Review - WWE ’13: Finally…a wrestling game that does it all

Full disclosure time – I haven’t played a new pro wrestling game since 2003’s “WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain.” I’d played the Playstation releases before “HCTP” as well as the Nintendo 64 titles like “WWF Wrestlemania 2000” and “WCW vs. nWo” but have missed out on all the “Raw vs. Smackdown” titles and other recent “WWE ‘XX” games. So while I won’t able to accurately compare what’s new or different from the past few WWE games, I have plenty of experience with wrestling games that I’ve used to discern the quality of THQ’s most recent wrestling title, “WWE ’13.”

Also, you should be aware that this article will probably be very heavy on wrestling terms. I’m assuming that since you’re here, reading this, that you already have a grasp on most of these terms. Cause honestly, I can’t image there’s someone who wants to read a review of a pro wrestling video game that doesn’t also understand terms like faces, heels, shoots, swerves and botches.

Right off the bat, before I even opened the packaging, I knew “WWE ‘13” was going to be special. Why? Because independent wrestling star turned WWE star C.M. Punk is on the cover. I don’t know how THQ managed to swerve WWE like that (because I’m sure they had other ideas for the cover *coughCenacough*) but I’m glad to see that at least sometimes Punk gets the credit he deserves.

(That’s another thing about my wrestling fanboy-ism, folks, I love the indy scene. As much as I love seeing Antonio Cesaro on TV each week with the US Title, my heart cries each time I have to call him “Antonio Cesaro” and not Claudio Castagnoli, his real name and the name he went by on the indies.)

Diving right into playing matches, you’ll find an incredible amount of options in what kind of match you want to set up from tag team matches to ladder matches and every one of WWE’s most popular gimmick matches like the Hell in the Cell or the Elimination Chamber. You can even set up your own King of the Ring tournaments or Royal Rumbles. One thing I noticed about the Rumble is that it features some unique animations when you’re trying to eliminate another competitor which sets the mode apart from run-of-the-mill matches or battle royals. But throughout each match and mode, there are several, context sensitive maneuvers that you can discover.

Back in my day, this guy had hair and was a Swiss banker. At least the "Very European" gimmick is still in tact.

Once in an actual match, I was stunned by the quality of each character model. Created wrestlers still look a little rough around the edges but in-game characters (and DLC wrestlers released by THQ) are immaculately polished and are often a mirror image of the Superstar you can catch on WWE’s weekly programming. But these characters are spitting images of their real life counterpart in more than just appearance. Each Superstar’s mannerism, movements, taunts and move set has been faithfully recreated, giving gamers the closest approximation of WWE action without actually being in the ring. Also, the action in the ring is very fluid and smooth with wrestlers and animations hardly ever clashing or looking odd.

I’ve also been blown away by how well characters interact with props and set pieces. In a recent match, I whipped my opponent into the steel steps, which had already been loosened from the ring itself. I was very surprised when my opponent actually tripped over the steps and fell down, grabbing his ankle.

Though this may seem inconsequential, this action would’ve been handled in earlier wrestling games with my opponent running into the steps while slowly and awkwardly pushing them aside, without actually ever interacting with the object or slowing down. Other actions along these lines I’ve witnessed have been bombs and slams onto the steel steps (with the character actually landing on the steps and not just awkwardly pushing them aside and landing on the mat) and trash cans or chairs being flattened after being landed on by a wrestler. But the greatest moment of on-the-fly-object-interaction I experienced happened during a ladder match. One of my opponents had climbed the ladder but before he could pull the belt down, the ladder was knocked out from under his feet. He hung onto the belt, still trying to bring it down until I leapt up and pulled him down – down in a powerbomb motion which happened to put him through a table. It was an incredible sequence of events that wasn’t planned in the least and moments like these happen all the time in “WWE ’13.” 

But even more than the moments you create on your own, “WWE ‘13” allows you to relive some of the biggest moments from one of the company’s most popular time periods. The “Attitude Era” is a unique mode that not only lets you play some of the most important, defining matches of the Attitude Era (the late 90s and early 2000s) but also gives you a historical background on the feuds, gimmicks and storylines that brought about huge events in WWE history like “Stone Cold” Steve Austin’s feud with Vince McMahon, the first appearance of the Undertaker’s monstrous brother Kane or the infamous “Montreal Screw-Job.” Set against the backdrop of the “Monday night ratings war” with WCW, completing these matches will also unlock numerous extras like Superstars, bonus matches and new championship belts for use in exhibition matches or the returning Universe mode.

