Yeah, so I missed a day in my epic week of blogs, because I ended up having to work until 8:30, at which point I got home, watched a little bit of TV and played a few rounds of League of Legends. I lost track of time and didn't post a blog, so that one's my bad. I guess I'll have to double-blog today!

In some other news, Pokémon White & Black are receiving direct sequels, which is unusual for the Pokémon series. Normally they release a new generation every few years with some non-RPG Pokémon games in between, but instead of a new generation (which might still happen), Nintendo has decided to make Pokémon White & Black Version 2! Neat. Also, yesterday was February 29th, the day that only happens once every four years, which is also neat. Basically if you just turned 20 yesterday, you're only really 5-years-old.

Please feel free to post any other questions you have in the comments - I will answer them!

What do you prefer, mobile gaming, 3DS or Vita ?

xXShortroundXx

I actually have not yet tried the Vita, but I have played the 3DS once in San Francisco. I'll probably end up buying both of them eventually, but there aren't enough great games on either for me to get them at their current prices. I'm quite satisfied with PC and console gaming, and I guess I do a little bit of mobile gaming on my iPod Touch. If I had to pick one, I'd say the 3DS is probably the best so far, and with Animal Crossing 3DS coming out and some other sequels to great Nintendo series, it's going to be even better. The Vita looks great, too, and I can't wait for BioShock Vita! But yeah, if I had to pick one to be my main handheld gaming device, it would be the 3DS.

If you had a secret identity, what would it be? Or is that too personal?

Okay, here's a good one. How much money do you think you've spent on video games?

starduke

Hmm, the first one isn't that personal at all! I'd actually say the second one is more personal. :P The answer to the first one, if I had to choose a secret identity that already exists, I'd go with one of my favorite superheroes like Batman or Superman. If I had to make one up, I'd probably still want to be a superhero, likely with flying abilities, super-strength, X-Ray vision (for business purposes only, ahem), shape-shifting, and probably some other stuff - the whole deal.

As for the second one, I can tell you right now that it's OVER 9000$! Last year I spent quite a bit on my new PC and games for it, and a little bit on other stuff, but if I had to estimate how much total, I'd say... Oh geez, I don't know, but you can check out my Backloggery to see what I've got if you really want to go and check each individual price! AjaxNeron's Backloggery.

Most anticipated game this year ?

johny300

Hmm, I forget if I did a Top 12 Most Anticipated Games of 2012 list, but I will soon. I'd give you a better answer than that (and in fact I will), but for now I'm having a hard time deciding between the following:

Animal Crossing 3DS

BioShock Infinite

Diablo III

Mass Effect 3

The Last Guardian

Favorite game of all time and favorite movie?

tennis12master

The first one is easy peasy. Banjo Tooie is my all-time favorite game, Banjo Kazooie following close behind. I'll repost the story of why it is my favorite game of all time later!

Favorite movie is probably Lord of the Rings: Return of the King or The Dark Knight.

favorite tv shows?
favorite anime?
favorite food?
what superpower would you want?
would you care to join me on a quest for the holy grail?

megamannt123

Favorite TV Shows that are still running are House, The Walking Dead, Falling Skies, The Big Bang Theory, and probably some other ones I'm forgetting.

Favorite Anime is One Piece, but there a ton of other great ones I like, ranging from Shonen stuff like Bakuman, Bleach, Death Note, Fullmetal Alchemist, etc... to other series like Keroro Gunso (Sgt. Frog), Katekyo Hitman Reborn (Reborn!), Code Geass, and once again, others that I'm probably forgetting. Oh yeah - Ultimate Muscle! It's not currently running, but it is the Anime that got me into Manga/Anime.

Sushi.

Oh, oops, I answered this earlier, my bad... If I had to pick one, I guess it'd be shape-shifting, because then I could shape-shift not only into animals, but I could also give myself cool perks like wings so I could fly and still be in human-mode. Haha, human-mode made me laugh...

I would love to join you in the Quest for the Holy Grail! :D

What is your favorite underrated game?

