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.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 creates another compendium of unoriginality through a drastically exaggerated sense of camaraderie, a predictable and unimaginative set of personas within the Bad Company, and furthermore a narrative that is as pedestrian as the missions themselves. Battlefield: Bad Company ended with the main characters driving off with a truck full of gold and features similar characters. Private Preston Marlowe is still the “newbie” (player character), Haggard is the Alabama bomb-tech, and Sarge is still the commanding captain.  After losing the gold, the characters end up back in Bad Company, a rogue B-Company squad. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 starts with the rescue of a prisoner that is captured in the jungle.  Of course, Bad Company is given an offer of rescuing the soldier in order to go home, but things go from bad to worse in more than one way. The storyline continues on the trend of the Bad Company carrying out missions to alleviate the world of a foreign threat.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 seems to be extremely traditional, but unfortunately if this was the case in the sense of the franchise, Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2 would still both not be considered far superior titles in terms of gameplay mechanics, singleplayer, and multiplayer. Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s vapid single-player campaign establishes a lot of the flaws in the gameplay elements that makes Battlefield: Bad Company 2 lacking in elements such as believability and variety. The players control Preston Marlowe and embark on the campaign missions where the core mechanics are dreadfully simple, and unfortunately repetition and lack of attention to detail leaves Battlefield: Bad Company 2 extremely antiquated. The gun mechanics for the most part are simple of any first person shooter: point and shoot. The key thing that made Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, a symbol of great first-person shooters, such a craze was not the simple fact of point and shoot elements, but the title had a lot of nuances in terms of level design, mission structure, and even a focused set of weaponry. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 strides upon the same mediocre facets that Battlefield: Bad Company did: it solely relies on giving players weaponry, something to shoot at, and does not consider anything else to broaden the gameplay. Furthermore, lack of variety in enemy types and randomly a lot of cowboy-hat wearing enemies are just a sight for disappointment. Grenades do not have an indicator for other players to avoid, so it becomes hard to avoid them as the terrible A.I. uses grenades all too often. Teammate/Squad A.I. is even worse but fares slightly better than the first title and they do not get in the way of shooting.  The campaign is more linear than the first, which hardly offers any sort of excitement, even when the scripted actions provide a banal sense of excitement with the atrocious voice acting to supplement. It is almost as if DICE expects players to be enthralled and enticed with mediocre and predictable storyline elements that are too scripted for the action to remotely believable. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 relies too much on unoriginality of simple point and shoot gameplay elements grouped with a disappointing and predictable storyline while furthering the banality with an intense lack of variety including misguided attention to details.

Destruction seems to be an element that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 relies too heavily upon in the marketing of the title, but all it does to accomplish any believable destruction lies in the gameplay crumbling down like a building itself. Frostbite 1.5 can only make the game exciting to a limited degree, while not being entirely believable as well. Every environment in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is stale and uninviting, mostly being green jungle areas, snowy fields, and brown desert fades with a very limited gameplay area. While the environments are gorgeous and details to character models are helpful, the mission structure itself is alarmingly dreadful to play and gameplay is built on a constant reminder of the lack of variety and originality that Battlefield: Bad Company 2 represents.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 provides online elements that represent the overall feel of unoriginality and lack of variety that Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s gameplay builds upon during the campaign.  Various modes include Rush, Squad Rush, Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch. The newer modes revolve around destroying crates in another team’s base which is more exciting than anything Bad Company 2 presents for the sheer reason of having other people around. Multiplayer permits players to choose from a set of weapon kits before each spawn, each of which represent the four classes from the previous 6: Assault, Recon, Engineer, and Medic. Specialists no longer exist. In addition to the hand grenades and sidearms standard for all classes, each class is equipped with a weapon and a pair of tech-gadgets unique to that class.  The traditional system of Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s multiplayer and customization of weaponry is the only thing that represents the still major successes of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2 that fare better than Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s gameplay. Limited Edition comes with six advanced unlocks in multiplayer and a bonus. Unlockables are key in multiplayer, which is relatively better but is plagued by the same problems as the campaign itself.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is definitely a surprise. An abhorrent surprise considering that this is a product of the same developers of Battlefield 1 and Battlefield 2, which itself is quite honestly difficult to believe. Battlefield: Bad Company 2’s campaign makes flaws in the gameplay elements apparent of lacking in elements such as believability and variety. Campaign missions rely on a deformed set of core gameplay mechanics that are dreadful at best and unfortunately repetition and lack of attention to detail leaves Battlefield: Bad Company 2 extremely antiquated. While multiplayer tactical adventure fairs better for the simple fact that it borrows elements from Battlefield 1 and straight from Battlefield 2’s unlockable weapon and ranks system, the gameplay is still plagued with problems. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 strides upon the same mediocre characteristic that Battlefield: Bad Company did: it solely relies on giving players weaponry, something to shoot at, and does not consider anything else to broaden the gameplay. With the first one being mediocre, and the second one following its stance, it is hard to believe in the Bad Company franchise. With all these heavy flaws of gameplay and $59.99 MSRP price-point, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 should be equally pointed straight to the bargain bin, and shot at.

