Battlefield 3 will be featured on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on tonight as part of video game week on the show. EA’s Kevin O’Leary and DICE’s Johan Dohl will be showing the first Playstation 3 footage of Battlefield 3. Last week at E3 was amazing for Battlefield 3, but there was one question that stood out from the rest of the pack: When do we get to see Battlefield 3 on consoles? Well, you may want to pay attention to this next bit… This Thursday night (June 16), Battlefield 3 will be appearing on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, but more importantly, we’ll be playing the game on the PlayStation 3. That’s right! We’ll be giving you the world premiere of Battlefield 3 on consoles this Thursday night when DICE’s Johan Dohl takes the stage and gives Jimmy the first crack at Battlefield 3 for the PlayStation 3. Be sure to tune in, or set your DVR to record, for the world premiere console gameplay of Battlefield 3 on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this Thursday on NBC at 12:35/11:35C! I’ll put up the video tomorrow, when it goes live on the web.

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Battlefield 3 on PS3, Tonight, 12:35 EST!

GameTrailers TV ( GTTV ) released a lot of E3 ’11 trailers to some of the top games scheduled to release this year and next. We get our first look at early gameplay footage of Namco’s Soul Calibur V and EA’s snowboarding game, SSX. Plus a CG trailer of Square Enix and Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider reboot. And yes, Lara has a new voice in the new Tomb Raider . Soul Calibur V Gameplay Trailer Tomb Raider CG Trailer Dark Souls Story Trailer > SSX Gameplay Trailer

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New E3 Trailers For Soul Calibur V, Tomb Raider, Dark Souls & SSX

Here are some fresh Ninja Gaiden 3 screen’s to wet your taste bud’s. This game is looking better and better as time go’s on. This will be the first Ninja Gaiden without Tomonobu Itagaki’s mastermind behind the game. Fingers crossed it is looking good! Look to E3 for big announcements for the franchise along with the highly rumored co-op mode.

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Ninja Gaiden 3 Screenshots Released

Starhawk is shaping up to be a must buy, day 1 game. See for yourself as the guys from the Lightbox battle it out in this intense Capture the Flag match. Will the God of War series creators from Santa Monica Studios bring us another hit? Only time will tell. Starhawk will be playable on the E3 show floor next week. Follow us as we will be live blogging from the event!

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Brand New Starhawk Multiplayer Footage.

Looks like Sony is making a move to get the Store up today, or at least prepping the service. Starting soon, the PlayStation Network will be inaccessible for several hours for maintenance. The server maintenance performed at this time represents a crucial step in the full restoration for PSN, including the PlayStation Store. During this maintenance period, users will be unable to sign in to PSN, though those that are already logged in should be able to remain online. Resumption of full PlayStation Network service is still on track for this week in most regions. Thank you once again for your patience as we work to return PSN to the highest level of service. Via: PlayStation.Blog

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PSN Will Be Down For Maintenance Today

“An island of beauty turns into a horrible nightmare! A place of wonder ends in an apocalypse!” Deep Silver released the first teaser with in-game footage of Dead Island this morning. We will be bringing you a first hand look at the game, live from E3, in just 4 weeks.

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Dead Island Teaser “Part 1: Tragedy Hits Paradise”

Like Wayne says on the popular early ’90s movie/SNL skit ‘Wayne’s World’, this video basically says “Let me bring you up to speed.” It’s, apparently, the intro cinematic for the upcoming game, InFAMOUS 2, which doesn’t show off any spoilers, but it, really, just gives you a recap of the first game and why you’re going down to New Marais. I’ve read a few comments about how some people didn’t care about Cole’s voice being done by another voice actor, until this video, but you be the judge of that.

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InFAMOUS 2 Graphic Novel Intro

