Quick poll: Who here remembers a project in development by the name of True Crime: Hong Kong?

After developer Luxoflox shut its doors in 2010, gamers had to pretty much abandon all hope of the True Crime series reboot ever seeing the light of day. That is of course until Square Enix, clad in its shiniest armor and riding a white horse, came along to save what would have been an ill-fated shooter – hooray. Known as Sleeping Dogs, developer United Front Games now picks up where the defunct Luxoflox left off. And under the supervision of Square Enix London (the same office that oversaw Batman: Arkham Asylum and Just Cause 2), the shooter has been given a new lease on life.

With its revival, the gritty crime world game comes with the promise of  a heavy emphasis on action. Whether it be street racing, shoot-outs, or hand-to-hand martial arts fighting, Sleeping Dogs is all about gang culture and violence.  I can’t help but reminisce about my days spent playing Jet-Li’s Rise to Honor or John Woo’s Stranglehold – love letters to Hong Kong cinema which brought unique combat engines to the forefront of the gaming experience.  Such games sought to highlight the tension of the solitude cop on mission to  bring down a criminal organization and I'm glad to see it return with Sleeping Dogs.

Early demos of then True Crimes: Hong Kong shown during E3 2010 (before former publisher Activision scrapped the project) detailed an open world setting similar to the Yakuza series (the series that current Staff Writer Justin Belin gets a big ol' chub over).  The combat system is a brutal one to say the least, and involves a lot of bone-breaking finishing moves to end combos and even the usage of the environment to make things interesting – again, just like Yakuza. And let's face it, it really is hard to beat slamming an opponent's head in with a refrigerator door.

On the downside of all this crime game nostalgia, the previous True Crime games have sort of wavered in the quality department, with reception being somewhere in the lukewarm territory. While offering a generous amount of tasks to do and areas to explore on massive city maps, neither True Crimes: L.A. or N.Y. were able to be anything but mediocre. The action wasn't terribly unique or exciting, and the storylines were the very definition of derivative, with no real finesse or style in presentation. Not that one can expect an enormous change with Sleeping Dogs considering how done to death the genre is by now, but it has always proven true that an exceptional telling of a tried and true story can be just as enjoyable if not more so than a ground-breaking risk. And there is still time for that to be the case with Sleeping Dogs, just as long as United Front Games learns the right lessons from not only the culture and cinema these games draw inspiration from, but from the genre's best, you know, like Yakuza.

Sleeping Dogs is expected to release in the second half of 2012. Curious minds can check out the live-action trailer which has already been released to the masses. Undercover cop Wai Shen is shown in action (to the backdrop of a pretty catchy tune) and dispensing members of the Triad with more violence than you can shake a meat cleaver at. Somehow, 'there will be blood' just doesn't seem to cut it. See for yourselves and judge whether or not Square Enix should have let this sleeping dog lie.

Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.

Valentine’s Day, the one day a year everyone is motivated to believe in love more than any other day. A reason to go out and buy massive amounts of heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, silly cards professing misconstrued tingling feelings, and boxes of chalk with messages written on them which to this day I am still uncertain on whether they are meant to be ingested or not. Oh but that isn’t what people want to hear, is it? No no, the concept of romance is near and dear to many of our hearts; gamers included. What better way to showcase the potency of romance in the gaming industry than by commemorating the most memorable relationships born out of love in the games themselves? I’ll answer for you…there IS no better way! So with a mild spoiler alert, and no further ado…

Squall & Rinoa (Final Fantasy VIII) –This story might be overdone by today’s standards, but it is still a sweet reminder of how opening oneself up is not always within our control. Squall was your typical emotionally indifferent teenager with a gunblade who could not only care less about getting romantically involved with anyone, but was rather sucky at it whenever opportunities presented themselves. The dance scene with Rinoa for example; talk about two left feet and no game on the brain. But alas, the more hardships and missions spent with one another slowly began to make Squall realize how rewarding it would be having someone close to him who cared enough about someone who most would have written off as a jerk who was dead inside. It would take an incident drastically putting Rinoa’s life in danger to finally pop the balloon that was pent up with all of the emotions clouding Squall’s heart. Who could forget the arduous trek across the Fisherman’s Horizon bridge with an unconscious Rinoa on the back of a desperate Squall or the scene aboard the Ragnarock to the iconic song “Eyes on Me”. The whole ordeal is topped off at the end of the credits, where we see something we’ve never seen throughout the entirety of the game; Squall smiling.

Vincent, Katherine & Catherine (Catherine) – Nothing is more juicy than an intense love triangle, especially when that love triangle involves a demonic conjuring of a man’s ideal image of the perfect woman. Vincent’s journey is a twisted and nightmarish one, quite literally on the latter part. What starts off as a thirty something’s hesitation on taking the relationship with his long time love Katherine to the next level turns into a spiraling path of self-perceived infidelity with the younger and more exciting Catherine, and illusive manifestations of regret and emotional torment. Through it all however, there is still an odd yet elating light at the end of the tunnel regardless of how the story ends. Choosing either Catherine or Katherine could not be two further ends of the spectrum, and using the game as a method to measure one’s own priorities in a mate is an interesting way of experiencing the game. With so much to relate to no matter what your romantic history might be, many images and scenarios will no doubt be burnt into the minds of many gamers who were lucky enough to pick this one off the shelves.

Scott & Ramona (Scott Pilgrim vs. The World) – Many of us are familiar with the story from the manga or the movie, but Scott Pilgrim vs. The World was released as an old school style beat-em-up game for xbox live/PSN as well. Talk about overcoming the odds to prove you deserve to be with somebody. Not many people would fight a potential girlfriend’s seven evil exes in order to be with them. Scott had to fight a Bollywood reject with mystical powers and demon hipster chick minions, a meathead actor/skateboarder, an idiotic vegan with telekinetic powers, a bifurious kunoichi, twin Japanese DJs, and a douchebag record label producer just to get with the girl of his dreams. Worth it? Well, if you’re alternate was an impossibly adorable Chinese high school girl, and that’s not your thing…then I guess yes!

Jackie & Jenny (The Darkness) – The Darkness may only have two games out but a large part of the story surrounds the love between Mafioso main character Jackie Estacado and his girlfriend Jenny. While the closeness between the two is apparent in the first game, The Darkness II showcases an incredibly touching and heartrending insight into the past of their relationship long before the events of The Darkness. Jackie’s refusal to believe that Jenny is truly gone mixed with the illusions of their time together creates images that even those who have not played The Darkness can grasp and appreciate. Flashback scenes at the carnival where Jenny confesses her love for the first time, or Jackie recalling the way she used to sneak them into places because they were broke, or how she never left his side when he was hospitalized after getting jumped all contribute to manifesting Jackie’s desire to save Jenny’s soul into our desire to see it as well. Very few games these days, especially first person-shooters, can bring a tragic love story to life the way The Darkness II has. Of course the story has yet to truly come to a conclusion, but we’ll stop the spoiler train in its tracks there for now. Now go get yourselves a cannoli yous mugs.