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.

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.

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty begins after the years of Brood War for the original Starcraft as the reprobate and vicious war placed between the iconic factions is still taking place: Terran space marines, Zerg maniacs, and Protosss aliens that are ready to slaughter anyone in their way. The heroic yet defiant human officer Jim Raynor finds himself in a dilemma with the human leader Arcturus Mengsk and his former stealth specialist lover that became the dominant Zerg hive queen Kerrigan. Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty shows Raynor is still trying to deal with the issues of the new threats and older rivalries. Considered a dangerous outlaw by Emperor Mengsk, Raynor is the symbol of freedom as he leads Raynor’s Fighters into battle against the totalitarian regime of Mengsk as first priority with almost all the hope and glory in the mindset. Suddenly, the TV monitor divulges details that the Zerg, having remained dormant for years, have resurfaced and launched a full-scale assault on sectors in the universe as the pernicious Kerrigan leads the onslaught.

Starcraft II gameplay interaction where players are able to choose missions through their choices and ultimately feel an emotional construct with Jim Raynor and how his character ends up, since multiple endings are part of Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty. The single-player campaign begins with a battlefield and a mission Raynor decides to choose. The mission types within Starcraft II: are designed to be varied and progressive, a more unique approach than the set pieces of Starcraft; early missions are concentrate on acquiring credits, munitions, and equipment while the rest focus on tactical advantages in the game. Rather than detailing the missions to an extreme, we will just generally detail two missions. The very first mission in the game acts as a tutorial and puts Raynor in the charge to head a small group of marines as they liberate a mining colony oppressed by Mengsk’s forces, and while the mechanics of the mission focus primarily on teaching you how to select, move, and attack with your units, the mission also serves to introduce the changed universe to Raynor. Raynor’s Raiders need to fight against other Terran marines in the Mengsk employ while avoiding the death of casualties of civilians who surround a holographic statue of the emperor. Another mission had an evacuation of a small medical facility dominated by the Zerg. Fighting across different outposts of survivors, we had to guard caravans as the Zerg attack ramped up and the medical officers contemplated the ferocity of the invaders this time around.

Starcraft II’s missions aim to have multiple objectives that can change over time and depending on the player choices throughout other missions. These missions are also supported with an incredible amount of in-game cinematic engine cutscenes along with picture briefings from various characters providing incentives and commentary face-to-face than COM-link to COM-link.

Starcraft II is necromantic from the gameplay aspects seen so far that are exhibited throughout every mission and choice, and to the core gameplay mechanics and storyline that is simply incredible at its inception in just a short glimpse. Starcraft II shows a lot of promise that seems to be in talented hands of Blizzard Entertainment.

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.

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.

Aliens vs. Predator has a familiar history: people find planet / a mysterious totem ritualistic crypt and bad things happen that transition into gameplay. Aliens vs. Predator takes the main appeal through three-sided campaigns of marine, alien, and predator. Each campaign has strengths and interesting factors to make gameplay great within the context of the storyline. The marine’s campaign revolves around an unnamed protagonist deemed ‘Rookie’ as their convoy crash-lands, resembling a typical shooter element storyline and something unoriginal on Rebellion’s part. Atmospheric lighting increase the tension as the environment becomes dark with xenomorphs. Aliens escape from their lab and have their own fun crawling around walls and what not, while Predator’s land due to a beam from the crypt and embark on a habitual rage.

