E3 is over, time to dissect it. This E3 was a hell of a lot better than last year, it was back to being the mega show we all remembered. Lets start off with the conferences:

Microsoft - This conference set the stage for the overall show we were going to have, you can tell immediately that the surprises and major reveals were back. The show kicked off with Rock Band Beatles, I love the Beatles so I am excited for it but the segment went on for far too long. While it was a major deal having the Beatles on stage, Paul and Ringo looked totally out of place. Quickly it got into the games, well not before a weird Tony Hawk reveal with a terrible skateboard peripheral, who's going to use that. Once they got into their exclusives it was golden. Some truly stunning stage presentations like Splinter Cell, Modern Warfare 2, Halo: ODST, and my favorite new game Shadow Complex. They actually showed Alan Wake, it exists! It might not have been what I expected but it was there. Forza 3 was announced, Crackdown 2, L4D2 and a new Halo, so in terms of new game announcements they did not disappoint. Then came the moment we all expected, Metal Gear was coming to the 360 and we got a crappy teaser of the new Raiden game, I was actually surprised that MGS4 won't be ported. They also covered some new multimedia enhancements, like magic streaming HD movies, looks like MS went to the same magician those OnLive guys visited. Oh that's right, Facebook and Twitter support, yay...

Microsoft then revealed their new controller, Natal. It's impressive tech to be sure, I especially love the voice recognition but I cant see it being applied to the games we normally play like Halo. It looked like a giant mini game peripheral, I am not sure having nothing is better than having something in your hand. Then Peter Monlenuex (sp?) showed off his creepy boy simulation. The demo did blow me away but afterwards reality set in, how much of a real conversation can you have with AI, it's yet to be seen.I don't see any practical use for this stuff yet, they have a lot of work to do to show that this tech can work in actual games. Overall Grade: B

Nintendo -Easily the most improved conference compared to last year, well to be fair Miyamoto could have taken a dump on stage and it would have been improved from last year.Cammy was the first presenter so I already wanted to turn off my TV but she was more serious this time, almost too much. It was like someone replaced last years Cammy with an emotionless robot Cammy, still wondering which one I prefer, probably neither. Why did I spend two sentences on Cammy? (crap now three) Anyway they started by showing New Super Mario Bros. Wii which was better than all the games they showed put together from last year. Clasic 2D Mario with four players on a console, sweet! Next was the Wii motion plus segment showing off Wii Sports Resort, to be honest it wasn't that bad but still boring to watch. Then it all went to hell. I tried to erase the memories, all I recall is that there was some fashion game, women being murdered, and Iwata talking about a vitality censor.

The outcome was looking bleak, there is no way this conference can be saved. Out came Reggie, he has become a far cry from his ass kicking self from years past. Something was different though, Reggie was ready to kick ass and take names, that's when he announced Super Mario Galaxy 2!!!! What!?! There is an actual Galaxy 2! Reggie was not finished though, he then pulled a Team Ninja Metroid game out of his ass, no one saw this one coming! That's how you freaking end a show! If they had Zelda to show at that moment it would have been the perfect trifecta, it would have been legendary. Still two big game trailers is not enough to erase the crap that filled the middle of the conference. Overall Grade: C

Sony - Sony kind of did the same thing they did last year, have a solid conference but some how managed to make it boring. It went on forever, to much blabbering from the suits and the uninterested translator. If they just stuck to the games, of which IMO they had the best lineup of the three, it would have easily been the best conference of the show. The games were stellar, none better than the opening Uncharted 2 demonstration. They had gameplay of Assassin's Creed 2, MAG (boring), Modnation Racers, and ended it with another fantastic demo, GoW3. As with MS they had plenty of new game announcements like The Agent, the aforementioned Modnation Racers, the official unveiling of The Last Guardian and FFXIV which is online but still was a cool annoucement. Sony spent a lot of time on the PSP and for good reason, it has a great lineup. There was a true MGS trailer at this show, filled with Kojima flare and comedy. An announcement of a new Resident Evil for the PSP. Gran Turismo was well represented with the PSP reveal and a glorious new trailer for GT5.