DR-ZMBK

That's a tough one. I'd say Banjo Tooie, but that got like a 97 average, so it's not under-rated at all! I just really love that game! But yes, this is a tough question. There are lots of games that I believed deserved higher scores, but the one that I feel is the most under-rated (off the top of my head) this generation is Fallout: New Vegas. Overall, I'm really not sure.

[QUOTE=AvatarMan96]

If you could travel back in time to any event in world history, what would it be?
What famous celebrity (alive or deceased) would you want to meet?
Favorite movie director?

I'd probably want to go into the future if possible, not for the ability to see who wins stuff so I know what I should bet on (though that would be nice), but more to prove that the world won't end in December of 2012, and just to see what stuff is like in the future. I might also want to go to the Golden Age of Pirates, since that has always been interesting to me.

Which famous celebrity, hmm... I guess I'd probably want to meet Olivia Wilde. She's awesome.

I'm going to go with Hayao Miyazaki for that one. All of his films are amazing and are just breath-taking. I was going to choose Peter Jackson, because of the Lord of the Rings films (among others), but that would have been kinda generic.

What do you like most about your life? What do you dislike most about your life?

mprezzy

That question really is a no-brainer for me. I'm enjoying life so much, and there's really no one thing that I like best. There are things that are amazing, and things that aren't great, but overall I'm really satisfied currently! :)

To give you a more interesting answer, some of my favorite things about life are spending time with my family and friends, video games, comic books, media, books, Gundams, and a ton of other stuff. There's stuff I don't like, particularly a lot of foods that I find gross or when the dog leaves presents on my floor, but yeah. I'm happy.

Ask me any questions you want, as long as they're appropriate and not too personal. I'll answer stuff about my personal life, gaming, hobbies, opinions, etc... You're free to ask as many questions as you want (if you ask a hundred, I'll answer them, but I might have to delay the blog! :P)

I'd really appreciate if you ask lots of questions so that I actually have some to answer!

I'll post the answers later this week, depending how many questions I get, as it will take me a while to answer them.

Gameplay

StarCraft II is a game that I've been meaning to review for a while, but with great games like this that have a lot of stuff to learn about in the multiplayer realm, I usually hold off on reviewing them until I feel I've got a good grip on most of the game.

Firstly, there are three main races in StarCraft II. The first race, which may be simply known as the good guys, is Terran. The majority of the campaign you'll be playing solely as the Terran, but you may occasionally play a mission as Protoss or with assitance from the Protoss. The Protoss are an alien race that are neutral towards the Terran, but are enemies with the Zerg. The Zerg are the bad guys in StarCraft, their leader being the Queen of Blades, Sarah Kerrigan. They are made up of mutant creatures such as Zerglings, Roaches, Hydralisks and other abominations.

It is the first part of the StarCraft II trilogy, focusing on the storyline of the Terran race. The second part of the trilogy, Heart of the Swarm, focuses on the Zerg race and releases this year. The final part, which focuses on the Protoss race, has not yet received a name or an estimated release date.

The combat in this game is similar to the majority of Real-Time Strategy games. You build units at their appropriate buildings (for Terran, you'll build Marines at the Barracks, and you'll build air support at the Starport), then you wait until they are produced and you rally them up for an attack, or you place them in a defensive position.

Each unit has its own special abilities, and to name each unit and all of their abilities would take several pages of explaining. Every unit is going to take practice to master.

Graphics

The graphics in StarCraft II are superb, and they really did a great job on the cut-scenes. There are a few dozen cut-scenes, and all of them look like they could be from a hit-movie. The textures look very great, and there is an overall glow of happiness that you'll get when you play the game at its highest resolution. The best part about StarCraft II graphically is that you're able to play the game with a 3D Vision Kit, which really adds whole new layers to the game (pun intended).

You might experience a bit of lag if you're running the game with the graphics really high if your computer isn't great, or if you're playing on one of the user-made maps that allow more than the standard amount of units on the field, which could be tolling on your graphics card(s).

