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.

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. 

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.

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.

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.

HOMEFRONT

What the game says it is: A first person shooter set in America that has become a third world country and taken over by Korea. 

What the game actually is: A first person shooter with a bit of a story behind how the USA became the downtrodden battle field for a resistance moment against Korean troops that occupy the land.

Graphic and sound: The graphics and sound are pretty good with a gritty realistic look to things such as people and weapons.

How game play was: The game play was good with the controls being fairly straight forward the subject matter was also. It was hard for me to get through the games storyline due to the subject matter.

The good: The games controls were not hard to learn while the enemy was still hard to overcome.

The bad: The story focuses more on one of the computer controlled characters then on you.

The ugly: The helicopter part was more difficult and lengthy then it was enjoyable.

Overall: It is a good game although I was disappointed that by the time i got my hands on it the multiplayer was useless because there was no one online to play it. 

PTSD rating: 9

Why I rated: I would have to rate this game a 9 for the subject matter and the mass grave you hide in pretending you're dead to the semi-realistic weapons and the deaths of civilians along with blood and gore throughout the game. 

I ended up selling this game back to gamestop so that I could pick a different game that might not trigger my PTSD like this one did. When I purchased it I didn't think it would effect me like it did. It ended up bringing up too many bad images and memories from my time in Iraq.