Again like MS they showed off their new motion controller. It borrows heavily from the Wii, it's basically a wiimote with a light bulb on the top. No IR censors, instead it uses the eye toy to keep track of the movements. They showed 1 to 1 motion in a variety of tech demos, again nothing we haven't seen before as Nintendo has this tech coming out this week in stores, but I can see this being applied to actual games rather easily. Like Sony said you need buttons to play games, no amount of body control can ever substitute for buttons. So while the tech is boring, I can see actual games using this next year. Overall not as well put together as MS's conference but I feel a better lineup. Overall Score: B-

EA - This was a great show, they didn't waste any time, it was straight to the games. Great stage demos of Brutal Legend, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age, and the best trailer ever in Star Wars The Old Republic. They had strong guests, great speakers (Peter Moore is a natural), great show. Overall Score: B

Ubisoft - Stop talking!!! OMG Stop! I swear they did not show an actual game until about 40 minutes in. They hired some dude from E! to host, he wasn't bad but he didn't help. James Cameron came on to talk about Avatar the movie and game, he went on for 20 minutes describing the entire movie, while I am very interested in the movie you don't spend that much time talking about it in a game conference. Lots of kid stuff like Imagine and Petz. They had the same stage demos of their games that the other conferences had. Bad. Overall Score: D

Konami - They had Kojima talk about MGS: PW, MGS: Rising, MGS the arcade and Castlevania, what?! Castlevania?! OMG!!!! There was more to the show after that but it was total trash. Overall Score: C-

The Games (this year I will rate the games on a scale of 1 to 5, 5 being I want this game right now! and 1 being I wouldnt play it if it were free)

God of War 3 - Last year a dumb CG trailer, this year a freaking 30 minute demo! Boy it did not disappoint. The action looks similar but the sense of scale is bigger than ever. New gameplay elements were on display, like the riding of a cyclops to break the shields of the enemy. After the most gruesome death I have ever seen in a game, you gain Helios head which will be your light in dark areas. The demo ended with a fantastic flight segment up a wind tunnel. The demo had everything that makes GoW so special, its not just an action game like DMC or NG, its far more than that, the gameplay variety in that demo alone is more than those two games I mentioned. Score - 5

Assassin's Creed 2 - What a demo they had of Assassin's Creed 2. It showed off new stealth moves, better graphics, andbetter combat. The best part was when the producers stated that the mission structure is totally revamped and all of the boring crap from the first game is gone. This game will probably be one of the best games of the year. Score - 4

Modern Warfare 2 - You know what I learned from this game, climbing up mountains in real time is boring. But riding snowmobile's while shooting guys is awesome! It clearly has the same variety of locations and situations that the first game had. You know multiplayer will be excellent. A no brainer. Score - 4

Halo: ODST - I saw the stage demo of this on G4, its cool that its trying to be a more open world FPS. I am sure it will be interesting to play as someone that is no Master Chief and I bet the story will be great. Still it looked like Halo to me, which is not bad but not terribly exciting, I still need to play Halo 3 so maybe that's why I am not feeling it. Score - 3

Super Mario Galaxy 2 - OMG!!!! Its Super Mario Galxy 2!! Yoshi!!! More crazy wildly imaginative levels! New items like the drill top! The first one was the best 3D platformer of all time, this one will even be better. Score - 6

Silent Hill Shattered Memories - They had a nice long demo on this one, strangely I am still wondering how it will all come together. It's one of those games you will just have to play to find out. Having a game where your choices change the outcome is hard to convey in an E3 demo. The action segments were a kind of meh to me. Also the game seemed very slow, the demo had Harry moving from store to store just looking at things, nothing too exciting. The start of SH1 was incredible, this not so much. We shall see, I am still very interested though. Score - 3

Shadow Complex - This is how you do an XBLA game! The geniuses at Epic decided that "hey we love metroid! Specifically 2D Metroid. We can't make Metroid, so lets makes something just like it!" Thank you! It seems to have the Metroid formula firmly intact while giving it a modern world take on it. This game I would buy in a heart beat. Score - 5

Gran Turismo 5 - Look, it's still in development, yay! Best visuals in a racing game by far. It seems to have a full rally racing license as well as Nascar, making it three full games in one. It will have damage, maybe only in those two modes but who knows. Of course it will have online. The trailer showed me all I needed to see, GT5is the one racing game I will need this gen. Score - 4

Metroid: Other M - Team Ninja and Nintendo making Metroid, HUH?! The game looks like its a 2D/3D hybrid, other than that I cant tell much from the trailer. I hope it keeps all the elements that make Metroid Metroid. Too many questions surround this title but I am sure I will get it when it hits. Score - 4

