actually exploring tombs and solving environmental puzzles. When you are faced with a challenge, Lara will is quick to point out the key to solving it. Thankfully, she doesn’t think out loud automatically. A press of the left bumper enables a view that highlights way-points, enemies, ammo, collectibles, and other things Lara can interact with. Combat is much more challenging. Just when I was thinking, “I really wish Lara had a melee attack.” A new ability opened up, and Lara was suddenly able to strike enemies with her hatchet. Things got a lot easier for a while, as I found myself rushing bad guys and pummelling them to death with 3 quick blows. But the game was quick to end my reign of hatchet terror by introducing heavily armoured baddies. This happened quite a bit through-out the game; just when I thought I had the upper-hand, the table turned, and vice versa.

It would seem that the game industry is still on a bow and arrow kick. Like 2/3 of the games that came out in the past year, Lara’s primary weapon, and the one she’s wielding on the box art, is a bow. Unlike many of these other games, I thoroughly enjoyed hunting and killing with the bow, and preferred using it even after acquiring the other standard load-out weapons; handgun, shotgun, and assault rifle. Landing a headshot on a dude at long range with the bow is immensely satisfying, and likely what kept me slinging arrows through the entire campaign. That, and the fact that I never seemed to run out.

I was surprised by the level of gore in this game. Specifically, when it came to Lara dying. There are quite a few quick-time event riddled action scenes, which if not perfected, would result in Lara dying in an extremely grizzly fashion. But I will admit, I definitely died a few times on purpose, just to see how brutal it would be.

Tomb Raider feels absolutely rich with content. Beautifully rendered cutscenes set the stage and tell the story, while documents (journal entries, letters, etc) which are read aloud by their author, fill in the back story. As you would expect, Lara can track down (and steal) relics left behind by ancient civilizations. In previous games, there were bronze, silver, and gold relics. This time, each relic is a fully rendered 3D object, which Lara audibly analyses once found. This is just one of the example of the exceptional level of detail that has gone into this game.

My only real gripe with Tomb Raider, is that although it did a great job of depicting the beautiful young Lara as a strong and able woman, it made me feel a bit dirty at times. Some scenes were setup with perfect angles for peeking down her shirt, or watching her ass move from side-to-side as she scaled a cliff. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m in my thirties and she’s supposed to be early twenties, or maybe because I have a couple daughters of my own, or  perhaps because I am supposed to be Lara, but said scenes made me feel a little uncomfortable.

This particular reboot is one that I whole heartedly welcome, and applaud the developer for taking a chance on. It definitely nods to other games in the genre that have taken things to the next level over the years, like Uncharted, but does enough things differently on its own that it doesn’t feel like it’s ripping anything off. This is not only a great Tomb Raider game, it’s an excellent action adventure game, and one that will likely be on many “top games of 2013″ lists come December.

Why wasn’t I paying attention to begin with? Well, that all comes down to my history with the franchise. I recall picking up the original Far Cry (or, FarCry as it was called back then) for PC on release day. I had played the demo countless times, and was anxiously awaiting the full game. I don’t remember exactly why, but at some point it flat out stopped being fun to play, and I threw in the towel. The same happened with Far Cry 2 just a few years back, and I know that was all to do with tedious travelling. So while I played the previous games, I reached a point where I no longer wanted to continue playing, and never completed them. Thankfully, the pattern was broken with Far Cry 3, and I enjoyed every single second of the campaign. Minus being mauled by a tiger, or two.

Travel by air, land, or sea.

One of the neat things about the Far Cry games, is that they’re not a continuation of the previous game, in any sense. New location, new lead character, new story. One thing these games share in common though, is the beautifully rich jungle setting. It’s become a staple of the franchise, and the environment in Far Cry 3 is the most impressive yet.

There’s competitive multiplayer and 2-4 player co-op missions, but all I was interested in was the single player campaign, and it did not disappoint! It has one of the best intro sequences in a game that I’ve played in recent months. After a short scene, the stage is set and your thrown into a hostile environment, trying to stay alive. Without spoiling too much; you play a dude named Jason Brody, who is on this tropical island vacationing with his two brothers, girlfriend, and a couple others. They’re kidnapped for ransom, and of course, things go from bad to worse. Jason manages to escape, sets out to find his friends and get the fuck out of dodge. Along the way, he’s taken in by a tribe of natives who claim he is a warrior within, and brand him with their tattoos (or tatau, as they call them). His tattoo eventually turns into a half sleeve on his left arm, and with each new piece, a new ability is learned. Skill points are awarded as you progress, which are then spent on abilities (perks).

