Ramblings from the Marginalized

I recently picked up a copy of the game Borderlands for the Xbox 360. When I first heard about this game I was excited. Shortly after reading about the game I began to become skeptical. What at first looked like pure awesome had begun to look like only partial awesome.

What made me change my mind about the game? It was the fear that it would be too much like Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. While I do enjoy playing Sacred 2: Fallen Angel I have to admit that as a single player game Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is bad. What is fun with a friends is not so much fun when played solo. It was this fear that kept me from pre-ordering Borderlands when the opportunity arose.
Now that I own and have logged several hours into Borderlands I have to say that it is not entirely fair to put this game in the same group as Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. While games have similarities (random loot generation, single and multi-player modes, set classes that are customized as you level up, quests, and weapon mods) they also have a few things that make them different (FPS vs isometric, local split screen versus local shared screen, fantasy vs futuristic wasteland). It is these differences that keep my interest level up.

I admit to being a fan of wasteland games. My love of the Fallout series of games is proof positive of that! As much as I enjoy fantasy games there is just something inherently cooler about shooting a shotgun than shooting a bow. Is it the noise? The way the blood spatters in artistic patterns? The satisfaction of lining up a sniper kill that takes out the guy on the platform mounted autocannon?

Guns

You can't talk about Borderlands without bringing up guns. In fact the procedural system used to create new guns on the fly is one of the game's big selling point. To paraphrase Forest Gump, "Borderlands is like an unmarked weapon crate, you never know what you're going to get until you crack it open!"

In the game weapon crates are scattered all over the world. When you first open them they contain a random assortment of randomly generated guns. You might open the crate and find a selection of pistols, shotguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, or any combination thereof.

These weapons even vary in how effective they are. Some are scoped (not just sniper rifles), some have melee bonuses, some bullets that split, some have distinct shot patterns, some have elemental effects that can cause them to set your target on fire, and sometimes they just suck.

You read that part right, sometimes they just suck! I have pulled rare (color coded) weapons out of crates only to find that my common weapon of the same type is better than the rare one. Even worse is when you complete one of the "find the parts to my gun" quests and find out that the gun you get is no where near as good as the one you already have!

There are also times when you find a gun that is good but only in certain situations. T.K.'s Wave (a shotgun that shoots in a wave pattern) is a good example of this. When it comes to knocking flying critters out of the sky this weapon is great. When it comes to taking down ground based enemies it's not that good. Because it is a rare weapon you don't want to sell it but because you can only hold a small number of items (not weapons but total items) in your backpack you often find yourself selling the rare guns due to space considerations.

A similar problem arises when you find something that is totally kick-ass but you are too low level to use it. Do you keep it? Do you sell it? If the level requirement is more than one or two levels from where you are you have to wonder if keeping it is worth it. You might find something even better an hour from now that you can use and that item is taking up space in your backpack!

Unlike Fallout3 there is a limited amount of ammo you can carry for each weapon. You can purchase ammo upgrades as the game moves along but these are very expensive. The most cost effective thing to do is to hold on buying the upgrades until you can buy the last one (they do not stack). I don't recommend this approach because even though you are saving money you are also going to find yourself leaving a lot of ammo unclaimed as you explore the world. As a looter myself it causes me pain to leave things on the ground that should be in my pockets! From a game design standpoint it makes sense. I never did understand how my Fallout3 character could carry all that ammo as if it weighed nothing!

The game allows for four archetype characters. You have a stealth character, a hand-to-hand character, a sniper character, and a generalist/support character. For my single-player foray I decided to go with the solider (generalist/support).

The soldier can spawn a small defensive shield with a machine gun (Scorpio) as a class ability. As you level up there are three fields you can put skill point into to customize your character (true for all characters). Because I knew this was going to be a single-player character I avoided the support tree (provides benefits such as healing and rearming allies) and instead focused heavily on the combat skills that allow me to cause more damage with my weapons.

I am currently level 16 and climbing. I have focused mostly on sniper rifles, repeaters, and shotguns. Early on I only kept weapons that included scopes but as my FPS skills improved I moved away from scopes and moved towards weapons with significant bonuses. Currently I use a revolver that is very effective against shields, a sniper rifle that occasionally fires exploding shells, and a vicious shotgun with no special powers other than a very high damage rating and a fast rate of fire. I keep these three weapons equipped
at all times and cycle through them as needed.