Brutal Legend - I'm not really a metal fan but I like the lore of something like Heavy Metal. This is basically a game based on that and it looks like a ton of fun. Open world action/adventure with an excellent cast and theme. Plus its Tim Schafer. Score - 4

Splinter Cell Conviction - Oh hell yes! No weird hobo Sam, its badass super spy Sam. They are doing cool things with the gunplay, making it very cinematic, almost like a spy movie. The environments seem more open, more ways to tackle a situation is always welcome. I was impressed. Score - 4

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Kojima is trying really hard to get the message across that this is the true sequel to the MGS franchise. Sadly its on the PSP. It looks like MGS3, which is awesome. He says it will play like an MGS game but with the limited controls of the PSP we shall see. There were four Big Bosses, so I assume there is some co-op and one hell of a screwed up story. Because its on PSP I cant care about it that much. Score - 3

Uncharted 2 - A building collapsed in real time as you are in the middle of a firefight, holy ****! That gameplay demo was as impressive as anything shown at the show. The trailer shows a more complex story in terms of the characters, which if you played the first you love. It's Uncharted 1 x 100, with multiplayer (which is awesome btw.) A big time GOTY contender. Score - 5

Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles - RE2 and CV, my two favorite old school RE games together in one game. UC was actually a really good game, very deep for a light gun game, but a tad bit sloppy. Impressions from this game say this one is even sloppier. Watching videos it seems even slower than the first. Not a good showing. Score - 3

Alan Wake - Actual Alan Wake gameplay?! Proof right there that this E3 was great. To be honest I was expecting something different, it was too standard 3rd person action game to me. Again it's just a demo, and there were cool things going on like a floating car, trees being knocked down in the background. I just hope there is a larger focus on puzzles, horror and exploration rather than shooting. Score - 3

Mass Effect 2 - Good lord this game looks amazing. Combat looks more fluid than the first. I heard the first had some issues; hopefully this game fixes that up. I am still dying to play the first and I want the second just as badly. Score - 5

New Super Mario Bros. Wii - 2D mario on consoles once again, sweet! I just hope its more SMB3 rather than SMB1 like NSMB was. Luckily the Koopa kids are back and there seems to be far better level design in this game than the DS version. The question still remains of how well a single player game it is. Score - 4

Scribblenauts - He ****ing traveled through time, grabbed a dinosaur to ride, brought him back to the future so that he can kill the ****ing robot zombies! A game where your imagination is the limit. It remains to be seen how good the puzzles will be but they say you can create and share levels so I expect great things from that. Score - 4

Bayonetta - The demo was crazy, guillotines, iron maidens, giant demon hair monsters being summoned in the middle of battle. Action that makes DMC well cry. There was this huge boss battle, the dude ripped out a bridge and used it as a weapon against you, insane stuff. Bye DMC and NG, a new champ is coming. Score - 5

Ratchet and Clank A Crack in Time - It's ratchet so I am sold already. The demo showed a large world to run around, a larger level than I have ever seen in a Ratchet game. Ratchet now has these boost rocket boots that allow you to zoom around the level. I hear Clank will have his own side to the game as well. I have no doubts that it will be better than the last one. Score - 4

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - A 3D Castlevania that looks good?! It seems like Konami finally put up the money, its visually stunning, has an all star voice cast, its got the polish all other 3D CV games did. The action looks like its heavily borrowed from GoW which is not a bad thing. Plus Kojima is helping. It might be Castlevania only in name though. I still need to see more than just a trailer but I am excited. Score - 4

Batman: Arkham Asylum - I have played the combat demo now I got to watch a demo about the stealth gameplay and I was floored. It's got a splinter cell like feel to it but in the air since Batman uses height to his advantage. There looks to be many ways to get around any one room. Best of all it is Batman, everything about it, especially the voice acting is Batman. Wow. Score - 5

Red Steel 2 - Wow, much improved from the first game, in fact it has nothing to do with the first game. Looks beautiful for a wii game, cell shading is the way to go. Combat looks fun you got the wii motion plus that should make sword fighting more dynamic. Good mix of gunplay with sword play. Looking good. Score - 4

Final Fantasy The Crystal Bearers - I have seen enough of this game to know I want it. Sadly the E3 demo wasn't that great. It showed off some cool scripted moments like flying an airship and riding a chocobo while shooting enemies. But it did not show the normal combat of the game, i wanted to see more of that. So as an E3 showing it wass not so great. Score - 3

