The battle within finally begins. Final Fantasy XIII captures the true nature of story-telling in the pages of gameplay that make up the masterpiece of the narrative. Final Fantasy XIII ensorcells players into a world of action, and a contrasting dichotomy of good vs. evil which furthers the nurture and attention that an elegant storyline requires. The struggles make us forlorn to the protagonist, the themes make us feel in tune within the world, and the form and mood of the storyline allow us to experience a decent narrative. Final Fantasy XIII uplifts the senses in its outline through encapsulating the audience in a RPG with unforgettable storyline which grasps our hearts, a diverse cast with personalities that are a wonder to discover, and presenting a unique piece of art designed with Fabula Nova Crystallis in mind after a long wait which was well deserved. Despite problems of repetition through the linearity, Final Fantasy XIII brings form of emotional tenacity that is tangible every minute within the world of Cocoon, and action which engages the audience through every plot-twist woven through drama.  Final Fantasy XIII acquiesces a storyline that is exceptional, achieving some level of respect in the name of the Final Fantasy series.

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Battlefield: Bad Company was a premiere shooter that marked the entry of DICE into the first-person shooter series category designed for consoles exclusively on June 23^rd, 2008. Bad Company offered singleplayer, a decent online offering of 24 players from the native 64 from Battlefield’s 1 and 2, and provided a venue for console shooter fans to play if they did not fancy Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on Nov 7^th, 2007. Bad Company offered a markedly watered down version similar to elements of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in terms of multiplayer minus the ranks and perks system.   Not surprisingly enough, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a sequel that uses the same formula and delivers on what the first title came close to doing itself: being a game with an unoriginal storyline of revenge and profit centered on repetitive gameplay and missions structure, while capitalizing on the online warfare craze with bland online elements revolving around statistic aficionados that find an all too endless joy in the clunky destruction engine of the environment’s flawed realistic scope.

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The AMD ATI Radeon Sapphire Toxic HD 5850 brings a new era for increased level-enthusiasts to ramp up their gaming platforms to Microsoft’s DirectX 11 specification, while maintaining the core platform compatibility to use DVI-D, DVI-I, and finally HDMI for newer LCD monitors. The launch of the Radeon 5000 series has brought with it a change for consumers to meet not only a great price point, but benefit with the core integration of having features such as 1440 stream processors for every GFLOP unit and much more. Incredible design aside of the Toxic HD 5850, the AMD GPU launch of this latest card definitely quenches the thirst for a handful of enthusiasts from overclocking especially to pure stability per MHz increased.

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We are doing a massive giveaway, as previously detailed. This involves 8 beta key giveaways from our Blizzcon Starcraft II Beta key stashes of our editors and correspondents themselves. In addition, 4 winners will receive a BioShock 2 Game Guide and we will upgrade select chosen ones to Limited Edition. If that is not enough, we are also providing a game giveaway with 4 winners and 1 grand prize winner (cannot be eligible for both contests). All of the contestants will be chosen from our e-mail pool and the only requirement is that the winners actively participate with us for over 4 years via e-mail, which will help to narrow down the millions of possible entries from our readers.

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Starcraft II is irrefutably shaping up to be one of the best titles of 2010 in the RTS landscape, and this is all based on just what we have seen with one out of three faction campaigns.  Within this space opera adventure and sequel to perhaps one of the best RTS game of its time, Starcraft II lays a prominence which sways players into the nostalgic ruins of the lives of the terran, zertg, and protoss campaigns. We received our access to the single-player exclusive campaign preview January 16th, 2010.

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We are going to keep this short since we already have previewed the single-player campaign for this. The beta essentially details some missions that will be a part of Raynor’s adventure and fight in the new and changed universe. The beta highlights some key concepts and overall displays an incredible detail with aspects as the single-player campaign evolves. While actual differences are few, the multiplayer shows a lot of promise similar to the single-player campaign and a lot of offerings as the same field narrative mechanics.