The Attitude Era mode offers a look back at the companies most popular days.

WWE Universe Mode is a big step up from the story modes in the last wrestling games that I had played (which, again, are about 10 years old at this point). Universe mode allows you to be the booker – create cards, direct storylines and even create entirely new shows. Though Universe allows you the freedom to create your cards and hand-pick opponents for each match, Universe mode is only as much fun as you make it. What does that mean exactly? While the game itself will keep track of champions, contenders, the momentum of a wrestler, and rivalries, it doesn’t do such a good job of matchmaking from week to week. On the same note, the game itself doesn’t actually keep track of storylines and you may find yourself needing to frequently alter cards to suit what you have set up. It might seem tedious but if you’re a big fan of pro wrestling, the ability to set up shows and basically run your own organization with your own, unique roster of wrestlers is an amazing amount of fun.

I’ll give you a quick run down of how I have my Universe mode set up. Raw and Smackdown have been largely unchanged and still take place on Monday and Friday, respectively. However, I eliminated the Superstars show on Thursday, turning it into a Wednesday night show featuring old school wrestlers, legends and Attitude Era wrestlers. But the show that gets most of my attention is Saturday night’s Ring of Honor show featuring all of my favorite independent wrestling stars (as well as my own created wrestler). But how, I hear you asking, are you running a show with indy wrestlers? Well it’s all possible thanks to “WWE ‘13’s” intense Creation suite.

The Creation suite available in “WWE ‘13” is incredibly sophisticated and extensive allowing you to not only create realistic representations of your favorite indy wrestler but also create unique entrances, move-sets, arenas, logos and more. And when you’re done, you can upload your creations to the game’s servers and so that anyone can download them. So far I’ve pretty much filled up every created wrestler slot available. In fact, with the exception of Antonio Cesaro and Daniel Bryan, my Saturday night Ring of Honor show consists solely of downloaded created content. The arena, show logo and almost entire roster were downloaded from the “WWE ‘13” servers thanks to incredibly talented fans with way too much time on their hands. (That’s not a joke either. My own personal created wrestler took about 3-4 hours and I still don’t feel like he’s finished.)

WWE '13 allows for some truly outrageous matches and spot

Despite how much fun I’ve had with “WWE ’13,” it’s not perfect. With so much content available, some of it gets lost in the game’s menu heavy user interface. For example, there is a way to create unique championship belts (well, alter the appearance of existing belts), which you would think would be found in the Creation suite. Nope, it’s under the “My WWE” tab, whatever that is. Also, navigating these menus can be a real pain thanks to the game constantly blaring theme music at you. In almost every single menu navigable (and even some loading screens), “WWE ‘13” will be berating you with randomly chosen theme music. It wouldn’t be so bad if a majority of these songs weren’t terrible. Except, most of them are just that – terrible. These awful songs also would be more bearable if the same ones weren’t repeated over and over again. But they are. So be very prepared to hear Zack Ryder’s theme, Dolph Ziggler’s theme, Jack Swagger’s theme and the Nexus theme over, and over, and over again. (No lie, I have Zack Ryder’s theme song stuck in my head right now and if I were ever asked to compile a list of songs you’d never want stuck in your head, Zack Ryder’s theme would be very close to the top.)

Also, it needs to be mentioned that to play online, you’ll need an “Online Pass,” which you can get for free by purchasing the game new. But, in order to download all the official WWE DLC (which contains guys like Ryback, Antonio Cesaro and Damien Sandow), you’ll need to purchase the $20 “Fan Axxess” pass, which will net you three packs of DLC that include new wrestlers, championship belts, attire and more. You can purchase these items individually BUT you should also know this - many fan-created wrestlers available to download utilize pieces of “Fan Axxess” only DLC so unless you get it all, you may not be able to download every wrestler you want. It’s unfortunate but trust me, if you’re a fan of independent wrestling like I am, no amount of money in the world should dissuade you from being able to download stars from Chikara, PWG, ROH and even stars from Japan and Mexico.

And, because I’m pretty awesome, I’ve compiled a list of the best user-generated content I’ve found on the “WWE ’13” servers, so far. Below, you’ll find the user-name of the creator and the term I searched to find their work. Once you find the correct wrestler, you should be able to view all the content from that user.