Sound

The voice-acting is phenomenal, and there are a lot of great quotes from each of the units in the game (Battle-Cahroosar on duty!). The extensive amounts of cut-scenes have especially great voice-acting and sound effects (in the case of the Zerg race), and it really helps add to the depth of the story.

The sound effects in StarCraft II are spectacular, which helps make it one of the most action-packed games of this generation. You'll always remember that dreadful feeling when "you do not have enough minerals", or the screeching of the enemy zerglings about to destroy your economy.

The sound-track is actually quite relaxing, and helps set the mood. It isn't meant to make the game feel so fast-paced that it makes you anxious, but more meant to help you settle down and enjoy the game and feel more like an armchair-general than being at the edge of your seat shouting at your opponent.

Story

The story in StarCraft II isn't lacking at all, which one might expect seeing as the game does mainly focus on multiplayer. It's a very emotional story at times, but it's also packed with action, betrayals, life or death decisions and some of the most epic battles you'll ever play.

It's a fairly short story mode, and if you're playing on the lower difficulties it shouldn't take you all that long, seeing as it only has 29 missions in the campaign, and unless you make sure to complete them in a certain order, you might not even need to play some of those missions.

The main characters in the story are some of the old favorites from the original StarCraft, such as Jim Raynor, Tychus Findlay, Matt Horner and Sarah Kerrigan. There are plenty of other characters, both new and old that Jim will partner up with or fight against in the story, all of which have their own unique back-stories to go with their great character designs.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer for StarCraft II is separated into several different Leagues: Bronze < Silver < Gold < Platinum < Diamond < Master < Grand-Master. You'll start off in Bronze League, and if you practice a lot you'll probably be able to get up to Silver League by the next season. Seasons tend to last around a quarter of a year, and while the seasons are in full-swing you'll be competing to be the highest rank in your division.

There are tons of divisions in each League, minus Grand-Master, and to get to Rank 1, you'll have to play a lot and be the best in your division. Once you are in the Top 8 for your league, you'll be pitted against players from higher leagues at random times, and if you continue to win even with tougher opponents, you'll eventually be promoted into a different league. If you don't practice a lot or your skill really slips, you might get demoted and go down a league, but this is quite rare in the lower leagues.

Unlike a lot of multiplayer games, you aren't immediately inserted into matches with high-level players that will compeltely thrash you over and over again, but instead you'll be placed with players around your own skill level, as before playing the multiplayer, you complete five placement matches that will place you accurately according to, well, skill! This means you'll likely be playing against other players that know next to nothing about the game when you first start, and you'll work your way up at your own pace as you learn the ropes and get past the learning curve, which gets progressively larger.

The objective of every multiplayer game is to either make your opponent surrender by over-whelming them to the point where they know they're defeated, or by taking out all of their buildings. Most players know when they're beat and will surrender at the point where there's nothing they can do to fight back, but there will be the occasional person who refuses to let you win without giving you a work-out and making you find the tiny buildings they've hidden around the map; however, once you destroy all their Command Centers/Nexuses/Hatcheries, the remaining buildings of theirs will be displayed on your map.

Longevity

StarCraft II is a very lengthy game if you decide to engage in the multiplayer aspects of it, but if you're just looking to play the single-player experience, you're looking at a very engaging 15-hour campaign that is packed with lots of thrills. The multiplayer will have you hooked almost instantly, and from experience I can say that you'll probably be looking at a few hundred hours of online time if you really get into it.

The Verdict

Pros:

• One of the most fantastic multiplayer experiences ever

• Great story

• Graphics look slick and fine

• Above par voice-acting

Cons:

• Short campaign

Gameplay: 9.5

Graphics: 9.0

Sound: 9.0

Story: 9.0

Multiplayer: 10

Longevity: 10

Though you might feel disappointed if you bought this game solely for its single-player, if you even decide to touch the multiplayer you will be immediately immersed in what is one of the most fantastic online multiplayer experiences ever.

