Publisher: Valve Software
Developer: Valve Software
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7/MAC OS 10.6.7; 3.0 GHz Pentium IV/2.0 GHz dual-core/AMD64X2 or better CPU; 1 GB RAM (XP), 2 GB RAM (Vista, MAC); 128 MB DirectX 9.0c-compatible graphics card with Pixel Shader 2.0b support; DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card; 7.6 GB hard-drive space
Genre: First Person Puzzle
ESRB rating: Everyone 10+
Release date: Available now

Those of you who follow the Avault forums probably remember that, when Portal 2 first came out, I said that I was sad and relieved because I wasn’t going to be the one to write about it. I was sad because this was one of the games I was really looking forward to playing, but I was relieved because, after playing it for half an hour, I realized that it would be incredibly difficult to review. But publication plans changed, and having beaten the game, I spent about a week trying to come up with the best way to write about it. The problem wasn’t that I had nothing to say, but that it’s nearly impossible to talk about this game without mentioning the story. Portal 2 is the story, or rather the story makes up the entirety of Portal 2. After days of trying different approaches, I decided that I can’t review it without spoiling it and making it uninteresting for you to play.

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Publisher: Sega
Developer: High Voltage Software
Genre: First Person Shooter
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

At the time The Conduit was released on the Wii, there was some praise heaped upon it, labeling it as one of the best first-person shooters…for the Wii. Perhaps the best. This was before Goldeneye 007 and several of the Call of Duty games appeared on the console, I should add. Like nearly every movie that surpasses $100 million at the box office these days, a sequel was quickly ordered, and now, about two years later, we get Conduit 2 (minus the “The” because, no joke, the developers thought it would be easier for people to say).

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This week’s App Attack features a little something for everyone. Whether you like dismembering zombies, setting up tower defenses, or throwing newspapers through windows, there’s a game for you. While you probably won’t see any major news sources mentioning these games, I’ve played ‘em all and they’ve got my approval.

GemCraft

GemCraft by NTT Resonant Inc. is your basic tower-defense game. It started out as a popular online Flash game, but has been ported for iOS devices. I’m not the biggest fan of the tower-defense genre, but GemCraft does a good job of not throwing you into the deep end when it comes to difficulty. The game is not the fanciest-looking, but it’s entertaining and has plenty of features to keep gameplay interesting.

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Publisher: Sony Consumer Entertainment
Developer: Zipper Interactive
Genre: Tactical Shooter
Rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

These days, modern warfare is all about the set-piece and those scripted pieces of Michael Bayhem where all hell breaks loose and things blow up real good. The world may be toppling all around the player but with the advent of rechargeable shields that come standard with most contemporary shooters, players can afford to stop for a moment and soak in the blitzkrieg (and a few thousand bullets) before getting going again. Most shooters have become the equivalent of the summer blockbuster and as far removed from the grounded reality of real war as a Governator flick. SOCOM 4: US Navy Seals is finally hitting the ground on the PS3, but it remains to be seen whether this series sticks to its strategic roots or heeds the current Call of Duty.

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Publisher: Paradox Interactive
Developer: Arrowhead Game Studios
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 2.4 GHz Pentium IV or AMD 3500+ or better CPU, 2 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 8800/ATI Radeon X1900 or better graphics card, DirectX-compatible sound card, DirectX 9, 2 GB hard-drive space; Magicka base game must be installed
Genre: RPG
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available now

Riding the success of their game Magicka, Arrowhead Game Studios has released DLC for it that takes the plucky wizards of the original game and drops them into the jungles of Southeast Asia to fight the Vietnam War. Magicka: Vietnam gives you a new complete mission to play, a new arena fight to survive, a new soundtrack that sounds like it borrows from every rock-and-roll band from the Rolling Stones to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, new weapons (including a wizard-staff version of the American flag), and a new appearance for your wizard that alludes to half a dozen movies set in the war. It’s an absurd premise for a spell-casting game; since its Arrowhead, it’s not surprising that they make it work.

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Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
Developer: Zen Studios

Originally published in July 2009, reprinted for additional content.

Few things in my life actually bring back childhood memories. Lemons, “The Goonies” and pinball. The lemons is a long story. “The Goonies” is obvious. But pinball? Yes, it was nothing short of magical to go to the arcade with my father and beat that shiny marble ball around inside those exotic tables of gaming goodness. So when I was given the chance to play Zen Pinball on the Playstation 3, I knew I’d be rehashing those fond memories.

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Publisher: Masthead Studios
Developer: Masthead Studios
System requirements: Windows XP SP2/Vista SP1/Win 7, 2.4 GHz or faster dual-core CPU, 4 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9800/ATI X3950 Pro or better graphics card, DirectX 9.0, 20 GB hard-drive space, broadband Internet connection
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

I’m told that, many years ago, there was a saying in the army: Never volunteer for anything. As a member of the Avault Army, this is an adage that I should’ve taken to heart when I put up my hand and said, “I want to review Earthrise.” Bulgarian developer Masthead Studios has taken my favorite sci-fi genre as the setting for this post-apocalyptic MMO and buried it in a sea of drudgery and boredom.