2D! Always great news, always fun (might not be true for 100% off all cases. Please check table of contents and warnings before blindly making such wild statements). Like what you saw? OK then, let’s carry on. This is a very old school (a valid term, unlike how hardcore has been made the bastard child of “new gen” hype campaigns) game where your main goal is to start at one point and get to another. Sounds simple, right? Well, it starts out with seamless tutorials on your first level and just a couple of enemies, but things get hectic… and fast. Can you survive the onslaught all by yourself? Shouldn’t you ask for the help of others to reach your objective? You have the option of enjoying the game in single player, local multiplayer, or online multiplayer, and even have the advantage of starting a game with just yourself and have others drop in and out without a problem, just with the press of a button. Up to four players can be in action at the same time, and we’ll soon learn how useful that can be. Before we continue, let’s see what Square Enix has to say for the game: Features • The Diver System allows players to jump in or out at any time, for a maximum of up to four players total. Guest players are awarded experience points for helping out. • Combos increase in power and intensity according to the number of players. Collect new combo moves by picking them up on the map or fulfilling certain requirements. • Adjust the difficulty level at any time with the Chaos Accelerator. Higher levels are rewarded with enhanced visuals and greater experience points. Players setthe challenge ratingas theysee fit. • 12 stages to explore and master. • Up to four player local and online co-op. • Online multiplayer. You have three special bars available to you that help keep track of three veeeery important elements: Hit Points (HP) that allow you to have a general idea about how many hits you can take before dissolving in a magic light; Magic Points (MP) that carry with them the responsibility of sacrificing themselves so you can use several abilities available in this noble quest; and Experience points(Exp), for your leveling pleasure (my, how RPG of you!). Now, how do we start this? Look, what is that making it’s way towards you? An enemy… kill him. Quick, kill another one! Mmm, now another. And oooone more. Doing this continuously will increase your chain kill count. If you reach 50, you get a free full HP and MP recharge. There’s also a trophy if you manage to reach a 100 chain kill, so practice, practice, practice. You can even charge your main attack, which helps you get rid of more enemies at the same time, BUT it gives you less experience than if you had defeated them them with regular attacks. As for a tip on HOW to get your 100 kill-count trophy? Well, here you go! Troooophy! Now, let’s remember how EXP works in pretty much every game that has this element. You obtain EXP, you gain a level. Simple, right? Well, in Moon Diver, when you level up, a small explosion envelops your character, which ends up damaging and defeating the enemies that are nearby, while at the same time filling up your HP and MP gauges. Get 1 Customize Point (CP) for every level and use that to increase the HP, MP or Attack Power (POW) of your character. You can only do this after completing a level (or dying in the process), as the game will automatically prompt you to allocate said CP. The game is separated into three acts, and each of them contains 4 levels for a total of 12 levels… but wait, there’s more! Most of the levels have several sections (each with it’s own distinctive name) and some feature branching paths that make you reach some, but skip others, thus increasing the replay value of the game, especially if you like trophies, since there’s a silver one you can get for visiting every single one of the areas. To add up on that, there are SECRET areas you reach by breaking some rubble on the ground, a big stone block that is trying to change your course or just by falling down at certain places. You can equip 4 different abilities for your character between levels and these will make everything better, because abilities are meant to do JUST that. There’s a total of 60 in all, and you obtain them by collecting a yellow glowing item in each of the levels… which, in turn, encourages you to actually visit every single path in a level since going one way will prevent you from visiting the other. You only need 50 for the trophy to pop out (thaaaaaaaanks!), but finding all of them will give you more options for your MP sessions. Something you must consider when playing with others (remember, up to 4 players at the same time!) is that whoever picks up the MC is the only one that gets to keep it when all is said and done, which can be a bit of a pain when hunting for that special one that will greatly help you once you go back to single player hacking and slashing. Same goes for when you decide to level up another of the available characters (that we will describe a couple of lines below us) since they’ll start with a full clean slate, unless…. Leveling up, EdEN style! If you’ve got a character that is, say, level 50 (as was my case when I got to level 12), and an extra controller, you can use controller #1 to pick up your level 50 character with 4 Two-Player MC (Stealth, Attack Wave, Healing and Enemy Freezing are good options) so you can select every level up to level 12 and then use controller #2 to pick up your next character to level up to 50. Play level 1 again so you can get the hang of “controlling” two characters at the same time since #1 is for using MC and moving every now and then so the screen doesn’t anchor itself, and #2 is for gaining all the experience needed to bump up that single digit number next to their name. Best level to obtain a lot of experience would be 6 or 9, but that’s just how it’s worked for me. So, any other suggestions? But you have to be careful when looking for extra areas, because if you go too low, you’ll eventually reach a layer of purple haze that will continuously damage until you reach a bitter end… so you should be extra careful. See kids, don’t do drugs, like, ever! And as if that wasn’t enough, some levels feature extra hazards you need to watch out for, such as sporadic explosions, huge walls of fire, lasers, gun turrets, etc. Luckily, you can at least get rid of most of them by destroying the source, but they do contribute and help you die easily. There’s also blue and green glowing items you can obtain by defeating enemies or simply by running into them on your adventure, and oh what a great help they are. Blue ones recover your HP and green ones recover your MP, and having a full bar of each will ease things for you since enemies are