9.5/10

I apologize that I haven't blogged in almost two weeks, which is a long time for me. Usually, I blog on a daily basis, or at least a few times a week. Sometimes the blogs are just updates, sometimes they're more fun, but this week is going to be a fun week! At least, I hope so. Since this blog marks my 400th blog on GameSpot (minus some that I might have deleted in the past few months), I'll be doing a special week-long thing (I'd call it an extravaganza, but that's a bit too flamboyant for me), which will include:

• Two reviews
• A Top 10 list
• An "Ask Ajax" segment, where I answer any questions that you have for me (within reason, haha)
• Gaming Marathon on TwitchTV (I'll link the stream on GameSpot)
  
• And finally, a tour of my gaming rooms, which I've saved up for this week

For the record, this was competely an update blog, meant just as a notification of what's to come, so I'm aware it's boring. I've actually been busy the past two weeks, which is mainly why I didn't post a new blog, but the other reason is that I couldn't think of a great 400th blog to post, and I was kind of afraid that I would let you guys down, so I decided that a full week of blogs would be even more exciting!

I don't really know if I need to say this, but...

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

I will try to refrain from saying the names of characters that die or spoiling parts of the plot, but it's probably a good idea that you DO NOT CONTINUE IF YOU HAVE NOT BEATEN THE FOLLOWING GAMES:

Shadow of the Colossus

Final Fantasy VII

Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box

Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

If you have beaten these games or don't really care about spoilers, go ahead and read the list, but I've warned you! This list was also very tough to make, because I couldn't get in depth about the actual spoilers themselves, because I really want to be cautious about not spoiling these games for someone, so I hope you can enjoy the blog anyways. I probably forgot some scenes in here, but feel free to tell me yours, just make sure to say spoiler alert and what game you're spoiling before you post it!

#10: Super Metroid

Baby Metroid. 'Nuff said.

#9: Klonoa

Klonoa is one of the most under-rated gems of all time, and I'm glad it got a remake on the Wii, so we could all cry about the ending a little bit more. At least nobody really dies in this game, though, but I suppose that's because it's meant for a younger audience to enjoy as well. I really want Klonoa 3 to come out.

#8: Final Fantasy VII

I know people say that you-probably-know-who's death scene is the saddest in video game history, but I have to disagree. It's true that it's sad, but she wasn't as likeable a character as some of the other deceased video game characters. It's still got a fantastic story, but I just felt that it was a bit over-rated.

#7: Half-Life 2: Episode 2

Okay, so I had this one's ending spoiled for me, but it still made me very sad to hear what happened. My friends are big Half-Life fans, so I've gotta play through all the Half-Life games before they spoil even more for me.

#6: Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater

The Metal Gear games have been known to have a lot of depth to their stories, and this one is probably the saddest. The back-story behind Big Boss and Snake's relationship makes this one of the saddest endings of all time.

#5: Shadow of the Colossus

I haven't gotten a chance to play the game, except a little bit with a friend (my copy doesn't work). The whole game is pretty saddening, but also very exciting at the same time. The saddest part isn't the ending, but instead a part near the end where Wander loses someone very important to him.

#4: Professor Layton & the Diabolical Box

This game is only really sad at the very end, when you realize that someone who you thought was just a villain is actually not who you thought he was, in more ways than one. The "Ball" song near the end is my favorite song in the series.

#3: Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core

This game is the PSP prequel to Final Fantasy VII, and to be honest, I found this game much sadder than Final Fantasy VII. There was only one part that really made me sad in Final Fantasy VII, but this game's ending will crush you. There's also a part in the game where you're forced to kill someone who's very close to you, which is also nearly as sad.

#2: Final Fantasy X

This being a Final Fantasy game, it became obvious what was going to happen to one of our beloved heroes at the end. I found the characters in this game a lot more likeable than most of the other Final Fantasy games, so it made the ending even sadder for me.

#1: Professor Layton & the Unwound Future

All of the Layton games have their sad moments, but this game has to be the most saddening of all. The ending where Layton discovers that he will never get to see her again is the single saddest moment in the entire series. It's a truly fantastic game, and the sound-track really adds to the emotional parts.

