Me and my father weren’t the closest father and son duo out there, heck the only times we got to talk was over at the television with me asking what he’s watching and he answers me simply with the title of the show. The most time I spent with him was about two hours when I caught him watching a NCIS marathon over at FOX.

However, when I was younger, waay before cable TV became our “bonding” moments, me and my dad had one thing that made us at “bond”  as father and son, videogames.

Back before the big quake of ’90, our family (which consisted of me, dad, mom and my sister) had a family computer in our home. Me, dad and mom used to play 2 games on the family computer then, it was Super Mario 3 and Wrecking Crew. However, between the two, as a family we used to play WC more because of it’s 2 player option. We would often switch players whenever someone dies.

We’ve had a lot of fun back then, destroying all those walls and evading those weird spring-like monsters just for the sheer satisfaction of beating each other.

However, after that fateful ’90, earthquake, I was the only one left to enjoy the unit then. While everything was pretty much a blur back then because dad and mom were busy trying to pick up the pieces, I was left to play with the famicom alone but that didn’t bother me much.

Things did not end there though. After moving out of the old building we used to live at and settling down on a bigger place, my dad bought me a snes. It was here when we got another rare family bonding moment over a very addicting videogame. It was during this time that my dad discovered puzzle bobble.

The game practically kept us up till the wee hours in the morning (1am to be exact). My dad and mom got so addicted to the game that I was the one who gives up on them and sleeps while they kept on finishing stage after stage after stage.

If I recall correctly, then even went as far as the 100th before they quit in one session. My dad was laughing manically at how inept we were and it was just plain fun remembering that we were all enjoying our time then.

However, during this time, things got pretty strained at home and after the snes, I was given a sega megadrive unit. It was there that I started to play alone by myself most of the time. However, dad still tried to connect with me with one other sega game. Robocop vs. Terminator.

During one lazy saturday afternoon, when I was too flustered trying to beat stage two of the game (yeah I suck back then ) he sat beside me and tried to help me clear the stage, which he did quite well.

Yeah this was what robocop used to look like while under my controls

I actually asked my gradnma about my dad’s gaming habits when they were smaller and it turns out my dad was pretty much a heavy gamer then. I was surprised to hear that he and my uncles blew up an adapter playing battle city the whole day. Believe it or not, they actually did. I even asked my uncle if that was true and he confirmed it.

I know it’s rash for me to say this, but it seems that being a gamer is deeply ingrained in my blood. Though family, work and problems probably took most of his time, he did on a few occasions tried to play with us kids when he feels like it. Aside from videogames, he also played monopoly with us on occasion too.

To be honest, I don’t have any regrets on how things went with me and my dad. I find it at least comforting that we have a few things in common and this time, it’s something that I love doing. Now that he’s gone, there are only a few things that make me remember him, and more so when he was pretty happy. In my own twisted vision, I find videogames my own way of connecting to him even on a vague level and this has given me more reason to cherish videogames all the more because it’s something we had in common.

I don’t expect everyone to understand this I bet some of you even think this ludicrous, but meh, this is my pov, so think of me as you will.

Rockman Online is developed by Korean studio Neowiz in conjunction with Capcom, and is only confirmed for a Korean release so far. Given the steady stream of Korean developed MMOs reaching our shores, is it too much to ask anyone out there to bring it here for an official release? Anyone?

[source]

Yes you heard it right, Team 17′s latest reiteration of it’s hit game, Worms: Reloaded is now out in Steam. I was one of the few who pre-ordered the game and I got in earlier than the supposed release date (Aug. 26). Worms: Reloaded comes with a lot of added content. It provides more single player experiences which the armageddon lacked

Here’s the list key-features the game has:

EXTENSIVE SINGLE-PLAYER CONTENT:

• Campaign mode. Play through 35 single-player missions as well as 30 more in the Warzone Campaign that is tuned for advanced players.
• Bodycount mode! How will you survive with having just one worm pitched against never ending spawning enemy worms that get increasingly tougher? Compete against friends in the scored leaderboard.
• Training Mode. Comprehensive tactics tutorage that includes 3 tutorials and 3 different firing ranges.

ONLINE AND LOCAL MULTI-PLAYER:

• Up to 4-player online and local multiplayer action – with Steamworks support, for pain free game updates, friends-lists, leaderboards, achievements and chat.
• Leaderboards! Multiple different leaderboards to track different game types and stats. These can be sorted globally or by friends enabling and encouraging competition between friends.