The camera is used to “tag” enemies and track their movements. Handy for planning an attack on an outpost.

The island itself is huge, and similar to Assassin’s Creed, the map is revealed in segments as you capture radio towers. There are countless activities to keep you busy long after the campaign is complete, or along side the main story. Such as; liberating enemy outposts, running supplies in timed point-to-point races, hunting challenges, assassination contracts, and other miscellaneous tasks for the locals. As you would expect in an open world game, there are plenty of collectibles to be found as well. Relics, lost letters from fallen world war 2 soldiers, loot crates, and memory cards taken from enemy laptops.

Citra, leader of the Rakyat tribe.

The story itself is pretty interesting, and delivers some nice plot twists. Character models, particularly the eyes, are pretty incredible. The game is played entirely first person; even during cut-scenes, you are always viewing the events through the eyes of Jason Brody. When characters are speaking to you, they truly feel like they’re speaking to you. Full eye contact, lots of emotion in their facial expressions, and top notch voice acting really bring these characters to life.

While you can play however you’d like; guns blazing, up-close and personal stealth kills, or long-range sniper action, the game puts an emphasis on stealth, and it’s actually required on more than one occasion. Once I unlocked all four of the weapon carrying spots, I was typically packing an assault rifle, sniper rifle with a silencer attachment, flamethrower, and grenade launcher. You always have a knife at the ready for stealth kills, so that’s 5 weapons, plus explosives (grenades, molotovs, mines, and c4 with detonator).

In the jungle, you’d expect to find a wide range of plants and animals. And this is true in Far Cry 3. But they’re not just there to be observed. The tribe teaches you to craft items that will aid you along the way from them. For example, leaves from different plants can be used to craft syringes that will give you health, or enhance hunting and combat abilities for a short time. Animal skins can be used to make weapon holsters, wallets, pouches for carrying items, etc. Once I acquired a sniper rifle, I went on a hunting spree and upgraded my gear so I was able to carry loads of items and weapons.

I don’t have many beefs with Far Cry 3. If anything, there could have been more checkpoints during some of the longer missions. Dying, and having to replay a 3 or 4 part sequence was kind of a bummer. Load times are super long, and not just the initial load. Even when you’re retrying a mission after dying, it can feel like an eternity at times. But given that there is no intermittent loading once you’re on the island, it’s really nothing to complain about. I’m just looking for negatives now, and not finding much worth bringing up.

Of all the games I played over the past year, I’d say Far Cry 3 is near the top, if not at the top of my most favourite list. It’s technically impressive, delivers an entertaining and engaging story, and is simply a hell of a lot of fun to play!

Harper is voiced by the guy who plays Merle in The Walking Dead.

First of all, remember when everyone (myself included) used to groan about the Treyarch developed CoD games? Those days are behind us, and they have definitely proven to be a worthy handler of the franchise. In fact, they’ve done more to push it forward than Infinity Ward, at least since the release of Modern Warfare back in 2007.

I always found the Modern Warfare titles to be a bit on the confusing side, as far as the story is concerned. They certainly weren’t easy to follow, with missions jumping between characters and factions, story arcs overlapping, and lots of enemies with foreign names I can’t pronounce, let alone remember. Granted, the Black Ops games still share some of these traits, but not to the same degree. It’s dumbed down to the point where it’s still fairly complex, but easier to follow and overall more interesting.

An elderly Frank Woods speaking with David Mason.

For most of the campaign, you play as David Mason, Alex Mason’s son. He reaches out to Frank Woods, who now spends his days sitting in a wheelchair in a retirement home, in hopes that Woods can shed some light on an enemy who threatens to unleash a cyber attack on the world. Present day is 2025, and most of the campaign jumps back and forth between then and events that took place in the 1980s, as Woods recounts some of his covert missions to fill in the blanks.

What pushes Black Ops II ahead of the rest, is the addition of choice in the single player campaign. At first, I didn’t even realize story changing decisions were being left up to me, until something happened and I was given a chance to redeem myself. Without spoiling anything; there’s a point where you’re sent to extract a target. The mission can end with you successfully extracting the target, or with the enemy escaping with the target. If the latter happens, a secondary (Strike Force) mission is opened up, which gives you a second chance (this is actually the name of the mission) to try and extract the target. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen something like this happen in a single player game, where you’re given an opportunity to correct a mistake, and the outcome affects the story progression. Very cool!

