I’ll start this review by saying I’m playing this for the multiplayer and found the first’s SP boring. So, don’t expect too much out of this review. Even so, when I first get a multiplayer game, I check out the campaign to get a feel of the game. The first level in this game is completely awesome. It’s also set in WWII. Just the atmosphere, graphics, sound, and story really pulled me in. I demand a full campaign based off of this first level. I understand some people may be tired of WWII games, but if it’s good, you will play.

After that initial intro level, you get dropped into the squad of the first game. It all plays pretty much the same, though fortunately the campaign this time around is a bit stronger and plays at a faster pace. Dying is inevitable and luckily it doesn’t have the same ‘Battlefield-style’ respawn as the first game, rather, there are scattered checkpoints. This moves the game along at a faster pace, which is very much welcoming. There is also an interesting story here that flows great with the gameplay and kept me interested.

The graphics in this game are incredible. Sometimes they are used to great effect, but other times I wished to be awed as earlier points in the game provided. Still, this engine (Frostbite) is great and playing through the game made me long for an AvP game with these realistic looks (though the character models of the recent Alien vs. Predator are great). The sound here is also in-your-face and very realistic. So the strength of the visuals and audio is certainly an achievement.

The campaign is a good length with the potential urge to play through again, as there are side-objectives to obtain. Though, as a $60 game, if you didn’t plan on going online I’d wait a bit for a lower price. Though, if you can get your hands on it, do so. Multiplayer impressions to follow.

The galactic action packed soap opera is back! And whether you like it or not Bioware and Mass Effect are the Jay Z of gaming because they are laying the Blueprint. You cannot turn your head at the fact, even if you don’t like Mass Effect, that Bioware is simply showing the world how to make a complete interactive cinematic experience. And I would label Mass Effect 2 as an experience as much as it is a game. Ok, enough horn blowing.
What does Mass Effect 2 do better than 1?
Easy…Everything!!! And let me tell you that is nearly impossible to do no matter the medium. Movie, music, games, whatever….making a part 2 completely better than the 1st in every aspect is damn near impossible. I will name a few things. The 1st is something that my brothers claim not to like from the 1st. Shooting. I was skeptical that Bioware decided to add an ammo system to the 2nd installment. But they did, and it works. Yes you are shooting these baddies in real time, while telling your squad mates what to do ala Ghost Recon style. The battle pause is still here, which Bioware 1st introduced in the KOTOR series. For all the Haters it isn’t mandatory to use. You can even quick map moves to your LB, RB, and Y buttons if you want to feel more in charge of the free flow action. You can even map your team’s moves so you don’t have to pause battle. But as far as shooters go this game is very strategic. Enemies flank, rush cover, and shoot from a distance, and sometimes all at once. So sometimes planning is better than rushing head strong. 1 last point on the ammo is the ability to change to different types of ammos. Fire, ice, warp, whatever. And it all works well with the new ammo system.
On to more better. One big change is planet exploration. No more Mako. No more driving around. I, for one, loved driving around. Yes annoying sometimes, but I still loved it. ME2…no driving. Now some don’t like the idea but I’m a big advocate on the introduction of planet scanning. You can now scan the whole surface of a planet and send out probes to retrieve minerals. In ME1 the minerals were an almost “who cares” item. Now they are necessary to upgrade your weapons, shields, and yes even your new Normandy space shuttle. Sometimes you will find side missions while scanning a planet. And each side mission has been put on steroids and given its own unique level and feel. Going back to the upgrade system, there is no more selling un-needed equipment. You can buy upgrades or scan dead bodies/computers for research projects that allow your scientist to beef up your weapons and shields.
I can honestly write forever about this game, but I will just mention 1 more important thing. You can take your ME1 character into ME2! All your decisions from the 1st carry over. Depending on your level and money from the 1st you get bonuses upon starting part 2. I was rich in ME1 so obviously I started ME2 with a nice chunk of change. Once you beat ME2 you can even start a 2nd play through with that same character at the same level. And I hope you didn’t kill your main character by the end of ME2, if so, you will be unable to import them into ME3. Which means you can carry over every decision from ME1 and ME2 into part 3. Has this been done before? Maybe, but if so, definitely not on the same scale.
There is definitely a lot more to say on this game, but it is worth checking out on your own. Even if you didn’t like part 1, play part 2. You can even create your part 1 back story if you didn’t play it. This game is a must buy. Anyone who claims they are a gamer, should have this. IF you don’t, I’m sorry because I don’t respect you claiming to be a real gamer. And I stick by that 100%!!!! That goes for you too, Adam and Sean!!!

