The Xbox 360 released in 2005. Think about that. One year later, Epic’s Gears of War launched for the system, making it arguably the Xbox 360′s biggest killer app until the release of Halo 3 the following year. A sequel, Gears of War 2, was released in 2008, followed by Gears of War 3 in 2011, which many assumed would cap off the trilogy before Epic moved onto more, well, epic things for Microsoft’s next home console. All in all, Gears of War 3 provided suitable and earned closure for the franchise.

And then something happened.

2012 came and went, and there was still very little to hear about the supposed next Xbox other than rumors. 2013 quickly approached, and Microsoft did not have a high-profile exclusive title lined up for the lucrative Spring launch window. So, almost eight years into this generation of home consoles, Microsoft has released Gears of War: Judgment, the fourth game in the series in just over six years, seeing Epic Games team up with People Can Fly (Painkiller, Bulletstorm) to produce a prequel to the original trilogy. Though franchise fatigue has dissipated the appeal of many long-running series in the last few years, the latest entry to the Gears of War franchise proves to be the exception to the rule. Gears of War: Judgment is not only another excellent offering from People Can Fly studios (whose 2011 Bulletstorm is one of the most criminally underlooked games of this generation), but the best Gears of War game yet.

A bold claim, to be sure, for a game that changes so much from its predecessors. The most prominent change comes in the form of the lead character. Gears of War: Judgment is the first game in the series in which you do not play as Marcus Fenix, instead putting you in the boots of Damon Baird, the wise-cracking, frosty-haired Gear previously relegated to side-character status in past games. Set years before the first Gears of War, Judgment sees Baird in the role as the leader of Kilo Squad, court-martialed for actions he and his squad had taken in the weeks following “Emergence Day”, the event that sees the arrival of the Locust invasion in the Gears canon. The game then takes the form of flashback, with each member of Kilo Squad telling their version of what happened.

Storytelling has never been this franchise’s strong point, and it takes even more of a backseat in Gears of War: Judgment. The court-martial framing teases something much more interesting than what we actually receive. The first few minutes of the game had me thinking we’d see scenes from multiple viewpoints or perspectives a la Rashomon, Pulp Fiction, or that one great vampire episode of The X-Files. Instead, we get a fairly linear account of events, with each character’s narration providing a new chapter of the campaign. Unfortunately, during each of the characters’ narrations, which includes Augustus “Cole Train” Cole and newcomers Sofia Hendrick and Garron Paduk, players will still be forced to play as Baird in the single-player portion. Given that there’s absolutely no difference between how each of the characters play, it would have been nice to have this option.

This “Rashomon-effect” does manifest itself in the gameplay, however, in the form of “declassified” missions. At the beginning of each level, players will have the option of playing the “declassified” version of the level, with the characters telling their version of “what really happened”. This adds a number of modifiers to each level, be it time limits, being forced to use specific weapons, fighting different enemies, or various environmental changes. These don’t change the story in any substantial way, but the amount of variety they add to each level is staggering. With each level offering two drastically different ways to play, Gears of War: Judgment offers the highest replayability in the series.

Judgment may have the most lackluster story in series, but the trade-off is a greater focus on what the Gears franchise does best: brutal, visceral gameplay. This is also where Judgment makes its second biggest change. Gears of War: Judgment is much more fast-paced than previous entries in the series. Characters move faster, weapon switching is faster, throwing grenades is faster, levels are paced faster, it’s a fast game. At its most frantic, fighting off the Locust horde feels not unlike playing through a campaign of Left 4 Dead. This is not a bad thing.

This change in pace ends up being the best thing that has ever happened to the franchise. Never before had I realized how slow and clunky previous Gears games were. Beyond movement, past Gears of War games were slow and meticulously paced, breaking up the excellent combat with slow story moments and world-building. However, those scenes were also incredibly dull and boring. Gears of War: Judgment eschews this pretense entirely, zipping you from battlefield to battlefield at a breathtaking pace.