As the campaign plays out, several Strike Force missions become available, depending on your actions. You are given limited teams for use in these missions, and failing one will give the chance to try it again, but you end up with one less team for later missions. Thankfully, I completed all Strike Force missions on my first attempt. Each mission is completely different, and they range from extraction, to capture and hold, to straight up defense. The first mission is particularly different, in that you’re given multiple teams to command, which you can control from an overhead map, or assume the role of individual units. You can even jump between units with the press of a button; this totally reminded me of Battlefield 2: Modern Combat. The Strike Force missions are only available for a set amount of campaign missions, and as I mentioned earlier, their completion affects the story, so they’re absolutely worth doing. Aside from that, they’re a lot of fun!

Since a good chunk of the campaign takes place in the future, there are plenty of new weapons and gadgets at the ready. Some of which, are a huge amount of fun to use. When replaying missions, future weapons can be used in the past (there’s actually an achievement for doing this), which means you can replay the entire campaign with your favourite future weapon, if you so desire. I believe this is the first CoD game where you can actually customize your load-out before each mission, even during the initial play-through.

There are five possible endings, which would require five full play-throughs to see. Or of course, you could find them on YouTube, but where’s the fun in that? To add a bit more incentive for additional play-throughs, there are achievements which are only possible to obtain by following a specific chain of events.

I haven’t bothered with the multiplayer or zombie modes. At this point, with so many other games on the table, it’s hard to find time for it, and this brand of multiplayer gaming isn’t my cup of tea.

I have to hand it to Treyarch. They really delivered this year, and have made Black Ops II a stand-out game in this long running series.

If you like going into a game knowing absolutely nothing about it, you’ll want to skip this paragraph. In the first 10 minutes of the game, you assume the role of The Empress’ personal guard Corvo, who has just returned from a couple months abroad. The Empress is assassinated, her daughter and heir to the throne kidnapped, and Corvo is framed for the murder. Days before his execution, he’s broken out of jail by a group of loyalists who set him on a path of redemption, with the ultimate goal of overthrowing the current regime and reinstating Emily, the true heir. The city of Dunwall has been overrun by a plague spread by rats, which basically turns people into zombies. Streets are littered with linen wrapped deceased, waiting to be hauled away.

The “wall of light” is like a mosquito zapper, for people.

One of the things that really turned me off, was the mix of old world, high-tech, and fantasy. If scientists can make a weapon that can instantly vaporize multiple people, why are they still wielding swords and single-shot pistols? Surely they could craft better, more efficient weapons. It just doesn’t mesh, and makes the world of Dishonored a little harder to believe.

The city of Dunwall felt eerily familiar. It took me nearly the entire first play-through to put my finger one it, then A-HA! So much of the visual aesthetic, architecture, and even some of the characters reminded me of Half-Life 2.

This totally reminds you of Half-Life 2, right? Just me?

The actual game play is where Dishonored truly shines. You’ve likely read elsewhere how there are many paths you can take to reach your goal, and this is true for the majority of the game. For example, in order to reach a point a few blocks down the street, you could do any of the following:

• Stick to the shadows and silently assassinate the guards, one by one.
• Head to the sewers and travel beneath the street. But watch out for swarms of rats and plague infected zombie-like humans.
• Hop up to the rooftops and stay out of sight completely.
• Possess a rat and sneak passed the guards.

This aspect of the game can be really neat, and the truly remarkable part is that any path you choose feels like the right one. If you’re stuck on a spot, there’s no sense in trying the same thing over-and-over. A simple tactic change will usually get you through it.

Fucked.

But all of this freedom isn’t without a fault. I was hoping for true freedom, in that I could run through guns blazing if I felt like it. And some times, I did. Opening fire on a slew of enemies resulted in death, every single time. Generally, health potions are in short supply, and it only takes two or three blows from a sword to take you out. There is an enemy weapon that yields magic powers useless, which makes combat scenarios even more difficult. I learned quickly that you basically want to avoid combat whenever possible, and it’s usually easier to flee a situation than to stand your ground and fight.

Summon a swarm of rats to devour an enemy alive.

Speaking of magic powers; I had a lot of fun with these! Right off the bat, you’re given the “blink” ability. Which allows you to jump a short distance in an instant. It’s basically short range teleportation. You can use it to reach heights you otherwise couldn’t, or place yourself a foot in front (or behind) an enemy for a quick kill. Powers are purchased using runes, which are a collectible item found through-out the world. I spent my runes on extra health slots, upgrading blink, and “dark vision” at the beginning. Dark vision is essentially thermal (or heat) vision, which allows you to see enemies through walls. Even their line of sight is shown, so you can tell which way they’re facing. I’m sure a lot of people would rather play without these powers, as they greatly reduce the difficult and take a lot of the challenge out of situations where you need to remain unseen, but they made the game much more enjoyable for me.