plentiful and require different strategies, so you can maximize your killing spree. Before you set out on your adventure, you must choose your character… and you must choose wisely. They all share the same move set and potential for wielding all MC powers, BUT they develop differently on each level up and for each CP you add to one of their attributes. They’re also a different color, and that helps to quickly locate your character during MP sessions. Here’s the list so you can start to make up your mind about your first run: Seyfert (Red): HP and MP will develop well (This is who I used to play the whole game). POW is something you’ll need to pour CP on to make up for the slow Attack Power development. Hitori (Blue): MP will develop particularly well. This is what we could call a “magically heavy” character in a regular RPG. Low HP and POW but a great way to make the most of the MC you find… and you better find some FAST! Tolby (Yellow): All stats will develop equally. Your balanced “Ryu” character. Great for beginners but won’t really excel on any particular path. Ourion (Green): POW will develop particularly well. Your tank type. Develop HP to round up his usefulness and rely on using MC with others during MP sessions to compensate for his low MP. There’s a lot of enemies on screen at once.. and they all look the same most of the time, having just variations in color for a bit… until you reach your first boss fight. Really good art style choices for the bosses, and you must look away for a second and get back on the action, since discovering their attack and movement pattern is something that will separate you from the piles of dust, stone, and metal all around (as old school based 2D games are required to do so). The game’ story is told with static 2D artwork and written words… and I honestly couldn’t make much sense out of it. Maybe it was just me, but apparently humanity is doomed, Moon Divers are the only thing that exists with a chance of survival, and the Moon itself plays some part in the big plan of what we can consider to be the bad guy of this adventure. If anyone has other theories, let me know. I must take a break to make a small comment: Moon Diver has really good music that complements the experience and gets you into the action (remember how you read reviews because you want to see what other people think about a game you might want to get? Well, this is MY opinion so your mileage may vary). Pump it up to the max! You’re on fire! Getting back on track, I must now tell you that in this game, you’ll die… a LOT. Why is that? Well, for me the levels have this “MP heavy feel” most of the time and when you die in single player you go back to the character screen so you can use any CP you might have earned, choose any new MC you might have run into and start again aaaaaaall the way back at the beginning of the level. But on MP, things change drastically. Other players can rescue you (or you can in turn rescue them) if your HP goes down to 0 by breaking your chain, chain, chaaaaaaaaains… thus reviving the character in the process. If this doesn’t happen you’ll eventually be given the opportunity to hit X and join the game in progress and continue to contribute towards completing the adventure. It’s at this point that you feel that you’re being punished for playing Moon Diver all by yourself, since if you die, it’s game over and you have to restart the whole level. It IS great that you get to keep any MC, levels, and experience gained before going kaput, since it would have been too cruel to have to restart the level AND have the last 10-30 minutes be a complete waste. Took me about 2 hours to go past level 8 but once you do, you get a such a great rush… At several points in each stage the screen will stop moving and purple bars will appear to the left and right sides. What is this all about? Well, it means that you must first defeat all the enemies that will drop/run/fly in and try to destroy you before you’re allowed to move on. It is here that the MC you picked up for your character will play a crucial role in your chances of survival. Stealth and Regeneration are your best friends, since the first one makes it so enemies can’t see you and therefore don’t attack you and Regeneration helps you recover part of your HP bar. And there are up to 4 versions of each MC, which increases the desired effect but also costs more MP… BUT more people can join in and use it for free! This is called a MoonSault Combination and it can be activated with other players to unleash a powerful ability/attack that doesn’t deplete the MP of those that help the player that is using it. Once someone holds down the circle button, the others can join in and share the effect. How many can join in? Depends on the level of the MC, which is represented by a solid square below the MC image. A single square is only for single player, 2 squares is for couples, 3 squares is for threesomes, and 4 squares is the key to swingers-land. It will take you 10 to 20 minutes to complete a level, which makes single or MP runs be fast and fun. Well, except for level 12, which is the last one and can take you up to an hour and a half if you don’t plan things just right. Oh and it’s plain out murder in single player unless you’re at 70+ AND have the appropriate MC… AND have allocated CP in the best way possible. Enjoy! New DLC has just been made available for Moon Diver, and for only $0.99 you can play as a new character and get access to a new mode called Score Attack (I’ll give you three guesses so you can figure out what that one is all about). More DLC is set to follow, one for the same price that will feature two more Score Attack stages, and one for free that will give us a new Chain Kill mode… and you really can’t complain about free! Moon Diver is a very fun game that gets even better when played with others, either locally or with the magic of the internet, and all that the 1s and 0s give to us in this day and age. The price is right for what is available on the main download, and the price for the DLC is something that won’t break any wallets. Get used to the single player experience for a while and then open yourself up to the wonders of having four people co-op in the same room, just like we used to do it back in the day… OK, OK, you can do play online with others. You and your fancy new ways! Review Pros Cons 2D, what a marvelous idea! Branching paths increases the content without feeling wrong MP Heavy focus can make single player runs a bit frustrating Rating 84% Published by Square-Enix Developed by Feel+ Cost – $14.99 Available on PSN Other Information Disclaimer – A copy of the game was supplied by the publisher for this review. – Total amount of time played: 20 hours.