FemShep & Liara (Mass Effect) – Mass Effect was a revolutionary game for many reasons, one in particular giving players the choice to engage in a same-sex intercourse. Not only this, but one of the characters whose sexy space pants you could get into whether you played a male or female character was the Asari companion Liara T’soni. It’s a pretty safe assumption that the majority of gamers who played Mass Effect are males, and seriously even if it isn’t their primary game progress…what male gamer wouldn’t put in the effort into playing through with a female Shepard just to take advantage of being able to sleep with a hot alien chick? Oh yeah, did I mention not only is there girl on girl action going on here, but its interspecies girl on girl action! And I’m not talking about sci-fi donkey shows. Bedding an alien was buzz worthy enough by itself, but throw in a second pair of space suit puppies and you have yourself quite a memorable scene.

Link & Princess Zelda (The Legend of Zelda – Who says a little woodland elf can’t get any love? Well, I suppose nobody actually said that…but you were all thinking it. It’s a sentiment that Zelda might resent. The Legend of Zelda series stands right next to Mario as one of Nintendo’s most significant creations, and like his Italian counterpart Link has been pursuing everlasting love with his very own blonde haired princess. Though LoZ has seen more of a variety in storyline, Zelda is usually involved one way or another; even if it’s going into super androgynous ninja mode to help out her love on the battlefield. Zelda did always strike me as the freakier princess; not like that prude Peach. Link and Zelda have been star crossed lovers through many ages, many worlds, and some freaky looking moons.

Mario & Princess Peach (Super Mario Bros.) – Arguably the most significant pairing in all the world of gaming. Ever since the very first Super Mario Bros. title everyone’s favorite Italian plumber has been rescuing the princess from Bowser’s seemingly endless amount of castles. Where he gets the permits and money to build all these damn things is anyone’s guess, hell of an economy the Mushroom Kingdom must have, but I digress. The definition of a timeless tale with a timeless love, Nintendo’s flagship franchise always finds a way to create more and more titles based upon the same exact premise and still maintain a sense of anticipation and fun. Not to mention the dedication and patience Mario has constantly continuing his search upon finding out he’s stormed the wrong castle. Many of us would have shot Toad in the head, cooked him, fed him to some dogs, and gone on to catch another fish in the proverbial sea rather than jump from location to location putting our life on the line. I mean come on, that dress is so 27 years ago.

Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.

Dark Souls was released on October 4th 2011 to an even split between gushing acclaim and unprintable expletives by gamers and critics alike.  Our own site gave it nearly universal accolades for its brutal skill based game-play, oppressive atmosphere and unique on-line multiplayer and it was a personal Game of the Year for more than one member of the editorial staff. Nearly a month later a little game called Skyrim was released and shortly thereafter the likes of Arkham City, Skyward Sword, Uncharted 3 and Assassin’s Creed: Revelations served up an overabundance of RPG and or adventure goodness that most are still wading through well into the new year. Some never once looked away from Dark Souls, while others put it aside to move onto brighter, more user friendly pastures. For those who have gone astray, it is worth wading back in, but be warned, the color of this Dark Soul has changed in some notable ways.

Dark Souls, unlike some of 2011’s other heavy hitters with the exception of maybe Skyrim, was built to have legs.  Like Demon Souls before it, Dark Souls is not the type of game that is easily put back on the shelf after one play through and, in fact, should not be. It can be argued that seeing the ending of Dark Souls is merely the end of the beginning. An endless cycle of New Game Plus with both increasing difficulty and rewards entices multiple runs, and the allure of PvP and the community that has sprung up around it to share builds, strategies and throw down gauntlets to one another, will likely keep Dark Souls fresh well into 2013, if not beyond.

Early adopters in October experienced the rush of the unknown… the struggle to understand the significance of game mechanics such as humanity, the intricacies of the many covenants, to work out the determinants of the many NPCs paths through the game. The early days of Dark Souls was an exciting time for gamers and message boards and it should be mentioned that Demon’s/Darks Souls has one of the more tightly knit online communities, a community characterized by a dual nature: one moment they are engaged in a co-operative boss battle to help one another progress through the campaign, and the next they are invading one another’s world to stab another player in the back and rob him of hard fought souls and humanity.

On November 22 2011, From Software released the game’s first patch which brought with it a number of balances that sparked some controversy at the time. Some of the central attributes, weapons or accessories of many builds were nerfed while others were buffed. Weapon scales changed, souls and humanity are in slightly more abundance now that they are given up by certain enemies and bosses who did not previously relinquish them, and certain broken items that were easily abused in PvP were put in their rightful place (I’m looking at you, Ring of Fog). Taken together, the collective result of the developer’s patch was a very slightly more user friendly game which certainly resulted in a self-satisfied population of gamers who bragged of beating the game’s original incarnation; the Dark Souls equivalent of “when I was a boy, I had to walk to school uphill both ways in bare feet in the snow" – which I did, by the way.

So given the organic, always mutating nature of the Dark Souls experience, the question is what is the game like four months later? We recently booked a seat on the first Lordran-bound dragon out of Skyrim and returned to this beautifully depraved world to find out.

It is immediately apparent that this is a more hostile world than the one we left a few brief months ago and, not simply because we are playing New Game Plus.  For the most part, this is the result of a noticeable increase in malevolent invasions by other players. It is difficult to remain in human form for more than a few moments without seeing that anxiety-inducing message informing you that another player is now hunting you. Indeed, the bright atmosphere of co-operation that was so prevalent in the early days of Dark Souls has slowly darkened to one of competition. This is certainly understandable but also somewhat lamentable. It is likely the result of the fact that the majority of the Dark Souls community have long since completed one or more solo runs through the game’s single player campaign. Much like (I shudder to make the blasphemous comparison) modern FPS games, however, it is the competitive multiplayer that gives a good game its longevity long after the campaign has closed and this is proving increasingly true of Dark Souls. While this shift in focus for the game’s online play is not inherently a bad thing, it does make the game a more imposing world for those who seek only to progress through the stages, bosses, and work towards the finale. Noobs be warned, the world you enter is an unforgiving place and your peers are likewise. Even co-operative boss battles, though possible to coordinate with patience (and a large reserve of humanity), seem to be harder to come by and summoning one or two partners inevitably results in a showdown between the three of you and an invading player before you make it to that boss fight. The upside of the scarcity of effective co-op is that you may find that your necessary persistence will result in the satisfaction of a solo victory over that boss you thought was impossible. (Our solo takedown of NG+ Ornstein and Smough was what legends are made of…)

We can confirm that yes, the patch has changed the game in many ways, some good, others less so. The reliably over-powered crystal ring shield that got so many of us through the most difficult boss fights four months ago is resigned to a neutered item taking up space in your inventory. Pyromancy was not struck so far down, but is noticeably less powered than before. This certainly has its rightful detractors as pyromancy is a core build that many focused on leveling these past few months. Indeed, our own primary character was gifted in the arts of pyromancy which carried us through our first game in October, so we now found ourselves relying much more on melee to supplement the weakened fire arts in order to progress through the game. This certainly begat a more diverse, and close style of play which is not a bad thing for a game.