Another thing that makes Dishonored stand out, are the decisions left up to the player. While browsing the achievements list, I was surprised to see achievements for completing the game without being detected, and without killing anyone except the main targets. Even then, many of the main targets could be spared, if you chose to. It was interesting to see people’s perspective of Corvo change as the body count climbed. As I mentioned earlier, I found remaining undetected pretty difficult, so ended up killing quite a few enemies. Although I did end up sparing some of the main targets, and finding other ways to deal with them by way of side-quests.

While there were some great moments, and I did enjoy a lot of the time spent traversing Dunwall, overall I didn’t enjoy Dishonored all that much. I pretty much only stuck with it because I bought it, and wanted to at least see it through. Its slow pace and obvious story left a lot to be desired.

The core game is right in line with the others that have come before. So if you’re familiar with the LEGO games, you’ll feel right at home. At least for the first 30 minutes or so. Once the prologue and the first level has been completed, you are dropped into Middle-earth, where you’re free to roam about, or head directly to the next story level. There’s a constant trail of faint blue studs that leads the way to the next level, or a custom waypoint if you change it manually.

If you’re familiar with the films, you’ll no doubt get a kick out of this game. At least watching the cut-scenes will make you chuckle, as some of the more serious scenes are softened by childish humour. I was stoked to be able to introduce The Lord of the Rings to my 4 year-old daughter, and not have to worry about her having nightmares from visions of orcs and goblins.There was one point that she started to get a bit nervous, and that was in the mines or Moria, when the Balrog is approaching. His roar can be heard in the distance, and shadows created by his flames dance on the walls. But when he came crashing through the gate, he let out a monstrous belch, and my sweet little girl erupted with laughter. This was beautifully handled by TT Games.

One of my favourite things about these LEGO games, is seeing what TT Games focuses on, and what they omit. I watched a couple of developer interviews, and one of the things they said they loved about the films, was the scene where Gimli gives Aragon permission to toss him during the battle of Helm’s Deep. As such, there are spots in the game where you have to pick up Gimli and toss him to break objects in order to solve puzzles, and proceed through levels. Sam is actually the most useful character out of the Fellowship, in that he can dig, plant, light fires, and has the elven rope. Frodo has the Phial of Galadriel, which can light up dark areas, and the elven cloak of invisibility. Merry and Gollum can fish, while Pippin can collect water to extinguish fires. Legolas, like Sam, is quite useful and I spent a great deal of time in his shoes. The elves can jump higher than other characters, are acrobatic, and of course Legolas is an archer. Aragon is pretty useless, until he’s wielding Andúril, as there are certain objects that can only be destroyed by it, and he’s able to defeat the undead. And lastly, there’s Gandalf, the grey and white. There really isn’t a whole lot of use for Gandalf, and puzzles that require magic to solve are few and far between.

As with other LEGO games, The Lord of the Rings has its faults. And sadly, many of the same bugs and glitchy behaviour I’ve experienced in other titles are present here. Difficulty with platforming sections is increased by a stubborn camera, poor collision detection, and lack of shadows under characters while they’re jumping. Thankfully, the only real punishment you receive is a loss of studs when your character dies, and having to re-do whatever action you’re performing. Still, I found myself quite frustrated at least a few times.

Outside of the levels that make up the story of The Lord of the Rings, there’s plenty to do in Middle-earth…

There are 250 mithril (metal found in Middle-earth) bricks scattered throughout the land, which often require intricate platforming puzzles to be completed before obtaining the brick. Citizens of Middle-earth, and even some of the baddies, will ask for your assistance in locating a specific item, or for you to have the blacksmith forge something. Items are forged from mithril bricks, and some items require upwards of 16 bricks. So if you’re in it for the 100% completion achievement, you’ll be tracking down all 250 of those bricks. But before you can forge an item, you need the blacksmith design. These are mostly found within the levels themselves, but also in the free roam area.

Red bricks are still around, which grant you access to extras (cheats). Instead of having to find hidden red bricks in levels, we’re now tasked to complete a fetch quest, where the reward is a red brick. Of course, the red brick still has to be purchased once it’s been obtained, and they can cost upwards of 10,000,000 studs. In the end, the process of obtaining and purchasing a certain red brick can take quite a while, as you first have to locate or forge the item that’s required to obtain it. I hunted down the 2x, 4x, quest finder, mithril brick finder, and red brick finder bricks first, which made things quite a bit easier moving forward.