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Official Review: Moon Diver

Recently I received the Ear Force P11 gaming head set from Turtle Beach, and before I get into all the goodness, let me tell you a little about the company. Turtle Beach designs, manufactures, and markets high quality, competitively-priced audio peripherals for video games and personal computers. The company first turned heads with its award-winning line of Audio Advantage USB and Santa Cruz computer soundcards. Now, the company seems to be doing the same thing worldwide with its vast lineup of Ear Force headphones, which are designed to deliver the gaming public what they demand: the best in audio, giving them that edge in becoming the best. Ear Force P11 Review Up until this headset, I have never used a Turtle Beach product before, and it wasn’t until several months ago that I even heard of the company. Now, before I get blasted, let me just say that I play a bunch of video games, but never really imagined how much of a difference amplified sound could make. I never even really cared how much of a difference a great headset could make. What’s the big deal? You put on a headset and hear sound, right? Boy, how silly was I to even think that. The Ear Force P11 headset, which isn’t even close to the monstrosity (Ear Force PX5) that has been uncaged onto the world, comes in at a very fair price of $60. Now, you may think that is a lot, but to be honest with you, for a great gaming headset, that is nothing. I wish this thing was around several years ago when I was dumb enough to buy this silly little headset at Walmart for twenty dollars. If this thing was around, and I knew about it, I wouldn’t even think twice in throwing in that extra forty. It would have given me a lot more than I was looking for at the time, but it would have truly given me a higher rate of return on my investment. Before I go into all of the features in detail, let me tell you a little bit about how the headset feels. For the most part, the headset is plastic, aside from the ear muffs, which are a fabric mesh. Even though this headset is mostly plastic it doesn’t feel cheap. It’s the perfect size for anyone who wants to spend hours gaming, and not feel like they’re wearing something heavy. The soft leather padding on the headband of the headset really helps, as it provides that perfect cushion between your head and the plastic. The headset is also very adjustable in size; like most headsets, you can make it bigger or smaller to fit perfectly around your head. The fabric mesh, which fits perfectly around your ears, is a godsend. Not only is it a great fit around your ear, and is extremely comfortable, it does an amazing job in blocking out background nose, letting you focus on what really matters… the gaming. The mic is another sweet addition to the already amazing headset. It has the perfect length so you don’t have to struggle in trying to make sure that it’s in front of your mouth and whether or not people can hear you. The neck of the mic is perfect for bending and sticking in the position you want it to be in, so, again, you can spend more time on gaming and not worrying about the mics position, and the 12 foot cord that is attached to the head set gives you plenty of room to roam around and get comfortable. The one issue that I had with the Amplifier at first was that it felt extremely light. The plastic casing feels very durable so it’s not an issue of whether it will break easily or not, but I just felt that it should be something that when you have it in your hand, you actually know that it’s there. Then, after thinking about it, it made a lot of sense. This device isn’t meant for anything else other than giving you access to the mute, turning the chat sound up, or turning the game volume up. It also has a clip on the back so that you can attach it to a piece of clothing. The last thing that anyone would want is something that is pulling down on their clothing because it’s heavy. So making the AMP extra light, while giving you quick access to the headsets features, is just another step in giving you that edge over everyone else. Having said all that, lets jump into the features. One of the things that is most noteworthy about the headset, besides it’s cool design and paint job, is the Amplified sound that it provides. Because of this, you can hear things 100 times better. You don’t even need to turn the game audio on the AMP up to loud, well that is, of course, unless you want to go deaf. So this feature alone gives you that immersive experience that you’re looking for. It really makes you feel like you’re actually within the game as all hell is breaking loose. The other feature, which isn’t so crucial, but a nice touch, is the Mic Monitor. It lets you hear yourself talking so if you’re being to loud, you can adjust accordingly without yelling at the people you’re playing with or at whoever else is inside the house. The great part about this feature is that it works really well; it’s not at all distracting while talking. The independent volume controls are another fantastic addition to the overall gaming experience. If the in-game music is too loud, you can dumb it down without going through options. The other cool thing is that you can increase the voice chat volume all from within the AMP controller. Having trouble hearing someone? No problem, just increase the voice chat and your all set. The Bass Boost is another feature that helps give you that extra immersive feel. It adds that extra layer of depth and realism to the game. Try playing Dead Space with this baby and telling me you didn’t feel like something was right behind you. The last thing that I would like to point out is that this head set is geared for the PC/MAC, as well as much as it is for the PS3. The USB makes this baby an easy plug and play device. When voice chat was enabled for OnLive a couple of weeks ago, I was totally blown away with how simple it was to get this thing working. All I actually did was plug the USB cable into my computer and I was all set, no rebooting or searching for drivers. I was up and harassing my buddy in a matter of seconds, which is another reason that I think this headset is a steal for only $60. If you’d like to look at the many different headsets that the company currently stocks, head on over to their website . Simply put, if you want to be the best, you have to use the best, if you’re looking for the a company that prides itself on quality, professionalism, and integrity then look no further, welcome to Turtle Beach. Specifications Headphones 50mm diameter speakers Speaker Frequency Response: 20Hz – 20kHz, > 120dB SPL @ 1kHz Condenser Microphone Frequency Response: 50Hz – 15kHz Cable length: 12 ft. (3.7m) In-Line Amplifier Headphone Amplifier: Stereo DC-coupled, 35mW/ch, THD <1%, Frequency Response: DC-30kHz Bass Boost fixed: +6dB @ 50Hz Mic mute switch Maximum analog input level with volume control on maximum setting: 2Vpp (700mV rms) 3.5mm plug for line input Package Dimensions 8.75 x 10 x 3.75 (inches) What’s In The Box? Setup