While God of War games have been around long before God of War, the gameplay was just so tight that it set the bar for 3rd-person brawlers. It set such a bar, in fact, that EA and Visceral Games decided to copy that and put in their own look and story. Is that good enough to make it an enjoyable experience? Wouldn’t it be stale by then?

God of War used Greek Mythology as the setting. This allows the fantasy within the gameplay to work, and also allows the player to be put into epic set-pieces during battle. Dante’s Inferno is a mythology itself too. Although in the current day and age some may disagree. The mythology here would be considered Christian Mythology. The story is based on the poem, The Divine Comedy, which made straight into a game may somewhat lack in gameplay. Visceral took that story and pulled the mythology out of it, turning the idea into an action-driven story. For me it works; it’s about hell, sins, etc – perfect recipe for a game.

So does ripping-off God of War work? Yes. And I kind of like this idea. Take the GoW engine and controls and make it a template. Then, have developers create games within it. It controls the same. Weapons, enemies, environments. It all moves and acts the same. So, to sort of spice it up, the upgrade system is a bit different. There aren’t multiple weapons to obtain, instead just powerful attacks and magic. The game is about strengthening aspects of your character and using them in battle. Your scythe is your primary weapon, along with a projectile cross as your secondary. You upgrade through XP gained from Absolving or Punishing certain enemies or the damned. This is actually pretty unique and can technically allow the game to be played multiple times for different play styles. The game can be a little difficult which can be a good or bad thing. You can change the difficulty anytime, or just sit there and challenge yourself. Also, there are some arenas to unlock as well as a New Game+.

The graphics are just alright. I think it really has to do with some of the design. It’s just kind of plain. But then there’s some design that’s just brutally awesome. Some levels have nothing to them – then all of a sudden you’ll come across a badass looking boss. I guess there’s only so much you can do with hell. Just plaster the rocks with bodies…? It’s brutal though. There’s blood, guts, and tits with graphic animations to exploit these fun attributes. It sure is still fun to watch no doubt – but just a little on the plain side.

So in the end, this game is definitely worth a play-through. It brings up a point that this God of War mold could be used for multiple games of this style in different settings. I would love to see some Norse Mythology…or even a Blade game (actually, I already have an awesome idea for a Blade game). It’s worth $60 if you have the money to spend, otherwise it’s worth the rental.

This may be short because it’s pretty simple: Darksiders is a gamer’s game. It takes elements of God of War, Zelda, Soul Reaver, Metroid, Panzer Dragoon, Portal, and gives you an enjoyable experience. If you don’t like the game and call yourself a gamer…I just don’t get it. Let me break it down a bit.

The game’s main game-play element is God of War style action. The game world is centered around a hub-like structure, similar to the recent Wolfenstien. What some call dungeons, I call ‘levels’. There’s not a real over-world, so you use various checkpoints to go from level to level. Or travel on your own if you wish. Like Metroid, you gain items that let you progress. Sometimes you can go back to a previous area and get a hidden item that was out of reach. Upgrades are insane, which are allowed for your weapons, your other weapons, your health and armor, and special abilities. Boss battles are big and epic, and you get to ride a flaming horse. This game has it all.