Aliens vs. Predator only gets as fun as the simple features in each species type. The gameplay is dwindled down to a lot of the basics that are done poorly and tedious level design and gameplay becomes annoying. Dark thrills are interesting, but unfortunately there is no element of being the hunted as it sounds when someone chooses to be a marine. The environments get dreadfully bright, and kill any sort of tension in the core makings of a thriller, where the dark plays a pivotal role. Shooting is further terrible and there is no real audio-work for the death of the Aliens other than just a ragdoll animation. Apparently, melee gets intensely boring as that is all anyone will really need: melee, smash, shoot. Some levels add thrill, but in a badly designed way as they limit the moving space and make the gameplay feel cheaper than challenging if anything.

Online elements of Aliens vs. Predator revolve around the same gameplay concepts, but fares slightly better due to real people than similarly mediocre A.I. The online offerings are more delightful but are still struggling from the campaign’s mechanical flaws.  Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch allows players to mix species’ strengths and weaknesses, but ends up too linear in a level with just statistics.  In Infestation, one of the special modes designed to be fun according to Rebellion, starts off as an alien converts marines into xenomorphs. This is great and simply works well, but it can be rather annoying with certain maps that are too small for their own good. Predator Hunt is an advanced and upgraded version of tag in which one player begins as a predator tags another. The modes are fun, but are too traditional and seem to be heavily relied on simple numbers or waves of enemies like Survivor mode.  Lack of gameplay variety keeps most of these modes at bay.

Aliens vs. Predator unfortunately resounds a very mediocre offering from Rebellion and publisher SEGA, but it does offer some slight thrills oddly enough at certain moments of the game. Poor level design and lack of attention to detail in terms of gameplay of every species and overall mechanics makes Aliens vs. Predator one for the bargain bin.

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.

Hastily inscribed upon the walls of Adonis Spa are cries for a lost religious overtone in a philosophical narrative that is all too real. “Fallen, fallen is Babylon,” the great kingdom that was once the vision in the latter part of the third millennium, and it was here that the Bible says God confused the languages of mankind. Impregnable to incredibly different degrees of religious notions, Bayblon was lost in a bewildered flood of the Euphrates River from the Persian advance. The air is familiar as Subject Delta awakens in the decaying Adonis Spa in 1968. It feels like yesterday that you were with your Little Sister Eleanor Lamb through an unbreakable bond. As Subject Delta, one of the original Big Daddy protectors introduced in BioShock, you seek out to find Eleanor that is sending you troubled signals of being held captive by her mother:  the totalitarian Sofia Lamb, who took influence of Rapture after Jack Ryan departed on his own in 1958. Sophia Lamb is undoubtedly more different than anything Andrew Ryan preached as the wealthy founder of Rapture.  While Sophia Lamb may not be a shockingly similar match to the deep-rooted and downright maniacal beliefs of Andrew Ryan, she shares a level of disturbing presence engrossed in her own personal and moral philosophy that makes the senselessness of her persecution even more radiant.

BioShock 2 incorporates gameplay heavily through story as the original with a beautiful didactic narrative but comes with some inherent problems in the storyline progression. One of the central introduction aspects WhatIfGaming became concerned about makes itself known once again: the question of how BioShock 2 incorporates and furthermore pleases not just veterans but also newcomers of the game but also newcomers alike. 2K Marin assured that newcomers will have an equal experience as veterans of the series in terms of storyline narrative, but there are core storyline progression elements from BioShock that BioShock 2 simply does not touch upon. The first game focuses on the immense discovery and building façade of mystery on the city of Rapture and the downfall dynamic that engrosses any player who still plays it to this day. Unfortunately, BioShock 2 misses out on taking the same level of intrigue and placing it into the game in terms of microscopic details.  To fully understand the new game, players need to have prior knowledge. Some ancillary reading is hidden either in the menu or the tapes / tutorials of gameplay elements, but unfortunately it is not as powerful as incorporating these into the story directly.  The issues in terms of storyline do not end here. There are also issues in terms of the origins of Subject Delta never being truly explained along with the factors of key characters that played a monumental role of the first game being lightly delved into the sequel. Another problem that manifests itself is the lack of emotionality within BioShock 2. While Subject Delta wants to find Eleanor with tidbits of memories consistently being presented throughout the game, there is no real emotional construct to rely on other than the fact that the game simply bases the entire journey upon finding Eleanor Lamb. Despite these prominent issues, BioShock 2 still continues to present a strong case of philosophical undertones that furthers the psychological barrier that has already been established by the entire premise of the storyline.

