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.

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.

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.

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.

TRON EVOLUTION

What the game says it is: A prequal story to the movie the Tron Legacy 

What the game actually is: It is a Prequal story veiwed throught the eyes of a monitor security program who has no face and no history. he is a new program to the "grid". The story seemed well developed between the long action levels. It would have been better if the program you played had a personality, name or some form of personalization, something that huminiinized them especially for the ending.

The game has a multiplayer part too that you can gain experience and upgrade that has cross over with the main game and is as fun as the story mode.

Graphic and sound: The graphics and sound give you the feel of being in a Tron movie even though the scale can be strange at times.

How game play was: The game play was easy to learn and navigate. There were not any special moves that were too hard to learn to progress in the story mode. Jumping and running up off walls was probably the thickest to get used to, some places took me five or more tries to jump run and bounce, though most of that was getting the timing right.

The good: The story was good especially if you have seen the movie before. The voices are from the movie and that adds to the movie feel. The multiplayer was enjoyable and more importantly still active.

The bad: The running and jumping does get a little old and can be frustrating when you die from it because you have to start the sequence all over again.

The ugly: You are a faceless Monitor program with no story of your own which makes the end of the game fall a little from what it could have been.

Overall: This game is highly enjoyable especially for fans of the movie. It is fun and addictive, particularly the multiplayer that I found myself playing over and over again both before I beat the story mode and after. The general feel of being in the tron world is solid and enjoyable especially to the fans, (which I am).

PTSD Rating: 2

Why I rated: I rate this game a 2 simply for the many action combat sequences and some explosions, there is no blood and no modern day weapons and the people are derezz'd and simply fade away when defeated.

CONAN

What the game says it is: "Take on hordes of Enemies and Colossal Bosses with Devastating array of fighting moves and combos.  Embark on an epic adventure to stop an Elusive evil."

What the game actually is: Conan is a hack and slash were you take on hordes of Enemies and face various bosses retrieving pieces of Conans magical armor and collecting varies moves to help defeat your enemies.

Graphic and Sound: Graphics were good with some imersive environments, the sound was what one would hope for in a typical XBOX 360 game.

How game play was: It is obvious hack and slash, right from the beginning you fight groupings of enemies (ten or more) mostly human. There are some very simple puzzles in parts, mostly object manipulation. Conan will tell what you need to do. 

The story was simple and enjoyable it seemed rather familiar, like something I had read long ago and had forgotten. I had a lot fun with this game hacking my way to Victory.

The Good: The game is straight forward with a decent story that feels more like a reward then "Damn, I can't skip this part?"

The Bad: The endless enemies can get old.

The Ugly: The camera angles were very frustrating at times making certain areas harder then they would have been otherwise.

Overall: This was a fun game with some mindless hack and slash and some good boss battles. The interaction with the environment and being able to pick up you're fallen enemies weapons or disarm them were a good plus, even thought the story felt familiar it was good.

PTSD Rating:  4 

Why I rated:  I rated this a 4 because of the dismemering of human enemies arms legs and heads that you tend to do throughout the game, which can earn you achievements. I also rate it at a 4 for blood that although not super realistic as with the dismemering could trigger memories from your combat experiences.