Welcome to the MMOMFG Podcast. We’re going to be getting a little bit more intimate with you guys, and we hope that you follow us on a (hopefully) weekly journey of gaming news, what we’re playing, what we’re looking forward to, and the occasional rant. This being our first podcast expect a few bugs that will be worked out in the upcoming episodes. Feel free to leave us a comment in the comments section below. We hope you enjoy it as much as we had making it.

Podcast Notes:

Intro
SWTOR Talk 3:20
Terraria is 2d Minecraft (and I had no idea) 7:05
Snuggle Truck (wtf is that you ask?) 11:48
Fallout 3 – Ken plays old games 8:15
Mass Effect – yes, the original 15:28
Alan Wake – Coming to PC 18:15
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – Silly names are for kids 22:40
Battlefield 3 – Hits 10 million sold 31:30
Soul Calibur V – Reviewed and found wanting 37:30
The Darkness II and Kingdoms of Amalur – Demo discussion 46:40
Xbox 720 – What do we want? 58:00

AMY

AMY tells a story about a “special” little girl whose powers have an untold ability to save the world from its current Armageddon. You star as Amy’s guardian, Lana, and are tasked with taking her safely to a hospital where she can get some real help. For a game entering into an already popular genre, AMY had some promise to offer us something new and exciting. Did this promise come through, or does this indie entry into the survival horror ranks fall short on it? Read below to find out.

What’s Good

Intuitive play style - Amy has a unique way of interacting between the two characters. While Lana does most of the heavy work i.e. fight baddies, collect items, or move heavy objects, Amy has special powers which allow you to solve various game puzzles. Along with that is the partner system where you must command each character to open doors, flip switches and the like (a la Ashley Graham in RE4). This helps break up the monotony of the monster slaying and running around.

Back to your roots - AMY brings the survival horror genre back to the old days with the tank controls, and the flight rather than fight mentality. Often times you are faced with enemies that perform one hit kill actions, and no matter how many times you hit them, they keep coming back. You are also forced to be very stealthy when approaching situations or be punished with that particular baddie sending you back to your last check point. This reminded me of nothing more than the very first Resident Evil (which in turn was the first survival horror game I played). The tank controls mimic perfectly to that game. Only here, your running is drastically updated.

What’s Bad

This is a next gen game?! - As the first cut-scene unfolded I thought I had turned on the wrong system. This was supposed to be a PS3 copy, but I swore I was looking at something that used the same engine as Silent Hill 2. Nope, this is the PS3 I had on. Not to be a total snob and expect 1080p graphics at 60 fps, I continued to keep an open mind. That openness flew out the window when I came across some major chopping and frame rate issues right when I had control of Lana. C’mon AMY, don’t spill anymore derp into my hard drive!

To add insult to injury, the animations are robotic, the dialogue is laughable at best, and the characters over dramatized so much hat this should have been advertised as a B-rated horror movie. I may be acting a little hard on it, but this is the same game that was rumored to have been a full retail release title for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. There was already the stigma over the pricing issue, so what makes you think gamers in their right mind would shell out 40+ dollars for this?

AMY is “special” all right - While nothing is really known at first about Amy’s condition, it is told that she doesn’t speak and is very timid. Hell, any child pitted up against this game’s scenarios would be. Hoping to have seen an idiot savant bloom, I was left with only the idiot part. Sure, she can cast useless spells, like Silence, but why does her full-retard face not show emotion ever?

Couple that with Lana’s mandatory congratulations whenever Amy presses a simple button and you receive a cheerful jump and arm flailing from Amy. When Amy is tasked with operating computers to hack into the next room, the pause that you must sit through is atrocious. I used to gladly sit through some games that made a loading type interface for the next scene, but that was circa PS1, not 2012.

I think this game would have been a lot cooler if they used the Amy from Congo, and not this watered down vegetable with some drawing “powers.”

“The game is too hard” - In response to a slew of horrible reviews concerning the game’s cheap AI, flawed controls, and outwardly broken fighting system, AMY’s developers said that the player should just get better. On their Facebook page they listed a condescending retort. I can understand when a game is supposed to be so hard that you will want to destroy everything of value in your house (read: Demon Souls), but when the broken system counts as the primary difficulty, it’s not the gamer’s fault.

Testing and feedback fix these issues in the developmental stages, not become a reason to argue. When the main character can’t perform c-c-c-c-c-combos that will decimate everything in its wake of terror, that’s understandable. But I also know that when I am trying to attack a soldier (human, mind you), I shouldn’t have to hit them thirty times only to get bested with one gun-butt. Realism maybe?! Add to that the infrequent checkpoints and any time you don’t do exactly what the game wants you to, you are forced to play over the last 30-45 minutes.

This does not sit well with most players. In games that you may forget to save at times, you can only blame yourself. In games that you have no other choice, you tend to get a little peeved. I am all for games challenging players, I just don’t want to sit through every bit of character banter each time I have to start over. I’ll whine all I want dammit!

Worth Remembering

Not too much honestly. You could remember all the time you spent playing the game and think about what could have been a better use of your time. I know I did. Hell I tried to give the game another shot, just to make sure I had it all down, and sat watching the PS home screen move for 30 minutes realizing that that was a better use of the PS3′s power than AMY. Honestly, this game does one thing well: make other games look better.

Worth Forgetting

The game. But do yourselves a favor and read all the reviews. If mine didn’t cause you to not ever want to touch this, others will.

Without a doubt this was the most painstaking review I have done to date. Not from sheer volume I had to overcome, but from boredom and annoyance. In my eyes, AMY had some promise. This promise should have come with a quality guarantee. Usually I don’t go into full detail about how a game made me feel sorry for the developers, but this one almost makes me hope that any of the talented people in that company jump ship and start anew elsewhere.

*MMOMFG was provided a review copy of AMY for the PS3 from Lexis Numérique/VectorCell

The year 2011 was a pretty damn good year for games. We had plenty of dragons, explosions, bro-games, and scares. In fact, 2011 might be one of the best years of gaming we’ve seen in a long time. However, 2012 looks to outdo its predecessor with an anticipated trilogy coming to an end,  the return of our beloved film noir franchise, the continuation of the swarm, plenty of more dungeon crawling, and our favorite clown making a comeback. The staff at MMOMFG put our heads together and came up with a list of the top 10 games we’re looking forward to in 2012. In no particular order, here’s what we’ve come up with.

Starcraft: Heart of the Swarm – Nicole

In 2012 we will get to see Sarah Kerrigan naked, well not really, but she will be wearing her tight Ghost uniform and we had to draw your attention somehow. The pure fact is that Starcraft II is a hell or ride and one of the best games to come out in 2010. The Terran Campaign, Wings of Liberty, was clouded with nostalgia for most of us, taking us back to our childhood and granting us the chance to conclud the heart breaking saga of the old SC games, and… (Spoiler alert) see Sarah Kerrigan naked.

Let us not forget that SC came with an addicting multiplayer option, so those of us who haven’t had enough with the gripping plot of the campaign fell into the evil claws of Battle.net (and some lost their significant others to it as well).

So why not anticipate Heart of the Swarm? We are granted the chance to temper with the now born again human Kerrigan just like an RPG and also mess around with the Zerg Campaign and shower in icky gooey zergling juices. New grotesque units will be available, as well as other race units which will  be playable on multiplayer (that way that if you’re playing SC II online buying the new campaign is a must), and did we mention that Sarah has a new hair style?  Now the only question remains is: will Raynor and Kerrigan finally knock boots? After all, he’s her lobster

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning – Matt

Hearing the name Ken Rolston, lead designer of Morrowind and Oblivion, in the same sentence as an upcoming title should spark interest in any gamer active since the turn of the millennium. When mentioned alongside author R.A. Salvatore and comic book writer/illustrator Todd McFarlane, that same gamer should begin frothing at the mouth.