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Turtle Beach: Ear Force P11 Review

Dragon Age II (released March 8, 2011) is Bioware’s sequel to their late 2009 new RPG IP, Dragon Age: Origins . The new title boasts a dramatically improved graphics engine and combat that is both more fluid and more frenetic than the original’s. However, the new game also has some limitations. Here’s a telling fact, for instance: In DA:O, your epithet by the end of the game is “Hero of Ferelden,” while your moniker in DA2 is “Champion of Kirkwall.” Why does that matter? Well, Ferelden is a country, and Kirkwall is a city. And as that distinction I hope implies, DA2 is a more localized, shorter, and rather meeker affair than its predecessor. Still, it’s a great deal of fun, and if you enjoyed the lore of the first game, you should certainly pick up the latest title. If DA2 had been the first game in the series, it probably would have merited an A in my book. Ultimately, though, the successor falls short of the high standard set by its progenitor, and in the following review, I’ll explain why I think DA2 warrants a B-. DA2 begins contemporaneously with the events that take place in the latter part of DA:O, but DA2 will span ten years’ time instead of about one year, and it takes place in a different area of the world, the city of Kirkwall. One major change that you’ll notice right away is that, while you can choose your gender and class in DA2 (warrior, rogue, or mage), you cannot choose your race or social standing, as you could in DA:O . This is a perplexing decision on Bioware’s part, as one of the real selling points of the first title was that it included six totally different origin stories, each of which entailed about five hours of game play. These introductions really helped personalize the experience of the game. In DA2, you’re a human, your class doesn’t matter too much in the plot (nor does your gender, really, as most everyone in DA2 is, apparently, bisexual), and despite the decisions that you make throughout the game, your gaming experience is more than likely going to be about the same as everyone else. The plot of DA2 does not have the immediacy of DA:O, either. In the first title, you had to stop the advance of a terrible arch-demon and his legions. You know that’s your job from the moment that you complete your origin story, and everything you do throughout the game works more or less directly towards the accomplishment of that task. In DA2, well, you know from the beginning that your character is special and is destined to become a “Champion,” but it’s not clear what struggles you will overcome in the service of that title, and for the vast majority of the game, you are left to find things to do, trusting that when the time comes (when you’ve accomplished missions), the game will direct you toward an important primary mission that will advance the story, such as it is. There’s just no immediate threat, and your character’s main task doesn’t seem to be to save the world as much as it is to accrue wealth and buy a big mansion up on the hill. Still, DA2 boasts some improvements in core game mechanics. As I intimated before, the game simply looks better than DA:O . DA:O’s graphical aesthetics and effects were actually shockingly bad; they looked at least five years behind the times at the moment of the game’s release. DA2 looks respectable for a game today—not as hot as Bioware’s retooled Mass Effect 2 for the PS3, but still perfectly respectable. And these improvements serve to make combat better than ever. Warriors spring into the air and bring their weapons down thunderously on the skulls of enemies. Mages unleash devastating elemental effects and force powers that can throw groups of enemies around like ragdolls. Combat is a quick, messy, and bloody affair. It can be played like a fun third-person shooter/button-masher at lower difficulty levels. But as in the first game, battle can also be paused at any time, and you can, then, issue orders to each of your party members, which they will carry out as soon as you unpause the game. This style is great for the compulsive micromanager, and it is necessary at the higher difficulty levels. Also you can create complex