It is also worth mentioning that membership in the games covenants has resulted in a more defined community than was apparent initially. In line with the above, it is the covenants that are central to PvP combat that are rising to the top (the Darkwraiths, Forest Hunters, Gravelords, Dragon), while the covenants that serve as devices for the campaign (Chaos Servant), or co-operative play (Praise the Sun!) are less popular on the message boards and in-game.

Overall, the state of the Dark Souls union four months later is still an excellent one. Those of us who have been with the game since the beginning may gripe about certain changes, but we nevertheless had just as much fun with our new game plus play through this week as we did in discovering the world in October. There is certainly nothing to discourage the curious from entering the world for the first time. The sum total of its changes, both those imposed by the developer and those that resulted from the shifting interests of the community, is that it is no more or less forgiving now than it was in its early days, and that is a high compliment. It is with eager anticipation that we wait to see what shade of color this Dark Soul might be come its birthday this October, the next, and the many following.

Post contributed by Justin Belin. Questions for the author? Send an email to Justbelin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BitsofBelin.

With so many rumors and she-said he-said, word of mouth circulating the internet recently on Microsoft's inevitable new console release, there have certainly been quite a few speculations causing an uproar that could very well be validated in due time. Even the console's name, the "Xbox 720" as many refer to it, is an uncertainty. It reminds us that all we really have to go on is pure conjecture, and not a single rumor – not even the supposed name – may turn out to be true in the end. Either way, the only thing that we can be certain of is that the next generation of gaming is indeed nearing its inception with the Wii-U and Playstion Vita having being revealed, and Microsoft will not be too far behind.

The sheer power of Microsoft’s new system is the most probable bit of information that has been circulating the web. The console will likely once again outperform its Nintendo counterpart – no real surprise there – in nearly every technical spec despite both systems featuring full 1080p capabilities. The “Xbox 720” it seems will play nice with all of you Blu-ray collectors out there, albeit a little late to the party considering the PlayStation 3 has been on that ship for a since it first sailed into gamers homes five years ago. With there being no dispute over the culturally accepted form of HD at this point, it would be foolish to think Microsoft wouldn’t include a Blu-ray player, that is of course unless Microsoft intends on inventing a new high-definition format. Well, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here.

The graphics card is expected to see a massive improvement over the 360, once again a proverbial no-brainer. The only question is just how powerful is the new console's processor going to be. Well, how about as powerful as an AMD Radeon 6000 series chipset which will offer DirectX 11, multi-display and full 3D capability? According to sources, such technology is already expected to be mass-produced by the end of this year. Should there be any stock in this rumor, it would be rather disappointing to know that by the time a potential release date for the "720" is set, AMD will have a full line of 8000 series chipsets on the market. This will make this supposed next-gen technology hit the ground limping being behind the newest tech out at that point in time. We can only hope that will be taken into consideration in the current/future stages of production.

Lastly, there remains the most controversial rumor of the bunch – the idea that the “Xbox 720” may not accept used games. How any company would actually go about doing this without the usage of activation codes is anyone’s guess. And if that's how Microsoft intends on handling things, it will take quite an effort with contacting and consorting with third-party developers to hop on board with what would be a full on assault on second-hand licenses everywhere. Microsoft's intention however may be to only put a leash on its first-party titles which would be much more believable; every Microsoft Studios title that comes out may very well come packaged with an activation code of some kind. Of course, any truth to this rumor notwithstanding, the very idea would prove to be a fatal blow in the ongoing war on second-hand games and would have ramifications far beyond Microsoft's understanding. GameStop for example, with over 80% of the second-hand market share, would undoubtedly crumble if the full-fledged scenario ever came to fruition.

The Games Abyss staff is as intrigued as ever over Microsoft's new console, though mainly for the idea of what games its next generation hardware will bring.  Regardless of what ends up being true, Microsoft is certain to deliver a satisfying and worthwhile piece of technology for the time (which isn't necessarily the same as giving gamers everything needed for an optimal experience right out of the box). Hopefully during any number of 2012's high profile gaming conventions Microsoft will set the record straight and give its much speculated console a proper unveiling. At the very least it would clear the internet of all this "720" nonsense.

Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.

Perfect.

I want you to pay close attention to this particular word; I’ll be using it quite a bit during this review.

On the surface, Mutant Mudds resembles a long-lost 8/16-bit title, what with its sprite-based graphics and its chiptune soundtrack composed of the bleeps and bloops gamers of that era (present company included) are so completely gaga over. And for a moment it appears to be just that. But after a stage or two of this delightful 3DS title, I began to realize that Mutant Mudds is so much more retro-inspired than in appearance and gameplay alone, and is a perfect example of what is missing from the videogame industry.

Without so much as a second glance, you might think that this latest from Renegade Kid, the talented bunch of developers behind Moon, the Dementium series, and ATV Wild Ride, is simply trying to capitalize on the prevalent videogames of the late 80's/early 90’s. After all, if it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck – well, you get the point.

The game's introduction, a text-less series of scenes depicting protagonist Max and his Grannie watching the telly as a meteor with an army of Mutant Mudds clinging to it is seen hurdling towards the earth, is just about as throwback as it gets. Gameplay is appropriately nostalgic, a straightforward, 2D side-scrolling platformer cut from the same cloth as Super Mario Bros. And its main objective is suitably retro, eradicate  the alien invaders by collecting the shiny objects known as Water Sprites, the only item powerful enough wipe out the Mutant Mudds for good.

The game’s basic premise spans across five levels, each of which consist of four stages making for a combined total of 20 main areas to explore. Within each stage, players may also stumble across an enigmatic door that leads to either the G-World or V-World, secret sub-stages that by no accident borrow the monochromatic color scheme of titles that once appeared on Nintendo’s Game Boy and Virtual Boy (seriously) devices, respectively.