MASSIVELY INCREASED CUSTOMISATION:

• Wild customisation and personalization – change appearance of worm skin, choose victory dances, gravestones, voices, HUD, title and over 70 different cute, funny and downright stupid hats!
• Shop ‘til you drop! Players can buy hats, landscapes, weapons, missions, forts and gravestones with currency awarded for completing single player campaigns.
• Over 70 speechbanks – 50 re-mastered from the classics and over 20 new speech banks including the insane Cheese sound set!
• A range of great classic and new custom levels to play on, plus make your own!

NEW FULLY FEATURED LANDSCAPE CREATION TOOL:

• Fully featured landscape editor including the welcome return of bridges and the ability to import your own custom levels into game so you can share your creation with friends and play online. Add your own start positions, mines and scheme to effectively create wild new play modes and styles of game.
• All new vertical landscapes – to take the battle to new heights!
• The scheme editor enables the changing of all aspects of the game to fit your own style, including new random objects such as the sentry guns and electro magnets, and a new fire hazard.

WORMS™ WEAPONRY AND UTILITIES:

• 47 weapons and utilities including classic weapons from Worms™, Worms™ 2, Armageddon, World Party and the recent Open Warfare series as well as 14 brand new weapons!
• New weapons include Super Bunker Buster, Ferrets, Poison Strike, Worship, Sentry Gun, Electromagnet, Buffalo of Lies plus new persistent fire and surprise Easter Eggs!
• Classic Weapons returning include Armageddon, Concrete Donkey, Napalm Strike and yes, the Holy Hand Grenade!

GAME MODES:

• Select from a range of classic Worms™ game modes and new modes for this edition – Crate/Shopper modes, BnG (Bazooka and Grenade), Forts and Rope Racing.
• Use the customisation tools to make your own mode!

HIGH DEFINITION VISUALS:

• 13 HD graphical themes for millions of random levels – never play the same game twice!
• Worms™ has never looked this good with all new High Definition landscape artwork – based on the most loved Worms™ game ever made.
• Widescreen support, optional blur effect for backgrounds, 16 specially designed forts for the fantastic Fort mode.

PC SPECIFIC CONTROLS:

• User defined controls with classic settings as standard.
• Function key support for fast access to common weapons.
• Works with compatible USB gamepad.
• It also runs on all modern Windows Operating Systems.

As of this moment I’m still trying out the game and would probably do a full-blown review later on. So if anyone’s got steam you can just add me up, here’s my ID you can drop me a hi and you can add me as well

That’s what I thought too, then I got so hooked. Suffice to say, I am now ADDICTED. There are no fancy graphics here, not even the coolest of animations..everything is pretty basic. However, there is charm on those little icons that you see on your game screen.

As I’ve mentioned, you start out with the basic four elements to combine.

You can combine the elements two at a time.

When you’ve made the right combination, you’ll see the resulting product along with a trivial quote and a satisfying chorus of AAAAAH resounding from your speakers.

Each time you discover something, it will be added into the main category screen. I’ve discovered quite a number so my main category screen looks like this.

The icons themselves are pretty much self-explanatory. You don’t need to be a brainiac to figure these out.

When you click each category when combining, you’ll see all the elements you’ve discovered within. Just like in this screen.

Sometimes you’ll be surprised to find not just one, but multiple products from your combinations.

The main goal here is to discover all 115 elements and I’m telling this is where it gets addicting. If you get stuck and would like a hint, just click on the light bulb icon at the bottom and no you won’t get the direct answer but it will show you categories where the components could possibly be combined.

Don’t worry about not getting all the combinations right away, you can just bookmark the site in your browser and it will just load right up where you left off the next time.

Think this game is just for nerds? Nah, just about everyone will get the hang of it, no master’s degree required.

Have fun combining!

Ang tunay na gamer e excited sa zombie apocalypse, bakit?

KASI ALAM MO NA ANG KAILANGAN MONG GAWIN!

so pag nangyari yun magpapasalamat ka sa Capcom, Valve at sa kung anu-anong kumpanyang naglabas ng zombie games!

Do a quick search on google on why you should date a gamer and you’d be bombarded with reasons why you should NOT. Gamers have a bad rep about being bad lovers. No, it’s not really about the sex. It’s about not having time for our partners. We are always portrayed as the selfish bastards who would readily cancel a date for another hour or two of Starcraft. We’re always the bad guys, always the inconsiderate ones.