logic trees for your party members to follow in combat, formatted like If/Then statements (e.g. If my health falls below 25%, drink healing potion). Tweaking these command chains is quite rewarding, because in a certain sense, you can make your party members’ AI as smart as you want it to be, and if a fight proves particularly challenging, you may find that modifying characters’ logic quickly changes the tide of battle. In short, combat is fun, fluid, and gorgeous (in a sticky, wetly sanguineous way). However, Bioware really dumbed down DA2 . You have perplexingly more limited control over party members’ inventories now (you cannot change their armor, just their weapons and trinkets, like rings and amulets). And none of the party members are memorable in the same way as much of DA:O’s cast. Conversations follow the Mass Effect model: There’s a conversation wheel and the main character is fully-voiced. Sounds great? Perhaps. But each conversation option has a little icon by it, marking it as “good,” “evil,” “sarcastic,” etc. This makes for a much less immersive role-playing experience. In the first game, you could feel out which conversations options seemed the most ethical, for instance, but it was up to you to puzzle out this sort of thing. Now, if you want to play a “good guy,” you don’t even need to read the conversation options or listen to the conversations; just keep picking the text that has the “good” icon beside it. Bioware has also taken some shameful shortcuts as they rushed this title out the door. There are seriously about half a dozen areas where you’ll keep doing combat over, and over, and over. For example, several times you’ll have to do battle in a mansion or estate. It’s always exactly the same map, despite being totally different places from the perspective of the plot of the game. And guess what? The city brothel recycles the same map as well; it just puts a wet bar in the main hall and lodges ladies (and gentlemen) of the night in the sleeping chambers. There are two or three “cave” maps, there’s one “docks” map, and so on. It would be laughably absurd if it weren’t sort of sad and, certainly, repetitive. The title also has its share of bugs, and, unfortunately, as of the time of this writing, Bioware still hasn’t addressed these with a patch. Bugs run the gamut from headless enemies to peacenik baddies who refuse to fight (i.e. are frozen in place while you wail on them), to bugged bosses that never come down from an inaccessible ledge. Happily, I haven’t heard of any totally game-breaking bugs. Most of the bugs can be solved with a reload of a saved game. See our messageboard thread in which some of us complain about such problems. So, let me reiterate that while I have a lot of complaining here, I did enjoy the game. It’s wonderfully satisfying to return to the world of Dragon Age, having played the original game, the Awakening expansion, and much of the DLC. The essential problem, in my opinion, is that this game feels way too rushed. This would have been fine if it had been another $40 huge, disc-based expansion like Awakening, but, well, it’s not. Here’s a bit of perspective: I put over sixty hours into DA:O, about thirty-five into Awakening, and forty into DA2. And I was being pretty OCD with all of these games; many people report DA2 play time of more like twenty-five hours. Nevertheless, DA2 boasts the new engine, which is great and which legitimates dubbing this a brand-new entry in the series. I just wish that more care had been put into building richer content for the flashy new engine to deliver: expanded story, stand-out characters, smarter dialogue, more original areas to explore (and no recycling of areas!), and complex inventory management. The title just feels half-baked. Maybe another six months of development might have done the trick? Unfortunately, I suspect that Bioware’s strategy is to ask me to subsidize rectifying these failings through DLC purchases. Uncool. Review Pros Cons Return to the Dragon Age universe Shiny new graphics engine Fluid combat designed for consoles (not PC) Too brief Less memorable than its predecessors Too limited in scope Dumbed down RPG elements Rating 80%

Continued here: 
Dragon Age II Review