What helps make this game-play fun is the world. The design of the characters are just awesome. I’m not knowledgeable on comic book artists, but Joe Mad is creative director on the game…which shines through more than most games with original IP. I mean, I want some action figures of these badasses! Especially Samael. The story is rather enjoyable as well. It’s a take on Christian mythology, which from the medium, hasn’t really been done much if at all (that’s usually a touchy subject in this age…How do you think the Greeks might have thought of God of War?). Voice-work is awesome too, which helps drive the story. Mark Hamill is in it, so, that’s always a plus.

Now, it isn’t without its faults. The only issues I really had with the game are very minor. The controls feel like they could have been tighter, although this is a development process that may take a few games before being refined. The controls are easy and fluid, but there is something there that sets it apart from, say, the controls of God of War. I also got pissed at jumps. Now, this may be a wireless controller lag issue, but a lot of times jumps would delay and I’d fall to my death. Again, this could be the hardware as I feel Left 4 Dead 2 suffers bad from lag, yet everyone and their Mom writes this game home as the be-all-end-all multiplayer game – that I don’t agree with.

I guess that’s getting beyond the point…but to the point: Any little issues are so minor (and no game is perfect) that this game does deserve a perfect score because it needs to be played. Cool thing is that this is a first time game from Vigil studios. That says a lot and I hope it means more titles in the future. They’re working on an MMO right now, which I don’t play anyway, but I’m sure something else will crop up. I need to add that seeing review scores for this game make me laugh. It’s getting high scores…but this is just a game that, despite any flaws, is just so fun that it needs no less than a perfect score. I would never tell a gamer to avoid this game. Like I said before, this is a gamer’s game. It encompasses everything that makes gaming fun, sets it on fire, slaps your face, and gives you an enema.

Conclusion: Buy it. If strapped of funds, rent or borrow. Stealing might be accepted as long as you’re not stealing it from a gamer playing it.

So…Lucky for me some games are released in Asia first. I think this game was made by a German Developer so it was released in the UK and parts of Asia before the US release. This also holds true for Risen, which I played before the fix came out. The first release was too dark to play.

Now for Divinity (D2), I have never played the original and never even heard of it. It may have came out in 2002 on the PC. The only reason I wanted to play this game is because I like RPGs and I saw I can turn into a dragon. AWESOME!!! Now even though I really enjoyed this game I will have to start with the CONs because these are what hit you in the face when you start playing. The game doesn’t really get enjoyable until you are a little deep into.

CONs
The graphics could be a hell of a lot better. They are decent but the cut scenes are PC port overs that have been dumbed down. The characters look decent. The world is huge and looks pretty vibrant but no where close to what Oblivion looked like. I will go on record to say this is one of the hardest games I have ever played. I think besides the graphics this will be the biggest drawback. Hard to the point you may want to stop playing. But since it takes you a while to get to the point where you can be a dragon, I played on. What makes it hard is you will come to certain areas where the baddies are a higher level than you but almost impossible to beat. And this happens a lot. You just need to do as many side missions as you can to level up. Now would be a good time for the PROs.

PROs
As I said do a lot of side quests. Luckily for us the side quests are awesome. Maybe even better than the main quests. 1 early example deals with adultery. before I get into that you are able to read people’s minds if you want to give up some experience points. It is usually a good thing to do. So some chick in a village asks you to give some other dude a letter. After reading her mind you find out she has been diddling this guy on the side. Now if you happen to find her husbands diary you discover she has done this before and he murdered the guy and buried him in his basement, but she doesn’t know. Before you go ahead you can open and read the letter if you want, against her wishes. Then you could deliver it to him OR you can bring it to the husband. I brought it to the husband. He got very angry, but then I told him I read his diary and I know he killed a guy. I threatened to turn him in, he got upset….so….I killed him. Then I delivered the opened letter which the guy was upset that it was opened, but I lied and said it was like that when I got it.

So you can see I could have tackled this small side quest and many different ways. That’s what makes it so fun. And before I finish I will add that the levels are not just horizontal but also very vertical. Which comes in handy as a dragon.

So if you want a hard RPG that plays similar to Baulder’s Gate and you don’t care about graphics, you should pick up this game.