BioShock 2’s mission structure revolves many enemies and few gains that create a survialistic nature in the horror-torn Rapture. Like Babylon, there is a lot of ADAM and an increased level of struggle with Lamb’s cult of Splicers, former Citizens of Rapture that went mad from using a drug called ADAM to give them superhuman abilities such as lightning shock and swarming bees. The ten years between BioShock reveals the splicers have gotten slightly religious and are more disfigured and confused with an even more dangerous combination than just disfigured.  Splicers encounters come with the typical enemy types from the first game which includes wall-latching splicers and teleporting splicers in addition to the fearful brute class splicers that throw concrete. Subject Delta soon reveals that he himself can use ADAM by injecting it into one of the situation cores in his suit (used to lock the Big Daddys in their suit and their body). ADAM is obtained through the unforgettable Little Sisters that made the first game iconic, brainwashed children under the aura of Rapture. Little Sisters discover various ‘angels’ or ADAM infused corpses to drain with EVE hyponeedles. The Catch-22 here follows the fact that each Little Sister is guarded by a Big Daddy that does not let another Big Daddy remotely near his ‘daughter. Once defeating the Big Daddy, it is up to Subject Delta to decide what to do with the little girl that cries and mourns for her lost Daddy like a poor orphan. As a Big Daddy, you can choose to ‘Adopt’ the Little Sister by placing her humbly onto your shoulder or sacrifice her (through murder) for ADAM. These two choices are constant throughout Rapture and the option to choose on the spot similar to the first game really extends upon the consequences of the choices players make. From here, if Subject Delta chooses to adopt the Little Sister, he can help the Little Sister to keep collecting ADAM while making sure to defend her. One interesting thing about BioShock 2 is the way the developers keep this aspect of the game astounding, through either momentary twists or dynamic variability with enemies to keep BioShock 2 from being one big escort mission.

Combat in BioShock 2 is extended with certain improvements but stays close to the original and traditional. ADAM can be spent on DNA plasmids to gain access to psychokinetic and potential powers with which players can freeze people or hurl fireballs. Gene Tonics make a return to create enhancement to certain passive abilities such as faster movement speed, quieter footsteps and more.  Combat options are not limited to genetic variability but extend to weaponry as well.  Since Subject Delta can dual-wield weapons, the combat feels more fluid and dynamic than the first game. This allows players to keep an active defense in one hand while creating a level of hard-earned damage with a gun on the other.  As players continue into Rapture, they can upgrade plasmid guns and add tons of improvements to give certain weapons secondary and tertiary abilities to grant bonuses.

BioShock 2 introduces the series’ first look into multiplayer that presents BioShock 2 as ‘part prequel in Sequel’ —with gratitude to our contact at 2K Marin for spilling the details the day the first teaser came out. Players will be the citizens of rapture that have joined the Sinclair Solutions Consumer Rewards program for self-defense to test various weapons and plasmids for the war between Andrew Ryan and Atlus, his nemesis. Multiplayer modes are pretty standard such as Team Deathmatch and Deathmatch with Capture The Sister as a capture the flag counterpart where players try and capture a crying Little Sister from the enemy.  Maps are set in notable locations from the first BioShock and multiplayer remains challenging while also adding more for players to accomplish into the game.

BioShock 2 is undoubtedly a great game with amazing improvements despite dismal issues with storyline and continuity for newcomers. Rapture continues to be the underwater city with a baroque style movement that creates the atmosphere for the continuing storyline. Sophia Lamb and her Family are constantly out to destroy older parts of Rapture to eliminate any of the remaining ego that Andrew Ryan possessed, while creating an even more interesting approach to religious backdrops of rebirth and retribution for the sins of Rapture and its existence as a whole.  The haunting atmosphere of Rapture carries through with the story embedded in the environment – the details being on the walls with crayon, neon markers, or sketchy chalk. Writings in the surroundings and the context of the storyline are undoubtedly still as disturbing as before regardless of the storyline flaws affecting the atmosphere and tone. Rapture remains an underwater city that still is impossible to escape as the struggle for Subject Delta to find humanity seems impossible in the environment. The city is undoubtedly perturbing with incredible gameplay improvements, voice acting, and soundtrack scores that make the surroundings in BioShock 2 as memorable and horrifying as ever.