It’s time we remedy this blasphemy.

Reason #1: We make awesome dates

a PVZ date? no?

Gamers have the tendency to put their imagination in everything. Because we spend a lot of time playing games, contrary to what other people think we don’t see the world as mundane or boring, we actually see it as our own personal playground. Every single date is an adventure. We’re usually game (yes I just had to) for anything. In fact, we’re so game (yes I had to do it again) we think of the most creative, silly and unique ways to go on a date.

Reason #2: We are low maintenance

beer! monopoly! beeropoly!

To complement the previous reason, as much as we enjoy going out on dates, we’re pretty much fine with just staying in, ordering pizza and just, well… playing a game or going on movie marathons. Regardless whether we’re having a date outside or inside the house, we find ways to make it awesome. Although it is nice to be treated somewhere fancy, we have no qualms with just having beer and playing monopoly at home.

Reason #3: We know our machines

Don't worry sweetie, I GOT THIS!

We won’t nag you about fixing our computer. Chances are we already know how to fix our system (and yours too!) We know what HDMI cables are, what GeForce is and the difference between HD space and RAM. And even if we don’t know exactly what it is, we are not afraid to learn. Even the most casual of gamers have a working knowledge of their system. We won’t wake you up in the middle of the night because we can’t connect to the internet.

Reason #4: We are thoughtful

thank you honey I've ALWAYS wanted a Death Ray!

When we give gifts, we don’t just give gifts for the heck of it. A stuffed bear? A bouquet of roses? No, that’s just too easy. We want to give you a gift that truly means something to you. We search and investigate about what you really want. For us, gift-giving is a challenge. We don’t take it for granted. There’s that one gift out there that would draw out the best response from you and we, being gamers, take on that challenge like a Final Fantasy mission.

Reason #5: We are prepared for a Zombie Apocalypse

we come prepared!

We are not just prepared to destroy the traditionally slow undead, we are also prepared for fast zombies, Jockeys, Spitters, Boomers, Chargers… yes, all those late night Left 4 Dead sessions will save our asses. Once a Zombie Apocalypse breaks out (and come on, we all know it’s going to happen really soon) you will need someone experienced to fight with you. We’re the best ones to have by your side. Not only do we know how to deal with every kind of zombie imaginable, our experience in co-op will make us a valuable ally. You won’t die with us around.

Reason #6: We don’t give up easily

now how to solve this...

No matter what kind of problems we’re facing, we always, always find a way to make things work. If something isn’t going as planned, we look for alternatives and other buttons to push. Blame it on the frustrating hours playing Lufia 2 on the SNES. A gamer will always find a way to solve a problem. We won’t give up on you.

Reason #7: We are not clingy

halp?

Gamers recognize the value of alone time. We respect your privacy and don’t intrude with your affairs. We are neither possessive nor jealous. You want to go out with your friends late at night? Okay, sure. We don’t demand that you give up your whole life for us, we’re happy with what we can get. We don’t demand that you’re at our beck and call 24/7.

Reason #8: We can be your fanboy/fangirl

fangirls nuuu!

Have you seen all those PS3/XBOX fan wars? Well… gamers are devoted, passionate and extremely loyal, almost to a fault. When we like something, like really like something, we go all out. We will admire you and support you in whatever you do and you can bet your socks that we will defend you to the death.

Reason #9: We don’t mind waiting

take your time honey!

Aside from the fact that we’re so used to staring at a loading screen, making us patient little buggers, gamers usually have at least one portable gaming device. So, you’re going to take 2 hours more to get ready for our date? Okay, that’s good. We can level up while waiting. It’s a win-win situation.

Reason #10: We are heroes

I will save you!

All gamers are heroes. Even the ones who like to play the bad guy. Deep inside, we are all hard wired to save the world and save you from harm. Hey, if an Italian plumber can go through dungeon after dungeon to save an elusive princess, we as gamers can go through anything and do anything just to be with you. Sing with me now… I am a man who will fight for your honor, I’ll be the hero you’ve been dreaming of~

Gamers are keepers. You can introduce us to your mom and she’ll tell you how nice we are. Of course this list is about WHY you should date a gamer. HOW to date a gamer is another story altogether. Should I make a post about it? Hmm…

The past couple of months have seen some fine, fine examples of popular fighting games adapted for the screen, albeit in very short formats. We had Mortal Kombat: Rebirth, and for the Street Fighter side, we got Legacy and Beginning’s End. The catch, though, is that these were either fan-made or in Mortal Kombat’s case, a pitch for a major studio.

