PROTOTYPE 2 - "A brown belt in jujitsu? Scarwee!"

Recently I've noticed that the time I'm willing to devote to some games has diminished. There are some games like Skyrim where I know I'll need at least a one-to-three hour slot just to get anything interesting started. While in the past that wouldn't have fazed me at all, nowadays it occasionally stalls my gameplay. That's why every so often I just want to play a game where I don't have to give it much thought and can go on a destruction/killing spree. And that's where Prototype 2 comes in.

The original game came out in the summer of 2009, receiving a good level of praise. Its successor, Prototype 2, emerged last April ultimately receiving similarly positive reception.

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HALO: COMBAT EVOLVED ANNIVERSARY - "All you greenhorns who wanted to see Covenant up close... this is your lucky day."

The original Halo has had almost as many re-releases as Gandhi from jail and for good reason – it's a classic that has spawned a huge line of sequels and fans alike, as well as arguably being heavily responsible for the First Person Shooter baby boom that appeared on consoles in the early 2000s. I'll be discussing the latest iteration of the original title: the Anniversary Edition.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary appeared late 2011, boasting a number of features and additions to the original game to entice those who couldn't bring themselves to purchase it simply for the nostalgia trip (or trapping those that just have to have every version of the same game – looking at you Josh).

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BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM – “I wish I knew how to quit you.”

There’s no question in my mind, Batman is the greatest superhero of them all. “But, why?” you cry, readying a sternly worded letter of complaint to the appropriate authorities. Well, you see, all you have to do is look at the competition: Superman is roughly equivalent in terms of popularity, but his superpowers are so out-of-this world you can’t hope to connect with him; Spiderman, on the other hand, is such a soppy little drip you wouldn’t want to; Ironman almost has it all, but let’s face it, without Robert Downey Jr. you’re left with a tincan-clad prat with a pacemaker; Captain America looks ridiculous, and his go-to weapon is a shield, which is like admitting defeat before you even begin; and Thor’s weapon is a mallet, and he’s given the mallet a name. I suppose Blade’s quite cool, but there was that one point during the film trilogy when he began wearing snug-fitting red turtlenecks, plus he’s in jail for tax evasion – and neither turtlenecks, nor white collar crime rank particularly high in terms of badassery.

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THE WALKING DEAD - “This isn't a democracy anymore.”

The Walking Dead is a show of questionable quality, much like a footlong from Subway. It had a great opening night and the conclusion to the last season was pretty epic, but large portions of it dragged. It’s meant to be a show about how people would actually survive on a day-to-day basis rather than the zombie apocalypse itself, however a mixture of bad acting and insufferable (the kid and his mum) and/or pointless (T Dog, the epitome of stereotypes) characters really let the whole thing down. Also, they spent an entire season on that godforsaken farm.

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UNCHARTED 3: DRAKE’S DECEPTION - “Oh for God’s sake, “Lay on”, it’s “lay on, Macduff”!”

Naughty Dog cite a point in series opener Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune as the crystalline moment when the cinematic game - the playable movie, if you like - came into being. A single glorious sequence inspired the entirety of its sequel, the brazenly stellar Uncharted 2, which too played host to the gripping cut scenes present throughout Drake’s Fortune. From the game’s thrilling opening - which begins in medias res, with the injured protagonist Nathan Drake clinging for dear life onto a train hanging vertically from a cliff face – a nod to cinematography is evinced by sweeping camera angles and old-school directorial flair, marking a new beginning in the gaming world.

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L.A. NOIRE – “When you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains - however improbable - must be the truth.”

When I first heard about L.A. Noire, I had just picked up and completed the first Phoenix Wright game, so was essentially running on a detective puzzle game high. Phoenix Wright, for such a simple game, was extremely enjoyable – to the degree that I was willingly attempting to throw money at Capcom to release more of the games for the iOS App Store. This set my excitement level for L.A. Noire skyrocketing; I was almost counting down the time until I got to delve into some delicious detective puzzles once again. Unfortunately, having now played the game, one fatal flaw utterly destroyed my experience and turned the title from what could have been a top game into something decidedly sour.

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ASSASSIN'S CREED: REVELATIONS – “So it occasionally catches fire but keeps perfect time?”

Despite being rather late to the party, I’ve really enjoyed the Assassin's Creed series to date, playing them all back-to-back at the beginning of last year. Sure, the first one was as repetitive as peeling potatoes and more of a tech demo than a game, but the story was unique and surprising and the core gameplay of exploring a city from the streets and rooftops and assassinating enemies of the creed was incredibly satisfying. So, having finally caught up with everyone else, it was with great disappointment that I discovered the latest entry in the series wasn't up to snuff.

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SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA - "Dude, you seriously need to lay off the booze!"

Welcome, Gentle Reader, to this, the first review I've written in quite a while. And what a game I've picked for it...

Digital Devil Saga, comprising the fourth and fifth games in Atlus' 'Shin Megami Tensei' series, managed to top RPGFan's 2010 list of the best Role-Playing Games of the decade. And not without good reason, as you'll discover by reading on (or playing them)…

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