As Max, players can jump, hover for a short period of time courtesy of a handy little jetpack, and can obliterate the mud-based menace with a Super Soaker-like rifle that shoots gobs of water. Mutant Mudds also takes advantage of the 3DS' capabilities and allows Max to leap into the foreground and background, opening up new paths and doing a damn fine job of creating a very nifty 3-Dimensional effect. It’s doubly impressive considering that the titular Mudds make use of this gimmick as well as Thwomp-ish Mudds (told you it was like Super Mario Bros.) leap in and out of Max’s path. Fortunately for players, Max handles with perfect controls and is able to move with the ease and accuracy of any of gaming’s greatest 2D side-scrollers, better perhaps.

You might be wondering how a game that so brazenly immerses itself (well, aside from the 3D aspects) in the visual and technical limitations of the 8/16-bit era could possibly be worth taking a second glace at. Through its perfect design, that’s how.

Videogames of the late 80's/early 90’s couldn’t exactly hide their flaws behind Hollywood-like production values as the majority of games do today. If a videogame was inherently bad or broken, chances are you could point it out in a matter seconds (see Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). As such, developers had to not only think of ways around their relatively smaller budgets, but also around the limitations of the gaming hardware at the time. Simply put, a game’s success hinged entirely on its design, such as its layout and enemy placement. And it is this element that not only makes Mutant Mudds definitively ‘retro’, but ultimately perfect.

Renegade Kid could have easily done as little as possible, and released a title that looked and played like something out of an 8/16-bit fantasy; you jump and shoot, a lot, and good times are generally had by all. But what elevates Mutant Mudds from an okay 2D platforming experience to an instant classic is how perfect its design is. Disappearing platforms, death spikes, lava pits, icy terrain, and enemies, are all masterfully placed to create one of the genre’s most satisfying titles. Everything is arranged in such a way that you can’t exactly rush through it – even though each stage’s ticking clock does little to dissuade reckless behavior. It demands patience and – gasp – strategy to see this adorable adventure through until the very end. It makes you stop and take in the layout of each level, makes you second guess every move you make, and surprise, surprise, manages to be a hell of a lot of from start to finish, as well as challenging.

Yes, gamers, challenging. I know that isn't something you hear a lot about these days what with how notoriously easy mainstream gaming has become, but take heed when I say this:  Mutant Mudds will push you to the brink of insanity. Granted the game does feature three possible upgrades: an ungraded rifle which increases the range of your bullets, an upgraded jetpack which increases the duration of your hover time, and lastly a jetpack modifier which allows you to perform a vertical boost. But these only add to strategy as you now have to consider which upgrades to take with you – that’s right, you can only equip one of the three at any given time. Perhaps a level has more spaced-out platforms. Maybe another has a series of high ledges to traverse. Figuring out which upgrade to take along is all part of the fun, and the undeniable frustration.

Okay, maybe the word frustration is a bit harsh but honestly, I don’t think I have ever cursed this much during a videogame since Super Meat Boy – no, since Battletoads. And it isn’t as if I can fault the game for any of my own shortcomings, mind you. Like I said, Renegade Kid went out of its way to make Mutant Mudds as painfully old-school as possible. It is a brilliant reminder that a game can still present a seemingly insurmountable challenge, and not because it was a product of bad design, but because its developers set out to emulate the golden age of gaming, when design mattered and it wasn't the game that was holding you back, it was you. The good news however is when it's all over, it leaves you with such a grand feeling of accomplishment it's practically intoxicating.

Nostalgia is a powerful thing, gamers. With Mutant Mudds, Renegade Kid has crafted the definitive platformer. If you own a 3Ds, you owe to yourself to download this title, the very best Nintendo's eShop has to offer.

Fun Factor: You don’t realize this yet but Mutant Mudds is the reason why you’ll end up owning a 3DS.

Difficulty: Nintendo generation needn’t worry too much; this is the platformer you have been training for your entire life. As for the newer generation of gamers, try not to break your 3DS.

Length: If you are anything like me and you absolutely have to have every single Water Sprite, 6-8 hours.

On the Negative Side: When I said 'perfect', I meant it in every sense of the word; Mutant Mudds is perfect.

Bang for your Buck: With 40 stages, 20 of which are hidden, and 40 Water Sprites to collect, Mutant Mudds offers a whole lot more that what you would expect from an $8.99 digital download.

With any great year in gaming, there are always those oh so memorable moments that instantly come to mind when thinking about our favorite releases. Nothing inspires moments of “Hey…remember (insert game here), that (insert moment here) was insane!” quite like a good boss battle; for applicable games of course. What makes a truly “good” boss battle you may wonder? We should consider not only how challenging they are, but how significant, original, and just plain fun they are as well. Each apex antagonist on this list is memorable in his or her own way and truly represent 2011 well as the top ass kickers of gamers everywhere.

Dragons – Skyrim

Nothing says epic quite like battling a dragon. Skyrim throws dragons at you like a horde of locusts, and each time one descends upon you ready to tear you limb from limb or burn your flesh from your body it feels like you’re in for a battle of a lifetime. Aside from the named dragons you’ll face throughout the main story, random dragons flying across the map may not seem like the traditional sense of a boss battle, but each one takes a fair amount of dedication to battle seeing as how fast travel is not possible with a dragon in the vicinity and outrunning them is a much more challenging task than facing it face to face. Even the music that plays during a dragon attack represents well the epic feel of the ancient showdown of man vs. myth. Depending on what character class you choose, these battles can range from manageable to challenging. The preparation period before fast travelling or even leaving a major city becomes centered around whether or not you’ll end up facing a dragon, whether it’s clearing out your inventory so you can carry the bones and scales you claim after a successful slaying, or ensuring you have enough protection from fire or frost with an ample amount of healing potions.

R’as Al’ghul – Batman: Arkham City

Between the ephemeral dreamlike trials you go through in order to prove you are worthy of taking the place of R’as himself and the actual showdown itself, the battle with the master of the lazarus pits is one of the more creative ones of the year. The battle is fought in stages, each with a definitive pattern on how to defeat it and move on to the next part. First you must take on a throng of Al’ghul clones with the real one somewhere in the mix. Only upon defeating the real deal, R’as will morph his visage into a giant form and protect himself with stone and sand statues encircling him with only a small opening. While dodging massive projectile attacks meant to keep the dark knight constantly on the move and dodging for his life (somewhat reminiscent of the Ice Titan boss from Castlevania: LOS), you must shoot enough quick-fire electrical charges into the opening and cause enough damage to go into the last part of the pattern which is a counter-fest in which a single missed button press will be punishable. The battle is not terribly difficult, but constantly keeps you aware and on the move.

