BLOODFORGE

What the game says it is: You play Crom a celtic warrior that has seen endless battles and has finally come to rest with his family, until one day after a hunt he has a different dream then his normal nightmares, he dreams of a fight with the gods. He then awakes to his villge burning attacked by the gods minions, he tries to find his family, tragedy ensues and he swears revenge.

What the game actually is: Blood forge is a third person hack and slash where you play Crom a celtic warrior who swears revenge against the gods for the death of his family.

Graphic and sound: The color scheme and art of the game reminds one of a graphic novel giving it a 300, Sin City type of look which adds a good deal to the overall feel and play of the game. The sounds are ok with nothing annoying and vocie acting that is good for story related scenes.

How game play was: The hack and slash is easy to learn and combos can be easy to perform. You have the ability to buy magic upgrades at the blood forge with the currency being the blood life energy of your fallen foes. The game quickly becomes a button masher as piles of enemies come at you, the boss fights are fun and interesting with similar elements to them, at some point in each, the boss creates minions for you to fight.

The good: The good graphics, ok game play and decent story mix well together.

The bad: The story is too short and has the feel of "I have done this, been through this story before".

The ugly: The camera angles can somtimes work against you and the difference in melee weapons doesn't seem to make a difference to how you do in battle.

Overall: It was too short of a game, however, I did enjoy going through the game. I enjoyed the look of the game, it felt more often then not that I was reading a graphic novel and the game moved at a good pace. All in all making me wish for a sequel. This is defiantly a game that I will play again in the future.

PTSD: 4

Why I rated it: For the death of the villagers and family as well as the grossly violent game play with limbs, heads and even guts flying everywhere as well as copious amounts of blood.

VANQUISH

What the game says it is: an epic third person sci-fi action shooter. Become the ultimate weapon with an unrivalled battle suit combining deadly firepower with superhuman speed and agility, storm into battle and experince high octane gaming at its most explosive and exciting.

What the game actually is: A third person shooter with some beat um up elements set in the far future. You play Sam Gidion, an agent of the DARPA ( defense advanced research projects) who is in charge of designing the ARS (Augmented reaction suit) and is ordered by the secretary of defense and president of the United States to accompany a millitary unit to the Province Space Colony that has come under attack by the order of the Russian Star, a militant group, that has recently taken over Russia and used the power of the array on San Fransico. They call for the unconditional surrender of the United States in ten hours or they will destroy New York.

Graphic and sound: The environment backgrounds and characters are highly detailed and the cinematics more so using CGI to make the character look fairly close to real people with facial stubble, wind effecting hair and beads of sweat. The sound is also good with everything sounding the way you think it should and the vocie acting is decent, not sounding forced. 

How game play was: The game controls are fairly easy to learn and the elements of the suits slide and slow down abilities are nice, enabling you to often flank the enemy attacking from behind as you and your allies who actually seem to make a slight difference attack from the front making it possible in a lot of battles to be a little strategic.

The good: The game play is fun and is easy to learn how to do everything including the special moves. The graphics are immersive and the cinematics are stunningly good adding a lot to the story.

The bad: The suits overheating can become annoying pretty quickly especially since its use is one of the fun factors in the game.

The ugly: Hordes of enemies can quickly overwhelm you and destroy the flow of the game and story.

Overall: It is a good game with easy to learn game play. I enjoyed the quick pace of the action and story and enjoyed the great graphics of the game. It is one that I will defiantly play through a few more times in the future. 

PTSD: 6

Why I rated it: The story has several elements that can remind one of terrorist activity and threat of more mass deaths in the game none of which are actually seen. Sounds of explosions and weapons fire are fairly realistic although none of the annoying whining nosises that those who have tinnitus, (ringing of the ears),  have come to be familiar with.

*spoiler alert* one of the characters commits suicide. 

UNBOUND SAGA

What the game says it is: The story of comic book characters Rick Ajax and Lori Machete who are aware that they are comic book charaters and mad at their maker for forcing them into roles. Rick wants to be a veternarian and Lori is tired of being the damsel in distress.

What the game actually is: This is a third person beat 'em up, side scroller were you go from comic book panel to comic book panel fighting your way out of the fictional city, Toxopolis, and toward a confrontation with your maker.

Graphic and sound: The graphics are in the form of comic book cut scenes and old stand up arcade graphics, (the kind you put qurters in), that being said they are still smooth with decent background detail. The sound is also ok with some good voce acting for the main charaters.

How game play was: Simple punch, kick throw, you can upgrade your moves and abilities, making youreself faster and punch harder.  None of the moves are hard to do, of course, none are really necessary to learn to beat the game, (it took me a day).