Name: deanymoose

Search term: Quack

I was looking for a good “Lightning” Mike Quackenbush when I found this guy who has three or four pages of VERY high-quality Chikara wrestlers. From Gen 1 originals like Quack, Jigsaw and Ultramantis Black to entire teams like The Colony and F.I.S.T. (even newer guys like Dasher Hatfield and Archibald Peck can be found here), deanymoose seems to specialize in Chikara wrestlers and you definitely will want to check them out. (Unfortunately, he doesn’t have an “Easton Funplex” arena created. [Not that I expected him to, though, that was more of just a name-drop joke.])

Name: Friedful

Search term: Hallowicked

While Friedful doesn’t have as many Chikara stars as deanymoose, he does have a great Hallowicked and Frightmare and a spectacularly well detailed Super Dragon (of PWG). Though Dragon, unfortunately, doesn’t do a curb stomp, he does have a great looking Psycho Driver (and I even found a great, uploaded Barry White Driver after some extra searching). Along with those indy stars, Friedful also has a handful of luchadores like Dr. Wagner Jr. and La Parka.

Name: dest07

Search term: Homicide

Though “The Notorious 187” is the only wrestler I made a note of snagging from dest07, he is very highly detailed and his appearance is spot on. He has a handful of other indy wrestlers as well as logos.

Name: JOnnyboy97

Search term: Zandig

Though I haven’t kept up with CZW in a long time, the “Ultraviolent Icon” John Zandig will forever remain one of my all-time favorite wrestlers and JOnnyboy97 has done a great job recreating the former owner of CZW. Along with Zandig, this guy has many great old school wrestlers like Jerry Lynn, Shane Douglas, Raven and Ian Rotten available for download. He even has a few puro stars, like Mr. Pogo.

Name: itachi4937

Search term: Kobashi

After seeing JOnnyboy97’s puro stars, I went searching for some more and boy did I find a treasure trove. Itachi4937 not only has tons of great puro stars, such as Kenta Kobashi, but also many Japanese arenas from companies like AJPW and NOAH. He’s even got a bunch of created, puro logos as well.

Overall, I can’t say enough good things about “WWE ’13.” The mechanics of the in-ring action are absolutely top-notch, capable of creating exciting matches when played by the biggest of smarks or by people who know nothing about pro wrestling. The character models, whether they are on-disc, DLC or user-created, are the most highly detailed of any wrestling game I’ve ever played. But the real meat of the game are its Attitude Era and Universe modes, which give players the ability to relive wrestling history or create their own. No matter how you play “WWE ‘13” there’s no doubt that it could easily win over any gamer – fans, non-fans and everyone in between.

On the Horizon: Dead Space 3 and Aliens: Colonial Marines

Just because the holiday season has passed doesn’t mean that the quality video game release schedule is slowing down. No, that comes during the summer months. The late winter/early spring is typically reserved for games that either didn’t make their holiday season release window or games that were given a later release date to avoid the usually crowded holidays. 

And just because they weren’t released before Christmas (or Hannukah, or Kwanza, or Festivus or whatever you celebrate) doesn’t mean you should overlook Visceral Games’ “Dead Space 3” or Gearbox’s “Aliens: Colonial Marines.”

Ever since taking a job aboard the USG Ishimura, life has not been easy for “Dead Space” protagonist Isaac Clarke. After surviving the first Necromorph outbreak, Clarke’s sanity has been steadily waning and repeatedly being terrorized by a macabre, other-worldly alien plague isn’t helping anything.

In the game’s third iteration, Clarke, along with Ellie Langford (who also escaped The Sprawl at the end of “Dead Space 2”) have teamed up with Sgt. John Carver. The trio eventually discovers the planet Tau Volantis, a frozen wasteland that is apparently the origin of the Markers and subsequently, the necromorph plague. As they try to land on the planet, their ship breaks apart and separates Ellie from Clarke and Carver. Stranded on the planet, Clarke resolves to find Ellie as well as finally putting an end to the necromorph plague.

With the third installment in the series, Visceral is trying to spice up the “Dead Space” formula a bit. Replacing the often claustrophobic environments of the first two games are the wide open, albeit frosty, spaces of Tau Volantis. I’ve also read that for this title, a greater emphasis will be placed on fast-paced gunplay, as Clarke will also be battling human enemies as well as the necromorphs. Hopefully, with the change in environment and move toward faster action, the games doesn’t also start resembling another icey, third-person shooter, “Lost Planet,” because not only will this signal the end of the survival horror aspect of the series but also because the “Lost Planet” series is crap.