Asylum Demon – Dark Souls

The purpose of this opening boss battle in Dark Souls is fairly simple; show the player that they aren’t in for some cakewalk of an experience and that they will get their asses kicked on the regular. Where most games will throw an easy first boss at you just to get you into the mix of things and get the story moving, The Asylum Demon is pretty much hell-bent on destroying you like you stole something. Taking a single hit from this monstrosity takes out nearly a third of your life and there isn’t a whole lot you can do to damage it anywhere near as considerably. Should you decide to take it on head to head, victory is possible with the right combination of tactics. Merely facing this challenge literally minutes into the game however will test your will to the point of deciding whether you want to even continue playing the game or not. Being indicative of what lies ahead for the greater part of the game, this battle is possibly one of the most significant ones of the year.

Catherine – Catherine

It may seem pretty odd that anything from Catherine would be on a list honoring the most noteworthy boss battles. This is part of the beauty that is Atlus’s incredibly poignant hybrid game. Each nightmare level has its own boss at the end that pursues you from the bottom forcing you to add a greater sense of haste to your already intricate climb. In the Cathedral level, that boss is a warped undead like version of the blond bombshell herself, Catherine. What makes this boss so different from the others however doesn’t necessarily have to do with the boss herself, but the manner in which the puzzle she accommodates must be played. Not only must you  race against time as usual, but you must climb the block puzzle accompanied by Katherine, Vincent’s initial love interest. Now not only can you be killed by Catherine should you fall too far behind or find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time, but you fail the stage if Katherine is killed as well. There is much caution to be exercised here in terms of when to command her to follow or stop in order to prevent death. The Cathedral may not be the hardest puzzle in the game, but its conditions make it the most interesting and challenging.

The Beast – InFamous 2

There are two ways to tackle the final battle of InFamous 2, and both are quite exciting and unique. To put the frosting on the cake of your choice to be benevolent or evil you can either destroy New Marais alongside The Beast in order to make the world a better place for conduits, or you can fight in order to abolish the power of the conduits in favor of humanity’s survival. The path to defeating the Beast takes you from sea to land while trying to cause enough damage before being able to fully charge the RFI device. The battle features breaks in between combat for some emotional story devices which add much more depth to the crisis at hand. Choosing to embrace your conduit powers however will allow you to run amok in the city slaughtering everything in sight alongside The Beast. Not too many games out there that would allow gamers to forgo a tough final boss battle in favor of pure unadulterated mayhem. Regardless of the choice you make, this is arguably the most fun of the battles on this list.

Knight Commander Meredith – Dragon Age II

Last but not least we come to arguably the hardest battle on this list. Say what you will about Dragon Age II as a game (because personally, I loved it!) but this is difficult with a taste of classic values well at work. There are no real gimmicks with how the battle must be fought or any kind of futuristic supernatural intrigue, it’s a good old swords, shields, and magic ass kicking. Meredith just hits like a damn boss, and has an army of magic fueled minions to fight alongside her while you have your companions do the same. This battle is all about being prepared for a lengthy in the fray slugfest, and forces you to be outfitted in the most optimal way. Who you choose to directly accompany you in the main party is also crucial as you may find yourself controlling these characters for moments in the battle should Hawke fall, or even if you have some kind of strategy worked out involving the AI. No matter how ready you think you are though, chances are good you’ll be going through this one a few times before finally besting the head Paladin.

There is much to be expected from this year’s most anticipated releases, especially surrounding the potential for really memorable boss battles. Last year delivered some impressive standards, it’s hard not to wonder what kind of battles games like Mass Effect 3, Bioshock Infinite, Tomb Raider and The Last Guardian will offer. All I know is I’m already looking forward to writing next year’s edition!

Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.

2011 was easily one of the most packed and unprecedented years in gaming history, as you’ve no doubt heard all of us here at Games Abyss reiterate time and time again. The big game of the year candidates are without a doubt the highlights of the year, but that’s hardly where the noteworthy gems began and ended. There were quite a few titles which during any other year could have possibly dominated the scene, especially considering the legacy of select releases. Center stage spotlight was not to be had in the illustrious year of 2011 however for these fan favorites; the overwhelming quality and quantity of masterful titles such as Batman: Arkham City, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, and Skyrim just to name a few saw to that. So which games am I alluding to exactly? Let’s give them a little bit of the spotlight right now shall we?

Assassins Creed Revelations – Assassins Creed as a series achieves something very difficult to do in the gaming universe; it has become an expected annual release and despite such a short time for production and perfecting it continually turns out to be a fantastic game year after year. There may be little difference in the core aspects between each game, but the latest installments always have a way of enhancing the successful formula and making the story just as gripping and the gameplay just as exciting. Revelations is no exception to this pattern. The story here is even more involving than its predecessors and harbor the most notable sense of epic scale with Ezio and Altair’s era coming to a close. Gameplay is once again tweaked for the better with the ability to access primary and secondary weapons for more variety in combat. Even multiplayer has seen an upgrade with more gameplay modes and a smoother execution online for uninterrupted slaying of our fellow man. AC:R is one of the strongest entries into the series and arguably has the most significant legacy of all the games on this list. Normally one of the most anticipated releases of the year, Ezio and Altair’s joint operation was negatively affected mostly by being lost in the confusion of the enormous Q4 assault. Despite this, it is worth a play through for any true fan of the series.

L.A. Noire – No game is a greater example of how much 2011 demanded perfection. Rockstar has 2 game of the year winners in recent memory with Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto IV, yet L.A. Noire did not do enough to even constitute a rightful nomination let alone a triumph. This gritty mature title may not have been the most groundbreaking presentation, but it achieved a great deal by showing that the high road can be taken by putting gamers in the role of the law and still be as fun to play as a GTA. For the first six months of the year L.A. Noire could easily have been considered the frontrunner for game of the year with its detailed and intuitive investigation system, impressively realistic character design and voice acting, and uncensored in-your-face story telling. Cole Phelps and company dominated the first half of the year along with Portal 2 and InFamous 2, but could not maintain enough momentum into the second half to hang with the other heavy hitters.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – With shades of so many different titles in one, Deus Ex turned a mash up of elements into its very own formula which stays consistent throughout the entirety of the game. There is stealth gameplay, there is running and gunning, there are strong RPG elements surrounding choice and character customization, there is a solid soundtrack with some psychedelic beats, and there is an imperfect yet charming aura that borders Deus Ex right in between mainstream hit and cult purist darling. As probably the least played game on the list, its inclusion might bewilder some people; rest assure however that Eidos Montreal has definitely delivered a successful hybrid title which nips at the heels of every game of the year candidate. Deus Ex benefits from having been released during a relatively uneventful 2011 summer, but the anticipation of the following months was too much to weather.

