As a fan of Crackdown, after liking what I’d been hearing, seeing, and playing of its sequel up until release, color me shocked and disappointed at how underwhelmed I was by Ruffian’s Crackdown 2. It’s no more than the first game with a little gloss and extra bulk, totally bereft of imagination and progression.

So what went wrong with Ruffian's latest open world bonanza? Here are my five suggestions for how the game could’ve provided the true growth and excitement it was expected to bring.

1. Variety is the spice of an agent’s life

There’s no point putting a ton of different campaigns into your open world game if you don’t mix things up even just a little between individual missions. Each of Crackdown 2’s three main campaigns fails to evolve from start to finish. They are repetitive, lazily designed, and fail to explore the variety of weapons and powers at the player’s disposal. No wonder the demo was time-limited. Once you’ve played one mission from each campaign, you’ve played them all.

2. Been there, done that, got the Pacific City t-shirt

If you’re not going to evolve the formula of your game – collect orbs, jump & kill bad guys, collect some more orbs – then you need to evolve your location. No-one is fooled by the cosmetic deconstruction and reconstruction of buildings in Crackdown 2 – it was for all intents and purposes the same map. And if you spend enough time in a familiar place, nostalgia will evolve into tedium. Crackdown 2 would’ve benefitted immensely from a new city with new buildings to scale.

3. Here I am, stuck with my lock-on on you

The industry has seen auto-targeting evolve since the first Crackdown. Even the sometimes lumbering dinosaur that is Grand Theft Auto has made necessary changes to its lock-on shooting. So why Crackdown 2 suffers its predecessor’s awkward mechanics, a system which makes it near impossible to switch from one target to another, is truly confounding. It’s either stubbornness or ignorance.

4. By our powers combined

One of Crackdown 2’s greatest strengths is its seamless co-op. Orbs can be carried over, you can help with players’ missions, and lag is never an issue. So why not make any co-op specific missions? Making certain orbs specific to co-op is a start, but surely there are stronger ways to capitalize on a game that, outside of missions, offers a variety of ways for players to combine their powers for chaotic fun. The novelty of that experimentation quickly wears off, sadly, and you’re left with campaigns that just become easier in co-op but nothing more.

5. No girls allowed in the Agency

Arguably not as strong a criticism as the other four, but I still find it hard to believe that it would’ve all but broken Crackdown 2 to support female agents as well as male ones, as Ruffian would have us believe. Other games seemed to have done just fine supporting a whole host of avatar types in their open worlds. I’d say it has more to do with keeping Crackdown 2’s macho exterior intact. Either way, the limited ways to customize an avatar (beyond its sex) are unimpressive.

So, 500 agility orbs later, I’m done with Crackdown 2.

And personally it was one of the biggest disappointments of the year so far.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

After a week of getting over my 4th of July Hangover/Sunburn, I awoke this morning to a short gameplay snippet of Ready at Dawn's upcoming PSP title, God of War: Ghost of Sparta.  This footage was first seen during Sony's E3 Press Conference and now is finally available for the world's viewing pleasure – about friggin' time if you ask me.  As excited as I am about Ghost of Sparta, (I mean honestly, it's a new God of War title for crying out loud), I'm here to talk about something a little more personal.

Now if there's one thing I love about the God of War franchise, it’s the fascinating effect it has on my fellow Greeks – especially the ones that have never picked up a controller in their lives, like my father.

To be fair, my father did pick up a controller once in his life.  I'm not quiet sure how old I was at the time, but what I do remember was that it was to play a round of Blades of Steel with my brother and me.  You see my father doesn't like video games all that much.  Growing up, he always insisted that we find something better to with our free time, like read a book or go out and play. Even now, when I have taken my love for gaming into the world of video game journalism, my Dad tells me that I am a grown man and that video games should be left to the children.  Never mind the fact that he's telling me this as I play Grand Theft Auto IV and I'm going postal inside of a hospital.