I'm no where near completing the game yet (only defeated two bosses) but I'm still having fun. I occasionally find myself outgunned and that is where the ingenious Second Wind part of the game comes into play. If you get gunned down you start to bleed to death. If you manage to kill an enemy while in this state you get a Second Wind (quick health boost and you are no longer dieing) that gets you back on your feet. This has saved my butt many times over the course of the game!

I'll try and provide a more informative review of the game after I get in some multi-player action and complete more quests.

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Before I acquired my Xbox360 I had no idea why many gamers valued achievements. For those who may be unaware, the achievement system (trophies on the PS3) awards points to gamers based on miscellaneous actions performed during a game.

Some achievements require a lot of work to get (the Valve 'garden gnome' achievements) while others require no skill at all (The Simpsons 'Press Start to Play' achievement). When you look at achievements as a whole you find that there are two distinct types of achievements; time-based and skill-based.

Time-based achievements are those that you earn over time no matter how skilled you are. If you put enough time into a game you will earn these achievements.

Skill-based achievements are those that you earn after mastering a skill. Not everyone is able to earn this form of achievement and it confers serious bragging rights when earned.

For purposes of this article we will be using the achievements from The Beatles: Rock Band game. This game has 50 achievements and they are split just about 50/50 in regards to time-based and skill-based awards.

Before I get too deep into that game let's take a quick moment to reminisce about the bygone days of gaming. I'm not talking about the 90's when LAN games were just becoming popular I'm talking about the 80's when the only source for real video game news was Nintendo Power.

As a kid in the 80's you didn't have the luxury of the Internet for getting hints and tips on how to beat games. The only real source for tips was Nintendo Power magazine and not many kids were able to convince their parents to subscribe to it. Because of this a gamer could claim bragging rights for beating a game in only a few particular situations:

1. Multiple witnesses - In the event some great gaming victory was achieved among a large group of friends (3+) this group would vouch for the claim and it would be considered valid.

2. Photograph - Many a gamer would keep a Polaroid camera by the gaming console for capturing high scores and other bizarre events. Due to the lack of a pause button on some games a second person would often be required to be on hand to man the camera.

3. Secret knowledge - Because there was no Internet post-game knowledge was extremely valuable as a source of proof. For example no one knew that Samus was a girl until they completed Metroid and saw her remove her helmet. Which castle was the princess in? So many games were chock full of secret things that could be used to prove your claim. However, once a piece of secret information became public it could no longer be used by another person to make a claim.

These methods were never fool-proof and often some kids were able to claim an achievement that they had never truly earned. This became most apparent when a game had some sort of multi-player mode. It was always strange when the kid who claimed to have beaten Contra would keep getting himself killed on the first stage!

Today's achievement system is much nicer than what we had to deal with as kids in the 80's. Now, when you do X you get achievement X that tells the world you did something. If you didn't do X you can't lie and say you did because the achievement was not earned.

While some folks might not even care about achievements at all they do serve a purpose. Actually they serve multiple purposes. In the first place achievements are hard proof that you have done something in game. In the second case they can also help to extend the life of a game.

Achievements can extend the life of a game by providing the player with something interesting to do. For example there may be an achievement for completing a tough level in a combat game using only a pistol. While the casual player may never even attempt this the hardcore game may see the existence of this achievement as a challenge to perfect his skill.

There is a subculture in video gaming circles of people who try to beat games using the least amount of materials or in the shortest amount of time possible. If you search on Youtube you can find a plethora of these videos. Knowing that such people exist is it any surprise that game developers have decided to cater to them by creating more and more bizarre achievements?

Let's take a moment and look over the achievements available in The Beatles: Rock Band game. Out of 50 achievements roughly half of them can be acquired just by putting in a lot of hours playing the game. These include achievements for getting 5 stars on all songs, scoring 1,000,000 career points on each instrument, playing songs in each part of the story mode, and unlocking half or all of the Beatles photographs. These achievements can all be gained by playing the game in single player mode on easy difficulty. While some skill is needed to play the instruments at this easy level it is very minor.

The remaining achievements are all skill-based. These achievements require a real commitment to the game and learning how to play each song well at the hardest difficulty setting. Achievements such as I GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS! (Score 100% notes hit on Helter Skelter playing Expert Drums) and Won't You Come Out to Play? (Play Dear Prudence on Expert Guitar, playing all hammer-ons and pull-offs without strumming) are achievements that I will likely never earn. The amount of skill required to earn these is far beyond me and I doubt I will have enough time in my adult life to master those skills.