Weapon customization, which has always been present in “Dead Space,” is also being reworked. Before, players could only really enhance certain aspects of a weapon – increase its fire rate, reduce reload speeds, etc. With the third iteration, players will be able to create new weapons from parts found by Clarke throughout the world to create entirely new guns. Blueprints for new weapon combinations can also be found throughout the world, for use by gamers with no imagination.

Isaac Clarke (l) and John Carver (r) battle the necromorph plague on the frozen planet of Tau Volantis. 

The biggest shakeup to the “Dead Space” formula is the addition of a drop-in/drop-out co-op mode, featuring John Carver alongside Isaac Clarke. The word is that players won’t be forced to play co-op mode, nor will be they need to look after Carver if playing solo. Instead, if no one is playing as Carver, he will only be present at certain points in the story, as any other NPC. Playing as Carver will also, allegedly, offer more story for intrepid gamers, as Carver will often see and experience things that Clarke does not. Visceral Games has also stated that they “always intended to have co-op in ‘Dead Space’” to try and assuage reactionary comments about co-op dumbing down the survival horror elements of the game. (Though I’m honestly not sure how much truth is in that statement. Why would gamers only now be hearing that the series was “always supposed to have co-op” and not when those games were in production?)

As a big fan of the series since the beginning, I’m definitely excited for the third “Dead Space” title. Though the changes to the series are a bit worrisome right now, I have faith that Visceral Games know what fans except from the series and will deliver a product that is as action-packed as it is frightening.

Switching gears a bit – but only slightly – my next most anticipated, upcoming release also features horrifying aliens ripping people to shreds in space. “Aliens: Colonial Marines” is being developed by Gearbox and has been produced to mimic the style and feel of the movie “Aliens.” A first person shooter, gamers will take on the role of United State Colonial Marine Cpl. Christopher Winter, presumably to search for the first team of Marines sent to LV-426 (I say presumably because I can’t find much info about the actual plot).

“Colonial Marines” should prove to be an intense shooter, akin to the “Left 4 Dead” series, as the Marines will generally be hopelessly outnumbered by the vicious and relentless xenomorphs. A few of the gameplay elements discussed so far are incredibly similar to Valve’s zombie apocalypse simulator, including “Gauntlet Runs” where players fight from point A to a point B safe zone and “Last Stands” where players must defend an area until automatic turrets can be set up or doors welded shut.

Though it sounds a bit too much like “L4D” draped in Alien clothing right now, that might not necessarily be a bad thing – mostly because the “L4D” series is flat out great. One of “Colonial Marines’” strengths is its emphasis on immersion into the game by removing any elements of a HUD. This means players must use motion trackers to get an idea of enemy movement/positioning as well as using teamwork to survive the overwhelming odds. Players will also be able to use classic series weaponry like pulse rifles and flame throwers, as well as the aforementioned motion tracker with its trademark blips.

Teaming up to battle the xenomorphs is the only way to survive.

This game has been in the works for quite a while so I’m very interested to see how it all turns out. Right now, like I mentioned above, it sounds a bit too much like a “L4D” clone and I’m wondering how Gearbox will expand those gameplay elements into a fully fleshed-out narrative. Granted being a “L4D” clone might not necessarily be a bad thing, some gamers might want more from a game that’s been in development hell for close to a decade.

Both of these titles are really interesting to me, though, at this moment, only “Dead Space 3” will be a pre-ordered, must-have title. Don’t get me wrong, I will definitely check out “Aliens: Colonial Marines” at some point, if only because Gearbox has a stellar track record when it comes to making exciting first-person shooters. But while the “Dead Space” series is established, “Colonial Marines” is a new franchise so I’ll most likely be waiting to see reviews from gamers and other journalists before committing to paying full price.

Despite how many AAA titles were released in 2012, it seems that 2013 is shaping up to be another year chock full of quality game releases. There are plenty more titles that have piqued my interest so make sure to be on the lookout for the next installment of “On the Horizon.”

Going Mobile - Gaming on the go

(Two posts in two days?! It's a Christmas/New Years/screw you stupid Mayans miracle!)

Though I’ll readily identify myself as a “gamer,” you’d be surprised at how relatively narrow-minded I am when it comes to what I play. Well, if you’re familiar with nerds, maybe you wouldn’t be so surprised but, I digress.