How we ever convinced him to play Konami’s classic hockey game still mystifies us till this day. We were young and he probably did it to humor us but whatever the reason, it was the only time my father spent in front of gaming console and wasn't completely dismissive about the whole thing. But despite all of this, his complete disdain for our electronic past-time, and unwavering belief that video games are childish and a complete waste of time, something special happens when God of War's Kratos appears on the screen.  Suddenly, video games aren’t so childish anymore.

Like my father, I too grew up with the stories of Ancient Greece and the Gods and Goddesses its people once worshipped. Having spent my early years as a student at Saint Demetrios Astoria School, Greek Mythology was just as much a part of my education as English, Math, Social Studies, and Science were.  So being tested on The Twelve Labors of Hercules was just as common as a pop quiz based on how well we knew our multiplication tables.

When God of War first came out, it was the Greek Mythology that attracted me to it the most.  It was dealing with the characters I had read about growing up.  The Gods of Mt. Olympus.  The Titans. Medusa. The Minotaur. And let's not forget that underneath it all there was an incredibly satisfying game just waiting to be played.  It was during those first few nights with God of War when my father spent a lot of time in our room after an exhaustive 12-hour shift at work.  He would pull up a chair and I would explain to him how the stories have changed to fit the introduction of Kratos.  He would lament on the stories the game had been influenced by, and would we remind me of things I had long forgotten since my elementary school days. He adored how the architecture of our ancient descendants was so masterfully recreated and how it made the game feel so authentic.  I found myself waiting for him to come home at nights just so he wouldn't miss a moment of the dramatic story that was unfolding before our eyes. He would even help me with some of the game's puzzles and advised me on how I should spend the red orbs I had collected – he was just as committed and emotionally invested in the experience as I was, just like any gamer would be.

Years later and with two sequels, a PSP release, and with Ghost of Sparta around the corner, God of War still remains a popular topic of discussion between my father and me.  While he still believes the original Ancient Greek stories are far more scandalous and cleverly written than Kratos' woes, his interest in the franchise is as strong as it ever was.  If he happens to find out I'm playing any other title, games go back to being a pointless and mindless activity.  But if I'm playing God of War, his focus never fails. Now if I could only get him to pick up that controller and bash a few Chimeras while I made myself a sandwich, I could die a happy gamer.

America has or had (or may one day have again) the infamous, comically angry Jack Thompson. But while on your side of the pond you’ve had to deal with a loon of a lawyer who’s managed to get himself disbarred because of his anti-games antics, our UK equivalent is still here and a Member of Parliament, no less.

Keith Vaz MP has long campaigned against violent video games, much like Thompson he claims that there’s a link between them in violent behaviour. He was heavily involved in campaigns against Rockstar’s controversial Manhunt series, and the second entry in the series was at one time banned for release here in the UK. Of course, Vaz bears further similarity to Thompson because his views are almost always comprehensively damning and typically full of reactionary, provocative hyperbole. Finally, to form a trinity of parallels, Vaz hasn’t exactly endeared himself to the games industry.

It was only four months ago, however, when we were told that Vaz has reformed his views on gaming. His fellow Labour MP, Tom Watson, said “Keith has been on quite a journey.”

Yet he’s back in the news again, this time talking about there being a need more flagging up of violent content in 18-rated video games. So, is Vaz, as MCV deems it, back on the “anti- games bandwagon”?

While the old adage of a leopard never changing its spots probably does apply to the stubborn Vaz, I think this might be an overreaction on the website’s part. While the new PEGI system for age ratings is well on its way to completion, and Vaz’s comments in light of this may seem overbearing and redundant, his cause here is not one of ‘anti-games’. Whatever the statistics may say, you only have go into a high street game store here in this country (and from what I gather the same applies in the US) to know that 18-rated games getting into the hands of kids via uninformed parents is a definite problem, and the burden to combat said problem shouldn’t only fall on the shoulders of the shopkeeper.

Around Christmas time last year, I was shocked to see a shopkeeper explain the violent content of Modern Warfare 2 to a parent. Of course what the shopkeeper was doing was right. It just shocked me that he had to.