Enter Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Here we have an open world RPG drawing emphasis away from the largely twitch-style, button-mashing combat we’ve come to expect from Western RPGs. Kingdoms will also see the introduction of a new class system, based on a player’s “destiny”, as well as 5 distinctly different regions to explore and plenty of abilities to unlock. Expectations will be high for Kingdoms of Amalur, as it is following in the wake of one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time in the Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. RPG fans, including myself, will be hanging out anxiously for its release on the 7^th of February.

Mass Effect 3 – Helen

There were a lot of games that were touted to be awesome in 2011 like Bulletstorm, Little Big Planet 2, White Knight Chronicles II, Rayman Origins, and Portal 2, that I just didn’t think I’d enjoy. But by giving each of them a chance, I was bowled over by how much I immediately loved them. So, by going into 2012 blind, giving games a second chance is what I’m going to do best. I’ve held off on the Mass Effect franchise for too long now. And the more I hear about how awesome Mass Effect 3 is planned to be, the more excited I keep getting. Mass Effect has undoubtedly come far from its first rendition, story-wise and gameplay-wise, but it seems that it’s aiming to stay true to its roots – something Dragon Age has a hard time doing.

It’s true, BioWare has had a rocky path in 2011 in regards to maintaining fan loyalty, but the main writing team that brought us the beauty of Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 will be launching their (for now) final installment of the series, so it’ll undoubtedly be epic. And as much as I, too, am looking forward to the beauty that will be BioShock Infinite, an assuredly RPG/Shooter hybrid it is not, especially when stacked next to Mass Effect. If I want to sit down and play a shooter that has tactical team-based gameplay and action-based shooting, along with RPG character building elements, Mass Effect 3 has it in the bag, with co-op added to boot. Do not get me wrong on this though, as I am thoroughly awaiting more on BioShock: Infinite as we type, but one has more RPG than I could ask for, especially with how much you command with choices and customizations that you don’t have anywhere else. Commander Shepard’s last foray into the galaxy is fast approaching, and we can’t wait to see how it ends.

The Last Guardian – Matt

Team Ico has cemented their place in gaming history with their classic games Ico (2001) and Shadow of the Colossus (2005). Known both for their minimalist design and infamously long development times, these two titles are well known gems of the PS2 game library .They were highly regarded by critics on release and are often cited examples of video games as art.

An HD collection of both Ico and Shadow was released last September on the PS3, in place of the Last Guardian which was originally intended to have a “late 2011” release date. The delayed third game, involving a fleeing boy and his friendship with the griffin Trico, has been long awaited by both fans of Team Ico’s previous games and PS3 owners alike. Though it’s quite possible the game might be furthered delayed, we’re counting our lucky stars that TLG finally sees the light of day in 2012.

Max Payne 3 – Justin

I can still hear the theme of Max Payne 2 in my head. It captured the essence of the series and helped make it one of the most memorable and enjoyable titles I’ve ever played. It’s been almost ten years since The Fall of Max Payne and now Rockstar has taken the lead instead of Remedy. Does anyone think they can’t pull it off? For a studio that’s been responsible for GTA, L.A. Noire, and Red Dead Redemption, the question isn’t whether or not Max Payne 3 will be good, the question is, how good.

Bioshock Infinite – Dusty

This may make a lot of you unhappy, but I didn’t care a lot about the first Bioshock. Sure, the actual environment was incredible, but the personalities you ran into kind of fell flat to me. They were the typical suave, cool kind of cats you may see in a Las Vegas nightclub in the 50’s and 60’s, and I’d seen these personalities a hundred times. Plus, the big twist was supposed to be that you have a choice in saving or destroying Rapture? I’m playing a linear shooter/RPG hybrid for crying out loud, don’t talk to me about choice!

You may be wondering why I care about Bioshock Infinite in the first place, and I’ll tell you: because it takes place in an era we have seen little to nothing about in gaming. When was the last time you played a game that takes place in turn of the century America? I can’t remember too many, save for a World War I war game. The game looks as if it was a product of the Chicago World Fair, and there is a charm and innocence about this time period that is yet to be explored, and I can’t wait to play it. Also, it takes place in the sky, and anything that allows you to stay on a floating island is okay in my book!

Diablo III – Helen

With the way things are looking now, who knows if this game will really launch in the coming year. But Blizzard promised, so it must come to pass. And what a passing it will be. Just two teaser trailers in, one closed beta, a few screens and descriptions here and there, and already the ripples of anticipation among PC gamers have already gotten out of control. In an age when click-crazy games have superseded our demands, the next in the Diablo franchise is set to get us hooked all over again. Looting, killing impossible bosses, teleporting into town and whatever you spent a lot of time doing on Diablo II, you can’t deny it was fun and a time sink you wouldn’t say no to doing over and over again. And when it comes to lore, it’s volumes upon volumes of delicious mythological storytelling. And you can expect Blizzard’s storytelling to be refreshingly character-driven, rather than the mechanical plot-driven types of stories often spouted by other RPGs. It’s a good thing though, considering how much of an updated graphics and engine overhaul Diablo III is going to have. And whether the always on DRM ordeal will be sorted through or not in time for its release is something we’ll have to see to believe. Regardless, we’ve waited long enough. Send us back to Hell already.

Twisted Metal – Dusty

Call it blasphemy or unclean, but growing up I did not own a PlayStation (PS1 to be precise). And while I didn’t get to experience most of the great games the PlayStation had to offer until I purchased a PS2, one of the games I enjoyed the most during the reign of the PS1 were the Twisted Metal games. Twisted Metal was what GoldenEye was to us Nintendo 64 owners, and to this day, I can say without a doubt that it was some of the most fun I’ve ever had in a multiplayer game. Now Twisted Metal is rebooting for a new generation, and you can be assured that it looks like it belongs in 2012. Motorcycles, the ability to snipe drivers, ‘death from above,’ and more is going to make this one of the best multiplayer experiences the PS3 has ever seen.

Resident Evil Revelations – Justin

It would be a sad state of affairs if we totally ignored the portable fans out there. Being that I’m a big Resident Evil fan to begin with, Resident Evil Revelations is offering up exactly what I’m looking for, dark corners and the possibility for soiled underwear. Since the enjoyment of Resident Evil 5 was dampened by the ludicrous use of zombies on motorcycles and machine guns, I’m really hoping Capcom takes us back to their roots. Getting a little taste of Revelations during E3 last year, the title already seemed polished and a real stand out for what the 3DS could do. The gamer in me changed when I played the original back in 1996, I’m ready for Capcom to do it all over again.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – Ken

Remember that little pansy blonde boy from Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty? Yeah, Raiden was the focal point of that game and boy did he make some fans of the series mad. Not only did he complain about everything, have his cycle at the same time as his girlfriend, and walk around naked in a good bit of the game, but he wasn’t SOLID SNAKE! Fast forward to Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and now we have a fully redone badas/ninja/letmehavesexwith Raiden. Not only did I forget what happened in Sons of Liberty, but I wanted to play as this fool.