Tekken 6 - Its got a full brawler mode, just like Tekken 3, sweet! I love Tekken cause of all the crazy extra stuff they throw into their game. It's a really good fighting engine as well but I am not a fan of their crazy insane dial a combos. But I loved Tekken 3, this looks to follow in that games footsteps, I am interested. Score - 3

Zelda : Spirit Tracks - I still see nothing that shows me that this won't be another stripped down Zelda title. Will I buy it yeah, will it be good yeah, will it be Zelda, no. It's an imposter.The artwork for the next Zeldais more exciting than this. Score - 2

Mafia 2 - I saw a stage demo of this showing an action sequence inside what I think was a winery. Looks like it had GTA4 like combat, slightly better in fact. The story seems to be a far more realistic gangster story. One producer said this game isn't really an open world game, there isn't much to do outside of missions, which is fine as long as those missions are excellent. That remains to be seen. Score - 3

Time for awards:

• Best graphics - Uncharted 2
• Biggest surprise - Metroid Other M
• Best new game announcement - Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Best game you probably missed - Scribblenauts
• Most Innovative - Scirbblenauts
• Most improved sequel - Red Steel 2
• Best new hardware - Project Natal
• Best trailer - Star Wars The Old Republic
• Most embarrassing moment - Women's Murder Club
• Best company showing - Sony (while Nintendo had trailers of their big games, Sony had gameplay. Their lineup interests me more than what MS themselves had)
• Best 360 exclusive game - Shadow Complex
• Best Wii exclusive game - Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Best PS3 exclusive game - Uncharted 2

Overall Game of the Show (had to have a demo) - Uncharted 2 (runner-up God of War 3)

A bit late I know, its been nearly two months so my thoughts are definetly settled on this one.

RESIDENT EVIL 5 REVIEW:

Resident Evil 4 is one of the most highly rated, respected, and loved games to come out in the last 10 years. Since its release in 2005 the series creator and director of RE4, Shinji Mikami, left Capcom leaving this massive franchise in the hands of one Jun Takeuchi. Takeuchi had the monumental task of making a game that could live up to what RE4 accomplished while trying to do something new and try to please fans that were not to thrilled with the new series direction. Clearly he could not satisfy everyone but he did manage to create a worthy successor to RE4 while adding a co-op component and giving it a next-gen makeover. It may not be the masterpiece that RE4 was but it manages to retain the same intense action and adds enough elements to make this one of the best entries in the Resident Evil franchise.

Resident Evil 5 talks place 4 years after the events in RE4. Original series hero Chris Redfield takes the lead once again, this time joined by a new partner, Sheva Alomar. The two are sent into the city of Kijuju to investigate a new viral outbreak. What they find is a new Las Plagas strain and outbreak, as well as a plot by the series main villain Albert Wesker to take over the world. As in previous RE games those expecting something special out of the story will be disappointed. The story is as campy as ever, filled with over the top characters and bad one liners. What fans will love is the return of Wesker to the forefront and boy does he steal the show. After 13 years, the Chris vs Wesker storyline gets its major showdown. For that reason alone many will enjoy the story in RE5 over RE4 but I feel the way the story is told in RE4 is superior. RE4 had a certain mystery to it, a general creepiness to the whole situation. There were questions about why are these villagers the way they are, what is this cult? RE5 is more a straight forward action movie type of story. The production side of the cutscenes did benefit as there are movie quality scenes with great motion capture. It's almost "Metal Gear"ish at times.

The gameplay in RE5 is well, identical to RE4. There are new control schemes which I totally ignored as I rather play it with the traditional control scheme. If you are one of these people that want to complain about the controls, about not being able to move and shoot at the same time, then this review is not for you. I am not even going to address it any further, the controls work perfectly for this type of game.

Changes include a new real time inventory screen, so no more pausing to change weapons; it all needs to be done on-screen to support the co-op aspect. This adds to the tension as there is no break in the action but at the same time it brings up situations where you wish it was a bit easier to handle your inventory. It works well for the most part; maybe some slight tweaking to streamline the process of sharing a bit would have helped. One major benefit of this new inventory system is that it adds real time weapon changing. No more hoping in and out of inventory menus to change guns, it makes combat much more fluid. It is one of those additions that you will wonder how you played without in the last game. There are also more melee attacks this time around, not only are there more but they are more context specific. If an enemy is on the floor you can just stomp on their head rather than have to shoot or knife the enemy on the floor. There are combo attacks that can be done with both characters. The melee system is another addition that makes the combat more fluid than before. The best comparison I can make is that RE5 feels sort of like how RE3 did, how it added changes to the core mechanics to aide the combat aspect.