On the shorter, uglier end of the deal, it seems Hollywood still hasn’t gotten its head straight when it comes to turning fighting games into feature-length motion pictures. Let’s see… there’s Tekken, which is bad enough that even the developers hate it; and the upcoming King of Fighters which, judging from the trailer alone, is going to be horrible.

So, what of the bigger Hollywood adaptations of the past decade and a half? Well, as much I hate to say this, they’re mostly bad, ranging from hilariously bad, so-bad-it’s-good, to just plain abortion-level bad. So, let’s take a look at how Hollywood just god awfully whiffed with these moving pictures based on games about people punching, kicking, and in certain cases, flat-out murdering the living crap out of each other.

Street Fighter (1994)

Let’s start with the granddaddy of all fighting game movies, Street Fighter. Released during the height of the SF series’ popularity, frankly, it sounded like a good idea at the time. Thing is, I’m sure most of us, being quite young (and rather naive) at the time were all “HOLY CRAP A LIVE ACTION STREET FIGHTER MOVIE!” and that it was probably the greatest thing ever… next to the games themselves, anyway. Boy, were we proven wrong. It was campy, and had some of the goofiest scriptwriting this side of Chun-Li’s massive thighs. The worst crime of all, though, was taking the focus off of series protagonist Ryu and placing it on Guile, played by the unapologetically Belgian Jean Claude Van Damme. To add insult to injury to fanboys everywhere, Ryu and Ken were reduced to globe trotting con men from the wandering martial artists that they originally were. It also tried to shoehorn nearly every character they could into the movie, despite how little sense they made being part of the overarching story.

With all that said, Street Fighter did have its redeeming qualities. The late great Raul Julia turns in a damn fine performance as General M. Bison. Can you give anyone else who can rock that dictator uniform and red cape like nobody’s business?  He really works up the camp factor to his advantage and spouts out some truly quotable lines here and there. It’s a damn shame that this was his last film project, because he died shortly after production on Street Fighter wrapped up. In fact, the day I got to write this article was the most important day of my life. For him, it was Tuesday. Let’s not also forget that one of the most (if not THE MOST) inspiring speeches in the history of inspirational speeches was delivered in this movie.

Mortal Kombat/Mortal Kombat Annihilation (1995/1997)

Not wanting to be cut out of the huge potential mother lode of cash that awaited them, Midway and New Line Cinema also cranked out an adaptation of the then controversial Mortal Kombat. Unlike Street Fighter, this one managed stay mostly faithful to its source material. It also helped that it had the Connor McLeod himself, Christopher Lambert as Raiden. Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa (who also happens to be Heihachi Mishima in the upcoming Tekken movie) is pretty memorable as series villain Shang Tsung, but still can’t match the greatness that is Raul Julia’s Bison. Plus, it’s also easy to mistake him for a middle-aged oriental woman with freakishly muscular arms.

Menopausality

Further to its credit, Mortal Kombat also had pretty good fight choreography for its time. But, like all other elements of this movie, it looks horribly dated by dated by today’s standards. I got to watch it recently and was semi-expecting crazy Ong Bak-style martial arts action, but instead, I got something more akin to an old Power Rangers episode. There was lots of unnecessary flipping, hilariously inept henchmen, and of course, the requisite post-fight poses. But hey, the animatronic Goro they used was pretty awesome, now that I think about it. Finally, let’s not forget about that sweet, sweet theme song.

About two years later, we got the cinematic monstrosity that was Mortal Kombat Annihilation. Yes, the first one wasn’t a compelling movie by a long shot, but it was watchable on the grounds of having pure, mindless, unrepentant ’90s kitsch bicycle kicked right into your face. First off, there was the glaring absence of Christopher Lambert. Once you found out he was replaced by James Remar (Ajax of The Warriors fame), you knew there was something seriously wrong here. Sorry, Mr. Remar, but there can only be one Raiden in my heart. The story made little to no sense at all, the script was all over the place, and the list goes on. Oh, did I mention that Shao Khan, Mortal Kombat 2 and 3′s badass final boss, was reduced to a whiny little bitch with daddy issues in this one? Yes, it happened.