The good: it is easy to get through the levels and is fun. The cut scenes are decent, it has a element of humor to it particularly through Rick's character. 

The bad: The upgarde of skills power doesn't seem to make much of a difference in the first play through.

The ugly: There is very little replay value other then, perhaps, to get the achievements which I don't believe you can accomplish in just one play through.

Overall: The story, although simple and seemingly short, was decent. I particularly enjoyed the ending and elements of humor. Every other aspect of the game fell a little short. I was some what disappointed it wouldn't have been a game I would have been happy to purchase if it hadn't been in a bundle with some others arcade games I purchased on XBOX Live with microsoft points.

PTSD: 2

Why I rated it: For some violance and blood.

ENSLAVED: ODYSSEY TO THE WEST

What the game says it is: Play as Monkey, a strong brutish loner who must work with a tech-savvy partner, Trip, as they traverse a rough post-apocalyptic landscape and survive a perilous journey home.

What the game actually is: It is a third person hack and slash with some shooter elements were you protect Trip, a women you hitched a ride with on an escape pod, ecaping from slavers she then ensures you will help her by fitting you with a device the slavers use to control their slaves, so that you will protect her and take her back to her home.

Graphic and sound: the graphics are stunning, giving rich detail of the apocalyptic world with great cinematic action, the sounds are good with some voice acting for the characters.

How game play was: The game play was simple and fun with switching between using yor "staff" as a melee and a rifle of sorts is easy. There is a lot of acrobatics, jumping from one thing to another to traverse the world. There are some techie skills such as an EMP stun effect and a distraction effect you can get Trip to do to help you get past some things. The environmental puzzles mostly consist of trying to find ways to get Trip to an area you can easily jump to but she can't and of course there is defending her until she can hack a door or get somthing that can't be left behind such as power cells.

The good: Smashing apart robots, jumping about and interaction between characters and the great graphics and story of the characters, work very well together and give depth to all without diluting one game element for the sake of the other.

The bad: The jumping can get very repetitive not so much as frustrating but a little tiresome about half way throught game. Trip isn't extremely helpful and it can get anoying that you have to do a lot of stuff for her.

The ugly: It was hard for me to think of an ugly for this game, however, the whole making Monkey a slave thing to get home, while it fits, I wonder if it is necessary for the dynamics to work?

Overall: I really enjoy playing this game still from time to time and would probably rate it amongst my favorites for the simple fun of game play and the interactive story between Monkey and Trip and when you met Pigsy. The story, although not complex, is enjoyable and the ending is great if not confusing depending on weather or not you paid attention to the mysterious masks you can collect, you can miss a few.

PTSD: 3

Why I rated it: Mostly for action, violence and explosions. There is also some story themes related to when you return Trip to her home and flashbacks related to the slave head band.

SINGULARITY

What the game says it is: Learn the truth about a massive cover up of the catastrophic Singularity, an event tbat fractures time itself and threatens the world as we know it.

What the game actually is: A first person action shooter where you are an American solider investigating an island in the former Soviet union. Unknown to the USA, an event "The Singularity" has occurred on this island and due to this event there are changes to the very fabric of history.

Graphic and sound: The graphic and sound on this game are excellent.

How game play was: The game play is pretty straight forward until you get the time manipulation device (TMD), then it becomes more complicated with certain environmental puzzles requiring specific tricks to get past.

The good: The whole time travel story elements and the story in general is pretty well done. There are three different endings and are defiantly worth it as long as you keep your last save you can do all three without going through the game again but even if you did not keep the save they would be worth the time. Figuring out how to use the TMD wasn't bad and more often then not it was worth the effort.

The bad: Some of the battles can be frustrating with the bosses, each requires a specific way to defeat                        which isn't always immediately obvious.

The ugly: You often find yourself without ammo at the worst possible times and your knife melee weapon doesn't seem to do much at all to your mutated enemies.

Overall: This game is enjoyable, dripping with time travel goodness. The action combat isn't too bad while the hard parts aren't overly frustratingly so. The game play,  graphics and storyline work well together, making it a game that I will play over and over again every month or so. I wish there was a sequel although I am unsure of how one could have been successfully pulled off.

PTSD: 6

Why I rated it: There is a lot of shooting and explosions. You play a solider, early on you deal with a school of dead children although you do not see them die and no mutated children attack you, it can be disturbing due to seeing the dead bodies of kids. You have some semi-realistic weaponry and occasionally fight Soviet soldiers. Violance blood and gore throughout and some strange flash back imagery of past events your character didn't live through intruding upon the present.