I usually only play video games on consoles, specifically the Xbox 360. I don’t have a Playstation 3 (though I literally played my PS2 until it died) and haven’t owned a Nintendo system since the NES. I don’t play PC games because I don’t have the money, knowledge or commitment to fight with them when my computer decides it’s not going to run something properly. I also never really played hand held games because if I’m gonna game, I’ll do it on a console.

Well, I’m starting to change my stance on that last one.

When I was younger, I had a Sega Game Gear for a brief period of time (the entire catalog of which was awful, BTW). After that I remember really, really wanting a Sega Nomad for some reason (a monstrous hand held which would play actual Sega Genesis cartridges – that is if you could heft its massive frame and battery pack, which would give you a lengthy two hours of playtime). And there was even a time in middle school when Pokemon was literally everywhere and I bought an original Gameboy off a friend to play Pokemon Blue (with which I did in fact catch ‘em all and promptly set about never playing another Pokemon game). I even tried a Virtual Boy once in a Toys’R’Us but its jarring black and red “3D” visuals are probably why I still don’t trust this whole 3D resurgence.

Fast forward to modern times. In keeping with my personal trend of being laughably behind the trends, I recently got a smartphone (a Droid Razr) and, hey guys did you know you could play games on these things?! Yeah, I know, stop the presses, right? And almost immediately after figuring out how to make the screen turn on (somehow they managed to glaze over that part in the store), I started browsing the Google Play store for some games. After plenty of trial-and-error, I’ve managed to build a pretty entertaining stable of games that would be excellent additions to anyone’s mobile device.

Also, perhaps most importantly, each one of these games is free. They might be partial games, requiring you pay money for the full title, but you can play each listed below without putting up any money.

Sector Strike

Somehow, one of the first games I downloaded managed to become one of my favorites. “Sector Strike” by Clapfoot Inc. is a side-scrolling, space shooter where you pilot a small ship through what I’m guessing is some sort of massive space station, destroying enemy ships of various shapes and sizes. To me, the left-to-right scrolling aspect of “Sector Strike” offers more on screen detail and action compared to top-to-bottom scrolling flight games like Raiden or 1942.

You control the ship by dragging it around the screen and the weapons fire when you’re touching the screen. Enemies will drop credits, energy and power-ups when killed. Grabbing a power-up will unlock the use of a new weapon system though taking damage will remove the use of all unlocked weapons with death resulting from taking damage with no power-ups active. Money and energy are used to upgrade your weapon system between rounds as well as buying passive upgrades and single use equipment.

A few reasons make “Sector Strike” a must. First, its visuals are quite striking – it’s colorful and highly detailed, never getting muddled despite the large number of enemies and projectiles on-screen. Next, it features tons of stages to battle through. I’m on level 53 or so right now and even though I’ve conquered all those stages, the game noted that I’m only 28% complete. And even at this late level, I’m still seeing brand new enemies appear every so often. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, it’s a free title. And like most free titles it offers you the ability to purchase more credits or energy. But unlike most free titles that only give you a partial game for free, “Sector Strike” doesn’t make you put down money for more content.

Major Mayhem and Super Monsters Ate My Condo

Next, I took my search to a proven purveyor of quality web titles, [adult swim], and was not disappointed when I downloaded both “Super Monsters Ate My Condo” and “Major Mayhem.” Both are fairly different games but each feature the network’s trademark brand of humor as well as flashy, cartoony visuals.

"Major Mayhem" is side-scrolling shooter and shares some similarities to the “Time Crisis” series. Featuring a few different modes and large assortment of weapons, “Major Mayhem” offers three different worlds of 15 levels each to conquer – Tropics, Metropolis and Desert. Each stage is broken out into sections where Major Mayhem will take cover behind an object to fire on randomly appearing enemies and is broken up with the occasional on-rails, running-and-gunning segments. Scoring kills earns money to unlock new weaponry in the Armory as well as building a multiplier which earn better ranks at the end of levels as well as extra cash. Players must be quick with the kills to earn a high multiplier but wary of deadly enemy fire as three hits will end your game.

“Super Monsters Ate My Condo” is a color-matching puzzle game of sorts. The object of the game is to match three similarly colored condos in an ever-growing tower, swiping condos you don’t want to the left or right. These condos are fed to giant monsters, each of whom prefers a specific color of condo and gets furious if fed too much of the wrong color. If a monster becomes enraged, he could knock down your tower, ending the game.