Redeeming qualities, you ask? Well, that depends on your definition of “redeeming”. Enjoy, or cringe… or both.

DOA: Dead Or Alive (2006)

In 2006, we got the cinematic adaptation of Tecmo’s impossibly endowed Dead Or Alive series by way of Cory Yuen, director of 2002′s sublimely sexy So Close. The premise is simple: fighters from around the world are invited to a fighting tournament held on a rather clandestine island. Heard that before? Yeah, it’s pretty much Mortal Kombat, but it doesn’t take itself seriously (which is a plus, in my opinion) and has more attractive women participating. Behind the scenes, though, more sinister things are afoot, as is par for the course with most secret fighting tournaments held on islands. Silly premise aside, it really does present itself as a fun, brainless martial arts romp with PG-13 level titillation. Just in case you’re wondering… yes, there”s a volleyball sequence, too.

HHHNNGGG

Eric Effin' Roberts

The casting is… okay. Everyone more or less manages to pull off the look of their in-game counterparts, and yes, that includes filling in erm, “certain” requirements. Let’s see, we’ve got Jaime Pressly as Tina, Holly Valance as Christie, Natasha Malthe as Ayane, and Sarah Carter as Helena. The film’s big bad is Dr. Victor Donovan, played by Eric Roberts who gains godly martial arts prowess through… wait for it… hi-tech sunglasses! Anyway, if you can manage to wrap your head around the idea of Eric Roberts fighting a month’s worth of Maxim/FHM-worthy ladies while wearing sweet looking shades, there’s fun to be had here. Devon Aoki as Kasumi looks a little erm, “underqualified” to fill her character’s amply spaced ninja top. Well, that and she just looks skinny and sickly next to everyone else. However, if you do manage to turn your brain off and take it for what it is at face value, this might just be one of the better ones right up there with Mortal Kombat.

And oh, enjoy the volleyball scene:

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li (2009)

This was directed by Andrzej Bartkowiak who was also at the helm of 2004′s Doom. Now, Doom was pretty bad, so you sort of know what to expect here. To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever really sat through this one. Fine, so it did what Mortal Kombat: Rebirth did and tried to take an established fighting franchise and putting it in a gritty, somewhat realistic setting. However, the execution just completely falls flat on its face. Chun-Li is no longer an Interpol agent but a privileged daddy’s girl, Bison is an evil real estate mogul (yes, you read that right), and that dude from the Black Eyed Peas is Vega. To be fair, Michael Clark Duncan would’ve been a badass Balrog if he had the right material to work with. But, it still really does make you wonder what the casting department was on, especially when they got Chris Klein (of American Pie fame) to deliver what could very well be the most hilarious Nicolas Cage impressions ever caught on film. The entire script by Justin Marks itself was already quite ham-fisted to begin with, but Mr. Klein here takes things to a completely different level. Need proof? Here:

Seriously!?

And you thought that was funny, huh? Wait ’til you hear about Bison’s origin story and his motivations. There’s very little here in this movie that actually makes any sense whatsoever. I know, this is Street Fighter we’re talking about. But, a supposedly more realistic take on the universe is one of the worst steps one could take. 1994′s take movie tried it and failed, but there was one shining difference… it wasn’t trying too hard. Legend of Chun-Li is what the first Street Fighter movie could’ve been if all the fun was sucked out of it. Nope, not even Capcom’s blessing, or being released in nearly the same timeframe as the revered Street Fighter IV could save it. It even became one half of that awful early 2009 2-hit combo or cinematic awfulness alongside Dragonball: Evolution.

How’s this for a closer? This marks Robin Shou’s fourth appearance in a movie based on a fighting game. He has: the two MK movies, then DOA where he plays the leader of a gang of pirates, and finally miscast as Gen in Legend of Chun-Li.

Note: Yes, I’m well aware that Tekken’s out in theaters as we speak. This article was meant to go up earlier, but I got sidetracked by health problems. The Tekken review will be in a separate article.

This is the part where I have to convince Alistair, who by that point of the game I have fallen madly in-love with, to sleep with a woman I’ve grown to despise.

This whole conversation left me cursing Bioware for making me go through this emotional turmoil. At the same time, it also made me want to put up a shrine in their name for creating a game that could rouse this much sorrow and anguish from me.