I know that I spelled Resident Evil: Revelations wrong in the title, so have no fear, I'm not illiterate - but apparently, the I'm sure some of you have heard about the recent Resident Evil: Revelations box fail. No? Then take a look at this picture below.

I don't care if anyone disagrees, that is a fail of epic proportions. I just feel bad for any Resident Evil fan with OCD who can't sleep at night knowing that he owns a Resident Evil game with a fail that bad. In all seriousness, it will probably increase the value of the game in a few decades, when fans can say that they own the Resident Evil game that got a bunch of people fired.

Gameplay

The land of Skyrim is the most fantastic game-world that Bethesda has come up with to date. Fallout 3 had a great world, but it was based on a real place, whereas Skyrim is made from pure imagination.

With such a big world, you'd think there would be lots of load times, but the only load times you'll find are when entering places such as buildings, caves and dungeons. The load times aren't ridiculously long, either, which is a plus.

Bethesda may have finally gotten it right with the third-person mode. All of the previous entries to The Elder Scrolls series, as well as Fallout 3 and New Vegas, have had a tacked-on third-person mode that was basically useless and made combat a lot harder. In Skyrim, it's actually just as easy to fight, and adds a whole new element to the game.

Unfortunately, there are a few bugs and glitches, some of which even stop you from completing quests, which can be problematic, unless you're playing the PC version where you can just go into the console and type in a command to skip a part of the quest. I encountered a glitch that disabled me from completing one of the later quests, and I had to skip it altogether, which caused me to miss a very important part that I ended up having to read about instead.

There are many different guilds and factions that you can join in Skyrim, such as the Dark Brotherhood, Bard's Guild, The Companions, The Mage's College, and more. The only factions that are essential to the main quest are the Stormcloaks and the Imperials, of which you can only choose one, and the other will dislike you and attack you on sight.

Another new feature in Skyrim is the ability to get married. There are a few dozen possible marriage choices for both males and females. You first have to complete quests and become good friends with them before you precede to court them, and after the marriage ceremony, they will run shops that will provide income.

There are many different skills you will learn how to use as you level-up and upgrade them, from magical abilities like Conjuration, Destruction and Alchemy to physical abilities like Archery, One-Handed Weapons and Blocking. You'll want to think about what you want to be, though, because if you just level-up random abilities that you don't plan on using, you'll be in trouble later on in the game.

Graphics

Skyrim is a truly spectacular-looking game. It may not have the best graphics of this generation, but it's above par for the average game, and for having such a big open-world, it does truly look fantastic. It's easy to over-look the detail in some of the places in Skyrim, as the really breath-taking places lie outside of the major cities and towns, and instead consist of snowy mountains, river paths and large forests. The most fantastic thing in Skyrim has to be the skies in a certain place towards the end of the main quest, which look somewhat like the Aurora Borealis.

The character customization in Skyrim is amazing, as you get to choose exactly what your character looks like, down to the cheekbone. The only flaw with the characters is that they tend to be a bit glitchy at times, and will glitch into walls and sometimes produce visual artifacts, and the character models aren't amazing, which is an issue Bethesda has been struggling with for quite a while. It's disappointing that you'll encounter a lot of glitches in this otherwise visually-amazing game, but you'll be able to forgive this because of how nice the game looks.

Sound

The sound-track in Skyrim is among the best in recent history, and the overworld theme is a very memorable theme that is known well among the gaming community. The sound effects in the game are among the finest, and hearing a dragon's roar will put you on the edge of your seat with anticipation.

The voice-acting is superb, which was to be expected. There is a very large voice-cast for Skyrim, as you'll be able to tell as you walk through the towns and listen in on the many conversations going on around you. If you listen closely, you might be able to hear conversations about secret places in towns, or even news about what's been going on in Skyrim - sometimes, they'll even be talking about your character, and something big that he's done.

Story

The main story is quite compelling, and the side-quests are also fantastic. In the main quest, you'll be doing a lot of quests involving your origin, the Imperials, the Storm-Cloaks, Grey-Beards, and dragons. It's a very exciting adventure, that will take you across most of the places on the map, but it's more of an intro to what's to come.