Judgment’s quick, varied, and replayable campaign is the most entertaining the series has to offer, but those wanting a more traditional Gears experience have the option of unlocking the Aftermath campaign after beating Judgment’s main single-player mode. Unlike Judgment, Aftermath is set in the middle of Gears of War 3, following Baird and Cole’s perspective of events during that time. It’s only a couple hours long, but it’s amazing how incredibly different Aftermath seems juxtaposed against Judgment. It plays and is structured much more like Gears of old, with slower pacing and more deliberately designed combat scenarios. It almost seems as if it were designed to be a DLC expansion for Gears of War 3, which was then re-appropriated to be included into this game. But hey, I’m not complaining.

If there was one thing that could hold me back from a full recommendation of Gears of War: Judgment, it’s the multiplayer offering. It’s not that it’s of low quality – Judgment‘s multiplayer is as fun and diverse as the series has ever been – it’s that there’s a distinct lack of content, featuring only four modes and eight maps (for comparison, 2006’s Gears of War originally featured five modes and ten maps). It’s worth noting that at the time of writing, two of the three multiplayer packs are free to download, but it does still make the overall package feel somewhat incomplete.

This generation of gaming has tested players endurance for heavy sequelization and franchise over-saturation, and prequels generally suggest a lack of new, creative ideas. Yet, despite being the fourth entry in the series, Gears of War: Judgment manages to accomplish so much more than one would assume. An extremely fun and replayable single-player and cooperative campaign warrants multiple playthroughs, and more than makes up for a smaller multiplayer offering. We’ll see if there will be more Gears of War in the future, but if Judgment proves to be the swan song for both the franchise and the Xbox 360, than I would be more than satisfied.

A copy of  the game was purchased by PixelJumpers’ staff for reviewing purposes.

To find out more about the PixelJumpers Rating Guide Click Here.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.

When speaking of gaming icons you’d be hard pressed finding a character more iconic than Lara Croft. Her debut in 1996’s Tomb Raider was just as monumental in ushering in the 3D-era as Mario and Zelda ever were, and paved the way for modern action games as we know it. However, over the years the franchise lost its luster and the quality of Tomb Raider titles simply went from bad to worse, until developer, Crystal Dynamics, successfully rebooted the franchise with 2006’s Tomb Raider: Legend. Now, almost two decades after the franchise’s debut (has it really been that long?), Crystal Dynamics is once again attempting a reboot of the franchise, but one that is more character-driven, and emotionally charged.

Despite sharing its title with the original game, this Tomb Raider has little to do with the exploits of Lara’s previous adventures, posturing itself as both a reboot and an origin story to Lara Croft. This turns out to be one of the best possible directions for the franchise. Lara may no longer be the back-flipping, dual pistol-wielding action heroine that built the franchise, but the trade-off is in developing her as a character. This revamped Lara Croft is more human than previous incarnations, actually growing and developing as a character over the course of the narrative. She has dreams, desires, flaws, and ambitions. And unlike many recent gaming heroes, she’s vulnerable. Lara hurts. She bleeds. Quite a lot, actually. While there are some unfortunate, arguably unintentional misogynistic elements that come into play, especially considering her status as one of the few leading female heroines in a mainstream game in quite awhile, overall the game does an incredibly remarkable job of developing her as a character, not a gender. Her portrayal may not be perfect, but it’s a marked improvement for the portrayal of women in games. Baby steps.

If only the originality seen in approaching Lara Croft’s character carried over to the rest of Tomb Raider’s narrative, which follows Lara and a team of explorers as they look for a lost kingdom. However, a mysterious force crashes their ship and strands them on a nearby island, and they find themselves at odds with a mysterious cult, as they must figure out the mystery of the island and escape before it’s too late. *yawn* Perhaps I’m being a bit too harsh in that regard. Despite a formulaic, by-the-numbers plot, Tomb Raider’s single-player is consistently entertaining, thanks to a combination of pitch-perfect pacing, exciting set-pieces, a variety of interesting locales and excellent level design. And of course, gameplay.