What DAO does so well is that it hauls you inside its story and then makes you believe that you ARE the story. Playing DAO made me believe that this wasn’t just Dragon Age Origins. It was Dragon Age: My Origins. Roleplaying was not only easy; it was practically the only way to play the game.

I’ve heard questions like, but Nicole! How in the world were you able to play the game so many times? In succession! Didn’t you get tired of it?

My answer is: how could I possibly get tired of it? I did mention that DAO practically perfected the art of incorporating roleplay in their game didn’t I? How could I not finish the game for 24 times when there is practically an unlimited number of stories to tell?

I was able to play DAO as many times as that because I get to be a different person each and every time:

oh you KNOW it, Morrigan honey

The possibilities were virtually endless. I can be a different person every single time: be a man, be a woman, make different choices, make the same choices… I can be QUEEN for heaven’s sake. I can die a hero. I can have threesomes. I can sleep with a she-male. I can be a blood mage. I can be an asshole. I can work for assassins. I can be annoying. I can be inspiring. I can choose to kill dragons, I can choose not to kill dragons.

I’m not even getting started with the different builds and the equipment and the skills!

There are just so many things to be and so many things to do that I think it’s impossible to not play the game more than twice.

So yes, I will say it proudly; I finished Dragon Age Origins 24 times. And the experience was different and fulfilling. Every. Single. Time.

With all the success that Capcom’s cash-raking Monster Hunter franchise has done for PSP, it’s not surprising that other companies will want in on the success. Some recent examples include Shin Sangoku Musou Multiraid (Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce for English-speaking audiences) and God Eater. Still, with these games, it’s hard to shake off the feeling that they’re still MH clones with their own little twists on the formula.

This, friends, is where Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker comes in. Sure, this is another game where you can go play cooperatively with up to three other friends. Sure, it’s another game where you take on massive enemies that barely manage to fit the PSP’s screen. However, the real kicker here is that it’s a true Metal Gear Solid crafted around the portable’s strengths and limitations.

Set ten years after the events of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, we find Naked Snake AKA Big Boss in the early stages of forming Militaires Sans Fronteirs (Soldiers Without Borders), which is more or less of a private military organization along with his right hand guy Kazuhira Miller. At the beginning of the story, MSF’s services are solicited by a Costa Rican professor, Ramon Galvez Mena, and his student/ward, Paz Ortega Andrade. As it appears, an unknown military force has set up shop in Costa Rica, a nation without its own standing military. As an army that answers to no nation, Professor Galvez Mena wants the MSF to investigate and subsequently drive them out. In return, MSF is given an abandoned offshore oil rig as a forward operations base. This base is eventually what becomes Outer Heaven within the Metal Gear series canon.

Home sweet home.

The whole game starts with this simple premise and takes off from here. Surprisingly, the plot in this particular MGS isn’t as convoluted as we’ve come to expect from series creator Hideo Kojima, but it’s still an ultimately satisfying follow-up to Snake Eater. Since we’re on that subject, don’t worry too much if you’re not up to speed on the events of Snake Eater, there’s more than enough reference material to fill you in on what’s going on.

The main plot unfolds through graphic novel-styled cutscenes done mostly by series veteran Ashley Wood, who is also responsible for the MGS digital comic. Aside from having a pleasing overall aesthetic, these cutscenes have certain interactive elements akin to quick time events or QTEs. These challenges range from timed to rapid button presses, and the prompts fit into the overall visual style of the cutscenes, so they’re not intrusive.

The cornerstone of the MGS series, which is stealth-based gameplay, is here in full force. Sneaking missions will of course involve moving past guards undetected or having to knock them out. At your disposal will be various tools and equipment to aid you in distracting, drawing out, or just plain and simple messing around with enemies. The most notable addition to your repertoire is the Fulton Recovery System. Its main purpose in the game is for recruiting enemy soldiers into MSF and rescuing POWs. If you’ve ever seen Moonraker or the Dark Knight, then you pretty much know how it works. A few things have been taken out that might draw the ire of some longtime series fans, though. First up, you can’t crawl. And second, you can’t sidestep with your back against the wall or some kind of cover. While irksome at first, these omissions somehow speed up the pace at which sneaking missions are played.

Hello ladies, I'm tied to a balloon.