Double that up with Platinum Games (Bayonetta and Vanquish) and this next Metal Gear installment will sure to be over the top (read: more crazy craziness). Personally, I am looking forward to a more action oriented feel other than the cinematic type games we have been dished. I loved the story of each game, but I would rather not have a “James Bond” type intro/underlying score. We know that it’s a long shot that Revengenace sees a 2012 release, but we’ve got some newly restore faith thanks to Platinum Games. Please, no more delays and let the sprinkling of Kojima’s excellence be subtle and amazing!

The year 2012 is going to be a great year for games. With the titles mentioned above, the release of the Wii-U, and even the hint the new Xbox and Playstation starting pop up, 2012 looks like it’s going to be quite memorable. What game do you have in your sights? Did we miss one? Let us know in the comments below!

Everyone stuffed from holiday dinners and all the booze/cookie consumption? Good! Now we at MMOMFG know that the New Year is upon us, and what better way to help pass this week than with a tribute to Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. Also referred to as Mystical Ninja 64, this stellar game was revered as one of the best platforming games on the N64. That’s a bold statement considering Super Mario 64 was considered one of the best games on the platform.

Mystical Ninja 64 was an overall masterpiece, with great storytelling, graphics, game play, and music! The focus of this episode of Beyond the MIDI is the wonderful soundtrack that made this game what it continues to be today. Without further ado, let us all take a seat, watch the opening credits, and understand that this is a precursor to the entire game.

Everyone wants to start out the new years with a bang (coital of course) so why not allow huge dancing robots that battle, a multitude of baddies that are opera singers, and a group of misfit travelers do it for you? Mystical Ninja 64 has a very quaint way of telling a story of four warriors that band together to prevent the Peach Mountain Shoguns from transforming Japan into a fine-arts theater. Read that plot again and tell me you didn’t LOL IRL. The entire game is based on a soap opera/musical wonderness.

The very beginning town has an almost happy feel to it as you are learning what each character does and how to progress through the game. As you encounter dungeons, you will notice that they have 2-3 variants of their song, which is a telltale sign that you have made it to the next section. Before I go listing some of my favorite tracks (since almost every single one would be on that list), I want to remind all owners that each track is accessible from the start screen menu. This is one of the few games that continued the wonderful tradition of having a BGM and sound effects menu option. Why can’t all the games continue this trend?!

Now that everyone that can has booted up their copy, let me list a few select tracks to include the others with us. Really, I am just going to list some off the top of my head to prevent me from listing the entire soundtrack: Gourmet Submarine Castle part 1 (oh hell here’s parts 2 and 3), Gorgeous Musical Castle part 2, Japan Sea, Festival Temple Castle part 3, and PLASMA MAN!! (or known as The Fortune Teller). Okay, if those tracks do not have you interested in the game, please go take your N64 and throw it out the window. For those of you that prefer emulation, you will find this an awesome use of your hard drive.

Now you know I am not going to leave you all without some awesome links, the first two being to the other two ‘music videos’ in the game.

I Am Impact!

Gorgeous My Stage

Awesome wiki site for all things Mystical Ninja

OST for Mystical Ninja on YouTube

In the next episode of Beyond the Midi we at MMOMFG are going to tackle the tough series that is known as Final Fantasy. Be prepared as the featured tracks may or may not be what you expect. Don’t worry all you Aeris fans, her tune will get attention.

Star Wars: The Old Republic

It should be noted that all of the time spent playing this SWTOR has been from the beginning of early access which started on December 13th. Since this is an MMO title, one that will undoubtedly go through new revisions, patches, and updates, expect us to continually update our assessment with new posts.

When Star Wars: The Old Republic was first announced, a nerdgasm of more than a million Jedi and Sith swept across the Earth. While EA and BioWare have already secured a massive amount of people interested to join the intergalatic battle on day one, there are still those reluctant to part ways with whatever MMO title they’re currently playing, or to finally enter the MMO fray after so many years of avoidance. Some people say that SWTOR is just World of Warcraft with Star Wars’ skins. Is that true? Does BioWare’s ambitious project have the clout and longevity to go against the most popular paid MMO of all time? The Force of my opinion is about to be with you.

What’s Good

In a Galaxy Far Far Away – Simply put, the individual class stories in Star Wars: The Old Republic are the epitome of the game. They’re what make it stand out from the slew of MMO titles since MMORPGs first started to take flight back in the 90′s with Ultima Online and EverQuest. World of Warcraft, Age of Conan, Anarchy Online, City of Heroes, EverQuest; regardless of the game, they all shared the same lethargic text based progression system. Do a few quests for your class, then be on your way. BioWare changes the recipe by doing what they do best, infusing this MMO title with hours upon hours of story driven gameplay. Whereas I would normally tire with other MMO games and the same old, same old in terms of character progression, in SWTOR I’m not only progressing my character, I’m walking the line of a hero/villain. I’m becoming one of the most powerful Siths in the empire. BioWare does this with outstanding and diverse voice acting on top of intriguing missions and plot devices that test your moral compass as well as your fighting skills. And you won’t walk your path alone.

Joining your fight will be companions. Coming in all shapes and sizes, they’ll be there to lend a hand when you need it. Whether it’s in combat, harvesting goods, selling your junk, or just there for some banter, your companions not only become a vital asset while playing, they become a worthwhile addition to your story. For starters, companions are in charge of all the crew skills – although technically they are your trade skills. Crew skills are what allow you to gather resources and create items. Instead of running around the world looking for ore to smelt, you have the ability to send your crew out on missions to gather, make, or acquire goods. Even though these missions cost money (and everything in an MMO costs money), this allows you to focus on whatever you’d like, instead of sitting around and creating 10 of the same set of gloves. In fact, SWTOR is the first game that I’ve honestly used my crafting skills and have put them to good use. The simplicity in sending out your crew to do your bidding make it a viable option even for the lazy (or possibly disinterested) players out there.

During the beta, I mentioned that SWTOR might be the first MMO game where I might actually roll multiple characters. While that still may be the case, my current Sith Warrior (Marauder) story is too good to ignore. Even though I might hop into a flashpoint, fly around in space, and take other non-class based missions, the current draw of the main storyline continues to beckon. I’m sure in a few months, it’ll be fun to roll a Jedi Knight, or possibly a Bounty Hunter, but for now, all my attention is going toward this character, my true main. One issue that I can see happening is the curiosity of playing as other classes (similar to all other MMOs – although usually not for me), but not having the time to devote to their full story. I have no doubt that BioWare has constructed just as entertaining a story for the other classes, but considering the amount of hours I’ve already put into this game during early access, they apparently don’t want me to eat or sleep….at all. It would be nice down the line, if you’re able to complete one class’ full story, that the next character your play as gets bonus XP. Maybe it’s a dumb idea, but I think they’re doing themselves a disservice by asking everyone to redo non-class based quests over again when all they want to do is experience a new storyline. Then again, it’s an MMO and I’m sure they’d be happy with taking our money for the next five years. Plus for the dedicated, you’ll be getting a full KOTOR experience with whatever class you take. Well played.

Flashpoints help quell this Sith’s aggression – Flashpoints are one of the highlights during beta and still one of the most entertaining portions of SWTOR. I compare Flashpoints to dungeoning in other MMOs, except they’re less complicated and a lot more fun. Flashpoints allow a four man group to tackle a mission together that normally consists of some moral choices, dialogue, and plenty of ass kicking. It was in my first Flashpoint where I really felt like a bad ass Sith. Jumping from one enemy to the next, annihilating anything that stood in our way. While there is normally some nice loot and XP that accompanies an FP, I was never really worried about “drops.” Just the fun of grabbing a small group together and the challenge itself were enough to justify the 40 or so minutes they take to conquer. And again, even the small bits of BioWare story telling that are woven into the FP are worth experiencing. Also, if just you and a close friend only want to duo a Flashpoint, you can always use your companions to fill the last two spots, providing the necessary healing, dps or tanking necessary to succeed.