Once you've beat the main quest, you're only a quarter done exploring what Skyrim has to offer, as there are hundreds of side-quests to be completed. There are hundreds of different places in Skyrim to be explored, most of which you'll find just by doing said side-quests. Some of them are generic hunt and fetch quests with a twist or two, and others will involve you going into the most dangerous dungeons or fighting giants that can kill you in a few hits, so you'd better get good at magic or archery.

Longevity

This game will last you longer than most single-player games, and probably even longer than a lot of newer multiplayer games. The sheer depth of the game-world alone is enough to suck you in for weeks upon weeks, and you'll be coming back to this game a lot.

The main quest shouldn't take you more than 40 hours to complete if you're taking your time and doing side-quests along the way, but after beating that, the game starts to open up even more and get a lot more exciting. Though you might not get the 300 hours out of it that were boasted before its launch, you'll probably get close to 150-200 just from completing the majority of the quests and faction/guild storylines.

The Verdict

Pros:

• One of the best game-worlds ever

• Great sound-track

• Tons of fun quests

• Lots of replayability

• Great story

Cons:

• Glitchy

Gameplay: 10

Graphics: 9.5

Sound: 9.5

Story: 9.5

Multiplayer: N/A

Longevity: 10

9.5/10

#6: Professor Layton and the Last Specter (Tied with Total War: Shogun 2)

Professor Layton and the Last Specter is a fantastic game, and yet another great entry into this fantastic series. It has the most puzzles yet, and the story is one of the best in the series, rivaled only by Unwound Future and possibly Diabolic Box. This is chronologically the first game in the series, so it's neat to learn about the main characters' pasts.

2010 #6 Game of the Year: Mass Effect 2

2010 vs. 2011: Professor Layton and the Last Specter (2011)

#5: Star Wars: The Old Republic

Star Wars: The Old Republic is basically the only MMORPG I was looking forward to in 2011 (RIFT looked kind of cool), and this may be one of the best Star Wars games ever. It's been compared to World of Warcraft too much, in debates such as "Is SW: TOR the WoW killer?!", which is kind of a pointless argument. They're both different MMORPGs, and even if you don't enjoy WoW you can still have a lot of fun with this game. One of the best parts about this game is the flight sections, which unfortunately you don't get to do until completing all of the basics, which might take a dozen hours.

2010 #5 Game of the Year: Fallout: New Vegas

2010 vs. 2011: Star Wars: The Old Republic (2011)

#4: Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 was one of the most anticipated games of the year (as are most of the games on this list), and it far succeeded my expectations. I expected the game to have large maps and a great multiplayer, but it may just be one of the most realistic first-person shooters I've ever played. The maps were much larger than I expected, and the multiplayer is probably one of the best ever.

2010 #4 Game of the Year: Battlefield: Bad Company 2

2010 vs. 2011: Battlefield 3 (2011)

#3: Portal 2

Sure, I might not have played Portal 2 as much as Battlefield 3 or Star Wars: The Old Republic, but it's one of the most fantastic single-player experiences in this generation. The Co-Op mode is also great, even though it's somewhat short. Portal 2 can be played over and over again, and whether you're a fan of puzzle games, shooters, action/adventure, etc... This game is for YOU.

2010 #3 Game of the Year: BioShock 2

2010 vs. 2011: Portal 2 (2011)

#2: Minecraft

I was disappointed that I didn't get to put this on my Game of the Year list when it originally came out, but Minecraft was technically released this year when it went out of Beta after MineCon 2011. As many of you know, it is one of my favorite games of this year, and of all time. It's got so much replay value, and I've probably gone back to it more than any other game this generation.

2010 #2 Game of the Year: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future

2010 vs. 2011: TIE

#1: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Predictable? Yes. It was very close between this game and Minecraft, but I felt that this game deserved it more, since it is technically a better game in terms of most aspects. I probably enjoyed Minecraft longer, but my time with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which is still going on), has been more enjoyable whilst playing it. It's a spectacular game with one of the best game worlds of all time. I wasn't a big fan of Oblivion, but this game might just be Bethesda's best. Congratulations!