The largest change to the title is the inclusion of co-op. Capcom decided to make the single player co-op as well, an AI will take the place of the other character. This results in a game where you must always pay attention to not one but two characters. Some say this lowers the tension, that maybe true. I feel it does detract somewhat from the single player experience, having to manage an AI does change the experience, sometimes it feels more like work. Luckily the AI is for the most part very well done. It will follow you like a dog follows its master. It knows what enemies to go after, when to heal you, when to cover and it does follow orders which you can give with the simple push of a button. The player can choose to keep the AI in cover mode, which is recommend or attack mode which sends the AI on a rampage but gets itself into trouble. Once you learn when to use what, managing the AI is no where near as hard as it may first seem and you will find that the AI will save your life many many times. Yes there are a few times the AI will get stupid and kill itself in an odd manner, I also don't recommend using it on the highest difficulty setting as its not suited for it. Other than that the AI does a commendable job filling in for a human partner.

The game shines when you do play with a human partner. While making it always co-op might have hurt the single player aspect, it greatly benefited the multiplayer aspect as every single aspect of this game was built for two players. It can be played with so many different strategies, which is something one can't do with an AI. I have approached the game differently every time I play with someone else. The way the game is designed it keeps the two players perfectly balanced while providing sections where the two may have to split or one may need to cover the other. It's a game where teamwork is key; every area is built around this concept. I am new to the whole action game co-op thing but wow I was blown away at how much fun playing with someone else can be. This aspect is what, for some, will put RE5 over the edge when compared to RE4, it's that good. Hell some are calling it the best co-op experience of the generation, I can't argue with that.

Now that I covered what is different it is time to cover what is more of the same, which is basically everything else. One of the main criticisms laid against RE5 is that it's too much like RE4. Well it is. Besides what I mentioned above, it's kind of RE4 in a new coat of paint. But what is wrong with that, can someone tell me why it is horrible to be like one of the greatest games ever made. Co-op alone differentiates this title enough to be a worthy sequel, the series had 6 games that were almost identical before RE4, I never heard much complaining then. The enemies in RE5 are basically reskinned ganados from RE4. Almost all the general enemy types in RE4 have some type of variation in RE5. The general flow of the game is the same. The weapon selection while larger in RE5 has most of the same types as RE4. Some of the bosses seem similar to RE4 but most of them feel fresh. Those that did not care for the action of RE4 might as well skip this game because it is the same action. In fact the focus on the action is more pronounced in RE5, RE4 at least had some puzzles, this game has one. RE5 takes us even further away from the ****c ****RE games and into all out action game territory. Some freak out about that, I am fine with it as long as the action was as well thought out as RE4 which for the most part it is.

Like its predecessor RE5 presents the player with a series of major action set pieces. There is such a wide range of combat scenarios in this game. For example it goes from a village wide shootout, to a car chase, a spinning elevator fight, boat combat, to name just a few. The scenarios don't repeat, the constantly changing locations and enemies will keep you on your toes section after section. I feared this new production crew would not be able to keep that same level of intensity that the previous game had from beginning to end but I was wrong. It is not as long as RE4, nor does it have the same amount of amazing set pieces but it keeps that same spirit alive and well. Spectacular epic boss fights cap some of the levels. They may not be as good as RE4's collection of baddies but they put most action games bosses to shame. The scale of some of these battles will have your jaw on the floor. I loved how many of them had a sort of trick to them, you can use that trick or go about it the normal shoot until they die route. In terms of game design I really cannot complain, it has everything I loved about RE4. To me, this kind of action is so replayable; I can play it over and over just trying new ways of completing it.