Dead Space 2 – Who could forget the game that your mother hates? Yeah questionable marketing ploy aside, Dead Space 2 was one of the first releases of 2011 and it was a hell of a way to start things off. Perhaps Visceral’s big sequel wasn’t as impactful or purely creepy as its predecessor, but Issac Clarke reminded us once again all that survival horror is not dead. No game kept us on the edge of our seat quite like this one in the first half of the year and it has never been more satisfying dismembering necromorphs with the addition of devastating and fun new weapons and a more brutal and seasoned Issac Clarke. Dead Space 2 arguably had the largest obstacle to overcome in being a quarter 1 release. The last game to have maintained a strong enough sense of significance to justify a GOTY nod was Mass Effect 2; unfortunately the onslaught of the 2011 elite would not allow the same honor to the popular sci-fi horror.

These games can hardly be labeled as unappreciated or even underrated, they are top level titles that suffered only from being outdone by the year’s most remarkable releases. Each one still contributes to the overall success of last year’s flow; without a doubt now is indeed a fortunate time to be a gamer with so many quality titles. If these games represent the second tier of 2011, 2012 has a steep task ahead of itself to present a comparable offering.

Post contributed by Matt J. Randisi. Questions for the author? Send an email to Mjrandisi@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SaveUsMatt.

At Games Abyss we are still playing catch up with the games of 2011’s unparalleled fourth quarter. Skryim is never motionless for long in our trays and whether it’s the lengthy quest of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, New Game + + + on Dark Souls or Batman: Arkham City, for that matter, or the endless playtime provided by the multiplayer suites of Modern Warfare 3, Uncharted 3 and Battlefied 3, there is still much left to be done in these final hours of one of the greatest years in gaming history. But as we welcome the new year with open arms and sweaty controllers, we must stop to contemplate how we can make 2012 another exciting year for a gamer. Without further adieu, we present Games Abyss Five New Year’s Gaming Resolutions for 2012.

We Resolve to Play More Multiplayer

It seems like the end of 2011 was jam packed with quality single player campaign after single player campaign. With the likes of Skyrim, Dark Souls, Skyward Sword and Arkham City dominating the fall and winter, it was easy to let that old wireless headset remain uncharged for weeks at a time. Certainly 2011 saw multiplayer shoe-horned into single player games where it was never needed or asked for (Dead Space 2 anyone?) and we remain skeptical about this year’s implementation of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. However, epic single player games like Uncharted 3, Gears 3 and Modern Warfare 3 each boast robust multiplayer components. All too frequently, however, we put the disc back in its jewel box  as soon as the credits roll on the single player campaign. But whatever your poison, be it simple team death-match or any one of the multiple permutations of horde mode (Spec Ops Survival FTW), its truly the online multiplayer that gives these games their legs and their true value for your 60 bucks. In the coming year, we promise not to put games away simply because we have seen the climactic ending cinematic on the single player campaign. Developers work long and hard on balancing the multiplayer modes for our enjoyment and we promise to hold up our end of the bargain and simply enjoy their work. Not to mention, the days of solitary gaming are a thing of the past. Thanks to the on-line revolution, gaming is now as social as a friendly pick up game of  basketball (and with similar language). Now if you excuse me, I never did try the co-op campaign of Portal 2…

We Resolve to Play More Indie Games on PSN/XBLA:

A game like Bastion cannot hope but to compete with the likes of Modern Warfare 3. And in some ways, that’s a damn shame. We know well what a development team measured in the hundreds of employees can pull off. Look no further than Naughty Dog’s resume for proof of that. However, some of the most creative work in game development is accomplished by a small number of minimally funded visionaries and can be experienced right now in your friendly neighborhood PSN or Xbox Live Arcade. Now that we have a lull between major AAA titles coming our way, we vow to not let the little developers’ work go unnoticed. Whether it’s the aforementioned Bastion, Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet, Orcs Must Die!, BloodRayne: Betrayal or any number of the whimsical recent downloadable releases from Double Fine, let’s give these brave indy developers a moment in the sun this year.  (And if you have never played Limbo, you aren’t a real gamer, just sayin’) Even better, most can be enjoyed for a fraction of the price of a full retail release so our sagging credit cards will appreciate the time to recover. In addition to the libraries of small indy games already available right now, 2012 will likely see the release of the eagerly awaited Journey, or The Witness, the next work from Jonathan Blow who is responsible for Braid, one of the earliest and best examples of quality indy software. Oh and there is always the granddaddy of indy success stories in the form of Minecraft (we hereby deny responsibility for the loss of your free time). Games Abyss eagerly await these and more and resolve to give each their due.

We Resolve to Consider Playing Games on Nontraditional Portable Devices (Read: iPhone)

Well, in 2011 hardcore gamers closed our eyes and ears and shook our heads and made loud noises and hoped that iOS and social gaming would go away. Well, we have opened our eyes in 2012 and not only has it not gone away, but its bigger than ever before. While we still reserve the right to curb stomp anyone who calls FarmVille a videogame and will be sending mail bombs to the next person whose Mafia Wars progress shows up in our facebook feeds, we have to acknowledge that somewhere along the line iOS gaming became (gasp!) legitimate. I’m sitting here next to the shiny new ipad that Santa gave me for Christmas and I’m looking at you, Infinity Blade 2. While we all have dabbled in Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies on our phones for years, we stuck to our console and PC-centric guns for all of our major gaming fixes. Maybe its time we acknowledge that portable gaming is not just confined to a 3DS and a PSP. This past year saw the release of a fairly decent Dead Space for iOS, Grand Theft Auto 3 has just come to your favorite portable device and Epic Studio of Infinity Blade fame (the same boys who bring Gears home to your consoles) seem to be taking this platform pretty seriously so maybe we should too.  And hey, if nothing else, I always did want to play the Secret of Monkey Island while commuting on the subway and now I can.