As of writing this I have earned 24 out of the 50 achievements offered up in the game and they account for 320 of the possible 1,000 gamer points that can be earned. Right there we can see that even though I have earned almost half of the achievements I have only earned about 30% of the possible gamer points.

Even though I have earned almost half of the achievements for this game I have not earned any bragging rights based on those achievements. Why? Because none of them required any serious amounts of skill to earn. Even my favorite game (and one of only two games I have ever earned 100% of the achievements for) Fallout3 lacks any real skill-based achievements. The closest they come to being skill-based are the ones for winning 50 lock-picks/speech/terminal challenges.

Even though Fallout3 lacked any real skill-based achievements the achievements it does include do extend the game's life by providing extra things for the player to do. Have you completed all of the side quests? They all have achievements! Killed all the Super Mutant Behemoths, collected all the Bobbleheads, explored over 100 locations? All of those have achievements. While you don't need to do everything to complete the story mode of a game having those achievements does give you something else to do besides the main quest.

Another type of achievement (the ones I tend to hate) is the secret achievement. These achievements are often skill-based and don't stay secret for long. Within a week or two of a game being released these secret achievements will be listed on gamefaqs for the whole world to see. Unfortunately for most of us they will still appear as 'secret' on our consoles.

Secret achievements bother me because even though they are skill-based their secretive nature makes them more about luck than skill. It's not something you can actively hone your skills towards achieving and instead becomes an award you earn by luck.

Personally I like achievements. I find that they extend the life of some games and allow players to easily prove their gamer cred to their peers.

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The Panzer General series of games has been out since 1994 when SSI published the first one. Seven sequels were produced with Allied Assault being the most recent. SSI is no longer its own company and this particular incarnation of the title was created by Petroglyph Games for the Xbox360 Live Arcade.

Unlike the previous titles in the series that emulated a form of the old style chit based wargaming systems Allied Assault takes the game into the card game realm. While the playing area is a board (6 wide by 5 deep) the game system is heavy on the card side using the board only for placement of units and for defining victory conditions.

Let me state right away that I have not purchased the full game and that this review is based solely on the results of playing through the demo a few times. While this has not allowed me to experience the full breadth and depth of the game it has shown me enough of the game to form an opinion on it.

Panzer General: Allied Assault is a two player game where you play either against the CPU player or a real player over Xbox Live. More than half of the achievements are Live-based so expect to play many games online before earning them all. Playing against a human opponent is not that different from playing against the A.I. except that you should expect the games to take longer.

The game uses a point system (prestige) in an attempt to limit your actions on each turn. Each card you play has a prestige cost that must be paid in order to be played. While this sounds like a good mechanic in theory it only works until you exploit the one major loophole in this game which I will discuss later.

Prestige points are earned each turn based on the zones you control. Some zones earn you bonus points (cities, towns, etc). A zone is considered to be controlled by a player if their units were the last to enter or exit that square. Thus it is beneficial to use a fast unit to grab land whenever possible. Just be ready to defend the lands you have taken lest your opponent do the same to you!

You can also earn prestige points after you defeat an enemy unit in combat. If you choose not to earn the points after combat you also have the option to force your opponent to lose points. While the tutorial tried to make the claim that it can be very useful to do this I find that the instances when denying my opponent points outweighs my gaining points to be few and far between. In fact it is only useful if denying them points would put their prestige low enough as to deny them the ability to play any more cards in response to your attacks.

When your turn begins you draw a number of cards. If your hand size is lower than ten you also get the option to spend prestige points to draw more cards. While I did not see a definitive cost formula it does appear that the cost to draw more cards costs you X prestige where X = the turn number. Thus if you want to buy bonus card on turn one they will only cost you one prestige each. Those same cards purchased on turn five would cost five prestige points each.

After you draw cards you then have the option to place new units, move existing units, have existing units 'dig in' (gain a defensive bonus), attack with existing units or place a relevant card from your hand. Movement is very simple so I will not even bother covering it here. Instead I will move directly into the combat system.

When units are adjacent to enemy units you can engage them in combat. This consists of comparing attack and defense values as well as checking for supporting units. Supporting units are any adjacent friendly units and artillery units that are within range. If one side is 'dug in' they get to attack first in combat, otherwise attacker fires first.

After figuring the base values for both sides you have several rounds of playing combat cards. These cards can alter some elements of the combat round (and only that round) and are discarded after being played. Some cards can add or subtract from attack and defense values while others can cancel the combat entirely, remove support for the enemy unit or even cause direct damage to the opponent. Combat cards can be played until both sides pass.