As with previous games, at the end of each level, new characters are unlocked and can be purchased for free play, and now free roam. Free roam of Middle-earth is only available once the campaign has been completed, so I didn’t bother buying any characters until I was done my first play-through. I believe the LEGO Pirates game was the first to require you to track down and defeat a character, before you can purchase them. I prefer the old method of going to a kiosk and flipping through all of the available characters, as it’s less time consuming. Also keeping in line with previous LEGO games, some characters have special abilities that are required for accessing certain areas, and completing puzzles.

It likely took a solid 15 hours to get through all of the levels, mind you, I was mostly playing co-op with my daughter. It’s probably more like a 10-12 first play-through, but as I’ve pointed out, there is plenty to keep you playing long after the campaign has been completed.

Simply put, I adore the LEGO games. More so, when I’m familiar with the context. In this case, I’ve watched the films a few times over, and found myself reciting lines along with the characters on screen while playing this game. As a one-time play-through, LEGO The Lord of the Rings is a fun-filled and extremely enjoyable experience. And for those that like collecting objects and solving puzzles, there are hours upon hours of additional content to keep you busy. At a budget price point, it’s hard to deny LEGO The Lord of the Rings.

Perhaps a more appropriate title for NFS: Most Wanted (2012) would have been Burnout Paradise 2, as it shares more with Burnout Paradise than it does with the original NFS: Most Wanted. This is the second Need For Speed reboot to be developed by Criterion; they handled 2010′s NFS: Hot Pursuit. And this time, they dipped into their own resources more than that of Need For Speed’s legacy. And don’t get me wrong, this is not a bad thing. I was just surprised to see so many similarities and things flat out taken from Burnout Paradise.

The single-player end of NFS: Most Wanted, is an open world driving/racing adventure, that allows you to wreak havoc on the fictional city of Fairhaven, and its surroundings. There’s a brief introduction in the form of a fly-over of the city and a voice over which once again reminded me of Burnout Paradise, then you’re off to the races, literally. From this point, you’re pretty much on your own, and left to play the game however you’d like. As previously stated, the end goal is to become the city’s most wanted, and to do that, you have to climb the ladder. But in order to challenge the top racers, you have to earn experience points. XP is earned by completing events, driving milestones, and getting into trouble with the law.

One thing that is drastically different from any other racing game out there, is how cars are unlocked. Instead of being awarded as you progress, you simply find “jack spots” through-out the city, which allow you to instantly hop in and drive. Each vehicle has its own set of events (5 total), and a series of upgrades which are unlocked by earning XP and completing milestones with the vehicle. This means you could find yourself driving a Lamborghini within the first few minutes of the game, instead of having to progress through hours of gameplay. This definitely negates any sense of fulfilment in terms of getting your hands on the hottest cars, but I think I prefer this approach. In fact I, for the most part, found myself driving exotic or high-end luxury cars. Once one of the top 10 have been beaten, you have a chance to “shut them down” and own their ride. As you would expect, these are some of the best cars in the game.

While I played Criterion’s NFS: Hot Pursuit, I didn’t complete it. The police chases became far too tedious, and a couple of glaring bugs totally shat on my parade. Thankfully, NFS: Most Wanted didn’t suffer the same fate. I actually found myself purposely getting into trouble and triggering pursuits, as I was having a lot of fun blowing through road blocks and slamming into cruisers. Granted, when you’re driving one of the game’s fastest cars, it can be pretty easy to escape by simply maxing out the throttle and hitting the nitrous button on a long stretch of highway.

It’s hard to estimate how long it would take to complete the main event, if that’s all you were going for. As I often found myself being side-tracked by a billboard spotted in the distance, or headlights while driving through an alley. Aside from billboards to smash and jack spots, there are also security gates to break through, and speed cameras to trigger. Each of these collectible elements have achievements tied to them, so people like me will spend hours tracking them down. I reached a point where I only had a few left of each, so I pulled up a map on my iPad and hunted down the remaining. Billboards and speed cameras have leaderboards, so you can see how you stack up against your friends. Speed cameras obviously track your speed as you blow passed them, while billboards keep tabs on the distance you jumped as you crashed through. Once a billboard has been smashed, it shows the name and avatar (or gamer picture) of the top player on your friends list. This was incentive enough for me to try and top my friends at every turn.

