Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: id Software
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Once upon a time, id brought fire to the masses. With the advent of the first person shooter (popularized by their two fisted salvo of Wolfenstein and Doom), id tapped deep into the collective gamer mindset and dreamed up a compelling new genre that gave life to our most visceral impulses. By putting the BFG into our hands and letting us loose on the demonic hordes, they revolutionized the marketplace. They provided a compelling product that underscored the evolutionary shift transpiring. These games weren’t necessarily just for kids anymore, and with the spark ignited, developers weaned on Doom and Quake began adding to the mosaic by taking a fairly simple archetype born from that primal urge to blast stuff and turning it into the box-office busting behemoths we battle through each holiday season. id may have burst onto a barren wasteland way back when, but in the decades since, the landscape has grown fertile. With the release of their long-gestating new IP, we watch to see if id’s Rage can cut through the boisterous noise of their crowded competition.

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(Editor’s Note: The App Attack was too big to be contained in a single day. Here’s part 2.)

I was thinking of naming this week’s App Attack the “Depressed Edition.” Why? Because on September 23, summer officially ended. On the plus side, I now have more hours, without the sun, to fulfill all of my anti-social activities (like freelancing and gaming). If you find yourself lamenting the prolonged evening hours, do yourself a solid and buy some of these apps; half of them are free to try!

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Publisher: Robot Entertainment
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Genre: Action-Strategy
ESRB: Teen
Release date: October 5, 2011

Orcs. I hate them. You hate them. Their continued existence promises to bring only pain and suffering. They are a constant threat to the well-being of society, and should be dealt with swiftly and violently. Robot Entertainment’s Orcs Must Die! is an action-strategy hybrid that poses a question that is surprisingly difficult to answer: What is the best way to kill an Orc?

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Publisher: UTV Ignition
Developer: UTV Ignition
Genre: Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Before the digital distribution networks, PSN and XBLA, became the showcase for ambitious indie darlings like Braid and Limbo, these cyber storefronts featured a dependable selection of classic arcade titles and addictive puzzlers. In fact, on the day I bought my 360, I logged more time playing the freebie Hexic than I did with the show stopping Call of Duty 2. That’s the beauty of a good puzzle game: if the concept is tight and the execution flawless, the intangible “just one more level” mindset takes root; leaving those speaker-blasting battles to wait another day. Nowadays, the marketplaces are jammed with a vast menagerie of downloadable delights, representing all genres. Where these once bite-sized titles have grown much larger, smaller titles like Mercury Hg exist to tax your brain.

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Publisher: 505 Games
Developer: Kung Fu Factory
Genre: Fighting
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Fighting games work best when they adhere to a simple design philosophy: “easy to play – hard to master.” A good fighting game should be built around a model where anybody can pick it up and have fun, but still be deep enough that those willing to commit the time to learning its systems can mine the true treasure beneath. A good fighting game should evolve the better you get at it. That’s the standard I apply when reviewing a fighter. Can someone mash away and come off feeling satisfied while experts are able to discover a whole new level of strategy? That’s the challenge Supremacy MMA faces today.

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Publisher: Majesco
Developer: Majesco
Rating: Everyone
Release date: Available now

Here’s a list of some things I’ve never done: worn a cool watch, eaten a raw peach, done a bad Ice T impression, smiled on Christmas Day, gone a day without quoting The Big Lebowski, eaten glass, or gone camping. One of these is relevant, and I secretly wish it were eating glass. Camping Mama: Outdoor Adventures has hit the streets, and camping fans, I’m sure, have been filling their rugged newsletters and message boards with buzzing anticipation. So what kind of game can they expect: a crisp autumn hike in the Colorado mountains, or eating glass?

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Publisher: Capcom
Developer: Capcom
Genre: Survival horror
ESRB rating: M
Release date: Available now

There is an episode of The Simpsons in which Marge finds a pink Chanel suit on sale at the outlet mall in Ogdenville. Marge loves the suit so much that she decides to wear it while running errands. On one of those errands, Marge runs into a friend from high school who, impressed by Marge’s fashion sense, invites her to come to the Springfield Country Club. Realizing she can’t keep wearing the same thing every time she goes to the country club, Marge alters and improves the suit a little bit each week, hoping to continue impressing her friends.

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Whether you enjoy turn-based RPGs, casual arcade or flight sim games, this week’s App Attack has you covered. A few of these apps have been on my radar for a while (some since E3) while others came as a complete surprise via random PR emails. Per usual, each app is one that I feel is worth the asking price and is sure to keep you entertained during the day’s downtime. If you’re feeling bored with what’s on your iOS device take a look at these apps and pick a few up.