After playing combat cards you can then sack one card for it's Battle Value. This number ranges from 0 to 6 and is added to your attack or defense score depending on which side of the battle you are on. As strange as it may be I did see some cards with a Battle Value higher than the value they impart for being played as a Combat card. Why would you play a card for three points (paying prestige) when you could sack it for 6 points?

Once all numbers are finalized a die is cast and the battle concludes. If the attacker's total is higher than the defender's defense damage is taken. If enough is taken to eliminate the unit it is removed and the attacker gains a point of health. Armor units also have the added bonus of being able to move into the now empty square.

This is the core of the game and as a representation of card/chit war gaming it's not that bad. Where the game is broken is in the cards. OR should I say in one particular card.

Fans of CCGs know that it only takes one bad card to ruin a game. Games are quickly thrown out of balance when one card opens up a loophole that the game can not handle. Panzer General: Allied Assault has one such card. While I will not give the name of the card I will tell you what it does.

This card allows you to search your discard pile for two cards and put them into your hands. At this point you are either thinking, "oh no!" or "so what?". If you don't see the potential mayhem that can occur from such a card existing in this game than you have not been paying attention or you have not played a lot of CCGs.

While by itself the card is not overly broken as soon as you have two of them the exploit becomes more obvious. With two of them you can search your discard pile for any one card and the second copy of this card. Rinse, repeat ad infinitum ... Yes, with two of these cards your discard pile will only ever have one card in it!

Is this game any good? Is it worth 800 points? My good friend Grim seems to think so even with the exploit described above. Of course he has no intention of playing the game online where the exploitation of this broken card will make for some very one-sided or drawn out games depending on whether or not both sides are aware of the exploit. For me it's not worth 800 points. I'd rather play Panzer Tactics on the DS.

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When I picked this game up I had two options. I could have picked up a used copy for the Wii for only $30 or a new copy for the Xbox 360 for $50. The fact that a used copy of a new game was available should have clued me in to the quality of the game I was preparing to purchase. Sadly I ignored the feelings I was picking up from the force and purchased this title for my 360.

My daughter and I love the TV show that airs on Cartoon Network. We DVR it every Friday and watch it soon after. The thought of her being able to play as her favorite Jedi padawan was enough to get her to convince me to buy it. The added bonus of drop in/drop-out co-op play was also a point in the game's favor.

Why didn't I save some money and buy the Wii version? Well, we had recently seen the game in action on the Wii via the Nintendo Channel's weekly Nintendo Week show. What we saw looked like a lot of waggle and sub-par graphics. So I paid a $20 premium for a non-waggle version of the game that still included sub-par graphics.

The game is set between the events of season one and season two of the Clone Wars animated show. The game begins with a mission staring Anakin and Ahsoka. As you progress through the three acts of the story you alternate between playing as Jedi and playing as clone troopers. While the story itself is well written and entertaining what you have to do to enjoy those parts is very painful indeed.

When playing as a Jedi you have a lightsaber and a limited force push power. You also have the ability to jump on top of a driod and 'jack it for a short time. When jacked you can use the driod's attacks to damage other droids or overcome obstacles in your path. If you spend some of your points in the shop section of the game you can also purchase the ability to make droids dance.

Yes, I said dance.

Dancing droids are busy dancing instead of fighting and are easier to take down. Be warned, a dancing droid can not be jacked. Why would you want to make droids dance? For one thing you can get an achievement from killing dancing droids and for another dancing droids do not attack. This can be very useful on levels where lots and lots of droids are coming after you.

While the Jedi characters are able to use a lightsaber and knock things around with the force clone troopers play a more traditional dual-stick style platformer. In fact I found the clone trooper missions to be much more satisfying than the Jedi ones.

When playing as a clone trooper you can either use the right trigger to shoot your weapon straight ahead or use the right stick to shoot in whatever direction you aim the stick. Along with your blaster there are several heavy weapons you can pick up on some missions. These secondary weapons use the Y button to activate and the stick to aim.

The clone troopers are far less nimble than their Jedi generals. Clone troopers can not jump and can only hop over short obstables or roll across the ground to avoid enemy fire. On some missions clone troopers have jet packs that allow you to bound over larger obstacles. There are several different clone troopers you can play as.

So far the game sounds a bit silly but not that bad, right? That's what I was thinking myself.