One area where RE5 absolutely blows RE4 out of the water is replay value. This game was designed with multiple playthroughs in mind. It has four difficulty modes, pro mode being the hardest mode in any main line RE game ever. There are rankings after each section, trying to get S ranks on all sections on all difficulty modes will take a long time as well as mad skills. There is an upgrade system for the weapons much like RE4, though its not geared for one playthrough, if you are lucky you may upgrade three weapons in one go. For the rest you will need to play over and over to collect enough money to upgrade all twenty something weapons. There are hidden medallions all over which are deviously placed, shooting them all unlocks secrets. For the speed runners there are leaderboards that keep track of the fastest times. Let's not forget the entire Mercenaries mode which is so addictive it can almost be its own game, it too includes its own leaderboards which I have lost many many hours trying to climb. To top it off you can buy a versus mode that is a ton of fun, don't expect anything deep though, it is just another fun mode that you can put many hours into. This game will keep you entertained for easily a hundred hours.

The budget costs were clearly no issue as the graphics and overall production values are top notch. This game is beautiful; it takes place in a wide range of locations all meticulously detailed. There is plenty of eye candy, not just from the locations but the character models as well. The sound is as good as any big summer movie; you will have explosions going off everywhere, great for mega sound systems. Some high quality orchestrated music rounds out the package, superb stuff from beginning to end.

Resident Evil 5 may not be the masterpiece Resident Evil 4 was. It may not blow players away as its predecessor did. I would even argue it is not as well designed a game, but then again practically no game is. It also leads the series further down the path of the action game, leaving behind many disgruntled fans in the process. So it doesn't please everyone, the truth is that it was never going to in the first place. What it does do is make a game in the spirit of RE4 while adding all the bells and whistles of this generation; co-op play, lots of online features, terrific production values. RE5 is hugely entertaining and a sequel that actually surpassed my expectations for it. Take away the name and analyze RE5 for what it is and I find it hard to argue that there are many action games that provide such quality gameplay, such a large adventure with so much replay value. In my opinion Resident Evil 5 is one of the better titles of this generation.

Overall Score: 9.6

I got two reviews I want to write. I know I have yet to do a RE5 one, that is coming I still have more I want to do on that game. I finished two games recently, Castlevania Order of Eccelsia and Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop. One was fantastic, the other pure poop, guess which is which.

Castlevania Order of Eccelsia -

This is the 6th handheld CV game in the SOTN style, you'd think that by now this would be getting very repetitive and old. In some ways that is true but somehow the forumla still works, Castlevania is always a great action game. The best part about this game is that it tries different things while refining all the additions to the gameplay that has come before it.

The largest change from this game is that it mostly takes place outside of Dracula's Castle. Like Simon's Quest its an adventure that takes you all over Translevania. Unlike SQ its more linear in that you unlocke new areas once you get through a current area, so its not this open world type setup, you choose a location from a map.I loved this cause it gave the game a sense of adventure. How many times can we do the castle and have it feel fresh. Portrait of Ruin tried to get out of the castle but it was done in a way that felt half way, as if they were not fully commited to the idea. In this game you play a full games worth before you ever step foot in the castle, best part is that the castle is still huge. So its a massive game, with tons to do.

Like some of the last few CV games it has side quests form NPCs, in this game it comes from villagers. There are some neat quests like taking a picture of a rare monster. Each villager has specific rewards like one gives health items, one gives armor, etc. My favorite is a dude that gives you classic CV1 music that you can play at any time!There is a lot to do and find, it will keep you going back to explore the various locations over and over. As you play you unlock secret areas that are skill tests, one in the form of platforming and the other in combat. It has all the hidden areas and secrets you come to expect from a CV game.

Continuing the tradition of new attack systems, OoE has the gylph system. Using weapons is no more, the entire game is based on spells. Some spells generate a sword or an axe so don't worry, its not like its all magic spells. However it allows you to really customize your character and make it so magic can be treated the same as a normal physical attack, normally you have your weapon and magic is secondary. In this game theyevened it all out where having only magic attackscan be as powerful as using weapon spells. It is also not as overwhelming as some of the other combat systemswhich have so many spellsand weapons that many end up as useless. Here you have your 10 basic types of attacks/spells and you find updated versionsof those types as you play so you hardly find something thats useless, its more about progression than experimenting if this enemy skill you learned is worth using. I really like the third slot, which allows for a special skill, like summoning familiars, stat buffers, or even transforming you into an enemy character. The best one is this magnenticbubble that lets you grab onto certain points and slingshot, it comes into playin many different scenarios from platforming to boss fights.