TOO HUMAN

What the game says it is: In the hands of one god rests the fate of all mankind. You play as Baldur the youngest Aesir and ODIN'S favorite son. You are also the most beloved amongst the humans. You fight to destroy the different machine threats suck as goblins, dark elves and trolls amonst other threats such as Loki, his daughter and her hordes.

What the game actually is: It is a combined shooter, hack and slash that has large RPG elements. You level up and can put points in skills. You can also, to some extent, craft and customize weapons and armor infusing some with runes of power.

Graphic and sound: The graphics are good and the cinematics are nicely rendered. The sounds are also good although certain levels the music can be annoying after a bit. All characters have vocies that add depth and do not distract from the story.

How game play was: The controls are interesting having your gun being the RT button and melee being the right control stick which take a bit of getting used to. Once you get the hang of it you can do some fun moves like launching your enemies up in the air and then juggling and keeping them in the air by shooting them depending on how many enemies were swarming me I would do this repeatedly to one enemy until it dies and fades away, which can be lots of fun.

The good: The game is fairly easy to learn to play despite the difference in controls from most games I have played. The story is really an interesting take on Norse Mythology.

The bad: Hordes of enemies can quickly overtake and bring you down, happening just about every battle in the game.

The ugly: Every time you go down and temporally die you are lifted right back to battle by a valkyrie. You can't skip this sequence and it can get frustrating fast, especially in the latter levels were I died a lot. 

The cinematics overall are good  but can't really be skipped. Although you can adjust the camera angles getting onto the right target area agansit a troll, which is important to defeat, can be a little bit more difficult then it should be.

Overall: This is one of the few games that I read the review before I bought the game, I usually don't do this as I like to judge games on their own merits and not off a comparison to other games, which a lot of reviews tend to do. The review was pretty negative towards the game with grips about graphics and the ending and story in genral as well as what I have put in the ugly.

I liked this game, it was interesting and fun with a lot of different aspects that i enjoy in games. It is one that I have played many times when reaching difficult spots in other games I am trying to beat. I still have fun with this game and I am trying to get the rest of the achievements. This game has a multiplayer and co-op modes that unfortunately I still havnt been able to play online.

PTSD: 4

Why I rated it: The shooting, explosions as well as the constant swarm of enemies and the death comments of the human warriors you take with you on your missions.

MAFIA 2

What the game says it is: VITO SCARLETTA is making a name for himself on the streets of Empire Bay with his freind Joe as he climbs up the family ladder. With greater status and crime comes greater consequences. The life as a wise guy isn't as untouchable as it seems to be.

What the game actually is: A third person shooter with an involved storyline and an open ended world as far as Empire City is concerned.

Graphic and sound: The graphics are great, giving good detail of the cars during that time period. The radio in your car, or one you have stolen, play music and news related to the time as well as local news related to the story. The voices of the characters, main and just random ones walking the street, are also realistic and don't sound forced or overacted.

How game play was: The controls are simple and easy to learn even though I can't seem to drive in a straight line unless the weather is terriable, as long as you are patient, the levels are fairly easy (even on the medium difficulty).

The good: The game has a solid story which is enjoyable and the open world lends to the feel and theme of the game.

The bad: The use of foul language, playboy collectibles as well as some amoral situations make this game one I couldn't play until the kids were away or asleep.

The ugly: The cops can make getting from one area to another seem frustratingly long. If you speed they pull you over and if you don't have any money to bribe them you have to run which leads to a gun fight or to a fender bender with another car, object or person.

Overall: The game is highly enjoyable moving through the city beating missions, driving classic cars and doing any number of things such as buying stuff or robbing from stores. There are achievementsyou can collect that are related to robbing stores. You can also get money from stolen cars in a number of ways. I enjoyed the story, sometimes yelling, (not literally), at the main character to not do somthing that I knew was going to take him down a bad course. 

PTSD: 4

Why I rated it: Simply for the violence and the military theme of the main character. The main character goes AWAL from the war.