The first beef I have with the game is the graphics. Did the design team create this to be a Wii game and a month before release they were told it would be on all consoles? Seriously, the graphics are bad, real bad. Even the cut scenes are poorly rendered which is very surprising because the source material for the game is a computer animated show!

Now you might be able to get past the poor graphics. Why back in the day we used to play games that had monochrome or ASCII graphics. So we'll give the game a pass on graphics for now because this is a Star Wars game and Lucasfilm certainly wouldn't approve a crappy game right. Right?

When it comes to the camera angle a poorly rendered game becomes even worse. In the very first mission I often found myself thinking I could make a jump only to fall to my death. Often this was repeated five or more times until I finally discovered the sweet spot to jump from. I was not alone as my daughter had the same problem. Often we would insure that we were both far away from the respawn points before trying a tricky jump. Why you ask?

One slightly redeeming feature of the game is that you have an unlimited amount of lives. If this were not the case I would not have gotten more than five minutes into the game before GameStop would have found themselves with a used Xbox 360 copy of this game for sale.

While unlimited lives may seem like a good thing there were several levels in the game where this fact works against you. One of the skills that Jedi have is the ability to scale a shaft by bouncing off opposite walls. This usualy works well enough except that when one player dies during the ascent and they respawn it can have a drastic impact on the camera. This often happened to us with the end result being the other player also dieing because the respawning action caused the camera to move in such a way that the jumping player could no longer see where they were and would miss their jump!

We also encountered several levels where we knew what we had to do to pass an obstacle but the game wanted us to perform this action in a very narrow manner. Think of throwing a rock at a stop sign from five feet away but only registering a hit if you manage to hit the part of the sign with the little letters proclaiming it to be the property of your local town's public works department. Yes, the game can be that frustrating.

One thing I will give the game is that when something appears in a boss battle it is there for a reason. If droids appear they are not there to hurt you but are instead there to be used against the boss.

Speaking of boss battles they all suck. I don't just mean as in they are cheesy, lame or boring but that they are just terrible. One boss battle had me checking my watch while waiting for items to appear that I could then use as weapons. The final boss battle awards an achievement if neither player dies during the battle. This would be an easy achievement to get except that you have to jump on moving droids to jack them and then use them as weapons. Yes, you will die several times just jumping towards droids!

I could rant all night long about this game but I have better things to do. All I can say is that if you feel particularly masochistic or if you have a Star Wars fan you are mad at in your life you might want to pick this game up. If you enjoy games where you suddenly die for no reason you might want to pick this one up. If you want to play more games that look like they were designed for the GameCube you might want to pick this one up.

If you play games for the enjoyment factor then please stay away from this one. Just because I wasted $50 on this turd does not mean you have to!

I'm sorry this review was not better. If it's any consolation this review is written better than the game.

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If you didn't make the Sign of the Hammer the moment you read “True Metal”, chances are you're one of the many people who will see Brutal Legend for what the rest of the world sees it as: a really cool metal game. But for those of you metalheads, punks and freaks out there who understand what True Metal means, Brutal Legend is more than a game – it's a friggin' tribute to all things metal. Nay, it is a temple of worship to the eldritch deities of rock. Those mofos at Double Fine know their metal. The vibe is perfect in this demo. At no time does it NOT look like a Dio or Iron Maiden album cover. Hell, even the girl is metal chick perfection.

Jack Black is a metal advocate of a sorts. The man loves old school metal and thrash, and coupled with his ability to weave a believable tale (when it comes to his own music), we have him delivering very authentic dialogue for Eddie, the main character in Brutal Legend. Of course, it's a bit hard not to see the main character as Jack Black himself. But whatever.

But holy shit is this game a worthy recognition to the epic awesomeness of metal. I got a huge kick out of the slap in the face towards the “metal” bands of today (and I use the term “metal” lightly here). Brutal Legend is a celebration of the heyday of metal, when long hair, leather jackets, and band T's were the chosen uniform of the world's disenfranchised youth. As one of those people, I was slapped in the face with an epic dose of nostalgia and excitement the more I played the game and this was only the demo! I'm thinking the full game is going to unleash Ragnarok the day it comes out, and the end times will be heralded in with an ear-shattering guitar solo.

Skulls? Check. Demons? Check. Mean cars? Check. The list goes on and on, but Double Fine did its homework on what's considered worthy of an Ozzy album cover, what objects you might find on a Slayer set, and they put it in the game.

