There are so many console games being released these days so it’s really tough to figure out which ones are worth the value and worthy of spending 8+ hours with. Word of mouth and checking in on Metacritic can give some insight but everyone has different tastes and one mans treasure can be another mans shit pile. I’ve had the luxury as a game designer to get to play a ton of games and while most are shit they all bring something interesting to the table. Here’s quick reviews of the past month of games I’ve played so you can decide if any are worthy of your hard earned dollars.

Singularity

I’ve just started this one and have only seen a third of what they have to offer but already very impressed. It immediately reminds me of the Bioshock style of environments with extremely stylized and smart locations populated with numerous collectibles. The opening was exceptional and has you on a desolate island where you infiltrate a Russian lab for some answers. Along the way you learn a new technology where you can reverse or forward time and you go from there, fighting the island military and the mutants that have overtaken the base. There’s some great moments and it’s high quality throughout. I haven’t tried the multiplayer but I never have faith in a multiplayer features first iteration so don’t be expecting a ton of replay value.

Transformers War for Cybertron

Now here is a game that will go under a lot of peoples radars which is too bad because this game is worth what you pay for it. There’s a ton to do starting with full campaigns for both the Autobots and the Decepticons and both campaigns can be played with up to 3 people online. Then there’s the Escalation game mode which is similar to CoD’s zombies or Gears horde mode. While it’s not as good as the aforementioned games it’s still fun to see how long you can last and progress through the level. But what really is the best part of this game is the multiplayer. There are four classes you can build; the Leader, the Scientist, the Scout and the Soldier. Each class can have builds you assign, with plenty of unlocks and abilities. There is 6 game modes on 8 maps and plenty of levels to accomplish. Once you get a hang of using your travel ability and your fighting abilities makes it a very fun Modern Warfare2 with Robots clone.

Alan Wake

A purely singleplayer experience this game was supposed to be a launch title on the Xbox 360. Was it worth the wait? Hell yes if you like a linear horror game. The atmosphere is as good as has ever been done in a video game and a simple yet intricate storytelling approach makes this game really stand out. The feel of walking around with your flashligiht in the dark woods is so fun to do while you play through the episodic style of the story and the fighting mechanics are very very good for being something different than you are used too. My only beef with the game is that you end up fighting the same style of baddies for so long so you eventually get a little tired of them but they do have a ton of different ways they bring the fun and I definitely recommend this game for anyone who likes to be a bit scared in the dark.

Super Street Fighter 4

Uhh didn’t we just have a console Street Fighter? This one adds an online Tournament mode and a few more new characters but that is about it. Still, I enjoyed playing through it in the single player and online and the new Tournament mode is pretty sweet. Since I don’t have sticks and am not asian this game will never get many spins from me but it looks great, the fighters have a ton of depth and simplicity to the mechanics to use that I’d recommend it to anyone who likes fighting games. Two of the new characters are pretty great as well and having 36 fighters to choose from nowadays is very nice.

Lost Planet 2

I never got into the first one but liked how the game looked. I knew that with most game development cycles nowadays, a game can’t really be that good until it sequels. Well, Lost Planet 2 is a solid game and reinforces that belief. The co-opable Campaign is quite well done and has epic boss fights around a lot of corners. Replaying the campaign also continues to level your classes for online play which is a cool feature. There’s 6 races you can level and can go up to 100 for each of them. The multiplayer is also quite feature packed and has plenty of interesting things to do and stuff to unlock. A nice progression but in the end there’s just too many other great FPS or 3rd persons out there to play to really invest in playing this one longterm.

Red Dead Redemption

And here’s one of those games. If you own a console this is a must own in my opinion. It’s one of the most polished and complete games I’ve ever seen and having made one of these types of games in the past I can tell you they really poured years of hard work into this one. I don’t even like any of the Hollywood Western culture and this one sucked me in. The story has you traipse along one of the best interactive worlds ever created, where everything is fair game and you end up not only killing thousands of people but animals as well. After a very long Campaign there’s a whole other half to this game. The multiplayer takes a very cool approach to open worlds and basically duplicated the single player world with its own formula of tasks and game modes. When you hit up multiplayer you’re dropped into the duplicate world with other players and you can ride around and do challenges or clear NPC bases for experience points or you can go and fuck with the other players. From there you can go into actual deathmatches and CTF modes and earn more points. While the mechanics take a bit to get used to in a multiplayer format as you unlock better stuff you have more of an advantage. There’s a lot of levels too as you can ‘prestige’ and unlock crazy mounts to run people over with. Buy this game mk?

UFC: Undisputed 2010

The first one just came out last year and already here’s our polished sequel we knew was coming. A weird decision to come out with one so quickly as EA has an MMA fighter on the way and really taking the time to make UFC the best it can be and then come out right after EA’s would of really secured them as the best fighter, since they already have the better fighters. So what do you get with this one? Nothing really, the same goods and bads from the first one apply. There is some cool multiplayer stuff where you can now load an actual UFC that has happened and play through it and some stuff to get friends involved but let’s face it, you don’t know anyone who plays this. Only UFC hardcores should go near this one, even though it is an overall decent game.

Dante’s Inferno

Surprised by this one as it’s made by family friendly EA and is quite the adult game. With a bunch of nudity and demonesque themes this isn’t for the faint of heart. Or for someone who doesn’t like to die a lot. I’m not into God of War clones but I do know GoW does a great job of moving you forward through objectives, this game does not. You’re on a linear path that is constantly obstructed and the game does little to assist you in evolving. I loved the concept, having to go through each plane of hell and defeat each of the bosses. Graphically it is impressive and the mechanics vs. monsters is exhilirating but not enough to warrant spending money on unfortunately.