I’ve heard good things about the multiplayer end of NFS: Most Wanted, but I only spent a few minutes with it. I immediately felt like I was at the bottom of the barrel and had little chance against my opponents. Perhaps you level up quick and it’s not as unbalanced as it seemed, but I really didn’t have any fun during the few races I did online.

Honestly, I was pleasantly surprised by NFS: Most Wanted. After a disappointing run with NFS: Hot Pursuit a couple years ago, I wasn’t even planning on picking up NFS: Most Wanted until it was in the discount bin. After reading people raving about it on Twitter, I decided to pick it up, and I’m sure glad I did. My time spent with NFS: Most Wanted was thoroughly enjoyable, and I absolutely recommend this game for fans of the arcade racing genre. And of course, for anyone who had a lot of fun with Burnout Paradise.

Propagandhi – Status Update
Perhaps the greatest 1:03 to be recorded in 2012. Propagandhi’s latest album “Failed States” absolutely shreds from beginning to end.

Hot Water Music – Drag My Body
HWM made a triumphant return in 2012, with their first album in 8 years. “Exister” surpassed my expectations, and is easily one of my favourite HWM albums.

A Wilhelm Scream – Boat Builders
Simply put, A Wilhelm Scream are incapable of writing shitty music. They only released this single in 2012, but it’s enough to hold me over until their next full-length is released.

Pennywise – All Or Nothing
Another old favourite who returned in 2012, but this time with a new singer. It could have gone either way, but I absolutely love “All Or Nothing” and feel it’s the best Pennywise album in years.

The Gaslight Anthem – Too Much Blood
I’ve been listening to The Gaslight Anthem for a few years, and have always liked them, but never thought they were a great band. Good, but not great. That changed with “Handwritten”.

Lucero – Like Lightning
That piano! Lucero’s brand of southern rock and roll soothes the soul, and goes down smooth with whiskey neat.

Old Man Markley – Blood On My Hands
I have a hard time sitting still while listening to Old Man Markley. And I can’t say I ever thought I’d be stoked on a band with a banjo and a washboard.

Matt Skiba and The Sekrets – Voices
If you didn’t know better, you’d think this was Alkaline Trio, and that’s not a bad thing.

The Beatdown – Leave Me
I’m still pretty big into ska and reggae, and there’s still some great new bands coming out of Montreal. The Beatdown is one of them.

We Are The Union – Dead End
Even harder to come by than a good ska band, is a good ska-punk band. We Are The Union remind me of late 90s ska-punk, and I absolutely love how they go from straight ahead fast punk to ska a break-down in a matter of seconds.

No Doubt – Push and Shove
Admittedly, No Doubt is totally a guilty pleasure. I loved their earlier ska tunes, and when I saw a checkerboard on their new album’s cover, I decided to give it a listen, and was pleasantly surprised. It’s not all good, but the title track is pretty great.

Chuck Coles featuring Chuck Ragan – Bottom of a Well
Chuck Coles is an old friend of mine, and we played in a band together for several years. To see him accompanied by Chuck Ragan of Hot Water Music totally hit home, and I couldn’t be more proud of the dude. I’ve always known Chuck to be an amazing songwriter, and it’s great seeing him getting recognized for his talent.

While they may have missed their mark in terms of release dates, the last 3 episodes of The Walking Dead more than made up for it with a compelling story, interesting characters, and some of the most emotionally driven scenes I’ve witnessed in a video game in recent years. “Wow, I can’t believe they went there.” was something I said to myself a few times through-out the game. None of us have lived the horror that is a zombie apocalypse  so it’s hard to say what would really happen. But one thing we know for sure, is that humans are generally greedy assholes, and will do whatever it takes to survive. On the flip side, there will always be the selfless few who sacrifice themselves and/or their well being for the benefit of others. We see both sides of the coin in The Walking Dead.

The greatest thing I took away from playing this game, is watching the relationship between Lee and Clementine evolve. Maybe it’s because I have a young daughter of my own, but I totally related to Lee and his desire to do whatever he could to keep Clementine safe. Many of the decisions I made were based on what was best for Clementine, which included keeping Lee close at all times. I only trusted a couple of the other characters through-out the 5 chapters, as just about everyone proved that they would put themselves first when push came to shove. Even Kenny, who grew quite close to Lee, didn’t seem like someone who would put Clementine before himself if it came down to it.

The Walking Dead packs quite a bit of variety in the scenery and the types of tasks you find yourself doing. It never felt repetitive or mundane, and the lengthy conversation drive scenes had my full attention. Not all of them require input, but some have you making split-second decisions that can mean life or death for members of the group. It’s hard to pull the trigger when you haven’t had a chance to process the consequences, but often enough you aren’t given that luxury.