Live long and prosper in a universe that is constantly expanding and providing exploration a new definition. Star Trek Online makes the emergence of the millennia that people will witness and recount for years to come.  The space-adventure odyssey Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game by developer Cryptic Studios (City of Heroes/Villains, Champions Online) captures the excitement from the Star Trek television series and gives players a journey in which they are constantly cultivating their love for all things Science Fiction. Star Trek is definitively not like any other MMO out there that focuses too much on traditional grinding gameplay, leveling pride and lust, and special glowing items found in the pits of some exotic mountain or crafted by a rare animal. While using certain traditional aspects, Star Trek Online keeps the underlying backbone on a skill-based system in which players can rank up from Ensign to Admiral and max out skills respectively.  Core gameplay mechanic that is efficiently detailed within Star Trek Online creates an imperceptible and ingenious balance with skills, abilities, and the central team-based life of a Captain to create an unheralded atmosphere in Space that is not as bitter or bland as other MMO’s that rely too much on repetition, difficult controlling schemes, and furthermore an unbalanced interface and system. With an ingenious gameplay design, incredible variety in gameplay mechanics of space and ground adventure that relies on a cleverly crafted skill-system to advance players in the universe, and the key facet of exploration and adventure both in space and on a microuniversal planetary level, Star Trek Online is undoubtedly the precedent of what a MMO can transcend in an entirely new and unimaginable way.

Star Trek Online begins similar to the Big Bang which created the universe as the setting: Character Creation. Before travelers actually set foot on the universe, they need to create their persona in Star Trek Online.  Customization throughout Star Trek Online constitutes an exemplar value that Cryptic Studios holds dear: the players are given full customization through an interface that is necessary, beautifully detailed, and precise to individual personalities. Players can choose any race authentic to the series or can create their very own race in the Federation, a choice that fans will be extremely pleased about than simple cut and paste series tactic customization options. Every race has a predetermined bonus that is expected: Vulcans are extremely intellectual and Humans possess Leadership and Teamwork qualities with ground combat. When a race is chosen, players have to choose their class and career type that determines the fate of the entire universe of that specific character. Star Trek Online starts customization through a unique series of options that makes it incredibly worthwhile to have individuality in the type of characters players become.

Cryptic Studios creates an unforgettable balance in gameplay mechanics from the inception of character creation in Star Trek Online. Star Trek Online makes the introduction to professions seamless regardless of the innate complexity and skill of each profession later on the game, which is something admirable for a game that presents and essentially delivers on the high standards of the Star Trek franchise.  Science Officers support friends with buffs and heals while weakening enemies, an Engineering Officer protects other players from harm and soaks up a tremendous amount of damage while controlling certain key-based tactics on the ground, and Tactical Officers control the tactics such as supporting the away team by drawing away enemy fire or setting up flanking stances. One key social and gameplay aspect Star Trek Online does beautifully is to balance every class in the MMO. There is no class better than the rest, and the critical thing that Star Trek Online makes very diaphanous to players is the fact that they are part of a larger universe in which there is no competition for ‘levels’ like other amateur MMO’s that build off of that need to grind endless nights just to reach some omnipresent level. Everything follows adaptation. Engineers Officers can further onto career types becoming Combat Engineers that focus on explosive training and Starship Combat Support, Technicians who focus on team technology, and the Engineer that is constantly setting things on the ground as Fabrication experts. Science Officers can be Researchers, Doctors, or Scientists focusing on Combat Control, Medical Assistance, and Enemy Damage respectively. Tactical officers follow in the same way through Soldiers who are focused on improving their Away team and Grenades, Special Forces with menacing Martial Arts training, and Security Officers that are built on Weapons Training and ally protection on the field. Once players are done choosing their character’s destiny, they are asked to name their character, and the ships currently stationed on, and are given the chance to write character biography. After this is done, the adventure begins as players know that the beautifully well-balanced gameplay core details and crafted professions system will have an incredible journey waiting beyond the Stellar Horizon.