Although the original 1996 Tomb Raider innovated by creating a whole new genre and play-style, this reboot innovates in a different way, providing an amalgamation of gameplay mechanics popularized over the years. A first glance at the game makes it look like a mere Uncharted knock-off, featuring a mix of platforming, ledge climbing, and cover-based shooting. However, delving deeper into the game reveals a greater emphasis on exploration, puzzle solving, and non-linear gameplay, evoking the best of games such as Metroid and Batman: Arkham Asylum. Although the game certainly leads you in a linear manner, you’ll find yourself revisiting the various wide-open levels from a completely different perspective, and a quick-travel option lets you backtrack to previously explored levels to continue to hunt down salvage, loot, and other collectibles. While this description makes Tomb Raider sound derivative or uninspired, the result is anything but. By borrowing the best features from recent titles, Crystal Dynamics molds them together to create an experience that’s incredibly unique.

That’s not to say that Tomb Raider doesn’t feature some innovations of its own, my favorite of which is its dynamic cover system. When in combat, Lara automatically keeps her head down and ducks into cover when near walls, boxes, or other solid objects between her and incoming fire. No separate input from the player is required to enter and exit cover, meaning that players can instead focus on combat, strategy and positioning. It’s a simple yet revelatory mechanic, and it makes going back to cover-bashed shooters such as Gears of War and Uncharted feel like a huge regression.

Some features don’t quite hit the mark, however. Early in the game, a hunting mechanic is introduced as Lara needs to eat to survive. Its introduction seems to suggest some sort of survival-esque “hunger” mechanic, a la Metal Gear Solid 3 (and given the game’s overall “survival” theme, it wouldn’t surprise me if it was on the cards at some point in the game’s development), but it never amounts to anything.  In the end, hunting animals just becomes a means through which to grind for experience points so that Lara can upgrade her skills and weapons.

Gaining experience from enemies and salvaging loot does the job just fine, though the island offers optional tombs to raid over the course of the 12-14 hour adventure. These one-room tombs offer nice detours from the main quest, providing for experience, new gear, and revealing the locations of collectibles across the island’s map. Though most tombs end up being simple physics puzzles, they are clever in their implementation and can be quite brain-teasing despite their deceptive simplicity.

The themes of exploration and puzzle solving take a backseat to combat in the all but required multiplayer modes, which is a shame. The modes provided are interesting, and the incorporation of platforming into gunfights provides for some unique match-ups, but the overall experience is a sloppy, be it from awkward character animations or reduced graphical fidelity. While the multiplayer doesn’t detract from the single-player experience like it does in games such as Spec Ops: The Line, for example, the multiplayer provides a resounding “eh” that doesn’t add or detract from the package as a whole.

Thankfully, Tomb Raider really is the complete package. A stunning reboot to a long running series, it breathes new life into the franchise in ways that many gaming reboots fail to achieve. Its emphasis on survival and intelligent thinking trump many recent action games, providing for a well thought-out, deeper experience. In terms of film metaphors, if we can say that Uncharted is gaming’s Indiana Jones, then Tomb Raider is gaming’s Die Hard, with a hint of Predator thrown in. This may seem ironic, considering Indiana Jones’ influence on the original Tomb Raider, but don’t let that seem like the series has abandoned its roots. Instead, it has found itself on a bold new path. Lara isn’t leaving tombs behind any time soon. She’s simply building new ones to raid all over again.

A copy of  the game was purchased by PixelJumpers’ staff for reviewing purposes.

To find out more about the PixelJumpers Rating Guide Click Here.

Konami’s Castlevania series has been a fan favorite for well over a decade now, but in recent years it has been undergoing a re-imaging of sorts. Beginning with 2010′s third person action adventure, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which was met with mixed results both critically and commercially and now continues with Mirror of Fate, an all-new 3DS action/adventure game that continues the tale set forth in Lords of Shadow. Many have been waiting for the return of a “proper” Castlevania to Nintendo’s handheld platform, so is Mirror of Fate it? Sadly, the short answer is no.