Matching colors creates a bronze condo, three bronze creates a silver, three silver a gold, and so on. Feeding the monsters one of these condos will set off its power-up which can slow down time, engage a multiplier, and put the monsters to sleep so they won’t notice which colors are thrown their way. It’s a strange concept but very fun and addicting once you get the hang of how it’s played and the powers of each monster. It can get frustrating to swipe the right condo during a fast-paced game and often you’ll swipe a few you didn’t mean to but overall it’s one of the more interesting and, importantly, fun puzzle games I’ve found so far.

Plague Inc.

The next title on my list could be considered a puzzle game, though its subject matter might be a little macabre for some. “Plague Inc.” by Ndemic Creations, is a puzzle/strategy game where you pick a disease and ultimately try and infect/kill off the world’s population. It’s definitely not the kind of game everyone would want to play but those who do are in for a treat.

An easy game to understand but almost impossible to master, Plague Inc. offers various plague types (bacteria being the only one available in the free version) with the ability to earn points (based on how well it spreads) to upgrade your disease with different methods of transmissions, increasingly harmful symptoms and abilities like resistance to drugs. The game’s main view is a world map, showing trade ships, flights, airports and ports of each country as well as methods of your diseases’ travel and rate of infection. You can also view other statistics about your disease and how its affecting the world. There’s even a place where to see fake news headlines about world events and how your disease is affecting them.

After playing through a few different games, I was amazed at how many outcomes there could be for my plague. On the easiest difficulty, it was a snap to wipe out the world’s population but on higher difficulties, it is considerably harder to focus your disease into a lethal plague. For instance, your disease could be very contagious, infecting billions, but if it isn’t deadly enough, a cure could be developed before it manages to do enough damage. In one game, I infected/killed off a majority of the world but hadn’t been able to spread my disease to island nations like Greenland, New Zealand, or the Caribbean so even though it wiped out enough people to disrupt research on the cure, those island nations were able to basically wait out the disease (much like the end of 28 Days Later. Spoiler alert, I guess). And, for what it’s worth, “Plague Inc.” is one of the only mobile games I’ve played that lets you save and quit so you know you’ll be able to pick up where you left off.

This column is beginning to run rather long so I think I’ll end here. Be sure to check back in the future for another installment of “Going Mobile” as there are plenty more games I want to talk about and I’m sure there are plenty more out there to discover!

Post holiday wrap up - Too much to play!

 I’m back! I had gone dark for a while but with actual newspaper responsibilities piling up and the holidays demanding most of my time, I had to put the gaming on hold for a bit. But it’s a new year and it’s time for new content so hold onto your butts, because there’s a lot to talk about.

An island in the sun

To start, I wanted to give out my general thoughts about a few games I’ve been playing over the past couple weeks. First up, one of my absolute favorite games of 2012 came at the tail end of the year – “Far Cry 3.” But despite its late release, every other title before it will have a tough time beating it out for “Game of the Year.”

Set on a tropical island, “FC3” puts you in the role of Jason Brody, who is exactly as white, privileged, and entitled as his name sounds. The game starts off showcasing scenes of Jason and his friends cavorting around the island paradise – getting drunk, going skydiving and generally being rich and obnoxious. It isn’t long before the camera pulls out and we see those images are being played on a camera, held by the game’s main antagonist, Vaas. It seems that Jason and his friends have all been kidnapped by Vaas and his group to be ransomed off. Eventually, Jason and his brother Grant escape their captivity and just before escaping Vaas’ camp, Grant is shot and killed, leaving Jason on his own to rescue their friends.

Luckily for Jason, he isn’t completely alone. Though the island is largely run by Vaas and his men, there is a small group of rebels fighting against their occupation. Jason is taken in by the group, who give him the power to find his friends and defeat Vaas in the form of a tribal tattoo. This tattoo acts as a skill tree, allowing Jason to unlock new, increasingly powerful abilities. For instance, early abilities are simple and include cooking grenades (holding them to give bad guys less time to react to them) and reloading while running but eventually allow Jason to perform impressive feats such as stringing together hand-to-hand, takedown kills.

“FC3” is a first-person shooter with an emphasis on open-world gameplay. The single player portion of the game features two large islands to explore, each with an abundance of hidden items, collectibles and side missions. Activating radio towers reveals new areas of the map while clearing out enemy camps create new fast travel locations as well as opening up side quests. After escaping from Vaas’ camp, you’re given the freedom to explore the island on your own, taking on sidequests, main missions or just exploring. Hunting and gathering is also a major aspect of “FC3.” Hunting animals for their skins allows you to create newer and better gear (holsters to carry more weapons and packs to carry more items and ammo) while gathering plants allows you to create serums for everything from simple health restoration to increasing damage dealt.