Star Trek Online initiates every player post-creation where they set foot before expanding out into the universe: the ground. The breathtaking view Star Trek Online introduces players to centers on a large cabin with a space-port window showing the bright star outside, a symbol that is an indication of essentially a very minuscule part of the large unknown universe that lies ahead in the year of 2409. Missions are first assigned with an immediate sense of urgency and liveliness that thrusts players in the game’s storyline. Players start off as an Ensign hoping to be a Captain of his/her very own ship and ready to take action to save lives. Missions are incredibly varied due to the fact that Star Trek Online builds primarily on the four core facets of the franchise: Combat, Teamwork, Exploration and Discovery.  In turn, this makes Star Trek Online an incredibly varied game that never gets tiring. While certain missions still have a number count, it never feels like there is any repetition. Everything within Star Trek Online is fluid and dynamic due to not just the overarching universe and storyline, but also the intriguing storyline with each mission debrief. When arriving for a mission, Star Trek Online adventurers will face ground combat that engages with certain species that are hostile.  Players will begin on a solo mission that reveals ground combat and general weapon utilities such as the Stun Phaser Array and Basic Martial Arts in a control scheme that works with logic and rationale. Star Trek Online creates an essential dynamic with the primary foundations of the franchise and incorporates it into everything, especially mission design and structure. After enemies are defeated, Ensigns will begin to commandeer their own ship and are set off to the universe beyond the Earth SpaceDock through an incredible transition into Space and the vast unknown.

Space provides players a venue to travel to distant planets, systems, and moreover unforeseen galaxies in which discovery and combat phenomenally combine with various different ships of different races and ships yet to be discovered. Ships in Star Trek Online are not something Cryptic Studios took lightly or put as an add-on like many other games. Ships are as much a part of the Captain as much as Bridge Officers. Ships themselves are customizable both cosmetically and functionally. Everything about a ship from the nacelle pylons and saucers to every other component can be changed.  Players have to choose wisely and make decisions in how they outfit the ship’s weaponry, impulse engines, shields, deflector dish and space station modifications that make the gameplay further unique and ensures no one ever has the same ship or gameplay experience. Same classes in a ship type can hardly be compared. Once players reach the rank of Lieutenant Commander, they can select three ship types: Science vessels, Escorts and Cruisers. Every ship is unique and contains different Crew Capacity, Weapon Capacity, and Bridge Officer Capacity which allows players to determine a best fit for their class, specialization, and Bridge Officers. Star Trek Online once again takes an unprecedented stance in gameplay mechanics because no ship is better or even comparable to another. Everything leading up to Space, including the ship customization, provides a level of detail and balance that can be essentially meaningful to any race, and any player depending on individual customizations, class choice, and finally the differing kinds of Bridge Officers chosen. Star Trek online takes the very same balance in gameplay structure and design presented at the beginning of the game to space exploration and furthers it into new galaxies.

Space combat for the most part involves hull bays, and bridge officers with abilities. Hull bays need to be damaged for an enemy ship to be defeated. To help in this  are the specially chosen Bridge Officers in Space that also have special talents that can be utilized for ground combat later on in the game. Bridge Officers are an integral part to the teamwork mechanic that the Star Trek franchise is built upon. As Bridge Officers learn newer abilities, they can be a helpful part to the space combat structure and deciding if a certain ship has an advantage when compared to another one in terms of damage and defense alone minus actual ship type bonuses. When a hull bay is destroyed of an enemy faction and the mission is completed in Space, players can report back to Spacedock and receive Skill Points, Starfleet Merits, and finally Bridge Officer points that allows for extensive skill customization.

Skill customizations follow with abilities that strengthen as a base of skills. Skills, abilities, and other rewards can be unlocked as players naturally progress on their Merit-Based scale in the game. The skill system clearly reveals a detail not just for accuracy and preciseness to every skill with both ground and space utilization, but also displays the balance that makes the skill system work in the game so remarkably well in relation to every class, ship, and profession choice.

Space is a beautiful place in Star Trek Online and feels never-ending because it is definitively never-ending in the stretches of the universe map up to an unknown point 14 billion light years like actual Space.  The significant difference with Star Trek Online comes through the incredible balance with every item, ship, class, and character in the game having an identity and purpose that is unique and can be used at any point in time no matter what a merit badge presents. Star Trek Online creates a universe that is constantly evolving and changing gameplay design that will be hard to ever forget. Star Trek Online carries a bright torch in a repetitive and constantly dreary MMO world of repetition, grinding and level pride pointlessness, and misbalance in gameplay structure. Star Trek Online glows brightly with an incredible design and structure that can find a place in the bigger picture of the universe.