That’s not to cast aspersion on the parent in question. To a seasoned gamer it may seem obvious. Yet plenty of video games feature violent or mature-sounding names and there are differing levels of mature content between them. We may point to the hard-to-miss age rating on the box, the idea of age ratings for games is still unusual to the consumer-at-large. It’s to do with education, and if that means more information going on the back of game boxes, who is that really hurting? Surely it’s a good thing if an 18-rated game doesn’t get into the hands of a 12-year-old through a misinformed parent? Maybe, in this instance, Vaz is campaigning for something the industry should get behind.

Of course, how much information Vaz wants to go on the back of these boxes is another matter altogether. For all we know, he could want smoking-style warnings on game covers. You can understand MCV’s reaction, really. Especially in the light of the newly elected government turning its back on the much needed tax breaks for the games industry.

For now, rightly or wrongl, Vaz is the boy who cried ‘Wolf!’.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

One of Microsoft’s big announcements at E3 was the new S build of the Xbox 360. The four big improvements it has on the original 360 are its size (it’s 17% smaller), the much needed Wi-Fi integration, the even more needed reduction in noise it emits, and finally the bigger hard drive (250 GB to the original’s 120 GB).

Slight reservations about its cosmetics aside, color me impressed if not overwhelmed by Microsoft’s new SKU. After all, most of its improvements simply expose flaws in the original, infamously rushed out 360. The price of $299 is a little too meaty for my tastes, but I doubt it will stay high by Christmas time.

Crucial in my decision to get one and I suspect that of other 360 owners is what deal I can get in trading in the old model for it. This is of course out of Microsoft’s hands. And since the Xbox 360 S has yet to hit retail shelves here in the UK – it arrives in ten days time – it’s hard to for me to comment on that.

The one interesting factor is how the Xbox 360 S is what Microsoft calls ‘Kinect ready’. In truth all this means is that Kinect can plug into the Xbox 360 S without the need for a separate power supply, whereas that’s exactly what it will need with old 360s. Not too much bother in this world of multiple sockets, but the terminology itself is interesting. The description is like an HD-ready TV, and clearly Microsoft wants the 360 S to sound like the modern, current console for new purchasers, new 360 users to enjoy the novelty of Kinect on. The terminology is a signal of intent.

While we know the price of the stand-alone 360 S, we still don’t know the price of either Kinect or the 360 S & Kinect that bundle Microsoft has already confirmed. Will it be low enough to convince the new audience Microsoft is so clearly cavorting with its Wii-like content? How many people will take advantage of the 360 S’s ‘Kinect ready’ capability? We will see, but ultimately the success of both Kinect and the 360 S will likely depend on the success of that bundle.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

Most likely like you, dear reader, I was one of the many watching on with envy as industry goons got their greasy hands on a 3DS at this year's E3. The least they could've done was say Nintendo's new handheld was garbage, but oh no, almost every preview has been an endless well of sickening eulogy.

I say we gather our pitchforks and burning torches.

Effusive praise or not, I still have my doubts about Nintendo's new handheld, and in particular its software. While the list of developers and products already on board is impressive, there's been little talk about new ideas and properties. The majority of games we know of are old-school ones that will incorporate new 3D features. Every 3DS rumor seems to be about a retro title too.

While the idea of a 3D-incorporating remake of Ocarina of Time is exciting, I think that new games specifically designed around the 3D feature will be critical to the system's success. The DS install base is obviously huge, but we've seen that doesn't necessarily translate into sales of a succeeding system. Just look at the PS2 and PS3. DS users will need to be convinced that it's worth switching over to what's essentially – to the average consumer – a DS with 3D on top of it. The way to do that is through new software built to show off the 3D at all times.

I think the responsibility to do that lies with Nintendo foremost, and the Japanese company will need to do a more longstanding job compared to what it provided for the Wii. Minus the phenomenon that was Wii Sports, Nintendo left its system's motion controls for third-party developers to promote, and for the most part that tactic failed. There have been very few Wii games with truly enjoyable motion controls. Similar approaches have yielded similarly unimpressive results for the Balance Board and Wii MotionPlus add-ons.