Sneaking won’t be the only thing you’ll be doing here, though. The variety of missions here in Peace Walker is dizzying. Sure, the main story missions don’t stray too far away from core MGS gameplay, but take a look at the Extra Ops available (there are over a hundred) and you’ll be sinking hours and hours into those. The bulk of these missions are timed challenges which test your mettle in various situations. Some examples include sneaking through enemy territory as quick as possible without being detected and some more absurd ones like holding up guards while armed only with a banana. Then, there are the boss battles…

This is where the clear Monster Hunter influence comes in. For boss battles, up to four players can team up via ad hoc to take down tanks, armored troop transports, attack helicopters, and humongous AI weapons. These battles are completely possible to finish solo, provided that you have the time and patience to do so. The cool thing about co-op is being able to formulate strategies and coordinate attacks with your teammates. If a player goes down, he or she can be revived through a quick round of CPR from a comrade. There’s even the ability to “snake-in” and go into formation where the guy in front takes care of the movement while you’re left free to shoot and cover your flanks. To top it all off, items and recruited soldiers gained at the end of a mission are shared among all members of the team. It’s even possible to send over some supplies like thrown weapons and ammo from your own stockpile to your ad hoc friends at the end of missions.

It sings. IT SINGS!

Concerning the vehicle battles, there are two main ways you can go about with them. You can either outright destroy them or neutralize the armed escorts along with the unit commander to capture the vehicle. Capture, you say? Yes, you heard that right. You can capture vehicles here. It doesn’t mean they’re usable in missions. They are, however, yours to dispatch in Outer Ops, which is part of the base management mode that I’ll touch on in a bit. The towering (and downright creepy when they “sing”) AI weapons, while not up for capture, are salvageable for parts with which to build your own AI weapon from. You can expect to go toe-to-toe with them as frequently as you would when harvesting vehicles for your combat division.

MSF's initial collection of vehicles weren't exactly combat-ready.

As mentioned earlier, Peace Walker also features a surprisingly deep and addicting base management mode. Recruited enemy soldiers, POWs, and even characters from the main story can be assigned into one of five divisions: combat, research and development, mess hall, medical, and intel. From there, you can deploy the combat unit to Outer Ops, have R&D develop new weapons for you, get your stats boosted by the mess hall, keep your staff healthy with the medical team, and have intel give you extra info about missions. It’s a fairly easy-to-use yet supremely addicting part of the whole experience that gives you reason to expand your roster to raise each team’s level. Along with that, you get to see how Outer Heaven grows from a ragtag bunch of mercs into a full-fledged military power.

Assign your personnel into the appropriate teams and watch MSF grow.

Of course, you can’t talk about a Metal Gear Solid game without tackling its presentation. And man, there have been times when I’ve forgotten that I’ve been playing a PSP game. How the Kojima Productions team managed to cram all that graphical polish into a UMD is still beyond me. Environments are well rendered all in real time. The jungle environments in particular, though less detailed, give you nearly the same sense of lushness from Snake Eater. The AI weapon battles are awesome in scale, with about two of them just being “crap your pants” huge or several stories tall. The audio is ace, too. Ambient sounds help immerse you in the experience, different guns have their own individual “kick” to them, and the incidental music intersects nicely with what’s going on on-screen. Like with any other PSP game with fantastic sound design, you really have to play this with a good set of earphones or headphones.

Can you really turn down a request for help from her?

As of this writing, there’s a crazy amount of extras to be found in MGS: Peace Walker. For story and information purposes, you can listen to briefing files before going on missions. They’re basically audio conversations between Snake and various supporting characters. You won’t even have to keep your eye on the screen while listening.  The metal gear building part of the game plays out like a very stripped down but still fun version of the customization aspect of the Armored Core series. You’ll also be able to recruit new blood into MSF by scanning for wi-fi hotspots. Tired of playing co-op? Then shoot the living crap out of each other in VS Ops. And then there’s something involving some “guests” from the Capcom franchise that inspired this installment. See, you’ll most likely have a hard time taking this one out of your UMD drive.

A bit lost, aren't we, little kitty?

This... is definitely not a tank.

With all that said, there are still a few flaws. Not huge, game-breaking ones, but some valid ones nonetheless. For one, the controls just might be your greatest enemy at certain times, especially boss battles. Thankfully, this is one of those games with better implementation of the face buttons for camera control. The camera has a bit of a speed problem when trying to keep track of quick moving targets, too. By all means, these are just some minor problems that barely put a leave any mark on the overall experience.

