DARKVOID

What the game says it is: The game's story takes place before World War II and centers around a cargo pilot named William Augustus Grey who is teleported to another world while flying through the Bermuda Triangle and flying through a Watchers tunnel. In this world, known as the 'Void', Will encounters an alien race as well as other humans, which are known as the Watchers and the Survivors respectively. Will reluctantly joins the Survivors, who are engaged in a feud with the alien race, to satisfy his desire to return to Earth. While aiding the Survivors, Will discovers that the Void is a middle ground that connects both the Watchers' homeworld and Earth. It also becomes apparent that the Watchers are supplying the Axis powers with various wartime provisions for reasons unknown. With the help of Nikola Tesla, Will uses retrofitted Watcher technology to combat the Watchers and eventually find a way to escape the Void.

what the game actually is: It is a differnt kind of shooter with six or so upgradable weapons and a jetpack that gives you a mix of ground air combat as you fight the wachers forces and fulfill prophecy.

graphic and sound: The graphics are great immersing you in back grounds that you can jump fly around in making some in my family experince motion sickness and a bit of vertigo, (seriously if you get motion sickness beware that this game could do that to you just ask my wife). The sounds were good with some nice vocie acting by all the characters that spoke in tandem or gamplay.

how game play was: Everything was easy to learn from flying to jumping up sides of cliffs and platforms while under attack, that and the flying seperates this third person shooter in a unique and fun way.

the good: Story and simple gameplay and just the sure fun of flying.

the bad: Camera angels can mess you up in the air combat areas, there are also moments of instant death if you loose button mashing matches with certain bosses or hijacking ufos in flying scenes.

the ugly: The game is too short and the story never fully explains a lot of things. Part of that may have been that they were planning a sequel as the ending indicates.

overall: This is a great game full of fun, if not challenging or somtimes frustrating parts. The mix of ground air combat adds a lot to this as well as the fast action and flying. It is one that is enjoyable for the fun of flying alone. I would rate as one of my favorite games.

PTSD: 4

why i rated it: Mostly for the violence in the game. You battle alongside other survivors against these aliens going to recuse prisoners of the war who were beaten by the aleins.

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.