2010 #1 Game of the Year: Red Dead Redemption

2010 vs. 2011: BLOG COMING SOON!

Thumbs up??

Gameplay

Dead Island certainly isn't dead, which is a joke I've made about a lot of games with "Dead" in the title. There are plenty of zombies, and a couple humans, most of which who seem to care more about you getting their three bottles of beer or other random hunt and fetch quests than important things like escaping the bloody island. At times it feels a bit unrealistic, and it seems that Dead Island sort of wanted to be like an RPG

There are around a dozen instances where you're forced to enter the wretched sewers of Dead Island, which wasn't even fun the first time through. Luckily, you can just run through it, but there's not much fun to be had in the sewers. It's basically room after room of toxic-waste pools that you probably shouldn't go in, because they're toxic and have a bunch of Floaters, which might be the babies of Left 4 Dead 2's Spitters and Boomers.

Driving in Dead Island is actually very enjoyable, and it doesn't make walking boring, as there's still a lot to explore outside of your vehicle. The handling on the vehicles are fairly good, and luckily the vehicles don't glitch into things as much as the characters do.

Dead Island focuses on melee weapons more than guns, which is a nice touch and adds a sense of realism to it, because in reality you wouldn't find a gun every five steps and ammo every time you blink in real life, unless you're at Solid Snake's house.

Weapons can be upgraded, which is a neat feature, but what's even more neat is that they can be customized. You can add fire to your machete, or even electricity, making them do burn damage and electric damage, which are a great way to kill special zombies. However, weapons do start to break, and it costs quite a bit of money to repair them, so don't use your most expensive and powerful weapons unless you really need them, since they're probably more prone to breaking easier.

Escort quests are a pain, but there are only a few mandatory escort quests anyways, so it's not too much of a big deal, but you'll probably spend a lot of time re-doing those quests, as the AI in Dead Island is atrocious. The NPCs will not help you fight off the hordes of zombies that are coming to attack them, but after you take them down by yourself (or with your friends online), they'll skip ahead until they find the biggest zombie in the area and start poking at him with a stick, until he turns around and smacks them a few times and kills them. NPCs in these escort quests also refuse to get in vehicles, so you'll have to transport them by foot, which will take ages.

Graphics

The graphics in Dead Island are nothing short of average. I bet you feel let-down now, after all of that build-up, all for "average". It's true, though, the graphics in Dead Island are nothing special. They're not bad, by any means, and for such a big game world, they did a pretty good job, but it's nothing special.

The character models aren't great, and there are a lot of visual artifacts and glitches. Zombies may glitch into or even through walls, which obviously can cause problems when you're actually trying to, you know, complete a mission and a zombie goes through a wall into an unreachable area. This happened more than once in the course of a few hours.

Sound

There isn't really anything that pops out at you in Dead Island, so there aren't many great sound effects to be had. The zombies sound like zombies; however, you'll be able to hear the special zombies from far away, as they have their own distinct sounds that can be heard from a mile away, proving to be useful.

The sound-track is nothing special, which is kind of disappointing, as the trailer led players to believe that Dead Island was going to have an emotional sound-track along with a great story, but there wasn't much to the sound-track at all. It wasn't like heavy-metal music was expected, but it would have been nice to have some light spooky music to set the mood in some of the creepier places, and maybe some ukelele music playing when you're out in the holiday resort soaking up the sun and blood.

Story

There isn't really that much to Dead Island. It's basically an FPS-RPG, so like Borderlands, there's a main quest that isn't all that interesting, and a bunch of side-quests that require you to fetch objects for people that simply won't do a good deed for you unless you find them something that's totally out of your way and that only hoarders would want.

The main quest is basically you and three other people, who consist of Sam B, a rapper who acts as the tank for your rag-tag group of zombie-bludgeoners, Xian Mei, the sharp-weapons expert (my choice), Logan Carter, the all-around character for people who are boring and like guys with mohawks who aren't really good at anything in particular, and Purna, who's an ex-cop who knows how to use guns (which you'll rarely use anyways). You won't really get attached to any of these characters, except maybe Sam B, because he's a cool rapper.