Ok everybody…Modern Warfare 2 is here! Rejoice! But wait…maybe the “Game of the Year” already came out! You’re probably saying, “No way Chad….can’t be”. I will say, “Oh yes….can be!” Dragon Age: Origins may be the game. For me, at least, it just might be. Bioware has done it again. I first played a Bioware game when Baulder’s Gate came out on the PS2. Before that game I had never really played “those” type of games. Dungeon crawlers, is what they are called I think. That was a great 4 player co-op game. I did not know who Bioware was at the time. The 2nd one came out, Dark Alliance, I think? Same ol’ greatness. Then I played KOTOR….jaw droppingly awesome. Bioware was now on my radar. Then Mass Effect…which I think is one of the best games of all time, for that type of game, at least. So now comes Dragon Age: Origins, which I didn’t know anything about before I played it. I mean like ZERO PERCENT. I mean its Bioware…when have they went wrong? Even that Sonic game they did on the DS was Awesome. So let me get to it.
I literally could write a novel about this game and be nowhere near being able to describe it completely, so bare with me. You can probably guess when the game takes place. It takes place in the future when robots have taken over right? Nope! It’s the dragon age. From the beginning you get to pick your character type. Male or female mixed with your choice of warrior, rogue, mage, dwarf. The basics. Pick how they look and also their basic starting attributes and spells or abilities. Now the awesome thing is every class has their own origin story. A set of missions and characters solely based on their beginnings. Now they will all spearhead towards the main goal, but just start from different vantage points. I started as a human warrior of course whose noble parents were betrayed by someone who wants control of the kingdom while at the same time the Darkspawn wage war across the land. My girlfriend also started from the same class. Even though we had the same origins each of our games played completely different.
Let’s get to the basic game play elements. Assume KOTOR, Mass Effect, and Baulder’s Gate had a baby. This would be the baby. You fight like KOTOR. You can mash at the attack button, but one simple press and they will keep attacking until you change it. Your basic attack is the A button while you can map up to 6 spells/abilities/potions/skills on X, Y, and B. Pressing the RT swaps 3 for the other 3. Easy for the quick go to, or you could hold the LT and everything freezes and allows you to manage and pick everything from a radial menu. In this menu you can also pick how you want to map your abilities on your buttons. Now if you really want to manage your character just hit the back button and you get the “Baulder’s Gate” character screen we all know and love.
As for the characters, you can walk around with up to 4 people at once. These are people you met along the way and maybe you helped them previously and now they are returning the favor. As of now I have almost 10 I think, while my girlfriend ended with just 4 (she was quite angry that I had more people than her). Now you can switch between your people very easily by hitting the RB or LB button. The great part about it is the tactics slots you unlock for every character so you can basically control what you want them to do in any situation without controlling them. At first I didn’t bother with this but then I found it to be essential. Especially in the almost impossible boss battles. You can also build relationships with your members by chatting with them, completing missions to their likings, or just giving them a gift. I even got to have sex with my evil mage girl. Luckily she didn’t want to build a real relationship. The game even rewards you by building these relationships. The players get special skills, and they might even give you something.
I wasn’t going to add a con section but I felt I should at least write a couple. Graphically I wasn’t impressed at first. It is probably because there is also a PC version. But I got over that quick. And just one more complaint sometimes the combat gets annoying when it comes to sword fighting since hitting a button starts the action and doesn’t do the action. Sometimes I would go for a swing and my character would walk around the guy first or just get confused about which guy I want to attack.
Now I want to talk about the story and other missions but I feel I loaded this up already. So maybe I will continue this review another time. I just wanted to give you some feedback on this game everyone should be trying. It is a fantastic game that should be played by all, especially the hardcore gamers because this game can be very hard. One of the hardest games I played in a while. And it is sad because my brothers won’t play this game because they might have to listen to someone talk or even read something. God forbid you might have to play a game with reading!