DARK SECTOR

What the game says it is: Become the ultimate weapon The virus the scource of your pain your enemy...Your POWER. Unleash the deadly power of the glaive and become the hero. What the game actually is: You play Hayden a CIA clean-up man who while trying to intercept a rouge agent, Menzer. Your  arm becomes infected with a technocyte virus, it is set in a fictional eastern block country in the near future.  It is a third person shooter combined with a unique hack and slash weapon, the glaive, that grows in power as you progress through the game and is part of the virus that mutates your  arm. Graphic and sound: The graphics and visuals in this game are pretty cool and the sounds are good. How game play was: Fun and engaging. The action and storyline are quick paced which can become frustrating when you inevitably get stuck at a environmental puzzle that requires a special maneuver or a boss battle that you just can't seem to get past. The good: The combinations of weapons and variety of maneuver powers with your glaive are fun to execute. The bad: After you are infected any weapon you don't buy self-destructs after a few seconds which can be annoying. The ugly: Some of the maneuvers with the glaive and interaction with the puzzle environments could get quickly frustrating interrupting the flow of the game play and story. Overall: I enjoyed this game despite its ultra violent nature. Its boss fights were hard but they were also interesting. I enjoyed the quick pace of the game and the environment puzzles with some exceptions (see the ugly). PTSD rating: 6 Why I rated: I rated this due to violence, with lots of head decapitations and limb amputations. There is realistic sounds of gun fire and explosions and you play a CIA operative that works for the military that *spoiler alert* is betrayed by his own goverment.

COMIC JUMPER

What the game says it is:  You play captian smiley, a comic book hero whos comic was canceled but you have a chance to get it back thanks to twisted pixel you can earn money by guest staring in other comic books. 

What the game actually is:  You punch shoot your way through several different comic books, including your own, that has been canceled. There is a lot of humor in the game, I mean you play a guy with a smily face for a head with a star attached to his chest that makes wise cracks at Captain Smiley's expense while fighting goofy villians like "The Putter".

Graphic and sound: The graphics are decent and change depending on which comic genera you are playing, it's a great addtional feel to the game. The sounds are good and don't really get annoying unless you die a lot.

How game play was: Fun and humorous not all of which are appropriate for children but a lot of it they won't understand. When you die there is a geeky little voice that says stuff like "You suck" and "Good thing you don't have any friends", which can be quite entertaining. The controls are simple to learn and the play is generally light hearted. There are several areas that involve jumping and sliding that can be frustrating.

The good: Decent graphics and a humorous story line as well as Star and Captain Smiley comments to each other and others make this game seem more like a good animated story then video game which doesn't take away from the challenge of play. I found the anime comics the toughest.

The bad: Potty humor in the game and content that I was worried the kids might understand and ask me about, also the length of the game I felt like more levels not ones required for the story but maybe some DLC comics you could get.

The ugly: All the jokes that are told over and over and comments can become tiresome in short order, but a break from the game for a few days can cure this.

Overall: This game had an entirely different feel to it then a lot of games the self deprecating humor and works with the game play instead of against it. The power ups and other trinkets that you can buy makes playing the challenging levels again more then worth it.

PTSD: 1

Why I rated it: Simply for the violence, shooting and explosions which for me wasn't much of anything especially with the humor and comicbook styles of the game making it further removed from anything that could be real.

Where to Find: I found this game on Xbox LIVE under Arcade games. I bought the bundle pack which included Comic Jumper, Explosion Man and one other I can't remember right now. They are a fun distraction when you need a break from other more intense games.

XMEN ORIGINS WOLVERINE

What the game says it is: Epic climatic battles, unstoble rage abilities, real time regeneration, unleash the razor sharp adamantium claws, feral instincts and mutant powers of the worlds fiercest hero-WOLVERINE! 

What the game actually is: To one degree or another this game is basically what it claims to be. This is a third person hack n slash game.

Graphic and sound: This game has decent graphics with nicely rendered environments you can tell that it was not hastily put together.

How game play was: The game play is fun and action packed while it  moves along at a nice pace regardless of time you have to play assuming at least 30 minutes. The moves are easy to learn, most I was able to do on the first try or not very many tries later. 

The leveling system was simple and added a nice slice of strategy and customization not enough to satisfy strict RPG game players but not to much to turn away gamers that play mostly shooters.

The good: The story follows the movie mostly with a few bits here and there from the comics that can be missed, so if you liked the movie you should enjoy the bit of expansion of the story in the game.

The bad: The story is an amalgamation of the movie of the same name and bits from the comic book which i could see annoying some or most hardcore fans of the comics or the movie.

The ugly: Most of the boss and mini boss fights can get annoying with button mashing necessary to defeat them such as spoiler alert the fight with the prototype sentinel.

Overall: This is a nice game I had a fun time playing it and i think it is worth the time to play through at least once and to play through again for fun or to get the achievements that one could miss the first time.

PTSD Rating: 3

Why I rated: The violence in this game is mostly unrealistic with blood and limb loss to enemies none of which are extremely detailed plus the enemies fade into orbs of experience. The bodies of soldier you can collect their dog tags, could be a trigger for some.