Speaking of boss fights, this game has a great collection of them. Right from the first battle you get a boss fight that feels fresh, mainly cause of the use of the magnentic bubble.The game has a great mix of pattern bosses with straight up combat bosses. Like the rest of the game, the difficulty of these bosses are tuned to perfection.

While this game is taking elements of all the past CV games, what sets this one apart from the rest, aside from the outside the castle game world, is how fined tuned everything feels. They took how many years of this formula and refined it so you are only getting the best aspects of the gameplay. The difficulty is perfectlybalanced as well, its hard as hell when it should be, it rewards leveling up noticably, and using the right type of attack has a dramatic effect. It is a game where playing strategically makes all the difference and in some past CVs it felt like you could just plow through the game with a few powerful attacks.

I guess the only complaints I have is that the game is kind of linear. Yeah you can choose where to go but you always progress from one location to the next. It elminates backtracking which is fine but at the same time it doesn't allow for that feeling of exploring, of not knowing which direction to go next, of discovering an area you are not ready for. The castle portion brings back a bit of those feelings but never to the extent of say SOTN.

Overall the game feels like it takes the SOTN forumla and polishes it up as much as it can. It has allthe best ideas form the series rolled into one great game. For some it may not be enough cause there is no doubt that there has to be some fatigue with this formula, it's almost a yearly event to get these games. I think it is time for a drastic change to the formula but I am happy we got this last hoorah.

Overal Score: 9.2

Dead Rising Chop Till You Drop:

I am angry that I even have to write about this crap fest. Some genious at Capcom thought it would be a good idea to port over a game to the wiithat actually used the power of the 360 to make its gameplay work. I understand that some games have much nicer graphics but other than that it can be replicated on the wii, NOT THIS GAME. What makes Dead Rising work is that it has so many zombies on screen that you have to plow your way through them to get to your objective, once you take that element out of it you have such a crappy game. On the wii you may get 20 zombies on screen at once, at any given time three or four maybeclose enough to you to attack. They are almost always spaced out enough that you can run past the majority of them without getting touched. To try to adjust to the small amount of zombies the game blocks off many paths, removes the ability to jump over objects allin an effort to steer you down small paths so you have to go through the few zombies it has. Still doesn't work, it just makes moving around the mall more annoying.

Also for some reason they couldn't make their own engine for this game, this game is basically RE4 with DR dressed over it. When I mean its RE4 I mean IT IS RE4. It has the exact same controls, yes it has tank controls, you cant move and shoot. It has the same exact guns as RE4, the same exact shooting animations, the same reloading animations, the same aiming cursor, the same button promts, the same sniper zoom in screen, and a merchant. Because its like RE4 the focus of the game has gone from melee weapons to shooting weapons. Most of the melee weapons are still there and yeah you can do a few wiimote motions to use them but for the most part you have so much ammo you never run out.Sadly unlike RE4 the enemies dont fit,shooting slow moving zombies is boring. You almost have to go out of your way to kill enemies which kills any of the fun of the combat. This version adds a few extra enemies like zombie poodles and parrorts... yeah it still sucks. I though boss fights would be better cause of the better shooting controls, nope, they all suck. Nothing was done to adjust this game to the new controls, it just feels bad.

But that is not the worst of it, Dead Rising 360 had a whole real time aspect to it. i know for some that was a negative, but it added a much needed pressure to the gameplay. It forced the player to decide whether to save a hostage or leave them to die cause there was not enough time. The time mixed with the huge crowds of zombies is what made the gameplay work on the 360. Without those aspects what you are left with is a series of escort missions, which is exactly what the entire Wii version is. The game is totally linear, you have to complete the current mission to get to the next one. Each civilian is a mission, you go to a screen and choose from about two or three different missions that require you to go to a certain section of the mall to rescue a person and bring them back. You cant do two missions at once you have to do one at a time. Run out of the office, run through the mall, get the civilian, run back. Over and over and over and over again. In between boring rescuing of people you get the story missions, which are ok at times. Luckily you get a shortcut system to make the trips easier, doesn't fix how boring it is.

This version is a total waste of time for anyone that played the real version, not one thing was done to make this better or make it fit on the wii. If you never played Dead Rising I recommend to still avoid it as its boring. At least it isnt broken, and it has a lot of content. Also when you beat the game you unlock missions that are actually fun, maybe the whole game should have been these crazy missions, like fight giant zombies. Other than that, the game is totally forgettable.

Overall Score: 4.5