Alright, first off this game didn’t catch my radar early on so I wasn’t really sure what I was getting into before its release. My brothers told me about it, and said it was a first person shooter RPG. Since those don’t usually go together and I love both, I was excited. After sliding the loaded CD tray in I was ready to go. I will go on record to say I was the 1st Bluegamer to play this game, although they might add they got to level 50 before me (sorry I have a life…just kidding). Actually, I’ve been addicted to another game, but I will get into that on another post.

Ok…I remember starting this game and just saying out loud, “This game was made for me”. You start out shooting guys with all your level 1 weapons and watching little numbers bleed out of them as they yell things like “meat bag” at you. The writers must have watched Surrogates. I will say it was a little annoying waiting to reach a level where I can use my special skill or my car. Before I go on, you can choose between 4 different classes. A big brute of a dude, a little skinny sword dude (Hunter), some girl that according to my brother goes in different dimensions (maybe the same dimension my girl friend goes to once a month for a week), and finally my chosen one THE SOLDIER! Why did I pick the soldier? Don’t you remember I like to shoot things? He also has a gun turret!

Most missions were find this, find that, kill that, kill that and get the thing it had, flip switches, and finally bosses (but I guess we can put that under “kill that”). Sound repetitious? It’s not, because you’re having a blast killing and leveling up. Not only do you level your man (lady) up, you level your special skill up, and also your weapons. As for weapons you get revolvers, assault rifles, sub-machine guns, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, and alien gun thingies. I usually used the assault rifles so I was pretty bad ass with them. You find so many weapons in this game it is simply crazy. Some weapons even have nice little elemental affects, so you might melt or burn people? You also have grenades and shields, and you will find all types of mods for those. I can go on and on about this portion of the game but I will leave some for you to explore.

Next on the list…..single VS multiplayer. Single player is fun. It is easier to kill things (most of the time). And you can really feel like you found that bad ass weapon you want to brag to your friends about. But the game gets really interesting when you have more players. Baddies are harder to kill, your weapons aren’t as bad ass as you thought, and you might actually have to implement some strategy. Don’t worry If you’re a lower level than your friend, because you will level up quick. Also you can battle in arenas or just outside dueling with a buddy, but this is better when you’re at the same skill level. And now here goes the only complaint I can think of. So Gearbox (is that their name?) made this 4 player game, and you have cars to drive in. So obviously we should all be able to ride in a car….right? WRONG! Now, one can argue and say, “But Chad, You can spawn 2 cars at a time and ride 2 and 2”. Excellent Billy….good shot. But I will retort with, “But why am I fighting other guys in cars that are just like mine, but they have 2 other guys hanging off the side making it a 4 person ride?” And yeah, I end up winning that argument.

Lastly and shortly, buy the game! You can easily get about a 50 hour double play through just maxing one guy out. Then you also have other characters to try that with that will add a whole new dimension to how you play the game. Enjoy!

     So this site really doesn’t get any love for sports games. I might be the only brother Blue who is somewhat into these games. So I feel the need to talk about NBA 2k10. I have always loved basketball games. The old NBA Lives, NBA Jams and so on. But I have never been into one so much as NBA 2k10. This is the first basketball game I have actually played a full season of. Usually I just go to the options and shorten it to a 16 game season, but this time I left it on the grueling 60+ game season. Now why would I do this you ask? Read paragraph 2 and I will let you know!
     My Player mode is the new thing for this game. This makes your NBA game play like an RPG. You customize everything about your character. EVERYTHING! Even more so than an actual RPG. How he looks, plays, stats, name, hometown, college, and even a nickname. All this info will even be used by the announcers during the game. You start off in a summer league and if your good enough you might get asked to be on a training camp. Depending how you do in this training camp they will ask you to join the team or if you suck you will go to the D-League. You will do drills to raise your stats and you will get ranked each game to raise your stats. The skills page to build your character is huge…OMG that’s what she said HUGE!