Episodes 3 and 4 are a good length. Clocking in at somewhere between 2-3 hours, with episode 4 being the longest of the series. Or at least, it felt the longest, in that it covered the most ground. The finale, episode 5, felt incredibly short, taking only a little over an hour to complete. That was disappointing , without a doubt, and I could tell by how fast the achievements were popping that it would be over in no time. I would have liked to have seen things play out differently in the end, and one major plot twist felt like it was tacked on after the rest of the story had been written. But all in all, The Walking Dead is an excellent experience like no other.

Despite having been up against AAA titles like Assassin’s Creed III, Mass Effect 3, and Dishonored, The Walking Dead took home the Game of the Year award at the 2012 Spike TV VGAs. It also won Best Performance By a Human Female (Clementine) and Best Downloadable Game. It’s not my GoTY, but it’s definitely in the top 5. The Walking Dead from Telltale Games should not be missed.

Sights & Sounds

Since 343 Industries is now at the helm, everything looks, sounds, and feels a bit different, but at the same time very familiar. Master Chief and Cortana are voiced by the same actors, but that’s about it for familiar sounds. Weapons, grenade explosions, vehicle engines, jetpacks, etc., have all new sounds, and for the most part, are a nice change from the old. I was never a fan of the original sniper rifle, which kept a similar look and sound from the original game. It has been redesigned in Halo 4, and the loud crack it lets out when you squeeze the trigger is much more satisfying. Best of all, Halo 4 looks absolutely amazing! It is a definite step up in the visuals department, both with pre-rendered cinematics and in-game art work.

One thing I was curious about, was the original score. Martin O’Donnell has composed all of the previous Halo games (with the exception of Halo Wars), and the music plays such an important role, that it can often make or break a game. Thankfully, Halo 4′s composer Neil Davidge did a fantastic job! There are a hints of some of the prolific themes from previous Halo games, but most of it is entirely new and quite good. I found myself being reminded of Battlestar Galactica, Mass Effect, and the recent Metroid games, which is not a bad thing. I hope to hear some of the themes from Halo 4 carried through the next iterations of the franchise.

The Campaign

As expected, Halo 4 is a complete package, and one that will keep us busy for months or even years to come. The campaign, which can be played solo or co-op with up to 4 players, is the main course. It starts off with an incredible cinematic that brings the player up to speed with previous events, and sets the stage for the adventure that is about to unfold. In it, we see multiple Spartans take up arms against the Covenant threat, and Dr. Halsey (creator of the Spartans, and Cortana) being interrogated by the military. Suddenly, Master Chief is woken from chiro sleep by Cortana after drifting in space for over 4 years, and the shit quickly hits the fan.

I started the campaign on Heroic, as this is the difficulty I typically play Halo games solo on, but rather quickly restarted the first chapter on normal. Ammo is extremely sparse, and with enemies dodging grenades and soaking up bullets, I ended up getting my ass handed to me over-and-over. This was the first noticeable difference between a 343i Halo game, and a Bungie Halo game. Bungie does extensive play testing, to ensure everything is well balanced and the player has the tools they require at their disposal to get the job done. The player should never have to leave a battle to go and find ammo, and I don’t recall ever having to do this in a Bungie Halo game. In Halo 4, this is a regular occurrence, and one that quickly wears on the nerves. I found that I eventually got in the habit of scavenging the area after a conflict, before moving on to the next. The ammo shortage makes UNSC weapons pretty much useless, as there are rarely weapon caches to refill ammo. There is a new alien threat, which brings a new line of weapons to the table. So instead of 2 or 3 new weapons, we have an entirely new arsenal to play with. I’m not sure if it’s because they’re shiny and new, or really are that good, but I found myself picking up these new weapons whenever they were available.

The story is much simpler than that of previous Halo games, and for the first time ever, shows a very human side of both Master Chief and Cortana. Not only them, but the military personnel they encounter as well. Master Chief has always been portrayed as a heroic killing machine, with little emotion and virtually no weaknesses. In Halo 4, we see him go through the ringer, on both emotional and physical sides. His relationship with Cortana is much more personal, and she too exhibits human behaviours and characteristics. At one point, she actually asks Chief to promise here that by the end, he figures out which one of them is human.

This brings me to Cortana herself. She’s been with us from the get-go, helping Chief unravel mysteries and find his way across the galaxy. She’s been his personal assistant in the form of an AI, and that’s been about the extent of it. In Halo 4, her role extends to that of a love interest, who shows genuine concern for the well being of the soldier who totes her around, and her fear of losing him is obviously apparent.