Mirror of Fate will surprise you when you find out that it actually stars four playable characters, all who are linked together by blood. You’ll begin your journey in the past, as you step into the boots of Gabriel Belmont, star of 2010′s Lords of Shadow and the vampire hunter who ultimately becomes Dracula. The second character you’ll play as is Simon Belmont, Gabriel’s grandson who is on a mission to revenge is father’s death at the hands of Dracula aka Gabriel. The third character is Alucard, son of Dracula and a half-human, half-vampire hybrid. Last but not least is Trevor Belmont, the human son of Gabriel prior to his transformation and father of Simon Belmont. While each character has their own tale, they share one thing in common, besides their blood lines and that is revenge. Each character is seeking revenge for either a loved one or themselves and the recipient of said revenge is Gabriel Belmont aka Dracula. While the story itself won’t win any awards, it does a good enough job at keeping the player motivated to press on through the 9-12 hours that it takes to complete the journey.

From a presentation standpoint, Mirror of Fate manages to do just enough to pass by as mediocre. It’s clear that developer Mercury Steam had high aspirations for their character design and art style, but at the end of the day, whether it’s the processing power limitations of the 3DS or simply not enough time, Mirror of Fate simply fails to impress. Low resolution textures, inconsistent framerate, long load times, bland level design and an overall lack of detail really bring Mirror of Fate down and hurt the overall product, especially when you take into consideration that the game has a considerable amount of backtracking. The one good graphical note comes into play during the game’s cutscenes, which are clearly inspired by graphic novels. The cut-scenes manage to infuse the game with some much-needed contrast and a blast of color that is rarely seen throughout the game’s bland levels. The game’s soundtrack does a decent job of capturing the feel of 2010′s Lords of Shadow and the voice acting is solid, but both aren’t enough to make a significant impact on the player’s experience.

Of course, at the end of the day the most important part of a Castlevania game is the gameplay and exploration and unfortunately  this is where Mirror of Fate disappoints the most. Don’t misunderstand that disappointment to mean that the gameplay and exploration is “bad”, it’s just not executed well enough to make Mirror of Fate feel like a true adventure. The combat, which is standard for all four characters, has you utilizing the combat cross whip via light and heavy attacks, coupled with secondary weapons and offensive and defensive magic. Each character has their own unique weapon set, but for the most part they all do the same thing, albeit with a different name and coat of paint attached to them. Combat is combo based, although you’ll find that the initial set of combos are pretty much all you’ll need to progress in the game, given the low enemy count and the relative ease of encounters; excluding the sometimes extremely frustrating three-tiered boss encounters. It’s clear that the developers were attempting to emulate the God of War style combat found in Lords of Shadow, but the problem is that Mirror of Fate is a 2.5D game and that style of combat just doesn’t work, especially when you take into consideration how erratic the framerate can be during battle.

The platforming in Mirror of Fate doesn’t fare to well either, mainly because of the sluggish movement/animation. Jumping from platform to platform feels like moving a one ton boulder, when it should feel effortless, especially for someone like Alucard. This is most evident when you jump and hang onto one of the games many glowing ledges. Simply pulling yourself up or down seems to be a chore onto itself for each of the game’s characters, when it should look and feel effortless. This isn’t to say that the platforming is bad, but the best that can be said for it is that it’s serviceable. Luckily, there are some decent puzzles, all inexplicably found in the middle of the game, which help to alleviate some of the platforming woes, but not for long. One of the worst offenders in Mirror of Fate is the leveling system and backtracking for items.

Unlike previous Castlevania games, Mirror of Fate has adopted an automatic leveling system. As you gain experience points via defeating enemies, finding scrolls in the environment and completing objects, you level up and automatically unlock new combos for your weapon. The inherent issue with this style of leveling is that it takes away the ability to customize your character. Customization was a cornerstone of the Castlevania series and allowed gamers to tailor the games to their play style, this is no longer the case with Mirror of Fate. Furthermore, the game’s lack of worthwhile gear to find in the environment is even more off-putting when you take into consideration how pertinent backtracking and item collection have been in past games. The only items that you’ll find while searching the environment are health and magic chests, and a plethora of scrolls all of which add little to nothing to the overall story.