KOTOR III exists – And it’s within SWTOR. Those who were disappointed when BioWare decided to go with an MMO version of Knights of the Old Republic should take solace that this game is the embodiment of Knights of the Old Republic. The combat, dialogue, and lure all feature aspects that were included in BioWare’s previous title. Combat is fast paced, weapons can be modified, there will be plenty of choices to ponder, and of course, witty droids are bountiful. BioWare said that when they were creating SWTOR, they were actually making KOTOR III – X and they did just that.

Space, the final frontier…oh wait – Around level 19, I got the keys to my first ship, and boy was it great. Not only does your ship allow you to fly to new and exciting planets, it also allows you to partake in space missions. Some people will say that space missions are just a boring on-rail-shooter. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t Star Fox an on-rail shooter for the most part? No, my friends, the space missions are a perfect way to take a break from running around and doing all of those on-land missions. Space missions can earn a pretty good amount of XP and as you level up you’ll be able to do tougher and longer missions. In order to withstand these missions and come out alive, you’ll need to upgrade your ship’s shields and weaponry. Yep, even your ship can get upgraded. BioWare has left no stone unturned. While the ability to do an open PvP space battle would be awesome, rumor has it that BioWare is cooking something up for us in the future. Even if it never sees the light of day, space missions are a perfect diversion when you need it.

What’s Bad

Have car, will travel – Probably a given, but yes, SWTOR is still an MMO at heart. While BioWare has added considerable features to make their title different, it still follows the basic rules MMOs have followed over the past decade. There are still missions hubs you need to get to, and yes, you do have to walk around a lot, and yes, there is a lot of time wasted getting from point A to point B. I suppose the most frustrating part about traveling is that you sometimes lose a little momentum after coming off a particularly exciting class-based mission. The fact that you actually learn a skill called “Sprint” is laughable. Are you telling me an apprentice Sith/Jedi doesn’t know how to run fast prior to level 14? While you do get a speeder at level 25, it costs 40k to get. It’s been one of my Achilles heels when playing any MMO and unfortunately it still is in SWTOR. It was to be expected though.

Read my lips – Nothing kills a dramatic scene like a character who doesn’t move his/her lips when they talk. Unfortunately, I’ve run into it more times than I’d like to remember. As I mentioned above, the voice acting is sublime, it’s just a shame that technical difficulties sometimes hamper the final product. Patches will hopefully address these though. Oh, and the occasional graphical glitch has been known to pop up from time to time…

This is war! – If the Empire is hell bent on decimating the Republic, then why can’t I choose how I want to fight? As it stands right now, when queuing for a Warzone (SWTOR’s instanced PvP battles) I don’t have the option of choosing which type I want to participate in. That means I could get thrown into a game of Huttball, board the Voidstar for a little assault/defend objective, or land on Alderaan and try to capture all of points on the map. Out of the three, Huttball was probably my least favorite and Alderaan my most. It had that open field PvP fighting experience that I was looking for. Unfortunately, I didn’t always get placed into the instance I wanted. Since the game picks a map at random, you either have to put up with it and play that map, or quit and hope to get into the one you want next time after a deserter debuff.

Worth Remembering

The fact that I’ve been playing SWTOR for six days straight, played the beta for two weeks straight before that, and still haven’t grown tired. Judging by the other MMOs I’ve played in the past (not counting Ultima Online), I’m well beyond my expiration date. The reason? BioWare has stated all along that they were interested in making an MMO title that focused on story (much like all of their titles). The writing/drama/plot twists all form to make a cohesive game that at times, I forget I’m playing an MMO.

Worth Forgetting

There are minor glitches that need fixing, lip syncing, graphical bugs, and the audio seems to pop in and out at times for no apparent reason. There also seem to be a lot of broken harvesting nodes for crafting. Overall though, these are blemishes when looking from afar.

While BioWare may not be changing the core of an MMO or the overall aesthetics, they are changing the way we play and what we perceive an MMO to be. Before SWTOR, an MMO was a game we primarily played with friends. It was a genre which benefited from text-based quests, logging long hours of time working on our craft, hunting the same monsters over and over again, and repeating this multiple times a week. The final purpose was to get to the highest level, get the best items, and beat that final boss (or partake in end game PVP battles). With Star Wars: The Old Republic, that’s no longer the case. It’s no longer about the destination, it’s about the journey. You’re own personal journey where the choices you make dictate how the game develops in front of you. It’s not about grinding out level after level, it’s about experiencing missions that have a meaning behind them. This is the first MMO title where I haven’t gotten bored after the first two weeks, and I don’t see that happening anytime soon. Yes, there is still some downtime going from place to place, and yes, some of the missions do include the dreaded item collection. But for the most part, they are few and far between or extremely easy to do. I never feel frustrated while playing SWTOR and that’s the issue I’ve had with previous quest-based MMOs. If the first two chapters of my character are any indication for what’s in store for me, BioWare has my subscription for quite some time. On a personal note, the review hasn’t had to deal with server queues at an inordinate rate yet, but with any MMO launch, the servers, server queues and downtime will be a factor for many for weeks to come. Let’s hope for the best, but BioWare has done a fine job thus far with tiering access as an attempt to test server stress, access and quality. Downtimes are to be expected with any MMO launch, but the Early Access thus far has been a treat minus a few moderate queue times (15-45 minutes).

*MMOMFG was provided with a few press accounts to access the Early Access of SWTOR, as well as retail copies of the title from BioWare/EA

Probably one of the biggest launches in MMO history, Star Wars: The Old Republic began giving early access to gamers who preordered the game a few months ago. Many say this is the MMO that will finally break World of Warcraft’s subscription numbers in half. With a beta that saw over two million people jumping around with lightsabers and blasters, and with WoW’s subscription numbers decreasing slightly, we leave it to the Fanboys to discuss which MMO is better and which will reign supreme! Who do you agree with?

December 25, 1992

Dear Journal,

Today was the best day ever! I woke up and thought it was time to go to school but it wasn’t because it was Christmas so I got up and nobody else was up so I went and peed and nobody was still up. I flushed the toilet and made myself fall down like I slipped on my pee and nobody still got up. So I started to pretend I was scared of that ghost in my house by screaming a little.

But nobody still got up! Not even my sister, but she’s stupid anyway she probably couldn’t even hear me from being so stupid. She probably talks to dogs and cats by making animal noises, I think I caught her doing that one time. She was even eating out of the dogs food bowl one time. How stupid. I didn’t ever do that, I ate grown up food like fruit snacks and stuff.

I tried to make my mom and dad think I saw that ghost again by screaming louder, but nobody woke up. So I did the only thing I could and kicked open their door and jumped on my dad. I landed on his crotch on accident. He jumped up and screamed at me and my mom jumped up and screamed at me, then my sister screamed in the other room because she was probably choking on dog food.

I saw a ghost mom and its Christmas so lets open presents! is what I told her. Okay but get off your dads weiner she told me. Yeah get off my weiner said my dad. Sorry for getting on your weiner I told my dad. I ran out of mom and dads room and ran to the Christmas tree. My dad came in walking funny and holding his crotch.

Your big toe hurt me he said to me. I don’t understand what hes talking about how could a big toe hurt somebody like my dad? My dad always says funny stuff like that so I laughed at him and he said something about him kicking me in the weiner when I get older and then I would know how it feels.