For years I have waited to save the galaxy once again. For years, I Commander Shepard, have been alone and now is the time to make my glorious return to the Intergalactic Stellar System. BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 might be another game in the trilogy of the saga, but it reminds us that beautifully superb video games are possible as part of a bigger adventure. BioWare’s Mass Effect 2 brings the space action back once again to allow players to experience a role-playing action-adventure title never before experienced since Mass Effect or Dragon Age: Origins. With beautiful overarching stories with multiple plotlines, a trenchant role-playing dialogue system, suitable combat gameplay, and moreover characters which are truly believable with voice acting to suite every colloquy in pure harmony. Mass Effect 2 redefines the space galaxy as Mass Effect did before it and incomparably changes the scale and customization by an even more magnificent sight.

Mass Effect 2 begins the sequel for the epic series two years after Commander Shepard deterred invading Reaper threat bent on the destruction of organic life. Now, Commander Shepard faces a new and mysterious threat than ever before. Emerging from the darkness on the fringes of known space, something is suddenly abducting entire human colonies which comprise of thousands to millions of people. Commander Shepard is put to the test in this mission as his incontrovertible reputation as being the first human Spectre in the universe precedes him. Commander Shepard must work with Cerberus, a ruthless organization devoted to human survival at any cost, to stop the most petrifying threat mankind and aliens alike have ever faced.  With this in mind, Commander Shepard must gather the galaxy’s most elite team and command the most powerful ship ever built. While people say the mission verges on the border of being suicidal, Commander Shepard is determined to prove them wrong.

Mass Effect 2’s mission structure remains similar to the previous title but is engaging more than ever before through the dynamic galaxy map, and much more to do on planets this time around. Commander Shepard still travels galaxy to galaxy while encountering incredibly believable characters that challenge his response and fortitude. As the audience, we are engaged on a role-playing experience that is not just engaging but also alluring. It is no longer just about choosing choices and seeing responses. For the most part, the dialogue system has changed dynamically with surprises in between that shocked even us. Renegade Hostile and Heroic Interrupts change the course of the gameplay and crazes players on the wild side to give them more power that they can feel in a physical way. Without giving away any crucial details to this dialogue system, we can easily say that the action is more engaging than ever before albeit the mission mechanic remains the same in essence.

Mass Effect 2 places an incredible new variety on combat through weapon variety and power talents to display a profundity to the world that the first title lacked. The combat foundation no longer requires running from a straight linear path shooting down repetitive enemy types. The weapon types include shotguns, sniper rifles, heavy weapons, light machine guns, and heavy pistols that are all more intuitive to the shooter gameplay. The action becomes more dynamic through a variety of new talents called ‘Powers’ while the actual complexity of the battle has shifted from work to simplistic.  New talents come in the form of two types: biotic and tech. Biotic powers focus more on biomechanics between the fights and can be used by certain creatures directly given innate talent abilities. Combat abilities themselves provide more class benefits to different characters more experienced with war while tech powers further the usage of technological emphasis that the first title made too simplistic. Along with the new gameplay combat mechanics in Mass Effect 2, the shooter mechanic is more dynamic through different weapons but also vast improvements to the aiming abilities. Targeting of individual body parts enables players to make more damaging headshots and further damages in a strategic way than randomly firing at the torso. Legs, arms, and any other limb can be shot off displaying the sheer brilliance in design and graphical flare Mass Effect 2 has to offer. Ammo systems have also been put in place which works well with a modified health system which regenerates shields and health when a player is not taking damage. Mass Effect 2 dramatically increases combat incongruity that creates an overwhelming appeal to players to actually choose combat and really experience the true natures of space battle.

Enemy A.I. in Mass Effect 2 has seen a change in combat that involves different strategies from enemy types. You do not constantly keep shooting at enemies randomly or enemies running towards you shooting. BioWare focused on this aspect in addition to combat to provide a sense of tactical advantage or disadvantages with enemies that also use different armor, have different power talent innate abilities, and utilize various other combat methods to make the flow of combat more realistic.