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Publisher: Lunar Workshop
Developer: Lunar Workshop
System requirements: Windows XP/Vista/Win 7, 1.5 GHz or faster CPU, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB graphics card
Genre: Strategy
ESRB rating: Not rated
Release date: Available now

In my book, there are two kinds of night owls in the world: those who stay up playing games, and the others who are wide awake, dreaming about the games we enjoy. Lunar Workshop is the latter of these two, always crafting and constantly trying to improve their product, Digitanks. I didn’t get much time to play it after my review was published, maybe here and there at best to pass the time or to procrastinate from looking at MMOs. The first big addition, dubbed The Artillery Update, was recently released, and I was ready to blow some enemy tanks to digital hell.

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Publisher: THQ
Developer: THQ San Diego
Genre: Sports
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: Available Now

Growing up in the UK, wrestling was quite a rarity on TV. Yet despite its sporadic appearances, it didn’t take me long to work out that those huge, oiled, hulking, spandex-wearing grapplers were in effect acting out a tightly choreographed ring-bound spectacle. Sadly, this realisation spoiled the sport for me—just as when I realised the supposed “crack team of soldiers” that were The A Team never actually shot anyone. What kind of real soldiers were they? No wonder the army was after them; probably wanted to silence them for the embarrassment they were to the profession. Anyway, flashback over, back to wrestling. I never played the Smackdown vs. Raw game from THQ, so it was therefore with some reluctance that I finally unwrapped my copy of WWE All-Stars.

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Publisher: Perfect World
Developer: Perfect World
System requirements: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/Win 7, 1 GHz Pentium IV or faster CPU, 1 GB RAM (2 GB for XP, 3 GB for Vista/Win 7), 8 GB hard-drive space, 256 MB GeForce 6200/Radeon 9550 or better graphics card with Shader Model 2.0 support, DirectX 9.0c-compatible sound card
Genre: MMORPG
ESRB rating: Not rated at press time
Release date: TBA

True story: I lost a friend to a Perfect World game about two years ago. I still have no idea where he is. Last I heard, a mutual friend of ours found him while playing the latest addition to the PWE lineup, Forsaken World. In a last-ditch effort to locate them again, I downloaded the game and entered the world before me. My goals were pretty clear: I had to find them and figure out what aspects of the game kept them sucked in. Fear not, my friends, I will find you. Maybe.

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Publisher: TimeGate Studios
Developer: TimeGate Studios
Genre: FPS
ESRB rating: Teen
Release date: April 20, 2011

Section 8: Prejudice was released today at the Xbox Live Marketplace. In a week full of top-tier game releases, it would seem that TimeGate Studios was setting itself up for failure by releasing it in such close proximity to these other titles. There’s plenty in this title, however, that make it deserving to rank amongst the best releases of 2011. And the best part is the price. For 1200 MS points (roughly $15), you can have a game that is as good as any Halo iteration I’ve played.

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We’re trying something new with iOS games. Instead of writing a weekly (sometimes less frequent) review for a single app, each Wednesday we’ll do a “round-up” that features 6 games that deserve your attention. There are way too many iOS games being released to keep track of them all, and frankly, only a handful are worth buying. Each week I’ll present you with the handful worth buying.

Berzerk Ball
Developed by Berzerk Studio, Berzerk Ball is the mobile version of a popular Flash game. There’s only one goal, smack a geek as far as you can, but there are plenty of power-ups and weapon upgrades to keep you busy. This is one of my favorite iOS games to date. I’ve played it a ton this week and plan on getting all the trophies (something I never try to do). The next time someone asks you if play Angry Birds, just say “no, noob, I play Berzerk Ball.” Then you’ll can be the cool, indie mobile gamer in the office.

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Publisher: Square Enix
Developer: HexaDrive
Genre: Action RPG
ESRB rating: Mature
Release date: Available now

Square Enix games share a lot of features: fantastic graphics, strange hairstyles and highly dramatic cutscenes, to name a few. But they also frequently get spin-offs, strange games that have little to do with the core series and explore otherwise unrelated or alternate situations in ways only vaguely connected to them. The 3rd Birthday, a tactical over-the-shoulder shooter with RPG elements, is one of these spin-offs. While technically considered part of the Parasite Eve series, 3rd Birthday is definitely not Parasite Eve 3.

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Publisher: Soldak Entertainment
Developer: Soldak Entertainment
System requirements: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/Win 7/Mac OS 10.4, 1.5 GHz Pentium IV or better CPU, 256 MB RAM, GeForce 2 series or better graphics card, 200 MB hard-drive space, DSL or better Internet connection for online multiplayer
Genre: RPG
Release date: Available now

When I look at MMOs, I often forget that there are in fact other genres that exist in the world; sometimes it’s a little tough for me to believe. Everything to me nowadays is either massively-this or shoot your best friend for a laugh-that. When I take a break from those sorts of games, I like to sprawl out on my office chair, grab my favorite pre-packaged snack cake and go back to my roots: dungeon crawlers. I admit it’s been a long time since this pastry-induced gaming euphoria has taken hold. Its previous appearance was during my time competing on the ladder while playing another dungeon-style game. I’m glad to have briefly encountered this feeling once more while checking out the Din’s Curse expansion, Demon War, brought to you by Soldak Entertainment.

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Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Developer: Namco Bandai Games
Genre: Puzzle
iTunes rating: 9+
Release date: Available now

Some old dude once said, “there’s nothing new under the sun.” Thousands of years later, his statement still holds true, especially in the gaming industry. Namco Bandai games has released Bird Zapper for iOS devices, and while it might be nothing new in terms of game mechanics, its graphics are humorous and the gameplay is ideal for mobile gaming situations. So put down those dusty manuscripts and join me as we delve into mobile gaming in the modern era.

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