In the end Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate is best described as a disappointment. While the generation spanning story-line and multiple playable characters provide some interesting moments, they fail to really amount to much when the surrounding game is so steeped in mediocrity. Neither the combat or platforming come close to matching the quality found throughout the series and the removal of the RPG aspects of past games and the weak item collection leave Mirror of Fate to a fate worse than death. It’s a shame that Castlevania has fallen so far, but here’s hoping that the next time out will yield a much better fate for the series that has thrived for so long.

A copy of the game was provided to us by Konami for reviewing purposes.

To find out more about the PixelJumpers Rating Guide Click Here.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance has finally arrived, but its journey wasn’t an easy one. Originally announced back in 2009 by Hideo Kojima and then subsequently cancelled due to development issues, it seemed as if Raiden’s first solo outing was destined for failure. Luckily in 2011 developer Platinum Games, who are known for their over-the-top action games, such as Bayonetta and Vanquish, decided to step in and join forces with Hideo Kojima to bring Raiden to life in a game that blends both the feel and complexity of the Metal Gear Solid franchise with that of a stylistic action game. Of course the question on everyone’s mind is whether or not Raiden’s action spin-off to the seminal Metal Gear Solid stealth-action franchise is one worth slicing through? The short answer is a definitive “YES”!

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance takes place in a post-Metal Gear Solid 4 world where the patriots have been defeated and PMCs have been split up into rogue factions vying for power and control. Of course, if you are unfamiliar with Metal gear Solid 4 or the Metal Gear Solid franchise in general then you needn’t worry since Revengeance’s story really only serves to provide Raiden with a purpose for moving forward and he manages to do so at an exceptional pace. That being said, there is an actual story involving cyborgs, children’s brains and some other nonsensical gibberish that will surely make some sense to the Metal Gear Solid enthusiasts out there (I’m one of them), but at the end of the day the reason you are playing a game called Revengeance is to slice and dice your way through countless enemies all while looking like a righteous badass and it does just that.

Revengeance will make you look like an absolute killing machine with style to match. Moving at a steady clip of 60 FPS and featuring some truly impressive character designs, Revengeance manages to not only pull you directly into the action, but also constantly keep you looking for more. It’s fast, furious and downright gorgeous no matter how you look at it. Massive level sized enemies, huge explosions, impressive set-pieces, plenty of debris flying through the air and of course countless limbs. Every moment of the game oozes with style, from the over-the-top action in cutscenes, to the magnificent look and feel of slicing an enemy into itty-bitty pieces. It all serves to give you an experience that will not only blow your mind, but most likely have your eyes popping right out of your head. Yes, it looks that good and moves that fast. It also helps that the game feels like a Metal Gear Solid game, from the character design right down to the menu and codec system.

The exciting visuals are further enhanced by the games rocking soundtrack, which always kicks in with a rocking tune just at the right moment. It’s a soundtrack perfectly suited for the super fast gameplay and while there are moments where the tempo and pace of the soundtrack slows, it never lasts for too long. While the soundtrack is great, the voice acting leaves something to be desired. It’s not necessarily the voice actors fault that things sound as cheesy as they do, especially with the dialog/script that they are working from, but there are definitely points where certain lines feel phoned in. The worst offender is Raiden himself. At times he sounds like a human being worried for the well-being of others and the next he has a gravelly voice akin to Batman from The Dark Knight. Its jarring and somewhat comedic, especially when it happens mid-conversation. That being said, it doesn’t necessarily hurt the overall game, especially when you consider just how downright ridiculous everything is. Fans of the series will also be happy to know that the codec system is intact and offers plenty of side conversations with the multitude of characters in the game. Conversations which act as fillers for the story, for Raiden’s past and for some good laughs here and there.