Finish Up Those Games That 2011 Forgot

The first quarter of the new year is looking to have a few heavy hitters but a lot of downtime as well and that is precisely the opportunity we need to truly appreciate what 2011 gave us. While we patiently wait for Diablo 3 and Mass Effect 3 (what is it with 3’s these days?), let us all look back at our libraries and revisit worlds that we left prematurely. Maybe take another run through Deus Ex: Human Revolution in full on assault mode instead of stealth (or vice versa, depending upon your prior inclination). Find the rest of those elusive Riddler trophies in Arkham City, invade a few other players’ worlds in Dark Souls or try out higher difficulty settings in Uncharted or Gears (and def co-op if you got it).  Most major releases have DLC which can extend our playtime and let us revisit for a few hours worlds we enjoyed so much, Not to mention, there are still another four or five endings in Catherine waiting for us if we can just bring ourself to side with the domestic Katherine instead of that hot piece of ass Catherine. Eh, who are we kidding, we’ll never see those endings….

Get Out More

Let’s be honest, 2011 was exhausting for a gamer. It seemed like every time we were just settling into a hot new release, another one came crashing into our local game store and we just had to have it. As evidenced by our pasty white skin, the newly paunchy bellies, the pile of empty pizza boxes and beer bottles, not to mention the angry friends and loved ones, we didn’t exactly have a chance to get out much in the last few months and be part of the living, breathing world. Being a gamer is something that we are proud of but we need to always remember to be healthy, functional members of society lest we perpetuate a negative stereotype most of us do not even represent. In 2012, we at Games Abyss vow to make sure we do not neglect the outside world and ourselves. Whether it’s a jog in the park or a trip to the gym, rededicating ourselves to our careers, taking a loved one to dinner and a movie, or making sure to read at least one book for every game we finish, a happy and healthy gamer is a well rounded one.

Well, there you have it. In 2012 when we are not revisiting the best of last year, you will find Games Abyss engaged in online gaming, downloading indie games and DLC, playing on our iphones and ipads and maybe even pumping iron at the gym. We look forward to the new year in gaming and all that it may bring and are so thankful for you, our dear readers. What are your 2012 gaming resolutions?

Post contributed by Justin Belin. Questions for the author? Send an email to Justbelin@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @BitsofBelin.

Ah, Bethesda.  What can be said about Skyrim that hasn’t already been said about 2006’s ultra-powerhouse hit Oblivion? Well as it turns out, quite a lot can be said because the anticipation for the latest Elder Scrolls was met with an astonishing result that despite being tremendously similar to its predecessor, is also remarkably different. Sure we have been graced with memorable titles such as Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas in between the two latest Elder Scrolls installments, but as impressive as both post-apocalyptic titles were neither really managed to come close to recreating the magic Oblivion enchanted gamers with. No other developer was stepping up either to try and capitalize on the incredibly successful formula that was created by Bethesda’s dungeons and dragons inspired epic. It was becoming apparent that the only game that would again deliver us into such an engrossing open-world with endless quests and more ways to create a dark elf than you can shake a wabbajack at would be another Elder Scrolls title. Skyrim is full of reasons to fall in love with the franchise all over again, should you be one of the unlucky ones to not have experienced Oblivion than Skyrim will make you fall in love for the first time.

Skyrim throws us into a familiar setting and a familiar story; only this time instead of merely being a part of past lore, dragons are alive and present and are quite active in the snowy world of the Nords. Being the chief feature that the game’s hype train has been circling, a sense of epicness is apparent from the beginning and is one of the few features that Skyrim really outdoes its predecessor in. Not five minutes into the game (time taken to create a character not withstanding) do you bear witness not only to your first dragon, but the King of the Dragons himself Alduin. Indirectly saving your character from certain death from an imperial headsman’s axe you escape; after a brief tutorial style run-through of the game you are cast out into the world of Skyrim with the same endless limits of the previous Elder Scrolls titles.

Before jumping into anything however, the first big task to conquer is creating your character. There is a tremendous amount of variety in the creation tool, with attributes from cheekbone height to face paint being fully customizable. The primary races of the Elder Scrolls series are back; you can choose from Nord, Breton, Imperial, Dark Elf, High Elf, Wood Elf, Redguard, Argonian, Orc and Khajit. Each race has their own definable features and innate advantages, and a substantial amount of ways to diversify them from one another. Unfortunately the extent of the creation begins and ends with physical appearance; Skyrim does not offer the class designation or primary skill allocation from Oblivion. Instead Bethesda allows players to level up any of the available skills at their leisure, and every skill increase regardless of what players want their character to specialize in contributes to the overall level up. While it does allow more freedom and room for change throughout the progress, it does slightly take away from truly differentiating multiple characters from one another by reasonably limiting them from straying too far outside their specialty. Of course this would only be seen as an issue should you want to create more than one character. The class system was also nice because it actually came into play in Oblivion, influencing people’s opinions about you through comments and willingness to give information. It also made things friendlier for newcomers to the series by making sure they didn’t hinder their growth by spreading out too much; as it is typically more difficult to optimize a character while putting skill points into heavy armor and light armor, or all magic classes simultaneously.

Now that you’ve created your dark elf assassin, orc warrior, or imperial bard or what have you, it is time to step foot onto the soil of the best representation of an open world in any video game, ever. The map of Skyrim defines endless limits better than any of the franchise’s previous maps; it is larger in size, population and amount of locations to discover. For those not familiar with the vastness of the many different worlds Bethesda is used to offering, simply travelling from one city to another, let alone one end of the province to another will result in coming across dozens of content outside of the quest you may be doing at the time. Such occurrences include random world encounters like a group of imperial troops fighting members of the rebel faction known as the stormcloaks, a highwayman attempting to rob you of your gold, or a dark brotherhood assassin making an attempt on your life if you’ve pissed off someone bad enough. There are also a plethora of locations in between any given point A and point B to be discovered and explored; with many of these come additional side quests or miscellaneous objectives and favors to complete for NPCs. Of course to top it off it is possible at any point on the world map to be accosted by a dragon flying overhead. Not even the majority of the great city walls can prevent an attack from happening, so best sharpen your dragon slaying skills quite early.

Every location has its own way of coming alive and adding a feeling of authenticity to the atmosphere. Cities and settlements are bustling with people going about their daily business, whether that is tending their merchant stalls or hunting in the fields outside of the city walls. The inns feel cozy with a touch of sleaziness, sitting around the fire listening to the bard play instruments and sing while patrons around you indulge in drink and make passes at the barmaids. Guards make your business their business especially when they are suspicious of your bounty or the way you look; they will comment on the type of armor you wear or that you look sickly should you have contracted a disease. Mostly, they will just reminisce about those days when they were adventurers too…you know, before they took an arrow to the knee. Caves and ruins are littered with decomposed corpses from failed adventurers past, undead Nords known as draugrs, trolls, disease ridden skeevers, and burly bears who want nothing more than to maul you. Bandits seem a little redundant in their lack of variety, but it never gets tiring wiping them out and leaving their corpses scattered.