I’ve been having an unbelievable amount of fun with “FC3.” While the previous title in the series did everything imaginable to present a realistic approach to a first-person shooter (such having your character read an in-game, paper map rather than making it a menu or making it possible to contract malaria then suffer with the disease until you find enough medication, which wasn’t cheap or plentiful), this title focuses on the positive aspects of the series – open world exploration and an emphasis on playing your way. Similar to “Dishonored,” “FC3” gives you all the tools you need to be a silent killer, striking from the shadows with knives and silenced weaponry or a one-man-war who using powerful weaponry to overwhelm your opposition.

To give you an idea of the crazy scenarios possible in “FC3,” I’ll tell you about the first time I died. I was hunting a goat because I needed it to make a new holster. It was early in the game and I didn’t have a bow or a silenced weapon and, since making noise usually attracts the attention of Vaas’ pirates, I was chasing it down with my 1911 pistol drawn and trying to slice it with my machete. As we neared a road, I heard a pirate jeep heading coming closer, so I crouch down behind a rock to hide. I watched the jeep cruise by, unaware of my presence, allowing me to shift my focus back to the goat. As I turned away from the road, a leopard jumped from the grass and latched onto my arm, bringing up a QTE. After I mashed X to fight the beast off, I pulled out my looted AK-47 and, now in full panic mode, began wildly spraying bullets trying to kill the leopard.

Unfortunately for me, the pirates who had driven by heard the gunfire and turned around, helping the leopard finish me off. Even death in “FC3” is useful because you’ll learn from your mistakes on your next outing, but anytime you die it’s usually hilarious – like the time a shark ate me while I was skinning another shark or the time I died crashing into a radio tower on a hang glider because I tried to land on top of it. (I learned that I should probably land my hang glider before exiting and also that sharks can’t be trusted.)

There is also a multiplayer mode as well as a cooperative campaign in “FC3” but I haven’t tried either of them yet so I can’t comment on them as the single player has demanded, and received, pretty much all of my attention.

The most electrifying game in sports entertainment history

Despite the fact that admitting you’re a professional wrestling fan gets the same response from people as telling them you have leprosy (that response being fear and disgust), I’ve been a big-time wrestling fan since my youth and have been getting back into it over the past year or so. (For the past few years I didn’t watch any wrestling and before that I only watched independent wrestling, tired of the lame storylines and characters presented in the WWE(F) but eventually…you’re not listening anymore, are you?)  Luckily for me, 2012 also happened to be the first year in many that a quality WWE game had been released.

“WWE ‘13” is THQ/Yuke’s most recent offering of professional wrestling, *ahem* pardon me, “sports entertainment” action is the game that wrestling fans have been waiting for. Not only does it feature a huge roster of current Superstars but also features many of the stars from the WWE’s popular “Attitude Era,” which encompassed the years of the mid-late 1990s – meaning you can pit guys like Degeneration-X against current tag team champions Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) or put on an Elimination Chamber match featuring The Rock, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, Mankind, The Undertaker, Triple H and John Cena.

But more than just featuring stars from the WWE’s most popular era, THQ included the Attitude Era mode which lets you relive (by replaying with specific historical objectives) important matches from the time, such as Shawn Michael’s European Championship win over the British Bulldog in England, Stone Cold’s feud with Vince McMahon or Degeneration-X’s feud with the Nation of Domination against the backdrop of WWE’s “Monday Night Wars” with World Championship Wrestling, complete with a loading screen line graph tracking the TV ratings of both companies as you play through the Attitude Era.

Having played older wrestling games on Playstation 2 and Nintendo 64, I can easily say that “WWE ‘13” is not just the most complete pro wrestling game in years, but it’s also the most fun. The controls are simple and easy to pick up – even by non-wrestling fans. Also, the engine used in this game offers impressively fluid character animation, the likes I’ve never seen before. It seems THQ has finally started treating professional wrestling like its own sport, rather than trying to shoehorn its design and gameplay into the style of a typical fighting game.

“WWE ‘13” has tons of other features, too many for me to recall and recount here. There’s a full-on career mode as well as an expanded creation mode (for wrestlers, venues, belts and more). You can even download the created characters of other players if you don’t want to spend time tailor-making your own wrestlers – though you will need a special code to access the online portion of the game. As awesome as this feature is, the time I was checking it out, the servers took an extremely long time to process anything, which I’m hoping was just a product of the holiday season.