With that in mind, and knowing full well that Nintendo is unlikely to spring up with a whole host of new IPs – heaven forbid – I’m hoping Japan's premier gaming company will convince potential buyers with the 3DS' new Mario game. Because there will definitely be one.

I'm hoping it will be the presently vague Paper Mario game.

We don't yet know if that’s going to be a remake of a previously released Paper Mario game or a brand new title, but I'm definitely hoping it's the latter. The Paper Mario series has used space – as in open space, not Star Wars space - so wonderfully throughout its games. In many ways it seems a better candidate for a 3DS translation than a regular Mario. I suspect Nintendo might see it that way too. We know the company's aware of the public's hesitance when it comes to 3D rather than 2D Mario (because of the challenge involved). The Paper Mario games are more puzzle-based, and it makes sense that through puzzles a new game could show off the system's unique capabilities that much better.

Maybe the puzzles could see players flipping from a traditional 2D perspective to a full on 3D perspective, a la Super Paper Mario. How great would that be?

Whatever Nintendo does use as its system seller, I hope the company continues to try and push forward releases around its system's unique function. To its credit, Nintendo did a great job of that with the DS – just look at how Phantom Hourglass, Nintendogs, and Brain Training used the touch screen. Hopefully Nintendo will bring that same, ambitious approach to the 3DS.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

It's amazing how a thinly veiled attempt at an apology can somehow make you think less of a man. All it takes is one misplaced sentence., one moment of filthy truth wading through the pool of profound regret.

Maybe I'm being harsh. Roger Ebert does admit in his latest blog post that he should never have dismissed games as an art form without having played more than one or two games in his life. Ebert's first post on the subject, posted a few moons ago, angered many a gamer across the globe. Indeed, not least because he was talking so conclusively about something he obviously had no clue about.

It took a huge litany of comments and rebuttals for the film critic to finally take note and all but retract his statement that video games are not art. In the post, Ebert calls himself a fool for "mentioning video games in the first place" – too right. He then goes on to say that he will never play a video game to find out, for a number of reasons, including his bull-headedness – his loss.

You could argue that it took Ebert a lot of chutzpah to admit that he was wrong to ever speak about video games, and that he should be praised. Maybe he did, and maybe he should. Nonetheless, I still find him to be a fool for bringing up videogames, apology or otherwise. He's an elitist fool at that.

One sentence in his post ticked me off., one sentence that highlights the elitist agenda of Ebert's first post. Here it is:

"I required a definition that would exclude videogames (those up to this point, anyway) on principle."

That sentence reminded me of Ebert's screwed-up approach to the whole debacle. Rather that form a conclusion based on evidence i.e. videogames are not art and here is why, he instead simply put out a conclusion. He had no definition for art, and his sole agenda in defining art was to exclude videogames. This, in short, is a moronic approach to how to define something. His approach was not based on reason, but to suit a conclusion he wanted.

From there we get to heart of the matter, the uncomplicated truth of the Ebert saga. He's never played video games. He doesn't seem to have a true interest in them. He just wants to ensure they’re not regarded on the same level as his precious medium of film. He likes films. He doesn't like videogames.

It's that simple. But because of his status, because of the immaturity of the medium, because many are keen to argue with someone they respect, we have given his elitist agenda too much time. Even I've written another post on it, just a couple of months after saying we should ignore Ebert and his prattle.

You know, I should never have mentioned Roger Ebert in the first place.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

Not to brag – well, just a little – but around two months ago I said that we wouldn't get a big announcement of a new Valve game at this year's E3. While Gabe Newell's endorsement of Sony was a shock, the subject was an already announced game in Portal 2. It was not the kind of surprise we expected of Valve.

Well, maybe that was foolish of us. We all expected Half-Life 2: Episode Three to be finally unveiled at E3 2009. Instead we got Left 4 Dead 2 – remember the furor that caused? Heck, we even expected Episode Three at E3 2008.