My sister came into the living room with my mom. Were you eating dog food again I asked her. She shook her head. She doesn’t eat dog food Dusty, how many times do I have to tell you that said my mom. She learned it from you I screamed and laughed at her. Keep that up and I won’t cook you any breakfast said my mom. I’d rather eat dog food I said laughing again. Fine my mom said go eat dog food and everyone will make fun of you at school, they will call you Dusty dog the boy that eats dog food. And you won’t get a girlfriend either. But I don’t want a girlfriend mom, because you know what will happen….

No I don’t know. My mom said. I don’t care I said doesn’t matter now lets open some dang darned presents come on!

My mom gave us all our presents and I had to wait for my sister to open them. She is stupid, she tried eating the paper and started rolling around in it. Like  a dog. I hope she doesn’t try eating my poop I saw my dog eat another dogs one time. But she got some dresses, some barbies, some horse toys, and a purse and all those gifts girls get. How can you play with a dress or a purse? And whats fun about barbies anyway? They stand there with a smile and that’s it. They don’t move like my toys. I have a Batman that drives in the batmobile, a GI-Joe that has more knives and guns than the army, and Ninja turtles that have pizza. Whats her Barbie have? Just a bunch of clothes. How stupid.

I opened my presents after her and I got a Ninja Turtle toy, a Batman toy, a Ninja Turtle van, I don’t know what else and then I got brought in another present.

My mom said it was from my grandparents and I ripped it open. It was a Super Nintendo!

They didn’t get a regular Nintendo I asked. No Super Mario Brothers 3?

This is a Super Nintendo Dusty it has something called Super Mario World with it. It’s newer.

Wait it’s better than the other one! Do you get to go around the world as Mario? Can I visit our house as Mario?

My dad laughed at me and told me to open it or he was going to do it himself. I opened it up and looked at the Nintendo. It was gray like the other one, but it had purple buttons. And there wasn’t a flip thing in the front but it had a place to put the game into on the top. It was small too.

Then the controller had a lot of buttons. The other Nintendo had two, but this one had four on the side, and two on the top!

This looks complicated my mom said, you think you can play this?

What do I look like I do eat dog food like her I said pointing at my sister. I will play this until my fingers bleed and my eyeballs fall out mom!

Don’t talk dirty like that, that sounds sick Dusty. Okay well let’s get dad to hook it up for you.

My dad got off the couch and grabbed the Super Nintendo and hooked it up real quick. I was looking at the game while he was doing it. Mario was on a dinosaur! I don’t know what kind it was, but it looked small. And he looked like he was flying!

He’s flying mom Mario is flying! Its like Mario 3 all over again! He’s going to fly, dad he’s going to fly!

Okay then pop it in and lets give it a play said my dad. I put it into the top and turned the Super Nintendo on by pushing the sliding button up. I held the controller and it felt weird. A lot of buttons and the controller was more round so I wouldn’t cut my hands on the sharp corners of the other Nintendo’s controller.

A video started playing of the game being played. Mario was on this dinosaur and running around jumping on Koopas and hitting blocks.

Is this how its going to look when you play this? I asked my dad. It looks so real almost like you are actually Mario.

I don’t know Dusty lets play it and find out my dad said kind of loud. I started the game after watching something about Mario being in a world of dinosaurs or something like that then I started playing and it was a map of the world. I chose the bottom right level

and when it started awesome music was playing. It sounded a lot better than the other Nintendo. I started playing with the controls, and picked up a shell and knocked over a lot of Koopas. About 20 of them!

This looks real dad it looks like Im Mario. Look how big this level is! Look at whats in it!

My dad got up and walked to the telephone and dialed a phone number.

You have to come over here now. Dusty is playing the Super Nintendo, and it is the most real thing I have ever seen. Tell mom thanks for it. Yeah, that new Madden game just released last month I know.

We can play football against each other I know. Yeah it looks real. Okay shut up see you in a second.

He hung up and went back to watching me play the game. By then I had got through the first level.

How did you get through that so quick my dad asked.

I ran through it and avoided all the bad guys. I was too excited to let go of the run button.

I want to try my dad said. He grabbed the controller and started playing the same level over again. In a few seconds he died.

Mario sucks he said I remember why I hate these games. I played the level over again cause it was fun, and played it a few more times.

After a few minutes my uncles came over to watch me play the game.

This looks real said one of my uncles. It looks like a cartoon.

The enemies look more varied said my other uncle.

Dustin, I predict that if you jump on the football player’s head approximately three times, he will die.

Kenny stop being such a fag said my dad.

My uncle shut up.

And journal, I played this game all day today. And it has a cape! You can fly way up in the sky and come crashing down and cause an earthquake!

This is the greatest game ever made journal and I don’t know how games can look more real or be this much better! This is it journal, I am going to be the talk of the school now.

When Robert comes into the bathroom and starts swinging on the top of the stall while I’m trying to pee and kicking me in the back, I’m going to turn around with my weiner and pee all over him and say hey Robert I have a Super Nintendo with Super Mario World so you can eat my poop.

And he will! He will get on  his hands and knees while I bend over and poop in his mouth because all he got for Christmas was probably a stupid single shot Nerf gun with a copy of Barney and Friends! Haha Barney and Friends! He likes Barney and Friends he even told me a few weeks ago! Who likes Barney and Friends anymore???

Good night journal.

Your friend,

Dusty

Thanks to Nintendo’s slave camps in Japan, the Super Nintendo console became one of the most durable and popular console’s to ever grace a living room. The picture of the Super Nintendo you see is the one I have owned since that fateful morning, and the best part is it still works! Even Super Mario World (which failed to make an appearance in this photograph session) still works flawlessly. Hell, my copy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time has a huge crack down the back of the cart and looks like it could split in two any second, but you could never tell, because it runs and boots up just like it did when I purchased it in 1993. Don’t get me wrong, I love my Xbox 360, but I wouldn’t dare drop it on a concrete floor. My Super Nintendo on the other hand, could be thrown out of a race car during a NASCAR race  into another lane of traffic, hit the grill of an 18-wheeler, bounce into yet another lane, and have a satellite spiraling towards the Earth land on it as soon as it hits the ground. And you know what? It would still work as well as it did in 1992.

In my book, there’s the Taj Majal, the Pyramids of Egypt, and then the Super Nintendo. Thank you Nintendo for an incredible console and the best X-Mas ever.

Merry X-Mas children. Of course there are probably some of you reading this who don’t celebrate the big old fat guy coming down the chimney and baby raptor Jesus being born in a manger. In fact, a few of our writers don’t either, to that we say hogwash. X-Mas is all about presents, and while Hanukkah has eight crazy nights, those presents are usually shit anyways: Take it from me, I dated Jews exclusively for like six years or something.

While many sites are doing their Game of the Year list, we do things a little differently around here by treating you with a combination GOTY list. Since people come in all shapes and sizes, each of us round up the three games we had the most fun playing during the year. Consider our choices the crème de la crème of gaming in the year that was 2011. If you’re looking for a game to get that special someone, looking to spend those newly acquired Xbox Live/PSN points, or have a newly acquired gift card you want to use, check out the games below. For all practical purposes, they’re the best 2011 had to offer. If the title is in blue, click it for our review!

Justin

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - The Wii’s swan song is the best Zelda title I’ve played since the Ocarina of Time. Not only did Nintendo finally show us how incredible a developer could create a Wii Motion Plus experience, they also created a Zelda title that was fresh, beautiful, and compelling. While many people might be taking out bros in Modern Warfare 3 or slaying dragons in Skyrim, it would behoove you to dust off your Wii this holiday season and reacquaint yourself with a series that’s long been a staple in the video game industry. There’s not really a whole lot more you can say about Skyward Sword except that you would be doing yourself a huge disservice if you didn’t play it.