A Jose Canseco bat? Tell me, you didn’t pay money for this

That subhead has literally nothing to do with the final game I’ve been playing lately (though you get bonus points for knowing the reference) – the supremely frustrating, maddeningly difficult “Dark Souls.” And just so you don’t think I’m overreacting, I’ve played less than an hour so far and have already died close to 10 times. Granted, I haven’t been playing for very long, I doubt it’s going to be getting any easier.

“Dark Souls” is a third-person action/RPG by From Software. Set in an open-world environment, “Dark Souls” gained notoriety for its unrelenting difficulty. Players need to make very careful and considered choices while playing on matters from everything to class, armor and weapon and combat tactics or else suffer quick, embarrassing deaths.

The plot of “Dark Souls” is incomprehensible. I have almost no idea what’s going on at any given time or why, but I’ll now try and convey all I’ve figured out. You’re in some sort of strange fantasy universe ruled by steel, magic and demons. You start out the game as a zombie – well not a traditionally zombie, you have all your faculties and you don’t crave brains but you aren’t human either, just undead. After being free from the Undead Asylum, you battle to…get somewhere? Attain something? Free people? I really couldn’t tell you what you’re battling for, to be honest, you just are. Becoming human again is definitely part of your quest, though becoming human again is more of a gameplay tactic and not necessarily part of the story. Again, how you become human and the benefits of becoming human are completely lost on me because the game makes almost no attempt to explain this. Or anything else. Maybe you, as an undead, are jealous of the demons with cool powers and are trying to kill them all? I think? Yeah, whatever, sure, let’s just go with that.

But despite not understanding what’s going on ever, or the game even wanting you to know what’s going on ever, I don’t think I’m going to give up on it just yet. Despite the overwhelming difficulty, which stems not just from the actual gameplay itself but because of its intentional ambiguity, there’s a very well-made game underneath all of its inscrutable layers. At its core, “Dark Souls” is an old school hack-and-slash RPG where you traverse a large world and level up your character as you fight enemies and collect powerful relics and items.

As with many old school games, “Dark Souls” is unapologetically difficult and even the very first enemies you face can easily end your life. Enemies killed earn you souls which can be spent on character upgrades at bonfires. These bonfires act as save points and are also where you spend humanity to become human and spend souls to upgrade your character. However, in keeping with the “I will make you hate yourself for playing me” aesthetic, resting at bonfires also revives all non-boss enemies. Little aspects of the game design such as reviving enemies for saving your game gives a certain weight to your actions and will make you think a little harder about what you do next. Sure, you could refill your health items and save at this bonfire, but it will make exiting this area of the map a painful experience, one that could possibly negate your refilled health potions and possibly cost you all your earned souls/XP and humanity. And if you die, you’re given the chance to pick up your lost items and XP…if you can pick them up where you died. So if you died during a boss fight or at the end of a grueling area, just recovering what you lost can be a challenge in itself.

There’s also even a method of multiplayer, though, like the rest of the game, is incredibly weird and unlike most other modern forms of multiplayer. Though it is essentially a single player experience, other players can leave notes in the game world to give you hints about what to do in certain areas. Additionally, the game will often show you the deaths of other players in the area. Interacting with a bloodstain will pop up a ghostly player model, showing the last few moments of another unfortunate player’s life so that you will, hopefully, learn from their mistakes. There’s even a method of invading another player’s game with the ability to engage in some PvP combat for a significant amount of XP. But again, I’m not entirely sure how this works since it’s never explained.

It might sound like I’m whining. It might sound like I’m exaggerating. But I’m not. “Dark Souls” is one of those games that simply does not care if you keep dying. Of if you think it’s unfair. Or if you don’t know what’s going on. It does not care. Despite being set in a huge, winding, open world, there’s no in-game map. Despite the difficulty and the steep punishment for death, there’s no way to pause the game. Even opening inventory or character-leveling screens doesn’t pause the game. “Dark Souls” simply does not care about you and you should not expect it to show mercy – ever.

But, eventually, with enough determination, you’ll succeed. That success might be as major as defeating a massive boss or as minor as finding a new bonfire but with all the obstacles and hardship “Dark Souls” puts in your path, improving your skill and succeeding has a weight unmatched by almost any other game of this era.