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Publisher: Tripwire Interactive
Developer: Tripwire Interactive
Minimum System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/7, Dual Core 2.3 GHz or better, 2 GB RAM, 256 MP SM 3.0 DX9 Compliant/ NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX or better ATI Radeon HD 2900 GT or better, Windows Supported Sound Card, DirectX 9.0c, 8 GB free hard drive space, and Internet Connection for Multiplayer
Genre: Action/FPS
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now
Reviewed by: Mindy Hartman

Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad is the sequel to Tripwire Interactive’s break-out game, Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45. For those who missed the first installment, Red Orchestra was developed as a mod using the Unreal Engine on Unreal Tournament 2004 and won first prize in the Make Something Unreal competition sponsored by NVIDIA. Red Orchestra 2 gives gamers a chance to look at WWII from a fresh perspective. Rather than coming in as the heroic troops and storming the beach on D-Day, this first person shooter takes players to the front lines in the German-Russian clash at Stalingrad.

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Publisher: Rail Simulation
Developer: Rail Simulation
System requirements: XP/Vista/Windows7, Intel Pentium 4/AMD Athlon 2.0 GHz, 2 GB ram, 256MB DirectX 9.0c video card with Shader 3.0, 6 GB Hard-drive space.
Genre: Simulator
ESRB Rating: E
Release Date: Available now
Reviewed by: Ian Davis

I’ve heard it said that all girls go through a “horse phase” at some point. Likewise, most boys have, at some point, experienced the intoxicating thrill that iron horses bring. If you haven’t grown out of this state, then you’re not alone: neither have the talented developers at Rail Simulation, makers of the popular RailWorks series. They’ve poured their love of everything on two rails into Train Simulator 2012, and it shows in every billow of steam.

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Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Obsidian Entertainment
Genre: FPS / RPG
ERSB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Folks, we’re coming to end of Fallout: New Vegas. With the release of Lonesome Road, many of the loose ends of the latest Fallout chapter are being answered and resolved. Bethesda has in fact announced two other pieces of downloadable content (Gun Runner’s Arsenal and Courier’s Stash), however neither of those add-ons will advance the universe or story of Fallout: New Vegas. So, for the time being, if this isn’t the last piece of DLC in this series, it’s probably pretty close.

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Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Insomniac Games
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Perhaps it’s a product of recent economic uncertainty, but the entertainment media seems to be infatuated with the idea of global catastrophe. Whether it’s alien invasion (TV’s Falling Skies; Hollywood’s Skyline or Battle: Los Angeles), viral pandemic (Contagion), zombie apocalypse (Dead Island) or nuclear holocaust (the Fallout series), we seem to be more and more interested in “what if” scenarios these days. But most times, these stories are told in stark terms without a real human component. Insomniac’s Resistance 3 is one of the few entries in the end-of-the-world genre that takes time to tell a human story amidst the universal carnage that surrounds it.

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A heavy workload coupled with a teething 8 month old son has resulted in my gaming time being squeezed of late, but fear not because I have made offerings at the caffeine alter to counterbalance these minor gaming distractions! For some game experiences, the iPad has struggled to provide quality content, including RPGs. This week I have been role playing on my iPad, and by role playing I mean playing several RPGs on it, not standing on it dressed as an orc. So without further delay here are my iPad game musings for this week.

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Developer: Backbone Entertainment
Publisher: 345 Games
Genre: Dual Stick Shooter
ESRB Rating: Mature
Release Date: Available Now
Review by: Michael Rabalais

If I had one wish, it would be for unlimited time; time to play games, read books, watch shows and movies and generally consume media. Unfortunately, I don’t have a ton of time at my disposal, and as a result I’m not especially familiar with a ton of TV. I have certainly heard of Comedy Central show Ugly Americans, but I have not had an opportunity to watch it. I have however, had time to play its game adaptation. It’s only too often that licensed games feel rushed or of poor quality. Does Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon deviate from that standard?

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Developer: Rising Star Games
Publisher: UFO Interactive
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Release Date: Available now
Review by: Michael Rabalais

When I received my copy of Pucca Power Up in the mail, I was drawn to a phrase on the back: “Pucca and Garu’s action romance story.” Personally, I can’t think of a more exciting sentence. The possibilities of such a statement drive me absolutely wild. Are they driving monster trucks through the Arc de Triomphe while feeding each other chocolate covered strawberries? Are they searching for the Ark of the Covenant while drawing scented bubble baths? It’s incredible! So it leaves the question, is Pucca Power Up the Expendables mixed with the Royal Wedding, or Hudson Hawk hanging out with my high school girlfriend?

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