     During a game you are playing you. You only control you. Sometimes the coach benches you if you suck so be on your A game. I have spent well over 50 hours playing this one mode. The one of many I might add. So if your into playing a basketball game…this is the best out there. I also have NBA Live 10, and 2k is a couple notches better than that one. Play this game…if you like basketball…buy this game. I could go on and on about more features this game has available but it isn’t necessary. My Player Mode is where it’s at!

Back when Gearbox first announced Borderlands, I liked the look of the graphics and the idea of modifying your weapon how ever you want against the countless combinations. Well, as it turns out I was wrong about the assumption (I wasn’t the only one) with the weapons. The idea would have been cool, but you cannot modify and customize your weapons. Then after some development time, they change the graphics to a cell shaded cartoony look. I was not impressed. But, because of the hype it was receiving, I figured I’d give it a go anyway. I mean, Gearbox has never let me down. And because of the earlier release date, I got the 360 version…and because both Sean and Chad would have that version.

After getting into the game, I realized this is Diablo as an FPS. You mainly kill the same enemies over and over again that are near or at your level, and you collect a plethora of items. Guns, guns, guns, and guns. I guess the game becomes a ‘gun hunter’. You have four classes to choose from, and from their you upgrade certain abilities to your needs. Want to go tank, healing, or a little of both? And with that, each character class has a unique ability that goes along with the upgrades. While doing all of this you have the exact same controls as Call of Duty. Smart move, in my opinion as they are fantastic controls. You can also warp between points so traversing across large areas doesn’t get too boring. There’s a lot of land to cover here, so the addition is welcome. Vehicles are available as well. They can be fitted with a rocket launcher or chaingun, can also be ridden by baddies, and allow for a co-op partner to ride in. Speaking of co-op, the game allows for four players at once to go through the entire game. This for some is the greatest thing ever, while for others, not so much.

The story here is really…nothing. You’re supposed to find an alien vault. And…sometimes someone talks to you about it. And…someone else is trying to get to it. Early game, some people you meet had cool little artsy intros that just seemed to disappear over time. And it didn’t make sense how some minor characters had this, and majors didn’t. I mean, I guess story isn’t a big deal when you’re having so much fun with the gameplay. The one redeeming quality to the story is hearing the journals you’ll collect throughout the game. It has some of the best dialog I’ve ever heard. It’s hilarious! And that goes with some of the other dialog too. It’s all pretty witty and well written. Now if there was just a deep story or mythology to go with it…

You can play this game by yourself or with three other people. The game in co-op is supposed to be harder and better loot is to be found. I personally found better loot when soloing…and sometimes had a better time. Soloing, you really get to know how powerful your weapon is. In co-op, it’s more about how many people you have flanking the enemy. When soloing, I get to go at my own pace and use better loot management strategy. When in co-op, you may play with someone that doesn’t share loot, doesn’t tell you when they find anything, or they keep everything for them self to sell later on. Luckily though, xp and money is shared with the whole party.

There’s really not a whole lot more to say to describe this game. It’s all pretty basic. A diablo style FPS. And as basic as it is, and as turned off as I was initially, I realized this basic gameplay is what makes it fun. But are there any problems with it? In a way, yes. It just felt like things were missing. First, like I mentioned before, story. Being on an alien planet with so much land and so many possibilities, I was hoping for a whole new mythology to get into. But there’s nothing here. There are some neat things hinted at, but I wish for more immersion in this world. At times I’d also compare the world to Zelda: OoT…but then feel there’s too much missing to be that immersed. It was the one area where I think the game lacked. Enemies didn’t have much variety and the world looked to similar. The last two aren’t huge, but it is noticeable.

There’s really not much else to say. This game is fun. I got to lvl 50, almost done with my second play through, and started up the other classes (well, for achievements..but I do plan on playing them more). I think I played ~52 hours. Even with it lacking atmosphere and immersion, I’d say it’s so fun that it could be GoTY. And there’s reason to keep up with your character considering the DLC that could be coming out. We already know of one, Zed’s zombie island, but I hope there’s more and that it’s well worth it.