I could talk about how smooth the combat felt or how the car's driving controls were better than GTA IV's. I could wax on about the smooth cartoon graphics and impressive animations, but screw that noise. Steve hit it before me and I don't like sloppy seconds. All I'm saying is this: Brutal Legend is the gaming world's nod to that dragon and denim loving subculture we all know as True Metal. And to prove that it's True Metal, it even has two Manowar songs on the soundtrack.

So ride forth oh horsemen of metal and strike fear into the hearts of your foes... um... by sitting in your basement and playing Brutal Legend. Okay, so you'll probably only scare your mom. But still.

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At least for those of us who have a Gold membership it has! For the rest of you it will be a few days (Oct 1, 2009) before you are able to download the awesomeness that is Brutal Legend.

In case you have been living under a rock Brutal Legend is the most metal game to ever hit the Xbox360 (and those other systems). Not only is the soundtrack jam packed full of heavy metal goodness but the main character is voiced by none other than Jack Black himself! After fighting my way through 15 minutes of demo goodness I'm prepared to lay down some opinions and observations.

1. Theme - As soon as the opening story begins you just begin to feel it. Some of you youngins' may not wax as nostalgic as us older folks do about the glory days of metal but you feel it as soon as you see Eddie puffin' on a cig while watching the band he works for do their thing. Notice I didn't say their 'metal' thing? There's a reason for that that will become all too clear as the demo begins.

2. Weapons - A metal legend without an axe is like a politician without a strawman to attack. Within moments of entering the game mode of the demo you find yourself grabbing a large battle axe and laying waste to a number of red-robed cultists. Shortly after this you grab the real axe and lay waste to even more bad guys!

Your battle axe is your hand-to-hand weapon and operates in either a quick rapid attack format or in a slower 'nothing can withstand my attack' power assault mode. Your metal axe is a ranged combat weapon and shoots blue lighting at targets. There is also a combo attack where you use both at once to cause structural damage and knock your enemies around with its quake power.

3. Relics - Part of being the world's best roadie is that Eddie knows how to build anything. It's not long before you activate the first relic and build a car to travel in. The relic is activated in a simple manner. A quasi musical notation appears on screen and you have to press buttons in the right sequence and at the right moment to activate the relic.

I expect that later relics will use more complicated button presses to activate.

4. Controls - Straight forward and fairly simple. The right stick controls your camera angles (most of the time) and the other buttons are used for attacks, defense and changing targets.

I did have some problems when driving the car during the boss battle near the end of the demo. I found my view constantly blocked by walls that I could not see through. No matter what I tried to do with the right stick I could not adjust my camera angles. I can only hope this is a demo problem and not indicative of the full game.

5. Voice Acting - What can I say, even though I first thought the character of Eddie was Meatloaf I find Jack Black does an admirable job bringing the character to life. I also have to give a serious nod to the programmers who matched up Eddie's facial expressions and mannerisms to Jack Black's dialogue.

The characters in this game do not suffer the problem those in Fallout 3 suffered with. You will not find random arm movements and head turns in this game. Everything the main characters do is choreographed to look realistic.

I am really looking forward to the release of this one. If you have a Gold level Xbox Live membership download it and check it out. If you don't you'll have to wait a few days. Same goes for none North Americans, sorry...

Dem-o-Thon:

Tune in to www.brutallegend.com Thursday, October 1st at 12pm PST for a live broadcast from Double Fine Productions in San Francisco featuring interviews and antics with the Double Fine team as well as Live Q&A’s from our fans at www.twitter.com/brutallegend, awesome giveaways, a message from Tim’s Swine Flu proofed bunker, Spoilers, Live Axe Lessons, and much more.

Also, don’t forget, the Demo goes Live October 1st for everyone on Xbox Live and PSN. Download and play this mind destroyingly epic demo and help Double Fine productions stave off the wrath of Ormagoden. If you have any questions, let me know.

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On August 24, 2009 the second installment in the Professor Layton series hit American shores. Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box is a sequel to the original Professor Layton and the Curious Village game from early 2008. Developed by Level 5 this single player puzzle game features over 130 puzzles in the single player story mode and a plethora of more puzzles that are unlocked post game.

As before Professor Layton and his apprentice Luke have stumbled upon another mystery. It's up to them to navigate their way through numerous puzzles to determine who - or what - caused the death of Professor Layton's mentor, Dr. Schrader. Was it the mysterious Elysian Box, rumored to kill all who open it? Professor Layton and Luke find a clue that begins their adventure: a train ticket for the Molentary Express.