This folks, is a true Metal Gear Solid game lovingly crafted for the PSP, and a damn good one at that. If you’re reading this, go out and get it. Chances are, you already have it. If that’s the case, then maybe I’ll see you around for some co-op play.

After starting its life as a downloadable title for PS3 in 2008, Q Games’ PixelJunk Monsters made its way onto PSP to coincide to with the download-only PSP Go last year. The less we talk about the Go, the better. But anyway, after a couple of months, its price on the Playstation Store was slashed to half of its original $20 price tag. It’s even out on UMD if you’d like a physical copy. Is it worth the price of entry? Read on and find out.

What is PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe, you say? Simply put, it’s a tower defense game, and a damn good one at that. The basic premise has you controlling your avatar, known as a Tikiman, as you  construct defense towers out of trees in order to defend your flock and home base from incoming waves of monsters. The game starts out pretty simple in order to ease players in, but you’ll soon find yourself mixing and matching towers in order to deal with the ever-increasing variety of monsters and situations thrown at you.

At the outset, you’ll be given access to some basic tower types such as arrow, cannon, anti-air, and ice towers, with additional ones purchasable with gems dropped by enemies and found around levels. As you open up and complete more stages, you’ll have access to a wider arsenal, but don’t expect to abandon the bread-and-butter tower types. Enemies are varied and have different weaknesses and immunities against certain types of towers, so choose wisely. Later on, you’ll find yourself frantically selling and building towers to deal with monsters shielded against certain damage types. Be quick, and be alert, because once your flock of 20 goes to zero, it’s game over.

PJMD packs in more content than its PS3 big brother, too. For starters, the game includes the additional content from the Encore expansion plus an all-new island with 11 extra stages. Aside from the extra levels, two new towers are also thrown into the fray: the tripwire-like Trap tower and the EXP-generating Gem tower. Add some new monster and boss types, and this is pretty much the definitive version of PixelJunk Monsters.

Clearly, the gameplay here is top-notch. The drive to protect your flock and attempt to perfect the levels will keep you sinking hour after hour into the game. At more extreme cases, you might find yourself rage-restarting (Has that term even been invented yet?) just because a single enemy made it past your painstakingly built defense grid and snatched away one of your cute little wards. To some, this may seem like a negative, but then again, make this game too easy and I’d lose interest in this game pretty quickly.

If the main single player campaign isn’t enough, then you also have medal challenges (accessible through the “Tiki Hut” option in the main menu) to keep you busy. These challenges range from restricting yourself to a certain type of tower for a whole stage to having only four trees to build towers from. Ridiculous? Yes. Impossible? No. Supremely satisfying? Hell yeah. There are neat rewards to be had here – concept art, music, and other neat little trinkets that I can’t spoil await you.

The multiplayer is more or less an added bonus, depending on how important it is to you. The game supports both ad hoc and infrastructure, though sadly, the latter doesn’t support voice chat. There is, however, the TikiSpeak feature which lets you communicate with your partner through stringing together various symbols. It can never stand in for voice chat, but it gets the job done when used properly. As for joining games online, you can more or less easily jump in with a PSN ID and you can even set search parameters for rooms and bookmark the ones you like. The other downside of this, though, is that completed stages in co-op don’t carry over into the single player game. Not really much of a deal breaker, but then again, this would be ridiculously easy to breeze through if they ever let you do that.

As infuriating as the difficulty spikes may become, the overall presentation should be more than enough to keep you from karate chopping your PSP in half. The game’s art direction and graphical style exude that easy-going tropical island charm and cuteness without being overly saccharine. The environments aren’t restricted to tropical settings like I mentioned, though. On the audio side of things, PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe shines. The tunes crafted by Japanese duo Otograph lend themselves well to the soft and easy-to-look-at visuals and at the same time mask the game’s intermittently punishing difficulty. Now, I haven’t heard of Otograph before, but after hearing their stuff in this game, it actually made me want to seek out more of their work. It’s just that good.

So there, whether you get this via PSN or UMD, this is the best tower defense game you can get on PSP. Sure, the challenges may be daunting from time to time (thank goodness for adjustable difficulty, but that’s not saying much), but it’s the satisfaction of the rewards and beating overwhelming odds that’ll keep you plugging away at this charming little title.