Battlefield 3 (PC) - One regret I have this year is that I haven’t been able to blow enough shit up. With the slew of games that have occupied my time lately (see above), BF 3 has been a little neglected as of late. Hopefully, once Santa brings me a new video card, a solid state disk, and some extra RAM, that will all change. With the additional Back to Karkand maps coming out in a week, Battlefield 3 is my go to first person shooter. When me and a few buddies all hop online together, the world around me ceases to exist.  There is no other game that can produce the adrenaline rush that BF 3 can do.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – Polish company CD Projekt spent a lot of time cultivating The Witcher 2. Being a fan of the original that came out back in 2007, expectations were high. Fortunately, they were met and exceeded. The Witcher 2 was bigger, better, featured more quests, and featured some of the best monster hunting of 2011. The White Wolf is slowly becoming one of my favorite characters in gaming, and I can only hope that The Witcher 3 releases sooner rather than later. For those who have never set foot in Andrzej Sapkowski’s beautiful and dangerous world, filled with plenty of moral ambiguity, stop being a dumb fat face and spend your holiday monster slaying.

Ken

Dead Space 2 – Wait, this game was released in 2011?! Yes peeps, it was actually released January 25. The year 2011 started out strong with this sequel to one of the greatest games to hit the survival horror genre. Dead Space 2 took everything that was wonderful about the first game and multiplied it. Enemies were more brutal, scenery was more epic, the hauntings were more frightful, and the overall story was just better. Adding onto this stellar game was more replay value than the first one had (hand cannon anyone?!). Throw in some multiplayer action and you have yourself a worthy game that is still a blast to play. Hopefully the third installment keeps the pace up. Nothing says Merry X-Mas like a few necromorphs all up in YO face!

Battlefield 3 (PC) – There once was a game that made me all giddy when I played it at E3. That game was Battlefield 3. The game wowed me then, and continues to wow me now (Ultra settings FTW). If you have to get one FPS this year, this is the one. Unparalleled graphics, multiplayer, and zero dude-bro content means a kick-ass game. With the Battle to Karkland DLC coming out soon, you have all the more reason to dish the killing this holiday season. Grab a buddy or two, and ask yourself if Santa and his reindeer are safe.

PAYDAY: The Heist – For a $20 downloadable shooter, this one gives you the best bang for the buck (see what I did there?!?!). A drop in/drop out style co-op FPS that is sure to be suspenseful for either the PS3 or PC. If you are like me, a mouse and keyboard combo is the only way to deal the pain. With new missions poised to come out, and a massive amount of upgrading to partake in, this shooter will be sure to give you and your friends something to do during your time off. Just beware the Bulldozer, and you should have all the loot necessary to bring holiday joy to all the people on your list. Considering this is one of the cheaper games on our list, go out and get a copy for a few friends and you’ll have a team of bank robbers in no time.

Dusty

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – I wasn’t born when Dungeons and Dragons was at the height of its popularity, nor was I alive when text adventures were all the rage, but I have to think that when gamers were rolling their D-20s or typing “slay that bastard of a dragon,” they were imagining a world much like Skyrim’s. The sprawling countryside, the huge mountains, and the sheer amount of communities, townships, and large castles makes the land of Skyrim one of the most believable world’s I have ever seen. You will lose yourself in this game even more than Fallout 3, and that’s saying something legendary.

Batman: Arkham City – There was a time when I was replaying Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and watching Batman Begins for the first time. The two concepts came together one day while I was capping brothers in the ghetto, and I thought, “how awesome would it be to be the Batman in a game like this?” Rocksteady must have heard my cries a few years later, because that’s exactly what they did. You’re Batman in a sprawling, open-world packed full of bad guys, side missions, and memorable villains. In short, you’re the G-D Batman, and you can glide through Arkham City and make it your bitch. And really, isn’t that what being Batman is all about?

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – It’s no secret the original Deus Ex gave me boners to those who know me. It’s also no secret that its sequel, Deus Ex: Invisible War, almost made me impotent. But while Invisible War almost kept me from reproducing, Human Revolution put a jolt in my reproductive system that few games ever achieve. This talented team at Eidos has redeemed the Deus Ex franchise, and most of the glory and excitement that made the original Deus Ex such as orgy of gaming goodness is back with a more modern flare. It’s Deus Ex for a new generation, and I cannot wait for the next installment.

Helen

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Understandable that this might show up on a couple people’s lists, but it’s for a good reason. However you want to play an incredibly created open-world is completely all right, and an endless expanse lies at your feet, ready for anything. And honestly, anything is almost an understatement. Wanna get lost in smithing gauntlets? You can do so. Get involved in the banalities of petty children? You can do so. Ride a horse hunting for dragons? You can do so. Steal horses and run away with them before the stable hands can catch you? You can do so. Try to find as many infinite quests before you start getting sick of NPCs and just kill them all? You can do so. Actually take the time to figure out what the main plot is after your character reached full stats about 100+ hours later? Well, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad - When I think of military shooters, I think of endless running-and-gunning, quick-scoping, and spray-and-praying. And it kind of gets me down in the dumps, not because it all seems a bit cheap, but because it makes each match feel so repetitive. To me, a lot of shooters end up getting stale because of that sort of almost kill farming factor that isn’t limited to MMOs and the like.

By the time Red Orchestra came along, I was looking at no crosshairs, only one gun with a scope, and a real use for steady breathing. Sure, bugs were riddled within at release, but its multiplayer was still fresh, fun, and pretty believable. You can shoot someone dead from 2000m away and live to tell about it. And when you have teammates that interact, then they can tell you about the sniper from 2000m away. Unless it’s a tank, then you’d best get those teammates with AT ready and get at it from all sides. I’d never seen such effective teamwork in an FPS before, so with RO2 popping my cherry on that one, it holds a special place in my gamer heart.

Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine - Where to even begin in this jetpack-fueled space sock-em-bopper? Admittedly, third-person orc-like shooter fans seem to constantly diminish in comparison to the success that is Gears of War, but it’s commonly known by hobbyists that a series like Gears of War would not exist if Warhammer already didn’t. Space Marine has the hunk of armored dudes wielding melee weapons as big as their torso and heavy-powered bolt rifles down pat since the board game days.

They’ve only begun in the chainsaw-wielding machismo many other third-person shooters have already tapped into, yet it feels like it was already at the top of its class. Fun brawling, cool weapons, studly characters, expansive power-ups and melee, what more could a kid ask for? Oh, free co-op? Don’t mind if I do. This franchise, which previously held its helm in MMOs and strategy RPGs, certainly made its  mark in a big way on a genre that is all new to them.

Nicole

Skyrim, Skyrim, Skyrim… OH!!! - Not so long ago I had big plans to travel to Alaska or Scandinavia and see the Northern lights all by myself, but then 11.11.11 happened, and as I climbed the highest icy mountain in Skyrim I saw the Northern glow in its glory so, no need for me to spend money on flying tickets and leave the room anymore, achievement unlocked. Oh and there is this little bit about me being Dovahkiin, a badass dragon slayer bitch with the power to absorb a dragon’s soul!  Muwahahahaha!