The game begins with a very short tutorial format that explains the basic game controls and how to move about the world. Within ten minutes you will have solved a handful of puzzles and have met a few interesting characters.

The early puzzles are not difficult and they serve to let the player know that some puzzles have answers that require thinking outside of the box. When solving puzzles you need to not only consider what is written but also what is not written in the instructions. Some puzzles become very easy after you alter your point of view. This can be as simple as turning the DS on its side.

You do not need to solve every puzzle in the game to complete the story mode. In fact there are only a few points where you can be stopped in your tracks for not completing enough puzzles. As long as you solve 80 puzzles as you near the end of the game you will be fine.

The core puzzles are not excessively difficult while several of the side puzzles will have you scratching your head and using coins to purchase hints. Even though this game is rated for 10 and up you may find this game turns your preteen into a screaming monster when they come upon a difficult puzzle.

Along with the puzzles that require solving there are also a few mini-games.

Mini-Games
• Tea Set - Brew three ingredients to make a tea. Some people you encounter will provide information or puzzles after you serve them the correct tea.
• Hamster - You pick up an overweight hamster on the train. If you can get him to exercise enough he will become a 'hint coin' sniffer.
• Camera - The first part of this mini-game involves finding the camera parts and rebuilding it. the second part involves taking pictures and spotting three differences. One you spot all three a hidden puzzle becomes available.

You needn't complete all of these mini-games to complete the story mode of the game but it does help. If you give someone the wrong tea just walk around and you will get the chance to offer them a different tea in the future.

It is also important to note that after you complete the story mode the game will save right before the ending. This allows you to go back and find any puzzles you may have missed. The old woman's shack also exists in this game and puzzles you may have missed from earlier stages will be found here. This happened to me on a few occasions when I solved a puzzle that advanced the story before completely exploring the area I was in.

If you find a puzzle to be particularly difficult you can spend a hint coin (up to three) to get a hint on the puzzle. Some of these hints are obvious while others will prove useful. Don't be surprised if you come across a hard puzzle and all of the hints point to things you have already noticed.

When you solve a puzzle you earn a number of Picarats. This number decreases if you submit a wrong answer. It is generally safe to assume that hard puzzles will be worth more Picarats but you may find this does not always apply to you. Based on your own experiences you may find some of the high Picarat puzzles are easy while some of the low value ones are hard.

The previously mentioned hint coins can be found all over the place. Most areas have three hidden somewhere in the background.

After you complete the game more puzzles are unlocked in the Bonus section of the game. These bonus puzzles are linked to your performance in the game. Some are unlocked based on the number of Picarats you have earned while others are based on the completion level of your mini-games.

Conclusion
I had a blast playing this game. I found the majority of the puzzles challenged me to think (sometimes differently) and the hints more often than not helped me when I was stuck. I found the story to be very engaging though some of the plot points were fairly transparent if not outright obvious.

The Good
• Wide variety of puzzles
• Very engaging story
• Interesting characters
• Excellent voice acting
• 8+ hours of gameplay
• Weekly puzzle download

The Bad
• Puzzle instructions are not always clear
• Puzzle graphics are not always clear

The Ugly
• A lot of running around required to reset a character after serving them the wrong tea

• Professor Layton comes to New York
• DS Preview: Professor Layton and the Curious Village
• Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Funny Quotes
• Of Game Reviews and Money

Listen up everyone, there is a contest for the Brutal Legend game on Facebook. it ends on September 9, 2009 so act now!

Contest Info:
• Become a fan of the official Brutal Legend Facebook fan page
• Post your Brutal Legend fan art onto the official Brutal Legend Facebook wall with "Fan Art Contest" somewhere in the title
• 5 winners will each receive a limited edition Eddie Riggs statue
• Sorry to all of our international fans, this is a US only contest
• Sample contest and statue image & rules/full contest details

When ex-roadie Eddie Riggs is drawn back to an ancient world of heavy metal by a mysterious power, he lands in a world where humans are subjugated by demons and he is the only one who can save them. Legendary game designer Tim Schafer strikes again with a story featuring Jack Black as Eddie Riggs. Filled with humor, awesome characters, and melted faces, you will be on the edge of their seats.

Now I have to admit, when I first saw the screenshots and art for this game I thought for sure the main character was Meatloaf. I was wrong. The main character is voiced by Jack Black. The setting of the game is pure 80's metal goodness.