Also new to the Halo franchise, is the introduction of an arch-enemy. A single threat that Chief must face to ensure the safety of the human race. This threat completely out-ranks Master Chief in size, strength, knowledge, and ability. How he will be defeated is unclear until the final moments of the campaign, which left me with a feeling of despair right through until the end.

Mission types vary, which keeps things interesting as you play through the campaign. As with previous Halo games, Master Chief fights on foot, in land vehicles, and in the air. Each type of game play is very fun, and I didn’t find myself favouring one over the others, which is kind of remarkable. Each sequence seemed to be of perfect length, that when it was time to move on, I wasn’t disappointed and felt like I got my fill.

I clocked in at 6:59 during my first play through of the campaign on normal difficulty, playing solo. I definitely didn’t rush through, but playing on the harder difficulties would surely extend that time. There are a handful of mission based achievements to go after, and hidden terminals scattered through-out seven of the eight chapters. I will be replaying the campaign at least once more with my wife, on Heroic.

Spartan Ops

New to the franchise, is a co-operative mode called Spartan Ops. At first, I assumed it was simply a replacement for Firefight, but it’s much more than that. At launch, one episode of Spartan Ops was available, with 5 episodes in the chapter. A pre-rendered cinematic accompanies each episode, which drives the story. Each chapter is fairly short, taking anywhere from 5-15 minutes to complete co-operatively. Playing solo is quite difficult, even on easy.

Within a week of launch, the second episode has been released, and I enjoyed it even more than the first. I feel like it goes back to Bungie’s theory of “3 minutes of fun”, where each chapter is a quick dose of battle, that is fun and satisfying from beginning to end.

It’s been said that we can expect 10 full episodes (each with 5 chapters) of Spartan Ops to be released for 10 weeks following launch. This is pretty exciting, given how much fun this new mode is to play. One thing to keep in mind though, is that there doesn’t seem to be a way to use matchmaking to find public games of previous episodes, so if you’re planning to play through them, make sure you stay on top of the new episodes as they’re released. Otherwise, you’ll have to play them locally, or via custom games with friends.

War Games

War Games is simply the competitive multiplayer mode of Halo 4. One-on-one, and team based game modes that will be familiar to veteran Halo gamers, with some new twists on traditional modes. King of the Hill has been my favourite to play so far, as its objective based game play keeps the action frantic, and the grenades flying. Flood mode, is a new take on the previous Infected mode, where 2-3 players start off “infected”, and pass on the “disease” on to others by killing them, the slain player then re-spawns as Flood. The objective is to survive and beat the clock.

There are a few noticeable differences in the multiplayer department. First of all, there are virtually no announcements during gameplay, aside from objectives in modes like King of the Hill and Capture the Flag. Badges and commendations are still earned, but are much more subtle during the game. There is of course, the post game carnage report where you can get a good look at all of the badges you received during the match. Players are awarded ordinance drops of their choice after performing streaks. Typically, you can choose between offensive or defensive perks that are dropped instantly on the battlefield for the player to pick up. Another beneficial change, is that weapons are clearly marked on your HUD, along with their distance. This helps level the playing field, as those that have played the maps several times and know exactly where things are no longer have the advantage. At least when it comes to weapon locations.

Overall, my experience with Halo 4′s competitive multiplayer has been positive.

Unlockables and Customization

Similar to Halo 3, player customization options in the form of armour are unlocked by earning XP and levelling up. A single point is earned for each level you achieve while playing Spartan Ops and War Games, and points can be spent on unlocking weapons, abilities, and perks that can be used in custom load outs. Similar to other modern shooters, Halo 4 now allows the player to create custom load outs which can be used in Spartan Ops and War Games. Many of the load out options require you to reach a certain rank before you can even spend your hard earned points on them. This, along with the same type of rank and commendation requirements for unlocking armour, give the player quite a bit to strive for. Personally, I can’t wait to reach level 22, where some of the new alien weapons are unlocked.

Welcome Back, Chief

I must say, I’m pleasantly surprised by the stellar job that 343 Industries has done with this beloved franchise. The ammo shortage is the only real damper I found on this otherwise excellent and extremely well polished package. I would not only recommend Halo 4 to long-time fans of the franchise, but for those who perhaps weren’t fond of Halo games in the past. Halo 4 is definitely still a Halo game through-and-through, but 343i’s refinements have shaped it into something a bit more magical, and a heck of a lot more enjoyable.