Skyrim is beautiful, the scenery, the music, even the trolls are er… pretty…  okay, maybe only if you’re into that kind of fetish, not that I am… what was I saying? Oh yes, Skyrim! The more you get to explore the land of Skyrim, the more it pulls you in. The details invested into creating the world of Skyrim are insane, but also the endless possibilities given to the player, that pretty much allows you to live in the skin of your Dovahkiin, making the game highly addictive and highly enjoyable. And of course if you ever get bored you can simply go on a killing rampage against innocent NPCs and then strip their bodies.

Warhammer 40000: Space Marine - I received Space Marine as a gift from a very close friend when I was very sad and depressed, my friend wanted to make me happy and keep my mind off of things and he knew just what to do. Needless to say, Space Marine took all my aggression out, or perhaps it will be more accurate to say that: six good hours per day of hack and saw is the best therapy for a broken heart, and before I knew it I was showering in ORC juice baby! Space Marine is a bit of a no-brainer as there isn’t much free choice, the plot might not be important or gripping, but there is something just so bloody fun about slashing the hell out of those enemies or stunning them with your Thor’s warhammer. Space Marine is recommended for those who simply want to shut their brain off for a couple of hours and just enjoy hitting and killing things.

Dragon Age 2 - Why yes, I am one of them nerds who actually finished Dragon Age: Origins… TWICE. Being a medieval fantasy geek I grew very attached to this game and honestly what kept me going all the loooong looong way (Seriously, I loathe caves/dungeons in quest games with passion!) was the plot. The game’s sequel, which came out in March 2011, was pretty decent, and while the plot wasn’t as strong as Origins, the game’s engine and the gameplay were an improvement, and the skills tree allowed the players to turn their characters into expert killing machines. And don’t get me started about Anders… (I totally boned him).

So Dragon Age 2 might have been a bit lacking with dark spawns, and a plot that got lost a bit near the end, but overall the game is highly fun and a great sequel to the Dragon Age devotees. Now bring us game number 3!

Matt

Mario Kart 7 - I’m just going to let you guys know right now – My name’s Matt, and I’m a Nintendo fanboy. And while I enjoyed a huge number of games this year (seriously, wasn’t it a great year!) Mario Kart 7 will be one that I will most definitely be playing all through summer (I’m an Aussie), and then some. Yeah, I know that very little has changed since the previous six installments in the series, but I’m going to fall back on the timeless argument used by us fanboys – if it’s not broke, don’t fix it. Mario Kart 7 is yet another fantastic kart racing game by Nintendo, plagued by only one problem: where the hell is Waluigi?

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – I wanted to include Skyrim, I really did, but I think I’ve got all I can out of it for the time being, and can’t see myself revisiting it any time soon. Skyward Sword, on the other hand, is a better game in every way, shape, and form, and I think when people stop using playtime and graphics as serious arguments, then everyone else will come to realise that too. Believe all you’ve read about The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – it’s the best Zelda game so far, as well as one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of interactive entertainment. Yeah, I said it.

Football Manager 2012 - The Football Manager series is a weird one for me. I live in Australia, the land of rugby league (i.e. very little soccer) and have only played one year of soccer, when I was six. So why, you ask, is Football Manager 2012 in my summer games list? It’s simple, really. I’m an absolute sucker for simulation games that aren’t The Sims. Give me a few charts, absurd loading times and millions of numbers and I’ll be up past the break of dawn. Football Manager has always been the most polished sim game available, so it’ll keep me occupied indefinitely until we get a sequel to Sid Meier’s SimGolf.

Which ever game you choose this holiday season, enjoy! If you didn’t agree with our selection, let us know which game caught your fancy in the year 2011. We can discuss it (like adults hopefully) over a nice batch of spiked eggnog.

Plopping yourself down after a hard day of being a golem is the part you look forward to for the weekend. Golem-like dudes sure do love being golem-like dudes and being in space doesn’t change that. Lounging around on extraterrestrial rocks with your favorite plastic flamingo is just on par with say, playing video games.

But on what would be a whistling-fueled siesta, a nasty and careless Satellite of Wub drops a bunch of debris off, crashing the environment left and right. All kinds of weird stuff was dropped on what was otherwise pretty serene volcanic terrain on the Depths of Thurl. The nerve, right? Time to clear the way so Kovo, the rocky dude, can have his lie down in peace for once.

Why did Kovo cross the space station - What could’ve been a repetitive and quick puzzle game is being made into a full-fledged, action runner of sorts heavily based in classic arcade techniques. Make sense? Bust-n-Rush is quickly turning into the Frogger for the 3D-oriented, major destructive types. Instead of avoiding cars, you’re exploding nearly everything in sight. To keep it fresh, you still have to avoid the things you can’t destroy with jumps and shifts. Red obstructions will ruin your fun and stop you dead in your tracks. But everything else — barrels, boulders, you name it — is fair game. Go ahead, run into traffic.

Slow traffic - The game begins slow as does each level, just to give you time to get your bearings (and for the level to load, I suppose). Once it begins, you start by “rushing,” which lets you travel faster and run into rocks without dying. During the more populated and dense areas, you have to force yourself to simply run and not rush — the option is there, just up to you to remember it. However, because you’re always rushing through things like swinging barrels, you can reach few stretches of not hitting anything. And considering hitting things is the name of the game, some obstacles seem a little pointless. No matter though, as in a few seconds there will be tons of other things to bust through.

Fingers tingling guaranteed - Did you ever need a reason to want that sort of adrenaline-y feeling when you’re on your keyboard? Every single second on Bust-n-Rush as you get into it, have you anticipating hairpin maneuvers that are literally between a rock and another hard place. You might have a little bit of limited room, but once you start buzzing through at what could possibly be several hundreds of kilometers per hour on foot and through portals, all the moments feel like they count. And your ring finger can only take so much!

But she beat my high score - I would go so far as to say that Bust-n-Rush is a definitively fun arcade-style bust-em-up bound to be a quick favorite for players, but it seems to fall short on lasting longevity. You start with one perspective and sort of wade through levels that all offer different ways to crash into things, but it’s so far only satisfied my twitchy side and not really my thoughtful side of gaming.

Of course, I do enjoy how thorough each environment feels, as if every segment was pre-built and only awaiting my traversal through it even though they’re being generated as I pass them. But everything is infinite and it’s definitely interesting that an engine is making it happen in such a diverse way. The game really offers to throw everything at you until you get tired and it doesn’t end. The loop will always be there for your high score catching needs.

It never ends - Timing is basically key here, no matter what you’re tasked to do. In order to progress or unlock more levels and modes, you’re simultaneously taken on a sort of tutorial introducing you to all the upcoming obstructions. Whether they’re suddenly appearing red-marked death traps, backwards transporting teleporters, or upwards/downwards projectors, you’re allowed to familiarize yourself in levels that have them all laid out before you move on to either Endless mode or just keep replaying challenge levels from Depths of Thurl, Gearmageddon, or The Last Bound.

Color-coding - Graphics from this game beta is definitely on the fun side of things. Heavy outlines that are — depending on the objects’ nature, blue, red, green, yellow, or just plain black — help make the environment and sole character pop out at you. Once this gets fast paced, however, everything tends to blend and it becomes harder and harder to differentiate. No matter though, as it’s not too much of an overload as it is a difficulty spike in general. Environments and textures aren’t at all dull, which is good because there are lots of them.

Play again - In this game, you’re limited to the standard z-axis movement of depth, and you control the up, down, left, and right of the x and y axises. So while the majority of this game is seemingly automated, every little direction given is actually controlled by you. At times you can brake for your own benefit, but that itself has an extremely short time limit. As you progress, more and more items begin to clog your path giving the claustrophobic gamer something to be fearful of. Pressure builds quick, and a jump that’s tad too quick or too long a hold on the jump button means game over. But since load times are indubitably short, starting over is just as much a mere impulse away.