Do you remember the 80's? Back when MTV was still good and metal bands wore leather pants so tight you didn't have to wonder how they hit those high notes? That's the feeling you get from this game, good old heavy metal nostalgia! Don't believe me? Check out the soundtrack:

3 Inches of Blood - Deadly Sinners
3 Inches of Blood - Destroy The Orcs
Accept - Fast As A Shark
Angel Witch - Angel Witch
Anthrax - Metal Thrashing Mad
Anvil - March of the Crabs
Anvil - Tag Team
Apostasy - Sulphur Injection
Bishop of Hexen - A Serpentine Grave
Bishop of Hexen - The Somber Grounds of Truth
Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave
Black Sabbath - Symptom of the Universe
Black Sabbath - Never Say Die
Brocas Helm - Cry of the Banshee
Brocas Helm - Drink the Blood of the Priest
Budgie - Breadfan
Budgie - Zoom Club
Candlemass - Witches
Carcass - No Love Lost
Cloven - Hoof Nightstalker
Children of Bodom - Angels Don't Kill
Coroner - Skeleton on your Shoulder
Cradle of Filth - Her Ghost in the Fog
Crimson Glory - Queen of the Masquerade
Dark Fortress - Insomnia
Dark Tranquility - Cathode Ray Sunshine
Deathstars - Blitzkrieg
Def Leppard - Rock of Ages
Dethklok - Mermaider
Diamond - Head Am I Evil?
Dimmu Borgir - Progenies of the Great Apocalypse
Dokken - Mr. Scary
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames
Emperor - Thus Spake The Nightspirit
Enslaved - Frost
Enslaved - Loke
Firehouse - Overnight Sensation
Girlschool - Bomber
Iced Earth - When the Night Falls
Iced Earth - Pure Evil
In Flames - Goliaths Disarm Their Davids
Judas Priest - Battle Hymn
Judas Priest - The Hellion/Electric Eye
Judas Priest - Leather Rebel
Judas Priest - One Shot At Glory
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Kabbage Boy - Girlfriend
KMFDM - Free Your Hate
KMFDM - Rip The System
King Diamond - Cremation
King Diamond - Welcome Home
Kiss - God of Thunder
Lita Ford - Betrayal
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
Manowar - Die For Metal
Manowar - The Dawn Of Battle
Mastodon - Crack the Skye
Mastodon - Oblivion Instrumental
Megadeath - High Speed Dirt
Megadeath - Tornado of Souls
Metal Church - Metal Church
Michael Schenker - Group Assault Attack
Ministry - Stigmata
Ministry - Thieves
Mirrorthrone - So Frail
Motley Crue - Dr. Feelgood
Motley Crue - Kickstart My Heart
Motley Crue - Live Wire
Motorhead - Back at the Funny Farm
Motorhead - In the Black
Motorhead - Marching Off to War
Motorhead - We Are the Road Crew
Nitro Machine - Gun Eddie
Omen - The Axeman
Ostrogoth - Queen of Desire
Overkill - World of Hurt
Ozzy Osbourne - Believer
Ozzy Osbourne - Mr. Crowley
Ozzy Osbourne - Diary of a Madman
Prong - Snap Your Fingers, Snap Your Neck
Quiet Riot - The Wild and the Young
Racer X - Technical Difficulties
Racer X - Y.R.O.
Ratt - Lay It Down
Riot - Road Racin
Riot - Narita
Riot - Swords and Tequila
Rob Zombie - Superbeast
Rotting Christ - Ad Notics
Running Wild - Riding the Storm
Sanctuary - Battle Angels
Savatage - Hall of the Mountain King
Saxon - Wheels of Steel
Scorpions - Blackout
Scorpions - Holiday
Skeletonwitch - Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Skid Row - Youth Gone Wild
Slayer Metal - Storm/Face The Slayer
Slough Feg - Warriors Dawn
Static-X - Love Dump
Tenacious D - Master Exploder
Tenacious D - The Metal
Testament - For The Glory Of
Testament - More Than Meets The Eye
Tvangeste - Birth of the Hero
UFO - Rock Bottom
Whitesnake - Still of the Night
Wrath of Killenstein - Ignisis Dance

Think about it. Awesome soundtrack, axes and guitars, metal legends and lots of blood, death and gore. What more could you ask for in a heavy metal dream game?

The game is set to hit stores on October 13, 2009.

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