All that aside, what you really care about is the actual gameplay and from this standpoint Revengeance delivers in spades. The basic combat is rather simple. You have a light attack and a heavy attack and you use the two in conjunction to dial-up some impressive and devastating combos. The combat feels fast, responsive and above all else it feels powerful. Every swing of your blade has an impact and that in itself is an impressive feat. Of course, the standout gameplay feature is blade-time. Blade-time allows you to slow down time with the press of a button and slice up an enemy in front of you into little pieces and while it looks amazing doing so, it is also an essential mechanic to your survival in the game. The more you attack, the faster your blade-time meter fills up. For the most part, standard enemies poise no threat to Raiden’s might, but do provide him with the fuel cells (the source of Raiden’s power) he requires to replenish his health and fuel cell gauge. This is done by utilizing blade-time to slice an enemy in a designated location on their body, which provides you with a quick button press prompt. Later in the game you’ll gain an ability called Ripper time, which is essentially a period where you’ll be able to slice everything into pieces no matter what their armor level is; it’s truly riptastic!

Ensuring that you master blade time is key to your survival in the game, especially when you begin encountering larger, shielded enemies that not only require the use of more tactical play, but also require you to utilize blade-time to finish them off as fast as possible. You’ll have to weaken the stronger enemies first and then strategically dismember their weakened parts. It’s a fun, flashy and simple mechanic that never gets old. The one mechanic in the game that felt rather imprecise is the parry system. Unlike other similar action games, there is no dodge/evade button in Revengeance, in its place is a parry system which asks that you press X and point the analog stick in the direction of an attacking enemy at the precise time of attack in order to dodge/parry said attack. Unfortunately, the mechanic is rather imprecise and doesn’t always work as intended, leading to some frustrating moments in the latter portion of the game. The game also suffers from camera issues, especially when you get in tight quarters. You’ll sometimes find yourself fighting enemies without actually seeing your character or the enemy. It’s not a persistent problem and as such doesn’t hurt the overall game.

As you play through the game you gain points, which can be used to increase your life bar, fuel cell bar and unlock new skills, weapon upgrades and outfits for Raiden to don. You’ll also have the opportunity to purchase new secondary weapons, all of which were used by the games’ bosses. These secondary weapons replace your sword’s heavy attack and while they can be useful, they do feel like they would be more beneficial on a second or third playthrough of the game. You’ll most likely find yourself investing in one set of combat techniques over another your first time through and that’s not a bad thing, especially when you consider that New Game Plus becomes an option upon completing your first 6-8 hour playthrough of the game. Beyond the main story mode, Revengeance also offers you the ability to test your skills in VR missions, which act as tutorials and puzzles for you to test your ability with a blade. You also have plenty of collectibles strewn throughout the levels, as well as some interesting little easter eggs for fans of the Metal Gear Solid series.

Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is one of Platinum Games’ finest games and shows that the Metal Gear Solid series can be more than just a stealth series. For all the hatred that he has received over the years, Raiden finally manages to prove that he is more than capable of being the star and stepping out of the enormous shadow that is Snake. Revengeance is a great action game, a great Metal Gear game and above all else it is a blast to play. It’s a game that should be played by fans of the series and non-fans alike, especially when you consider that the game culminates in one of the most ridiculous, overly long, dialog heavy end game boss battles in recent memory. You didn’t actually think that a Metal Gear game could get away without having one, did you? Now let’r rip and go cut some things!

A copy of the game was provided to us by Konami for reviewing purposes.

To find out more about the PixelJumpers Rating Guide Click Here.

Enjoy the beauty and splendor of the trailer and prepare to spill some acid blood on February 12, 2013 on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.

THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THE WINNER WILL BE NOTIFIED VIA EMAIL. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING.

How to enter:

• Contest ends at 12:00 PM EST on Friday, February 15th.

• Send an email to giveaways@pixeljumpers.com with the subject line (without quotes): “I WANT TO DISMEMBER ME SOME NECROMORPHS!”
• In the body of the email, please briefly describe your favorite Dead Space Moment, as well as your preferred platform for the game (360, PS3 or PC).
• We do NOT retain emails beyond the contest. You will NEVER be spammed by us or contacted in any way unless you win.
• Winner will be chosen at random and notified within 48 hrs.
• Feel free to ask questions in the comment section below.
• For more information about Dead Space 3, be sure to visit the official site: DeadSpace.com