Worse ideas have happened - At certain points, too many obstructions plague your way in what looks to be completely impossible. At certain points, you have to float for a momentary period to pass the pits of lava, but you’re allowed a reprieve to jump back. But given that you’re still a slave to your temporary brakes and gravity (unless you’re hitting the anti-grav boosts), you’re still stuck to your previous decision to jump way too early and have to resign to your imminent death.

Not only that, but jumps are unfortunately presented under the guise that you have control over the length of them though it ain’t so. At this point, jumps are incredibly long, making that decision to jump too early or too late the constantly fatal one. In fact, this title from Techtonic Games is forcing you to consider your choices in braking either in mid-air or on foot rather than when to jump over things. In a respect, it’s sort of blending the choices in a racing game into a platforming runner environment.

Bust-n-Rush is basically like an endless and addictive three-lane runner with some verticality and reasons to rush or take it slow. Just because it’s hard to describe, doesn’t mean it’s not easy to get into. And for fans of music like power metal, this game’s soundtrack is definitely a sure fit. There’s some definite 80s rock riffed throughout and a delightful victory lick whenever you finish the challenges in the challenge mode. And whether you’re dipping in for a casual playthrough of a few endless challenges to best yourself or your friends, so far Bust-n-Rush offers just that. There are limits being pushed as far as the tech from Unity goes, and seeing where Techtonic Games is taking it is definitely a cool sight to see.

Star Wars: The Old Republic has been in beta for quite some time. Only a few weeks ago, the NDA (non disclosure agreement) was lifted, and over the Thanksgiving holiday, a slew of people got their first chance to hop into BioWare’s ambitious MMO as they were performing a multitude of stress tests. I’ve been playing for the past few weeks on both sides of the war (Republic vs. Empire) and bring to you, the less fortunate, my thoughts. Is SWTOR the next WoW killer? How has the beta been holding up in terms of stability and polish? Will my Sith Warrior grow some wicked sideburns? Let’s find out!

I have a lightsaber and I know how to use it – One of the biggest differences in SWTOR compared to other MMOs is that the combat is at a much faster pace. Even at the lower levels my Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior were able to dispatch multiple enemies and my time spent recouping was at a minimum. Instead of slashing away at one enemy for a couple of minutes, the emphasis is more on the amount of enemies you need to take down. Using your skills appropriately to jump from one enemy to the next and take them out as quickly as possible becomes quickly apparent. So far, the combat is much more engaging and entertaining than any other MMO I’ve played in the past.It’s amazing what a little thing like the lack of an auto-attack button can do.

Simple is ok by me - When it comes to giving (or taking) directions, I’m pretty useless. So when I found out that you could run around while still having your map up just to make sure I was headed in the right direction, I was pretty happy. Hey, it’s the simple things in life! Besides map transparency (which first made an appearance in RIFT), SWTOR’s interface works a lot like your common MMO title. So if you’ve played any MMO in the past decade, you should be right at home. Right now, there are a few gripes about being unable to customize your interface like you can in WoW, but considering BioWare is still working in a beta phase, I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a few changes and added features and mods pop up down the road.

It’s good to be bad - Being a BioWare title, SWTOR is going to have plenty of choices for you to think about. Since I played as both a Jedi and Sith, a lot of my choices had to deal with how I perceived both codes and how I wanted to play out my character and his use of the Force. One of the first opportunities when playing as a Sith Warrior occurs when I was given the chance to listen and judge three people being held captive. Depending on how I choose, I would be granted light or dark points. After my choices were made, I was then chastised or congratulated by my superiors. It may have been a simple 10 minute quest, but it’s the level of detail in these types of quests that we have yet to see in an MMO. If this was any other game on the market right now, you would get some text, click through, and be on your way to the nextquest. Instead, I was compelled to listen to the prisoners, their stories, and then take a moment on how I wanted to proceed and then finally see how the outcome played out. Though my time was spent with both the Jedi Knight and Sith Warrior, I would have to say I had a lot more fun playing as the bad guy. Being a Jedi Knight felt a little too constricted, as if I had all of these rules telling me what I shouldn’t do. Obviously, I could have broken those rules, but if that’s the case, why not just play as a Sith in the first place? Again, this will differ for anyone playing and their own morale code(s) or lack thereof, but that’s my take on it so far.

John Williams is my father - Not really, but that would be pretty cool if he was. Anyone who’s ever played a Star Wars game or watched the movies knows of the iconic music that’s spanned over three decades. On top of the already ludicrous amounts of voice acting in the game, SWTOR also includes an incredible musical score. All the classics are there and when you participate in your first flashpoint (mini 4 player raids – similar to dungeons in other MMOs) and hear the music really ramp up, you lose yourself in the moment.

Speaking of flashpoints - I was never big on doing 8-16 man raids. It always seemed like a huge cluster-fluck of people running around like chickens with their heads cut off (running in PUGs or less structured guild runs). Flashpoints on the other hand, look extremely promising. Even though I only had the chance to do one (The Black Talon), I was thoroughly entertained from start to finish. With four people total, the flashpoint lasted about 45 minutes and included plenty of action and dialogue choices. Speaking of dialogue (pardon the pun), there’s a nifty little feature in SWTOR when you’re grouped up with people. Since SWTOR features multiple dialogue choices, each member of your group can choose his or her speech path, then after everyone has chosen, a randomized numerical number is given to each member of the group, and whoever has the highest number wins and their dialogue selection gets chosen. During The Black Talon flashpoint, there comes a point where you must decide what to do with the captain who disobeyed orders. Do you simply ignore his insubordination or make him pay (with his life)? The group I was in thought killing him was the a little severe, but unfortunately for them, I didn’t, and I also won the dialogue selection. Warp ahead 20 minutes later when you return to the ship and most of the crew is dead because of your decision (I won’t spoil why). It’s little things like this that keep your attention throughout the flashpoint’s entirety.

Another reason why this flashpoint was so damn fun.
Picture below: Me being a total bad ass.

It’s scenes like this that make SWTOR capable of being so much more than your typical cookie cutter MMO. It’s the action packed flashpoint that led up to that scene, it’s the choices you made during the scene, and it’s seeing everything pan out in the conclusion.

There’s a lot to consider when analyzing how good SWTOR can be and the amount of potential it has. In my opinion (and that is the opinion of someone who generally doesn’t play an MMO past a month or two), Bioware has done a great job putting together an MMO that has enough to distinguish itself from other MMOs on the market. It may not be reinventing the wheel like the upcoming Guild Wars 2 or TERA, but with their focus on story, they very well may change how we perceive an MMO. I’m sure there are going to be plenty of people who skip through the dialogue, and could care less about the story, but they would be doing themselves a huge disservice. Playing through and experiencing the flashpoint was some of the most fun I’ve had in an MMO since my PvP days during Ultima Online. Will there be pointless quests that include running around and collecting X amount of items? Of course there will. Will there be a bit of downtime running from one place to the next? Most certainly. There are still inherent problems with MMOs that drive me crazy, but from what I’ve seen so far, BioWare is giving me enough reasons to ignore the cons and focus on the pros. The game is already oozing with plenty of lore and atmosphere to satisfy even the most die hard Star Wars fan. Let’s hope the finished product coming next month is even better. For fans of  Knights of the Old Republic that wished for a third title, this is capable of being parts 3 through 10.