The latest feature that BioWare has added with Mass Effect 2 revolves around the great user demand for more armor customization. To most people, it seemed rather odd that Commander Shepard bore the same N7 suit without any need for customization from different weapon types and many other threats.  Finally, Mass Effect 2 answers these demands with an in-depth armor system for combat missions that respond to the environment in a multifarious way. Dual layer of fabric armor and kinetic padding within a lightweight ablative ceramic create a newer ‘Appearance’ for Commander Shepard rather than his own Casual Appearance. Casual Appearances itself can also be edited to deliver sustainability in keeping the visuals not only good looking but also fresh from the same outfits.  Armor is modular and custom N7 armor can be built from parts bought from merchants, or acquired on missions, through the player’s armor locker aboard. The in-depth customization also follows through to the gameplay which creates an effect on behaviors and influences as well as modifying aspects of armor through ‘research projects’ to be collected.

Mass Effect 2 provides a gritty action adventure game that redefines the genre yet again by refining the same formula used in the already incredible Mass Effect 1. With a greater combat system, better enemy A.I., increased tactical customizations with power talents and armor, and an even more memorable dialogue system that creates dynamic pacing, Mass Effect 2 delivers an insatiable experience for anyone with a thirst for interstellar travel and saving the galaxy. Gear up Commander Shepard: mankind and the universe need you.

Aion’s world is simply effervescent, with lush landscapes that draw players in for a wide variety of fun and excitement. Aion is undoubtedly beautiful, while the first few hours of the game is simply wonderful through the CryEngine powered visuals and scenery. Unfortunately, after the first dozen or so levels, Aion’s grinding-scheme becomes all too lucid from the mission structures and gameplay design elements with relationship to the storyline.  Non-player characters with stories to tell open up a venue with others who have the persona of active boards, and quests that are slightly imaginative early on are replaced with a monotonous mix of fetch, deliver, kill, and collect objectives.

The post-cataclysmic world of Atreia poses a great threat to the species of robust characters, fueled by Aion’s detailed character creation system. The all-embracing customization options are more reminiscent of those in sports games than in other massively multiplayer online offerings. The balance in the game look itself is a off-putting. After choosing one of the two factions and one of the four starting classes to play as, you could easily spend an hour or two perfecting your character’s look. In the wrong hands, though, tools likes these can be too powerful as players go out of their way to create the most ridiculous and improbable avatars imaginable. It is weird to imagine a big buff character being overwhelmed by measly insects. This would not be a problem if the size was moderated, except that the extremes are so far apart with miniature characters that are ransacked by insects. The animations as well have incredible problems with some characters being sped up while others in extreme slow motion. This is a constant reminder that Aion is a game in itself.

Combat in Aion is repetitive in terms of borrowing from other MMO games, but the combat does place a greater emphasis on skills and abilities that chain together to form combos. Many moves can only be performed during a short window immediately after another move is performed, and most of these moves are automatically mapped to the same key. Cooldown indicators for these moves are overlayed alongside your character during combat, so you know exactly when they become available to you without having to take your eyes off the action. The combat design is a great system because it not only makes the occasionally spectacular-looking combos easy to perform, but also dramatically cuts down on the number of buttons that you need to arrange on your screen. The only downside to combat is that it can feel like an extended quick-time event in which you respond to on-screen commands.

Flight within Aion is activated when level 25 is reached and the necessary quests are completed to enter the Abyss.  This hectic land situated in the middle of the Elyos and Asmodian territories is where the bulk of player-versus-player combat takes place. There, factions (and specifically, large player legions and alliances) battle for control of fortresses that are vulnerable to attacks on a seemingly random schedule. Fortress sieges involve destroying and repairing gates, deactivating an Aetheric field (force field) that needs to allow your allies can attack from the skies, and capturing nearby artifacts that bequeath significant bonuses on the faction that controls them. Nevertheless, these battles are still more about overpowering the enemy with sheer numbers than they are about tactics.

It is very much disappointing that Aion’s earlier levels could not revolve around the mind-numbing grinding system in place for the entire game. While Aion can be fun with a mass number of people, the gameplay becomes taciturn. a shame that Aion’s early engaging gameplay so quickly devolves into a mind-numbing grind.

WhatIfGaming - Game Of The Year 2009 Awards

It is with proud pleasure that we ask all of you to join us to celebrate the 11th year anniversary of our WhatIfGaming and read all about the video game industry’s most exceptional and gratified 2009 titles specially chosen by us here again this year. Similar to the previous year, WhatIfGaming is first to give out Game of the Year Awards this year. We just rolled out the red carpet and the winners for 2009 are here with us live!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Years to our beloved millions of WhatIfGaming readers (this means you)! See you all in 2010.