Below is the invite to the beta we received January 17th, 2010 12:30 AM for our very eager, and incessantly e-mailing readers. Also, stay tuned for the big giveaway we are going to do with the Starcraft II Beta Giveaway. 8 very lucky people will receive a beta code for this [chosen from our readers that e-mail] which we obtained from Blizzcon 2008.

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The world has evolved games into two categories that are both worth a closer reveal. The high budget ‘blockbuster’ titles can become very generic and live on an established name whereas smaller titles which are full of creativity just do not pack the punch compared to a bigger offering. Heavy Rain is a refreshing title that has the major themes of a large release yet has the innovation and creativeness within the storyline and production value needed to really make this stand out from the rest. Created by Quantic Dream’s inspiration from Indigo Prophecy and renewed sense of exploration and experiment, Heavy Rain takes psychological thrill with attention to details and dares to do things which other titles simply do not try. Unfortunately with such minutiae of details, Heavy Rain comes bundled with large errors such as generic voice acting, and a lack of combat interactivity for an action thriller that all take their toll.  Regardless of the issues, Heavy Rain provides a great sense of exploration and takes innovative steps to draw players into a fascinating story full of intrigue and mystery.

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Aliens vs. Predator showed a lot of promise during its creative façade with developer Rebellion. The balance between different characters seemed to be shaping up nicely and improving on the core concepts from the film, but ultimately Aliens vs. Predator has failed to deliver by providing a bland singleplayer campaign, and a decent multiplayer offering.  Aliens vs. Predator features three campaigns that give fans a look into all three types of species and thereby offers different types of play. Regardless, Aliens vs. Predator depends too much on the nostalgia of the previous titles to create a form of withstanding entertainment other than the sheer fact of controlling aliens of predators. While certain moments of the game are interesting, the game has too many prominent defects from gameplay design, to mission compatibility that is short-lived and receding fun. Miserably so, while gliding along the walls as an alien sees a short-lived joy, Rebellion’s newest addition in the franchise relies on recycled elements that disregard the game in its entirety.

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Look above you as hundreds of people are parachuting towards their objectives. MAG reveals player ipseity through central command and engaging 256-player online matches that are a sight for the eyes to see. MAG is another wonderful creation from Zipper Interactive and Sony Computer Entertainment  (SCEE) to delve players into the strife of combat and the grueling circumstances in which it revolves.  While skirmishes are close and personal on an objective-based scale, MAG provides the thrill of bullets flying through the air and teamwork at an apex that is hard to withstand. MAG is without its problems such as small repetitive elements throughout the overall tone of the game, but becomes completely exhilarating during the moment. MAG undoubtedly presents a prodigious look into warfare and combat through an immense venue of a lot of squads and too much action at the same time. MAG is filled with objectives for different teams, formidable enemy squads, incredible map design, and a lot of opportunities to use individual skills and teamwork along with objective coordination to earn a powerful reward: the feeling of being a soldier and fighting for a greater cause.

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1968 has never been so cold and the water never this damp. Awaken as Subject Delta in 2K Marin’s BioShock 2, the sequel to BioShock that introduces the gaming world to an unraveling Dystopia in which philosophical individualism and seeping autocracy haunts the flooded corridors. BioShock 2 takes a very daring road to build upon the exotic backdrop of BioShock in which a plane crash lands the Protagonist Jack Ryan to the mysterious underwater world of Rapture. 2K Marin valiantly creates a new and recognizable atmosphere into a completely different storyline that evokes the responses through totalitarian dictatorship, improved gameplay based upon similar game interface as BioShock, and furthered incredible variety when it comes to the chills and haunting images that Rapture exudes. BioShock 2 furthers improvements and shooter mechanics beyond the first one and continues to up the par with a multiplayer mode from Digital Extremes. While something about the atmosphere, however, is not quite on par with the first title as things seem all too familiar and lose their substance that made the microscopicity of the original so daring, BioShock 2 still creates an atmosphere that is engaging and still very much provoking.  BioShock 2 incontestably creates an atmosphere that is prominent regardless of the familiarity that veteran players might feel and new players might not completely believe.

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