The sheer amount of quest are also quite extravagant; Skyrim features two “main” storylines to follow, one dealing with the ongoing civil war; on one side stands the Imperial Legion who began to occupy Skyrim following the high king’s death and the treaty signing that ended the war with the High Elves, on the opposing side are the rebel Stormcloaks who believe their traditional Nord way of life and beliefs are in peril since the province has seen an increase in empire occupation. The other storyline deals with the return of the ancient dragons, why they are here, and of course putting an end to the threat they pose to the land. Even completing both of these stories however would only be scratching the surface of what Skyrim offers as it pertains to content. The amount of side quests in the game is impossible to count, and many are more detailed than simplistic fetch or delivery endeavors. Faction questlines such as the dark brotherhood and thieves guild are detailed, lengthy, and quite rewarding with gold and equipment which cannot be obtained through any other means. It is exceedingly difficult to truly run out of things to do, and even when not actually completing any tasks exploring the nooks and crannies of Skyrim just for the hell of it is a time-consuming yet enjoyable way to spend ones time.

Combat is greatly improved in terms of variation in attacks. Dual wielding weapons and wielding spells in one hand with a weapon in another are possible for the first time. This benefits all types of characters, from the aggressive warrior types to the hybrid magic users; finding the right combination for your character is a major part of the fun. Allocating skill points in a particular school of magic will allow dual wielding magic to be more effective as well, so wizard users rejoice as well! Shouts learned from utilizing dragon souls that have been assimilated can be set to another button altogether so it can be used in conjunction with whatever combination of weapons or spells you desire. This also pertains to any other sort of special power learned throughout the game.

The graphical wonders present in this game are also strongly evident in not only the dragons and character models, but with the world itself. The mountains are so realistic looking and the larger ranges seem thorough and endless. Nothing has been half-assed or phoned in when it comes to the complete image of what something is meant to look like, as if we were there in actuality. Dwemer ruins, daedric statues, and the majority of the major capital cities are particularly well designed. Arguably the most breathtaking of all the sights of Skyrim however can be seen just gazing upward at the night sky and seeing any harmonious clash of stars and northern lights, or even just the clouds in the daytime with birds randomly passing by. Such beauty in detail should be highly commended.

The soundtrack is also exceptionally grasping, from the epic chanting of a good dragon battle to the calming orchestral pieces that accompany a stroll through a city. The voice acting is decent, and the accents believable, though after a while it becomes easy to realize that it seems to be the same seven or eight voice actors doing every NPC in the game. It isn’t terribly bothersome, but a big restricting in its own way. Sound effects from the spells to the clash of a steel weapon against a stone wall are solid and definitive. After a while even the sound of a blacksmith at work at his forge becomes a welcomed melody in itself.

There is very little that can be said about Skyrim in a negative sense, at least very little that can affect the game to the point of disenchantment. What can be said however is a pretty significant issue which has required multiple attempts at fixing already through patches. I speak of course of the myriad of glitches that plague the game. This was to be expected, as none of Bethesda’s big open world games of the past have ever been glitch free. In fact, they probably suffered from more glitches than a couple of months’ worth of games combined. Most are menial graphical hiccups like a backwards weapon or a missing design feature, but others tend to be more malignant. Game freezes are not uncommon on the Xbox or PS3, even if relatively infrequent. Backwards flying dragons are one of the worst because while the visuals are hilarious, these dragons don’t attack and never land making fast-travel impossible for the period of times the dragon is close enough to your character. Killing from a far is the only way to best this glitched foe, otherwise you’ll be running an awful long way before finally losing it. The Elder Scrolls have hardly been technically perfect games, but in a way a lot of the smaller non-hindering glitches have become a part of the charisma factor. There are always humorous moments to be found and will always be a memory to bring up later, such as an NPC spazzing out for no reason or a courier delivering a letter to you completely naked. Either way, while the severity and frequency of the glitches may not affect Skyrim harshly enough to dethrone its obvious game of the year qualities in every other aspect, it is what keeps the game from a completely perfect score.

The PS3 Experience (Justin Belin)

At Games Abyss we have put hundreds of hours into Skyrim across all possible platforms. While the above review represents the general experience of Skyrim in its purest form, a thorough review would be remiss not to mention the problems that plague the PS3 version of the game. Depending on who you listen to and what message boards you troll, the frame rate debacle in which Skryim’s frame rate is inversely proportional to the size of your save file (ie. play time) is experienced by a either small vocal minority (as Bethesday maintains) or an angry majority (as the message boards proclaim). Well, we feel justified to comment on the issue as the one ps3 copy amongst our reviewers has been so stricken. With a mere (!) 60 hours on the save file, the game is noticeably choppier than its 360 and PC cousins. Any play time in excess of 1 hour without a reset brings about incredibly frustrating dips which inconvenience everything from combat to simply wandering around towns and the world. The patches up to 1.3 have not effectively addressed the issue for most and Bethesda’s soft recommendations (turn off autosave, don’t drop items in the game world, close doors behind you etc) essentially amount to a small band-aid for a gaping wound. Bethesda has promised to address this issue in a future patch but many question whether it is even fixable given the PS3’s architecture. Which begs the question, did Bethesda know about this seemingly ubiquitous problem prior to release? PS3 gamers are presently faced with the dilemma of either a) playing a broken game and adjusting their play style to accommodate frame rate and freeze issues  b) putting the game back on their shelf to await the hope of a future patch or c) avoiding the game entirely. Either way, at present, the PS3 is clearly the trailing platform in the Skyrim experience. While no gamer, including those who only have a ps3, should miss out on this experience, those who have the option to play on 360 or PC instead should be encouraged to do so.

Fun Factor: Skyrim is a hundred kinds of fun, and it never slows down. Even repeating quests can be enjoyable with a different character with a different approach to interaction and combat. Exploration and discovery are largely satisfying and you just can’t beat the feeling of taking down a dragon.

Difficulty: This will completely depend on the way you fashion your character and the gear he or she uses. Enemies and rewards are leveled with your progress, but it isn’t always a one to one ratio. The game can range from challenging, to pretty difficult. But that is part of the fun, finding out several ways of approaching a certain situation. Save often and keep multiple saves.

Length: Hundreds of hours are possible. Hundreds.

On the Negative Side: Glitches may have you wondering what’s going to go wrong next, but most are not so bad that they will hurt your gameplay - except on the PS3 where it does affect the quality of your experience.

Bang for Your Buck: Simply put, it is conceivable that people will be playing Skyrim up until the point the next Elder Scrolls game comes out. No game is worth the money more than Skyrim is.