The side-quests are usually really easy, and you'll find clusters of people in your safe-houses that never seem to be satisfied with the last thing you just gave them, and need you to fetch them some more stuff. You'll probably find a lot of quest items while you're doing the main quest, and each side-quest shouldn't take more than five minutes to do anyways, unless you've decided you love being frustrated and take up the hobby of escort quests. As previously mentioned, escort quests are basically broken, as the AI is frustratingly awful, and there are quite a few glitches along the way during these quests.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer experience is probably the best thing about Dead Island. It's a really fun Co-Op game that can be played with anywhere from 1-4 players. It's obviously going to be a lot easier with four people, as then you can just do all of the side-quests easily, by having one person go for one side-quest each.

One of the options that really helps you out before you start playing is the ability to make zombies always stay at your level. This makes the game a lot easier and a heck of a lot less frustrating, but it also takes the entire RPG-part of the game out and basically makes it an FPS with zombies that are the same level as you always, which if you're decent at math basically means that there might as well be no leveling system, besides the fact that with level-ups come skill upgrades that are mostly useless anyways.

Longevity

Dead Island is a very entertaining game that you'll want to play in shortish bursts (hour or two), as it does start to get boring if you play it too much, because it's basically the same formula throughout the whole game: Slash Zombies > Side-quest > Cut Zombies > Main Quest > Kill Zombies > Run Away From Ram > Upgrade Weapons > Go Through Sewers Again > Rinse & Repeat.

That may sound like it has a lot of depth to it, but it doesn't. It's fun for the most part, but you'll definitely be bored of side-quests after a few minutes, and you'll be really bored of going through the sewers, which are probably the thing that's most likely to make you take a break from playing.

It's definitely good for a second playthrough, as when you play it again with your original character, the zombies will be a lot tougher, and you'll find a lot more great stuff than you did in your first playthrough.

The Verdict

Pros:

• Fun combat

• Great game-world

• Very entertaining Co-Op mode

• Special zombies are great

Cons:

• Glitchy

• Boring side-quests

• Sewer sections are boring

• Bad AI

Gameplay: 9.0

Graphics: 8.0

Sound: 8.5

Story: 7.0

Multiplayer: 9.0

Longevity: 8.0

It's true that Dead Island didn't deliver the deep story and great sound-track that was expected from all the hype from the trailer, but if you stop and give Dead Island a chance, you'll find that it's actually a very entertaining game that's great with friends, and you'll probably want to keep playing even after your first time beating it.

8.0/10

Look! Another excuse for Ajax to postpone his Game of the Year 2011: #5-#1 blog! Yeah, sorry about the delay; I wanted to post it earlier in the day but did not get a chance, so I'll have to do it tomorrow, hopefully. Anyways, on with the blog!

Resident Evil 4

Where it excelled:

• Zombies aren't the only thing that can kill you! There are boulders that can crush you, as well as other hazards, like falling and being shot by other humans.

What it lacked:

• REAL ZOMBIES. I mean seriously, a bunch of Spanish villagers who are possessed don't really count. Towards the end of the game the enemies begin to look a lot more like zombies, but it still felt lackluster.

Dead Rising 2

Where it excelled:

• Weapon realism. Sure, there are a bunch of guns scattered around in Dead Rising 2, which would be quite unlikely, but there are a heck of a lot more melee weapons. It also requires you to use your imagination when combining melee weapons, which is something you'd be more likely to do in a zombie apocalypse where there aren't any guns around (like Canada!).

What it lacked:

• Realism everywhere else.

Dead Island

Where it excelled:

• Melee. This game is centered around melee combat, and it does it well. There are plenty of melee weapons that you can upgrade in semi-realistic ways (despite the flaming machetes and electric weapons).

What it lacked:

• Quests that made sense. In reality, you would be helping out people in a zombie apocalypse if you're a decent person, but there's a difference between going out of your way to grab some guy a bottle of booze and save someone's child.