It's now been 33 months since Episode Two arrived on our doorsteps in an Orange Box. The gap between Episode One and Episode 2 was 16 months, whereas it was 19 months between Half-Life 2 and Episode One.

In two months time, the wait for Episode Three will eclipse the time period between the first and latest game in the Half-Life 2 series. When you look at it that way, it's easy to understand the complaints that Valve has neglected Gordon Freeman's adventures and the series that made the celebrated developer what it is today. It's even easier when you remember how Episode 2 ended – not exactly neatly wrapped up.

At this stage it's wearisome to speculate on when or even if the Washington-based developer is going to finally show us Episode Three or Half-Life 3 or whatever. But with another E3 come and gone with no HEV suit or thick-rimmed spectacles in sight, I wonder what impact the game's delay will actually have.

Even with the Left 4 Dead 2 controversy and the tease of an announcement in LA, the vast majority of Half-Life's fans will wait it out, however long the wait. We've seen plenty of developer loyalty in last year or so. Just look at the excitement surrounding Diablo 3, even though its predecessor came out in 2000. Consider the commercial success Red Dead Redemption is enjoying because of its developer's renowned history. Gamers have long memories and a surprising amount of patience for such a trigger-happy bunch, so I think Valve could get away with a few more years yet should it need the time.

The fear I have is that the delay will cause Valve to lose much of its console base garnered through The Orange Box in 2007. The bundle's arrival on 360 and PS3 was definitely a big deal for Valve and the Half-Life series, both traditionally limited to the PC. Unfortunately, because of how Valve regards – sorry – regarded the PS3, the EA-developed build wasn't great on Sony's console, with many players complaining that slowdown made certain parts of Half-Life 2 unplayable. Ouch. Still, overall The Orange Box was a success, not least because it was great value for money.

Unfortunately, Valve cannot expect the same loyalty from console players that it gets from its PC base. It may hope that Portal 2 will extend the bridge further, but for many it will be too disconnected from the Half-Life universe to really promote Episode Three – although there's plenty to suggest that the portal gun will make an appearance in a future Half-Life game.

Nonetheless, Valve is not a huge name to console-based gamers, even with the success of both Left 4 Dead games on the Xbox 360. To console gamers, Portal 2 is a bigger deal than the developer making it. Gabe's appearance at Sony's conference may have shocked journalists, but many PS3 fans in particular were likely left wondering who he was, especially after his rather informal introduction.

The critically acclaimed Half-Life could do commercial wonders on the console market, one that’s greatly warmed to first person-shooters in the time since the series' beginnings. The delays to Episode Three may be stripping that potential away. Only time will tell, although whether it will in our lifetimes in another matter.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.

I’m back. Has much changed? The chaos I removed has been restored, but with bonus zombies. Every orb I collected has been lost to time and replaced by a new one. Some of these new orbs move, some require my friends, and some aren't orbs at all, or at least are orbs that play an audio log and aren't orb-shaped.

One of these non-orbs has Nathan Drake on it – peculiar but not surprising.

It's prettier. There's more to do. Crackdown drained maybe a day of my life, but its sequel aims to drain two. It aims to drain me alongside other steroid-happy friends rather than en seul. I suppose that's a good thing.

The Cliffy B sequel model – sorry – Mr Clifford Michael Bleszinksi's model for sequels appears a popular one with Xbox 360 game makers. Crackdown 2 is bigger, better – well, better for being bigger – and it is badass. Killing zombies with electric discharge guns? That's more badass.

Yet it is also the same. The same awkward lock-on shooting, the same floated jumping, and the same is-it-a-ledge-or-am-I-to-plummet ascension… all there.

Should you care? I certainly don't. I just want all the orbs. They glow so prettily.

Post contributed by Sinan Kubba. Questions for the author? Send an email to shoinan@googlemail.com. Visit his site at http://shoinan.com or follow him on Twitter: @shoinan.