In the end, I say this is a game to buy. Even someone like me, who only gets into Diablo style games 50% of the time, this one is just fun.

If I started by telling you that Dead Space: Extraction is an M-rated, on-rails shooter for the Wii, you’d pretty much just ignore it and move on. Some may even talk bad about it before even playing it. So let’s pretend this first paragraph didn’t happen and read the rest of the review as if it’s some Dead Space game – a prequel to a game I assume you love. Only a handful of people didn’t like the original.

Dead Space: Extraction is a prequel to Dead Space, and starts of on the planet when the marker is first found. As you know from Dead Space, a possible alien artifact was found that may or may not have had powers to make people go crazy and create zombies. Sounds awesome, huh? The game plays out as a first-person movie. With much voice-acting, character interaction, and story elements that are more than enough to pull you in. This perspective rivaled Uncharted 2’s story for me, personally. As the story progresses, obviously the shit hits the fan. It does a good job of answering the questions brought about by the first game, and seeing the familiar (and haunting) locales is even more exhilarating.

Once the shit hits the fan – or blood, it literally looks like blood has hit a fan – the game seamlessly gives you control to shoot oncoming enemies. To keep the cinematic approach, you can only control your characters ‘arms’. You are being moved by the game for story purposes, but you have the ability to shoot wherever, use stasis, and use your gravity beam. This is where some people may be turned away at first, but even on-rails, this game is highly imerssive and requires a great deal of skill. As the game world moves you around, enemies pop out which of course you have to take down. Like the previous Dead Space, the most effective way to do this is to shoot at the limbs. This way, you can keep them back as many swarm at you. This is where skill comes in, as you have to be able to aim correctly and in a timely manner. To help you out, you have stasis which slows down enemies to buy you time. The game also offers a plethora of weapons to take out enemies.

As you play, many items will be visible around you. But you have to be quick to use your gravity beam and grab the items. These items can be health, ammo, guns, and upgrades. Upgrades make your weapons much more powerful and really help you. Each weapon has four possible upgrades and there are more than four guns, as you can only hold four at a time – so I don’t have an exact count…maybe eight? By completing the mission with good accuracy and many collected items, you can also upgrade your Rig suit, so that gives you another reason to play skillfully – it will help to have more health/resistance later on! All of this is what gives the game much replay value. In addition to co-op, playing through to collect items you’ve missed or select different paths, is just a number of reasons to play over again.

The controls here work great. I use the wiimote in a Nerf Blaster in one hand, and a nun-chuck in the other. You obviously shoot with the wiimote, but also shake in dark areas to activate your glow-worm. The nun-chuck allows for gravity beam, stasis, weapon selection with analog, and shack-to-reload. It also uses a Gears of War style reload mechanic. Shake, then shoot when the reload bar hits a specific area. This helps with quick reloading when fighting enemies – a must. You can also use mele attacks by pointing the wiimote outside of the screen and swiping the nun-chuck. This helps when breaking through barriers or knocking back enemies that have jumped on you.

The graphics are also very well-done for the Wii. While HD is obviously absent, it looks like the original Dead Space was taken, and HD was removed. Models look the same, animations are spot on, but there’s just a hint of jaggedy-bluriness that the Wii is known for. I even think the character models – especially faces – are some of the best around. While this is the one negative thing to say about the game, it does not change the gameplay and can not be faulted to the developer. They did great with what they can on the Wii.

With the many characters also comes the voice-acting. There’s a lot of talk the whole time. Like I said, this plays like an action movie. You get to know and learn about the characters, and the best way to express that is through the voice acting. While not movie quality, it’s actually the standard style found in games. So not horrendous, but hilarity is found. Again it helps move the story forward, which is amazing. Other sounds throughout are from the original Dead Space, which is unique and makes it easy to nail this as a Dead Space game.

In the end, you should definitely play this game. Because of the replay value, I say it’s worth a buy. Especially with co-op! If you are just strapped of funds, find a way to play this. Not only can I not wait for the real Dead Space sequel, but I want another Dead Space: Extraction.